• Some American towns and cities offer major incentives to lure people to move there.
• The perks, often aimed at qualifying remote workers, range from cash to free land to gift cards.
• Business Insider rounded up 26 places that compensate people in some way to move there.

Remote work and a search for affordable housing have reshaped where people live.

Cities across the US that might have previously flown under the radar are offering new residents big incentives, from cash to free land.

Lillian Griffith moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, from Alpharetta, Georgia, in August 2022 to take advantage of the Tulsa Remote program, which granted her $10,000 simply for relocating to the city.

"The Tulsa Remote program is not some elitist program that only accepts people who work in high-paying positions," Griffith, a data engineer, told Business Insider in 2023. "It's more about pulling people who can bring a good culture to the city."

New residents can boost the communities offering incentives, too.

Perry County, Indiana, located an hour west of Louisville, Kentucky, offers qualifying new residents $7,000 split into two payments: $3,500 when they arrive and $3,500 after 12 months.

It's an investment in the region's future, said Shiraz Mukarram, manager at the Perry County Development Corporation.

"We do not want Perry County to be one of those statistics of a declining population. We want to make it grow," Mukarram told BI.

Business Insider rounded up 26 places across the US that are dishing out perks to anyone who moves there, presented in alphabetical order.

Do you know of another city that pays people to move there? Did you get paid to move somewhere? We'd love to hear about it. Email reporter Jordan Pandy at [email protected] or Alcynna Lloyd at [email protected].

A lottery program in Baltimore wants to reduce the upfront costs required for prospective residents to buy a home.

Buying Into Baltimore is a program that awards $5,000 in down-payment and closing-cost assistance to a few lucky prospective homebuyers who enter a lottery after attending a special Trolley Tour that is held three times a year. (The next one will be in the fall.)

The prize is not limited to first-time homebuyers, but following the event, applicants have 10 business days to make an offer on a home, have the offer accepted, and obtain a contract of sale to be eligible to even enter the lottery.

A special note for remote workers considering making a move: The property must also be used as a primary residence.

This small Kansas town will pay you to build a home there.

Building a house can be expensive, but what if someone helped foot the bill?

Belleville, a small town in north-central Kansas' Republic County, is offering up to $35,000 in grants to attract new residents willing to build homes there.

The incentive includes a $25,000 base grant for anyone constructing a single-family home. An additional $10,000 bonus is available to those whose homes are among the first five built within city limits.

To qualify, you have to apply through Republic County's economic development office or partner with a local bank prior to starting construction. After approval, construction must begin within 30 days.

Belleville, through MakeMyMove, also offers eligible remote workers perks beyond homebuying: up to $1,500 annually for five years toward student loans and up to $3,000 for movers who are employed by Republic County.

A city on a lake in Minnesota wants to reimburse you for your relocation costs.

Bemidji, a 15,000-person city in northern Minnesota, has a program offering remote workers interested in moving to the area six months of free internet service, a one-year membership to a coworking space, a one-year membership to the Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce, and free access to community programs and events.

To qualify, movers must work primarily from home and be relocating from at least 60 miles away.

A city in Iowa will give $5,000 to remote workers who relocate to the area.

Nicknamed the "City of Five Seasons," Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is located in eastern Iowa along the banks of the Cedar River. While it's the second-largest city in the state, its closest big town is Des Moines, which is about a two-hour drive northeast.

Cedar Rapids is located in one of the most prominent manufacturing regions in the US and is recognized as the largest corn-processing city in the world, according to its official website. Beyond agriculture, the city also has a strong job market, with several Fortune 500 companies, including Collins Aerospace and Nordstrom calling it home.

In partnership with MakeMyMove, the city is offering $5,000 to non-Iowa residents to relocate there. To qualify, applicants must be willing to move within six months of approval, work remotely, and earn an annual income of at least $55,000.

Columbus, Georgia, will pay remote workers $5,000 to move there.

Columbus, a 200,000-person city on the Georgia-Alabama border, is offering $5,000 to remote workers who move there.

Through MakeMyMove, Columbus also offers relocators other perks, including six months of time at a coworking space, coffee with the mayor, and a two-night hotel stay for a visit before your move.

The total package is worth $8,700, according to MakeMyMove.

In order to qualify for the program, you need to be employed full-time, earn at least $75,000, and live at least 75 miles outside Columbus at the time of the application.

Fort Wayne, Indiana, will help you pay your down payment.

Both first-time and repeat homebuyers moving to Fort Wayne, Indiana, can get help buying a home thanks to Hoosier Homes Plus, a down payment assistance program sponsored by the Fort Wayne Housing Authority.

The program offers buyers up to 5% of the home's purchase price to assist with down payment and closing costs.

To qualify, applicants must work with an approved lender, have a minimum credit score of 640, and have a household income at or below the county-specific limit of $126,000.

Additionally, first-time homebuyers are required to complete a homebuyer education course.

Hamilton, Ohio, assists recent graduates with their student-loan payments.

Hamilton, Ohio — a city of 63,000 about 20 miles north of Cincinnati — is encouraging recent college graduates to apply for its Talent Attraction Program Scholarship.

Scholarship recipients can get up to $15,000 a year toward student loan payments. 

In order to qualify for the scholarship, you must have graduated from a STEAM (science, tech, engineering, the arts, or math) program within the last seven years. You must not already live in the city of Hamilton but have plans to move or live in what the city defines as one of its urban neighborhoods.

Applicants must demonstrate employment within Butler County or a full-time remote position. Preference is given to people "with a desire to give back to the community and become engaged in activities."

This city in Kansas is helping renters become homeowners.

Hutchinson — a city of about 40,000 people in south central Kansas — is helping its movers achieve the American dream of homeownership.

The city is offering renters who move into one of its qualifying neighborhoods —College Grove, Creekside, Founders, Grace Arbor, Houston Whiteside Historic District, Midtown — up to $2,500 in matching funds to purchase their first home.

Jackson, Michigan, is offering up to $25,000 to help people buy homes in the city.

Jackson, Michigan, a city of about 31,000 people in south-central Michigan, is attracting residents with newly built homes and down payment assistance.

As part of its 100 Home Program, the city plans to construct 100 one-and two-bedroom homes on vacant residential lots across Jackson, each priced at $175,000.

To help buyers better afford these homes, the city is offering up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for eligible applicants earning up to 120% of the area's median income.

In addition, buyers are encouraged to apply for an extra $10,000 in assistance through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.

A Kentucky nonprofit is trying to reverse population loss by offering $7,500 to people who move to one of 34 counties in the state.

The nonprofit Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) was founded to reverse population loss in the rural, mountainous regions of Kentucky.

It offers relocation grants to remote workers, which include $5,000 for the worker who moves, plus an additional $2,500 bonus if their partner secures a job in education or healthcare.

Interested remote workers can move to any of 34 eligible counties in the eastern part of Kentucky; the swath includes a scenic network of canyons called the Red River Gorge and the Country Music Highway Museum, dedicated to artists from the region like Billy Ray Cyrus and The Judds.

Applicants must make $70,000 and currently reside outside Kentucky.

Ketchikan, Alaska, pays up to $2,000 a year to live there and provides free internet.

Ketchikan, a scenic coastal city near the southernmost tip of Alaska that is a 90-minute flight from Seattle, launched the Choose Ketchikan program in November 2021.

Applicants over 18 must be "fully employed." To be eligible, an individual or family must currently live outside Alaska while working remotely for a company that is also outside Alaska.

After relocation, all Alaska residents get an annual payment from Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend, which can be as much as $3,000 a year or more.

Ketchikan, which touts its clean air and drinking water, is also offering new residents three months of free high-speed internet.

This Georgia town will pay you $2,500 and give you a gym membership if you move there.

Macon-Bibb, Georgia, is one of the newest cities to launch a relocation program through MakeMyMove.

The central Georgia city is offering qualifying out-of-state remote workers $2,500 to make it their home. Additionally, new residents will receive a three-month coworking membership at The Office, a local workspace, and a three-month family trial membership at One Life Fitness, a local gym.

The state of Maine offers student-loan repayment assistance to eligible college graduates.

Maine has said it can reimburse residents who graduated after 2007 through its student loan repayment tax credit program.

If you live in Maine during the tax year, you are likely eligible for a tax credit that could total up to $2,500 annually, up to $25,000 lifetime, toward student-loan payments.

Additional perks are available for graduates with STEM degrees, including the possibility of refunding the entirety of their state tax payments.

Manilla, Iowa, is offering free plots of land to people who will build homes on them.

Manilla — a small city in western Iowa — is offering free lots of land to anyone looking to build a single-family home.

Manilla is also eliminating taxes on the homes built on the "no cost lots" for the first five years.

A program in West Virginia is offering potential new residents $12,000 in cash.

West Virginia launched a program named Ascend WV to attract out-of-state remote workers to Morgantown, a vibrant college town home to West Virginia University.

To be eligible, potential residents must be 18 years or older, able to verify remote employment, and willing to move to the city of 30,000 for two years.

Those accepted to the program are expected to relocate to Morgantown within six months and receive $12,000 in cash in monthly installments. If people choose to purchase a home in West Virginia, they can get the remaining cash payments in a lump sum.

Other perks of the program include a coworking-space membership and free outdoor-gear rentals.

In addition to Morgantown, Ascend WV also incentivizes moves to other parts of West Virginia: the Greenbrier Valley, the Eastern Panhandle, the New River Gorge area, and Greater Elkins community.

Newton, Iowa, is offering homebuyers more than $10,000 to buy a house priced at $240,000 or more.

Newton, Iowa, about 30 miles east of Des Moines, wants to give relocators who purchase a home there cash upon closing.

The city is offering $10,000 in cash to buyers of homes valued at more than $240,000 and a five-year tax abatement for homes below that value. Eligible homes include single-family new builds that started construction in 2020 or 2021.

There's also a "Get to Know Newton Welcome Package" that includes gifts from local businesses and opportunities to attend local events, including at the Iowa Speedway.

A town outside Indianapolis is offering a $5,000 grant and other perks to new residents.

Located just 30 minutes from downtown Indianapolis, Noblesville is home to the Ruoff Music Center, the region's most significant outdoor concert venue.

The town is offering new residents a package that includes a $5,000 relocation grant, a $500 health and wellness stipend, and a one-year membership to a local coworking space, among other incentives.

Remote workers interested in the program must make at least $80,000 annually and be able to relocate within six months of applying.

A small Illinois town is offering $5,000 to movers looking for work.

Quincy, Illinois, a town of 40,000 on the Missouri border, has also launched a program to incentivize Americans to relocate there.

The Quincy Workforce Relocation Assistance Program, also called Quincy's Calling, offers movers who can get a job within the county a property-tax rebate of up to $5,000 after one year of living and working in the area.

If you would prefer to rent, you can get a rental rebate of up to $3,500 after six months of residency and employment.

Remote workers aren't eligible for the program. New residents must work in Adams County, where Quincy is.

A small county in Indiana is paying qualified remote workers $7,000.

Since 2023, Perry County has offered a cash incentive of $7,000 to qualifying remote workers and their families who move to the rural community. Located between Evansville, Illinois, and Louisville, Kentucky, along the Ohio River, Perry County has fewer than 20,000 residents, according to the most recent census data.

The $7,000 payment is split into two installments — one when families first move and another after 12 months. Families also receive a welcome basket that includes freebies from local fudge to discounted WiFi.

Eligible applicants must make $50,000 at a job they can retain when they move and be able to relocate within 6 months.

Shiraz Mukarram, manager at the Perry County Development Corporation, told BI that families have moved to the county from states including Florida, Georgia, California, and Massachusetts with great success.

Remote workers could earn $5,000 if they move to Switzerland County, Indiana.

Switzerland County, Indiana, about an hour southeast of Cincinnati, is home to the towns of Patriot and Vevay.

The latter was once home to the first successful wine vineyard in the US, though wine production has since ceased.

Still, each year, people from across the country gather to celebrate the county's wine heritage and sample wines at its annual Swiss Wine Festival.

To encourage relocation to the area, the city has partnered with MakeMyMove to offer $5,000 to eligible out-of-state remote workers who relocate there.

A handful of cities in Alabama are offering remote workers who move to the area $10,000 cash, paid out over a year.

The Shoals in Alabama — a cluster of municipalities including Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia that straddles the banks of the Tennessee River — is offering remote workers $10,000 to move to the area.

Near the border with Tennessee and Mississippi, the four cities are just a few hours from hubs including Memphis, Nashville, and Birmingham. 

The program offers $2,500 upfront for relocation costs, an additional $2,500 six months after moving there, and $5,000 at the end of the first year of residency.

Eligible applicants must be over 18 and able to move to the region within six months. They must also be employed outside the area and have a minimum annual income of $52,000.

Texarkana, which straddles Texas and Arkansas, offers a $5,000 relocation bonus to new residents.

Texarkana is a pair of neighboring twin cities with the same name in both states it straddles: Texas and Arkansas.

The cities have separate municipal governments but often operate as one metropolitan region. It has a joint offer for remote workers moving to either city.

Texarkana is offering a $5,000 relocation bonus along with other incentives, including free tickets to the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra and a 25% tuition discount at Texas A&M at Texarkana, the local four-year public university.

Eligible applicants must make at least $75,000 a year. They must reside outside the state of Arkansas or, if a Texas resident, at least 75 miles from Texarkana.

Topeka, Kansas, is offering potential new residents up to $15,000 to move there.

Kansas' state capital has teamed up with employers to offer cash to those willing to move there.

Participants of the program, called Choose Topeka, can receive up to $15,000 if they purchase a home in Topeka and secure a job in the area. Remote workers with employment outside the area can earn up to $5,000 toward rental costs or $10,000 toward a home purchase.

As an added bonus, Jimmy John's, the sandwich franchise, throws in an extra $1,000 for anyone who moves within delivery range of one of its shops.

Tucson, Arizona, is offering remote workers perks and services worth about $7,500.

A local economic-development organization launched Remote Tucson during the COVID-19 pandemic to lure remote workers to the area.

The program offers relocators $1,500 toward moving costs, one year of free internet, free trials at local coworking spaces, membership to a local cultural institution, networking opportunities, and more.

Eligible applicants must be over 18 years old, have full-time remote employment outside the area, and be able to move to Tucson within six months.

Tulsa Remote, one of the country's most well-known incentive programs, offers remote workers $10,000 grants.

Tulsa Remote, a program that started in 2018, is designed to draw new residents to Oklahoma. Since 2018, the program has helped more than 1,400 people relocate to Tulsa.

The program offers $10,000, which people can put toward purchasing or renting a home in Tulsa. It also offers $500 travel reimbursements and a $150 Airbnb credit for applicants to familiarize themselves with the area.

BI previously interviewed four people who hailed from major cities on both US coasts and made the move to Tulsa — most said it was a fantastic decision.

To qualify for the program, applicants must be over 18 and live outside Oklahoma. They must also prove a consistent stream of income and the ability to work remotely. Applicants must also promise to commit to moving to and living in Tulsa for at least one year.

This Arkansas town will pay you to move and even treat you to dinner with the mayor.

Sitting just across the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee, is West Memphis, Arkansas, which is working to attract more residents.

The city is offering housing incentives for movers. Homebuyers can receive up to $10,000 in cash, while renters may qualify for up to $5,000.

Through MakeMyMove, new residents also receive a two-night stay at West Memphis' Southland Casino Hotel and an opportunity to have dinner with the mayor.

Taylor Borden, Libertina Brandt, and Leanna Garfield contributed to previous versions of this story.

Most days, Anita Alvarez starts training at 6 a.m. She performs twists and lifts across the pool, holding her breath underwater for minutes at a time.

While it paid off in the pool — she returned home to Los Angeles in the summer of last year with her first Olympic medal, a silver, in artistic swimming, formerly synchronized swimming — it didn't pay her bills.

Earlier in Alvarez's 12-year swimming career, she worked at a sporting goods store to supplement the $250 monthly stipend she said she received from Team USA.

Alvarez told Business Insider her stipend had since increased to $1,900 a month. But rather than adding to that with coaching gigs, teaching private lessons, or prize money as she's done in the past, she's joined the US Air Force's World Class Athlete Program. The program funds Olympic athletes' training in exchange for three years of military service after their Olympic careers.

While the phrase "professional athlete" often evokes thoughts of multimillion-dollar contracts, red-carpet appearances, and lavish living, this type of stardom is often reserved for the upper echelon of male athletes in the MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL.

Many full-time athletes outside these leagues — and many of those within them — still struggle with finances. Careers in sports are often short, and some athletes come from families with little experience dealing with large sums of money.

"It was stressful because you want to be so focused and dialed in on the Olympic training that we're doing, and that's not just the time we're at the pool," Alvarez, 28, said. She added, "But then, knowing that I had to leave after eight hours in the pool, I'm physically, mentally exhausted, and then I have to get out and rush to shower to run to make it to work on time."

Four current and former professional athletes shared how they'd faced these uncertainties by prioritizing financial literacy, investing, and starting businesses of their own.

A short window to make money

A 2020 study published by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that the average length of "maximum achievement until retirement" in terms of sports performance was 4.9 years for athletes in individual sports and seven years for those on teams.

"Our career span and lifespan in the NFL is so short that by the time you've spent that money, it's super hard to get back," Sheldon Day, a defensive tackle for the Washington Commanders who's preparing to enter his ninth year in the NFL, told BI. "Most people don't understand the lifespan, and then they think the money's going to always be there."

A 2022 analysis of player data by The Sports Daily found that on average, an NFL career lasted just 3.3 years.

Athletes like Alvarez have a much longer window to earn, but the opportunities appear to be fewer. Alvarez, who's worked with brands including Skims and Tresemmé, said she usually sees brand deals and sponsorships pick up leading into the Olympics, but when the games end, the companies move on to whatever's next.

Of course, the athletes aren't just training every time there's an Olympics. "It's not every four years," she said. "It's every single year that we're here training."

A survey released in December by Parity, a sports marketing and sponsorship platform for professional female athletes, indicates Alvarez's experience of working while training isn't unique: Seventy-four percent of the 500 female athletes surveyed said that in the previous year, they had a job outside of being a pro.

Planning for retirement while still in the game

Angela Ruggiero was a star on the ice, medaling in four Olympics, including a gold medal in the 1998 Winter Games. Still, she knew hockey wouldn't be enough to financially support herself, especially in retirement.

"It was tricky, but I think I always knew I was going to have to get a job being a female athlete and not making a ton of money as a pro," Ruggiero, 45, told BI.

Ruggiero said that during her last Olympic cycle, from 2008 to 2011, she earned a base pay before bonuses of $2,000 a month from Team USA, in addition to endorsements from brands such as Coca-Cola and Nike.

"I was 31 and wasn't saving money, whereas my peers who had had regular jobs were ahead of me financially, which is kind of crazy — I had a gold medal and four Olympics under my belt," she said. "But that's never why I did it. I never did it for the money. I did it because I loved the sport."

It's a common experience among professional female athletes. Seventy percent of respondents in the Parity survey — which had representation from 55 sports — said it was "very likely" they'd need a new source of income when they retire from competition.

For Ruggiero, part of the solution was investing. Later in her career, she asked Coca-Cola, one of her sponsors, to give her equity in the company, she said. When they gave her a check instead, she took a piece of it and bought stock in the company.

The former NBA player Baron Davis, who is reported to have earned more than $140 million throughout his career, playing for 13 seasons across six teams, also had the forethought to invest his earnings. His first investment was with the then startup Vitaminwater, but it came with a condition.

"The only ask was, 'I want to be on your marketing team or an advisor on your marketing team as a creative, so I can learn how to replicate a brand and its success,'" Davis, 46, said.

"And that shaped my career to say, 'I can be my own agent. I can do my own deals. I can pitch to brands. I know what I'm capable of both on and off camera,'" he added.

After those experiences, Davis said he felt better equipped to become an entrepreneur after he last played in the NBA in 2012. He created Baron Davis Enterprises, a holding company of his investments including content studios and a membership platform for people who work in sports, business, and entertainment.

Similarly, Ruggiero used her sports background as a launchpad for her second career. After spending eight years with the International Olympic Committee, she cofounded Sports Innovation Lab, a data and analytics company focused on improving advertising, sponsorships, and fan experiences.

"Sports Innovation Lab came from my experiences as a board member, a practitioner, someone that had gone to business school and studied disruptive innovation under Clay Christensen, and I'm looking at my industry going, 'We could be doing better if we had the insights,'" she said.

Still, these career changes don't come without challenges. Davis said athletes could experience pushback in their second careers because they're athletes.

"You have the ability to get into meetings or get into places based on your fame, your history, or your recognition," he said, adding that athletes are often asked to still prove themselves as entrepreneurs, investors, and C-suite executives.

Helping the next generation of athletes

Athletes are uniquely positioned to help others within their professions.

Day, 30, watched as an NFL teammate spent money on cars, jewelry, and nights out at clubs, seemingly not considering that one day the paychecks would stop. After witnessing that teammate struggle financially while still in the NFL, he decided to do something about it.

Alongside former NFL player Richard Sherman and a health and sports scientist named Tom Zheng, Day founded The Players Company, which seeks to help athletes with personal finance through education, networking, and community events.

In 2024, the company partnered with Mogul Club, a real estate platform, to help players invest in real estate — something Day himself tapped into early in his pro career. "I jumped right in on the single-family real estate side, trying to give back to the city of Indianapolis where I'm from," he said.

Day, who's earned $7 million so far during his NFL career, per the sports financial system Spotrac, has since incorporated commercial real estate into his portfolio, in addition to building homes in lower-income neighborhoods.

Whether an athlete is handling millions of dollars or working second jobs, earning money is only half the battle. Knowing what to do with it is a separate challenge, and athletes ultimately need to figure out what they're saving for, Andrea Brimmer, a former varsity soccer player at Michigan State University, told BI.

"You think about money in terms of how it can empower the things that you love or the people that you love the most in life, and it gives you a very different purpose in earning money," said Brimmer, who's now the chief marketing officer at the online bank Ally Financial.

Ruggiero said money management should be emphasized more while athletes are still playing, not after they retire.

"What we're told as athletes is: Eye on the prize. Win the gold medal. Win the championship," she said. "You're given all these amazing tools for the prize, the sports prize, which is great, but it doesn't always serve you."

"Even in the NCAA, if you're a collegiate athlete and you're going to go pro the next year," she continued, "could you at least take a class over balancing your checkbook?"

• Darrel and Patrice Maxam started renting out bedrooms in their Atlanta home on Airbnb in 2015.
• They ended up building additional units — tiny homes and treehouses — on the property to rent out.
• Their latest project: a group of wooden cabins in upstate New York that make over $30,000 a month.

When Darrel and Patrice Maxam moved from Connecticut to Georgia, they bought a 1956 bungalow for $249,400. Because they'd used most of their money to buy the home, they struggled to afford the $1,400 monthly mortgage payments.

"When we moved to Atlanta, we were really broke," Darrel Maxam told Business Insider. "We literally spent all of our money on a down payment — we had $1,000 in our bank accounts."

They decided to list a bedroom in the three-bedroom bungalow on Airbnb. Then they rented the entire house. Later, they began renting out a tiny house on the property. Eventually, the Maxams filled their two-and-a-half acres with nine different short-term-rental units: the main house, a tiny home, a converted barn, a triplex, and three "treehouses."

Now, the Maxams build and operate short-term rentals full-time. They sold the Atlanta property in September of 2024; Fulton County property records show it sold for $655,000. Their focus is a village of 13 custom-built cabins and properties in upstate New York that brings in between $30,000 and $60,000 a month.

Read on to see how the Maxams built their Airbnb empire.

They evolved from renting a single room to renting out the entire house

Renting out rooms brought in about $1,000 a month in profit, Maxam said, and renting out the entire home doubled that amount.

Maxam recalled packing up every weekend during the summer and vacating the premises while Airbnb guests were staying in their Atlanta home.

He said the couple would take 10% of his weekly paycheck, 10% of his wife's weekly paycheck, and 10% of the amount they were making from Airbnb and use it to find a hotel within 300 miles that worked within that budget.

"If we only had $400, we were going to plan a trip for $400," he said. "We would go as far south as Destin, Florida, as far east as Mississippi, and as far north as the Carolinas and Tennessee area."

Maxam figured the more units they put on the Atlanta property, the more money they would make.

First, the Maxams partnered with the HGTV show "Tiny House, Big Living" to build a tiny home on their property, which Maxam said earned them an extra $2,500 a month in profit.

"I was hooked at that point," Maxam said. "We had a barn in the backyard. I converted that barn to another livable space. Then, another year after that, I ended up building three more units. After the fifth unit on the property, we were generating roughly $15,000 a month."

At one point, the Maxams had their main house, a tiny home, a barn, a triplex with three rentable units, and three treehouses on the property. They took the tiny home with them when they left.

Maxam resigned from his full-time job working for the Department of Aviation and made hospitality his career.

They've built a village of cabins in upstate New York

In 2022, the Maxams' main project became Finger Lakes Treehouses in Sodus, New York, a small town 33 miles east of Rochester.

They partnered with Red Falls Timber, a New York-based firm that sources its wood from Finland, to build five A-frame cabins.

Each one has a kitchenette, a bathroom, air conditioning, and a private wood-fired hot tub. Nightly rates are around $250, according to the Maxam Hotels website.

Each A-frame structure cost him about $65,000, Maxam said. Since launching in 2023, the five cabins have brought in anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000 a month, he added.

"We don't touch a project unless we can be cash-flow positive within 18 months," he said.

The Maxams are planning to build five non-A-frame cabins with Red Falls Timber on the Sodus land this year.

Both cabin styles are prefabricated, which means they can be put together quickly, cutting down on both time and cost per unit.

"It'll take about three days to get them erected," Maxam said.

"You, right now, can come on site, look at my plans, and be able to put my building together," he added. "That's how easy they are — they're like Lego."

The Maxams have other dreams for the Sodus development.

"We have three Airstreams on the property right now, so by the start of the season, we'll have 13 units total," Maxam said. "Next year, we're going to go into phase three. We have these really luxury-style safari tents, and we'll build a bathhouse for them, also."

The plan is to have 19 total units in Sodus by next year, he added.

The couple has also purchased land in Belize with plans for a beach-centered venture in 2026 or 2027.

They believe slow and steady is the best growth

The Maxams entered the short-term-rental world humbly, but now feel like they are thriving.

Maxam said to get here, they took their time, using proceeds from one unit to build the next one.

"Everyone wants to rush and rush and race to do the largest project — and they don't know what they're getting themselves into," Maxam said.

"The only advice I have to someone starting out like me is to stay small enough, long enough, because soon enough you'll be big enough," he added.