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After years of surviving successful San Francisco, California natives Malana Moberg, 59, and Roland Salvato, 64, were acceptable for a change.
Salvato had spent astir 30 years moving arsenic a task manager, portion Moberg worked arsenic a selling consultant. After a stint moving their ain company, The RoMa Group, they decided to the countryside to commencement a furniture and breakfast.
"We had lived successful San Francisco and experienced everything that the fantastic metropolis has to connection and we wanted to change," Moberg tells CNBC Make It. "We emotion traveling and entertaining truthful we thought this could beryllium an absorbing 2nd vocation for us."
The chateau's instauration dates backmost to the 12th century, and different parts of the spot were built successful the 14th and 15th centuries.
Sylvain Elfassy
The thought to commencement a furniture and meal didn't travel from a tendency to marque money. Instead, Salvato and Moberg were looking for a situation to instrumentality connected successful their adjacent chapter.
"We evidently made bully money, but it wasn't the extremity of either of our lives," Salvato says. "Experience is overmuch much important than worldly wealth. Any concern successful our curiosity astir beingness is worthwhile."
The mates began their hunt for a caller home, looking for a spot that would not lone person abstraction for plentifulness of guests, but besides for animals.
"I ever knew I wanted to determination to the country. I conscionable didn't cognize which country," Salvato says.
They looked successful Spain, Portugal and North Africa, but France and its affluent past kept calling to them. It besides helped that Salvato already spoke French.
Before the mates moved in, the chateau had not been upgraded successful 50 years.
Roland Salvato
They scoured the state looking for the cleanable spot, yet ending up successful a municipality called Druelle Balsac. Here, they recovered a chateau that felt perfect. The 6,458 quadrate feet spot was listed for 736,000 euros (approximately $835,000 USD) and included a main chateau with 3 bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms, and a four-bedroom, two-bathroom impermanent house.
The chateau's instauration dates backmost to the 12th century, and different parts of the spot were built successful the 14th and 15th centuries.
In 2017, Moberg and Salvato sold their San Francisco flat for $1.45 cardinal and utilized that wealth to acquisition the chateau successful cash. They enactment the remainder of the wealth towards renovations and surviving expenses. The chateau hadn't been renovated oregon had immoderate upgrades successful 50 years.
"We decided we privation to marque it large for america first, due to the fact that we person to unrecorded here, we person to beryllium comfortable," Salvato says.
Stays astatine the chateau commencement astatine $187 a night.
Sylvain Elfassy for CNBC Make It
Renovations started successful 2018 and are inactive ongoing. The 2 estimation they've spent astir $332,000 connected the enactment truthful acold — including the eating room, surviving country and kitchen.
But the spot is generating immoderate income for them. They were capable to unfastened the guesthouse to visitors for $238 a night, and person 3 rooms successful the chateau disposable for $187 a night.
'A precise costly French lesson'
At Château de Balsac, the mates offers week-long, all-inclusive workshops connected yoga, cooking, publication arts, drafting and coating for astir $4,500 per person.
The mates renovated the room successful 2020.
Roland Salvato
The workshops assistance the furniture and meal enactment booked extracurricular of the summer, which is typically their busiest season. Last year, the chateau hosted 60 guests and generated $22,000 successful revenue, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. The couple's estimated monthly expenses are astir $2,212 for utilities, security and Wi-Fi. Last year, they paid astir $2,000 successful spot taxes.
The concern isn't profitable yet, but the income helps them get by.
"That small magnitude of wealth doesn't dependable similar overmuch but it truly helps america screen a batch of the costs of the chateau, which is truly what we were looking to do," Moberg says.
The mates started renovations successful 2018 and person spent implicit $300,000 truthful far.
Sylvain Elfassy for CNBC Make It
Until the furniture and meal turns a profit, the mates is utilizing their savings to screen surviving expenses.
"I conjecture you could accidental this has been a precise costly French lesson," Salvato says.
And though the mates enjoys surviving and hosting guests astatine the chateau, they are astir arrogant that they person been capable to respire caller beingness into the property.
"We are simply caretakers of this portion of past and this bequest for the adjacent generation," Salvato says.
The main chateau has 3 bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms, and a four-bedroom, two-bathroom guesthouse.
Sylvain Elfassy for CNBC Make It
Conversions to USD were done connected June 2, 2025, utilizing OANDA conversion rates of 1 euro to 1.13 USD. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.
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