First Short Term Rental - Blowing Rock Airbnb

[Brooke Cottrell]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Blowing Rock.

Purchase price: $289,000
Cash invested: $10,000

Three bedroom, two bath vacation rental in Blowing Rock, NC.
Self managed.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Selfishly its located in an area that my husband and I enjoy. Best case scenario, it would be a nice source of cash flow each month. If it was a total flop; we justified that we could still enjoy having a get away less than 2 hrs. from our home. Not to ruin the surprise - but it has been killing it. So glad that we took the plunge.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Good ol' fashioned MLS.

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional financing

How did you add value to the deal?

Since our purpose was to use the property as an Airbnb; our #1 priority was to make our property appealing to potential renters. We did this through some very light aesthetic updates (fixtures, paint, etc.)...but nothing that would actually add significant value to the property.

What was the outcome?

It's our top money maker by far....which is important since: 1) We are self managing and 2) It's such a high touch point property.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Challenges:
1) Staying on budget with furnishings, decor, etc. I had a tendency to want to turn this into a "passion project".
2) Being on top of your calendar at all times - especially if you are listing across multiple platforms.