The Rental Property That Underperformed

The spreadsheet was beautiful. Seventy percent occupancy. Strong nightly rates. The listing sheet called the building “a proven income producer,” and the numbers seemed to prove it.

He bought the two-bedroom sight-seen but research-unseen: he toured the unit, but never audited the numbers. The projections came from the same people selling the condo.

Year one told a different story. Occupancy landed under half of what was projected. The nightly rate held only in the ten biggest weeks of the year. Gross revenue came in at roughly half the brochure.

Projections are marketing. Statements are evidence.

The autopsy was straightforward. The building had thirty nearly identical units, most of them on the rental market, all competing on price. His interior was dated — clean, but invisible in photos. His listing was self-managed from another time zone, with a static nightly rate set in January and forgotten.

Guests didn’t hate it. They just booked the refreshed unit two floors up, the one with the better photos, for fifteen dollars more.

The turnaround took one off-season and a five-figure investment: a designer refresh built for the camera, professional photography, a local manager with real revenue management, and pricing that finally moved with demand — high season, green season, holidays, events.

Year three gross came in two-thirds higher than year one. Same unit. Same building. Same beach.

The Story Timeline

The Cost

A year of revenue roughly half of plan

Five-figure refresh that should have been priced in

Twelve months learning management remotely

Carrying costs covered out of pocket

Lessons For Future Buyers

Insider Perspective

Where They Are Now

He keeps the first-year statement framed above his desk, he says, as the most expensive piece of education he owns.

Considering Playas del Coco? You can read the unfiltered local take on this area, or talk it through with us before you fall in love with anything.