When we traveled to the Big Island Hawaii last month we had no idea that a month later we would be closing on a vacation rental home there. We knew it was our dream to retire there someday, but never did we think it would be possible to get approved for a loan even if we planned to rent it out all year long and likely never get to personally use it ourselves for at least the next five years since we will need all the income it generates to cover all operating expenses. They add up big time as I’m sure you may be aware if you’ve ever been blessed to host a home yourself. Paradise is not cheap my friend!
We took a huge leap of faith in purchasing this home. Being a host of a short term rental property comes with a lot of uncertainty. We had to consider the best and worst case scenarios and hope to hit a good balance the first few years and not lose a lot of money. Will our listing stand out and entice guests to book our home? Will they overlook the fact that we don’t have reviews yet and give us the opportunity to host their trip? All these concerns and questions keep coming up for us.
Regardless of the concerns we are still excited to be hosts and share our home. I look forward to guest interactions, building up a social network and growing our business brand. I look forward to building this blog and sharing insights, content, ideas and inspiration related to Hawaii travel and beyond. I would love feedback from our followers on topics of interest to you so that I can improve engagement features of the blog and our direct booking website at escapetokolea.com.
Stay tuned! Mahalo, Sharon
Escape to Kolea and Beyond 