How to Buy an Investment: Our Smith Lake Journey

Is the dream of an investment property dead? NO. But, it’s trickier to find.

I have spent almost 2 years saving and searching for the right time and place to buy an investment. For my family, we wanted to explore a vacation rental that we could also use. The goal was that the cost would be offset by some short term rental usage.

The first place I researched was the Florida Emerald Coast- Destin, 30A, Rosemary Beach. It became apparent to me that there were a few things at play that no longer made this area a good investment. There have been blockages to public beach access and overcrowding has become a huge issue. I know the properties that are the safest bet were beachfront properties which felt out of reach for us.

I pivoted to Alabama and Orange Beach/Gulf Shores. I did find a few homes I liked, but there are definitely more short term rental restrictions that required me to look only in certain neighborhoods. This area is not out of the question for me forever, but I felt a tug to look in Charleston where I grew up. I adore Charleston and have so many fond memories of Folly Beach, James Island and Isle of Palms. I still feel a pull to these areas, but worried that I wouldn’t personally use a home there as frequently since it is a 9 hour drive.

Over the past 6 months I started searching Tim’s Ford Lake and didn’t see anything that excited me due to water depth and access to the water with a dock, so I started looking at Smith Lake in Alabama purely on a whim one sleepless Saturday night. I found a cute (but OLD) A frame I was obsessed with, but I took a couple of days to reach out to an agent, and sure enough, it went under contract very quickly. I became obsessed with that home and stalked it, and also began looking at other homes on Smith Lake.

The home we are purchasing should rent well based on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, lack of stairs to the water (Smith Lake has a gorgeous rugged shoreline, but this can mean sometimes over 200 steps from the home to the water), deep year round water, big water views and OH THE WINDOWS! After looking at Airbnb it should pay for itself, renting out about 30% of the year. While we don’t need it to rent this much, we realized that it is a good long term investment for our family to enjoy for years to come that we can rent while it appreciates in value. The property makes sense for us because we are thinking long term. Short term gains are very difficult in the current real estate market due to high home prices and rates, so we are playing the long game.

Keep following along for more inspiration and updates, especially when we get to my favorite part (OGs know what’s coming): the staging magic.