Opening a New Vacation Rental!

Over the past couple of years we have been busy around here and one of the things that we’ve done is open an Airbnb. It’s long been a dream of mine to turn our little guest house that sits behind our home into a vacation rental. So in the summer of 2021 we set aside a couple of months to fix it all up and get it ready to list on Airbnb.

It was going to serve two purposes. First, to be a place where our grown kids to stay when they come to visit. And second, when they weren’t using it we would rent it out as a small vacation rental.

BUT WOW! It was the biggest surprise to us is when it almost immediately started booking and has stayed busy from day one. Our area really doesn’t have a whole lot of exciting things happening. Yes, there are some things to do around here, but we are a little outside of what is already a small town, so we didn’t expect it to stay as full as it has. What a blessing!

I will say what our place lacks in activity we more than make up for in peacefulness, beauty and did I mention that on a clear night you can see so many stars in the sky you’ll feel like you’re in a planetarium? It’s so breathtaking that I step outside almost every night just before bed to look at it.

Turning our little guest house into a short term rental wasn’t my only dream though! I also dream of being closer to where my adult kids live. Between the 6 of them they live 3, 6 and 12 hours away by car. I drive to see them often, but I usually have to get a hotel room. Also I can only stay there a day or so because it’s been tough to find a way to visit them regularly AND run my business and homeschool. “Wouldn’t it be great,” I thought, “If I could have a little place in Garland (a Dallas suburb) that’s centrally located near the kids so I could stay a while and also be able to get school and work done?”

Slowly, slowly, God started to put the two dreams together…to maybe have a second vacation rental property and be closer to my kids. We realized that if we bought a little house in Garland and we listed it for short term rental when I wasn’t there it could potentially pay for itself AND maybe even become another business for us. I started studying the real estate in that area and my husband began figuring out the money end of it and we decided to go for it! It’s a little scary, but we are always up for an adventure!

I went up to Dallas a couple of weeks ago with an appointment with my sweet realtor friend, Randi, to spend a day looking at houses. We worked together to make a long list of possible places, but there was one house that really stuck out to me. It checked all of the boxes of what we were looking for and was really a perfect spot. My realtor made sure I had realistic expectations since houses in that area are selling very quickly and going for a lot more than asking price. I understood and was braced for anything.

There’s a whole, long, “wow look what God did” story, but the short of it is that we made an offer on the one I had a feeling about and it was accepted and within a week and a half we signed the papers and it’s ours! I know! Crazy fast and so many things fell into place that only God could do.

So now we are prepping to spend a lot of time over the next month or so in Garland, TX (hello grandbabies!) to fix up the house and get it ready to start renting. It will be a great place for anyone staying in the Dallas area but doesn’t want to spend an arm and a leg to be in the middle of the activity. My plan is to make it as peaceful as our current country rental place.

I will be sharing my journey all along the way over on my YouTube channel, so be sure you’re subscribed over there. And on Instagram stories I’ll also be doing a lot of candid, in the moment updating.

It all is a bit scary, but exciting to see what God will do with little old us, a family who is willing to jump in and try to do something they’ve been dreaming about!

Click HERE to see our current place!