I've always wanted to own a short-term vacation rental...not really

First picture of land for sale before my sister bought it.

Several months ago, my sister shared with me that she and her husband, along with another couple they are friends with had decided to purchase some land (approximately 21 acres) in Kentucky near the Red River Gorge and Cave Run Lake with the intention of developing and offering land lots for sale for short-term vacation rental properties. My sister has always been very business minded and an entrepreneur. She is also wicked smart and business savvy. So while I was surprised at first, I also found myself intrigued to learn more. She was in the process of selling the business she had built for the past ten years, so I knew she was likely to have something else in the works, but short-term vacation rentals/airbnbs/vrbos would not have been my first guess.

When the sellers of the land in Kentucky accepted their offer to buy the land and things started to come together, I begin thinking that this was something I wanted to know more about. As I listened to her describe the property and what their plans were, I became excited for them, but still overwhelmed by the magnitude of what they were taking on - especially considering my sister and her husband had never done anything like this before. I began to wonder if this was something I wanted in on. I expressed my interest, but honestly didn't believe I would actually go through with buying a lot of my own. After all, I had never considered owning my own short-term vacation rental property before. I loved staying at vacation homes. I preferred them over hotels. We had stayed at plenty of them in the past, even celebrated holidays with my extended family in an Airbnb. It was such a great solution for us. We could all stay together and enjoy each other's company for several days and nights, while still being able to cook our own family recipes, create crafts together, watch football, and have our own private bedrooms in which to escape from each other at night.

View from the Short-Term Vacation Rental Lot

After seeing the amazing pictures they had been sharing on social media, I became even more interested and started to allow myself to dream a little bit. I had other friends who owned short-term vacation rental homes, so I knew it wasn't a completely crazy idea. I also knew that if I was going to do this, I wanted to be in from the beginning.

Kentucky Land Lots for Sale near Red River Gorge

So...I jumped! I drove down to the Red River Gorge area and looked at the land lots for sale with my sister and saw for myself all the hard work they had put it and how absolutely beautiful it was. I picked a lot and started to dream about the possibilities.

And now I'm sharing it with you. I hope you enjoy following along on my journey to becoming a short-term vacation rental owner. Please feel free to ask questions or just lurk in the shadows. I don't mind.