W E A LT H A S A VAC AT ION
the various vacations you have taken and wish to take in the future, and be laser-focused on your short-, medium-, and long-term goals.
2.1 VRP is a Business, NOT a Hobby Investing in vacation rental property isn’t a decision made overnight. There are many variables to consider, and many skills to master. Learning more about all of these will help influence your fi nal decision on whether to start a business in this growing industry. I am genuinely enthusiastic about every aspect of owning vacation rental property. I love the fact that investing in VRP offers your family fi nancial returns combined with quality time in beautiful locales around the world. VRP is my business and my passion. But here is what is it not: my hobby. You cannot treat a VRP investment like a little side hustle that you’re just doing for fun. You also cannot embark on a VRP purchase thinking, “This is a no-brainer!” To illustrate what I mean, let’s take a look at a Canadian VRP investor named Richard. Richard loved to get out on the water, so he and his family spent every year at a fishing lodge in the summer. They rented it, year after year. It was a really nice lodge with about a dozen standalone homes on the property and gorgeous views of a pristine lake. One year, that fishing lodge converted and merged with a bigger property on the same lake. This new entity had about 50 homes altogether, and they were all put up for sale. Richard thought, “This is great! We’ll do this.” Before he chose to buy this property, the rental operation was completely hands-off. There were no services—you just got a code to a keypad on the door of your little home, and you were on your own. After it was converted, the managers put in a central check-in location, with someone at a counter. Unfortunately, this was done without a lot of forethought. Basically, someone had tried to create a VRP community but didn’t go all the way. They just said, “Eh, here. We’ll
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