Does anybody do this?

westernrvparkowner wrote:
Don't think you will find a lot of season long rental people for a ski area other than the people who work at the resorts, which will be a whole lot of 20 somethings looking to minimize expenses and maximize fun, so you might end up with 10 or 15 people sharing and partying in the house. If you go for short term rentals, you will have advertising expenses, cleaning expenses, management expenses etc. It can be quite lucrative in the right area, but remember the value of a short term rental falls geometrically with distance from the attraction. A rental on the ski slopes is generally gold, 15 miles away, it is just another house for rent, so the price falls and so does the caliber of the clientel.
The rent you collect will be taxable, but if you start taking deductions for the expenses check with your accountant to be sure it doesn't make your home a business property, ineligible for the homeowner exemptions when you sell, this is doubly true if you start taking depreciation on the house. Be sure any HOA or zoning laws allow for short term rentals. And you will need to run all this past your insurance company to be sure you have the proper coverages.
With a great location and a good management company, you could make out quite well, but there sure is a big downside if you are not careful or if you are like pigpen and have a dark cloud that follows you.

Wow westernrvparkowner, you're flattening my tires and I haven't even gotten out of the garage yet. Seriously...I'm just kidding...gotta know me and my sarcastically sense of humor. LOL

Very, very good points, and I am a little embarrassed that we had not even thought about insurance aspects. We're not trying to make a lot of money off this, it would just be easier on the pocketbook to "Snowbird" if we could at least get our house payments made and utilities covered. Retirement checks only go so far. While they wouldn't be as costly, utilities will be there whether we're here or not.

We have considered the clientel and know there would likely not be a seasonal renter and it would be most likely short termers (a week or so at a time). We also know that we won't get the kind of price they would get at a resort, but again we're not looking to make a lot. Our thought was pricing at a level that would get a decently responsible clientel but not so cheap as to get just anybody. We also thought that while we might could keep the rent fairly low, we would charge a fairly high security deposit which would be returned as long as all went well during the transaction. We know that that is not fool proof, but hoped it could help in keeping some of the less responsible people away.

Again, I was just kidding in the beginning remark. While we do have rental property we deal with, this would be a different venture, being our "home". It is an option we thought about, but not knowing some of the technicalities is why I posted and welcome any input and will discuss with the rental agent we work with now. Because this is our "home" this may not be a viable option. While we are truly excited about getting away from the cold and snow, we will not do this at the expense of our "home"! If we have to find another option, then so be it.

I am reminded of a story I once heard, a Fire Chief ask's the council for funding to buy a new fire truck, the council said, NO. Later someone finds the Fire Chief working on possible fire truck purchase, and say's, why are you doing that, the council said NO. The Fire Chief responds, no they didn't, they said "find another way".