Running Springs is such a hidden gem (along with its attractions), and that’s why we are so excited to have not only one but two Airbnbs there! Let’s talk about why we love this area so much and what there is to do.
We didn’t choose Running Springs on purpose, which I know sounds odd. But we didn’t! It just kind of happened; we knew the mountains, nearby cities, and the location was good, but we didn’t know how good until we got in the thick of it. We’ve mentioned our realtor in previous blogs (she’s seriously impressive, and we don’t know what we’d do without her) and she was also an instrumental part here. She called us and said we needed to look at a house in Running Springs, directly off Highway 330. Already, without seeing the property, we knew it was amazing logistically for our guests and close to Lake Arrowhead, Lake Gregory, and an amazing ski resort (Big Bear is a slow and windy, perfect twenty-five-minute car ride from our property). If it’s sounding promising now, this is your cue that it only gets better!
The town is super small and quiet; there’s a hardware store called the Rusty Hammer that we like to frequent, a few mom-and-pop stores, and a couple of coffee shops – Smalltown USA! We immediately fell in love with its charm (and Jetty’s Restaurant, seriously get anything on the menu, it’s all delicious) and wanted to know everything about it. The lake is private but beautiful, Lake Arrowhead is an amazing place to rent a boat for the day and take in your surroundings, and Lake Gregory is truly a hidden gem that we almost like better than the rest. There are waterparks, waterslides, and a water jungle gym that the kiddos go crazy for! Big Bear has The Village, which has terrific restaurants and shopping places if our guests ever need a few minutes to themselves or to step away from all that family ‘togetherness’ for a sec (we feel you). Honestly, we love everything about where it’s nestled, and we know you will too.
When we purchased the house, we had to learn how to pivot due to Covid; we had to have plan a’s, plan b’s and sometimes even plan c’s but the cool lesson in all that is that sometimes, our plan b or c was better and more exciting than anything we could have dreamt up, to begin with. Deep Creek One is made for families and has really fun stuff like a separate living area downstairs with a huge TV; it has a game room and a pool table and is honestly just a fun house. It’s light, airy, comfy, and functional for families to relax and have fun in (we think our new motto is, “You’ll always have fun at Deep Creek One.” Eh? Okay, we’ll work on that). There are a lot of rustic cabins in this area, so we wanted ours to be different. The original floorplan of Deep Creek One had a garage on the lower level with everything else up top – so we decided to convert the garage area to a separate living area and man, are we glad we did! It’s such a fun space for our guests and a great way to incorporate two families at once.
Deep Creek Two is a whole different story – we already had the fun family house, so this time we wanted something a little darker, more of a cabin feel for romantic getaways. We incorporated darker finishes that feel moodier and way more romantic – it has a spa room and a fireplace too, so this is definitely geared towards couples but would absolutely work for small families as well. The story of purchasing this house is so fun too! We had been looking around the Running Springs area for a second home because we were familiar with the area and systems. We found out that our neighbor was moving, and I tracked him down via Facebook (just call me Sherlock Matt) and asked him if we could look! This 1965 house became ours shortly after that tour, and again, we saw this massive vision for it with its wood beams and cozy fireplace. The rest is truly history. We are about 60%-70% complete on Deep Creek Two and have a few finishing touches left (we definitely want to finish before November, so we don’t fight the weather).
All of our projects are so fun, have lots of work, and come with great satisfaction, but I always tell people to plan to go over budget. Yes, you heard me right, plan to go over by at least 20%, and if you stay under, that’s money in your pocket for additional expenses. Also, get to know your market; many apps and technology platforms can help with this and really leverage those to view/study the analytics. Your property must have something special and extraordinary to stand out against your competition. What will set you apart?
Come visit our properties soon! We’d be honored to have you!