When Darrel and Patrice Maxam relocated from Connecticut to Georgia, they purchased a 1956 bungalow for $249,400. With most of their savings tied up in the home purchase, they found it challenging to manage the $1,400 monthly mortgage payments.
“When we moved to Atlanta, we were really broke,” Darrel Maxam shared with Themoneytimes. “We literally spent all of our money on a down payment — we had $1,000 in our bank accounts.”
In 2015, they started listing a single bedroom in their three-bedroom bungalow on Airbnb. Later, they expanded to renting the entire house. Eventually, they added a tiny house to the property. Over time, the Maxams transformed their 2½-acre lot into a collection of nine distinct short-term rental units: the main house, a tiny home, a converted barn, a triplex, and three treehouses.
Today, the Maxams run short-term rentals as their full-time business. They sold their Atlanta property in September; Fulton County property records show it was sold for $655,000. Their current focus is a village of 13 custom-built cabins and properties in upstate New York, generating between $30,000 and $60,000 each month.
Read on to discover how the Maxams grew their Airbnb empire.
They transitioned from renting a single room to leasing the whole house
Renting out rooms generated roughly $1,000 in monthly profit, according to Maxam, and renting the entire home doubled that figure.
Maxam remembered packing up every weekend during the summer and leaving the premises while Airbnb guests stayed in their Atlanta home.
He explained that the couple would set aside 10% of his weekly paycheck, 10% of his wife’s weekly paycheck, and 10% of their Airbnb earnings to book a hotel within 300 miles that fit their budget.
“If we only had $400, we were going to plan a trip for $400,” he said. “We would travel as far south as Destin, Florida, as far east as Mississippi, and as far north as the Carolinas and Tennessee area.”
Maxam realized that adding more units to the Atlanta property would increase their income.
First, the Maxams collaborated with the HGTV show “Tiny House, Big Living” to construct a tiny home on their property, which Maxam said added an extra $2,500 to their monthly profit.
“I was hooked at that point,” Maxam said. “We had a barn in the backyard. I converted that barn into another livable space. Then, a year later, I built three more units. After the fifth unit on the property, we were earning approximately $15,000 a month.”
At one stage, 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 position with the Department of Aviation and turned hospitality into his career.
They’ve developed a village of cabins in upstate New York
In 2022, the Maxams’ primary 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 company that sources its wood from Finland, to construct five A-frame cabins.
Each cabin features a kitchenette, 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 Maxam about $65,000, he said. Since launching in 2023, the five cabins have generated anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000 per month, he added.
“We don’t take on a project unless we can be cash-flow positive within 18 months,” he said.
The Maxams plan to build five non-A-frame cabins with Red Falls Timber on the Sodus property this year.
Both cabin designs are prefabricated, meaning they can be assembled quickly, reducing 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 additional plans 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 moving into phase three. We have these really luxury-style safari tents, and we’ll build a bathhouse for them, too.”
The goal is to have 19 total units in Sodus by next year, he added.
The couple has also acquired land in Belize with plans for a beach-focused venture in 2026 or 2027.
They believe gradual growth is the key to success
The Maxams entered the short-term-rental industry humbly, but they now consider themselves successful.
Maxam said that to reach this point, they took their time, using profits from one unit to fund the next.
“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 for someone starting out like me is to stay small enough, long enough, because soon enough you’ll be big enough,” he added.