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Avon vacation rentals can be a good opportunity if you have the funds for a down payment and the interest in short term rental management (which isn’t quite as “hands off” as more traditional rental arrangements.) Let’s look at a couple of possible scenarios. All are totally hypothetical, but they help you picture the possibilities.

The Big House

Susan and Steve love visiting Avon and come for two weeks every winter. They normally spend $675 a night to rent a beautiful chalet, which costs them $9450 in addition to their plane fare! One day Susan suggests that they buy their own place.

They get started and soon fall in love with a $850,000 four bedroom near Beaver Creek Resort. After a 15% down payment of $127,500, they are ready to go. With their credit scores, they get a monthly mortgage for 3.8% at $3366, and after maintenance, insurance, property taxes, and utilities, they’re at $5049 all in.

It’s now costing them $60,588 per year. After subtracting the $9450 they would have spent on lodging elsewhere, they’re at $51,138 in additional expenses. Sure, they’ve added Christmas and a week in June to their two ski weeks (why not?), and that would otherwise cost $7,000, and they let their friends and grown children use the property an additional six weeks a year. But while that’s saving everyone money, it’s not returning much for Susan and Steve. That’s when they decide to list their property on Airbnb.

They figure they can get an average of $625 a night, and manage to rent the place out about 38% of the time. (The average occupancy is 39%). That’s $86,687 a year! They’re pulling in $35,549 of profit and making their family happy at the same time.

Getting Started

Carl gets a $120,000 inheritance from his grandpa and wants to invest in real estate. He finds Avon online and is impressed with the community’s growth potential, so he uses it as a down payment on $550,000 two bedroom (the average house price is $615,000). His credit isn’t quite as good, so his mortgage is 4.5% and $2178 a month. Expenses take that to $3267 all in.

Carl goes for broke with his efforts and really optimizes his listing so it’s hitting 60% year round occupancy (the top 10% of properties in Avon hit 100% occupancy for several months in a row last year, so 60% is not outrageous). His ADR is $405, which is a little lower than the average of $455 across Avon. He’s taking in $88,695 a year, which puts him right around $49,500 after expenses. Not bad for a $120,000 investment! 

Your numbers will naturally look different, but how will you know if you don’t look into it? Play with the figures yourself or drop us a line at scott@awayagents.com and we can help you get more concrete for your situation