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Welcome to another Ask Me Anything (Ask Us Anything?) episode! Each week we’ll answer your questions on STR, real estate, OTAs, and everything in between. Jennifer from @PepinForestRetreat asks: Building unique properties that aren't typically “houses” is my passion, but we've found that funding and building codes and other restrictions can be really difficult to get for something that isn't a tra...

D. Brooke Pfautz (Fouts) is one of the industry's foremost experts in growing vacation rental inventory. He literally wrote the book on inventory growth – and it’s already a three-category Amazon bestseller. Brooke got his start in the industry in 2007 when he co-founded Vantage Resort Realty in Ocean City, MD and took an idea on a napkin to more than 500 properties in just five years. After a suc...

Welcome to our very first Ask Me Anything (Ask Us Anything?) episode! Each week we’ll answer your questions on STR, real estate, OTAs, and everything in between. Paige asks: With a pending recession, does it still make sense to invest in short term rentals, if I'm financially able to. Troy asks: What data do you recommend using or filtering through when looking at short term rental data (for examp...

Avery Carl is the author of ShortTerm Rental, Long Term Wealth: Your Guide To Analyzing, Buying, and Managing Vacation Properties, and the host of "The Short Term Show" podcast. Avery went from a 37k salary to a real estate investment portfolio of 100 doors in 5 years through strategically investing in short-term and vacation rentals. This strategy allowed her to grow her portfolio much more quick...

Meredith Cowley is a passionate Social Worker turned Short Term Rental Entrepreneur. Following the birth of her son, then a diagnosis of breast cancer, Meredith re-evaluated her priorities and found a business that aligned with these. Meredith strives to keep a healthy balance between family life and a flourishing hospitality and real estate gig. Sometimes she gets it right, but it's always a work...

With more than 35 years of combined experience in vacation rentals, Alex Husner and Annie Holcombe have teamed up to connect the dots between inspiration and opportunity, seeking to find the one story, idea, strategy or decision that led to their guests' big A-HA moment.  As legacy operators of vacation rentals, Alex and Annie believe in direct bookings, and rental owners who are currently on...

Rose and her husband Brian own Your Family's Place. Their properties specialize in hosting multigenerational families and groups traveling together. Featuring large sized properties on expansive private acreage, guests experience vacations that are "open and go" with onsite amenities designed with children and family in mind. She’s a true owner-operator for her rentals, handling turnovers herself...

Good design is an example of “ONE thing” that will help your listing stand out. Implementing professional staging and unique decor in your short-term rental can lead directly to more bookings and higher revenue. Gone are the days of just throwing a rental together and hoping for listings. The industry is getting more competitive as boutique hotels and experience stays are gaining popularity. Focus...

We recorded this episode right after getting off the plane from Nashville, where we attended STR Wealth Conference . It was so amazing seeing our friends, colleagues, and listeners face to face. On this episode we’re sharing some of our big insights from the conference, and some key takeaways that our members also shared from their conference experience. Setting your listing apart from the competi...

This episode may be a bit controversial, but we’re here for it. There is extra work and extra costs associated with any short-term rental, and we believe this is work you should be charging for. After all, you’re not a hotel; if you’re running an STR, you don’t have the same flexibility as hotels do, and when extra requests lead to more work or put a strain on your team (or yourself), you should i...

Maintenance is always a hot button issue in the STR world. Let’s face it, properties are living, breathing organisms. They are constantly changing and in need of our love and attention. Unfortunately, we can’t always predict when that love and attention is needed, forcing us to schedule service, at times, during a guest’s stay. Today’s episode is all about managing the super important communicatio...

How can you ethically list your large rental twice to make the most of a bigger property? In Sarah’s example, we split a fourplex in two by installing quality door locks on the two upstairs bedrooms, and listing the property twice: one listing with 4 bedrooms for 8 guests, and the other with 2 bedrooms for 4 guests. With this setup, you can still make the most of your property based on the time of...

Dr. Erin Hudson went from being in private practice to moving into single-family investment properties, short-term rentals, and then jumped into the multifamily space and is making big waves! She is one of five founding partners of Quattro Capital, which is an equity real estate firm that buys apartments ranging from 30 units to 250 units. Erin is also a licensed financial professional and helps o...

We’re all about giving a holistic approach to your short-term rental: looking at the whole picture, from safety, marketing, real estate, and more. And while we’ve touched on all of the things you need to buy for your properties, we haven’t discussed how you can best capitalize on the purchases you make to get the most out of them. Kara Greene is an influencer on Instagram with over 47 thousand fol...

Rachel Gainsbrugh went from being a healthcare professional by day to real estate investor by night in the luxury and corporate short-term rental space to taking on real estate full time. Now, she’s passionate about teaching busy professionals how to create a life they won’t want to vacation from – all by investing in luxury vacation rental and ownership investment in the most profitable markets o...

Shopping for your property never gets old. It’s not just about doing it as quickly or cheaply as possible—it’s about putting a piece of yourself and your style into your short-term rental. But while the shopping experience might be fun, there are plenty of parts that aren’t—from seeing the price tag at the end of it all, to juggling tracking and deliveries across multiple brands, and more. Marc is...

In this episode, we break down the endless opportunities available by making your property as accessible as possible. Lorraine Woodward is founder and CEO of Becoming RentABLE, a new listing platform where she and her team are aiming to change the way the short-term industry looks and redefine what it means to have a truly accessible STR. We talk about what makes a property accessible (or not), ho...

It’s been far too long since Justin Ford has been on the show, but don’t worry, he’s going to make up for it. He’s been steeped in the short-term rental industry since his last appearance, and he’s going to share with us all of the trends and themes he’s noticed when it comes to safety. One issue in particular that he keeps seeing is that people still don’t have smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in...

Emily Miethner, like many of you, is a serial entrepreneur with a focus on social media, community building, and digital marketing. She’s an award-winning speaker and adjunct professor with over 12 years of experience delivering engaging talks both online and off. Not only does she specialize in social media, but she’s decoded how it works with short-term rentals as well. In 2021, she opened her f...

Do you realize how important you are to your guests, to your community, to your family – and to people you don’t even know? Kisa Heyer, CEO of The Dream Foundation, joins us to talk about the organization's special relationship with Airbnb hosts across the country, the very important role business owners and hosts can play in making dreams come true, and how you can take part in the magic. Resourc...

Jeff Brown is here to teach us how to dream big and scale our businesses with investor capital. He’s the co-founder of Loma Homes, a vacation rental brand that specializes in unique themed experiences. He talks about what you need to do to get started looking for investors, the way that will affect your approach to finding properties, his “20% rule” for ensuring revenue, and how to build a portfol...

One thing nobody tells you when you start your hosting journey is that you’re going to have to get really, really good at revenue management. Well, scratch that, because we’re going to tell you now – with a little help from a member of our Hosting Business Mastery group, Kylan Pimley! We talk about the moment she realized that this needed to be managed like a business, when they began making the s...

Look, we get it – legal talk isn’t usually the most exciting thing in the world, but Scott Brown, an attorney out of Columbus, Ohio who specializes in intellectual property law for startups and entrepreneurs, keeps things interesting.  He’s been working with us to make sure our business is legally covered and he’s familiar with the greater real estate industry as well. We discuss what you nee...

Finding ways to stand out in the rental industry is key. What better way to stand out than running a massive summer camp out of a historical 1920s speakeasy? Tereasa Surratt is a creative director in Chicago who rescued a century-old 25-acre summer camp that she then renovated with her husband.  She shares how they balance running the, now, 60-person capacity Airbnb summer camp while juggling...

One topic we hear again and again when it comes to short-term rentals: What do we do about pets? Today’s guest is an expert when it comes to incorporating pets into rental properties.  Heather Kazmark is a co-host that works alongside her family at Kradel's Kabins and loves animals and nature. In this episode, listeners will hear all about how to decide whether to list your property as pet-fr...