Cold open

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Live Let Thrive, a podcast about the Airbnb life, the shar economy, and everything in between. Here are your hosts, Micah and Steve.

SPEAKER_03 0:11

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another exciting episode of Live Let Thrive, your favorite short-term, mid-term, long-term rental podcast in the world, coming at you from Fort Worth, Texas. And this is episode 290, 290 episodes of this dang show. And we got a special guest today, Miss Dina Steele, D-E-E-N-A. Steele, double excellent right there. Um, and she's joining us all the way from the Great

Kelowna: Canada's California with 200 wineries and a looming STR ban

SPEAKER_03 0:43

White North, right? Canada.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Canada.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

Oh, are you gonna say A a lot on the show? Hope so.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Definitely not.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

A boat. A boat. Uh Dina, who is Dina? You ask. Well, I'm glad you asked because she wrote a cool little bio about herself. I guess that's what a bio is. Uh well, let's see here. Dina is the founder of Keys to Kelowna. You didn't warn me about that word.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Kelowna, I know.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Kelowna. You warned me about your name, but not that word. Kelowna. Kelowna. K-E-L-O-W-N-A properties, a luxury vacation rental agency. She also she is also a co-host of a new podcast launching soon called For the Love of Str. And a member of the real hosts of short-term. See, I thought you were gonna say Real Housewives.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

It's a play on it.

SPEAKER_03 1:38

Oh, that's you meant to do that. The real hosts of short-term rentals, mastermind. Uh, and and this and is open to the public to listen and learn from a diverse group of operators from around the globe. And there's a bunch more stuff, but we can just go ahead and dive in and we'll get to this. How's that, Dina? How you doing?

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Yeah, good, good, good. Yeah, so where I'm coming from is um Kelowna. So it's not super cold here. We get like three days of like, I don't even know how to convert it into your Fahrenheit, but it gets super cold, but we're at the tip of the Sonoran Desert, um, which means we are basically what we kind of dub ourselves as like Canada's California. So we have in our region like 200 wineries, we have this beautiful lake that spans like three cities, um, tons of golf courses, out the outdoor amenities like the hiking trails, mountain bike trails are phenomenal. Obviously, the British Columbia forests are are are beautiful with all the wildlife. And then sometimes I like to say, like when I look out the window, sometimes I can see aspects of Hawaii, just depending on the lighting. The mountains here are stunning. And sometimes I see south of France. It's just, it's such a special place, and not a lot of people know about it. And um, I encourage everyone to look it up. It's phenomenal here.

SPEAKER_03 3:03

Sounds like the perfect vacation spot, and there should be no reason to ban a perfect vacation spot

Provincial government bans all non-principal-residence short-term rentals

SPEAKER_03 3:10

like that, should there?

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Absolutely not. But apparently, apparently, our provincial government um thinks differently. So we can talk about that a little later. But yeah, no, it isn't a fantastic vacation destination. Um, and again, not a lot of people know about it. So it's still, you know, like I think our population is about 150,000 people, which is crazy because we should be like at a million. And so our growth, like for real estate investor, the market here is fantastic. Um, our growth forecast for the next, oh gosh, I don't even have the number, the next 10 years, I think our population is set to, oh gosh. I'm not even gonna quote it because I forgot the exact percentage, but obviously we can't build fast enough. And a lot of communities are are experiencing this, but um, because we're still we're still one of the more expensive areas to live in, but we're still more affordable than Vancouver and Toronto. So anybody that's trying to, you know, like millennials that are getting away from their crazy careers and settling down and raising families are all flooding to the area, especially for the lifestyle. You're five minutes from a hiking trail or a biking trail. Like the city is just focused on outdoor living. Um, so it is, it's a really nice life here. But with that comes we call it the sunshine tax, and I call it a virus because a lot of us just love to relax. So if you ever want to get anything done and you're calling someone and you're like, they're not calling me back. I'm like, yeah, everyone just a little bit laid back here.

SPEAKER_03 4:45

Oh, hey, how y'all doing? Stevie Sachs here from Live Let Drive. And I thought I'd give a quick shout out to my buddy Brian Wynne over at themusecoffee.co. Man, this is some good stuff. Brian's a longtime listener of the show, fellow entrepreneur, and he's been sending us coffee for a while now. And this is some really, really good coffee from the best places on earth, best beans on earth, freshly roasted and sent to your front door in a couple days, and you'll know what I'm talking about. So, my buddy Brian, Brian wins over at the Muse Coffee. Hit him up, he'll hook you up. If he knows you're a fan of the show, you put in code LLT, you get an extra 20% off your order. I mean, what do you got to lose, y'all? Help us keep the lights on, help a fellow entrepreneur and get you some good coffee in the process. Themuse coffee.co. Yo, that's cool. Kalowna, that's uh that almost sounds like a Hawaiian name, a Hawaiian word.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's uh our local First Nations tribe. I think it means bear.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Oh, there's bears there, huh?

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Yeah, we have lots of bears.

SPEAKER_03 5:50

Lots of bears, eh? Oh what are you flying to to go to Kal Kaluna?

SPEAKER_01 5:56

We have an international airport, so you can bring your private jet here if you'd like. You can also, because we're on the lake, you can well, you don't have to no, you do have to charter at the moment. We do we did have a commercial float plane service, which is really cool to drop you off at the local hotel right at the dock. Um, but now I think you'll just have to charter a float plane in with like eight of your friends. Um but yeah, it's it you can access it. So it's the big always. We're about a 35-minute flight from Vancouver.

SPEAKER_03 6:25

Oh, Vancouver. Okay, there you go. There you go. Cool, cool. I'm I'm I'm I'm gonna go check it out. I love Vancouver. I've been there, like I was there for a day, and it was really, really beautiful. People were so nice, nice and clean. Yeah, super clean.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Oh, Vancouver's great too. Yeah, yeah. Different lifestyle in Vancouver. You need to own an umbrella and a rain jacket, and here you pull out your umbrella for 10 minutes, like five times a year. Like it's super dry and um desert, like it's super hot too.

SPEAKER_03 6:53

I I went to um one time, a long time ago, because I, you know, I worked for an airline, right? So I was flying, I was going to Bellingham, Washington. And so I couldn't Seattle was even start Seattle was farther away from Bellingham, Washington than Vancouver. So I was like, oh, I'll just fly to Vancouver. And then uh my buddy would pick me up and we'll go across the border. And so, well, we'll spend the day in in Vancouver. And like I said, it was really nice and everything. And I said, Oh, there's a beach, let's go to the beach, you know. And then so went there to the beach, and and and it was the weirdest thing. There was no you weren't allowed to bring alcohol at to the beach. I couldn't even bring a beer. I was like, What the hell? There's people walking around checking too, making sure people ain't drinking and the water was cold, but it was it was a great time. Went to the museum there, saw some cool stuff, and people were real nice. I had some poutine. First time in my life. Nice, I love poutine.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Yeah, super yummy. Um, yeah, so we're your we're your conservative cousins. We're just behind the times here. It's crazy. We you can't smoke on any public beaches, you can now drink on only designated beaches, and that was just introduced, I think, last year. Um, they started rolling out uh uh trial runs, trial beaches. So I I don't drink unfortunately, so I don't know. Well, unfortunately, I don't know um which beaches they are, but uh yeah, we're super we're just tight and just yeah, not a big, not a popular um uh spring break destination for the youngsters. They don't even they don't want to go in my city. We don't even have do we have a nightclub? We might we have one nightclub, which is crazy, and like one strip club for people to go to at night past like 11 o'clock. It is it's not there's no nightlife. It's like nope, go to bed at nine, which is totally fine. I love going to bed at nine.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

So yes, I have to go to the strip club. Uh anyway. So yes, so we're gonna talk about uh you see you you managed, manage, or currently managed still uh um Lux property, luxury property. So tell us all about how you got into that.

Breaking into the $6 million+ trophy property market

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Yeah, so um I started in this space, obviously with my own, which wasn't luxury by any means, um just a typical like three-bedroom family home. And um I didn't brand the business right out of the gates. I just did it under my own name, under my own account. And I decided when I decided to go all in, I it was I had two other companies, a marketing agency and a nutritional supplement company that I founded. So I put those both to bed and I went all in on this. Um, so I branded the company and then I decided, you know what? Like I love the finer things in life. And I love real estate, I love development. And I said, you know, in my next life, I'm gonna be a meter reader so I can get access to all the gate codes, to all the fancy houses. Um and I happen to live in a really nice neighborhood. So I'd seen all of these vacant houses. So what happens is we there's only a, you know, a couple hundred lakefront homes and no one uses them. And I originally thought like maybe I could be like the house nanny, you know, with all these nice homes, just make sure that they're okay while they're vacant. Um, then I was like, you know what? It's not fair that anyone's not using these properties ever. Like, don't they want to make a little money? Um, I was wrong about that. They're not necessarily interested in making money because they have these multi-million dollar, we're talking like 14 million dollar properties. So they don't need the cash. Um, so it was an interesting and it's still a hard niche to break into, but it's super fun. So we we scooped up our first trophy property in 2020. Um, and then it just slowly built from there. Um, and I'm saying trophy like over six million uh and lakefront. So it just slowly builds from there. You kind of um get into the trusted network of people. I always encourage, you know, work your network. It's a long game to get into that group. Um, but yeah, just built from there naturally. And we sign, I don't know, like one or two new ones a year. But what I found with the guests, the guests are the really cool factor, the people that are looking for those properties. They are just interesting individuals and also an interesting niche to figure out. So I was saying um to myself, like I used to go after the executive assistants or or like the house managers, like who is that niche that has access to these people? But what I found is that those VIPs themselves were the ones that were doing the shopping for the properties. And only after you would get handed off to their team to just wrap up the details. So I made a few mistakes in my initial marketing. You know, I was like, okay, I'm gonna, and I'm gonna go after the wives of the hockey players on Instagram. Like, I'm gonna hunt these people down and kind of get in front of them. But it was, it was actually the individual that was going to rent that was looking for me. So I thought that was really interesting. I always loved to share that with people because you think, oh no, these people are too busy, it's gonna be their executive assistant, but it's actually them who find you and then and then you get to hand it off to the team. So yeah, so it's an awesome space to be in. It's very, it's very interesting, super enlightening, and and um and there's all kinds of characters, like from all sorts of industries. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

So so they're they're looking for you, you're saying.

VIP guests book themselves, then hand off to their assistants

SPEAKER_03 12:43

So you're talking about when you already had the houses, the people are looking for you that want to stay in these houses.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

It ebbs and flows. That's it's the that's the most painful part. Sometimes you have too many guests, not enough houses, which kills me to turn people away, and then vice versa. And it's just, and and I don't think that speaks to my efforts because I try to have a balanced approach. I've got these properties, I've got to find these guests, I've got these guests, I've got to find these properties, but it just always seems to happen where all of a sudden you have too many properties, not enough guests, or too many guests. But uh, yeah, we don't do a ton, we don't do any paid marketing. It's all social media for relationship building. Um, so I do again a lot of behind the scenes in the DMs, and then again, that trusted network. Um, but one interesting thing I found is, and I think a lot of people bank on this where they're like, oh, they always you want your return guests. These people don't want to stay in the same houses necessarily. They want it's they treat them like a collector's item. They always say, like, what else do you have? What else do you have? I loved the house that I stayed in, but what else do you have? So I'm always trying to hunt for like the next option that's going to be similar but better or more unique or more rare than the other one that they had stayed in before. So that is interesting. Yeah, it is. And it makes it

Luxury clients treat homes like collector's items - always want the next one

SPEAKER_01 14:06

challenging. I'm like, just stay in the one you stayed in, please. So just make my life so much easier.

SPEAKER_03 14:12

So I mean, we jump around and we're gonna jump around the show. But real quick, I mean, you're good at putting people in these high-end places, right? And so is a natural thing to like branch off into uh, you know, especially with the band coming, which is gonna shut down most of your business, you know, we can get into that, but um it is calling up the people that that are managing these, you know, really nice, you know, mansions or or beachfront, whatever, multi-million dollar properties, and saying, hey, I can put guests into your place, you know, of course you can make some money. Isn't that a natural uh pivot for you?

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Yeah, I did think about uh doing like a segue into travel designing for the clients that I already have on my Rolodex and you know, finding other properties for them to stay in in my network that has crossed my mind. One thing I absolutely hate is travel planning. I love taking trips, I hate the planning, and also then trusting um other hosts, you know, not trialing the product, not seeing the property. I I hesitate to do that um at this point in time.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

Um get you a free stay some free stays out of it because say I gotta go sample the product first, make sure it's good for my for my millionaire client, and then that would be nice.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

But if anybody asks me if another manager asks me to come stay in my property, I'd probably be like, it's booked and take a hike. Like, nice try. Nice try. But I do think but I do think there's room in the market to create something like that. Like I know it was a smiling uh smiling house. She's got like a luxury portfolio in Europe. So um I don't think that they vet the properties like what I was saying, like visiting them in person and making sure that they all meet up, but it's nice to have one place where that, you know, I could send my clients, you know, use my referral code or whatever. This is my network of high net worth um homes to stay in. But yeah, and um it's I wouldn't say my Rolodex is huge, but it could be. Um, I was going to say one of my messages that I wanted to

The danger of over-niching: turning away one-bedrooms before the crash

SPEAKER_01 16:33

share with everyone is when I gave up my other two companies, I've always been of the mindset um to diversify your income, to have something, you know, you finger in a few pies and never put all your eggs in one basket. But I had a few, let's call them gurus, uh, coaches, whatever. You gotta go all in, you gotta go all in. So I put those right. Yeah. So I put those other two babies to bed. And then I niched down into the luxury market. Um, then everything went tickety-boo with uh the pandemic because everyone was just burning cash. They were like, sure, how much? Great, take it, take all my money. Then after I came to a screeching halt, and I thought, you know what, at the very least, um, the luxury market will maintain course, but they did too pulled back on the purse strengths. Not as much, but they did. So niching down into one category like that burnt me. I started turning away, we had a you know, a ton of properties come our way, which I'm sure everyone did during, you know, I call it the gold rush the last couple of years. Um, so we turned away a lot of business because I they were one bedrooms, two bedrooms. And I was like, nope, I want waterfront, I want this, focused on that. If all this is coming my way, then that will come my way. And by turning down all those little guys, now the markets shifted for me in that my one bedrooms are flying off the shelf. I can't keep them. I can't keep them. Like I need more. I have requests almost daily for one bed, one bath because we've moved into also the corporate stays and midterm rentals. So I guess my word of uh caution to people is you can niche down, but still keep a little diversity because this industry is extremely volatile. It's the most volatile industry I've ever been a part of. And the same thing with the I it drives me crazy. So don't be so don't have your blinders on so much that like I was being gifted all of these listings, and I was like, no, no, it's not my niche. My the gurus say, you know, stay in your niche. Um, but I think that hurt me. And um I mean, not hurt me, but it just I don't feel good about it. How about that?

SPEAKER_03 18:55

Yeah, yeah. And I think I remember, I think I kind of know the gurus you you speak of, but yeah, hey, uh, there was a lot of advice like that floating around back then. And you know, it's something on topic is I saw I saw uh a thing that Pace, you know, Pace Borby that he does, he's the subject to buying houses guy, yeah, creative finance. So he he was I saw one of his videos, and he's and he actually had a great opportunity to have like a one-on-one with Tony Robbins, you know, the motivational Tony Robbins. And um, you know, this is the guy that gives advice to presidents and kings and all kinds of, you know, he's he's he's the guy, and and um he had he had a rare opportunity to sit down one-on-one and ask him anything he wanted. It was a big deal. And and and so Pace, you know, pace, he's pace, he's he's a hustler, you know, badass, doing all kinds of stuff, making you know, he's I'm sure he's a millionaire a bunch of times over. But he had the same thing, he had a lot of all these opportunities coming at him, and and he's like, okay, and he's he asked Tony, I got all these things coming at me, all these different things I can do. I'm making money on all of them, but I know you were I'm supposed to focus on one thing and just do that. And and that's that was the wisdom uh a few years ago, right? Screw screw diversification, focus on one thing and be great at that. And so and and um and Tony's like, and like you said, you're being gifted, you know, uh blessings from the universe, you know, these opportunities. He goes, instead of just turning them all away and focusing it on one, why not find ways to build these systems that they can run themselves, put the people in place that you know this you know you know how to set it up, put someone in place and they can run that side for you. And and that was like totally opposite what everybody else is saying, just focus on one thing and get rid of all the distractions, you know. But you know, if you could build your systems and build your teams, and someone's gonna run the one bedroom, someone's gonna run the mansions, someone's gonna run the you know, houses, you can be successful at more than one thing.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Exactly, exactly. And you can I can still stay in that luxury space and have the nicest one bedrooms available. So you can still niche, you can still niche down, but keep your portfolio a little diverse. And what I'm learning, so to give everyone some context and and another word of warning, we had regulations, insanely strict regulations come into our market in 10 days. I knew it was brewing. I knew it was brewing because I had seen such explosive growth

10-day notice wipes out 99% of investor-owned listings

SPEAKER_01 21:28

in our market. Uh, we nearly doubled in one year of our listings. So with that comes noise complaints, parking complaints with the city, but also, you know, this global housing crisis that we're having is hitting us hard. Our rents just skyrocketed because everybody was jumping into the Airbnb space. So I knew it was coming. They said they were going to make an announcement, but I thought they'd want to professionalize the industry a little bit more, you know, require licensed professional property managers, perhaps a quota on the number of rentals per. Or license is permitted, but in 10 days from announcement to when it came into law, they um basically similar to San Francisco and New York-ish, only your principal residence that you live in will be permitted to be offered as a short-term rental. So all of these, and we have thousands of buildings that were built with the intent of being full-time short-term rentals that are now have no grandfathering, nothing. So they're just, and they've lost like $200,000 in equity overnight. And what I had done is I really enjoy working with investors. So I niche down. I didn't work with any homeowners who had principal residences, just investors who are remote, hands off, trust me with everything from A to Z. So I didn't diversify my portfolio at all. So 99% of my listings will be null and void on the short-term rental market in eight weeks' time.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Another lesson. I was like, no, no, no. Your avatar, customer avatars, ICAs, everybody's telling you all this stuff, and it's biting me in the ass again.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

Yeah. So I, you know, I guess, and I but I do really love the investors. Um and in my city, they've gone even more, uh, they've added further restrictions on top of like the provincial restrictions. So there will be no new short-term rental licenses issued to anyone. Um, so there's only 498 listings left in this entire city to choose from. If that and the number can only go down, it cannot go up. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 23:47

What are the investors going to do with these houses?

SPEAKER_01 23:50

People are panicking. But you know what's happening is because so the last two and a half years, we've added midterm rentals. I've been building relationships with relocation agencies across the country. And um, that's been fantastic. And everyone is now hearing midterm rentals, executive rentals. So they're all about to flood that markets that I was trying to carve out. So all of my investors are really good. I haven't, I do have one conversation next week. And again, most of the people that I work with aren't, this isn't their first home. They're not running tight, like they've got portfolios. So their experience, that's that was one of my, you know, um criteria.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

I wonder if their portfolios were diversified.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Yeah, well, they uh some they are they were, and they are so a lot of people aren't super panicking. Everyone so far has stuck with me, but I do have one conversation next week where they're probably gonna be like, what do we do? Whereas everyone else wants to try and go for the midterm. So I'm hustling hard, trying to make sure resolidify those um uh relationships. You know, one of them just emailed me. They're like, Don't worry, because I was like, Can we set up a call? And they're like, Don't worry, you're the first person we call. I'm like, sweet. Um, but what's happening, I'm seeing, is now self-managed, right? Homeowners are dropping the prices on the midterm rentals, like 50 slashing prices, 50%. They just want to smidge in more than what they could take long term. So I'm like, oh, you're hurting this market really bad now as well. Like you've just demolished the short-term rental market, these inexperienced operators are coming in and you're gonna blow out. It's so painful. So I'm telling everyone, we I can't be your savior this year, but if you hang in there when you know the inexperienced people have to make a decision because they did so poorly, whether they have to sell or rent long term, just hang in there until it stabilizes a little bit because I'm not going anywhere.

SPEAKER_03 25:51

So now here's a dumb question. I'm good at those. Um, so it says your primary residence, you can do short-term rental, right? Now, now prime, does it mean the owner is the only one? Like if they if they lived there, they can do it. It's not someone that's renting it long term, like on a 12-month lease, they can't rent out the rooms or can rent out part of it or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

Potentially. So if you have uh, I don't know provincially, if you're it yes, no, it can be your principal residence. You don't have to be the principal owner. Yeah, so you can if you do rent, absolutely. So the city jumped in front of that and said, because everyone was like, no problem, I'll just put my spouse on that can be their principal residence because we have some crazy extra taxes here as well. Like if you do short-term rental, if you don't do long-term rental and you don't live in your property, you have to pay a half a percent to two percent in tax on the property's assessed value every year. It's called speculation. Oh, yeah. We have a foreign buyer's ban, we have the speculation tax, we have vacancy tax, we have an underused housing tax. It's not investor friendly. It's so bad. It's like every two months, I'm like, oh, you have to fill out this other declaration to let them know where you're doing with your property, or they're gonna tax you or fine you fifty thousand dollars for not filling it out. But yeah, so everyone was trying to cheat and say, Oh, my spouse will just put that down. So that's why the city said no more, no more licenses will be issued. Um, doesn't matter what the province said. We're not, we're you can't have it. So the anyone who's got one right now for a principal residence only can keep it and everyone else can figure something else out.

SPEAKER_03 27:32

Jeez, they don't play around over there.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

No, and you know what I feel like they've learned from is other markets. So that's why I'm warning everybody else. I'm like, this is coming, it's coming. They were two steps ahead. Every time, and they've rolled this out half-baked too, which I was very I've learned so much about politics. I hate politics, but I've learned so much in the last, I don't know, six months. Um, they're two steps ahead because they're just watching other markets and seeing where they've failed introducing their regulations. And every time they make an announcement, they're like, Oh, we all thought we found a loophole. No, they've squashed the loophole.

SPEAKER_03 28:09

So their reasoning is because um it is to put more houses on the market for long-term renters. That's what their reasoning is, even though they're luxury lakefront properties that your average renter couldn't own or couldn't afford to pay rent at, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:25

No, no, exactly. That and there's no exclusions,

$150,000 dock removal or stop your Airbnb: commercial lease enforcement

SPEAKER_01 28:29

and I would have loved to have seen something like that. The only way I see an opportunity forward for those homes, and there's another kicker, is to do like a bed and breakfast style. So a lot of these homes will actually have like suites above the garage for like a caretaker suite, a nanny suite or whatever. So you could put someone in there to be the person on site and then get a uh a bed and breakfast license for these properties. Um, I did have one property that had a caretaker that only came like twice a week to just like blow the leaves or shovel the snow, um, live there. He's actually living up at the ski hill. Uh, but the guests really don't like that. They want privacy. They absolutely want privacy. And then another thing we all need to remember is we're running commercial operations. And so with these properties on the water, we have docks. And here with the Ministry of Environment and Fisheries, whoever manages the natural bodies of water that we have to get leases from to put the docks on. You now need a commercial license if you're running an Airbnb. So they're like, if you're running an Airbnb on a lakefront property, you have to remove your dock, which costs like $150,000 plus plus plus plus plus, or stop running your Airbnb and you can keep your dock.

SPEAKER_02 29:48

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

It's just, it's like honestly, it feels like it feels like apocalyptic territory for short-term rentals here. And again, I think it's going to go Canada-wide. Um, even the smaller municipalities that are exempt because they're so small in our in our region. They've given an exemption to communities under 10,000 in population. But they are all requesting to opt in to the regulations. They want in, they want to be regulated so severely because they're scared that they're going to get all of our traffic. So, like all of Kelowna's traffic is going to come to these tiny little hamlets, basically. So it's so interesting to see that um, you know, because you're just surrounded by people in this space, and we all have amazing businesses and experiences, and we love hospitality. But there's a ton of people out there, I would say 90% in my experience, that could care less. It's such a new industry. They uh they don't care if it's gone or if it's here. They think they do think we're kind of the devil taking homes from people and driving up real estate prices, which is somewhat true. Like things have gone AWOL on the market. Um, but yeah, it's it's a challenge. Like public perception is is uh it's a lot of work, and we are so new.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

Man, man. So so let's try to pivot from the doom and gloom for a little bit. Can you tell me real quick? And and and people out there that are listening that might have some high-end properties you can help them with. So so what all what all entails running high-end as opposed to middle end or low end, even? But what all entails and and how do you build out a team

High-end properties are easier to manage - guests bring teams and housekeepers

SPEAKER_03 31:34

that can like really, really cater to the needs of high-end clients?

SPEAKER_01 31:38

Well, the nice thing is, is um in our market, you can find, you know, like the landscapers that understand how uh picky the property owners are to make sure that it's pristine. Like they're all on basically they're all on the same block, all these houses. So it's really easy to kind of find those team members. But the big complicated thing about these houses is they're big and they're complicated. They have a ton of systems that like I'm not necessarily used to. I don't live with all of these UV this and pure that and solar that, and you know, like all of these mechanical whatever. Um, but anytime you give someone an elite address, like a trade partner, they are there at your back and call. It is crazy. I'll call someone for like a dishwasher repair at a condo versus the house. And it's it's like you get, it's sad, but you do get kind of VIP service from these trade partners. Um, so we work with a lot of third-party contractors on these properties. And then when it comes to like guest management, honestly, it is the easiest. And perhaps it's just the people that I attract, because I know a lot of people think that the guests are really high in maintenance. They come with a team. They come with their chef, they come with the nanny or or the mother-in-law or something. They don't need anything. And then half the time, like we have um, you know, international guests, they'll come and they come to the house, stay for a couple of nights, go to the Rockies, you know, come back to the house for a couple of nights, go camping, come back, go to Vancouver, come back. Like they're only in the house 50% of the time. They request housekeeping a couple of times a week. So the house is always pristine. Um it's on they're honestly a heck of a lot easier than uh anything else in my portfolio. So yeah, it's it's it's been um it's been a great experience. And uh, and then the money, right? You're making like 10x of what you would on a condo in one transaction, and it's the easiest transaction. It's lovely. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_03 33:53

That's insane. And and I I guess I was thinking maybe it would be a more difficult catering to high-end clients because they have you know more needs and they want more amenities and more everything.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

No, we outfitted, we put a property together in I don't know, 16 days. Um from possession to, I already had the guests booked before we even got the house listed. I showed them old, ugly photos of like the they weren't it was the house was new, but the furniture of the existing owner was garbage. And I was like, don't worry, it'll be beautiful. Like, trust me. So I called the chef and I was like, what do you need in the kitchen? Because I was like dropping thousands and thousands of dollars at a beautiful uh um home outfitter store, like home decor store for the kitchen. Premium this, you know, whatever you've got, what's the best version of what you've got? We need that for the kitchen. The chef was like, Oh, I just need two cookie sheets, a small pan, a medium pan, and a large pan, and uh and barbecue tools. And I was like, what? Oh, and he shipped, he shipped a juicer, because I didn't, I wasn't gonna buy a juicer. He shipped a juicer, he shipped the containers that he used for his like mise en place. Like he they they just do whatever they need. They brought their own fitness equipment, they didn't bring it, they bought new, shipped, then left it. They were like, if you want it, and I was like, I do. I used to like three times.

SPEAKER_03 35:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

Cold plunges, everything that they needed. Did this one this particular individual is a professional athlete, but then we've hosted like actresses and um the goodies they leave behind because this particular person, uh, I I love it. I'm always excited when they leave. So she has her influencer campaigns, but she's always traveling. So they have to have all their stuff shipped. Um, and then she needs it for a photo or a video for Instagram, and that's it. So she left boxes of cosmetic products, um, boxes of dog things. Like I walked in the house and I was like, I feel like I'm robbing the place. So we donated the cosmetics to the women's shelter and the animal products to the SPCA, and there's a few things that I kept. But it's yeah, it's just uh it's it's great having them, honestly. And uh even when you get the teams in, like we'll do production crews for the movies, and all the it's crazy. All the local companies that spoil these people and just all kinds of stuff they have delivered to the house get left behind for the managers because there's this one fine chocolate here in town, and they send chocolates to them. These girls do not eat the chocolate, they don't touch it. And I was like, I will eat that chocolate. I will eat this a hundred dollar box of chocolate, no problem. Come again. Yeah, it's funny. Uh no, they're the easiest, absolute easiest to work with. And um yeah, again, they have teams, like even the actresses, their assistants will come in before get set up, you know, leave after, and it's easy peasy.

SPEAKER_03 37:12

So even Peer Space, you couldn't do Peer Space.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

No, not with the ban. Um, but we tried Peerspace and uh no real success here. They've got a few listings in Vancouver, but it really just hasn't taken off. Um, and there's another app. There was another app, I forget what it was called, but yeah, the Canada's just such a small market. Um, we do use Homes and Villas by Marriott Bonvoy, and um I like the uh ADR that we get from that space. Um and our products on there, it's funny, you know, I wanted to only put the luxury products on the website, but we put the smaller ones on there too. And yeah, the the consumer on that website pays a ton, a ton more, like 30 plus percent more than what we're getting on other OTAs or even direct. So no questions asked, just boom, amazing booking comes in and away we go. So I think that that Marriott product um is really suitable for the luxury brand so far. So just it's rare and they have a really dedicated, loyal consumer base. Yeah. Would I recommend it for everyone? Absolutely not. It's an accounting nightmare. But uh nightmare, yeah. That's awful. But but it's good, but it's been good to us.

SPEAKER_03 38:35

So I guess what I'm getting at, let's say someone

Operating luxury rentals remotely: commission splits and third-party checks

SPEAKER_03 38:38

in in San Diego has a place and they and they hit up Dina. Dina, I want you to run this thing for me. What would you do? I mean, would would you fly over there, start planning things out, get it ready for for um hosting, you know, high-end clients, stuff like that, and and how would you operate it from Canada?

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Yeah, I would have to see it in person, absolutely. I would need to feel the sheets, touch the bed, you know, check the baseboard, see if things are really, you know, take a de-boo, um, and take a general inventory, find find boots on the ground for sure. Um, I mean, I've seen a lot of operators use um just cleaners for their boots on the ground, you know, doing restock and whatnot. But for me, I'm like everybody needs balances balances. I would have to have a boot on the ground there. So I do a commission split for sure. Um, and I've had success with this close to me, where I'm a really good co-host and a cleaner, and it's been super successful. So I would definitely find an independent co-host independent from the cleaner. I never like hiring companies who have multiple services, like let's say um the trade partner who's in construction and the designer, husband wife. Sorry to everybody that does that, but I hate it because I've walked into properties and it just hasn't been checked. Whereas if you have a third party coming and checking up after the cleaner and vice versa, especially when you're not uh around, or let's say the cleaner is sick, the co-host can step in, the cleaning team or whatever. They've gone MIA, they've taken your money and they're never coming back. Now you have a second person in place. So I really believe that for remote, you need just a third-party non-biased backup. Always have two, two of everything. And then yeah, for booking, um, I mean, if I were to operate from San Diego and Kelowna, I'd basically have to build out, I think, a different brand because there's just no crossover from my market to that one. And um, and I think the fastest way to build a brand and to get in front of people is with Instagram. TikTok, sure, depending on your demographic. But um, because all of us Instagrammers are getting a little bit older, we're the ones with the cash. So the kids on TikTok, um, to me, that's not the demographic where my millionaires are hanging out.

SPEAKER_03 41:11

So okay. Yeah. So so you you you say a lot of cool stuff there. Well, one thing is the commission split and using a co-host, local co-host, boost on the ground. And that's like a page out of Julie George's book. I mean, you remember yeah, how she did it. She would um, you know, she a lot of her cleaners ended up becoming co-hosts. Yo, yo, yo, Stevie Stacks again. One more quick shout out to themusecoffee.co. That's the musecoffee.co. Get you a freshly roasted bag of coffee for today. Go to the musecoffee.co, use code LLT and get you 20% off of a bag of the best coffee you'll ever have in your life. The musecoffee.co. So now I know you wouldn't do that because who's gonna check on the cleaner, right? But but she started she started doing that commissions, but you know, giving them five percent, and she kept 20 or whatever it was, and and um and it grew that way, and they had the pride in ownership and all that stuff, pride in you know, having their own business. So that's cool. I like how you did that instead of just hiring uh calling someone up in San Diego, hey, could you cohes for me?

SPEAKER_01 42:16

You know, well, I I love the freedom of the commission too, because I worked in the construction industry and I remember um my boss, he was like, I can build 10 houses or 200 houses. He was like, I make the same amount of money myself, but he's like the stress of making sure that he feeds all of these families that he's supporting. So I've always been very conscious of that. Whereas the commission split, there's no like lingering fixed costs, right? If I get paid, you get like if we're making money, then you're gonna get paid. But if there's nothing coming in, then you have to hustle and help build the business, or like it's not costing me anything to have you just sitting there idle. So I'm always super cautious about that. And I have no problem doing a commission split either with the cleaners off, you know, throwing them one or two percent to hope that they um take a little bit more pride in their business. Um, I pay them like the cleaners here, we pay $55 an hour. So we don't do a commission split. Um, and we just do actually fixed. So if they get it done faster, if they find deficiencies in their company, that's great. Um, but yeah, I I would definitely do a commission split with the co-host because I know how fun it is to do the math on the numbers. So, and there would be, you know, hopefully no resentment. I wouldn't necessarily share that like I'm taking 30% or like we're charging 30%, we're only paying you out 10. That's not necessarily anyone's business. But um, yeah, I think I think that's fair to offer. I love Julie's model. I love I love bootstrapping, and I love that Julie built her company without all this fancy software or all these stupid SOPs and all that jazz. You know, I was like, Yeah, she. She's a businesswoman, she saw a problem, you know, she found people, and the people are what make it work. It's not all this software that needs babysitting all the time. So I loved her model. I thought it was genius, and yeah, I think about it often.

SPEAKER_03 44:12

Me too, me too. Um, so we I really want to dive into the Instagram part because

Instagram strategy: educate owners, not guests, and work the DMs

SPEAKER_03 44:18

you said that you you never put do any paid advertising. You got all your business from Instagram. So, how are you using Instagram to promote and get business?

SPEAKER_01 44:28

Well, my main goal with everything that I do with a website and Instagram is actually to speak to my owner, to the homeowner, not the guest. I find there's so much noise with the guest um space that I can't, it's very hard to compete and to keep up and to be consistent. So, what I try to deliver is like educational content to the homeowner, the investor, especially right now, because those are the people that are like scrambling and just hanging on to every word. They need, they need to hear from somebody. Um, whereas the guests, they just want to see pretty pictures and whether you get saved or remembered is like that's a constant battle. Like you have to be very dedicated and consistent with if you're just going to build the product side, you have to be consistent and posting constantly because there's so much content. You get five seconds, off you go. And if you're not back in front of them at the time that they're searching for a place to stay, good luck. Like I have a saved folder on my Instagram of like vacay inspo of all these beautiful homes that I'd love to see in the world. But when it comes time to planning my trip, I've already usually picked the destination and it's not uh from that beautiful list of properties that I've saved from seeing them on Instagram. And then I'm big on the DMs. So I work, um, I do a lot of direct messaging back and forth with realtors, um, past guests. Anytime I see some of my VIP guests um and their friends that are interesting to me, I will follow them, potentially communicate with them because birds of a feather, right? They usually like the same things or they want what the other person had. So I kind of work off of that and I just build a little snowball effect. And I'll do like unfollow, follow. You know, I followed initially a lot of hockey players. I thought that's where the money was at, but Canadian hockey players, they don't make that much money and they don't want to spend that much money. Whereas American athletes and the American dollar, huge. And then another market um place to kind of hang out is LinkedIn because that's where I can find the CEOs who are making millions and just pop. I'm just big on the social content of social media. I'm less about posting. I don't sell, I just share, share, share, share, and uh communicate, doing the social stuff with people. And people will get curious. Who are you? What are you doing? Oh, I have a cousin who loves Vancouver. What's Kelowna, you know? So I spend a lot of time on there every day. Um yeah, just communicating with everybody from see what works.

SPEAKER_03 47:07

That that is cool. Um, so so like just jumping into the DMs, like you said. And like what do you what do you say? Like you you see somebody is sliding into sliding in? I literally need you to do than me.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

It's it's not cold. It's cold because it's my first interaction with them, but it's warm because I follow them. I've learned something about them. So I say always deliver a positive message about something that they're doing or whatever. Or when I find that people who are staying in Kelowna and I see, oh, you're staying at a lakefront property, um, or you're frequenting, like I found this individual. She ended up being from New York, staying at a lakefront property. And I found her because she posted a video of one of my favorite artisanal bakeries. And I was like, oh, who's this interesting character? You know, go and tap in and follow her for several years until she's ready to come back. So yeah, it's and everything in real estate's a long game. And I think people need to remember that, but like then it just eventually takes off. Like I think people need to be patient. Um, and that's why I say diversify. So if you have a, you know, a couple smaller guys, because it takes a while to get the bigger guys, um, and or to keep them around, right? Like I watch some of the other people in my space, they can't keep them. So they're coming in like guns ablazing, trying to like scoop up a ton of inventory really quickly, but they can't, the churn that they have is incredible. And I keep all of my clients. The only time they leave is because they're, you know, changing their portfolio after, you know, as planned. So yeah, it's a long game, and I don't mind. That's cool. Time flies.

SPEAKER_03 48:52

Yeah, I know, right? And that's almost an hour. LinkedIn. How are you using LinkedIn?

SPEAKER_01 48:58

Again, uh the social aspect. So I uh follow people that I think are interesting, Canadians, CEOs. I know my source markets. My source markets are like Vancouver, Calgary, a little bit of Saskatchewan. So, like, what are those mega companies like cannabis? Cannabis blew up. So those people are making a ton of money. They've got money to burn all of a sudden, you know. Oh, so-and-so sold a software company. Oh, interesting. I saw that they were skiing at this resort last year, you know. So I just get in front of them again with those warm conversations where I'm not selling anything, I'm just there. And I believe that I tend to do a little bit of humor. I love humor. So I just make it engaging enough for them to just be interested or answer my messages whenever I reach out.

unknown 49:47

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 49:48

I'm a big communicator.

SPEAKER_03 49:49

So you're still you you still want to cater to the high-end crowd. Even after this ban is happening, is that still your your direction?

SPEAKER_01 49:57

Yes. So my new project that we're um working on right now is I want

Pivoting to a tiny-home couples retreat modeled after Habitas resorts

SPEAKER_01 50:03

to move into uh like the I don't want it to be a hotel, but it might have to be just because of the regulations. But the tiny home resorts, but catered to that luxury market. I want to cater to couples looking to like disconnect and reconnect and add in the health and wellness aspect that I absolutely love. Um, in a rare location on the lake, ideally on the lake. If I can't make it happen on the lake because the lots are so expensive, I will take it into the hills. But ideally, I want to be able to give people that experience and um that rare experience of being on the lake. And then yeah, adults only, just couples that are after that like retreat like actual retreat. So, which is interesting because I'm only looking for like two night stays, maybe three night stays. Whereas before, I was always after those longer bookings. Um, but I think for that demographic, we'll be able to drive up the prices, um, create a really luxurious space, but it'll be a palatable budget because they're only staying for two nights. So it's not like oh, I'm spending a thousand dollars a night for a little whatever. Um, but you're only staying for two nights. So yeah, that's what we're working on. I love the luxury and the access to the people is really cool, the relationships there.

SPEAKER_03 51:24

So you're high-end all the way. Uh yeah, it's in my blood.

SPEAKER_01 51:29

It's in my blood. I was not yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:34

If you're not watching it on YouTube, she's covered in diamonds right now.

SPEAKER_01 51:37

Yeah, dripping in diamonds and gold. It's called uh what is it called? Quiet luxury, silent luxury.

SPEAKER_03 51:45

Silent luxury, yeah. Oh man. And so, and so are you you pivoting out out of your market now? Are you are you going outside your market?

SPEAKER_01 51:55

A little bit of both. I'm doing some diversification. So, no, um, because of what's happening in my market, we're moving into that midterm corporate rental space as much as we can um with the clients that we have. We'll probably add a few more to the portfolio, but I don't want to saturate my personal portfolio. And I've had a lot of requests from um homeowners who self-manage to actually pay me to advertise their properties only. So I was thinking about create because I get a lot of website traffic and they won't be allowed to market on Airbnb or VRBO. Legally, Airbnb and VRBO will not be allowed to advertise anyone's rentals in this city. Regard I don't know if it's because they've also changed the the length of um short the definition of short-term rental. So anything under 90 days. So they won't be able to use it, they're two steps ahead. They're two steps ahead. So no one will be able to advertise 30-day rentals on Airbnb. So people are coming to me because I have the website traffic. So I thought, oh, this might be another um uh product I could sell. The challenge is I'm just really struggling, is like the keys to Kelona brand is kind of known as luxury, and I'm not going to preview and tour all of these properties. Obviously, I'm just going to be connecting these people with people looking. So that might be a secondary small, obviously, it won't be super lucrative. Maybe it will doing that. But then that then I'll be moving into the planning phase of the hotel. I don't know if you've heard of Our Habitats. It is a hotel brand that started in Tulume, beautiful, sexy resorts with the little tiny homes, um, whether they be uh little glass boxes or beach huts, but they put hotels up in 12 months. So I was like, oh, if I gave myself 18 to 24 months of my first go, could I? Because they're using prefabbed uh product that they build in their own factory. But I was like, oof, that could shave off a ton of time and I could get this product into the market that's going to need it in the how do you spell that?

SPEAKER_03 54:06

Our our habitat.

SPEAKER_01 54:07

Yeah, habitas with an S, not a T. Stunning. So they've just exploded, I think, in the last like seven years and opened 26 hotels.

SPEAKER_03 54:19

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 54:20

They're going nuts. So this is where I see the market going, is these like like um Eric and Jasper have started uh Free Wild?

SPEAKER_03 54:29

Free Wild, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:30

Free Wild, right? Cabins, an experience in the woods. I just stayed in a beautiful three cabin. Um, I I couldn't believe what we paid for low, low um seasons, 600 a night. Three cabins, identical, no one to talk to. There was just a little store that you paid um on our system if you needed anything. And it was a Japanese bathhouse in the woods, no view, nothing. And I was like, it was magic. It was magical. So I'm like, this is I see this where the is the where the market's going in that space. If they're not letting me do it in houses, then I'm gonna have to build something and um yeah, give it to the people. So it's kind of boutique hotel, but tiny home.

SPEAKER_03 55:11

Oh, and and that's allowed. Tiny homes are allowed.

SPEAKER_01 55:15

I think as if I make it a hotel, it'll be allowed, which I mean says in a blah blah. But uh yeah. Um I I'm in the process. Uh the the the area that I'd like the city said, cool. Yes, that's a great spot for it. Um, but if I can bypass having to become like a designated hotel, that is my goal. I just don't want to be bound to all of that BS and the bureaucra with the bureaucracy, but um if I have to, I have to, we'll see.

SPEAKER_03 55:48

Yeah, the barrier of entry, right? Yeah, but yeah, it's worth it if you get it.

SPEAKER_01 55:53

Yeah, I love, I love again. I've just been craving developing or building or something. I was like, I'm not ready to build my house, my dream house. Um, but I was like, ooh, this project might scratch that itch. So that is cool. I love real estate in in all manners.

SPEAKER_03 56:12

So right, right. That is cool. No, I I I love it how you're pivoting to something similar, yet, yet um I don't know. It's cool. I I've always loved the tiny home thing and um boutique hotels. I think yeah, like you said, it's gonna be big coming up because a lot of people and not

Barrier to entry keeps boutique hotel space from oversaturation

SPEAKER_03 56:30

you know, a lot of people are being forced to do something creative outside the box because of the regulations. You know, they're kind of forcing us all into a corner. So you know, it happens. You gotta you gotta learn to move.

SPEAKER_01 56:40

Yeah, yeah. And I'd like to be the first in my market because I know everyone's gonna be gunning for this soon. Like, I everybody's just so fast, everything in life seems to be like so fast now, like just boom. So I also am trying to be cautious. I'm like, okay, is this going to be a boom then bust, or will this be the beginning of a new industry? Because hotels aren't changing their rooms, right? They're not adapting to fill the need of the short-term rental market. This is kind of a beautiful hybrid between the two. But am I walking into territory that's going to be like just oversaturated?

SPEAKER_03 57:17

I would say, I would say not. Only because uh before, like Airbnb, you know, it grew like wildfire because of the barrier to entry was minuscule, right? So you can go get it, you can go arbitrage anything, an apartment all the way to house to a mansion or whatever. And anybody could do it, and then you just get on the website, and there you go, you're live. Throw grandma's furniture in there. It was so easy for anybody to get into it. Then regulations came and all this stuff. Even just a place with regulations will keep a lot of people away because they don't want to go fill out paperwork, they don't want to send money, they don't want to get an inspection. Now what you're doing is even more because you're gonna have tons of paperwork to fill out, start a little tiny home, uh a community over there. Um, so I don't see everybody, oh, let's all do the let's all do that. How? You know, where would they start? You know, like the average now if um big corporations started doing that, yeah. But but I don't think that I think you're right in the area where you know either big corporations either want a nice glamorous hotel, you know, and then the people the smaller investors aren't you know are getting houses, you know. Yeah, well, and you're right in the middle where not not a lot of people are gonna mess with you, I don't think.

SPEAKER_01 58:27

Yeah, I did have a new idea today. I was like, oh, I could I didn't want investors, outside investors, like long-term investors. And I thought, oh, you could sell these at one third of what people are paying for condos in this city right now, like sell into the resort as a like a rental pool kind of anyways. Yeah, there's a few options. Then then I could expand quickly, but then yeah, I'm thinking there's gonna be a lot of developers out there that it, you know, they'll jump on that too. Like, oh, we can sell something for 250,000. That's a new market. People are looking for prices like that.

SPEAKER_03 59:05

Anyways, yeah, don't be scared, don't be scared.

SPEAKER_01 59:08

Yeah, no, I'm stoked. I'm stoked to give myself the challenge. So I've basically said no vacations, one vacation this year. We're planning a trip, and the rest of it's just like head down, figure this out.

SPEAKER_03 59:23

That's what you're all about.

SPEAKER_01 59:25

All about I don't talk like that.

SPEAKER_03 59:31

Oh, I heard you. We'll rewind the tape. Um Dina Steele. Thank you for hopping on. You got you got like a action hero name, Dina Steele. You know, it's it's a really uh powerful name there. Thank you. Um, so thank you for hopping on.

SPEAKER_02 59:48

You didn't I didn't get to pick it.

SPEAKER_03 59:51

Well, they picked they did a good job instead of Deanna. Deanna Steele, it didn't have the same ring as Dina Steele, yeah. Boom. So where can people find you, Dina?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:01

Hanging out on Instagram. So I'm my business profile that I talk about short-term rentals to investors and homeowners is at Keys to Kelowna. But I'm also, I think my hotel journey will be on my personal profile, which is at Dina Steele. Um so yeah, I've got a few Instagram accounts, but I think I'm gonna do the hotel journey on my personal page just because it'll be a different brand as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:30

Nice, nice. And we'll put that in the show notes. And well, thank you so much, Dina. I love to I'd love to hear a different part of the um short-term rental space. You know, I don't get a lot of high-end or or Lux people coming on. Um, but but yeah, I I've I've been wanting to dabble in that market myself to see if I could see if I could hang with the big

What makes a property truly luxe: rarity, privacy, and space for the entourage

SPEAKER_03 1:00:50

dogs. But according to you, it's it's a lot easier and a lot more money. So I like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:56

Way more money. You're like, oh, you'll pay that? Okay, like they don't even haggle, they don't even haggle. So I highly recommend it.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:06

So you can't can you lux something that's like uh a four-bedroom, two bath in the suburbs? Is that is that not luxable?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:13

No, so uh something we didn't cover. What people are looking for is like a rare property, similar caliber to what they're coming from. So it can't be necessary and privacy, like that's that's a luxury in itself, too, right? Like space privacy view. If you can't be on the lake, like do you have a phenomenal view? Is there something unique about the property? Because again, they want those collectors' items. So, no, you can't just take a beautiful. I have a lot of people that come to me, they're like, Well, my house costs three million dollars and it's brand new and whatever. I'm like, Yeah, but it's like just a big white box, and like everybody's got those now, and everything is shiny in here. And no, no, it's got and you know what? Bonus is because they bring their team with them. If you can have kind of an extra ensuite, like a junior, you know, primary, like a junior suite for the nanny or the chef, oftentimes they'll actually rent them nearby the house or that so that their team can stay off site um so that they can have their privacy at night. So it's you end up getting like two or three rentals out of the one book. It's crazy. It's like, okay, sure. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:33

That that should have been the first question I asked you. Define lux, define.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:37

Yeah, and it can be different. Like a lot of you know, some people too, they're not super, super fussy. It doesn't have to be absolutely pristine or perfect, and everything has to be expensive, but it's private, it's quiet, it's you know, a rare opportunity. It doesn't have to be a mega home. It's just I would say nowadays, too, is people are looking for that like uh retreat.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:59

Nice, nice. Now, real quick, so one of my houses over here close to the the stadiums in Arlington, Texas, you know, where the Cowboys and Rangers play. Uh uh an athlete is gonna rent it, right? And during the during the baseball season. Now it ain't the it ain't the starting one of the starters, it's one of like the second string or whatever. So it makes sense for them. Whereas I was talking to the guy who runs the service that defines athletes' places, and he's and I was like, so I guess you know, the big stars, they they're gonna want the they're gonna want a mansion. They're not gonna want a regular house in the suburbs, right? Because, oh yeah, yeah. He didn't he don't even deal with the LeBron James and people like that, you know, which which yeah, they they want a mansion somewhere to put all their luxury cars and all that stuff. It's that's way that's that's luxury, and that's fine. Yeah, you know, right now I'm catering to mid to mid to barely high to mid, you know. I'm not luxury yet, but it's it's a whole different set of skills, and and Dina has those skills. So hit her up and she will she will take your luxury property to the next level, if it is indeed luxe, and she'll she'll test it out.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:08

If it can happen, I'll tell you the truth. Yes or no.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:14

Cool. Well, thank you, Dina, for hopping on. I can't wait to do this again. It was a lot of fun, and I'll see you on the next Mastermind. Live Let Thrive. See y'all later. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:26

Thank 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.