Initial Primary Residence
Investment Info:
Single-family residence buy & hold investment.
Purchase price: $552,000
Colibri Cabin situated perfectly on 3 acres in a secluded pocket of Woods Creek Lake known as "Fisherman's Cove". Access to fishing, kayaking, & boating. Breathtaking views! If you want to explore London, KY a picturesque "heart of America" town, Main street is only a 5 minute drive away.
-10 minutes to great local restaurants
-Boat ramp 3 miles away (w/Parking)
-National Forest 15 minutes away
-Cumberland Falls 45 min away
-Wildcat off-road park with 2,000 acres of riding 3m.
What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?
This started out as our dream home, it made us "house poor". We stretched the limits of our budgets, cashed in everything we could, and made our dreams happen.
How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?
We didn't think we could afford it and simply went to admire the house. My wife fell in love with it. Without my wife knowing I contacted the bank and previous job's 401K, and wrote the owners the most powerful letter I had ever written on our desire to own that little piece of paradise. My wife had sacrificed a lot leaving her family in South America to move around multiple times while I deployed with the Marines. The owner's father had been a Marine, and the rest is history!
How did you finance this deal?
Liquidated my previous employer's 401K (taxes came back to haunt me years later!), lunch money, selling stuff on Marketplace, & the VA loan!
How did you add value to the deal?
My wife made it a beautiful home, added a hot tub, updated the HVAC, repaired the boathouse, remodeled the Master bathroom & several other items like emergency generator connection.
What was the outcome?
It was not our intent to become investors or Short Term Rental experts. We researched what we needed to do to offer our home to Veterans & victims (refugees) of war (Afganistan & Ukraine). We didn't know what it meant to "host" people. Then on day we came across an AirBnB ad about supporting people with our homes by learning to become hosts. We set up our home to host people and we've gone from 0 doors to 4 in one year!
Lessons learned? Challenges?
We didn't know anything about real estate investing, but quickly learned that what we were doing was called short term rental and is percieved to be risky & difficult. Since we didn't know it was difficult we simply learned it, automated it, and have expanded. This lifestyle has afforded us the ability to dream for Finanicial Independence while making a more immediate and significant impact to our causes then a W-2 could. We are still W-2 but now are walking towards finanical freedom & service!
Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?
Yes, throughout our journey we've had great support on our team. Mary Layton in Kentucky, Marg Watson in Fort Morgan, Candace Pfab & Chuck in Gulf Shores. eXp realty has been awesome!
Wow, when I began reading this, I was thinking "I bet this is going to be an extremely successful airbnb story" lol! Great job, yall really adapted and made the best out of this one!!
- Rental Property Investor
- Bowling Green KY ~ Lexington, KY
- 540
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- 1,243
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Quote from @Ramon Romero:
Investment Info:
Single-family residence buy & hold investment.
Purchase price: $552,000
Colibri Cabin situated perfectly on 3 acres in a secluded pocket of Woods Creek Lake known as "Fisherman's Cove". Access to fishing, kayaking, & boating. Breathtaking views! If you want to explore London, KY a picturesque "heart of America" town, Main street is only a 5 minute drive away.
-10 minutes to great local restaurants
-Boat ramp 3 miles away (w/Parking)
-National Forest 15 minutes away
-Cumberland Falls 45 min away
-Wildcat off-road park with 2,000 acres of riding 3m.What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?
This started out as our dream home, it made us "house poor". We stretched the limits of our budgets, cashed in everything we could, and made our dreams happen.
How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?
We didn't think we could afford it and simply went to admire the house. My wife fell in love with it. Without my wife knowing I contacted the bank and previous job's 401K, and wrote the owners the most powerful letter I had ever written on our desire to own that little piece of paradise. My wife had sacrificed a lot leaving her family in South America to move around multiple times while I deployed with the Marines. The owner's father had been a Marine, and the rest is history!
How did you finance this deal?
Liquidated my previous employer's 401K (taxes came back to haunt me years later!), lunch money, selling stuff on Marketplace, & the VA loan!
How did you add value to the deal?
My wife made it a beautiful home, added a hot tub, updated the HVAC, repaired the boathouse, remodeled the Master bathroom & several other items like emergency generator connection.
What was the outcome?
It was not our intent to become investors or Short Term Rental experts. We researched what we needed to do to offer our home to Veterans & victims (refugees) of war (Afganistan & Ukraine). We didn't know what it meant to "host" people. Then on day we came across an AirBnB ad about supporting people with our homes by learning to become hosts. We set up our home to host people and we've gone from 0 doors to 4 in one year!
Lessons learned? Challenges?
We didn't know anything about real estate investing, but quickly learned that what we were doing was called short term rental and is percieved to be risky & difficult. Since we didn't know it was difficult we simply learned it, automated it, and have expanded. This lifestyle has afforded us the ability to dream for Finanicial Independence while making a more immediate and significant impact to our causes then a W-2 could. We are still W-2 but now are walking towards finanical freedom & service!
Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?
Yes, throughout our journey we've had great support on our team. Mary Layton in Kentucky, Marg Watson in Fort Morgan, Candace Pfab & Chuck in Gulf Shores. eXp realty has been awesome!
Nice. Love this story and that pic is amazing. Seems like a very special property. You should be very proud.
