Purchasing a vacation rental in another state does not necessarily mean you need to take the time to fly down, inspect the place and have a face-to-face meeting with the realtor.

Most people are averse to purchasing a home without seeing it in person first. However in many markets by the time you see a property and make arrangements to fly down, the house will have a pending offer already. There is wrong with purchasing a property without seeing it first, save for an unfounded fair.

Following are 4 steps that will get your house to be ready for hosting a vacation rental.

Understandably, this advice does not apply if you are doing the BRRRR method. In that case, you would want to see and consult with a contractor to determine what kind of renovations you should budget for. Neither would I suggest this if you are purchasing a luxury home. Then it does make sense to visit first and make sure things are similar to what was advertised.

However, if you are purchasing a 3/2 basic home that just needs a fresh coat of paint, perhaps some new carpeting and needs to be fully furnished, then this post is for you.

Step 1.

Look for a realtor in your target market. I generally base my preference on the realtor that has the most reviews on Google. I reach out and ask to be referred to an agent that has experience with the vacation rental market. Once I make this connection, I will have the agent check out houses that seem OK in online photos. The agent should visit the property and do a live stream or at least a video walkthru while mentioning issues in the house that might not be obvious in the video.
Once you have found your house and gotten it under contract proceed to the next step of getting a home inspector.

Step 2.

Hire a home inspector. I will use Google again and hire the best-reviewd home inspectors I come across. After calling a few, you can settle on one that provides the most detailed inspection but is not overpriced.

DO NOT hire an inspector referred by the realtor. There can be a conflict of interest so avoid mentioning who you will be using at all costs as they might know each other.

The home inspector will point out issues that only a professional can determine. If you are not construction savvy, you probably would not have noticed these issues even if you would have taken the time to visit the property.

Of course, ask the home inspector to point out obvious issues that the realtor may have failed to report in the initial walk-thru.

Step 3.

Find a designer. You can try to get a designer in the door with the seller’s permission while under contract to speed things up a bit. Generally, it is best to conduct an online meeting and discuss the look you want to have for your vacation rental. You will need the designers to not only choose the art and furniture but also facilitate delivery and set up from the local furniture store.  They might want a retainer to cover the outlay of the costs of purchasing on your behalf.

For dishes, small appliances, linens etc, you might want to shop online yourself as the designer’s hourly fee will make this an unnecessary expense.

Plan to have the realtor or designer bring in the items that will be delivered unboxed. I try to stack the delivery dates as close as possible so it doesn’t have to be more than 3-4 trips of putting boxes in the house.

Keep your shopping list in an Excel Sheet so you can easily purchase the same items for every Airbnb you buy.

Speaking from experience, I must have spent hours researching mattresses and lines when setting up my first Airbnb. On the second round, it took minutes. I did make some adjustments as prices change on the items that you previously purchase and might have been on sale. This is a good reason to not only keep links to what you purchased in your excel sheet, but what you paid for it as well.

Step 4.

Find a cleaner/manager.

This is the most important piece in setting up your vacation rental. A poor-performing cleaner will absolutely wreck your ratings. Try to find a manager that can also do small repairs, as breakage will inevitably occur.

Depending on your location, you might find a cleaner with a quick google search. In more remote locations, it might involve putting some ads in the local papers.

That’s it. You managed to do a vacation rental from a distance!