It’s crazy and wild but somehow we ended up buying another cabin this year. I would have never imagined buying two cabins in one year… or quite frankly, even buying a cabin pre-covid.

We bought our first cabin this summer and it was a wild adventure filled with learning experiences. While it was a lot of work and stress, I wasn’t turned away from it and the reception had been good. 

It was oddly fun in its own way and fueled me creatively. Maybe it was an adrenaline hit that I needed again. Or maybe I was inspired by other short-term rental owners that had more than one. Whatever it was, I was ready to jump in the deep end again and was casually browsing Redfin and Zillow daily. 

The search

First, I found an A-frame cabin on the beach. It was above our budget but it was oceanfront and had its own PRIVATE beach. Talk about location. Chi was in love with it and we put an offer but didn’t get it. It might be a blessing in disguise with ever-rising ocean levels.

A month later, I stumbled upon a private sale of an A-frame cabin on Facebook. I was taken away by the exterior and we drove 3 hours to go see it in Packwood. This location was appealing and one of my original target markets. Packwood is a growing mountain town with summer Mt. Rainier tourists and winter White Pass ski crowds. But the biggest risk is the short-term rental market is saturated with lots of strong competition and there is local resistance to short-term rentals.

The sellers were a really nice couple from Seattle. The cabin was in good shape. It could use newer finishes and upgrades but overall it was pretty turnkey compared to our Lake House. It was on the upper end of our budget but we decided to go for it and put in an offer. 

Me as the realtor 

Since this was a private sale, it was an opportunity for me to learn how to do a private sale. This gave me a sense of accomplishment —I started with reselling my clothes, then graduated to selling my car, and now buying an off-market home. I worked with the seller to extend our original closing date due to a delayed appraisal and negotiated a lower purchase price due to a low appraisal. 

I’m pretty proud of myself and even got praised by my husband and loan officer that I’d be a great realtor. The seller even said I was very professional. *pats myself on the back

To be honest, it isn’t that hard… I just had to get a real estate attorney to draft the paperwork while I managed the sale. These were all life skills I had acquired through vacation planning, renovation managing, and my design career. Not to mention, I just went through this process with the lake house so was well-versed in the steps. I just hope I’m a good enough investor and this was the right move. 

Our A-Frame Chalet aka The Mountain House

This 1360 sq ft chalet had minimal work to get it running but could use modern finishes and style to make it stand out from the competition. Like our first rental, I wanted to get it up and running asap and then slowly tackle the upgrades —hah! Or pivot focus on expanding our portfolio. 

We closed on November 30, and I was bullish to get this all running by Christmas break and the upcoming ski season. Along the way, our accountant advised us to wait until 2022 for more tax savings. So we relaxed a bit, enjoyed the holidays and listed in January.

We’ll keep our fingers crossed that this was a good investment. There are days where I question why I did this, wonder if I made the right decision, and even doubt my actions —but I guess this itself is an experience and it’s probably better than sitting around doing nothing. Every exciting story always have some tension and challenges.