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Don’t Just Buy a Vacation Rental. Buy One That Meets Your Investing Goals.
If you’re considering Northern Michigan real estate as an investment, your first question shouldn’t be, “Do I love this house?”
It should be:
“Will this property be a profitable short-term rental?”
That’s the question my wife, Kim, and I help investors answer.
We are the co-owners of Water & Woods Vacation Rentals, and we’re investors ourselves. We own and operate our own profitable Northern Michigan short-term rentals, so we understand both sides of the equation: buying the real estate and operating a profitable vacation rental.
Kim is also a real estate agent who specializes in helping investors find Northern Michigan properties with short-term rental potential.
Our approach is simple:
Find it. Qualify it. Run the numbers. Buy it. Set it up. Manage it.
Find the Right Northern Michigan Investment Property
Kim focuses on helping investors identify properties that can perform as vacation rentals while meeting their individual investment goals.
We’re not looking for just a beautiful house. We’re looking for the right combination of location, purchase price, guest demand, property characteristics, and revenue potential.
That could be:
- A lakefront vacation rental
- A four-season property
- A ski rental near Nub’s Nob or The Highlands
- A golf-focused property
- A large family retreat
- A luxury lake house
- An investment property near Petoskey or Harbor Springs
- A recreational property near Gaylord
- A vacation rental near Burt Lake, Mullett Lake, Crooked Lake, or Indian River
- An investment property near Cheboygan or Mackinaw City
Northern Michigan has tremendous vacation demand, but not every property makes a good short-term rental investment.
That’s why we evaluate the opportunity before you buy.
Qualify It and Run the Numbers
Once we find a potential property, we evaluate it from an operator and an investor’s perspective.
We’ll analyze comparable vacation rentals, projected nightly rates, occupancy potential, seasonality, guest demand, amenities, property condition, furnishing requirements, operating expenses, local STR regulations, and potential revenue.
The question isn’t:
“What could this Airbnb gross?”
We need to understand the entire picture:
Purchase price. Revenue. Expenses. Cash flow. Seasonality. Investment potential. Tax Advantages
And because we’re investors ourselves, there’s another question we always come back to:
Would we put our own money into this property?
If the numbers don’t align with your investing goals, we’ll tell you.
Then We Build the Vacation Rental
Once you close, we help turn it into a professionally operated, profitable short-term rental.
We’ll help you determine:
- Who the ideal guest is
- How the property should be positioned
- What amenities will create demand
- How it should be furnished and designed
- What improvements are worth making
- How it should be photographed
- How it should be priced
- How to attract guests beyond the peak summer season
Then Water & Woods will handle the setup, listing creation, professional photography, pricing strategy, launch, and ongoing management.
We Know Because We Do It Ourselves
This is an important distinction.
We don’t just manage vacation rentals. We own and operate them.
Our own properties are where we’ve learned what actually moves the needle.
One of our own Northern Michigan rentals, Heaven on Huron, generated:
2024: $35,000 In service mid-July
2025: $95,000
2026: $132,127.01 in YTD bookings
Nearly 4X the revenue.
That growth came from continually improving the business—not simply putting the property on Airbnb and waiting for bookings.
We’ve focused on dynamic pricing, listing optimization, professional photography, hospitality, amenities, understanding our guest avatars, shoulder-season and winter demand, competitive positioning, and continual reinvestment.
We’re learning on our own properties first—and bringing that experience to the properties we manage.
One Team From Purchase to Management
That’s what makes us different.
You don’t have to find a real estate agent, STR analyst, designer, photographer, and property manager and try to coordinate all of them yourself.
We take care of the process from beginning to end.
FIND IT
Kim helps you find the right Northern Michigan investment property.
QUALIFY IT
We evaluate its short-term rental potential and market.
RUN THE NUMBERS
We build realistic revenue and expense projections.
BUY IT
Kim helps you navigate the real estate purchase.
SET IT UP
We help furnish, design, photograph, and position the property.
LAUNCH IT
We create the listings and establish the pricing and revenue strategy.
MANAGE IT
Water & Woods handles the day-to-day vacation rental operation and continually works to improve performance.
One team. One strategy. From the property search to the first guest—and beyond.
Why We Do It This Way
We don’t believe in buying an expensive vacation home and simply hoping Airbnb covers the bills.
A successful short-term rental requires the right property, numbers, positioning, pricing, operations, and guest experience.
And every investor has different goals.
Maybe you’re looking for cash flow.
Maybe you want appreciation, cash flow, and tax advantages.
Maybe you want a second home that produces income when you’re not using it.
Whatever your goal, the property and the strategy need to fit it.
Thinking About Buying a Northern Michigan Vacation Rental?
If you’re searching for a Northern Michigan Airbnb investment property, lakefront vacation rental, ski rental, golf property, or four-season short-term rental, talk to us before you make an offer.
Kim will help you find it.
We’ll help you qualify it and run the numbers.
We’ll help you set it up and launch it.
And Water & Woods will manage it for you.
We’re not just vacation rental managers.
We’re investors, owners, and operators.
We’ve put our own money into Northern Michigan short-term rentals and built profitable businesses around them.
Now we’re helping other investors do the same.
Don’t buy a vacation rental and hope it works.
Let’s find one that makes sense before you buy it.
Water & Woods Vacation RentalsNorthern Michigan Vacation Rental Management📞 (616) 836-2303🌲 waterandwoodsvacationrentals.com
Looking to purchase a Northern Michigan short-term rental? Contact us before you make an offer.Don’t Just Buy a Vacation Rental. Buy One that meets your investing goals.
What if the people helping you find your Northern Michigan vacation rental were also the people who own, operate, and manage profitable short-term rentals themselves?
That’s exactly what we do.
Kim and I are the husband-and-wife owners of Water & Woods Vacation Rentals. Kim is also a real estate agent who specializes in helping investors identify Northern Michigan properties with short-term rental potential.
She’s not just selling real estate.
We’re not just managing Airbnbs.
We’re vacation rental investors ourselves.
We own and operate our own Northern Michigan short-term rentals, and we’ve experienced firsthand what it takes to turn a property into a profitable vacation rental business.
We’ve put our own money into properties.
We’ve analyzed the numbers.
We’ve renovated and furnished properties.
We’ve built listings from the ground up.
And we’ve learned what works—and what doesn’t.
It All Starts Before You Buy
One of the biggest mistakes we see investors make is buying the property first and trying to figure out the vacation rental strategy afterward.
We believe it should be the other way around.
Before you buy, we want to know:
Will this property work as a short-term rental?
What will it realistically earn?
Who will want to stay here?
What are the demand drivers?
How seasonal is the market?
What will it cost to operate?
What improvements will increase revenue?
Does the purchase price make sense relative to the income potential?
And perhaps the most important question:
Would we buy it ourselves?
Kim Helps You Find the Property
As a real estate agent, Kim focuses specifically on helping investors find properties that will be profitable and meet your investing goals.
That means we’re not simply looking for a pretty house.
We’re looking for the ideal combination of location, property characteristics, guest demand, purchase price, and revenue potential.
Northern Michigan has incredible vacation rental markets, but not every property is a good investment.
A lake house can be overpriced.
A beautiful home can have poor guest demand.
A property can look amazing on Airbnb and still produce disappointing returns.
We want to identify those issues before you write the check.
We Qualify the Property and Run the Numbers
Once we find a potential property, we analyze it from an STR operator’s perspective.
We look at:
- Purchase price
- Location
- Local STR regulations and restrictions
- Comparable vacation rentals
- Projected nightly rates
- Occupancy potential
- Seasonality
- Guest demand
- Amenities
- Property condition
- Furnishing and renovation requirements
- Operating expenses
- Revenue potential
- Cash-flow potential
- Long-term investment considerations
- Tax advantages – ‘Short Term Rental Loophole’
We’re not interested in creating an overly optimistic projection just to get you excited about buying a property.
We need real numbers to help our investors make a good decision.
Because we’ve got our own money invested in vacation rentals, we understand the difference between a number that looks good on paper and an investment that actually makes sense.
Then We Help Turn the Property Into a Business
Finding the right property is only the beginning.
Once you close, we will take it from a real estate purchase to a professionally operated vacation rental.
We’ll determine how the property should be positioned, who it’s designed for, what amenities it needs, and what improvements will have the best ROI.
Then we’ll help you:
Design & Furnishings: Creating a property that stands out and gives guests a reason to book.
Listing Creation & Optimization: Professional photography, compelling copy, SEO, and strategic positioning.
Pricing & Revenue Management: Dynamic pricing designed around demand, seasonality, events, and market conditions.
Guest Experience: Building the kind of experience that drives five-star reviews and repeat bookings.
Operations & Management: Guest communication, cleaning coordination, quality control, restocking, guest support, and ongoing property oversight.
We’re Investors Too
This is probably the most important part of what we do.
We’re not giving you advice about a business we’ve never operated.
Our own vacation rentals are our testing ground.
We’ve grown the revenue on one of our own properties from $35,000 in 2024, to $95,000 in 2025, and $132,127.01 in 2026 YTD bookings.
That didn’t happen by putting the house on Airbnb and walking away.
It happened through continuous optimization.
Dynamic pricing.
Better photography.
Better listings.
Better amenities.
Better guest experiences.
Understanding our guests.
Creating demand in slower seasons.
Reinvesting in the property.
And constantly looking at the numbers.
That’s the same mindset we bring to the properties we manage for our clients.
One Team. From Purchase to Profit.
This is what makes our model different.
FIND IT
Kim helps you identify and purchase a Northern Michigan property with STR potential.
QUALIFY IT
We analyze the property, market, competition, and revenue potential.
RUN THE NUMBERS
We build a realistic picture of potential revenue and expenses.
BUILD IT
We help you furnish, design, photograph, and position the property.
LAUNCH IT
We create and optimize the listings and establish the revenue strategy.
MANAGE IT
Water & Woods handles the day-to-day operation and continually works to maximize performance.
One husband-and-wife team. One strategy. One goal.
To help you make a smarter investment and build a better vacation rental.
We Don’t Want You to Buy Just Any Airbnb
We want you to buy a property that makes sense as an investment.
Maybe that’s a lakefront property.
Maybe it’s a ski property.
Maybe it’s a golf destination.
Maybe it’s a large family retreat.
Maybe it’s a four-season property that can attract completely different guests throughout the year.
The property itself is only part of the equation.
The business plan behind the property matters just as much.
If you’re considering purchasing a Northern Michigan vacation rental for cash flow, appreciation, personal use, or a combination of the three, talk to us before you buy.
Kim can help you find it.
We’ll help you qualify it.
We’ll help you figure out the numbers.
We’ll help you set it up.
And Water & Woods can manage it.
Because we’re not just vacation rental managers.
We’re investors. We’re operators. And we’re building the same business for ourselves that we’re offering to build for you.
Ready to Start Looking?
Kim & Ed DidrichsonsCo-Owners, Water & Woods Vacation Rentals
📞 (616) 836-2303🌲 waterandwoodsvacationrentals.com
Don’t buy a vacation rental and hope it works.
Let’s find one that makes sense before you buy it.