Letter: Rental helped restore home

Thank you for using the photo of the Sarah Gibbes Barnwell House (c. 1830) on the front page of your paper. The house is no longer a short-term rental. In August 2016, she was purchased and is now a single-family home.

Abandoned, in foreclosure, with no kitchen and no actual bathrooms — sitting (for aboutt seven years) on that prominent corner downtown — it broke John’s heart to see her that way, with broken shutters, peeling paint, and a wicked rat infestation.

We paid above-market for the house, and we knew before starting that the only way to afford a proper renovation was to operate her as a short-term rental. We have owned and operated three successful short-term rentals downtown for seven year– so we knew what we were doing. We knew that it would be a worthwhile investment and put more than the purchase price into the renovation.

Our Realtor knew we wanted to sell Sarah and buy some smaller properties. In a few months she called, and we had a contract in hours. The house has come full circle, and is a project we could not afford to do without it being a short-term rental.

This story was originally published April 14, 2017 at 12:15 AM with the headline "Letter: Rental helped restore home."