Our Airbnb Journey: Part 1

What a unique era we live in where in the blink of an eye, everything we once knew could change. In moments like these, there are really only two choices, that is to do nothing and fall behind or to adapt to the future and make it to your benefit.

The change that affected us and altered the world as we know it was the emergence of Airbnb. What an opportunity this company has given entrepreneurs like us to take a foothold in the hospitality industry with no end of prospect in sight. Seeing this potential ahead triggered us, ignited us to take action, and to grab our share of this new and exciting industry.

So what was the course Our Flipping Family took to acquire it’s first Airbnb? It all started when our now business partner, Jeff, approached us about 2 years ago with research he was doing on Airbnbs and how the investment done right blows all other forms of investing out of the water. He did not have a lot of real estate experience, and was coming from the tech corporate world, but really wanted to get in on the action. We started brainstorming how we would set ourselves apart from other vacation houses in a very popular Airbnb market. The light bulb idea we had was ultra themed houses, or #extremeAirbnbs. Heck, anyone can decorate a beautiful house but it takes gusto to turn a house into something out of the ordinary.

So, we partnered and started on our first adventure to create an extreme Airbnb in Joshua Tree, California: the Happy Dome! We took a small dome house on 5 acres and added remodeled art-muraled trailers and a pool! Check it out here ( https://www.loma-homes.com/en/1756482/happy-dome-in-joshua-tree )

After the Happy Dome was successfully launched we wanted to do 3 more in Joshua Tree, but found a lack of quality houses to choose from so we decided to go from the ground up and are in the process of building those now. Those three won’t be bohemian, art trailers but instead higher end, modern homes built on 25 acres of land nestled right next to Joshua Tree National Park! They will be complete with pools, firepits, a yoga pavilion and more!

The permitting and build process in Joshua Tree, however, takes a verrryyy long time! So in the meantime we started exploring other markets. The top two on our list were Nashville and Orlando so we flew out to both to scope it out, and settled on moving forward with Orlando.

Considering all the theme parks in the Orlando area, we decided that our first three themed houses were going to be Star Wars, Disney, and Harry Potter. Starting with a Star Wars house was the best choice because of the recent opening of Galaxy’s Edge in Disney World, this provided a unique opportunity as many of the biggest Star Wars fans would be traveling out to Florida in the coming year and there are currently no other Star Wars themed vacation rentals.

Getting excited with this idea, we brainstormed and envisioned ideas for the style of the interior but we had to check off one minor thing first before design… finding a house to buy! To accomplish this, we first found a real estate agent in Orlando and listed off the criteria that we were looking for. These criteria included 8+ bedrooms, community amenities, short drive to Disney World, and a pool. After lots of research and analyzing over 100 houses, we found the best fit and didn’t hesitate to put it under contract!