This is a collection of posts that I decided to make just one post. Hopefully this prove useful if you are looking to get started with an Airbnb. The posts are arranged from latest to the oldest starting back in March of this year. I’ll keep adding to this page and things develop.

We have an external site for our Airbnb (nvstay.com) but it’s offline at the moment as we are working on getting permission from the HOA and a Permit from Sparks. That’s all in the most recent update. The site is so nice! I took a lot of video and photos which are all integrated into a very slick site. Hopefully I’ll be able to launch it again soon.

October 8th 2022

Some things to consider

Having run an Airbnb for a few months, I can tell you just how great it is to make extra income, but also tell you that the income can get sucked up pretty quick by incidentals even if you are prepared and careful.

We do not live near our Airbnb, it’s in another state. So if the weeds in the driveway (which I have taken care of many times) get a little long, the homeowners association, who seem to have nothing better to do than watch each house in the neighborhood with eagle eyes, sends us a fine. Living on a ranch as we do, with acres of vineyards around us and no neighbors, has many benefits. Like no homeowners association. The homeowners association in Sparks is so aggressive and so unpleasant, we think about selling the house just to lose that stress.

On top of that is property taxes which cost quite a bit per month. We paid cash for this house, but it’s almost like we have a mortgage, alongside the utilities and the association fees, and now, a brand new fine from the county. Turns out you have to have a permit to use your house for an Airbnb. We don’t have one and we did not know we needed one. Our realtor knew this was what we wanted to do with it, and we asked several times if it was okay. We were told it was fine. So now we are trouble and we had to shut things down until we get it sorted. So we are paying fees and not making any income. :sad-dog:

We have a few options. We can sell it and move on. We would make enough off the sale to be worth it. Houses have gone up and we did a lot to it to improve it. We could continue doing what we are doing and keep playing these games with the association. last option, we turn the whole thing over to a management company and we move from all this headache to truly passive income.

I don’t really want to pay a management company, but I am also tired of the 5 hour drives to Reno to take care of things. I also think that might help with getting more business. If we can just one more stay per a month, we will be pretty positive on the income, even with the management company. And there is a huge part of me that wants this to be a big success and I want to overcome these challenges. It’s a beautiful area, we just did not account for permits, associations, and neighbors. We really should have. We are spoiled living the country life and doing whatever we want.

So we will figure out the permit and get things moving. If not, we will try this again, but this time closer to home. I hear this is welcomed in other states, I think we chose a bad place to try and do this.

August 20th 2022

Welcome to our home!

Our first guests are in the house and so far, so good!

We have made a handful of trips over the last few months getting the place ready. From new flooring, to electrical, to very Airbnb specific things like moving some electrical and the internet drop into a closet that locks so we can secure the routers.

This last trip I drove a car up and flew back on Aha! for $100. I spent a few days adding some final touches, as well as getting Covid. Covid finally got me, but after the first 48 hours I am feeling better.

Our first guests are staying 10, the a few days after some guests are staying for 3 days. Just these two visits will net us almost $4500.00 after Airbnb takes their fees. Since we own the house free and clear, that’s money straight into out account. Calculate in utilities and taxes and it’s an incredible bit of passive income. That’s just two sets of guests!

It’s been a very long haul to get here, but I am so glad we did. We estimate that if we can keep it going like this, inside of 1.5 years we will be able to purchase another home and do the same thing. From there it should snowball. Nothing is for sure and this world is anything but stable, but we plan knowing that the future is not in our hands and ultimately we have much deeper riches than money. It does help with raising 9 kids though. 🙂

You can find a link to our Airbnb here.

July 4th 2022

Opening an Airbnb From Scratch III

We spent another several days getting the Airbnb ready to open. We thought we might get it this time, but several unexpected things came up during our time. We also decided to add a few more projects to make this place better before opening for business.

The last time I was here was to take care of some projects and check the 4 rooms that had hardwood flooring installed. I spent 3 days installing, prepping and painting baseboard. It was brutal! This time I was with my wife and our friends (Rick and Katherine who are a huge reason why we bought a house here). There were a ton of trips to Home Depot and Walmart, (and a few to Home Goods), but also lots of fun times with our friends including a few double date nights and a movie. While the work is constant and not always fun, it’s great to be doing this together as a couple and we do feel so very blessed to be able to do this. It takes a lot of effort and investment of time to put off the stress that can come with owning two homes, fully furnishing the second one from scratch, and hitting deadlines and scheduling what needs to get done from 5 hours away. We are doing it! Once we have this down and have forged our way through the difficulties, I can see us doing this again and again.

DONE

• We got the Nest Thermostat installed and it’s awesome. Having a way to lock a range in that a guest can use is a huge benefit. For example, I have it locked at the moment so that you can set the temp as low as 72 and as high as 85, and locked into just cooling. No accidental use of the heater.
• We did a TON of yard work, both in front and back. In other words we filled 8 trash cans with weeds and clippings. Our neighbors are loaning us some of their trash cans so we can get it all out of here in the next few weeks. All our neighbors are just so awesome. Our friends will help us get those to the curb since we are not there to do it.
• The hot tub is filled and running great, all chemicals added and good to go.
• Front door lock replaced with Nest digital lock. I love this thing! Looks amazing and works like a charm.
• Lots of stuff hung on the walls.
• All bedrooms have really nice furniture, beds are built! Brand new high end mattresses and bed frames, dressers, they look great!
• Washer and dryer installed and working.
• Replace several can lighting with new ones that are LED based.
• Replace remaining lights in house with new white bulbs.
• Leak under the kitchen sink fixed and new dishwasher installed.
• Internet updated, secured second network for guests.
• TV’s mounted on the walls.
• Installed curtain rod and curtain on back slider.
• All bedding washed and put on beds.
• A few more security measures installed.
• Garage is empty!
• Coffee Bar completed.
• Fixed back slider lock and added security bar.
• Rest of furniture in place.

To Do

• Get irrigation figured out! The entire front and back yards have irrigation, but no water. It’s a mystery!
• Electrician comes to add electrical to 4 rooms and installs ceiling fans. These rooms have switches, but no lighting. So we are having that added so lights do not have to be lamps and the fans will help with keeping the place cool.
• Electrician to add electrical to a lockable closet so I can secure our network equipment.
• Replace default router from Spectrum with a Ubiquity UDM just like I have here at home.
• Get lawn back to life.
• Get a gardener to regularly keep this place looking good.
• Add a another TV for game room where the pool table is.
• Print signs for guests. Things like rules and how to use stuff.

March 18th 2022

A House

A few weeks ago my wife and I came to Reno Nevada to spend some time with our very good friends. We wanted to catch up because we really miss them, (they moved from Fresno a year ago) do some hiking, and have some fun without the kids. 🙂

We fell in love with this place. It’s beautiful here. The mountains, the snow, the sheer amount of free land you can hike on, camp on, four wheel around … it’s perfect. There are wild horses running around … it’s like a movie. Seriously. So we made a decision to look for a house here. We have been wanting to get into the Airbnb/Vrbo space for awhile, and this presented as a great opportunity.

So I am back this week spending a few days with our friends while we close on a house! It’s been a real adventure just getting the house in this market. We had to do a lot, and it’s definitely a seller’s market, but in a few hours, it’s done! The house is really nice! It’s on a 1/2 acre and has lots of room for entertaining. It backs right up to some huge mountains and unlimited adventures!

I’ll be 100% honest. I could live here. In fact I would prefer to live here over California. We are 30 minutes from South Lake Tahoe, which is my favorite place in California, after my hometown and possibly Yosemite. The laws here make more sense and fit my thinking much more than California ever has. I may even give up my CA license and get a Nevada one. They don’t much care for Californians here, but I think I can change their minds.

I am still building the site, and we have some work to do before we open for business, but check out NVstay.com. We already have a bunch of stuff staged at home for our next trip here with a truck. Furniture and such. Stay tuned!