2 Years & Counting!

2 years ago this week, I was hosting my very first guests. They booked through Airbnb and were in town to attend Eastern Michigan University’s Homecoming weekend. 

I had closed on my house in late August of 2021. I made countless mistakes in my earliest adventures of posting my listing on Airbnb. Regardless, my first guests arrived on a Thursday in early October. 

I greeted them when they arrived, letting them know they were my VERY first guests (and hopefully buying some flexibility with their review!). They walked in and said, “OH! You mean like, fresh paint kinda new!” Yes, indeed. The painters had just finished the previous day (love them btw: C.D.D. Painting).

Not only that, the wood floors had been refinished the week before. The Zinus mattresses that everyone loves just arrived the day before. And, the paintings were hung and the whole house dusted the same afternoon the guests arrived (Special thanks to friend and realtor, Keri Middaugh)!

That first weekend would not be without it’s challenges. Namely, I still didn’t have a door installed between my space and theirs (material delays), so I had plastic bins and an Asian screen separating the two space, which did nothing to muffle noise. And, the first time a guest showered, water came pouring down into my downstairs hallway because my plumber had made a mistake when “fixing” my upstairs shower. #adventures (This was the first of my 10 craziest stories, continued below!)

Regardless, I felt a great sense of excitement, relief, pride, confidence, and contentment. I had done it. I had bought the property, renovated it, set up the listing, promoted it, bought the furniture, put the furniture together, decorated the space, and cleaned in 30 days.

Fast forward two years, and I wanted to reflect on two things: what I’ve loved the most about this adventure, and the craziest stories. Which to start with? 🤔

Craziest, most outlandish, can’t believe it, did that really happen? stories: 

1. Halloween 2021: My first undisclosed party. Post-college kids from U of M. Costumes, decorations, 20+ people, the whole 9 yards. They used my dining room table for beer pong. How do I know? I recognized the sounds, and they commented on it in my guest book. 🥹 👻

2. New Year’s Eve 2021: You guessed it! Another undisclosed party. I was smart and set the price at $499 for that night. But, of course, it was New Year’s Eve. Many cars, loud music, cleaning up spilled drinks the next day…Sigh. 

3. Snow Storms & A Steep Driveway: My guests were traveling to Toronto, moving from the US. We’d just had a snow storm. To be fair, they told me they’d have a U-Haul trailer, but that didn’t compute for me. I just thought: U-Haul. Well, their trailer got stuck in the snow the next morning. My plumbers arrived EARLY to change my water heater, which had broken. My guests couldn’t get out, so I had to call AAA. Meanwhile, the hot water went out, so my guests couldn’t shower. My guests also needed to use my copier in my space. As I was handing them their print out, I tripped and fell on hard plastic. I had a nasty, bloody gash in my leg. My plumbers took pity and reduced my bill. I refunded my guest, but he took pity too and paid me in cash. They left a 5-star review after all!

4. TV Smashes the Wall: A week later, I had two adults - a mom and her sister, and 14 girls on the waterpolo team stay at my home (that sleeps 6!). “Um….Natalie, are you home right now?” That was the message I got. I was. I went upstairs. A reality video game got out of hand and my TV fell off it’s stand and into the wall. They bought me a new SMART TV and I had my wall fixed. Not all guests would do this, so all in all, not a bad night!

5. Stained Sheets: A group of young adults - 3 couples - 6 in all, drove to Ann Arbor to get tattoos. That’s fine… Until I stripped the sheets and all of the sheets were stained with colored ink!

6. A Loud Fan: For a while, my exhaust fan upstairs in the bathroom was really, really loud. I was debating figuring it out myself (bad idea), or hiring a handyman (good idea). Before I did the latter, a very nice family man was certain he could fix it. He asked me for some tools, took it apart and showed me why it wasn’t working, attempted to fix it for quite a while, and in the end, said it was kaput. My loud fan was no longer. Instead, I had an ugly hole. That motivated me to call my handyman!

7. Pricing Matters & You Need to Ask Hard Questions: A young woman booked one of my single rooms in November of 2022. The slow season in Michigan is October through February, so I open my single room at lower prices to workers during that time. She was booking for her boyfriend’s mother. The woman called me up to tell me she was being followed and to ask if I could sit outside her room to protect it. She called. She texted. She shouted. She spread her stuff all over my house so other guests tripped over it when going to the bathroom. She turned up the heat, melted my blanket, burned the rug, threatened to report me to the police, and demanded a refund. This was a crazy situation. I changed the locks after she left. 

8. Stripper: A group of young women were throwing a bachelorette party at my house. There were 7 of them. They followed the rules. However, at 7pm, I saw a man scantily dressed walking up my driveway with a boombox. I heard screams as soon as he walked in. I was outside gardening. I stayed there until he walked out again. ;-) 

9. Parties are the worst: As every host of an entire space knows, the threat of undisclosed parties is the absolute worst. I had 8 my first year. I’ve had 2 in my second year, and I expect 0 going forward. With every one of them, I’ve figured out one more protection to put into place. In January of 2023, I was out at a classical music concert. Driving home, I saw cars lining my entire street. I went upstairs and over 50 people were partying. I addressed the guest, called out her lies, threatened to call the police, kicked them out, walking them out to their cars. It was the worst. I apologized to my neighbors the next day.

Despite the stories above, this why I love this business so much!

1. The people: Those are 10 stories out of over 200 bookings. Over 95% of guests are really quite wonderful. I have a guest book. They leave great comments, suggestions, drawings, and funny stories, and they take great care of my space!

2. Meeting people: I list my space as the entire space, which means it has its own entrance, kitchen, and bathroom. In my welcome book, I let people know I’m always happy to meet them. Many times I do, and they’re wonderful. 

3. Dog: I don’t allow animals, BUT, I had an Ypsi family staying with me - 3 generations. They brought their dog to visit outside, while we all sat on the patio and ate, drank, shared stories and pets. So lovely. 

4. Easter Dinner: There was a Mexican family staying with me over Easter. They wanted to use my grill. They knocked on my door and served me up an awesome plate from their Easter dinner. Yum!

5. J.J. McCarthy & Tyler Morris: For all football games, the Morris family books my place. Their son is Tyler and he’s a sophomore wide receiver on the U of M football team. I see him walking up my driveway quite often. Last season, I was walking up my driveway, and I saw a very tall, larger man on my hammock. I would recognize that face anywhere. J.J. McCarthy was asleep on my hammock!

6. Reviews: If you communicate well, keep your property clean, are honest about your description, and set your price right, you will do well. I have a 4.97 rating on Airbnb and a 5.0 on VRBO. I love delighting people. I listen to their feedback, make changes, and always communicate with them. I love this part. 2-way feedback.

7. Renovations: Because I run this business, I care deeply about keeping my house looking good and continuing to upgrade. New fans, a new storm door, more air conditioning units, a new vanity, updated painting - I’m constantly renovating myself and hiring folks. The house looks great…all the time. 

8. Revenue: It’s no secret why anyone goes into this business. The idea is to make money. I was supplementing my income when I first started. It’s more than that now. The revenue has just kept growing. Some metrics for you: I was hoping to at least clear $1,000 more per month in net revenue. ✅ However, it’s more like $2,500 per month net. ✅ It covers all the house expenses + another $2K-$2.5K per month. ✅ 

9. It’s just plain fun: I love meeting people, I love delighting people, I love playing with pricing to affect occupancy. I love renovating. I love dreaming about what I can change or what this might be in the future. I love gardening, picking local gourmet coffees, buying local art. It’s just plain fun. 

10. Real Estate Investor & Business Owner: Owning a short-term vacation rental makes me a real estate investor. It’s a hat I like to wear. It’s also meant I needed to set up an LLC to protect me and my business and to establish a bank account. It’s another hat I like to wear. I wouldn’t have it any other way!