Live Let Thrive Podcast
Airbnb, PadSplit, Corporate Rentals, Arbitrage, and Live Let Thrive cover all the creative ways to rent out your properties to maximize profits. We also cover creative ways to buy properties. Come along for the ride and have some fun along the way!
Live Let Thrive Podcast
I Fired My $200 PMS and Run Everything on $40 of AI
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Myka replaced his $200-a-month property management software with $40 in AI subscriptions - Claude and ChatGPT - that now handle pricing, calendar syncing, and operations, pulling $5,000 in new bookings in the first week and a half. He feeds Claude his PriceLabs market data and it recommends pricing to land 30-day reservations, one of which netted him $3,000 after Airbnb's fees.
Steve bought another house with just $10,000 down on seller-financed terms and is converting the garage into two bedrooms to turn the four-bedroom into a six-bedroom PadSplit. He walks through his PadSplit screening process - talking to applicants, running their licenses through a real estate agent's safety software that catches things PadSplit misses, and verifying employment. His fully furnished six-bedroom startup cost just $2,300 on Amazon. The hosts debate whether to allow couples in PadSplit rooms, discuss a tenant who went to jail mid-lease, and cover the shift toward nicer finishes as former Airbnb operators enter the PadSplit market.
Work with us. Interested in professional management or consulting?
Myka — Sharebnb: www.sharebnb.com
Steve — Argest Rentals: www.ArgestRentals.com
Sign up for PadSplit with Steve's link and get a free 1-on-1 PadSplit strategy call with Stevie Stacks: padsplit.com/hosts
Myka's other podcast, Entrepremarriage — building wealth without losing the marriage: youtube.com/@Entrepremarriage
All our links: linktr.ee/liveletthrive
#airbnb #airbnbhost #shorttermrentals #midtermrentals #padsplit #rentbytheroom #coliving #corporatehousing #BRRRR #realestate #realestateinvesting #VRBO #shareeconomy #airbnbsuperhost #airbnbpodcast #sharebnb #liveletthrive #liveletthrivepodcast #biggerpockets #directbookings #bookdirect #dfwrealestate
Cold open
SPEAKER_00Welcome to Live Let Thrive, a podcast about the Airbnb life, the share economy, and everything in between. Here are your hosts, Micah and Steve.
SPEAKER_03Hello, hello, hello. And welcome back to another exciting episode of Live Let Thrive.
SPEAKER_05What is up, Micah Mayan?
SPEAKER_02I'm chilling, Stevie Stacks. How you doing, man?
SPEAKER_05I am doing on this beautiful day in uh North Texas. This is Stevie Stacks. That is Micah Micah. Magic Micah coming at you from Fort Worth in Arlington, Texas. And this is Live Let Thrive, your favorite short-term, mid-term, long-term Pat Split podcast in the whole entire world. This episode 340, I believe. Something like that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's been it's been a while, man. It has been a while. And man, whenever it's been a while, we always have some good journeys. So good good stories.
SPEAKER_05Too many stories to get to, man. Um is it's because I listened to the I was like, where what episode is this? I looked, uh, I I hit play on the last one that's on on iTunes, and and it started, it was talking about Dalaska. You were talking about Dalaska that when we got the deep freeze, and that was a long time ago. So yeah, this is April, yeah, April 8th is a recording today. So um, yeah, it's been a while. I'm I'm so happy to get back into it because so much stuff every single day. I'm like, oh, this would be great for the podcast. Great for the podcast. We just I've been busy as hell. I know you've been busy as hell. So so what's what's new with you, man? What you been up to?
SPEAKER_02Man, work, uh, the business. Then you know, kids are in soccer, so I'm ripping and running for that all day Saturday.
Ditching the $200 PMS for $40 of AI
SPEAKER_02I'm in the heat with the kids, and uh, you know, um, I've automated a lot of stuff. I pulled back on some stuff. Um, I officially got I I don't I no longer use a PMS. Um, so it's a lot of stuff I've been doing, man. Uh yeah, man, I it's been a lot.
SPEAKER_05Uh well let's talk about that real quick. The PMS, the property management software for running Airbnb for uh short-term rentals, all that stuff. Why are you no longer using one?
SPEAKER_02Uh the cost of it wasn't worth it when I could just run everything through AI through Claude. Um, I use that to basically run all my operations now. Um it's been crazy. Like I use Claude, syncs up the calendars after a reservation comes in. It tells us how we need to price based upon the market and based upon the um revenue that we want to make. Uh so basically I've outsourced that. Um my next thing is um I'm I'm I'm trying to build my website through AI as well. So I'm I'm using Claude or uh a mix of Claude and Chat GPT to build up my website. So I it might it's still up, but I'm no longer paying like the fees for the website to like boostly. They were good and how they were great, but I'm I'm moving everything. Like, I'm like, dang, this stuff can just be automated through AI, and I'm going that route. So yeah, it's that yeah, I don't use a PMS. Uh I'm my price labs is nuts, man. I've been like finally figuring out like I used AI to teach me how to use price labs, and I have it updating price labs, and it's crazy, man. I got a lot of stuff going on with that.
SPEAKER_05That was way over my head, man. I know I hear about it, I see it online, and about using these bots that are over there working for you and stuff. I'm still old school. I I feel old school having VAs. I'm still old school in that sense. I still have virtual assistants, I just gave them a raise. Hey, what's up, VAs? Because they're doing good for me. And I I I hear all the newbies coming up and saying, Oh, you you got VAs, you why don't you just do hey, put AI on everything? And I was like, I like having people on each shift, you know. That's just maybe maybe I am old school, but they're saying, Oh, you can have AI do this, do that, have the bots, have the claw, you know, like man, I don't understand it. I I'm glad you do. You can tell the tell the listeners about it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, it's just a matter of uh, because this thing called Claude Cowork, and you can just have an agent sitting there uh just answering, answering the messages that come through, uh responding to guests, reaching out to whoever needs to be reached out to. Um, right now I'm using Claude, but I'm I'm also my my goal, I'm trying to buy like this four thousand dollar Mac Mini so I can use MoatBot and have it run everything. And it's you can have a little bot, a little Mac mini, and it's basically a full-time employee,
Mac minis, bots, and the $4,000 setup
SPEAKER_02man. It's you gotta watch the TikTok videos, the people in China doing it. They're like straight up setting all these Mac minis up and like creating full-blown businesses, bro. No humans involved. Oh my god, bro.
SPEAKER_05So so why does it have to be a Mac mini?
SPEAKER_02Uh so people use Mac minis for security, but you could like their security and it's like a little small box, it doesn't really require much compute power and stuff. Um, and then you could also use like virtual servers online, like Amazon, they AWS, they offer like these virtual private servers, VPSs, and you can run like bots on there, and just the thing about it is like multbots are not secure, so people have to find ways to secure it through like AWS, Amazon, or through like a Mac mini. So yeah, man, I've been I still have a VA by the way. I still have a VA. Um there's things that I just haven't fully outsourced yet, like to the robot. So I'm still working on it, but man, the the the pricing, bro, like I've been getting like monthly reservations off of using uh Claude with price labs, bro, is crazy. Like I've been getting a lot of midterms and I'm getting them on Airbnb. Uh and then I still, you know, we do the Zillow thing and all that, but yeah, man, it's some powerful stuff. Uh and like how you saying it some people, like you said, you're a newbie, but like the people like I you know, I work in tech, right? I work in IT. I a lot of people like aren't comfortable with AI, which I get it, but like if you're one of those tech nerds like me, I'm a kind of a tech nerd, you can definitely get comfortable with it to a point where you can like you can create some cooly cool stuff, really cool stuff. So, yeah, that's basically what I've been up to, man. But uh, how about yourself, man? What you been up to?
SPEAKER_05I'll get to that. One second, I have one question to ask one thing I did see online is like people saying, Oh well, crap, I gave Cloud my my bank account info and it wiped me out. So people are doing they're hooking them up to their bank accounts, or and it's I don't know. It's what I'm happy you brought that up.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I'm happy you brought that up because that was a subject at my job where I had to like kind of give a little quick presentation of like, hey, what to put in AI and what to not put in there. So some people are putting their personal information in there, yeah. Like on a bot, you can do that. I'm not doing the banking stuff, I handle that in-house, or I'm I'm handling that, I'm not going that far. But like people want full automation, yeah, you can do that, but you do got to be careful. That's where like AWS comes in, or you have to set up limitations on the bot. Like, um, if you watch TikTok, it's a dude. He's I have a couple of friends who do a lot of day trading, yeah, and my guy's doing like he showed it to me last week. Shout out to my friend out in Arkansas, he's doing like two thousand dollars a week off day trading, and he ain't doing nothing, he just has this little Mac mini set up. It's a virtual private server, he's not using the Mac mini. He has that set up on AWS on hosting host injured host inger. He has that set up, and it's making him like two thousand a week day trading, but he gives the bot limitations. I'm like, yo, that's what I was starting to see. Like, okay, like I could see why the next wave of like multi-millionaires and billionaires, I'm like, yeah, they're about to be in uh they're gonna be AI people, but yeah, they like people are really doing this stuff. Like, I made so I started using this bot about a week and a
The $5,000 in bookings Claude pulled in a week
SPEAKER_02half ago, it made me like five grand off the bat off reservations. Like I was like, damn. Because it because Claude is powerful if you give it the data, right? So if you go into, and then I'll give you guys the process. This is all I do with Claude. I go into uh I have it go into price labs, download my market dashboard, download my calendar, and download uh my booking report. And then I give it all to Claude, and Claude scrambles it up and it says what we need to be booked at to get like a 30-day reservation. So we got a 30-day reservation today. It's crazy, bro. I was like, man, like I'm uh like I hear like I was I was in a meeting, like I told you I was in a meeting at my job, and like everyone's like afraid of AI, either they're afraid of it or they just don't know how to use it because they're like, Oh, it tells me the wrong answers. And I was like, it's two types of people that use AI people that are using it for answers, and people that are using it to expand what's already in their mind. The people that's using it to expand what's already in your mind, AI should be 10x and what's ever in your mind if you know what you're doing, right? Like me and our knowledge, me and you, if we put our mind inside of AI, it should 10x our businesses. You see what I'm saying? And that's what I've been telling people that you have to look at it like that. If you're looking at it for output, it's just gonna give you output. But if you're looking at it to in to analyze your input, that's when it gets powerful.
SPEAKER_05That's deep right there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's been good though, man. It's been pretty dope.
SPEAKER_05So how how much does it cost for these clod bots or whatever? What does that cost?
SPEAKER_02Uh $20 a month and then another $20 a month, because I use Claude and Chat GPT, so $40 a month. I was using a PM, I was paying a PMS $200 a month.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, they're expensive.
SPEAKER_02So I I I cut my costs heavily.
SPEAKER_05Plus, plus Airbnb throws that if you're using a PMS, they throw that 15% fee on you, right?
SPEAKER_02Oh bro, even if you cut the PMS, they still charging it. I'm trying to I'm trying to figure I'm yeah, bro. I'm I'm trying to figure out how to go back down because man, because that $2,000 reservation was really a $3,000 reservation.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they took like $600 off me, bro. Yeah, I mean, so I mean, I didn't get hit. Luckily, I didn't get hit with taxes, but you know, you don't have to pay the taxes if it's over 30 days. But damn, I'm like, bro. So yeah, man, that that's if you can use like Multbot, Claude, Chat GPT, and learn how they work together, man, you could do some powerful stuff. But I'm I'm like slowly moving away from Chat GPT though, because Claude's just like blowing it out the water, just crushing it right now.
SPEAKER_05Wow, that's that's insane, man. Um, yeah, I'm sure you're gonna make a master class on that pretty soon.
SPEAKER_02Yes, sir. I'm thinking about it. Yes, sir. I actually I actually held one for my mentor, like into some of the people, and they they loved it. They were like, dang, because they were shocked at how it
The new millionaires will teach businesses to use AI
SPEAKER_02compute stuff way faster than us. So it was pretty cool.
SPEAKER_05I think I think Mark Cuban says something about it, the kids, the new, the new millionaires are gonna be the ones that are gonna go and show businesses how to incorporate AI in their business. And it take it takes me back to like when we were, you know, back in the where I was, I go way back to the beginning of the internet. Uh, whenever you know I was in college, uh, and they said if we can we were teaching businesses to use just to get a website, you know. I'm saying when the internet, the business, the business did they still even know what internet was or what it could do, you know what I'm saying? But so so helping businesses just you the local flower shop get on the internet, that was like a big deal back then. But this is like another giant step.
SPEAKER_02Bro, you can go make somebody's website in five minutes. That's nice.
SPEAKER_03I know it's nuts, you know.
SPEAKER_05Sorry, sorry, Boosley.
SPEAKER_03But it is, it's just crazy now, you know.
SPEAKER_05It's all good. Um, what have I been up to? You asked earlier. And then we, you know. Um, so I got uh I bought another house, uh, seller finance.
The $10,000-down seller-financed Arlington house
SPEAKER_01Let's go.
SPEAKER_05With only 10 grand down. You know how I do. I try to get in there cheap. Um, and then uh I'm I'm turning it into yeah, turning it into a pad split. Um and adding two more bedrooms. So it's gonna go from a four-bedroom to a six-bedroom. So I'm getting Pablo's up working on it now, putting some putting two bedrooms in the garage, you know, and you gotta put you gotta put the windows out front, and then it's gotta have doors. Gotta have two uh egress. What do they say?
SPEAKER_02Two egress doors. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. One's a door, one's a window, or whatever it is. It has to have two exits to get the hell out, you know. Uh so I'm building that in the garage. And quick question. Where's this at?
SPEAKER_02What city?
SPEAKER_05Arlington. Oh, okay, okay. Because I have one already in Arlington and um and that one does very well. And I like like they say, you know, we ain't going into depth, but you know, keep your house um the nicest house on the block to avoid any problems, right? Um so so that house I have in Arlington, it was actually the first house I lived in, and we, and you know, I kept it all these years, and that's where I went through the the troubled tenants that tore it up. Long time I I tell everybody when they start talking about real estate, all they you know, most people all they know is long-term rentals, right? I'm like, I hate long-term rentals. Don't ask, I mean, you can ask me about them. I still have a couple, you know, that are they've been renting for me for years and they're great, and they pay all the time and all that stuff. But I've been through most of my troubles with long-term rentals. And um, that house in particular, it had those people that that brought in the pit bulls and tore it up, and the pit bulls ate all the walls and floors and crapped and peed everywhere. Had to redo that, redo it. And then um the next lady that moved in, she ended up stopping paying after the first month and had to evict her. So I was like, man, this like I was like, I was contemplating just selling it. You know, I'm just gonna sell it, you know, C-class neighborhood, whatever. And then I started, you know what? I talked with I'm learning about the Pad Split, I'm gonna put my money where my mouth. You know how I am. You know, yeah, you talk you talk me into um Airbnb. I was scared. I was like, but I did it, and I'm happy I did, and so same thing with Pad Split. I said, I'm gonna jump into it and then and just let's do it. And so I added I added two bedrooms and uh yeah, two bedrooms in there and turned it into a four from a four to a six, and then it's been doing pretty good ever since, man. It's it's pretty profitable. Um, yeah, like over four thousand a month for and it's pretty much like a long-term rental, right? Because but you're renting each room out. So four thousand a month in the hood is pretty good. Um so any anyways, um but going uh talking about that house before I jump into the to the next house. Uh something funny, something interesting happened the other day.
The guy who went to jail mid-lease
SPEAKER_05That back room, man. Um, that back room has history because the the guy before in that back room was the one that was getting you know doing stupid stuff and he busted out the window in the front door. Remember, he was that that young weird guy. Anyways, this guy, he was cool. This guy was cool, paid on time, I you know, and didn't have no issues with this guy. Um, but then all of a sudden, you know, um uh Passport sends you an alert when someone's behind on rent, right?
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_05So once they get over the $300 threshold of being behind, it goes in, it says they got 48 hours to to get caught up or get under the $300 threshold, or they're terminated from the platform. Now it's your yeah, it's your job to get them out of the house. They don't they said we're just terminated them. Good luck getting them out, whatever. And so I was like, what the hell's going on? I never had issues with this guy, you know. There's others that are always skating that $300 mark, you know what I'm saying? I've and I've seen that pop up, but they always pay, they always find a way to pay, even though they're paying late fees, which is you know, whatever, it's good, you know, more money for me, but they still they still keep it under that $300 mark. But this guy never had any issues, so I was like, what the hell's going on? So I called, text, phone, uh, phone just you know, went to voicemail, went to voicemail. I was like, what the hell's I don't know, what's going on? Is he ignoring me, ghosting me? And so two days went by and they terminated him. I said, Well, I'm gonna go over there, see what's going on. Well, I had asked some of the padmates, I said, Yeah, we hadn't seen him in a few weeks, actually. I was like, Oh shit, I hope he's alright. Um I went and knocked on the door, you know, and and um no answer. And I was I didn't hear no one, no one stirring in there, like, oh shit, the cops, you know. I didn't hear none of that. And so um I typed in my code, opened the door, and I just saw his stuff. You know, he was really messy. The room was really messy. He had plates of whatever food and shit, his beer, beer bottles, and it was a messy room, not not destroyed, but just real messy. So I was like, Well, he's gone, he's out of here. I'm gonna I started scooping up everything in the in the garbage bags. Actually, I I I Googled, I started googling him, and I sent I sent uh I started Googling him and I got a match that somebody with his name, uh his age was thrown in the the Terrant County jail.
SPEAKER_03Oh damn.
SPEAKER_02How old was he?
SPEAKER_05So oh I would say mid-twenties, late mid to late 20s, something like that. Maybe 27, I think. Yeah, yeah, young dude. So he ended up, I was like, Well, dude's in jail. I ain't heard from him, you know. I guess that's why he hadn't contacted us. And um, and so I was like, Well, he it says he's terminated, he's off the platform. So I gathered up all his stuff. I have like a storage shed in the back of the house. I was like, I'm gonna just set it all in there when if he does get out of prison or jail, whatever the hell, all his stuff will be there, you know what I'm saying? He didn't have to come in the house for it. Cleaned the room, turned the room, all that fun stuff. And um, and and so like I guess like a few weeks later, he said, Hey, yeah, he called, he I guess he went to the house and and hopped on someone's cell phone from the house, you know. And and uh, you know, they were outside. They knew him, you know. He's like, Can I let me talk to Steve? And so I'm talking to him. He's like, Hey man, I was in, yeah, I was in jail, man. Uh I saw that I was terminated from Pad Split and uh I'm just here to get my stuff. I said, Yeah, it's in the storage shut out back. It's it's unlocked. It's like, all right, cool. Um, how do I get back? How do I rent the house again? It's like, well, you have to call Pad Split. I don't know. Yeah, they have to reinstate you. I think you have to pay what you owe, and then they can reinstate you. Once they do that, hit me up, you know. Maybe I you know let you stay there. I probably wouldn't let them stay again. But what I mean, the jail thing, okay, it happens, but the his the way his he left the room was just ugh nasty, man. And so uh anyway, I should that's another thing. I maybe I should incorporate room inspections every now and then, have the have the cleaners once uh every few months to go check it.
SPEAKER_02Um I'm gonna be real, I'm I'm happy you're talking about this because these are all the questions because like I host a room on Thursday sometimes, and like everybody asks me about pass loot, and I'm like, hey, uh listen to the podcast. I'm like, my partner Steve does it. So that is one question they always ask about like how you talked about the room condition, and then you talked about a guy going to jail. It's like, how often are you dealing with like the bad tenant? Because it sounds like not often, but when it happens, it's like oh crap, you know what I mean?
Screening PadSplit tenants - what PadSplit misses
SPEAKER_05I'll say it, you know, the the better I'm getting at screening people to go into the units, the less it's happening, you know. At first I didn't I didn't know anything about anything, you know. And um, and I let some bad people in or people that didn't fit in into co-living in. And um, and I'm learning to pick up the red flags. So it's it's like I said, it's with anything long-term rentals, Airbnb's, midterm rental. You learn as you go to look at for the red flags. So um, yeah, if you go into it uh without knowing anything, and you know, you gotta learn it out, you're gonna make some mistakes, you're gonna let some bad people are gonna get in. It's just part of it, you know. But but um I've I mean I've I've I'm starting to deny. Here's the thing I like that house in particular, it was at four people for for a while, right? And but I was just being real picky. People were trying to apply, and in the past I would have let them in because I oh, I gotta fill those rooms. And now it's like, no, it's better for me to not fill the room and have I'll be happy with four people. I'm still, you know, probably breaking even with four people, whatever. And when I get two more people in there, I'm profiting pretty good, you know what I'm saying? Or yeah, something like that, maybe a little making a little money. But I'd rather just wait till the right person comes along instead of just try to fill a room with anybody.
SPEAKER_01That's a fact.
SPEAKER_02That's a fact. So, like right now, what because that that's the best part. Like, what is your screening process right now? Like, what are you looking for in the average with the tenant, or what rules have you set up? Like, hey, these are the types of tenants we want.
SPEAKER_05So I always talk to them and make sure they're not they're not weird. That's a you learn a lot by conversation, right? You learn a lot, and and uh but there are bullshit artists too, so you gotta be careful with that. But but um, but mostly if I talk to them or I hit them up or I text them and said and and then they're pretty cool sounding. I still I still check them out, right? But I just want to get that first rapport. If this a if I get a little weird and I answer them the question's good, they're just quiet or they're just you know annoyed with you, you know. You're not here, you're not getting my house, motherfucker. And so um, so that the inner I interview them, you know, on the phone, and I I check them here, you know. Patsplit here's the thing with Pat Split. They don't really check them out too good. You know, they miss some things, and especially misdemeanors, you're not gonna see any misdemeanors because they I think they only check for felonies, right? And and uh evictions, they say they check for evictions, but they could be like the person you're letting in could be currently going through one, you know what I'm saying? And they won't pick that one up. If you start asking them questions like, hey, you've ever been through an eviction, you're going through an eviction, and then they'll, you know, sometimes they'll let you know, oh yeah, well, this is the situation's the situation I don't mind I'm not gonna ban some because this is like their last resort for people that have, you know, been out there and had a apartment or a house. They they know they're not gonna and that's that's the thing I was gonna talk about, man. I was like, I've been pleasantly surprised, knock on wood, about getting people out of the past but hadn't been too difficult. Because they know this is the if they mess up passplit, you know, they better hope that a friend's gonna let them sleep on a couch or something, you know what I'm saying? So so they're cool that uh when you say, hey, you know, you put in that notice, you're not a fit here, man, you gotta go somewhere else, or a woman. And and they'll and they'll usually go without you know you know, messing or making a scene or trying to stay and all that squatting stuff, right? Yeah, um, like I said, knock on wood, but um, but that's that's what I've experienced so far. Um as far as screening, uh one trick I do uh uh for screening, and and I would say you you pass splitters out there. Um if you have a good real estate agent you work with, a lot of them use this um software. I I don't have the name of it, and I don't even think we can use it because it's for like it's for like real estate agents, right? Licensed real estate agents that can because a lot of these ladies, a lot of real estate agents are ladies, right? And and maybe attractive ladies, and then and they're taking strangers out to look for houses, right? So that's a dangerous situation. So they they they get the people's license and they get their phone number, right? And they run it through this um the software that that pulls up everything that could be on there, right? And so it it screens really well. And so I always, whenever uh a Pad Split request comes along, I'll they have to take a picture of their license and they have to do a live photo, which that's a cool thing with Pad Split. They make them do a live photo, right? So a lot of them are in their car. Like I said, the dude with the weed hat was he was he's still with us, he's a cool dude. But uh, but he uh um but yeah, once you take a live photo and you have the and so you know it's like matches up or whatever, and and um so you get the license, you have their phone number, they give you their phone number, which is cool. You know, Airbnb don't give you a phone number, or you know, some places don't keep VRBO, they don't give you their phone number. But but you got that information. I give it to my agent. I say, hey, you mind running this? And she runs it through a system, and she's caught a few, she's caught a few with criminal stuff on there. So stuff that it didn't show up on PadSplit, you know. So yeah, I would say get with the real estate agent, or I know there's like a ton of them online. I don't know how good they are where they screen people, you know. You could or you could run them through um an application, some kind of Zillow or apartments.com. But do not just trust what Padsplit's throwing at you, they're not throwing up all the information.
SPEAKER_02Dang, that's good stuff though, because dang, man. If they I mean, it was like Airbnb back in the day, they weren't doing a good job. I mean, they do it now. If you got like a felony or anything, they're kicking you out, you know, they'll kick you out in the middle of a reservation. But that's good that you've like set up a uh whole system behind it to know, you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_05Oh, and they gotta have a job too. Oh, yeah, for sure. One guy trying to book, yeah, you're kind of like being elusive. And no, as soon as I get there, man, I'm gonna get me a McDonald's job, anything. I just I'm just in between. I was like, all right, well, I'll I'll call you back. Holler at me when you ain't in between. For real, man. I was like, I got a little money saved up. Yeah, well, look. 500 bucks.
SPEAKER_02Uh so okay, so you just bought a door. Now, uh this is one thing I'm I'm uh again asked you, are you noticing the prices are dropping in the DFW?
SPEAKER_05As far as what?
SPEAKER_02Just like housing prices.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I've seen a lot of price cuts. Yeah, the houses. Yeah, I've been seeing it too. The rent's coming down a little bit. Rent's still high comparatively, you know, but like these passclers ain't gonna afford $2,000 a month rent. Yeah, um, I'm not gonna houses come down a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I'm not seeing like if you buy something, I'm not seeing that the rent can keep up with it. You know what I mean? So I'm still seeing that. That's why I like your uh your um your owner finances. That that seems like to be the play, like especially right now. Um because right now we just did a uh we're right now we have a con a house we're probably gonna get under contract. We're probably gonna wholesale it though. Um, but it was a um 60s built house.
Owner-financed deals and unresponsive agents
SPEAKER_02Uh I don't know. I may, if I get it under contract, I'll send it to you to see if you may be interested in it. If you want to pad split it or something. Where's it at? Whatever it is in Dallas, right there in East Dallas. East Dallas, uh, older neighborhood, like a 60s built neighborhood. But this house, the lady, the everything in it's straight from the 60s. For a pad split, it's probably if you put some new cabinets in there, it'd probably be turnkey for a pad split. Um, I don't know how well you do your finishes in a pad split, but it seems like you don't have to have it real nice, but it's something you could possibly look at. Once I get under contract, I'll send it to you and see if you're interested. But even that one, I used AI to make an offer in like 20 minutes, and it was pretty cool, you know. And the people were very, you know, they were like, Oh, okay, yeah, we could definitely do this. So um they may even owner finance it, you know. So I'll throw that option out there as well and send them your way.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, sounds good, man.
SPEAKER_02Um I was just wondering about the prices, how you were seeing them.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean that yeah, I've I've seen I've seen stuff come down a little bit too, like you're saying. As far, but uh I I'm not, you know, I'm I'm all about the owner finance thing now. 100%, man. I don't want to use banks no more. I don't even want to use DSCRs anymore unless absolutely necessary. Because DSCRs is pretty much just the same thing as trying to get a bank loan, they're getting more strict on them. Um, they're a little bit easier than Wells Fargo or something like that, but still they're starting to ask for a lot more stuff now. Um, so used to be it was just man, you they'd knock it out in a few weeks, you'd have you a house, right? But now it's getting a little more strict.
SPEAKER_02So your owner finance deals, how are you are you using a realtor to find them?
SPEAKER_05I I am. I'm using a real I'm using my realtor, and and she's she sends me portals, right? That are owner, seller finance, home owner finance. And um, then I tell her, okay, I like this one, this one, this one. Give me some can you send me the terms? She sends me the terms what the what the other agent says in the in the terms, and then here's here's the weird thing, man. The owner finance, the owner finance uh agents, right? Okay. I don't know if they just put these houses on the back burner because they don't they don't think they're gonna get paid out like uh like selling a traditional house, you know, uh a regular finance house. But sometimes, I mean she's like sending a message after message talk trying to get you know an answer about this house that's for sale, owner finance, right? And these agents just they're not very responsive, dude. And and then when they finally respond, you know, then you like you try to okay, you try to negotiate something, it just takes forever. So I don't and that's the thing, and and I love my agent, she's great, and but it is kind of like when you when it's me, my agent, then the seller's agent, and then the seller, it puts like too many barriers, yeah. Too many degrees of separation, right? And and and I'm I'm reading, uh I'm I joined the Ziona McIntyre's book club. She's doing a book called Creative Closer, and it's really good. I'm gonna send you the link. Uh it's on she's the way she's doing it, she's dropping it on Substack, one chapter every week. So yeah, okay. It keeps you engaged, and then you talk about the chapter and and all this stuff. And um, but she's the one that's she she'll say it straight up. She's like, she don't like anybody between her and the and the seller, if possible. She wants to be just her and the seller. And I have, you know, right now I'm working with two people in between, which is, you know, you can still get the deal done. It just it just adds more barriers, like you said. Um, but I'm I'm really I'm I'm really just from reading the book, I'm like, yeah, I need to start, you know, getting into that and start talking to sellers directly to to not hammer out some terms because they're the ones that want to sell it, you know. Like I said, their agent might not might put them on the back burner, they might not answer the calls so good or return the text. Oh, it's this owner finance guy, you know, whatever. I'll get to it when I get to it. But the person wants to sell their house, you know, that's why they've resorted to owner finance or subject to, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I have a question for you. Like when you're when you're having to go through like those multiple barriers, let's say you do go through the barriers and close on the deal. Do you are you still paying the realtor three percent and their realtor three percent? Or how's that work?
SPEAKER_05Well, as the as the buyer, um, I believe it's the seller that traditionally paid out the agents, right? Okay, now my agent's cool in the fact she said, you know, I don't even have to have three percent on this deal, you know what I'm saying? Um, but I'm cool with one percent. I'm cool. I was like, well, I want you to get paid out too, so ask for what you're gonna ask for. And if they don't want to pay you out, then you know I'll pay you something. I'll pay you something myself. And yeah, and and she's cool with that. But um, but like I said, it's all it's all um that six percent thing ain't even a thing no more. I mean, it's some people some sellers will pay it, some sellers won't want to pay a penny. They'll say it on the on the listing. We're not paying any agents anything, you know what I'm saying? Uh uh any buyers agents, which is stupid, because then all the all the buyer agents are gonna send this house to their clients, right? So your house is gonna sit. And um I I will tell you this the house that I just purchased, yeah, you know, about about a month ago, um, and now you know it's getting worked on or a few weeks ago. And um, I bought that directly from the seller.
SPEAKER_01That's what I was going to do.
SPEAKER_05And so I I I looked on um Zillow and I'm just you know, I always put in my keyword, seller finance, owner finance, whatever. Sub I subject two doesn't really pull up nothing. But um, and this house popped up, and I was like, oh, it's right down the street from my very first house, you know, and and I have the password right there. So it'd be cool to have one right down the road. And um, and I hit him up and I went over there and I talked to the guy. I made a like a rapport with him, you know. And he he was sitting there, he was helping, you know, the the workers work on his house and and fix it up and stuff.
Meeting the seller face-to-face closed the deal
SPEAKER_05You know, he's he's a he's handy and all that stuff, and he's been in real estate forever. He's been real estate forever. Old hippie, real cool guy. But um, he he um so I had a rapport with him. He told me, you know, as soon as I put owner finance, you know, he put it on a sign out front, you know, for sale, owner finance, yeah, and he put it on Zillow, owner finance. He goes, I get tons of calls. He goes, and he goes, most of them from out of state. They want to buy it sight unseen and all this stuff, they want to lock it in, and then and then of course they're gonna start asking for a bunch of stuff. But you came out, you know, you're you're local. I respect that, and you're young, you're young relatively. He goes, You're you're young, uh uh real estate guy, and he just started asking me about what I do, and I told him, Well, I got the passport down the road. Oh, pass split, what's that? And I, you know, just made a rapport with him. Yeah, he kind of, you know, I started asking him questions about how he does things, and he's giving me all this information, but he's like, you know what, I do want to sell to you, you know. Let's come up with a good price. I'll sell my I'd rather sell it to you than some out of state corporation person, whatever, if it's a corporation or a person, I'd rather sell it to you. So we agreed on terms, you know. I got the the interest rate a little lower and I got the down payment a little lower. He's like, Are you sure you're gonna you're gonna cash flow? And I explained what the PASPIT model is. I'm gonna do Patspit with this one. So I yeah, it it's it makes double what a regular uh long-term rental makes. And oh, that's pretty that's pretty cool. So I explained them that because a lot of the sell the people that are selling seller finance, yeah, they're they want to make sure you be able to pay the note.
SPEAKER_02Facts, yep.
SPEAKER_05And so if they see if I go in with a low interest, uh I'm sorry, a low down payment, my of course my monthly payments could be a little higher, right? Yeah, and so they see my let's say I have a monthly payment uh that's $2,500 in a place that rents only go to like $2,000 and maybe $2,200. They're seeing that you're not gonna make you able to pay the the money.
SPEAKER_01What are you doing?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Well, I tell them, no, no, no, no. I make $4,000 to $5,000 a month on my on my houses that I do pass corporate, whatever, you know.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that makes sense. And then then they'll yeah, you just gotta explain what you what your business model is, and and then you know how many houses you got and how long you've been doing this, you know, just like a form of rapport with them, okay. And it makes them feel more comfortable, and then they want to do business with you. Just be nice, meet them in person. That's the old school way. Meeting someone and shaking their hand and talking to them. That's old school, but it works.
SPEAKER_02I may have to do a pass split. I may have to do it.
SPEAKER_05I tell you, man, do one.
SPEAKER_02It would have to be like owner finance, how you're doing it. Like, I would do an owner finance one in see, I don't know if I could do it in Mansfield. Mansfield too bougie, maybe Arlington, like central Arlington, kind of like in that area. Because I'm considering it because I'm like, dang, you could just get the better cash flow. And then, like, I listen to Brandon Turner all the time. That's all he's talking about, man. You gotta do subsidized living, you gotta do subsidized, and then like my mentor, he's basically the same thing. You're doing ADUs in the backyard, you're basically putting multiple tenants in one property, you know what I mean? So, and I think that's the future right now.
SPEAKER_05I'll tell you this it's it's affordable housing, housing, yep, you know, and and that and there's always gonna be a need for that, and it's gonna be to me, and not to get political and stuff, all the all the all the craziness going on in the Middle East right now, yeah, shutting down the the main passageway for all the oil, stuff's gonna get even more expensive. Yep, and then dropping bombs costs money, so they're gonna ask for some more money and they're gonna turn on that printer again, and you know, interest is the invisible you know, theft of your money, right? Yeah, you don't you don't see it, but but it's taking you it's turning your money into half of what it used to be while everything's because oil affects everything, all the prices of everything's going up, and so all this is happening, and wages, you know, wages always lag way behind before they catch up to where inflation is, right? So just seeing all these things and and knowing that people are
Affordable housing is the future
SPEAKER_05gonna need affordable housing, I think to me, I think it's uh pad splits a no-brainer uh for the future.
SPEAKER_02I agree, I agree. I'm I'm I'm gonna consider it because like right now, like how you were talking about long term. So I did my Cossack, I got my I did my Cossack, my short-term mental tax loophole. I'm like, dang, I could do one of those and then turn it into a pad split. Cause like right now, I'm like by I I am I'm I am liking long term a little bit better, like long-term section eight. Because like when you do you go on HUD, man, they paying out right now. Like they're paying $1540 for a three-bedroom in Arkansas, which your mortgage is probably only like $800 to $1,200 if you buy something brand new. Like I have a house I did a full remodel on my mortgage only $868, and that's principal insurance taxes, interest. Um, so I'm considering maybe doing a pad split here because my problem with Texas has always been you can't cash flow because the interest rate, because the uh taxes go up, but like shit, looks like pad split's keeping up with it. So I it it's on my mind to do it.
SPEAKER_05I think you should do it. Try one.
SPEAKER_02Because I'm hearing a lot of people do it, and they like I'm a lot of podcasts are starting to get into it, the pad split thing. It's slowly turning into like the cash flow thing that Airbnb was a long time ago.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and that's and that's another thing because I I feel like I'm getting in at the early, earlier stage of Pad Split because the first one I did, I was asking because they you know they kind of put you with the with uh a local um whoever regional pad split guy here, you know. Shout out to Justin, he came on our show. But he I was just asking him a bunch of questions because I never done it before. And he and he walked the house and he saw there was an older house. And I said, What what kind of beds do I gotta put in? And what kind of do I put TVs and you know, do it like an Airbnb? He said, No, no, no, no, just basic, basic, basic, basic. He goes, Don't even put sheets on the beds, don't even give them pillows, don't even nothing. They bring all their own stuff, right? Damn, and come on, do you do that? You don't put nothing on the bed. Now, now I started to. Here's the thing. Okay, I saw how ugly ass the pictures looked when you went on Pas Split. It's getting better. There's the thing. I'm getting they're getting better. It looked like damn halfway houses, right? Because people were putting pictures of these beds with just a mattress on a on a cheap ass bed frame, right? Yeah, and and then um maybe they put a desk in there, maybe not, maybe just a little cheap, you know, side table. But that's what I mean, that's all that was required back then, right? But now, especially now because a lot of Airbnbs are coming this way, then they're they're making their places nicer, they're using professional photography, right? And even like when I was getting in, you know, when I was getting in last year, they were still like, no, you just take the pictures with your iPhone, you know, just put the beds like that, you know, as long as they got a mattress, they're good. But now I started um the first one I did that way. Actually, I said, man, I'm not gonna leave the beds naked. I I I put like some some sheets and a and a comforter. But my thing was uh okay, but I'm after I do the photos, I'm gonna take all that stuff off, and then you know, because they it was understanding, even on the on the Passplit the website, it says, you know, bring your own sheets and and bedding and pillows, whatever.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_05But do leave, of course, put a mattress cover, mattress protector on the mattress. Yeah, yeah, makes sense. Okay, and so um, so that was the when I was getting in last year. It's already from last year to this year changing because you see some some houses on Pasplit, you're like, oh, that's you know, that was like an Airbnb, like a professional photo, and they staged it and everything. That looks nice, you know. You it you can't just use grandma's furniture just like the old, just like old Airbnb. You can't just use grandma's furniture no more. It's getting to that point, and so I'm I'm buying stuff, I'm dressing up the beds and all that stuff. Now, I don't know about leaving the sheets and stuff on there. I'm still taking them off before someone moves in and saying, you know, you can bring your own. But I am saying if you want to purchase some, I can have the bed dressed for you and ready for you for like, you know, 100 bucks or whatever.
SPEAKER_02Okay, now I have a question then. So now people are starting to get a little bit more fancy with it. Are you seeing like monthly rents, rents going up on the ones that are looking nicer?
SPEAKER_05I've I've seen some high ones. I've seen some high ones. Now it depends on the area, too, of course. Okay, you know, stop saying that's cheap.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, what for sure. What about what about like in your area? Like, have you seen any nicer ones? Or and that's another thing. What's the competition like? Are you competing with yourself?
SPEAKER_05In my area, um I wouldn't say they're very super high-end nice, you know. Now, getting over here to Colliville, Grapevine, maybe Ulysses area, you know. Um you know what I'm saying. It's it's uh the higher end, uh, those those are charging big, you know, maybe like 225, 250 a week for a pad split. You know what I'm saying? Whereas my area, you know, people are charging like 160 to 180 range, you know what I'm saying? A week. And so, but they're making them nice, they're making them look these are nice houses, like you know, newer houses, higher end houses.
SPEAKER_02So you said a week. What's the minimum they can stay?
SPEAKER_05So they can pay, you know, the initial minimum is 12 weeks. And that's so if they're gonna just rent your house at the price you're listed it at, it's a 12-week minimum. Now they can pay a higher fee and then they can go week to week.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_05So so they just yeah, someone want flexibility.
SPEAKER_02Now, is this true that their fee that pri passively fees are going up?
SPEAKER_05Are they going up?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Or are they still pretty cheap? Like what are their fees and that like now?
SPEAKER_05Man, I would say it's similar to Airbnb. Well, not the 15% Airbnb fee. Yeah, that's I I'll say I'll say this. Um when I when I put on there 170, um they're charging the guests 175 a week. So they're taking $5, $5, $10, $15, $20. So $20 there's they're taking from the guests. And then I and then they're taking a fee from me on my end. It's kind of like the old hybrid, the the old Airbnb model, you know what I'm saying? Okay. So they're taking percentage from the guests and they get a percentage from me.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I see what they're doing then.
SPEAKER_05I think it's six or seven percent. I mean, it's a it's a they're making good money, I'll tell you that. Okay. But I I like, you know, I like the convenience. I like the convenience of it.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Let me um okay, I'm gonna have to look into that then.
SPEAKER_02That seems like it's pretty legit though. You know, if they ain't charging too much, because Airbnb, you know, they ain't dropping that 15. I'm gonna have to call them and be like, hey, I'm no longer using the PMS. Y'all need to break my
When Airbnb shuts down your listing for no reason
SPEAKER_02bread, bro. Um because yeah, they they ain't taking off that 15 and a half. Yeah, I'm trying to go back down to the 3.5%. So I'm trying to see what I'm gonna have to do to do that. Cause yeah, man, uh getting a little high. No, no, the 30 days, they still charge the 15. That's just their fee. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_05I don't have to pay the taxes. Oh, I'm I'm saying the taxes, yeah. My bad. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I don't pay taxes, but man, hey, Airbnb charging charging taxes prices and shit.
SPEAKER_05So I I just I just wish people knew how to go on Airbnb and and see your logo and contact your ass. I still get why don't they do that?
SPEAKER_02I I only get a handful that do it.
SPEAKER_05It's only and Airbnb sniping all the all the keywords you're trying to throw at them too now. They're getting a little more hip to it. You know, find us out there, you know. That used to you used to be able to say that.
SPEAKER_02And it's funny you said that. Uh one of my listers got flat. Because they said we were trying to uh um direct bookings direct book, but we didn't we didn't do anything, so I'm like, did they flag something in the listing? So I don't know. But it was one of my time shares. So I was like, I really ain't yeah, so I don't know. So they are but it shows that they are doing that.
SPEAKER_05Matt, you know, it's funny because I heard uh um uh Green, what's his name? Green um from the Green team. The he was a uh bigger pockets uh oh David Green? David Green, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I heard him talking because he brought in someone to talk about the nightmares of Airbnb, you know, and stuff like that. Oh, yeah. And he talked about his own nightmares about they shut down one of his Smoky Mountain places for no reason, no rhyme, and then it was just shut down. You couldn't get a hold of him, all this stuff, right? Because it's all it's all they're trying to do, all AI now, and then when you do finally talk to somebody, then it's uh it's someone in the you know Philippines, and they just reading a script, they're not and they can't answer questions until you log into your account, which he couldn't log into. It was just a whole runaround, right? Trying to get one of his properties off that was shut down for months. And and to me, I was like, Man, that's that's pretty crazy. With no there was no reason, there was no reason at all they could give him. And and it finally happened to me, one of the they shut down one of our properties for no reason at all. It just, I guess the the algorithm or something just shut it down. But luckily, we've been in the game for a while, so you gotta have at least a couple backups, right? So we're at always see. I don't think David Green knows that, but he would have still been running, you know what I'm saying? But um be us being in it for for longer than him, we we know that stuff, and so you can't create a backup after they ban you because it it would it they they detect that, right? Yeah, it has to be created before they ban you. Um and and the yeah, so I have some badass VAs that know how to do that because they work for for Airbnb. But anyways, um so I I kind of like, man, that so that shit does happen. They just out of the blue, and then of course they we petitioned uh to get it back, and then like about a week later, they said, okay, it's back with no reason, it just shut it down, it just automatically shuts down listings for whatever reason that that's coming up, but there was never we were never given a reason why that listing was shut down. So if you're out there running on Airbnb, and a lot of people just have the one and they're they relying on that one for their you know their nest egg or whatever the hell, they could they could literally shut you down, you'll be making zero dollars, man.
SPEAKER_02That's crazy, man. Yeah, and I think the Airbnb doing that 15.5% fee was to try to get everyone back over to them, you know, and off the PMSs, because that's where they're using the um the dam. That's where everyone's using the direct booking pipeline. And so now shit, and yeah, it's getting a little difficult with the Airbnb. Well, it's always been a little bit difficult in Airbnb. That's why I'm like, shoes, should I do the pad split model? So I may even look at pad split in Arkansas just see if what the market is, just to see what it is, if there's even a market there.
SPEAKER_05I give one tip, man. Uh it's funny. People listen to the show, they're uh we we give we give away good advice all the time. But I was like, you know what? I told I told Manu was like, can you create like a cool logo? Of course, we'll chat GPT. It's like that that you could put because I didn't because pad split as of now they don't have nothing like super host or nothing like that, right? Um, but I said, can you create a logo that says premium pad split, like a golden logo that you can watermark all of our pictures, right? And the main picture. And then um he said, Yeah, sure. And he and he created, you know, a few prototypes and that's that one's good. Can you put those on all the pictures? And he put it on all the pictures. So so when someone's scrolling and they're they're you know they're scrolling, they'll see this like logo pop out, premium, you know, PASP. Oh, you know, even though yeah, it's kind of like Donald Trump, we gave ourselves a reward, you know, our own when we make up an award and give it to ourselves, it's the same concept. We gave ourselves a little reward. But but I'm like, I you know, right now Passplit's cool. They don't, they're not like Airbnb, you know, 100% yet. But you know, so they're letting you do it. Like I said, they give you the phone number to these people. So if you were like an unscrupulous pad splitter, you can start filling your place with um with people without going through PadSplit if you wanted to, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02That is what everyone always asks about. Because I think that's people's biggest issue with pad split right now is if you have one pad split guest, all of them have to be pad split. From pad split's perspective, that actually makes sense.
SPEAKER_05But you can shut down rooms though, anytime you want. That's there's a workaround. I could say, hey, room two, three, and four, I'm I'm not gonna pass split out of those. I'm just gonna pass split out of these other three. So you can but you can yeah, so how the hell are they gonna know who you got in those other rooms?
SPEAKER_02Okay, that's what I was wondering.
SPEAKER_05It's against it's against their rules to have a mixture. Now you can't now they changed it where you could live in your own passplit. Before they didn't even want that. They wanted everybody, each room to be on a pad split.
SPEAKER_02Bro, if you can live in your own pad split, house hacking should be going crazy right now.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It should be going crazy right now. But okay. Well, I think you would get caught by the guests, though, right? Because let's say a guest is in there and Pad Split has this system set up where I can talk to the guest, I can talk to the owner. And if they're like, hey, there's some randos in here and they ain't on Pad Split, maybe that would be your bottleneck. So that's that's interesting that they do that. Because that was one thing I've always wondered too, because a lot of people are like, well, I don't want them on Pad Split. And I was like, because they don't want to pay the fee, but I'm like, if the fee's three percent, I'd pay it. I wouldn't give it a damn.
SPEAKER_05I I say learn learn the ropes on Pad Split because there's I mean it's not a a hundred percent safety guards, but there's some. You know, there's some.
Should you rent PadSplit rooms to couples?
SPEAKER_05They help you, you know, that uh and they help you find people, first of all, and they help you fill your house, and then um they have they do a little bit of background, you know, and they um what's it called? And then they they handle the money, you know. They handle like if someone's behind and all they give them the the alerts and all stuff that a lot of landlords don't aren't too good at. Pas split's pretty good at that stuff. So I think learn the ropes on there, and if you think you can go on your own, yeah, take it offline and and just um just start doing direct.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. The only thing is too about Pas Split is this, like they have all of the like they already have all of the clientele for you. Unless you like, but you you said you've gotten people off Furnish Finder, right?
SPEAKER_05Yes, but they have to sign up for Pas Split.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you sign them up for Passplit.
SPEAKER_05Which is cool because there's they give pretty good referrals, right? So let's say someone signs up for Pasplit, they see one of my rooms, they sign up to to rent that room, and um but I I always tell them, you know, or or even I even when we don't have a room available, I say, you know what, you know, right now the house is just got it just got filled up, right? You always tell them that it just got filled up. And then um, and then you tell and you tell them, but go on go on the Pad Split. And I always tell them now, because because here they it's been in the works. Pad Splits gonna is is creating integrations with Furnish Finder, which is which is smart. They should work together, they should work together. And um I tell them they're they're creating integrations now. So here's the thing is so it's not a sketchy site. You know, a lot of them still haven't heard about what a Passplit is, right? But I said go on there and use my link, sign up, and even if you don't book my properties, you can go, you can book another property that's gonna work better for you. You know, you said you wanted to be closer over here, then there's some passports over there you can check out, and then you can and you can book it. And when they if they book another passplit using my link, I get 250 bucks. So I'm getting payouts, even if they don't book my passport. It's pretty cool. They did so they oh that's a hit. Airbnb used to give pretty fat pay uh referrals back in the day.
SPEAKER_02Man, I think I I used to rack up on those referrals off Airbnb. I at least made five, six thousand off them things, man.
SPEAKER_05You got everybody on Airbnb, man. You're putting everybody, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I got some fat ass referral checks off that. Yeah, because damn. So if Paz was doing the same thing, you should be the guy, man. Put your links out there, bro. Cause yeah, that's a hit. That was like I'd be like sitting there and I'd get like hey, someone just got their first reservation and pop up. Here's 200. I'm like, dang. Yeah, okay. That's that's pretty cool. Then I may have to try the Paz Put thing, man. I'm gonna have to try it.
SPEAKER_05I mean, I say give it a shot. The only thing is, I mean, you you you probably let me say a regular three-two, you probably gotta add you have to add a couple rooms. You gotta add a couple rooms, two or three rooms. I I say if you get you a four-two and you only have to add two rooms, that's that's a better deal, you know what I'm saying? Because you already you go from you go from four to six. Um my guy Pablo, if you're gonna get one around here, he could hook you up pretty good. He's a good handyman and he can build you some rooms for a lot cheaper than a lot of the other guys too.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_05So um shout out to Pablo. But yeah, so that's the only that's the only thing. Um if you're gonna try it, you know what I'm saying? If you're not gonna go all and say, I I say put your mindset like this. This house is gonna be a freaking passplit. You know, I'd say it like that. No, I'm just gonna try it. I say this house is gonna be a passpit because you're gonna you're gonna you have to kind of commit. You got to put you have to have the bedrooms.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be a full commitment.
SPEAKER_05And then you have to make a hallway to that second bathroom because it has to be everybody has to be able to use it.
SPEAKER_02Now I have a question. You said you're the new one you did, you said you turned it into six bedrooms, yeah. Okay, and you have two bathrooms.
SPEAKER_05Yes.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay, go ahead.
SPEAKER_05So one of the bathrooms was in the the master bedroom. So you have to kind of like make a hallway, you kind of make that room smaller, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, and you make a hallway to that bathroom where any everybody can use it. Okay, because you want the ratio to be like three rooms to one bathroom. Maybe you could push it to four bedrooms to one bathroom, but but yeah, it's a yeah, if it's all dudes, it's not too bad. Yeah, girls like to stay in there for a while.
SPEAKER_03Uh yeah. Oh, hold on. Uh, one more question for you, bro. You said something, uh, you texted something, but we didn't talk about it on the cast.
SPEAKER_02You said you had somebody sneaking people in.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that was uh that was uh a deal.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, what happened with that? What happened with that? What happened? Deals.
SPEAKER_05Now that's I I so the first Pad Split, that that's that's what the thing was. Some of the that's why I put I ended up putting cameras in the common areas. And I think that pretty much squashed that, right? Okay because I had the camera out front, but of course, you can go through the back door. I put a camera on the back door, but um I put cameras in the in the common, which you can do in Pad Split. You can put cameras in the common areas in Pad Split in the hallway. So homeboy in the in the bedroom is eventually gonna have to use the bathroom, right? So I and I have my VAs looking at the cameras. Nothing's happened since, you know, I told him, hey, you know, I've just heard rumors, and you know, someone told me, hey, you know, some of these girls are sneaking in, these dudes or whatever. Oh I just heard rumors. I didn't say who I heard it from, but I just letting y'all know, I you know, I just I just heard you know, somebody's informed me that there might be people sneaking in. You know, it's against the rules, nobody can spend the night. You can have visitors during the day, but overnight guests are not allowed, and I will find people or or give you a notice to vacate if it if I if I find out you're doing it. Plus, I'm gonna add cameras in the inside the house now. And so I've you know it's been it's been harmonious ever since. And a couple of the girls that were supposedly doing it, they're gone now. So it was girls doing it. It was girls sneaking dudes in, yeah. You yeah, you would you would think dudes would be, you know, sneaking.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, damn. I didn't know it was girls doing it. Damn.
SPEAKER_05I was talking to somebody, I was like, I was like, um some dude wanted to okay. Here's the thing with furniture finder. Sometimes couples travel together, right? Yeah, and they've been inquiring about my past percent, and I've only allowed one person per room so far, right? Okay, but but um I was like, if they want to rent two bedrooms, that's perfectly fine. I need to have because I don't want if once you start allowing two people per room, that could be like 12
The girls sneaking guys in
SPEAKER_05people in a house really quickly, you know what I'm saying? Because then you can't tell someone else they can't have someone, you know what I'm saying? So, but if if two people had two different bedrooms, that keeps the ratio low, you know what I'm saying? Okay, so they could rent, they could rent two bedrooms for me, even if you wanted to make one of the rooms like a little, you know, living room office for you guys and y'all y'all share the other room, that's fine. I don't care because I was telling my buddy, it's dudes living with chicks, you know, human nature happens, right? I'm sure I'm sure people will hook up at Passplitz. It's just just like college dorms or whatever the hell it's just exactly, it's the same thing, it's the exact same thing. Get to know people and see them every day, and and then it happens, it's no big deal, right? I just don't want the ratio of of tenants to grow to like too big for the house.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Cause I was thinking, like, man, if you did couples, that'd be a hit, but yeah, that'd be a lot of people. So have you thought of well, I think you kind of said it, like you would split the couples up and like, hey, you can have one room, you can have one room. Would you do it that way?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's what I mean. I mean, they can rent two rooms from me, yeah, and then even if they slept in the same room, I don't care because it keeps the ratio low of how many people live there. You know, now if I was gonna you got me thinking now, if I I it it probably pretty lucrative if I started allowing couples to to stay at Paz to rent rooms to couples, but I'd have I wouldn't, you know, I would probably just do like a four-bedroom. You know what I'm saying? Because then the most people you'd have in the house is eight people.
SPEAKER_02How about this? Just spark your interest. Could you possibly rent to couples but just charge double the price for the room? So you may get over like you may have now you may have eight people in there, but you're doubling the price per the room. Like, hey, couples are allowed, but you have to pay instead of the whatever $160 a week you're paying three something, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. I I have I'm putting some thought into that. I'm putting some and and the main reason I am is because the people coming from Furnish Finder, some of them are couples, and I'm thinking it's it might be lucrative, but then I started it doubles your income. Like if you're making $700 or $750 a month in a room, you're gonna make $1,500. But then that gets you into like well, if two people can't afford an apartment for that price, you know, they're gonna live in a bedroom?
SPEAKER_02Are they the how much is a one bedroom going for?
SPEAKER_05In that area, man, that's a good question. I would say around probably $1,500 right now.
SPEAKER_02$1,500, but you ain't paying utilities.
SPEAKER_05But then, yeah, of course, there's no utilities and it's furnished. I haven't tried it yet, man. And I that's maybe I will try one.
SPEAKER_02Remember when we used to talk about that back in the day, back when I used to rent the rooms out upstairs, I was like, because I used to rent the couples, right? Yeah, that was the thing. Like I never thought to charge them double, but if I could have, I'm like, dang, I could really charge you $1,400. But you think about it, at that point in time, it probably wouldn't have been worth it. But now a one-bedroom shit might be $1,800 a month. And like, especially these new build apartments here right here in Arlington going up to North Arlington, those I don't even know how much those are. Those probably got to at least be $1,750 for a one-bedroom. So yeah, you should always. That's why, man, you gotta get into chat GPT using Claude. It'll tell you, like, hey, I have a just be like, hey, I have a pad split. I'm looking at written to couples. How much is a one-bedroom, one bath apartment going for? You know what I mean? It'll tell you, it'll give you the data.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I would be concerned about you know uh, you know, couples living in the rooms, and then you know, when when homeboy's away or homegirls away, you see someone else walking through the hallway.
SPEAKER_03I that could happen. I mean, you have to consider all that. We'll be real, that all has to be considered, bro.
SPEAKER_05Coming out the shower, and you know, you just think stuff happens at these things, man. And so I just and then you get some gunshots in your passport. Oh man. I don't know. Maybe I'm just overthinking it, but I'm sure there's a way to do here's the thing maybe if if you had a house now. A lot of people are building passports from scratch, right? So they're building a bedroom, every bedroom has its own bathroom. So you could charge a lot more if every if you charge you rent out a nice size room with its own bathroom. Oh now that would be a hit for couples because they have their own room, they have their own bathroom, you know. They they only see the other people whenever they go to the kitchen or where they leave to work, go back to work. That's fine. Now, if there's eight people trying to share two bathrooms, and yeah, that's that gets a little a little crazy.
SPEAKER_02Now I have a question on that. Like, okay, the people building PadSplits from scratch, I wonder what market they're in. Are you seeing that in Texas?
SPEAKER_05I haven't seen it myself. I I just I've listened to a few pod uh podcasts and I've heard like people in in Atlanta, which is where Pad Split started.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_05I seen them doing it there. Brandon Turner builds his own from scratch. And um I saw so I saw uh I don't know if I sent it to you, but I saw this one, these ones they're making in Houston. And it's kind of like Pad Split is building these, you know, themselves, just to try, and it's like these three-story, three or four-story, straight up look boxing opening.
SPEAKER_02Townhouses, yep, townhouses. Okay.
SPEAKER_05Every room, every floor has its own kitchen and laundry, and then all the rooms have their own bathrooms, and they're boop-boop, and they're just stacking them up.
SPEAKER_02You've seen, have you been to uh West Dallas Trinity Groves area?
SPEAKER_05No.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so in the West Dallas, Trinity Groves area, that's that's all they're building. They build them straight up, up and down.
SPEAKER_05Oh, the square, the square houses. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02They're like no, they're like rectangles, really. Oh like little rectangles, and then like it just goes straight up. First floor is nothing but a garage and a Tesla charger. Next floor, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, next floor, kitchen, bathroom. It's like, hmm. But the only thing about it is, I'm like, you're limited on what type of guests you can hold because it's all these damn stairs. There's no like no like, you know, no elevator elevator. Yeah, like you gotta go up four flights of stairs, man. It's a workout, you know. But yeah, they're building those over there. I see I actually went and toured one.
SPEAKER_05We did one of our meetups at one of those style houses, right? Over in Bishop Arts.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was very similar to that. Very similar to that. And you can walk up and then it has a uh the rooftop, the rooftop, yeah, and you can see downtown Dallas. Yeah, I remember that. Heck yeah. We took a big ass picture and it was a whole bunch of people at that meetup.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that was fun. We hadn't done one of those in a long time. We need to do one of those again.
SPEAKER_02I know, man. Yeah, at a passport or something, you know, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. So so I'm I'm uh I'm all in. I've been I've I've had a few headaches with the passplit, but I'm all in it. All of it is I'm moving forward, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because I I feel like any business model you get into, you're gonna have a headache. You know, it's just how do you circumvent the headache? How do you because once you learn it, you can outsource it, right? Now you the outsource, you know how to outsource your passplit operations. But yeah, if you're getting another one, it sounds like it's doing good. And I feel like what I like about it is if it's monthly income, you ain't gotta worry about somebody booking here, somebody booking there. Just the monthly income. I
Furnishing a six-bedroom PadSplit for $2,300
SPEAKER_02love that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I will say, like people coming from Furnish Finder, you know, a lot of these are like, you know, uh one of them one of them is moving in this uh in a couple days is a respiratory nurse, and you know, they still have the the the the um travel nurse, you know, clientele. And I've hosted a few of them, and they're fine because they work a shitload of hours and then they just need a place to sleep, right? And and um so so one lady is moving in, is kind of like a respiratory nurse therapist or something like that. But I am for I I have been for the furniture finder guest because I'll say this the the seasoned pad split uh guests, they know what what to expect. They get to a room, it don't have no sheets, they don't have nothing, right? You have to put your own sheets now for furniture finder guests, uh travel nurses and stuff. I am leaving sheets and pillows and you know stuff like that. Okay, that makes sense. Because they're from a different world.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and they they ain't about to adapt to that. I understand it.
SPEAKER_05They're gonna get there. Where the hell the sheets? Where's the pillow?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but I'm gonna be real, and then even at that, like it sounds like your startup costs are low. If you ain't supplying none of that, that's some real good startup costs. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_05Funny you should say that because I just did uh I just did this morning, I did my whole pretty much my whole order for my six-bedroom passplit that I'm getting finished right this week. Um, and six you're doing six, you gotta have six beds, you have six bed frames, you gotta have all the sheets and everything, you gotta have the pillows, you gotta have pots and pans. You know, you gotta stock the house. Okay. And and um luckily, like I had a sofa already from another Airbnb that I just had in the you know, in a storage or whatever. So I had that, and um, so I didn't have to buy a sofa. But anyways, I did all the shopping on Amazon.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_05And and I got it all done for a six bedroom house. House for like 2300 bucks.
unknownWoo!
SPEAKER_05You can get bed frames now on Amazon that look pretty decent. The metal ones, because you don't want wood, because you know everybody knows you those things break. So you get the metal bed frames and they have a little headboard on them and stuff. You can get those for like 80 bucks on Amazon, right? Metal bed frame. You get a bed, you get a medium fiber, well, a medium uh what's it called? Foam bed, like a like a Zenis and stuff like that. Now there's a bunch of different brands. Usually they were they were the only ones, but now you got a bunch of different brands. And you get one of those for about a hundred and ten, hundred and twenty bucks. You can get you a uh a bed, uh, you know, 10-inch memory foam, whatever. And uh depending on the size, you know, to anyway, anywhere from a hundred bucks to 150 bucks, you can get you a bed now. So they're not as expensive back in the day, you know, $300 for a mattress, right? That was just that was what you paid, but now you they've gotten a lot cheaper. And um, and then the sheets and bedding, of course, everybody knows Amazon's a lot cheaper for that. And um, yeah, just buying the stuff, the pots and pens and everything you need for a house. Just I did all my shopping. I made a list too. So if you hit me up, if you hit Stevie Stacks up, you know, hit at Livelet Drive at gmail.com or whatever you want to hit me up, I'll I'll I'll send the list, send my pad split list to you for free. Yeah, for free. What's he? There you go. Just to help people out. And so um, yeah, it came out to like 2300 bucks.
SPEAKER_02That ain't bad at all, bro.
SPEAKER_05For a six-bedroom house. I didn't make it all Airbnb fancy schmancy, but it's it's a place that people can rent for a good price, and that's all they need a place to sleep while they're working double shifts, and that's that's pretty much it.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna be real, it sounds like you don't need to because that ain't the clientele anyway, right? Right. Yeah, so if that ain't the clientele, if you can go cheap, that's what I'm saying. It's like it sounds like Pads, but it's like the rental grade place, right? Like you just as long as it's rental grade, you're good to go, you know.
SPEAKER_05Those are the people that that's my target market mostly is the is the working class, you know, working at Amazon kind of, you know, clientele, working at a fast food or wherever.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Younger people, it may be younger people. Like, is your age group usually younger?
SPEAKER_05You know, I I do host uh a few older people. Okay, and they just I I would say they just kind of like, you know, kind of loners, kind of like stuck to themselves, and they don't really have a lot of family here and stuff like that, but they just they just need a place to sleep and they're cool with that, you know. They don't I g I I could go on and on about about one of the things I I I'll bring up real quick. You mentioned uh about um you mentioned something, but made me think because I have in the in the living rooms, I have computer desk, computer chair, right? Just in case somebody wants to work outside the room. Okay. Nobody ever uses it, they just put the mail there. But I'm like, you know what? I'm paying for like this this office space over here, a hundred bucks a month. Why don't I just make my office space one of these living rooms, the computer station, and I'll just go work there when
Working from your own PadSplit living room
SPEAKER_05I need to work outside the house for free. Yeah, and I give I keep eyes on my house, you know what I'm saying? I I started thinking about that.
SPEAKER_02Um that's funny you say that because we use WeWork. You could definitely do that, bro. Yeah, and you could keep if you're closer to your property, I would do that. I would suggest that all day. For real.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and then they're gonna be doing no funny stuff, they know. That's the only the other thing. I was like, man, I don't want to piss off my my pad, my pad mates by hey, the owner of the house is gonna be here working on his computer all day. You know what I'm saying? But most people just hang out in their rooms, anyways. Most people just hang out in their rooms.
SPEAKER_03Oh, hold on. You meant hang out in the pad split working?
SPEAKER_05In the living room where I have my little workstation there. I was like, I just go there. Instead of going to like my you know workspace that I pay a hundred bucks a month for, I just go to one of my pad splits and start and just work from there. Every time I go, the living room's empty. No one's in there chilling, they're in their rooms, right? Yeah, but I got fast high-speed internet, I can just go park it there and do my work there. It's just an idea. I could even rent I can even rent that living living room out on the down. You could.
SPEAKER_02Like, I ain't gonna lie, like even if or if a room's empty, you work in the room or whatever. You could save you, save you some time. And nah, you can't do that. I was gonna say you could write off write it off as a homestead, home office exemption, but nah, it wouldn't work because you don't live there. So I do with this office, I write it off.
SPEAKER_05Oh, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, home office exemption, but I don't think you could.
SPEAKER_05So so uh this one chick, I don't we're coming up on time, but yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03No, go ahead.
SPEAKER_05I'll leave this as a teaser for the next episode. Okay. I'll tell you about the chick in in room number four that was wanting me to help her install a stripper pole.
SPEAKER_02I think you told me, yeah, yeah. I think you told me a little bit about it. You texted to me.
SPEAKER_05She ended up leaving because I said after I thought about it, I was like, nah, you know, I don't want no, I don't want you to be installing no stripper pole in my the bedroom.
SPEAKER_03How big is well, how big is the bedroom?
SPEAKER_05Regular size bedroom. I don't know, 10 by 10, 10 by 11.
SPEAKER_03I guess does she do stripper pole activities in it? That's like how big is it? That's I wonder like how big is this place?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I didn't I didn't I just didn't want the ceiling falling down, man. You know? I just or her falling down trying to do the upside-down helicopter.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's a liability.
SPEAKER_05So no stripper poles in my passport, please.
SPEAKER_03Oh man, that's funny. That's funny.
SPEAKER_05That's a whole nother business. That's a whole nother business.
SPEAKER_03Lucrative one, too.
SPEAKER_05What can the Mac teach us about investing, Warren?
SPEAKER_02Man, that's crazy. You you're gonna, and that's all I said. I said you're probably gonna meet like all types of characters with like the clientele, but I love like how it works in like you know, B minus, C plus neighborhoods. That's really what you want because it's gonna be low-key. Ain't nobody calling the police, it's just low-key. That's I like that model. I'm I'm gonna definitely be looking into it.
SPEAKER_05Do it, man. Do it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so man, what?
SPEAKER_02This is uh episode about AI and pad split.
SPEAKER_05That's two popular things right now. Heck yeah. Cool, man. It's it's great catching up. Can't wait for the next episode. Where can people find us, Michael Man?
SPEAKER_02Man, find us on Livelet Thrive. Livelet Thrive at gmail.com, Instagram, TikTok. We're posting on there daily. Follow us, like, leave a comment, subscribe, subscribe to us on YouTube, and thank y'all for continuing to listen to us. I know it's been a while. We're gonna be making sure we come at y'all a little bit faster next time. So uh, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Still got a ton of stories to tell y'all.
SPEAKER_02Yes, always.
SPEAKER_05All right, peace out. Out later.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of Live Let Thrive. Be sure to tune in next week for all the latest in the world of Airbnb and all that entails. Bye bye.
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