I recently put a call out on both my personal Instagram and the cottage Instagram for questions people have about the cottage. It’s one of the things people are most curious about when it comes to my various businesses, and I imagine it’s for a few reasons — people love chatting about design, others are interested in buying a rental property, and some like knowing the behind-the-scenes of Airbnbs because they stay in them often (who hasn’t Googled the owner of the Airbnb where they’re staying?!).
Here’s the round-up of what they asked and, if I get additional questions, I’ll answer those in another upcoming installment!
How did we choose the location for the cottage? Any ties to the area?
My parents are less than five minutes up the road! If you’re down by the water, you can actually see their cottage up to the right. But, before they had their place, I grew up coming to the area because my uncle’s parents had a house here, and I’ve always had friends with cottages in the area (lots of people from Richmond here).
The ‘pass-through’ style — is seeing the water through the front door a traditional style or unique?
That’s a great question, and I actually don’t know if it’s considered a traditional style, nor did Google help me out, haha. But it was something I felt strongly about as soon as we bought the house! I had memories of seeing homes where you could see straight through it to the view beyond, and that’s what I wanted to recreate. It made a huge impact on the home as soon as we replaced the door.
Do the rentals cover the mortgage?
Yes! However, there’s more to the story here, especially if you’re asking in terms of figuring out your own calculations (which I assume was at least partially motivating this question!).
If we look at straight booking revenue to mortgage amount, it definitely covers it for the year. And we’ve been fortunate to not only break even, but to be in the black every year so far. But it’s probably not as much as you’d think considering high season rates.
That’s because there’s a lot to consider beyond just nightly rate for the month less the mortgage. There are taxes, including an extra lodging tax leveraged by the county. There are fees (Airbnb now takes 15% from the host, hence why we always prefer direct bookings!). There’s maintenance. We have a handyman coming out next week to fix wear and tear issues, then we have our roof being replaced the next week. There’s the constant replacement of items to freshen things up — it’s more than you would do in your own home. For example, I had to order a new 8×10 rug for our living room this morning, and, earlier this week, I had to pick up a few new bath mats. Linens have to be continuously replaced. Then there are all the things we have to keep stocked — toiletries, paper goods, coffee, basic kitchen items. Not to mention the kitchen inventory. I opened the cabinet last night to find someone put back our blender without cleaning it…and whatever it was, possibly pina colada, is now lacquered onto the wood cabinet interior.
So take all those expenses, then think about how often you have to have it booked to cover those costs PLUS the mortgage. Also, look at it holistically for the year rather than month-by-month.
Is the rental market there still the same as it was the first couple of years?
Nope! It was super hot from 2021 to 2023-ish, but things slowed down a lot in the past two years. Summer is still incredibly popular, but we’re not seeing the same constant bookings from fall to spring. Some of that is because people are no longer desperate to travel locally, as they were in the pandemic. Some of that is people being back in office and unable to take midweek vacations. And some of that is probably a reflection of larger global uncertainty/curtailing spending.
What’s our next design project at the cottage?
There’s SO much I want to do. The primary bathroom has been on the horizon for a long time, but it will require blocking the house off for 1-2 months, and probably not being here ourselves. There are also smaller, more aesthetic projects, like adding trim and crown molding to several of the rooms. Redoing the walls and ceiling in the primary bedroom. I’d like to do a walkway out to the pool. And, on a personal, doesn’t affect renters note, I’d love to redo the potting shed (though maybe then it would become a cute little play space for kids?).
What’s one thing we would never change?
Oh gosh, this is difficult! I love that our property has lots of trees but doesn’t necessarily feel wooded. I need shade, but most of the shady properties we saw felt woodsy. Ours has a lawn and a garden, but then it has these massive trees shading the house. I would never, ever cut those down. Beyond that, I never say never when it comes to almost everything. I mean, I love the picket fence, I love that it looks like a charming cottage. I love the rose garden (though I really need to commit to working on it this spring!).
But, inside, I wouldn’t turn down an opportunity to totally gut everything. I would, however, keep the open floor plan! I don’t always love an open floor plan in a primary residence, but this house was built for gathering, and it should stay that way.
How do we handle letting other people use our space?
Whenever someone asks this, especially if they’re asking as they’re toying with the idea of Airbnb, I tell them, if this is a point of anxiety, then short term rentals are probably not for you! You just have to let it go. People are going to break your stuff. They’re going to stain it. They might walk off with kitchen items on a regular basis (read: they do). It’s the cost of doing business.
My mom once suggested we get separate slipcovers for our furniture to use when we’re here…and that’s an example of someone who should never consider having an Airbnb (and she wouldn’t!).
How do we get on the waitlist for “trips with friends”?
I wanted to answer this one because I’m sure people do wonder how we handle friends coming with us and/or using the cottage! We’ll usually invite friends to come with us whenever we’re headed down without an agenda. If we have maintenance to do or projects on the itinerary, then I’d rather be there on our own. But, if the whole weekend is ahead of us, then we love having friends there. The only thing I can get a little finicky about is friends bringing dogs when we’re going with them…sorry, y’all, I’m not a non-discriminating dog lover.
However, if it’s a specific date request and the friends want to use it without us, then we’ll usually charge them a discounted rate. If it’s a weekend and the cottage happens to be open but we can’t go, then we’ll often offer it last-minute to friends to use without us and just ask that they pay the cleaners.
How do we manage multiple properties ourselves?
Luckily, they’re all different! We rent out our English basement in DC, so that’s super easy. It’s a one bedroom, and it stays booked with tourists and work travelers. There’s not much to manage, thankfully! I do go down there between most guests just to check on things, jot off a quick note, and leave out a snack. But we have great cleaners for the turnovers, and we’ll pop in to do the occasional spruce up and deep cleaning task.
We also rent out our condo in DC, but that’s a long term rental, and we have friends that live there (my friend actually asked me to let her know when and if we decided to rent it out, and I did!). It’s in an awesome location and typically doesn’t have many issues (though we had a run on a few maintenance issues in a row recently — I guess we were due).
Managing the cottage is absolutely the most difficult, especially during the summer. In the off season, we have to field questions with most bookings, and the marketing piece is huge, but it’s not an overly intense job. The summer, however, is definitely a little stressful. As soon as the pool opens, we’re on edge hoping that it stays pristine in the days between professional cleanings. The worst is when the cleaners come, and then there’s a storm the next day. We know at that point that everything the cleaners did has been erased. Most guests totally get it — they’re renting an Airbnb not a hotel, and they assume they’ll need to skim it if they want it completely debris-free every single day. But, from May to September, we’re messaging guests about the pool a lot.
There’s also the maintenance. It’s an older house, so things come up! We’re having our roof replaced in two weeks. We have a handyman coming out next week to address all the Airbnb wear and tear. It’s definitely not a set it and forget it property, but we’ve talked to people who have tried property managers, and it’s worth it to us not to go that route.
