Edible Bozeman Spring Edition – Investment Case Study

If you have seen our ad in the spring edition of Edible Bozeman, you will see reference to an individual who Range recently helped to purchase an investment property.

One of the unintended consequences of COVID was giving employers and employees flexibility in the work environment. Employees can now have success in their careers as fully remote or hybrid workers, in addition to the traditional workplace. The current economy also supports entrepreneurial endeavors, and many of those entrepreneurs have fully embraced the remote work life.

As a result, we have many clients who love Bozeman, see themselves returning here full time in a few years, but would also like to travel a bit before they have more responsibilities. We recently helped an MSU graduate who wanted to purchase something to live in for part of the year but wanted to rent it for the other months. We recommended that he look for something that would be attractive as a mid term rental. Mid term rentals, in addition to being in demand, are commanding more than unfurnished rentals, and are allowing our clients to save the time and expense of moving furniture in and out. Bozeman currently is experiencing a large demand from remote workers wanting to spend some time here and from workers coming here to work on 10 week plus contracts.

For this client, we were successful in finding a nice 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo located in the heart of Bozeman. We advised on furnishings and supplied our outfitting list for rentals so that it would be comfortable for him and his eventual renters. We had professional pictures taken, put the condo on the rental market, and quickly had inquiries. He is currently in the condo for the shoulder season, and we have already booked up the summer months !

We endorse this purchasing strategy for those who want to travel for a few reasons:

1. It uses the real estate asset as a vehicle for cash flow. In the best case scenario, it will cover expenses for more than just the rental months.
2. Depending upon your financial situation and advice from your accountant, there most likely will be tax advantages to owning such a property.
3. Owning a property in a place that you’d like to live in eventually is a great way to hedge against higher purchase costs in the future. The property that you buy now does not need to be your forever home, but the appreciated equity that you gain will help with a down payment on the forever home.

If you’d like to discuss how this strategy could work for you, please reach out to us!