This Couple Spent Over $1M Turning An Abandoned Inn Into A Desert Paradise

Sara and Rich Combs purchased 38 acres of barren canyon desertland in Arizona in 2018 and turned it into a little piece of paradise. Now the piece of property is their main source of income. 

What To Know: The Arizona land the couple purchased for $615,000 had an abandoned inn sitting on it. They put an additional $500,000 into fixing it up and turning it into a hotel, called The Posada and is part of a hospitality group called The Joshua Tree House. The inn, located in Tuscon bordering Saguaro National Park, is now a fully functioning getaway with rooms ranging from $200 to $600 a night, per CNBC.

"It was a huge risk... but we really believed in this place, knew it had a lot of potential and just put everything into it," Sara said. 

When the couple bought the property, which consists of a main 7,500-square-foot building and two additional houses, it had been empty for 10 years. 

The couple quit their full-time jobs to pursue the hospitality business before buying the abandoned inn. They couldn't get a traditional mortgage and it was difficult to find a loan from a bank, but one finally decided to put up the money, which they ultimately refinanced into a small business loan after completing the project. 

The bank didn't cover all of the costs. The couple also had to max out multiple credit cards and borrow from friends and family. The duo even scored free products from social media partnerships along the way, saying that they wouldn't have been able to complete the project without the "hundreds of thousands of dollars of product" they received from these deals. 

See Also: Shark Tank Star Barbara Corcoran's Wealth Philosophy: Work Smart, Not Hard

Sara and Rich opened the Joshua Tree House: The Posada in 2019 and began generating income by renting out the seven-bedroom space. The couple offered the entire place for $2,200 a night if guests didn't want to book individual rooms.

The property features a hot tub that resembles a hot spring, a canyon pool, a walking trail and a fire pit area. 

"Eventually, we would love to have a couple more inns throughout the Southwest. But right now, we are working on our personal home and our personal lives and just enjoying everything that we get to experience every day," the couple said.

Sara and Rich have 4.92 stars and are superhosts on the Airbnb Inc ABNB platform. The "Saguaro Suite" at the inn has more than 150 reviews and boasts a 4.97-star rating.

In addition to this property, the couple's company hosts guests in individual homes in Joshua Tree, California, near Joshua Tree National Park, and in the future, at a property in Marfa, Texas.

If you don’t take a look, you’ll miss out: The list of startups you can invest in is here. Click here to take the leap into the world of startup investing.

Benzinga may receive monetary compensation from the issuer, or its agency, for publicizing the offering of the issuer’s securities in this article. Please see 17b disclosure linked in the offering circular for more information.

This story is part of a new series of features on the subject of success, Benzinga Inspire.

This illustration is not of the hotel and was generated using artificial intelligence via MidJourney.