I bought Austin's famous seashell-shaped house and rent it on Airbnb. See inside this popular, magical property.
30.08.2023 - 16:13
/ insider.com
This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Dave Claunch, the owner of the Bloomhouse rental property in Austin, Texas. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I was aware of the Bloomhouse's existence about 10 years before my wife and I bought it. But I didn't know exactly where it was and had never visited.
We were looking for an investment property either to flip, or to set up as a vacation rental. We had a good friend who owns a vacation rental property management firm, Lodgewell, and we thought it'd be a good opportunity to partner with her.
One day, I got the local Business Journal, here at my office, and there was a color insert of high-end real estate properties with the Bloomhouse on the front page. I thought it'd be an awesome investment property if we could make it work.
We purchased the Bloomhouse in April 2017, renovated it for 18 months, and went online in early 2019. When we bought it, it had been on the market for six or seven months, which in Austin, Texas is rare.
Even more surprising is it was appraised for lower than the value of the land. The building,which was built in the '70s, was subtracting from its value and there were people looking at it with the intention of tearing it down and putting up a McMansion. I think the sellers rebuffed those advances because they wanted to see it preserved.
We were looking for something a little bit more traditional, but pretty quickly my passion for the uniqueness of this property, as a piece of art, drove the decision-making process. Nobody was dumb enough to buy it to renovate it either — except me.
Fortunately, the economics worked out well, but it had a lot of problems and it was in pretty bad shape. There was mold and all the plumbing was calcified and didn't work.
It was a leap of faith getting the property fixed up, solving all its problems, and still making money on the back end. My goal was to not just return it to its original condition. I wanted to make it as close to perfect as I could, while also party proofing it, because vacation rentals get torn up pretty quick.
People usually buy low-quality furniture and it breaks, so I wanted to be sensitive to that and put a lot of extra effort into making everything as durable as possible. Lodgewell also does a great job screening rental applicants. Our rental is limited to four occupants to appeal to people who are interested in the artistic side of the structure, and who aren't thinking "Hey, this is really cool, let's throw a kegger."
We haven't had any major problems. It's made of concrete, so you've got to try really hard to break it. There are certain things that are more fragile than others, but even the interior walls are about an inch of concrete