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investment homes, he built a clubhouse with picnic tables outside and a little grocery mart next to it. He also opened a seasonal malt shop for his summer renters. Everybody congregated there. What did Alan ultimately accomplish, all those years ago? He literally created one of the first VRP communities in the United States. And the remarkable thing is, he did it using a factory worker’s income. He lived in the area, saw the opportunity, and bought that first investment property. He marketed his rentals by sending out mailings and by relying on families who returned year after year. This was before it was possible to market vacation rentals online. Alan is a good example of a man who had a day job, a working guy who lived near a vacation destination, bought one home, and then started buying more because the business model worked. Where did his ability to buy those additional homes come from? It came from the revenue and the income from the first home, and then the first and second, and then the third. Alan didn’t get giant pay raises at any point; he was able to do what he did because of the equity he had in his homes. Alan from Okoboji was able to gain that equity quickly because of the higher revenue he generated from the rentals, which is part and parcel of the short-term rental model. In other words, he made so much money on that first property in one year that he was able to buy another one the following year—instead of waiting five years to purchase an additional investment property.
1.1 What is VRP? Vacation Rental Property (VRP) is simply the renting out of a furnished house, townhome, or professionally managed resort-condominium to tourists. A VRP is an alternative to a hotel room—a great alternative. Travelers around the world are participating in a massive shift right now, beginning to actively seek out and prefer VRP over hotels thanks to the promise of full kitchens, multiple bedrooms, and great locations in unique properties.
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