Larry Kendall, co-founder of The Group and author of Ninja Selling, calls it "Wake Up Money," assets that keep working while you sleep. The idea is simple: buy an appreciating property, let rental income help carry it, and reap the equity as your child approaches adulthood. Real estate is a relatively safe asset over a long horizon, and it offers incredible flexibility at the finish line: when it's time to liquidate, you can sell, refinance, gift it, or simply keep it.
Some families already do a version of this near a university, buying a home in the hope their child will live there during college, a built-in rent reduction for four years. It can work, but it leans on a hard prediction: which school, whether the child attends at all, and whether they'd even want to live there. A Steamboat condo answers the same goal with fewer strings attached, because it doesn't hinge on a decision an eighteen-year-old hasn't made yet.
In Steamboat, the vehicle is usually the family condo. Investors buy them all the time, and plenty don't "pencil out" as a pure rental, nightly and seasonal rates don't always cover the mortgage, HOA dues, taxes, and insurance. But the annual cost to own, once even partial rental income is applied, is often lower than people expect.
The family uses the place, ski weekends, summers, holidays, while a long-horizon asset builds equity in the background. The vacations are the dividend you can see; the appreciation is the wake-up money.
The history is hard to ignore: The Group's long-run data puts Steamboat single-family appreciation near 7.2% a year over the past 30 years, and condos have climbed alongside it. None of that is a promise, the past decade's outsized returns can't be guaranteed for the next, and real estate is illiquid and carries taxes, insurance, and the occasional special assessment.
Next to the usual tools, it's a real alternative. A 529 savings account grows tax-free but only pays for school. An index fund is liquid, diversified, and has historically returned about 10% a year, but it can't host a family reunion or be handed down as a place. For families already planning to spend on Steamboat vacations, that's at least worth putting on the table.
Figures are historical and drawn from The Group and local market reports; past performance does not predict future results. General information, not investment, tax, or legal advice.
