I turned a chicken coop into a two-bedroom Airbnb. It makes over $2,000 a month and covers my mortgage payment.

Courtesy of Landon Wilkinson

This as-told-to essay is based on conversations with Landon Wilkinson, an Airbnb host in Yakima, Washington, about two and a half hours southeast of Seattle. He and his wife have two rentals on the Washington property — a converted chicken coop, with rates from around $120 a night and up, and a shipping container —and a third in Montana. The conversations have been edited for length and clarity.