if you were buying a house on a lake to rent out, which lake

I want to find me a retirement house on a lake, but who can afford that? So I would like to find a place that I could rent out so it pays for itself until I am ready to retire in a few years. I had always thought it would be on Ky Lake, but with the invasion of Asian carp, I have all but given up on that dream. I am okay going out of state too. Need something that could be rented out year round or close to it, so likely not going north.

Where would you go? Let's hear your suggestions.
Thanks,
RJP

Good question in all sincerity. The answers will be of interest to me even though I'm not looking to do that.

for me the biggest factor would be what do you like to do?
if its smallmouth I would choose laurel dal or c land. giant largemouth would be chick, nickajack, gville.
crappie would be any of the crappie factories in Mississippi or north florida.
if you like to swim or water ski you cam cross north Florida off the list...gators lol.
seriously, look at where you will be spending most of your time

I have looked at places from St. Clair (too many cold months, but one of my favorite fisheries), to Weiss and G-ville, to Chick, Cherokee, etc., but I am asking for others opinions. Where would be a place you would go and rent a house for a week? I have been leaning toward Tennessee lakes for proximity and a variety of fisheries and no state income tax for retirement reasons. My dad has a place in Florida and my in-laws are there (don't want to get too close if you know what I mean), but have places we can go on St. John's and the Harris chain already. Just curious what others might think.
RJP

as you guys may know is on the Cumberland River in Burkesville KY. My wife and I started our search in East Tennessee on the South Holston/Wautaga just because we fly fish. Properties were pricy and limited. We used to go there and fish quite a bit but it was an 8 hour drive. We found the Cumberland and some property 12 acres and were going to build our dream home when we discovered the house on the lot next to us was for sale a couple of years earlier. Called the realtor and 30 minutes later had a deal! At the time we had a windfall and were able to pay cash.

The first year we didn't rent it out. Just didnt think we wanted to mess with it. But we did and this year we were pretty much booked from may to september. It pays all the bills and then some left over to put back into the property. We plan on moving there full time next June. And will most likely build a small cabin to either rent out or live in while renters are in our place. Its been very easy and haven't had any terrible or disrespectful guests. We use VRBO and had Air BNB but VRBO got better results.

I would say pick a place you REALLY like. My boss just bought a place in the Keys and last year and its rented enough to pay his bills and he has a mortgage. Sometimes I wish we were a little closer to Metropolitan area, we are also 20 minutes from town and an hour from Lowes or a Walmart. I would like to grow food for market and Burkesville is not great for that although they do have a Farmers Market on Saturdays. I also plan on guiding on the river and my location is fine for that.

To be honest with you when we first thought about renting I was like...who is going to want to come here? Fishermen and that's it I thought. NOPE! Lots of people, birthdays, family reunions in Somerset etc, anniversaries, getaway for a baby coming soon. Our area is not a high dollar rent district. We get 125 a night, 2 people and 25 per night each additional person maximum of 6 people total and a 75 dollar cleaning fee. Most rentals are 2-3 days.

If its close to you, you can clean it your self and mow the lawn etc or fix the AC. We are fortunate to have a lady down the road that cleans for a living and her son mows our lawn.If you have a management company do those things for you thats another expense.

YOU NEED TWO OF EVERYTHING! Its tough sometimes. We go down and I have projects most of the time. NO FISHING! But we love just being there and chilling out, watch the river, wildlife, hunt and fish when I can. House maintenance of waterfront property is a little more intense than inland.

You guys are probably bored to death already with this so Ill wrap it up. If you would like to discuss further let me know.

Chick, Neely Henry, Guntersville

[QUOTE=gforcetrivers;575372]as you guys may know is on the Cumberland River in Burkesville KY. My wife and I started our search in East Tennessee on the South Holston/Wautaga just because we fly fish. Properties were pricy and limited. We used to go there and fish quite a bit but it was an 8 hour drive. We found the Cumberland and some property 12 acres and were going to build our dream home when we discovered the house on the lot next to us was for sale a couple of years earlier. Called the realtor and 30 minutes later had a deal! At the time we had a windfall and were able to pay cash.

The first year we didn't rent it out. Just didnt think we wanted to mess with it. But we did and this year we were pretty much booked from may to september. It pays all the bills and then some left over to put back into the property. We plan on moving there full time next June. And will most likely build a small cabin to either rent out or live in while renters are in our place. Its been very easy and haven't had any terrible or disrespectful guests. We use VRBO and had Air BNB but VRBO got better results.

I would say pick a place you REALLY like. My boss just bought a place in the Keys and last year and its rented enough to pay his bills and he has a mortgage. Sometimes I wish we were a little closer to Metropolitan area, we are also 20 minutes from town and an hour from Lowes or a Walmart. I would like to grow food for market and Burkesville is not great for that although they do have a Farmers Market on Saturdays. I also plan on guiding on the river and my location is fine for that.

To be honest with you when we first thought about renting I was like...who is going to want to come here? Fishermen and that's it I thought. NOPE! Lots of people, birthdays, family reunions in Somerset etc, anniversaries, getaway for a baby coming soon. Our area is not a high dollar rent district. We get 125 a night, 2 people and 25 per night each additional person maximum of 6 people total and a 75 dollar cleaning fee. Most rentals are 2-3 days.

If its close to you, you can clean it your self and mow the lawn etc or fix the AC. We are fortunate to have a lady down the road that cleans for a living and her son mows our lawn.If you have a management company do those things for you thats another expense.

YOU NEED TWO OF EVERYTHING! Its tough sometimes. We go down and I have projects most of the time. NO FISHING! But we love just being there and chilling out, watch the river, wildlife, hunt and fish when I can. House maintenance of waterfront property is a little more intense than inland.

You guys are probably bored to death already with this so Ill wrap it up. If you would like to discuss further let me know.[/QUOTE]


Not bored. Great post! Good Advice.

I looked at the website or photos you had linked somewhere on here in the past.
Nice place! I was not able to determine where the place is other than near Burksville. Can you send me a link or or a reference point so I can look at on Google Maps.
[email]Peter@fishin.com[/email]

Thanks.
Peter

Barkley...cheaper than Kentucky and the lake's in much better shape than Kentucky. They actually have a shot at getting many if not all of the carp out of Barkley.

check email

[QUOTE=peter;575374]Not bored. Great post! Good Advice.

I looked at the website or photos you had linked somewhere on here in the past.
Nice place! I was not able to determine where the place is other than near Burksville. Can you send me a link or or a reference point so I can look at on Google Maps.
[EMAIL="Peter@fishin.com"]Peter@fishin.com[/EMAIL]

Thanks.
Peter[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=redearhoosier;575375]Barkley...cheaper than Kentucky and the lake's in much better shape than Kentucky. They actually have a shot at getting many if not all of the carp out of Barkley.[/QUOTE]

Is the canal an issue?