Latest news with #Maxam
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A couple started out renting a bedroom on Airbnb to pay the mortgage. Now their cabin village makes over $30,000 a month.
Darrel and Patrice Maxam started renting out bedrooms in their Atlanta home on Airbnb in 2015. They ended up building additional units — tiny homes and treehouses — on the property to rent out. Their latest project: a group of wooden cabins in upstate New York that make over $30,000 a month. When Darrel and Patrice Maxam moved from Connecticut to Georgia, they bought a 1956 bungalow for $249,400. Because they'd used most of their money to buy the home, they struggled to afford the $1,400 monthly mortgage payments. "When we moved to Atlanta, we were really broke," Darrel Maxam told Business Insider. "We literally spent all of our money on a down payment — we had $1,000 in our bank accounts." They decided to list a bedroom in the three-bedroom bungalow on Airbnb. Then they rented the entire house. Later, they began renting out a tiny house on the property. Eventually, the Maxams filled their two-and-a-half acres with nine different short-term-rental units: the main house, a tiny home, a converted barn, a triplex, and three "treehouses." Now, the Maxams build and operate short-term rentals full-time. They sold the Atlanta property in September of 2024; Fulton County property records show it sold for $655,000. Their focus is a village of 13 custom-built cabins and properties in upstate New York that brings in between $30,000 and $60,000 a month. Read on to see how the Maxams built their Airbnb empire. Renting out rooms brought in about $1,000 a month in profit, Maxam said, and renting out the entire home doubled that amount. Maxam recalled packing up every weekend during the summer and vacating the premises while Airbnb guests were staying in their Atlanta home. He said the couple would take 10% of his weekly paycheck, 10% of his wife's weekly paycheck, and 10% of the amount they were making from Airbnb and use it to find a hotel within 300 miles that worked within that budget. "If we only had $400, we were going to plan a trip for $400," he said. "We would go as far south as Destin, Florida, as far east as Mississippi, and as far north as the Carolinas and Tennessee area." Maxam figured the more units they put on the Atlanta property, the more money they would make. First, the Maxams partnered with the HGTV show "Tiny House, Big Living" to build a tiny home on their property, which Maxam said earned them an extra $2,500 a month in profit. "I was hooked at that point," Maxam said. "We had a barn in the backyard. I converted that barn to another livable space. Then, another year after that, I ended up building three more units. After the fifth unit on the property, we were generating roughly $15,000 a month." At one point, the Maxams had their main house, a tiny home, a barn, a triplex with three rentable units, and three treehouses on the property. They took the tiny home with them when they left. Maxam resigned from his full-time job working for the Department of Aviation and made hospitality his career. In 2022, the Maxams' main project became Finger Lakes Treehouses in Sodus, New York, a small town 33 miles east of Rochester. They partnered with Red Falls Timber, a New York-based firm that sources its wood from Finland, to build five A-frame cabins. Each one has a kitchenette, a bathroom, air conditioning, and a private wood-fired hot tub. Nightly rates are around $250, according to the Maxam Hotels website. Each A-frame structure cost him about $65,000, Maxam said. Since launching in 2023, the five cabins have brought in anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000 a month, he added. "We don't touch a project unless we can be cash-flow positive within 18 months," he said. The Maxams are planning to build five non-A-frame cabins with Red Falls Timber on the Sodus land this year. Both cabin styles are prefabricated, which means they can be put together quickly, cutting down on both time and cost per unit. "It'll take about three days to get them erected," Maxam said. "You, right now, can come on site, look at my plans, and be able to put my building together," he added. "That's how easy they are — they're like Lego." The Maxams have other dreams for the Sodus development. "We have three Airstreams on the property right now, so by the start of the season, we'll have 13 units total," Maxam said. "Next year, we're going to go into phase three. We have these really luxury-style safari tents, and we'll build a bathhouse for them, also." The plan is to have 19 total units in Sodus by next year, he added. The couple has also purchased land in Belize with plans for a beach-centered venture in 2026 or 2027. The Maxams entered the short-term-rental world humbly, but now feel like they are thriving. Maxam said to get here, they took their time, using proceeds from one unit to build the next one. "Everyone wants to rush and rush and race to do the largest project — and they don't know what they're getting themselves into," Maxam said. "The only advice I have to someone starting out like me is to stay small enough, long enough, because soon enough you'll be big enough," he added. Read the original article on Business Insider Sign in to access your portfolio
Business Insider
28-04-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A couple started out renting a bedroom on Airbnb to pay the mortgage. Now their cabin village makes over $30,000 a month.
When Darrel and Patrice Maxam moved from Connecticut to Georgia, they bought a 1956 bungalow for $249,400. Because they'd used most of their money to buy the home, they struggled to afford the $1,400 monthly mortgage payments. "When we moved to Atlanta, we were really broke," Darrel Maxam told Business Insider. "We literally spent all of our money on a down payment — we had $1,000 in our bank accounts." They decided to list a bedroom in the three-bedroom bungalow on Airbnb. Then they rented the entire house. Later, they began renting out a tiny house on the property. Eventually, the Maxams filled their two-and-a-half acres with nine different short-term-rental units: the main house, a tiny home, a converted barn, a triplex, and three "treehouses." Now, the Maxams build and operate short-term rentals full-time. They sold the Atlanta property in September of 2024; Fulton County property records show it sold for $655,000. Their focus is a village of 13 custom-built cabins and properties in upstate New York that brings in between $30,000 and $60,000 a month. Read on to see how the Maxams built their Airbnb empire. They evolved from renting a single room to renting out the entire house Renting out rooms brought in about $1,000 a month in profit, Maxam said, and renting out the entire home doubled that amount. Maxam recalled packing up every weekend during the summer and vacating the premises while Airbnb guests were staying in their Atlanta home. He said the couple would take 10% of his weekly paycheck, 10% of his wife's weekly paycheck, and 10% of the amount they were making from Airbnb and use it to find a hotel within 300 miles that worked within that budget. "If we only had $400, we were going to plan a trip for $400," he said. "We would go as far south as Destin, Florida, as far east as Mississippi, and as far north as the Carolinas and Tennessee area." Maxam figured the more units they put on the Atlanta property, the more money they would make. First, the Maxams partnered with the HGTV show "Tiny House, Big Living" to build a tiny home on their property, which Maxam said earned them an extra $2,500 a month in profit. "I was hooked at that point," Maxam said. "We had a barn in the backyard. I converted that barn to another livable space. Then, another year after that, I ended up building three more units. After the fifth unit on the property, we were generating roughly $15,000 a month." At one point, the Maxams had their main house, a tiny home, a barn, a triplex with three rentable units, and three treehouses on the property. They took the tiny home with them when they left. Maxam resigned from his full-time job working for the Department of Aviation and made hospitality his career. They've built a village of cabins in upstate New York In 2022, the Maxams' main project became Finger Lakes Treehouses in Sodus, New York, a small town 33 miles east of Rochester. They partnered with Red Falls Timber, a New York-based firm that sources its wood from Finland, to build five A-frame cabins. Each one has a kitchenette, a bathroom, air conditioning, and a private wood-fired hot tub. Nightly rates are around $250, according to the Maxam Hotels website. Each A-frame structure cost him about $65,000, Maxam said. Since launching in 2023, the five cabins have brought in anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000 a month, he added. "We don't touch a project unless we can be cash-flow positive within 18 months," he said. The Maxams are planning to build five non-A-frame cabins with Red Falls Timber on the Sodus land this year. Both cabin styles are prefabricated, which means they can be put together quickly, cutting down on both time and cost per unit. "It'll take about three days to get them erected," Maxam said. "You, right now, can come on site, look at my plans, and be able to put my building together," he added. "That's how easy they are — they're like Lego." The Maxams have other dreams for the Sodus development. "We have three Airstreams on the property right now, so by the start of the season, we'll have 13 units total," Maxam said. "Next year, we're going to go into phase three. We have these really luxury-style safari tents, and we'll build a bathhouse for them, also." The plan is to have 19 total units in Sodus by next year, he added. The couple has also purchased land in Belize with plans for a beach-centered venture in 2026 or 2027. They believe slow and steady is the best growth The Maxams entered the short-term-rental world humbly, but now feel like they are thriving. Maxam said to get here, they took their time, using proceeds from one unit to build the next one. "Everyone wants to rush and rush and race to do the largest project — and they don't know what they're getting themselves into," Maxam said. "The only advice I have to someone starting out like me is to stay small enough, long enough, because soon enough you'll be big enough," he added.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Finger Lakes Treehouse resort is the ultimate NY getaway. Take a peek
Scrolling through social media or flipping through home design television stations, you may come across exquisite fairy-tale-like getaways that seem far out of reach. But this private resort hidden within the trees is right on Lake Ontario. Down a gravel road in Sodus, Wayne County, sits a serine 48-acre retreat called the Finger Lakes Treehouse. The resort, surrounded by trees and nature, features five elevated a-frame "treehouse units" each with its own wood-burning hot tubs and fire pits, a communal sauna in front of a little pond, a communal workspace and clubhouse, Meishan pigs and of course, Curry the goat. Darrel Maxam and Patrice Coney-Maxam built their first treehouse resort in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2016. They plan to build 20 treehouse hotels worldwide, and Belize is the next stop on their list. Darrel Maxam is a combat veteran who fought in Afghanistan in 2010. He came home from serving with what he calls "invisible scars," including PTSD and a traumatic brain injury. "I used that kind of as a fuel to calm my mind down, and I started building so I turned myself literally into a carpenter," he said. Maxam began studying carpentry and woodworking and then began building tiny home treehouses in Atlanta, Georgia, which would become the first resort property for Maxam Hotels. Two years later, the couple purchased the 48-acre property in Sodus, as it had always been a dream of Coney-Maxam's mother for them to build in Upstate New York, where Coney-Maxam grew up. "So we brought it back home and we started the business," Maxam said. "We got a lot of support from the local community." The resort became a major hit, and now the couple is working on expanding to add five more two-person villas, tents, and tiny homes. Each villa comes in a pre-manufactured kit designed by Maxam and shipped from Finland. Once they clear customs and arrive on the property, Maxam said it will take his team about three weeks to get them up and running. "No one builds as fast as we do," he said. "We work roughly 13 to 15 hours a day, we take no lunch breaks, and we work seven days a week." These pre-manufactured kits designed by Maxam can also be purchased for customers interested in starting up their own getaway. The couple and their four children are currently living in Malaysia but plan to move to Panama soon. Maxam arrived back at the upstate New York property to begin the expansion process. In the future, they hope to have resorts in Tenessee, the Carolinas, Colorado, Utah, Washington, and even globally, with their next build starting in Belize soon. Curry, a white fluffy goat, wears bells so that Maxam and the maintenance guy, who holds the fort down when the Maxams are away, know where she is. She likes to roam around like the queen of the resort. She often greets guests when they arrive at the clubhouse, the first stop for guests when they arrive at the property. The clubhouse, or communal workspace, is where guests can purchase snacks, get work done, and rent a buggy to transport their belongings to their treehouse unit. Each unit is an a-frame stock cabin six feet in the air that can sleep two people. It has a bedroom, a bathroom, and a small kitchenette and comes with its own wood-burning hot tub and fire pit, surrounded by the peaceful sounds and sights of nature. "The experience is just to hang out, chill, relax, to be in nature, because we are surrounded on 40 acres of land," Maxam said. The property also includes two airstreams, a tiny home, and a barn where they host weddings and will soon have tents for the summertime. Maxam said another enjoyable experience for the guests is getting to hang out with the Meishan pigs, a Chinese breed of domestic pig known for their high-quality pork, in the back of the property. The pigs, most of which are babies that Maxam is raising, have free roam of a seven-acre fenced-in space with their own small a-frame huts. "They just love life," he said. "They just eat and dig up the entire land for bugs and grubs, and the guys on the maintenance team here take really good care of them." Guests can hop the fence in the summer and winter to hang out with the pigs when it's not too muddy. Though the Finger Lakes Treehouse is busiest in the summer season, it's open every day year-round and stays booked 50 percent of the time in the winter, according to Maxam. It is about eight minutes away from Lake Ontario, so in the summer, guests can enjoy all of the water activities and trails within the area. Booking prices range roughly from $250 a night during the week to $350 and up on weekends and holidays. Some of the units also allow pets. Maxam said that the units tend to book up fast in the summertime, and the majority of them are already booked for the remainder of April. To check upcoming availability and to book your stay, visit "It's pretty much just like a landscape hotel," Maxam said. "This is a place to just to disconnect, a place to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, or even other special occasions." — Madison Scott is a journalist with the Democrat and Chronicle who covers breaking and trending news for the Finger Lakes Region. She has an interest in how the system helps or doesn't help families with missing loved ones. She can be reached at MDScott@ This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Finger Lakes Treehouse resort is the ultimate NY getaway. Take a peek
