About three years ago, Compass Real Estate agent Phillip Murrell discovered an attractive off-market duplex in the M Streets. He liked it so much, he and his partner bought it. Then they had to decide whether to seek out a long-term tenant or try the short-term rental market.
“At that point, Airbnb was big but a lot less tested than it is now,” Murrell recalls. “I didn’t know anyone personally who did an Airbnb.”
He initially rented out the bottom unit to a client who needed a place for six months. Upstairs, he began adding consignment furniture along with some of his own. Before long it was time to list the space and see what happened.
“The response was almost instant,” Murrell recalls. “Upstairs we were getting well over $2,700 per month.”
If one of your goals for 2019 is to become a real estate investor, you could probably not do much better than the charming duplex nestled between Highland Park and Oak Lawn — and since it’s well under $1 million and already leased, it’s probably one of the easier ways to enter the market.
