Hello Friends!
After 5 years of being an Air BNB host with our “Country Livin in the City” property, I feel like it’s time to expand our offerings and open our life to others. It has been on my heart to share our story. I owe so much to everyone that has helped make our life a reality, and hope that I might be the same help to someone else. Thank you for taking part. There is so much more that I want to do, too. So why not include you all along the way?
The Now
As an ADHD lover of life, my day to day is an ever changing adventure. With so many passions, hobbies, family, work, the Air BNB, and a serious addiction to DIY, I have so much to talk about. When researching how to start a blog, one of the #1 pieces of advice that I read was to “pick a niche and stick with it.” So here’s my self-proclaimed niche: Lifestyles of the adequately successful millennials, that realize they have too much time and so not enough time, love their kids fiercely, enjoy learning new skills, all while figuring out this life thing. That should be easy, right?!
In all seriousness, Hi. I’m Nacona. Moderate Southern gal, Mid thirties, 2 kids, remarried divorcee – Still good friends with the ex-husband, Bryn, and so proud to have my current husband, Spencer. Spencer and I raise our family and co-parent with each other’s previous spouse in Nashville, TN. Bryn and I have Quinn, a very vibrant/sassy 11 year old that loves all things gaming, arts related, and is one of the most creative sculptors I’ve had the privilege of knowing. Spencer and Kristen have Cole, the “Ginger-Baby!” Sweet, confident 7 year old that loves dogs more than air and that is very eager to engage anyone in a thrilling game of would-you-rather. Our home also includes our dog, a Brittany Spaniel, named Penny and 7 +/- various Chickens.
Taking life as a path of continual improvement brings me great joy. As I love to say, learning to live balanced in a tilted world. The interests that I’m looking forward to writing about: Air BNB, Passive Income, Real estate, Urban farming, Chickens, Nashville, Faith, Kids, Relationships, Traveling, Camping, Nature stuff, Killing my garden, Trying to NOT kill my body, Live music, DIY projects, Thrifting, Restaurants, Ranch dressing reviews, Comedy, Podcasts. I’m looking forward to getting to know myself even better through taking you on our journey.
The Beginning
My journey started in 2014 when my ex-husband and I moved with our 6 month old daughter to Nashville, TN from Arkansas. We had visited throughout my term in college for concerts. Compared to other cities that we traveled to, it was very safe, clean, and never lacked activities. The once small town responsible for country music, was now a growing metropolitan area filled with growth. Being from a modest background, our goal was to find enough opportunity that we might one day no longer live pay check to pay check. Same as many other families starting out. A family member shared with us a duplex in the suburb, Hermitage, which was available to rent at a cheaper cost than our home in AR, and we felt like it was a sign to move states on a leap of faith.
The first few years were difficult with a lot of normal life tribulations for a broke young family moving for opportunity. I remember a popular news headline that circulated regularly that talked about the number of people moving to Nashville each day. At the time, I believe the average was about 100 People/Day. Housing quickly started to become a need, and friends talked about the ridiculous costs of rent. It didn’t take long for me to realize that we wouldn’t be able to afford living in Nashville if we didn’t buy a home and keep our costs down. Little did I realize at the time, I knew jack squat about finances, just enough to know that we were in trouble. A very wise man, Matthew Day, once put Robert Kiyosaki’s book, Rich Dad Poor Dad in my hand at an early age. It forever changed the way that I looked at money, jobs, assets and liabilities. I knew that learning how to leverage you assets could change your world, but the details of how to get there in an ever increasing divide of wealth was a challenge that I had to tackle on my own.
It took 5 years before we were able to purchase. Over those years, we struggled to pay bills, let our credit go to crap, dug our way out, talked to about 20 different lenders, watched the market continue to get more expensive, and prayed. Eventually our landlord expressed interest in selling the property. If you’ve poked around enough, you’ve realized that we purchased it. It was not an easy decision nor an easy option once we decided to buy. The property had been owned by the same people for about 25 years and mainly had long term tenants that appreciated having a cheap rent. The condition of the property was dismal living conditions, but just like the tenants before we appreciated the cheap rent and NEVER bothered the landlord for fear that she would raise the rent. Here are some of the issues that we had before we took ownership: no central heat and air, broken window panes, white mildew and mold in the basements, leaking plumbing, old appliances and original hot water heaters, termite damage, and the list goes on. Another big leap of faith, we negotiated with landlord to sign a purchase contract but to give us enough time to arrange financing. We asked our family for help to pay debt and fix our credit. I downloaded the 82 page HUD guidelines for Health and Safety to prepare for a FHA loan, made a list of items that needed to be fixed, and got to work. I had to ask for a raise at work. Many months of hard preparation went into the final stretch. In May of 2018 we were able to close on the property and it was the first time that we felt like we could breath. We had bought a crap hole, but it was a two unit crap hole with potential. That was good enough for me.
I talk about the reality of the hardship because so much of what I see on social media looks easy. Nothing is easy. I take pride in making the best out of the hand dealt.
The Middle
Once we purchased the duplex, we had to decide what to do with it. Once the previous tenant’s lease was up, I decided that I would try using the extra unit as a short term rental. For me, it started as an idea to produce some income without having a tenant full time that lived RIGHT NEXT DOOR. In 2019, the short term rental industry was not new but the ability to make money with it seemed foreign. I did not know anyone at that time that had ever attempted STR. I decided to research the heck out the market, and gave myself 6 months to furnish, publish, and test the viability.
One week into getting furnishings and repainting, prepping for the guests, I decided to list the unit on Air BNB just to start getting us in the algorithm for potential guests. We were in no means ready, I had half the thing still pulled apart, and listed the prices way higher than normal almost hoping that no one would actually book. And then it happened… DING. Congrats! Ashley is Booked with you for Oct 14-17th….. My guest name and dates are probably off a bit, but the point is it happened. And it happened quickly. And the nice lady that booked understood that she was our first guests and left us a glowing review. From there, it shot off like a mad daddy on prom night. The additional income was enough to change our life. If you want to learn more about what I did and my numbers, make sure to sign up for our email list. I will be writing some specific articles all around the topic of STR.
Through the next few years were filled with raising our daughter, Quinn and managing our normal 9 to 5 careers… well sort-of normal. I worked for an apparel designer that specializes in eveningwear and Bryn (my ex) worked for a music label. We took trips, enjoyed, and seemingly constantly worked on Duplex projects to renovate and restore the home turned business. In the Fall of 2020, we had an opportunity to purchase our neighbors home at a great price. We decided to take our new found renovation skills, and put them to the test. Our plan was to renovate the property after the current tenants lease was up and sell it as a flip to create enough capital to purchase another home that would be our new primary residence. While we did renovate the home from the studs out, doing a beautiful job I might add, we did not sell it. After 10 years of marriage, I asked my ex for a divorce. He was and always will be one of my best friends. It was a tough decision, but ultimately I felt like we had been placed in each other lives as family but not life partners. In deciding what to do, we decided that he would take the newly renovated home next to me and that I would keep the duplex. I’m sure many of you are wondering, so yes. I live next door to my ex-husband. Yes, it has been weird at points, but no I don’t regret it. Time heals many wounds, and thankfully we took our time to work through any hurt emotions to provide the best living arrangements for my daughter’s sake.
Shortly after we purchased the reno house, I made a career change into mortgages. Seeing the opportunities that real estate offered, I wanted to figure out how traditional financing worked. After going through a grueling loan process the first time, I wanted to be able to provide insight that very few were offering. 3 years in, and the economy is crazy. Work is more stressful than rewarding, and I’m stepping back for a bit to refocus on the things that bring joy and help our family prosper.
To pop in a few side notes, during the year that I was unmarried… *that’s your queue to giggle or gawk at my expense of only being single for a short time… I purchased a couple other properties with my business partner. We invested in a long term rental in AL and an additional short term rental in FL. I am looking forward to sharing the learning lessons from those experiences, too. If I had my magic wand, I would love to have enough properties by the time I’m 40 to “not have to” work. I’ve got six years, y’all. Game on.
On a personal front, Spencer and I met March of 2023. He loves to tell the story of how we met. “Well I walked into this place we were meeting, Score Board. There was this hot chick with her back turned to me trying to rob the cigarette machine, but I kept looking around. I started to panic when I thought she stood me up for a game of pool, only to find out the hot chick was trying to get quarters waiting on me.” He has been a huge blessing to my life. While he and I are so completely different, his emotional devotion to me has really help heal some old wounds. A sense of inner peace is worth more than any material goods could offer.
The Future
Where is that crystal ball when I need it… ha. It’s funny how little events can have such profound meaning in the big grand scheme. In this instance, I’m referring to a few months back when a guest left the first cash tip that I received while cleaning my Air BNB. A family met each other here one week to visit. They had a very lively little girl about 6 years old, and I remember that they were first time guests in a short term rental like this. When they arrived, the lady guest called me, and asked about letting her daughter play in our fenced in back yard. I gave her the run down and offered to put out some extra toys and fun things for the little girl to explore. It was a big surprise when I walked in, preparing to clean, to find a hand written note and a crisp $100 bill as a token of gratitude. We have had so many amazing reactions to what we offer as hosts, what we do as a family, and everything in between. My wheels started to turn, and the idea of creating a lifestyle blog started to form.
What if I leveraged our story to help accomplish our goals quicker? So that’s my mission. I am sharing our story in hopes that our audience may take away something they need, and in return help us continue building the life that I could only have dreamed about. There is so much that we have to offer, that it’s time to share it with the world. I wanted to start here with this letter as a way to connect genuinely and openly. Can’t wait to interact with you all and see where we go next.
