A blank sheet, a space to fill. And believe me,I can fill some spaces. Hence the blog. Here's a quick rundown on how we got started in rentals. We bought a piece of land in 2012 running about 25 acres. We had big dreams for our own little piece of Texas. We camped there for about two years in our trusty Starcraft pop-up camper and quickly realized we needed something a little better...and bigger. About that time, I flew to DC to help my brother Joe and his family move from DC to Destin. On that impossibly long road trip (you never told me it would take 4 days) I spent a lot of time surfing the internet for housing ideas at the land. We call the land Five Sides, by the way. FIve Sides is rough natural raw land with trails on it. That was it. No plumbing, no electricity, no toilet - we had eventually built an outhouse!

The result of those four days on the road from DC to Destin: We moved a farmhouse ot the land. Another story, another day.

Then the kids started going to college. I was soon paying rent to another mom. That mom was just like me. Wait a minute - we can do this too! So for the next kid at Texas A&M, we bought a house and filled it with his friends. And repeated that for the next kid. WoW! What a great investment! College kids are great tenants, with parents who pay rent!

So if we can manage a long term college student rentals, surely we can manage short term rentals? Right? Dave was patient - explaining to me how it all worked. Really kinda sorta begged to consider doing this adventure. I was so reluctant. Wait -what - it's out of state? What? It's in TN? The price point is what? People vacation in our homes? Finally finally one day, we dove in. And we built a vacation rental cabin in the Smoky Mountains outside of Pigeon Forge. Another story for another day. Actually, a lot of stories. That cabin is now called Smoky Waters Lodge.

While that cabin was was blowing up, going south, chasing builders, etc, I found Rocky River Lodge. WOWZA. Our piece of Tennessee heaven. A big story there too!

Then, one afternoon we took a phone call from another investor friend about Gulf Shores. We literally flipped a coin on this house. I don't advise doing that...do your homework and due diligence. So now we also own and rent a beach house in Gulf Shores! Playa Paradise Retreat. Cute and fun, Gulf Shores is my happy place.

Dave and I jumped feet first on this adventure and we invite you to do the same. Thanks for getting this far with me. Hope to host you soon!