08/02/2026
Closing the chapter on New River Retreat 📖
In 2022 we bought our investment property in downtown Jacksonville with the plan to try out a short term rental. We discovered that the location had a lot to offer guests and decided to take the chance and build the New River Retreat 🏘️
“Worst case scenario— we can rent it out long term” we told ourselves. I don’t know if I fully anticipated the best case scenario of it all working out, but you know Chad did🇹🇩. We built the property with FB marketplace furniture and slowly upgraded, spent countless hours cleaning for guest turnovers, & learned the art of customer service to achieve consistent positive reviews. We were booked on average 240 nights a year for those 3 years with consistent Super Host ratings. Self managing the Retreat was important to us and we believe that’s why it was so successful. To be honest even with the amount of time we spent managing it, we also enjoyed a lot of it, and together we were good at it. 📈
In 2025 we transitioned to a mid-term furnished rental for about 9 months as a way for us to get some of our TIME back. Fast forward to today and we pivoted again now that our daughter is here and we want even more of our TIME back to spend with her. We decided to transition it to a long-term rental. 🏠
Having the option to give us back our TIME has me realizing that “worst case scenario” option of a long term rental in 2022 turns out to be the best case scenario for us now in 2026. The rental model has changed as our life and priorities have shifted. So here’s your reminder to ask yourself if you’re afraid to make the change, what if it all works out? 💛
Closing the chapter on the New River Retreat, at least for now 😉…
