It's true. So true.
Last summer, I wished for this:
Cute, right?
It's a townhouse. In Missoula, Montana.
We live in Arizona. (Actually, we're moving to California in a couple of months, but THAT'S a completely different story!)
How is this going to work?
And . . . WHY???
Well, I just love Missoula. My younger brother moved there about ten or eleven years ago. The first time I visited him, I was hooked. Since then, I've tried to visit at least once a year. We float down the Blackfoot or the Clark Fork in an inner tube with a cooler full of beer, and life is the absolute best it can be.
I'm a pretty responsible person with a profession that requires commitment and dedication, but I do like to pretend I'm a free spirit every now and then. So, I've been living vicariously through my brother. Ha ha.
So, fast forward ten years . . . last summer, my OTHER younger brother, my sister-in-law, and my two nephews made a big break from the heat and insanity of Phoenix and headed for Missoula as well! Yep - my brother got a job and they bailed! Now he gets to fly fish after work. Who could blame them?
I would be tempted to join them, but Missoula is not exactly a hot spot for what I do. I suppose I could choose another line of work, but . . . I'd miss it. No way.
So how can I have a little piece of Missoula to keep for myself?
There it is. Look at that view! And all that Big Sky! It's the townhouse. We bought it. Interestingly, my husband has never seen it in person. How did he even agree to this?!?! I'm not sure, but it's ours now!!! (Sorry, not sorry.)
From the beginning, I wanted to turn it into a vacation rental. Maybe some people are rich enough to own a second home and just let it sit there, but us? Yeah. No.
We bought it this past October. Since it would have been impossible to get it fully equipped during my academic year, we rented it out (unfurnished) for about seven months. In one week and two days, we're hitting the road to claim it and make it our own. Well, MY own, to be more exact. This was definitely my idea, as I'm constantly reminded . . .
The wrench in this situation is that I just got a new job! In California! I'm so excited and happy about it, but that means we'll be dealing with an out-of-state move as well. Wow. I was hoping to spend most of the summer in Missoula, but that's just not happening this time around. We're planning to spend about a month getting it set up. Then, we'll need to high-tail it back to Arizona, pack up our house, uproot our lives, and head up to northern California.
I'm not going to lie - I'm a little nervous about how this will all work out. What do we do? Do we get a local property manager for our Missoula townhouse? Do we go with an online service? Do we do it ourselves? Yikes. This is serious.
It's happening, though. And I've decided it's going to be awesome. In my next post, I'll have to fill you all in on my design ideas for the place. I want something, modern, eclectic, and artistic. I'm going to call it The Little Blue House. In Spanish, that would be La Casita Azul. Can anyone guess where my inspiration will be coming from?
Please feel free to comment! Do any of you vacation rental owners have some words of wisdom for me? I'd appreciate it! I want to make this place a success!
We live in Arizona. (Actually, we're moving to California in a couple of months, but THAT'S a completely different story!)
How is this going to work?
And . . . WHY???
Well, I just love Missoula. My younger brother moved there about ten or eleven years ago. The first time I visited him, I was hooked. Since then, I've tried to visit at least once a year. We float down the Blackfoot or the Clark Fork in an inner tube with a cooler full of beer, and life is the absolute best it can be.
I'm a pretty responsible person with a profession that requires commitment and dedication, but I do like to pretend I'm a free spirit every now and then. So, I've been living vicariously through my brother. Ha ha.
So, fast forward ten years . . . last summer, my OTHER younger brother, my sister-in-law, and my two nephews made a big break from the heat and insanity of Phoenix and headed for Missoula as well! Yep - my brother got a job and they bailed! Now he gets to fly fish after work. Who could blame them?
I would be tempted to join them, but Missoula is not exactly a hot spot for what I do. I suppose I could choose another line of work, but . . . I'd miss it. No way.
So how can I have a little piece of Missoula to keep for myself?
There it is. Look at that view! And all that Big Sky! It's the townhouse. We bought it. Interestingly, my husband has never seen it in person. How did he even agree to this?!?! I'm not sure, but it's ours now!!! (Sorry, not sorry.)
From the beginning, I wanted to turn it into a vacation rental. Maybe some people are rich enough to own a second home and just let it sit there, but us? Yeah. No.
We bought it this past October. Since it would have been impossible to get it fully equipped during my academic year, we rented it out (unfurnished) for about seven months. In one week and two days, we're hitting the road to claim it and make it our own. Well, MY own, to be more exact. This was definitely my idea, as I'm constantly reminded . . .
The wrench in this situation is that I just got a new job! In California! I'm so excited and happy about it, but that means we'll be dealing with an out-of-state move as well. Wow. I was hoping to spend most of the summer in Missoula, but that's just not happening this time around. We're planning to spend about a month getting it set up. Then, we'll need to high-tail it back to Arizona, pack up our house, uproot our lives, and head up to northern California.
I'm not going to lie - I'm a little nervous about how this will all work out. What do we do? Do we get a local property manager for our Missoula townhouse? Do we go with an online service? Do we do it ourselves? Yikes. This is serious.
It's happening, though. And I've decided it's going to be awesome. In my next post, I'll have to fill you all in on my design ideas for the place. I want something, modern, eclectic, and artistic. I'm going to call it The Little Blue House. In Spanish, that would be La Casita Azul. Can anyone guess where my inspiration will be coming from?
Please feel free to comment! Do any of you vacation rental owners have some words of wisdom for me? I'd appreciate it! I want to make this place a success!
