Woman Restores Grandpa's Mansion to Rent on Airbnb to Pay off Mortgage Debt

A woman has shared how she transformed her late grandfather's property into a glamorous holiday rental in a viral TikTok video that has stunned millions. The modern Texan villa, located in Haslet near Fort Worth, is now available to book for a stay in on Airbnb.

Sofia K, who goes by @Sopapilla89K on TikTok, had shared in the August 6 post that her grandfather had built the property in the 1990s. At the time of the building's construction, it was his dream home, and a place where the 25-year-old TikTok creator had enjoyed spending many holidays in when she was growing up.

The woman added that the house, which boasts a large outdoor pool, had been kept in great condition while her grandfather was alive. Sadly, he passed away in 2012, leaving the home to his wife. The home the couple had shared soon fell into disrepair because the woman's grandmother was unable to maintain the house and pay off her mortgage due to being frail from old age.

"My grandmother and grandpa took out many loans to build their dream house. They made it happen and moved into the house in 1997, but my grandfather didn't get to live there long because he passed away in 2012. We didn't know that my grandmother was starting to get dementia and we would come over and help her clean, but she would get mad at us all the time, thinking we were throwing away her stuff," Sofia told Newsweek.

"We were trying to figure out what to do with her house, we had realtors come in and say that the house was destroyed and that we wouldn't be able to get what we wanted. I just couldn't let my grandpa's hard work be undermined, so my boyfriend and I quit our jobs and decided to work full-time on the house," she added.

Although countless people tried to persuade the TikToker to sell the crumbling family home, she refused and instead decided to renovate the property and list it on Airbnb in hopes that paying customers would help the family pay off leftover mortgage debts.

"From August 2022 to February 2023, we spent everyday fixing up the house. My boyfriend quit his job to work on the house full-time with me. The house was in a really bad shape, and we had to get it to a point where if we had to resell it we could," Sofia recalled about the project.

The TikToker turned Airbnb host explained in her post that the property was in such disrepair that every wall had to be repainted and that "everyone was working on the house in their free time".

The woman added that after a couple of months, the family began to reap the benefits of their hard work because the disheveled property started to look like it had done so in the 1990s.

Renovating the home appears to be a huge achievement for the video's creator, who revealed in the post that she had a close relationship with her grandfather, who she described as her best friend.

After work on the house was wrapped up in February, the property was listed on Airbnb shortly after. The woman shared at the end of her post that due to public interest in the impressive renovation, her family has been able to maintain the home they cherish.

While the project was difficult, Sofia told Newsweek that its total cost didn't make her eyes water.

"We didn't have much of a budget. We didn't know if we had to sell the house or have people rent it for a long time so we held a estate sale and sold everything pretty much and that gave us enough money to buy paint, as for equipment my grandfather already had everything we needed and since he passed all his tools were never touched so they were just waiting for us to use," she explained.

For now, the woman and her boyfriend are enjoying giving back to the local community by allowing people to stay in the revitalized property, but the couple plan to live in the house themselves one day.

What Do the Comments Say?

Since it was shared to the social media platform, the TikTok post has been liked by over 293,000 users and commented on many times. Plenty of users praised the Airbnb host for revamping the old house.

"For a house built 30 years ago the style has really held up, looks like something that would be built now," one user wrote.

"You should have guest send you pictures of their stay and at to a photo album. Grandpas House memory book," another user added.

The TikTok post can be seen here.

Updated on 08/25/23 at 06:12 ET with a correction about Sofia's name and age.

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