Sammy’s Point Vacation Rental
Praise the Lord that this was made possible for us! The Berry’s are starting a new adventure which doubles as a business venture- owning a short-term vacation rental on the water. We gave this beautiful condo a total transformation on a budget, and we are extremely happy how everything turned out. Check out “Vacation Rental” to see the before and after transformation pictures, and consider booking your vacation!
Sammy playing in the yard off the patio.
When we were contacted in early September by the previous owners, that they were looking to sell, it was a really exciting time. Then finding out the condo had the best view of the entire block and was a first-floor one-bedroom was even more exciting. It was the perfect project for us without jumping into something too big. We wanted to make our first vacation rental nice- so to have something this size was perfect! We soon found out we would officially close on the property in October. I got busy and spent four weeks planning and purchasing. Once October came we would be ready to take action, renovate, and then get this vacation rental posted on Vrbo and Airbnb…… ASAP!
I spent hours on Pinterest researching trends, DIY projects and popular wall paint colors for 2022. At the same time, it was important to keep an eye on Facebook Marketplace and jump on any furniture that someone was selling as new at a used price. For me, staying mentally organized was the key. Picture collages on Microsoft Word helped keep track of color schemes and prices, as well as creating an itemized budget list on Excel. I knew we could stay within 3k making sacrifices, but would end up spending between 4 and 5k to maximize our price point on Vrbo and Airbnb. Which praise the Lord we did pull that off! A challenging aspect of the design process was being physically inside the condo only two times, both for twenty minutes and with the previous owners. So we really had to visualize everything using the pictures off the old VRBO posting of this property. Thankfully, Sam is very creative and has great taste- so basically everything I found I was able to run by his second opinion and this kept me confident and on track.
Enjoying the views on our first day as new owners!
After we got the keys, it was time to work. I sold some of the old furniture on Facebook Marketplace which definitely helped not only with extra cash, but also clearing the condo out without having to bring the heavy furniture somewhere ourselves! Did I mention the entire condo was the color taupe? I started painting right away, making just a little progress at a time because (shocker) it is difficult to get a lot done with a eight month old boy who just learned how to crawl! Sam had to come to the rescue and put in hours after work and even taking work off to finish the job. Let’s see… We used something called Briwax on the 90’s honey oak kitchen cabinets, which did a miracle staining those bad boys! Adding black cabinet knobs and door knobs was an improvement- as well as taking down the old blinds and replacing with beautiful, sheer double-curtains. All the furniture except the kitchen table I purchased off Facebook Marketplace- amazing! The kitchen table we bought from Wayfair, and since it came with a chipped dent on the top surface they sent us a second one for free…….. so now we have two!
Selling old to pay for the new felt pretty good!
All in all, this was a very fun project for the Berrys, and would not have been possible without trusting God and working as a team. Looking back, it is crazy we jumped into this head first- and definitely no regrets! Especially nowadays, we are thankful we invested our money into an asset that would bring future value, instead of our money sitting in the bank! As for me, I am very excited to manage Sammy’s Point- the hospitality industry has always been of interest. But it’s more than that, we are passionate about this opportunity! We feel this vacation rental could not be a better situation to experience the beauty of West Michigan in the best town located on the Big Lake. We know because we have literally been to them all, there is no place like Spring Lake and Grand Haven! Enjoy this peaceful and quiet property, walking distance from restaurants, bike ride away from downtown Grand Haven, and just a few yards from the water.
