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My wife and I love going to the beach. The sand between our toes, the sound of the crashing waves, and the smell of the ocean air invigorate us. Every year, my wife and I dream about moving down to the beach and forgetting about our busy lives in the DC area. Admittedly, the allure of leaving our area and living down at the beach full-time sounds better and better every year.
However, then reality sets in. I remember that I can’t telecommute for work and that we would miss out on living close to family. Speaking of family, our families completely disagree on where the best beaches are.
My In-Laws think that the best beaches are found in the Caribbean. Meanwhile, my parents love Sunset Beach in North Carolina, which was voted by National Geographic as one of the greatest beaches in the world. On the other hand, my wife and I are partial to the Outer Banks (OBX), also in North Carolina. We like it mostly because of its proximity to us. Any longer than 5 hours of driving results in Pterodactyl screams from our children. It’s like being trapped in Jurassic Park.
As much as I would be to live at the beach year round, since we couldn’t use that property full-time, my wife and I have thought about buying and renting out a beach house as a passive stream of income.
We have had some friends who have done it over the years. While it sounds great in theory, I know that they experienced some hiccups along the way.
Rental Properties in the Outer Banks
While we were down at the beach recently, I began to look into what it would cost to buy a rental property.
For those not familiar with OBX, it is a 200-mile long peninsula off the coast of North Carolina. It has some of the best beaches north of Florida. OBX is about 4-6 hours from the DC area (depending on traffic or how many times you have to stop due to unhappy kids). In the summer down there, I feel like I see more Virginia and Maryland license plates than North Carolina ones.
My wife and I stayed in Nags Head this past vacation. We really loved it. The beaches were clean, there is a great new playground for the kiddos, and there is delicious food all around. Overall, Nags Head has a really nice family atmosphere.
The property that we stayed at this summer was a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home. It was about 100 yards from the beach. While we had a very slight ocean view when we stood at the perfect angle on the top deck, we could hear the ocean in the distance. Built in 1986, its tax-assessed value was around $524,000. While this property wasn’t for sale, I thought the assessment of $524,000 for this property seemed pretty reasonable in comparison to others in the area.
So I thought today, I’d run through the numbers to see if buying that beach house would be a good idea.
Income
In general, the Outer Banks rental season is typically between 15-20 weeks. The majority of beach rentals occur in June, July, August and September with peak pricing lasting roughly 8 weeks long.
During these 8 weeks, this $524,000 property can normally fetch $5,000 a week or $40,000 over the peak season. The remaining 12 weeks normally receive between $1,500 (for offseason) to $2,500 (for the shoulder season). If we calculated that there were an additional 8 weeks of shoulder season and 4 weeks of offseason, the property would receive an additional $26,000, for a total of $66,000 per year.
Expenses Associated with Renting a Property
Mortgage
Mortgage standards are more stringent than ever due to the Great Recession, although they seem to be loosening up recently. My wife and I are lucky to have FICO scores of 800+. In order to receive the most favorable interest rates, we would need to put a down payment of at least 20%. This translates to a down payment of at least $105,000 in order to even potentially qualify for this particular beach house.
For this example, let’s say that I qualified for a $419,000 mortgage to cover the remaining 80%. This would equate to a $2,154 monthly mortgage payment, based on a 4.625%, 30-year fixed interest. Right off the bat, $2,154 doesn’t sound too bad, but I haven’t included any of the other fees.
Insurance
Insurance in a beach town routinely costs more than a regular property. From my research, insurance routinely costs somewhere around 2% of the assessed value of the home. This is due to all the additional coverage that a homeowner needs such as flood insurance, homeowners/hazard insurance, wind insurance and liability insurance. Based on this, insurance would amount to about $10,500 for this beach house.
Taxes
Property taxes in Dare County, where Nags Head is located, costs $0.697 per $100 or 0.697%. This means that this $524,000 property would owe $3,652 in real estate taxes.
Maintenance
I’m going to go a bit conservative and say that the home maintenance for beach rental will normally run 1% of the home value, or about $5,000 in this case. While you may not need to spend the whole amount each year, because of wear and tear, appliances, carpets, and roofs will eventually need replacing.
If you don’t plan to live close to the rental property, you’ll probably need a property manager. Even if you do live close by, you may not be interested in receiving late night phone calls about issues like a broken toilet. Property management fees are normally between 15%-22% of the rent price.
On top of that, many out-of-town owners decide to set up contracts with HVAC service and repair, pest control services, and carpet cleaning services, to name a few. This can run between $1,500-$2,500 per year, depending on whether there is also a pool and/or hot tub.
Updating
If you’re like me, it’s nice walking into a beach house that is kept up-to-date. I’m definitely not a fan of beach houses that look like the owner hasn’t touched it since the 1980’s. It’s important to ensure that artwork is appropriate, the bedding is still in good shape, and the curtains still look good, so add another $1,000 a year.
In the chart below, I have summarized Income and Expenses when it comes to the beach house.
| Rental Income | $66,000.00 | $66,000.00 |
| Mortgage | $25,848.00 | $25,848.00 |
| Insurance | $10,500.00 | $10,500.00 |
| Property Tax | $3,652.00 | $3,652.00 |
| Home Maintenance | $5,000.00 | $5,000.00 |
| Service Contract | $2,500.00 | $2,500.00 |
| Cable/Internet | $1,200.00 | $1,200.00 |
| Misc. Costs | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 |
| Property Management Fee | – | $14,520.00 |
| Total | $16,300.00 | $1,780.00 |
As you can see, if you manage the property on your own, you could have a positive cash flow each year around $16,000 in this specific example. If you use a property manager, you would receive a measly $2,000 at best. And, these are under the huge assumptions that you are able to rent the beach house property every week during peak season, along with the shoulder season, and then get an additional month with snow birds. While this may seem aggressive, it looks like with some positive marketing, it may be possible to eek out a small profit, but it would be tight.
Rental Depreciation
While this doesn’t show up in your cash flow analysis, another expense you can claim on your Schedule E is rental depreciation. Rental depreciation only applies to the value of the home or any building structures (e.g. pool). The land value cannot be included in this depreciation. For example, let’s say you bought a rental home for $524,000, with land worth $100,000 and home structure worth $424,000. Per rental home IRS guidelines, you would only be able to depreciate the house value at $424,000, divided by 27.5 years. So each year, you would be able to deduct roughly $15,418 on your Schedule E for this particular property.
Tax Implications
There’s an aspect of renting out a beach house that most people don’t realize. If you choose to rent out the vacation home while also using it for personal use, there are limitations to the expenses that you can deduct on the property.
According to IRS regulations, “You are considered to use a dwelling unit as a personal residence if you use it for personal purposes during the tax year for more than the greater of:
- 14 days, or
- 10% of the total days you rent it to others at a fair rental price.”
Personal Use of Property
That means that the maximum number of days that you and your family could reside in the home is a total of 33 days. In that scenario, you would have to rent out the property at fair market value for the remaining 330 days. I don’t know about you, but that is an incredibly high bar to meet for a rental property. Oftentimes, there is a week or two throughout the year that a beach house probably goes unrented, like during Thanksgiving or Christmas time.
If you reside more than 14 days or more than 10% of the total days that you rented, the property would be considered personal in use. Thus, you would no longer be able to claim expenses if they exceed the amount of income received throughout the year.
So much for using your beach property when it’s not being rented.
Deduction Limitations Due to Income
Let’s make the assumption that you follow the letter of the law and only utilize the beach house for two weeks. Great news: you’ll be able to deduct your rental expenses on your Schedule E up to $25,000.
Now, here is the bad news.
If your modified adjusted gross income exceeds $100,000, the expenses for the beach house begin to get phased out until they reach $150,000, when the allowance is no longer allowed. So, if you make more than $150,000, you can no longer deduct losses on your current year’s taxes.
While a beach rental property situation sounds amazing in principle, I realized that I’d really need to buy at a very low price in order to receive a substantial profit.
Yes, I owned a beach rental in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. While it did make small annual profit, after pain management fees, we decided that profit wasn’t high enough to justify us dealing with it. So we wound up selling back and reallocating those investment dollars elsewhere.
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Thanks for sharing Brad!!! I’ve had other friends share that they had similar experiences and unloaded the rental over time!!!
Thanks for breaking it down. The beach house is looking less and less attractive.
Hahaha…sorry to break the bad news. It’s a tough way to make money 🙁
Great article Rob, and a topic that I’ve got considerable interest in personally! When we’ve looked at these types of properties, we’ve always focused on positive cash flow but one of the aspects that we always forget about with our other rental property is net equity gain as the mortgage approaches maturity and you are paying down more principal. For us it is our “forgotten savings account”. Not considering market appreciation, we’ve found that it’s a good way to forget a $20 bill in your jeans.
What do you think?
It’s definitely a forced savings account that allows you to diversify away from the stock market. I was a little shocked by the tight margins, especially with a property manager. But if you think that beach houses will appreciate significantly, the equity might make it worth it 🙂
It does sound great in theory and I get tempted when I watch shows on HGTV of people acquiring properties and getting rental income. My personal view is to avoid getting another mortgage and being kind of obligated to visit the same property each time. I’d rather visit different beaches and different properties to get more experiences. 🙂
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I’m right there with you SMM!!! I would hate to feel like I have to go on vacation to the same place every year. While my wife and I enjoy OBX, when the kiddos are older we’d like to branch out and go to some more exotic locations 🙂
Some day we might do this with a lake home. Hopefully cheaper then ocean . But I think the defining factor would be less the investment itself and more setting up a home to retire to later on.
Great points Full Time Finance!!! BTW…I am a huge fan of lakes and think I would prefer a lake house, but my wife loves the ocean and the sand. So if we did buy one in the future, it’ll probably be a beach house.
You don’t mention anything about the risk posed by rising sea levels due to climate change. Furthermore, the Outer Banks have been subject to severe beach erosion (regardless of CO2 levels) since their formation.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/special-features/2014/07/140725-outer-banks-north-carolina-sea-level-rise-climate/
http://www.wbur.org/news/2017/08/09/north-carolina-outer-banks-erosion
Although the links are specific to the Outer Banks, this risk is true for all coastal property.
You may want to consider buying vacation property inland.
Great points Dan!!! I didn’t even consider global warming and have seen some beach houses in Ocean Isle, NC fall in due to erosion of the beach. It’ll be interesting to see how beach communities look 50 years from now.
Thanks for the analysis. I live in New Jersey, which has some of the best beaches on the eastern seaboard, and the road network that North Carolina beaches lack (yep, been to NC, been stuck in traffic for 2 hours to go 10 miles).
I’ve thought about it, but haven’t done the deep analysis that you show here. Still haven’t pulled the trigger, and after reading this, probably won’t.
thanks again!
Mr. 39 Months
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I haven’t been up to NJ beaches in a decade or so but I was definitely impressed. Definitely a hidden secret for those that live South 🙂
My wife and I have been back and forth on this same issues for 5 years now. We actually determined that a lakeside cabin in the mountains would be better because of it’s year-round versatility (swimming/golfing in the summer, skiing/snowmobiling in the winter).
Just when we thought we were ready for a vacation home, time and money cons far out weigh our commitment to the home. Are we really committed to going every weekend? This is the question we have never been able to answer, so we continue to rent for now.
If you have the Rambling Fever and a Gypsy Soul, like us, probably best to throw time and money at a rental each year and all the other places you have on your wish list.
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I’m right there with you. I’d rather take the money and create new memories around the world than be locked into one location. I’m sure I’d feel different if I found a place that I really loved. However, I haven’t found that one special location that I’m drawn to go back to over and over again.
I look at it more like our rental revenue makes the lake cottage pay for itself, so it’s like we have it for free. P.S. Property management is more like 10% here. But then again your property taxes are 60% less than I pay(MI), different areas I guess.
That’s interesting to hear how different taxes/expenses are in different areas. That’s crazy to hear that property taxes are 60% cheaper. That’s awesome!!!
Having had rental properties – including one near the beach, I feel what is often left out of the calculations (especially when managing it yourself) is the time, management effort and emotional stress that is extracted from you. I’ve had leaking roofs, a botched burglary and intimidating neighbors to say the least. Contrast that with having a share portfolio. It does require a good deal of homework to pick good companies and the will to withstand some ups and downs, but I’ve had far better returns and with no angst.
Great points Simon!!! This is one of the main reasons I prefer stocks. Low maintenance and no late night calls 🙂
A few years ago my husband and I asked our CPA about rental property and here is her answer:
Real estate generally does not appreciate as fast as good investment funds. There are boom markets when real estate does appreciate faster but with interest rates due to rise, that may be a long time coming. Also, you have to consider if you want to be a landlord. Things break – I see hot water heaters, new AC or heating systems, major roof repairs, etc. all the time. Tenants who “small” dogs tear up the place. Tenants who have pets when it’s not allowed. Etc., etc. Some people don’t like the bother, others like having something to occupy their time.
We heard her loud and clear, if we need something “to do” buy a rental property.
An add-on to her thoughts is we have very dear friends who owned a Hilton Head, SC beach house they rented for a number of years. When my friend showed me her spreadsheet of expenses I was surprised to find her rental income covered everything but the mortgage payment. So although she was further ahead than if she didn’t rent at all she wasn’t making a profit. Even though her expenses such as utilities, insurance, etc would be paid for by renters rather than herself, the best she could hope for in the future once the mortgage was paid off was to break even. They ended up selling once their own children got careers and moved too far away to enjoy it the house with them.
All that said, a beach house does not have to be a monetary investment. It can be an investment in family and making memories. I have three neighbors who own beach houses that they do not rent them out. My one neighbor bought his beach house with a 10 year plan. Once his last child graduated from high school he sold it. He simply wanted his children to have childhood memories of summers at the beach. They didn’t surf and sunbathe all day though. When old enough they got jobs scooping ice cream at the local ice cream store and bagging groceries at the local grocery store. As parents they had to do some creative juggling since both parents couldn’t always be there at the same time. But, it worked for them. My other two neighbors continue to own and are now making memories with their grandbabies as well.
So my takeaway is, our friends and neighbors who have not become disenchanted with beach house ownership are the ones that have treated their second homes as an emotional anchor for their family, using it to make mental, emotional, social and physical memories, rather than a monetary investment.
Thanks for sharing MSM Mama!!! That’s incredibly true. Not every decision that is made has to be a financial decision. What are memories really worth compared to money 🙂
Good analysis here, Rob. I think you’re right on with your numbers. Maybe even a little rich charging $5k for a 3 bed place during peak season but again, probably not far off(!) I think there are many people who look at rental places for AirBNB and it turns out the same. If your purchase price is amazing or you do a lot of repairs and can rent for more, or you manage it yourself (congrats you now have a 2nd job!), it doesn’t really work all that well.
Like you said you do benefit from the principal payments and if you already lived at the beach and the management was easy? That may work. I agree with MSM Mama, though; just invest it and go enjoy life!
That’s just awesome!!!
Only time will tell if it is a good “investment,” but so far it has been “worth it” for us. We crunched numbers for years looking at each house’s historical rental and utility data before closing on a house that met our emotional and financial criteria. Ocean views, four bedrooms, pool and hot tub. A sale price and mortgage rate that ensured that if we needed or wanted to rent it out, the owner rental income from Memorial Day through the end of September (minus 1-2 weeks personal use during that time) would cover the mortgage, taxes, and insurance payments for the year and cut into utilities/maintenance costs such that our out-of-pocket “expected” expenses roughly equals what we’d pay someone else to use their house for the amount of time we’ll use it during the year, if not less. The “unexpected,” one-off maintenance/improvement costs we view as the price of maintaining any home to preserve/increase value. Rental inflation and a steady mortgage work in favor of owners over time. Regardless, our equity is steadily building in a home that serves as a memory creator and emotional anchor, as others have put it, for our family. When our kids are grown, it will be paid off (with income generating power). The OBX is central to us, but if we go somewhere else one summer, then an extra week of rental income can go toward that.
Excellent post
I’m all in with you guys
It’s not all about making money, for some of us more grounded it’s about making memories.
Congratulations to y’all
Really well written article, even though I’m from the UK I found it really interesting and gave me lots of pointers. A house by the sea for my family would really be the dream!
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Hiring competent people for your business is also a good idea. Learning to multi task and knowing all your financial reports. The expenses like tax and all is really important. This is really helpful. Thanks.
Beach property is very expensive. I wouldn’t be able to afford that yet.
I would really absolutely LOVE a beach house but in all honesty in the UK these are not qyite as glamorous and would definitely not q make the same sort of profit
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Can you own a beach as well as a beach house?
Thank you for pointing out that you can use a beach house to get some income. My husband and I are wanting to buy a beach house and need to find the right one. I’ll have to do some research and find a great beach house in my area.
Read this blog at the right time, i was about to make an investment in the beach house but havent account for some of the thing mentioned in your article, i will have to re evaluate things.Thank you very much for sharing this .
We bought a lot in Sea Acres on Plover Drive in Duck, in 1980. Wee Winks was the only store in Duck. In 1987 we built a home. First years rental, 8 weeks. NO, IT DID NOT COVER THE MORTGAGE OF $800 PER MONTH. Several Property Management companies later with the same shortfall,we decided during the infancy of the Internet to rent it ourselves with a simple web site I developed. Rentals improved, but now we had the headaches of hoping the cleaners or maintenance person when stuff broke down, showed up…which was hit and miss. In 1999, fed up with the problems and LACK OF INCOME TO COVER, we sold. From a personal perspective, the whole area is overbuilt, overpriced, overcrowded, and long ago lost any appeal which attracted us for investment or vacation. Although we sold 20 years ago, the negatives has become worse, The property management companies always feed you a line and take your money.
Tenants back then used to damage the property…can’t imagine what happens today. My advice, unless you can deal with a money losing situation, and people with their hands on your wallet for all kinds of fees, and the very real possibilty that a Cat 3 hurricane will level it, stick to renting someone else’s “dream”.
Nice article but you missed something.
We also love the Outer Banks. We’re on the verge of purchasing a beach home in Hatteras. Notice I said home, not house. We won’t live there, however it will be a legacy we pass on to our children.
If y’all are looking to buy a beach house for income purposes forget it, walk away. At best it will provide enough $$$ to help pay for itself but that’s uncommon. You’ll still need a certain amount “out of pocket” to pay for maintenance and upkeep. It’s a long term investment, not a money maker.
Everyone we know who owns beach property has started an LLC to offset tax implications. I wish you’d have done research on this and included it in your article.
Well written, but give us that option.
Nice article but you missed something.
We also love the Outer Banks. We’re on the verge of purchasing a beach home in Hatteras. We will be renting it out during the summer season. We’ll visit in the off season when we can. Fall in the Hatteras is a most beautiful time. The house will be a legacy we pass on to our children and grandchildren.
If y’all are looking to buy a beach house for income purposes forget it, walk away. At best it will provide enough $$$ to help pay for itself but that’s uncommon. You’ll still need a certain amount “out of pocket” to pay for maintenance and upkeep. It’s a long term investment, not a money maker. The payoff comes 20 to 30 years down the road when you sell and take your chunk of money back, if that’s what you decide to do.
Everyone we know who owns beach property has started an LLC to offset tax implications. I wish you’d have done research on this and included it in your article.
Well written, but give us that information also.
Hey Rob, Very insightful and well-written article! The information you have shared through this article is really impressive and very helpful to me. Thanks for sharing the valuable information with us and I loved your post. Keep Posting Similar articles.
Outstanding blog post! What every prospective investor needs to know; and what no vacation property realtor will (voluntarily) tell you. Very well thought out and explained. If it were such a great money maker, why would anyone sell? There would be no inventory of available properties. And yet the vacation home market seems to be booming. Buy a vacation home because you can afford it and want it. If you can offset some of the expenses by renting it out, great.
I totally agree 🙂
What if you buy the house for cash? With your numbers, thought they may be optimistic, and even including the cost of someone to manage it then the return is slightly greater than 5%. Also if you use the house for personal use why not pay rent to yourself? Then you get around the 14 days or two weeks and can still expense out and depreciate. Comment?
I have to admit I’m not a CPA and I know theoretically that you can rent to yourself just unsure of all the tax repercussions.
I recognize that I’m really late to the game on this one (my wife and I happen to be closing on a North Carolina beach house tomorrow). That being said, I think this post is generally true, but leaves out one really big factor — principal payments in mortgage rates. In your calculation, mortgage payments basically just fly into the air, never to be seen again. For very high mortgage rates (the kind our parents warned us about from the late 70s), this may be true. But nowadays the interest is really low. I myself am getting a rate of 3.15, and the amount of my mortgage payment that goes to paying down principal is about 45-50% right off the bat. Since generally you recoup this in selling the property (the value doesn’t decrease significantly), this essentially becomes money I pay myself (or “forced savings”), rather than an expense. That’s an extra $12,000 to add to your yearly earnings (or knocked off of your expenses, depending on how you want to measure it), and it increases as you pay down the mortgage!