My wife and I are considering buying a lake house on Sam Rayburn for future retirement. We would also like to have some rental income from either families on vacation or tournament fishermen. I would like to find a place on the water and with a fully enclosed garage. We really don�t know the lake or the area very well so could you help by answering some of our questions:

1. Are most of your tournaments out of lower lake area or mid lake area?
2. Do you typically look for a hotel or rental house for the tournament?
3. What do you look for in a rental house (i.e. garage for boat, close to boat ramp, multiple bedrooms, in-town instead of at the lake)?

Thank you for your input.

There aren't a ton of waterfront properties and what there is is pretty $$$.

1.Most tournaments are out of Umphreys(by the dam) or Cassel Boykin(147 bridge area)
2. For tournaments I just look for the cheapest clean-ish bed as I don't plan to do anything but sleep there. 3.For family trips house is the way to go and waterfront is nice if available. Covered boat parking is also good but not a deal breaker just make sure plenty of parking and outlets close by for charging. Nice outside areas to hangout, grill, fire pit etc.

What he said

I don�t go to Rayburn a lot but have rented a home when I have gone. One was right on the water, the other about 10 miles. Both had covered parking for renters, fully enclosed garage for the owners. I still had to drive to the launch site for the tournaments or just to fish so both were about the same distance. One on the water was more expensive and not as nice as the one several miles from the lake.

My opinion is that you would be better off by the dam.. in Rayburn Country or that neighborhood right there off 255 across from gas station (Forest Hills I think?).

The reason why my buddies and I usually get a room rather than a house is because of the price. It's not so much the nightly rate of the house it's the cleaning and booking fees. For example, a listing right now for a very modest 1200 sq. ft 3 bed 1.5 bath home is $165/night (not bad) then a $75 cleaning fee and $80 service fee through VRBO.

4 nights is $1,154.60 or $288.65 night. Hotels in the area are $90/night.

If the guest are staying for several days then those booking and cleaning fees aren't a big issue but for 2 nights that same home is $397.50 per night with cleaning and booking fees.

I wouldn't count on much business. So little it might not even be worth your trouble.

If it were waterfront you might be able to catch some of the families that vacation for spring break and during the summer but a shack off the beaten path probably wouldn't be appealing to that market.

My 2 cents.

Exacty my experience with the cleaning and service fees. I think the best thing I�ve experienced is being able to directly contact the owner.