C8 THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2021
Airsteam
its Flying Cloud model with a new
floor plan. This one, says Wheeler,
has a separate, tech-enabled of-
fice, including being wifi-ready and
with hook ups for a computer and
mounted monitor. The new model
goes for $107,000.
Giovanni Circella, director of 3
Revolutions Future Mobility Pro-
gram at the University of Califor-
nia at Davis, has been studying how
the pandemic has affected mobil-
ity and says the widespread adop-
tion of remote work has enabled
greater flexibility to travel — but
not for everyone. “It’s true mostly
for higher-income individuals and
white-collar workers,” he says, not-
ing that the option of remote work
is far less prevalent among lower-in-
come and minority employees, who
are also more likely to be essential
workers.
Airstream owners have an average
income of at least about $150,000,
according to the company. New Air-
streams cost between $39,000 and
$177,000.
And owning an Airstream can be
more expensive than it looks.
Kate Oliver, 35, founder of The
Modern Caravan, an Airstream ren-
ovation business, and her wife, Ellen
Prasse, 34, renovated and lived in a
1957 Airstream Overlander, as well
as other Airstreams, from 2016 until
June 2020, when the couple bought
their first house. The cost of gas,
propane for heating and cooking,
insurance and camping ground fees,
among other expenses, can add up,
she says.
“You could really go bare bones
and yes, some do, but I think a lot
of the people that choose to live this
way are privileged to be able to make
that choice,” said Oliver.
These are the kind of customers
that come to Denny Stone, 62, owner
and head of design for So Cal Vin-
tage Trailer in San Diego. The com-
pany offers high-end, bespoke ren-
ovations for Airstreams and similar
vintage trailers.
A full renovation averages about
$125,000, says Stone, but can reach
more than $300,000 including dis-
assembly of the trailer, structural re-
pairs and the replacement of nearly
all of its components — other than
the aluminum exterior. More cus-
tomers are now requesting new types
of customizations, including fitting
in an office or coffee station, he said.
Although business has been
steadily increasing for years, when
California implemented its stay-at-
home orders, Stone was hit with a
surge of calls and emails. “The in-
creased demand was crazy,” he says.
Many of those calls were urgent,
looking for finished, restored vintage
trailers — something that could be
bought off his lot, which Stone said
he couldn’t provide. Those that ul-
timately became new customers —
willing to wait three to six months
to get their trailers into Stone’s shop
— often had an interest in RVing
and Airstreams, pre-pandemic. The
coronavirus just pushed them to take
the next step.
Finding an updated Airstream can
be difficult. Ward Chandler, founder
of Airstream Hunter, a community
he started in 2016 for buying and
selling Airstreams, says 2020 was
his best year yet with transactions
up about 250 percent compared
with the previous year. “Demand far
outstripped supply,” says Chandler.
“And the thing people wanted more
than ever before was an Airstream
that was ready to use.”
Others are willing to wait. Emma
Duerk, 27, and Mitch Budden, 28,
were living in Ann Arbor, Mich. in
2019 when they decided to buy an
RV and do some traveling, hoping
to eventually transition to working
remotely and living on the road full-
time. They initially wanted an Air-
stream, but its high price tag made it
unaffordable. At the end of January
2020, they bought a 2004 Fleetwood
Jamboree, and Budden and his fa-
ther began renovating it. But when
the pandemic shut down Michigan,
their timeline accelerated.
Duerk’s job at an organizational
development consultancy became
remote, and then she was furloughed
because of the pandemic. Budden
had left his job in tech the month be-
fore pandemic shutdowns began and
was already working from home as
a freelancer, designing websites and
writing custom code. She and Bud-
den decided to take the plunge and
live full-time in the RV, relying on
the money they had been saving for
extended trips.
“My last day at work, we began
driving west,” says Duerk.
“We both recognize how lucky we
are that we can do this,” says Bud-
den. “Obviously, I would never have
wished for a pandemic, but it wound
up being a good year for us. It put
everything in a different perspec-
tive.”
The couple will soon move to
Denver to work for a few years —
and save up to buy their own Air-
stream.
site’s top emerging destinations for
this year.
and more people get vaccinated, I
think we’re going to find that more
and more people are interested in
doing this sort of thing,” he said.
“They’ve seen the future and this is a
piece of it for sure.”
hookup.
Also, it’s important to know why
people are coming to your area. Em-
ory, for example, is situated between
two lakes and is known for its fishing
and other watersports. So, the most
popular vacation rentals are close to
those activities.
“If you’re wanting to lease or rent
a property for the short term, you’re
certainly going to want to have ac-
cess to the water,” Johnson said.
In other places, the main draw
might be the ocean, a ski mountain
or hiking trails. Vacationers usu-
ally want to stay in a property that is
close to whatever attraction they’re
visiting.
lenders usually won’t take that into
account unless you have a signed,
long-term lease.
• Familiarize yourself with the
area where you want to buy. It’s good
to know what the local real estate
market is like and what the top at-
tractions are. The closer your prop-
erty is to those, the better.
• If you plan to use it for short-
term rentals, make sure the property
has enough space for visitors and a
versatile layout. And make sure local
regulations support your plans. Buy-
ing a vacation home you plan to rent
isn’t the same as buying it for your-
self. The property needs to feel com-
fortable for lots of different people.
Tips for investing in real estate
If you don’t have a vacation home
now, it could be a great time to think
about buying one. Especially as de-
mand for rentals in vacation com-
munities spike, you may be able to
cover your costs more easily than
you think.
Here are some key things to con-
sider before buying a second prop-
erty:
• Make sure you know what you
can afford. Factor in potential rental
income as you think about your
mortgage payments, but remember
Bottom line
Changing travel demands mean
more people than ever are looking
to vacation closer to home. That
can be a great opportunity for sec-
ond homeowners to make a little
extra income by renting their prop-
erty out. It also means prospective
real estate investors may have more
chances to profitably get into the
market. Above all, if you want to
start renting space to vacationers,
make sure your house is clean, spa-
cious and close to whatever attrac-
tions they may be looking to visit.
Continued from C1
It has been featured in movies,
from “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”
to “Legally Blonde,” and counts Mat-
thew McConaughey, Sean Penn and
Sandra Bullock among its fans.
President John F. Kennedy once
used an Airstream as a mobile office
in New Mexico.
Now, in the midst of a pandemic,
it is receiving another boost, as
Americans weather profound shifts
in how — and where — they work
and learn.
When her youngest child left for
college, Amy Geren sold her house
in suburban Portland, Maine and
moved to a small condominium
downtown, a few blocks from her
job at a non profit. But life in the
city didn’t suit her, so Geren put the
home up for sale in March 2020, just
weeks before the state shut down be-
cause of covid.
The uncertainty of the real estate
market — and the world at large —
pushed her to downsize again, this
time keeping just what could fit into
an Airstream, which she is now liv-
ing, working and traveling for the
foreseeable future.
“I love that it is so simple. Just
a two-burner gas stove and mini
fridge,” Geren says. “The only thing
I would change on the layout is the
ability to remove the dinette table so
I could practice yoga inside on rainy
days.”
Airstream dealerships closed their
doors in March with full invento-
ries — on average, about 40 vehi-
cles. Now, many are down to just six
or seven. It will take a year for the
company to fulfill existing orders,
said Wheeler. “That kind of backlog
is unprecedented,” he said. “It’s like
nothing I’ve seen in my 19 years at
this company.”
The pandemic has also ushered
in a new Airstream customer base.
Many of its new customers — 56%
during the past eight months — are
new to RV life, said Wheeler. The
vehicles have traditionally attracted
couples and singles, but this year
there were more families. In re-
sponse to customer requests, Air-
stream is also building a variation of
Staycations
Continued from C1
The report found that more than
a third of vacationers want to travel
this year specifically to reconnect
with friends and family, and that
more than half preferred a domestic
or local destination.
Vrbo had similar results in its own
2021 travel report.
“Vrbo’s newest top emerging des-
tinations align with shifts in family
travel behavior due to the pandemic,
such as vacationing closer to home
and embracing the great outdoors,”
Melanie Fish, a travel expert at Vrbo,
said in a statement. “Booking a Vrbo
in these off-the-beaten-path locales
means families can enjoy the pri-
vacy and comforts of home while
reaping the mental health benefits
of being in a new environment, and
spend quality time together explor-
ing places they may have otherwise
overlooked.”
Both Airbnb and Vrbo saw de-
mand spike in vacation spots close to
natural amenities. Airbnb said places
like Rodanthe, North Carolina and
Forks, Washington, saw surges in
reservations for 2021. Vrbo reported
that Emory, Texas, Smithville, Mis-
souri and Slade, Kentucky were the
Sandy Huffaker/The Washington Post
An interior view of a refurbished Airstream camper at So Cal Vintage Trailer.
How this has changed real estate
The real estate market has been
unusually busy throughout the pan-
demic, a trend that has extended to
vacation communities.
“The buying and selling of the
homes did not stop because of the
pandemic,” said Rob Johnson, a
Coppel, Texas-based Realtor with
RE/MAX who serves a number of
communities, including Emory.
He said people these days are more
likely to look for vacation spots
closer to their primary homes.
“I believe there’s definitely pan-
demic-related motivations. Just the
need to do something with the fam-
ily or to get away, you can just drive
and not have to worry about flying.”
Anecdotally, he said, sales for va-
cation homes in the communities
where he works are definitely spik-
ing. Recently one office he works
with on closings in a small town pro-
cessed 28 transactions in one week
— five or six times the normal rate.
Johnson expects that vacation
homes in towns like Emory will re-
main especially popular even after
the pandemic subsides.
“The demand is there and as more
What makes a good vacation rental
If you already own a home in an
area where people might want to
come to escape the city, you could be
sitting on your own personal piggy
bank.
“I have an associate who owns a
vacation home in Colorado where
he does use Vrbo but he also owns
a lake house in East Texas,” Johnson
said. “He’s considering making it a
Vrbo-available short-term rental be-
cause he’s had so many inquiries.”
As demand for this kind of ac-
commodation rises, you could make
a little extra income by renting out
your own property. Johnson said he
understands from his clients that
having a clean home and enough
space are the keys to success in the
vacation rental market.
“Everybody likes clean, everybody
likes space. They don’t necessarily
want to be away from their tech-
nology all the way, they want to be
able to connect,” so you’ll want to
make sure you have a stable internet