How a 29-Year-Old Turned a Broken Marina Into a $7M Floating Tiny Home Resort.

Joe Lisa bought a marina in Sandusky, Ohio that most people would have driven past without a second thought.

It was rusty. Industrial. Sitting on old steel docks from the late 1970s. At the time it was bringing in about $20,000 a year.

Joe bought it for $1 million in November 2022 and raised another $300,000 for improvements. Then he started turning it into a village of floating tiny homes on Lake Erie.

Today, Solstay is heading into the 2026 season with around 30 units, projected revenue just over $1 million, and a potential valuation near $7.25 million.

The first version started with old pontoon boats from Facebook Marketplace.

SEE HOW JOE BUILT SOLSTAY    →01

THE FIRST BUILD

$10K Floating Tiny Homes.

Joe did not start with the polished version.

His first 10 houseboats cost around $10,000 each. His crew bought old decommissioned pontoon boats for about $500 to $1,000, stripped them down, laid new decking, and built tiny 110-square-foot cottages on top.

There were no bathrooms inside the units. Guests used a modular restroom trailer near the dock that a graffiti artist painted to look like a log cabin.

Those first 10 houseboats, plus three existing cottages on the property, gave Solstay 13 units for its first season.

That year, the property did about $370,000 in revenue.

The test worked. People wanted to sleep on the water.

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THE UPGRADE

From Bare-Bones to Lux Units.

Joe used the cheaper units to first prove the demand before spending real money on the upgraded version.

Once he had proof, he built the better version.

The next phase added five lux units with full bathrooms, air conditioning, heat, kitchenettes, porches, and picture windows looking straight out over Lake Erie.

Those units cost around $55,000 each to build.

In year one, they averaged about $30,000 each in gross revenue. In year two they averaged about $37,000 each.

03

STR RESULTS

The Numbers.

Solstay is now sitting at around 30 total units heading into the 2026 season. Here are the numbers from Rob's breakdown:

THE BUY-IN

Purchase price: $1 million

Improvement capital: $300,000

First 10 houseboats: ~$10,000 each

THE REVENUE GROWTH

First season: ~$370,000

Last year: $565,000

2026 projected: just over $1 million

THE RETURNS

Net operating income: ~$460,000

Annual debt service: ~$120,000

Cash flow: ~$340,000

Low-end valuation at an 8 cap: ~$5.75 million

Potential valuation with added revenue streams: ~$7.25 million

All from a marina that was making about $20,000 a year when he bought it.

04

THE PLAYBOOK

What Joe Did Differently.

1. He tested demand before building the expensive version.

The first floating units were cheap enough to test the idea without betting the whole project on a perfect buildout.

2. He built something the market did not already have.

Sandusky had major tourism traffic from Cedar Point and Lake Erie, but nowhere to sleep on the water. Hotels covered the standard stay. Joe saw that the unique-stay category was empty and priced accordingly.

3. He let the first version pay for the next version.

After the first season proved the concept, he added the lux units with better comfort, stronger amenities, and a more premium guest experience.

4. He bought an asset with room to grow.

This was not one Airbnb unit. It was a marina with docks, buildings, a boat ramp, a convenience store, and room for more revenue streams. Each one of those is a valuation lever. The property can grow without Joe having to find a new deal.

5. He kept using the same pattern.

Before Solstay, Joe lived in a $3,500 decommissioned ambulance while building his painting business. He flipped a house. He built a small glamp site near the Grand Canyon. Each project gave him a skill he used on the next one. By the time he bought the marina, he already knew how to build cheap, test fast, and upgrade what worked.

Want to See the Full Solstay Story?

The first bare-bones units (shared bathrooms and all) still pulled five-star reviews. That tells you something important about what guests actually care about on a trip like this.

The full breakdown covers how Joe found the deal before it hit the market, why Rob Abasolo calls this approach "rapid prototyping," and the math behind the $7M valuation.

Joe started with one clear test: would people pay to sleep on the water? They did. And that answer changed the entire property.

👉🏻 WATCH THE FULL STORY HERE    →