[ad_1] Have you ever considered buying a vacation property for a short-term rental? I think it’s a pretty common idea. And in a perfect world, it can combine the best of leisure and investing in one property. I recently received a question from a reader who is considering taking the plunge: “My wife and I are in our mid 50’s, debt free and own our home. We would like to have place that our family and kids could use while we explore future retirement areas near the vacation home. Most traditional planners/CPAs advise against it but we’re curious what the Wealth Hacker view is.” – Thanks, Steve Steve hasn’t asked specifically about the rental potential on the property. But since it’s a common outcome, I decided to include it in the pros and cons of buying a vacation property for short-term rentals. I’ll be addressing Steve’s direct questions, as well as the short-term rental aspect. I’ll start by covering the pros, then move on to the cons. My hope is that by presenting both, I’ll not only answer Steve’s question, but also provide valuable information for other readers considering a vacation home purchase. Pros of Buying a Vacation Property for Short-term Rentals Without a doubt, there are real advantages to buying a vacation property for short-term rental. But before we get into those, I first want to be clear that we’re talking about these benefits as they relate to vacation property. Put another way, a vacation property isn’t an investment property, so the benefits will be different. While an investment property is strictly a money-venture, a vacation property is something of a hybrid. Much like the house you live in, a vacation property provides personal benefits, but has the potential to produce financial gains at the same time. With that said, let’s move on to the pros of owning a vacation property. 1. You Can Generate Additional Income If you buy a vacation property strictly for personal use, it’ll add an expense to your budget, and a major one at that. But by renting it out at least part of the time, you can generate some income from the property. For example, let’s say the payment on your vacation is $1,500 per month. By renting it out one week out of each month, also at $1,500, you’ll cover the cost of keeping the home. But if you rent it out any more than one week each month, the property will generate a positive cash flow. You can also get creative here. You can rent the house out during certain times of the year and keep it strictly for personal use the rest of the year. Maybe you choose to rent the house out “in season” only. That might mean earning $2,500 per week for the 12 weeks of the peak season. That arrangement will cover the monthly carrying costs for the entire year, while producing a $12,000 profit. Meanwhile, you’ll have the benefit of enjoying the home 40 weeks out of each year. In that way, the house will be an investment property 12 weeks out of the year, and a vacation home for the other 40. 2. You Can Earn Long-term Capital Appreciation Most people find the house they live in to be one of the best investments they ever make. Even if you don’t view your primary residence as an investment, but rather as your home, it can work in both directions. The house you buy for $400,000 and live in for 20 years may be worth twice as much in the end. That’s a financial win-win of the best kind! The same thing can happen with a vacation home. You might buy the property for $200,000, then it doubles to $400,000 twenty years later. Along the way, you’ll have enjoyed spending your vacations in the home, while also renting it out to generate income. This is where it’s important to understand the leverage advantage that real estate provides. Unlike most other investments, real estate is typically purchased primarily using borrowed money. That magnifies your investment returns by a lot. If you purchased a $200,000 vacation property with a 20% down payment – $40,000 – and the value doubled to $400,000, you’ll really be earning a $200,000 profit on a $40,000 investment. That’s a 500% gain in 20 years! At the same time, your 30-year mortgage will be paid down to about $98,000. The combination of price appreciation and mortgage amortization will increase your net equity to $298,000. That’s an amazing return on an investment of $40,000. And remember, you’ll also get the benefit of enjoying the property as a vacation home. 3. Enjoy Generous Tax Benefits Since your vacation home will be generating income, you’ll also be able to write off any expenses paid in connection with earning that revenue. Let’s say you rent out the home 25% of the year. The IRS will allow you to deduct about 25% of the carrying costs of the property against the income it generates. Expenses you can write off include mortgage interest, real estate taxes, property insurance, homeowner’s association dues, property maintenance, utility expenses, cleaning costs, supplies (for tenants), and management fees if you hire an outside service to manage the process. Still another expense is depreciation. The IRS will allow you to depreciate the value of the home (not including the land value) over roughly 30 years. Since depreciation is what’s known as a paper expense, it will reduce your tax liability without costing you any money. Of course, you can only apply depreciation to the business use of the home. If that’s 25%, you’ll only be able to depreciate 25% of the value of the house. Speaking of income taxes, when you decide to sell the home you’ll get the benefit of long-term capital gains tax rates. If your taxable income is $100,000, you’ll be in the 22% tax bracket for federal income tax purposes. But since the sale of the vacation home will be a long-term capital gain, you’ll