If there was one resounding lesson from graduating during the Great Recession, it was this: Always have a side hustle. Throughout college, I had been completely, obsessively focused on journalism, gaining as much experience as I could to (hopefully) land a job in a fiercely competitive field. Combine the recession with a changing industry (ahem, layoffs as publishers scrambled to figure out how to revive sales amid the digitization of content), and…things were looking sketchier than the “reply hazy” response from a Magic 8-Ball.

In the decade since, I’ve been carving out little ways to make money on the side, always having an iron in the fire in case my full-time job fell through. So far, I’ve been fortunate to stay employed, but on the side, I’ve nurtured this little idea of launching an Airbnb. I’ve always loved traveling, and running my own hotel or bed and breakfast is a little too much of a reach at this stage, but Nate and I realized we could start saving for an investment property. A little house, preferably someplace we’d want to visit from time to time, that could help us build equity.

Low mortgage rates + work-from-anywhere ethos = Let’s (finally) give this dream a shot

Over the past year, we saw mortgage rates slip lower and lower, making actually buying that rental property more and more manageable. Though it also meant that homes started getting snapped up faster, so we realized time was of the essence: If we didn’t act soon, we’d likely get priced out of most areas, as home values have seemed to skyrocket week over week. That, combined with surging interest in temporarily living in a new city before you move there (Airbnb reported 24 percent of stays in Jan-March 2021 were for stays of 28 days or more), led us to feel like the timing was right.

After five offers led to nowhere, we found Maywood: a charming little two bed, two bath ranch in Clearwater, FL. It was somewhat renovated, though it needed a little TLC—namely, termite treatment, new air ducts, fencing, landscaping and some little repairs. And, for once in our lives, we were both working remotely and could actually spend a longer time away from New York to spend our nights and weekends on a project like this. It hasn’t always been glamorous (live termites wriggling in the exposed wood in your garage rarely is!), but it’s been a labor of love.

We’re facing a few hurdles: startup costs were way more than we expected (see aforementioned duct work and pest control issues), and we’re hoping to market to snowbirds, traveling nurses, subletters and digital nomads, as Clearwater only allows short-term rentals of 30 days or more. But we’re confident in how this home’s been renovated and staged—it’s our ultimate getaway, at least!—and the location (it’s minutes from the beach and plenty of shops, bars and restaurants).

Over the next year, we’ll chronicle Maywood’s progress: our marketing efforts, how rentals are going, and so on. It’s a risk, for sure, but so is investing in Dogecoin or NFTs. We believe in this place. Now we just have to get it ready to introduce to the world.

You can follow us on our journey on Instagram at @heymaywood. (Full website and listing coming soon!)