We've been in the vacation rental business for almost four years now. But it certainly didn't start out as a business, so to speak. Rather, it began as a simple idea to buy a vacation home for ourselves, and then rent it out part-time to help cover a portion of the mortgage and carrying costs. This simple idea has evolved into a real business that has far exceeded our initial expectations. We have developed systems, processes, and developed a team to help everything run smoothly. People often ask me how we got into this and why we like doing it, so I thought I'd write a quick post on the top five reasons we think you should take the leap and start your own vacation rental business.
#1: You'll have a place to retreat with family and friends.
In today's hectic world and with our very busy lives, we sometimes don't take time to decompress and unwind. We work tireless hours at a job we don't really like and continuously trade time for money year after year after year. Naturally, we do this to support the busy lifestyles we create and to pay for all the stuff we think we need to impress all the people we know and even those we don't know. The free time we do have is consumed by our kids' sports schedules and their extracurricular activities. Ever hear the term, Uber Dad or Uber Mom? Yea, that's pretty much us too.
Since we own two vacation properties in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, we need to leave Florida to check on them periodically. This creates a very deliberate opportunity to getaway. Even if just for a few days at a time, having vacation homes forces us to plan ahead and make time to go and relax. Call it a vacation, call it a work trip, call it what you will. I like to call it a retreat and find that it's the perfect opportunity to spend quality time with family and close friends. My family loves going up to the mountains to "escape from the real world." The only downside really is having to say goodbye and return to our hectic real-world lives. But knowing that we'll (have to) return soon helps me get by until the next trip.
#2: You'll make memories and build a family legacy.
Your almost 13-year old daughter might not realize it now, but that moment she had standing alone with Grandma in front of Dry Falls talking about life (or whatever the topic might have been) will be instilled in her memory forever. That time Tanner and I "crushed" (his words not mine) Tessa and Tucker at Foosball in the basement at Once Upon a Stream will be forever remembered as the one time Tanner actually beat his big sister at something. That time at New Years at Top of the Rock when we all slid down the icy driveway on saucer sleds and Kaitlyn ran square into Mr. Kurt and knocked him off his feet- now that was funny right there. I doubt they'll forget about that! Oh, and that time when we were hiking in Panthertown valley and what should have been a short two-mile hike turned into seven miles? Why you ask? Well, of course, it's because I got us lost. No, not because mom was leading the family and missed the sign where we were supposed to turn. It was naturally my fault because I took over navigation duties after we got lost and had to get us back to the car. We still joke about this every time we go hiking.
You see, memories aren't supposed to be canned or manufactured. They shouldn't be forced and I can assure you they aren't made by staging your Instagram-worthy family photos while on vacation. All that does is cause a fight when the middle child (ahem, Tanner), won't stop goofing off and continues to be a turd while you're trying to take the perfect family photo to impress all of your friends on social media. But I digress. Making memories should come organically and you may not even realize that it's happening at the time. You know you've succeeded when your kids remember something special and ask "do you remember that time when...?"
#3: It allows you to satisfy your inner entrepreneurial spirit.
This point may not resonate with everyone. But for me, this is one of the best parts of owning a vacation rental business. I have always had a deep entrepreneurial spirit inside. The thought of running my own business and not being beholden to a company is very appealing. I'd rather spend my time and energy building something for my family versus someone else. For me, more control over my own destiny is better than no control and I love the idea of creating a legacy for my kids to take over someday. Does this sound like you?
I've had so much fun over the last few years watching our vacation rental hobby grow and evolve into the thriving hospitality business that it is today. We have plans to continue scaling the business but want to grow it slowly and responsibly. Because I'm a very creative guy, marketing and branding are probably my favorite aspects of it all. Since buying our first property, I've learned how to build my own website and have become fairly savvy with Facebook advertising. And the best part- I get to put my MBA to work every day strategizing on how to grow the business. You certainly don't need an MBA to do what we're doing. But, finally being able to utilize the knowledge and skills I gained certainly does make me feel better about writing the check every month for my graduate school student loans. Becoming an entrepreneur and starting a business might not be for everyone. However, if you have that spirit nagging inside of you to try something new, this might be a great way to satisfy the itch.
#4: It's a smart piece of your retirement strategy.
Do you have a retirement plan? If you're like most people, you've been contributing to your 401-K retirement plan for years now and are hopeful that you'll have enough cash to support your lifestyle when the time comes to retire. But how much will you need? Do you plan on lowering your cost of living and quality of life after you stop working? It seems like a crappy idea to work your butt off for decades only to have to make major cutbacks for your golden years. Who wants to do that? I certainly don't. On the contrary, I want to live even more comfortably when I retire. Owning vacation rental homes is an integral part of our retirement strategy.
By the time I "retire", I'm hopeful that our vacation rental homes will be either paid off or nearly paid off using other people's money. That's right, other people are actually paying for our retirement. It may seem farfetched, or hard to believe, but I assure you it's true. Every month when I write the checks for the mortgage, I use money in an account that is funded from the rental revenue we collect. After I retire from my day job, I will have (at least) two vacation home assets that can either be sold to put a large sum of cash in my pocket or kept as rentals to provide positive cash flow to live on. Speaking of cash flow, let's look at reason #5 to start a vacation rental business.
#5: You'll generate passive income through positive cash flow.
Are you working your butt off at a job to make money for someone else or to help them build their business instead of yours? Maybe you're a doctor or a lawyer and it is your business that you're growing- good on you! But don't you get tired of trading time for money? You can make more and more money, but whether you want to believe it or not, your time is finite and your days are numbered! You'll continue to trade more time for more money until you ultimately run out of time. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather spend my time doing what I want to do rather than on what pays the bills.
But we find ourselves in a vicious cycle, don't we? We first buy an expensive suit and shoes to impress the people we work with. Then we leave our expensive house and get into the expensive car and drive an hour each way in traffic to the job that we hate. We spend all day working to pay for the aforementioned stuff and operate under the false premise that we are doing it all to support our families that we never get to see. We miss our kids' school plays, baseball practices, and bedtimes because we are traveling for work and sleeping in hotels. But hey, we're Platinum Elite with Marriott, right? So out of guilt, we buy more stuff and join more clubs for our families to enjoy because we're not there. As a result, we must work harder and travel more in an effort to make even more money to pay for all the new stuff. And the cycle repeats until one day we wake up and our kids are grown up and off to college and our marriages are in shambles. Folks, it doesn't have to be this way.
By starting a vacation rental business, you'll be on your way to financial freedom and workplace independence. You'll start generating passive income that you really don't have to spend much time earning. The time you do have to invest will be on your schedule. You'll be one of those mysterious guys/gals at Starbucks who works from a laptop and out of a backpack. While the money won't allow you to quit your day job immediately, it will help to ease some of the pressure. It may even allow you to take a step back from your career as a tradeoff for a better quality of life. And I'm not just talking about having more stuff- that will come in due time. I'm talking about having the time to actually enjoy everyone and everything in your life.
So are you ready to take the leap? Maybe you've been considering doing something like this for a while. Or maybe you've never even considered it and the title of this post caught your eye. While starting a vacation rental business might seem infeasible, it can become a reality and may even be easier than you think. Once you take the leap, I'm confident you'll find owning a vacation rental business to be rewarding both financially and to the health of your family and loved ones. As always, I welcome your feedback- please feel free to comment below and please share this post with your friends. Oh, and don't forget to subscribe to get our weekly posts in your inbox.
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