A couple who began renting out rooms in their former Atlanta home now earns between $30,000 and $60,000 a month by hosting tiny cabins and treehouses on Airbnb in Upstate New York. Darrel and Patrice Maxam recall the days they had to book hotels for the weekend while renting out rooms in their Atlanta home.
“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.”
But after an appearance on HGTV’s “Tiny House, Big Living,” the Maxams opened their eyes to the high profits that can be made from offering tiny living experiences, following the construction of a tiny home that generated $2,500 a month.
“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.”
Maxam went on to quit his job at the Department of Aviation to pursue home rentals full-time through their company, Maxam Hotels.
In 2022, the Maxams launched their flagship project, Finger Lakes Treehouses, in the small town of Sodus, New York, about 33 miles east of Rochester, where they teamed up with Red Falls Timber to build five A-frame homes. Each tiny cabin has a kitchenette, a bathroom, air conditioning, and a private wood-fired hot tub that in total runs about $250 a night.
What cost the Maxams just $65,000 to build is now bringing in between $30,000 and $60,000 a month in rental income. It’s quite the success story coming from a couple who once put all their money into buying a home for $249,400.
“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.”
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