Buy a retreat property that pays for itself

Short-term stays, events, and the income streams most agents never mention — with a broker who is also a licensed contractor and a working STR owner.

If you've been looking at properties and doing the math in a spreadsheet at night, you're in the right place.

I buy, design and run these properties myself. I'm also a licensed general contractor and a former real estate attorney. So when we walk a house together, I'm not guessing about what it could become — I'm telling you what it would cost, what the county will allow, and whether the numbers still work once you know both.

Most agents will show you a house and talk about nightly rates. That's one income stream. A retreat property can have several.

Nightly and weekend stays

Weddings, showers and private events

Retreats and workshops

Photo and film shoots

Longer monthly stays in the slow season

Not every property can do all of it. Which ones it can do depends on zoning, occupancy limits, parking, septic capacity and permits — and that's the part that decides whether a property is a good buy or an expensive lesson.

Here's where deals fall apart.

A buyer falls in love with a property, imagines weddings in the field behind it, and closes. Then they learn the zoning doesn't allow events, the septic won't support the headcount, or there's nowhere legal to park thirty cars.

I read the zoning before you write the offer. I've spent years in permit offices as a contractor and a decade reading contracts as an attorney, and I would rather tell you no on the third property than watch you find out after closing.

1. We talk about what you want the property to do — income, family use, or both.

2. I send you properties with the math already run, including what it would cost to make each one work for the uses you care about.

3. We tour the shortlist. I bring the contractor's eye and the permit questions.

4. You buy the one that holds up. I stay on afterward for design, vendors and getting it earning.

Broker with eXp Realty · Licensed general contractor · Former attorney · Short-term rental owner and operator