An Atlanta couple was so house poor in 2015 that they turned their spare bedroom into an Airbnb. Now they’ve gone viral for detailing how they make $30,000 a month lording over their Airbnb empire.
They bought a $250,000 house and had about $1,000 in savings when they started.
The spare bedroom rental worked, and over the past decade their business flourished into 9-plus rental units on a 2-acre Georgia property. Then they bought a bunch of rental units in upstate New York. Then they bought property in Belize they plan to turn into Airbnbs next year.
Here’s some advice Darrel and Patice Maxam shared this week with Business Insider about their lucrative side hustle.
Scale wisely
The couple realized that the spare bedroom made them about a grand monthly. But if they rented their entire home, they’d double those earnings. So they’d find cheap hotels and leave home every weekend during the travel season.
Plan with purpose
Their business was built with a rigorous blueprint. For example, in the early days when they’d leave home weekly to stay at a hotel, there was a formula. They’d take 10% of their respective paychecks from their day jobs plus 10% of their Airbnb earnings and use that while taking random trips nearby to places like Destin, Florida.
When they built a house on the property, it made them an extra $2,500 a month.
The math kept mathing, so they kept building rental units on their land. Five units in, they made $15,000 per month.
This is when Maxam quit his day job.
Build Airbnbs efficiently
In 2022, they built in upstate New York when they found a construction partner. Again, everything with fixed, understood costs. These five cabins each cost $65,000 to produce and were rented for $250 a night. A year later, the cabins alone made the Maxams $30,000 to $60,000 a month.
The couple is building five new cabins in upstate New York. But these are premade cabins that can be put together quickly like “Legos,” they said, and can be finished in less than a week.
One bite at a time
A principle in their Airbnb empire is making sure the investments are cashflow positive within 18 months. Otherwise, they told Business Insider, “We don’t touch a project.”
They use only profit margins to reinvest in new properties. They avoid racing to build trendy, ill-considered projects.
What should I consider before trying to go into the Airbnb business?
You’ll want to think through the laws in your city and overall be super intentional on key components such as day-to-day operating costs, nightly pricing, insurance, and home security. And then think about what kind of experience you’re producing for your guests when it comes to amenities.
And as Forbes notes, make sure you map out your road to profitability.
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