Short Term Rental Riches

Are you getting what you paid for when it comes to purchasing a property? How do you actually know? After a recent (and quite hectic) visit to 7 cities in less than three weeks and meeting and viewing several properties I wanted to share some tips while they're fresh in my mind. Inspections are super important especially if you are new to real estate - an unexpected sewer issue could cost you thou...

Since the invention of the air conditioner people have had the ability to live comfortably in hot areas. It wasn't that long ago that the southern part of the USA, what's commonly referred to as "the sun belt" was more of a ghost town. Today it's booming! In fact more retirees are choosing to live in areas in the sun belt than ever before. States like Arizona, Texas, Florida have all seen huge pop...

I was at the gym the other day about to start running on the treadmill when all of a sudden my phone would not connect to my Bluetooth headphones. Disaster, right?  Well it gets worse... Not only did it not connect, it completely shut down and wouldn't restart! I was forced to do a factory reset and wipe it clean out of nowhere. Which means all my data, contacts, passwords, notes, everything I kee...

Checking out a new city and want a brief overview? We've talked before about several places to go for short-term rental data but before we even get to that step we need to make sure the overall city or area where we are investing has good fundamentals. Should "crime" be one of those fundamentals? Is the city you are investing in "dangerous?" This week we'll dive a little deeper into the subject of...

Never have so few words packed such a punch. We're talking about, on average, just 10 little short words. Ten little short words that comprise your short term rental listing's title and ten little short words that could lead to a new reservation! If you have the title right, that is. People are normally looking at your main photo first but second to that they'll notice your title. Is your property...

It's a bit scary pulling the trigger on a new property purchase in an area you don't know too well. Luckily we have quite a few options these days to get a great overview as to what the occupancy could be; a crucial metric in determining the success of our short-term rental. If no one stays there then obviously we're not going to do well. So we have to get it right. We'll talk this week about mult...

When most people new to the idea of investing in short-term rentals think of a potential investment they think about a Vacation Rental and NOT a normal property that might also be an excellent STR. If you've been tuning in to this show for while hopefully you've recognized that there are all types of STRs and they call can be successful investments. Some, however, come with more risk. I've tended...

What's one small thing we need in multiple rooms in our short-term rentals that is 100% necessary and can smell (good) ? Soap! Yes, what a fun subject right? Ok, while it might not be the most fun subject for many of us it is uber important. Our guests rely on us to stock our rentals with soap. And not just in not just our bathrooms, but also kitchens, dishwashers and laundry rooms. There are lots...

I consider myself to be very fortunate. Not only because of the real estate portfolio or the wealth I've acquired, the freedom I've earned, the amazing team I work with, or because of my circle of friends around the world I can look to and lean on in a moment's notice. Those are all fantastic things to have in life but that's not the main reason I consider myself to be so fortunate. I don't believ...

We can have a lackluster, shabby exterior on the outside but on the inside we can have a luxurious oasis retreat. Our furniture, the colors, the lighting, and the interior of our design shapes our space and thus shapes the experience our guests have. But not all furniture items and decor are created equally and are so easy to decide on. Some are easy to find and source and take little to no though...

We're lucky to be in the STR space. An industry that thrives off of reviews and feedback. It helps us PERFECT our properties so we can achieve higher occupancies and earn higher returns. That is, as long as we are acting on the private feedback! A guest many times may say "hey.. I thought your property was great but you may want to [ BLANK ]." This information is the key to . This week we'll discu...

You may have more than one "listing" and you haven't even realized it. The guest house in the back of your main house. A granny flat with a separate entrance… Even an RV parked in your spare parking. The more options and flexibility we have with our listings the more options potential guests will have to book and the higher our occupancy rate should be. This week we'll talk about how to accomplish...

Real estate is not a fair playing field. We make our money when we buy our property. If we take these two statements to heart then expanding our network as much as possible should be at the top of our priority list. The more people we know the more chance we have for deals to come along. Now the better opportunities tend to come along more in the commercial real estate world since the single famil...

Repeat guests are great. You already know they are good guests (otherwise you wouldn't have them back) and they can really help keep your calendar booked more consistently. Today there are lots of options to take bookings directly and your repeat guests are great guests to approach. There are lots of benefits to this which we will discuss in this week's episode but in a nut shell I'd like to get y...

When a lot of people think about getting into short-term rentals they think "ugh I don't know… I don't want people ruining my property." "I don't want to deal with parties and nightmare guests.." Yes, it is a possibility that you could have a bad guest. But the reality is that we prevent almost all of these situations! There are many different ways to preemptively protect your properties but one o...

We get quite a lot of questions and the topics range. I try to lump them together and create a podcast for the ones we get asked most often but I thought it would be fun to do a rapid fire Q&A for this week's episode. No questions is a stupid question! This weeks topics range from: Where to find the best markets What roles can a VA fulfill?  Will a lender count my STR income so that I can get loan...

The latest inflation numbers for the US are the highest it's been since 1990. This means prices are rising quicker than they have in over 30 years. I'm sure you've noticed it right? Gas, groceries, utilities, everything that doesn't have a fixed price is going up and going up quickly. Lucky for us as real estate investors, so are our property values! Many of us are sitting on tons of untapped equi...

Tiny homes and container homes are cool. They are unique. They are an experience to stay in. And dare I say… they are trendy?? Perhaps. Let's just pause for a moment though and act as if trends have nothing to do with investments. Do tiny homes and container homes still beat other types of properties when it comes to your short-term rentals? They might! And if you have them already I hope that the...

We get quite a lot of questions and the topics range. I try to lump them together and create a podcast for the ones we get asked most often but I thought it would be fun to do a rapid fire Q&A for this week's episode. The real world is much like school was when we were growing up - we often don't ask enough questions. And the only way we can become comfortable with what we are doing is by uncoveri...

This show is all about investing in real estate. However, there are other ways to enter the short term rental world without actually investing in real estate and that is by lease arbitrage: Leasing a property from a landlord and then sub-leasing to short-term rental guests and making the difference. Many people have made a killing doing this and while many still are, things just got a bit riskier....

My team and I have managed almost 9000 reservations and almost 18,000 guests. From those guests we've sent and received over 140,000 messages - it's a lot I know. While many of those were automated there are some messages that we just can't automate; when an issue arises.  For this week we've broken down our top 10 questions you will receive AFTER your guest checks out. If you missed the first par...

I'm always on the hunt for new tools to make our STR operations easier and increase our profits and part of increasing our profits is accomplished by minimizing risk. Airbnb has its own ways of verifying guests but is that sufficient? And what are you doing to verify guests on other platforms that might not have a host guarantee like Airbnb does for up to $1 million. Yes, you can have deposits. Ye...

Whoa a lot has happened in the last 2 years since we started this podcast. But one thing remains the same; STR's are here to stay. That's right, not even Covid-19 and the worst year for travel in our lifetimes can keep them down. In fact, STR's are positioned better than they ever have been! There are more tools available to help us with operations, visibility of Airbnb and short-term rentals is g...

It's often hard to say no to a potential real estate deal especially when it seems to fit most of your criteria. Maybe it's just what you think you're looking for. It's in the right area. It fits your budget. It would make a perfect rental. The emotions start to kick in. "I've got to have this one." "Another deal like this will not come up again." We become emotionally invested, and that's when th...

My team and I have managed almost 9000 reservations and almost 17,000 guests. From those guests we've sent and received over 140,000 messages - it's a lot I know. While many of those were automated there are some messages that we just can't automate; when an issue arises.  For this week we've broken down our top 8 issues, concerns, questions (call them what you want) instances where we need to com...