All Forum Posts by: Demetrius Harrell

Thank you all for your input, thoughts, and ideas. The 40 acres are very hard to maintain, so I have found a gentleman who can park his mobile home and maintain the land in return for free rent. I will be renting two of the casitas for rent to two different groups. I found a guy who has an RV/ boat storage facility and is out of the room and has a waiting list, so he will rent a portion of the land to park RVs and boats. I will be leasing another portion of the land to occasional parties and events. This was not my intention because I don't have the time to manage but I don't have any other options at the moment. Keep the ideas coming, please. Thank you 

@Demetrius Harrell This is great insight! So, so far I've reached out to Norwich Township and they have told me this property falls into Franklin County Zoning. Since it's not Hilliard or Columbus I will still need to apply for an AirBnb permit (but it's conditional).... one area that seems grey is this...I would need to apply for a variance to make this property an official wedding venue, but I know some air BnB's just use the property to host weddings. Does anyone know what the actual cut-off here is... or is it basically keep doing weddings but "don't piss off the neighbors". Open to all feedback here! 

 It definitely sounds like a good idea for diversification and creative use of the property. As a wedding venue though, the fundamental business model changes to an event site to cater towards the client demand. More often that would mean having amenities like tables/chairs, av hookups, lighting, etc to accommodate wedding functions. Of course that would probably depend on the type of weddings you decide to accommodate, but offering a bare bones facility that puts the responsibility decorations and material all on the client seems like it will severely limit your potential clients. I think licenses required for having food/beverages/alcohol served on the premise, even if not directly supplied by you, will also need to be considered.

If you proceed, you might also consider allowing other events as well, such as corporate retreats/functions. I attended a company "gala" out in galloway a few years back that I think would match what your idea would provide.

Side note, I used to walk past your campus properties all the time. I really like how they turned out!

There's a huge demand for venues right now, I've thought about doing this myself. I really like the rustic barn style but, at least in my area, they are everywhere. I would like to see something more unique that people are willing to travel for to use. Then again, the barns are always booked out for at least a year ahead of time in my area. I just worry about competition getting to strong in the barn venue market.

Also, keep in mind, a wedding venue isn't going to be near as passive as a standard single-family rental. But I would say the rental rates on venues make up for it!

Hey BP Columbus! 

I have 4 commercial buildings down on campus (OSU) and a single-family house out in Hilliard on 11.8 acres (half grass half wooded area). For about 3 years now I haven't figured out the best path forward except just to rent it out like a normal house. However, I've now got an idea of making this an STR while using the property as a wedding venue. I've seen the numbers on wedding venue rates and this looks much more attractive than just monthly rent. The idea would be to build HGTV-style big barn and turn the grassy areas into an apple orchard (low maintenance and possible ag tax credit down the line). I think this could be a better use for a large property with just one single-family house on it. Please let me know your investor thoughts!