Cold open

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome 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_04 0:11

Hello, hello, hello. And welcome back to another exciting episode of Live Let Thrive.

SPEAKER_03 0:21

What's up, Micah Man? I'm good, Stevie Stacks. How you doing? Doing good, man. I'm hustling hardcore trying to be like you.

SPEAKER_04 0:30

A little bit. I'm doing a little bit over here, but uh what episode are we on?

SPEAKER_03 0:36

This is episode 154 of your favorite Airbnb VRBO STR LTR Long-term, short-term real estate podcast in the world. And we are coming at you live from Arlington and Fort Worth. And we have a special guest, but before I get into that, we have an actual sponsor for the show, man. And I'd like to read it real quick if that's cool. If you if the audience will bear with me. This is our first, you know, I've never done this before. So I'm gonna go ahead and run through this real quick. And it's it's a sponsor of the show, but a friend of the show, yeah, Maria McNeese. She was on episode 132, her and her mom, amazing people, and they came on and just and just blew the doors off the place. And so she wants to wanted us to read this little piece, and she's she's amazing, by the way. Maria McNeese Management. McNeese Management is a professional Airbnb management company with a full service team of listing optimizers, dynamic pricing experts, and 24-7 guest support staff who work to optimize your listings, occupancy, reviews, and revenues. They're 100% hands-on, so you don't have to be, and get better results than owners managing themselves. Their listings average 88% occupancy and $4,500 a month in gross revenue. If you're looking to improve your listing performance without the headaches of managing yourself, visit mcnecemanagement.com and we will have a link for you. She's awesome. Uh yeah, so hit her up and she will make you some money. And we have a special guest today, Miss Natalie Stringfield. Did I say it correctly?

SPEAKER_02 2:15

You did, you did. Hi. A lot of times I get Springfield. I get Springfield all the time.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

Oh, like The Simpsons.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

Cool.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Well, thank you guys for having me on here. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

Yeah, I love your I love your decor, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Oh, thank you. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

You in it?

SPEAKER_04 2:36

You are you in one of your units?

SPEAKER_02 2:38

No, I'm actually home. This is my home home.

SPEAKER_04 2:41

Oh, so you you must really deck out your Airbnbs then.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Oh, I go all in. I mean, that's that's pretty much like my thing. That's what I really rely on to get my bookings.

South Atlanta market: five and six-bedroom luxury homes

SPEAKER_02 2:50

I don't want anybody to click away. So I want you to click on it. You see the space, and you're like, oh, this is the one. So I'm looking for you to look and book.

SPEAKER_03 3:00

Look and book.

SPEAKER_04 3:01

I like that. I like that. Look and book. So where are you? Where are you based out of? What market?

SPEAKER_02 3:07

I'm out of um Georgia. I'm just outside of Atlanta, south side of Atlanta. So I have currently right now have two luxury homes. Um, they're larger units. I don't do any smaller units. I have five, one five-bedroom and one six-bedroom home. So um look at my kids.

SPEAKER_04 3:29

So you now you're doing five and six bedrooms. Now are you renting them the whole thing out or are you renting it by room? How you'd run in that?

SPEAKER_02 3:36

I actually do the entire house. Um, we started right at the beginning of COVID. Well, I'll say right before. So we went live in December of 2019. So we were just getting our footing in and figuring things out, and then boom, COVID hit. Um, so for us, you know, with COVID, it didn't make sense to do room by room or anything like that. And actually, we have just started and I didn't know enough about it. I've heard about it, and I know people were making a killing off of it. We just weren't interested in that. I tried to market to girls' trips and you know, um,

COVID reservations exploded after the initial shutdown lifted

SPEAKER_02 4:14

bachelorette weekends or you know, things of that nature. So um we just do whole house and we do pretty, pretty good.

SPEAKER_04 4:22

Yeah, I would imagine that's five and six bedrooms, and you said you did it right after, like right in COVID times. Now, how did you pivot? Or did you still, or was Airbnb still working for you?

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Airbnb was still working for us. So what happened was we did have a moment where Airbnb kind of shut down reservations. I don't know how it was where you were located, but we did get shut down, so to speak. What saved us is we had a booking already that was in progress during that time. So while we weren't allowed new bookings and everyone had canceled, when I say everyone, I mean everyone, the person who stayed in the house continued to extend her stay up until my next actual booking that didn't cancel. And then they lifted the ban. Thank God. And when they did that, bookings shot through the roof. They exploded because everybody had been pent up. They were looking for larger spaces so they can get together and just get out that energy. So it was a good thing and it was a bad thing. Because uh, yeah, because you could only imagine people had cabin fever, so they wanted to party. So we had a lot of um illegal parties, um, things that we had

Breaking up illegal parties with cameras and police

SPEAKER_02 5:42

to break up. Um, but we made really good money. Our our prices were kind of higher at that time, too. So it worked out, but there were some drawbacks, but it worked out. It was worth it.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

So, how do y'all go about breaking up parties?

SPEAKER_02 5:57

Um we okay, so the our first Airbnb, the first one that we started, was our personal home, and we had lived there for several, like two and a half years prior to us building our personal home that we live in now. So we had a relationship with all of our neighbors. Um, all of them had our phone numbers, and we also had cameras. We have cameras on the outside of we have the hello doorbell, we have cameras everywhere. So when we start to see activity, or if if it happens to slip by us, like if we're just asleep or you know, or we're kind of busy and we're not noticing the notifications, our neighbor would call us. And I would literally would go with my husband and we'll knock on the door, like, hey, the rules were clear, you guys got to get out of here. If we've ever had any resistance, we would call the local police and they would come break it up as well. We've also had the local police break it up before we've even gotten there. Like we were in routes when we found out, and they had already been there to kind of disperse it. So um, I'll say two out of the four times we broke it up, two times it was police.

SPEAKER_04 7:02

And I want people to I want to tell people because I know you're in like a more rural, not rural, but a little bit outside the main city. I will tell people my units where it's a little bit outside the main city, the police will break it up and we'll shut it down. So it's happy for me as well. So that's a little tip.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

Yeah, absolutely. They'll they'll shut it down, especially if neighbors are complaining or you know, they were this is the res like these residential neighborhoods, the street is but so big. When you got all these cars, I mean, you know, we're talking about a 3,500 square foot house and they're packing in as many people as they can. One person had an open invite party, like a flyer. That was the worst of it. Um, so it can't withstand that. At some point, it's like shut down. They were pissed too. They were really, really, really angry. A lot of the people who paid, because I guess the guy was like like charging.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

Paid for his old Airbnb.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Yeah, they they did. They they had it lit and we shut it right down. So they were probably two maybe two hours in until they got shut down.

$200 cleaning fee and white-glove standards

SPEAKER_03 8:08

Do you have cameras around your houses?

SPEAKER_02 8:10

I do.

SPEAKER_03 8:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

So we've got the the nest doorbell, and then we've got um one in the back, one exterior camera, and one above the garage, so we can kind of see a little bit of everything.

SPEAKER_04 8:21

And I want to know, like on those five and six bedroom houses, like what's your cleaning process and how much are you charging to clean those? Because you're the second person I know that does over the five.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

That's um, yeah. So um the six-bedroom is 200. It's a $200 cleaning fee, and the five-bedroom is $185. And I've got an amazing woman who cleans my house. Uh, we are insanely meticulous about cleaning. Um, I do not play around with it. This is like no joke. You know, I will go through white glove. I used to manage an LA Fitness um and we white glove dust and we polish the handles on the toilet, like the faucets. Like, we don't, I don't play when it comes to cleaning. So I just found someone who was aligned with my like that makes her proud to make sure that it's really cleaned. Um, so we're we're big on cleaning. Um I do have my guests do certain things, like pull off all of the sheets for the beds that were used, because sometimes they don't use all the beds. So, in order for us to know we're not you know doing double duty, we'll just have them pull off the bed sheets that are used, um, all of the towels. We have them leave them in the bathrooms, and then um we have them load the dishwasher and run it. So I provide dishwasher packs. Um, and I also send them like a checkout list of things, you know, I'll tell them, like, hey, you know, this isn't a hotel. We're not here to clean up after you like get all your trash up, tell them where to put their trash as well. We let them know, hey, we have a broom, we have a mop just in case there's a spill here or there, and you want to kind of tidy up while you're there. We leave cleaning supplies and all that kind of stuff. Um, so it works out well so that way my cleaner can maximize her time because it's such a large home. Um, one of the houses is all hardwood. There's another one that has the hardwoods all downstairs, and we sweep and we mop after every single checkout. So it's kind of a tedious process. Like, we aren't just dust mopping, like we're mopping, like shining it up.

SPEAKER_04 10:32

Oh, and I want to know, like in your high season,

$485 a night peak rate, $7,400 monthly booking record

SPEAKER_04 10:35

like how much what's the most y'all charging a like night? Like on a high season.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

Um, we've got well, we've done I think the most we got away with probably was like 485 a night. Um, we're weekend bookers, you know, for the most part. And I think the most we've done in a month on one property, I want to say we got to like $7,400 in booking.

SPEAKER_04 10:57

That ain't bad.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

With and our expenses are they average about $2,500. So yeah, we were we made we made some killings during COVID. COVID was like the best. I'm talking about we were booming.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

We were booming. That's why I did the second house. I was like, bet, this is like I'm feeling this, you know. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:20

And and I'm sure you promote how how clean y'all's places is and it helps with the COVID.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

Absolutely, yeah, because people are concerned about that. I do do a lot of social media marketing for my unit as well. Um, so I post my links all the time. Um, because I have a large friend list, that's where I have the most engagement. So I will I get really strategic and I'll post certain things about my cleanliness along with a review and I'll post the link, you know, so they can see that we're serious. Or sometimes I will have a video while my cleaner is there and I'll show the process. You know, I'll show the fact that the stainless steel has been cleaned or, you know, little things like that. Just the fact that we use um a lot of people don't do this, I know, but we have even the house smells good. Like I use glade plug-ins, you know, so in almost every area of the house. So it doesn't matter where you walk, you're gonna get a whiff of that that freshness. So I try to record that and show that to them. And it actually helps for my viewings as well, because the more people click on it, the more it brings my listing to the top to get seen.

SPEAKER_04 12:28

That's smart. So are you now are you doing that with Facebook ads or just no, no ads, just just just my followers.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

I do, I am part of several like uh groups, like uh interior design groups and things like that. So every now and again I'll get slick and I'll post something like hey, how'd I do with the decor at this place? And then everybody's like, Can I get the link? And I'll link it. And it's a group of like 30,000 women. And so that they'll everybody's rushing to the link, you know, just to see all the pictures, and that also boosts it. Because, you know, like I said, I'm in I'm south of Atlanta. People aren't generally looking for south of Atlanta when they're flying into Georgia. You know, they want to stay in Atlanta, but my listing a lot of the time comes up on top for the amount of people that we sleep. So, like I said, I'm trying to capitalize on that. I want you to look and be like, all right, I know it's like 30 minutes, but we're gonna go anyway because this fly, like it's dope.

SPEAKER_03 13:25

So real quick, going back to the cleaning, because because we uh me and my buddy started a unit over there in Fort Worth, and so it's really nice. You know, our friend Sarah, you know, from the show, she hooked it up really, really pretty. And um, so we a brand new condo and everything, but I remember we hired this this this lady, she was she only charged 35 bucks for a cleaning, you know. I was like, wow, that's cheap. Wow. And I and I figured out why. And I visited a couple times, and you know when you when when you get a good cleaner, you walk in and it just it just smells and just feels like wow, you know, just like you get that feeling. I never got that feeling with with her, and um, and like I said, only 35 bucks. But we started getting little complaints here and there, like um, someone found a used q-tip in the bed, and it's finding trash there and there, like and I was like, man, this isn't good. So I said, we gotta fire the cleaner, man. And and um, so he I so Federico was in charge of that. Is it he found us that I found this one? She's she's 45 bucks, but she has all these five stars, and so many people rave about her. I was like, okay, cool, we'll try her. Anyways, we I got you know, I got to the place, and it was her and her husband were still like finishing up when I was getting there, because I was bringing some stuff to the condo, and um, and I and I noticed they had the masks on and they had their company logos on it, and they had the shirts with the comp look professional. I was like, Oh, okay, yep, 45 bucks. I was thinking it's okay. But the place spelled and felt, and she she said, Oh, I you know, I got all the because there was like some hairs. This, you know, this the place needed a deep clean, and right she they went to town, and so, anyways, whenever uh on turnover BNB we got the bill, it was for like $152. It was like what and so if I was like, Federico, what happened? We looked at the thing and said it was $45 an hour.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

There you go.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

So they went in, but but I said, Okay, that was that was coming off of a one-month listing, and it was going into another two-month listing. I said, plus all those cheap $35 ones, yeah, it probably didn't need a good deep clean. So every every now and then we could splurge a little, get a good deep clean, and then just kind of make maybe maybe I can negotiate with her. Hey, uh, we can't afford $152 every time, but could y'all do like a turnover cleaning for us? Maybe $75. I don't know, give us a little break.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 15:46

Now, see, that's my question. You bring

Flat-fee cleaning beats hourly rushing

SPEAKER_04 15:48

up a good point. You say they pay by the hour. Do you pay yours by the hour, Natalie?

SPEAKER_02 15:53

No, I have I pay my cleaner what I charge. Um because she's just that good. And um I I want to be fair, you know what I mean? There was some I've gotten quotes for um $85 for my five and my six bedroom. And I just I've declined those. I'm not even interested because I know for $85, you're gonna rush through that thing. And I need more, you know, I require more. And so I'm and I had to say, hey, I'm willing to pay more. Like, you don't understand. Let me tell you what I need you to do. You got to make the beds, you gotta do the laundry. And we actually have extra sheets, extra towels, so that way beds could be made up immediately, and clothes could be washing while they're cleaning the rest of the house, you know, or the the sheets and towels could be cleaning while they're doing the rest of the home. So it's like I needed to make sure I ran it down. Like, these are all the things I need you to do, and you're saying you can do that for 85. That would let me run right there. They're not gonna take the time to do everything, they're gonna skip certain things. And I had to go through a few frogs before I found like the one. Um, so I would probably pay her more, and I would probably just change my listing if she asked for it because she works that hard, you know? Um so like just do that flat fee. It's 185 for the five-bedroom, it's 200. The six-bedroom actually started out as 185 as well, but she came back and was like, you know what, it's all hardwood floors throughout the entire house. Like I'm having to mop the entire house every time. She's like, I need 200. I was like, Bet, say less. And I just did what I had to do.

SPEAKER_04 17:29

Now you you think you could get away with charging the guests 250?

unknown 17:33

I think so.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Actually, I do. After kind of listening to people on um on Clubhouse, hearing that some of them charge so much more. I think I could. Um I honestly think that I could get away with it. I mean, if she asked for it, I would do it. I mean, to be honest, I might just test it just to see if I get more.

SPEAKER_04 17:53

That's what I would do. Like you even if you're paying your cleaner 200 for charge.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

200 and I take the 50. Yeah, because I'd love it. Trust me, I'd love I'd love to keep that cleaning fee now. My cup, my income would go up significantly if I could keep that cleaning fee. But I have heard some people were telling me they were charging like $400 for houses to clean, like in my size range.

Weekend bookings cover the month in eight to ten days

SPEAKER_02 18:16

So I just don't I'm just not paying for. I mean, there's just that's it's outrageous.

SPEAKER_04 18:22

So I'm not gonna do it, but see, and you also said you were weekend bookers. Now I was thinking about that. Like if you have a larger unit, I know that works. So like all you need is pilly lunch, like what, four days, and you covered for the whole month?

SPEAKER_02 18:36

Um, so yeah, like so typically I I'm gonna, I'm definitely I have um some minimums. So I have a two-night minimum. So I'm always gonna book like a Friday and a Saturday, a Friday and a Saturday. That's like my standard. The the juice comes in when you get that somebody who's working in town and needs to stay for a week in between that, you know, and I get that that often, or you just get that person who's looking for a long weekend, they're booking Thursday and they're checking out Monday. So I'm we make all of our income, you know, with like we're good if we just book Friday, Saturday, or Friday, Saturday, and Sunday throughout that. Um, so I'm good with eight to ten days, but we average about 17, 17 days out of the month. So or more. Sometimes it's more. Like I said, what like we just got a booking out of the blue. Um they're staying, I think, eight days they're working in town. Boom. And I'm all my weekends are already booked. So this was like a bonus. This was like a bonus, extra couple grand. I was like, yes. So those are when we hit those $7,000 months and stuff like that. Nice when we get those. Yeah. Real quick.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

So you I I'm oh you're comfortable with with the weekend bookings, weekends, weekends, weekends.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

I am. Actually, it works out better. I don't stress about the cleaning on the dates. I'm more flexible for her, especially with two units, because generally both my checkouts are on the same day. So, you know, I'll get two checkouts on a Sunday. So instead of, you know, her rushing to do, she can't do both on both days.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

So she can spread it out. A lot of times I'll go in there and I'll block a day. Like if it comes to that, I'll block a day and say, hey, no problem. You can clean this one on Monday, you could do the other one Tuesday. Boom. If somebody happens to book, we're ready to go. You know, that kind of thing. But I'm comfortable. I'm actually happy when I have the week because during the week is I'll go in, I'll check out things, I'll make sure we're still on point. She's not slacking. Um, you know, we still go, we pull up the trash can, we'll pull down the trash can, that kind of thing, you know.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

Um this is why I asked. Because what I I just got another unit and and I was signing up for the electricity. And I don't know if y'all have Jexa energy over there, or um, there's do y'all have several to choose from? You'll have you'll have yeah, we have a couple.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

We have like Georgia Power and like an EMC type.

SPEAKER_03 21:01

Okay, cool. Over here we have a whole bunch to choose from. Anyways, so Jexa, I was looking, I've been using them, they're pretty good. And they offer this thing, it's like a new thing. I just I just noticed with them. They offer free electricity on the weekends, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, all the way into Monday, then it goes back to charging. I was like, man, for someone doing an Airbnb that mostly gets weekends, that is perfect. You don't have to pay any electricity bill for the days that you they're actually using the house. I mean, that would be insane.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

That's awesome. Um, yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_03 21:36

I would I would look for a deal like that over there. If I don't have JEXA, yeah, look at Yeah, because we it's all you know electricity, they kind of have it uh where depending on where you stay, is which one you'd have to go with.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

But um, for one of our units, we actually um we don't post pay, we prepay. And that house is more like a smart house. A lot of it like the we have nest um Thermostats and stuff. So we monitor that. We can go. I don't have to drive over there to turn down my heat or whatever the case, especially if they're using it during that time. So our expenses stay so low. I can make sure all the lights are out, you know, that kind of thing. Now the second home, that one is not completely smart. So I have to physically drive over there. So I notice like the electricity is more expensive over there than it is for the other house. But um it's been benefiting us to prepay that one. I can kind of, you know, keep an eye on it and I know, like, okay, wow. But we're only getting usage over the weekend, so right, right, right. It's not like an all-day thing. It works out.

SPEAKER_04 22:40

Since you have one, you have larger units, and I can tell by how your background home is that you you you do some real good real good decorating.

Peerspace for photo shoots and productions

SPEAKER_04 22:48

So have you put your place on Peerspace?

SPEAKER_02 22:51

I have not, but um what's what's the what's his name? I I took a break from Clubhouse for a couple weeks. TJ. I actually had never heard of Peerspace until he talked about it. And I hopped in on one of the clubhouses and I was like blown away. And I went online and I saw some of the spaces that they have out here, and I was like, wow, this is an awesome way to make extra income. And I'm actually really interested in it. Um, I've been looking at a loft, like a one-bedroom loft. I want to do, I do a lot of more. Well, I have one unit that's that my my five-bedroom house is more feminine. And then the six-bedroom house is kind of more neutral decor. Like I've had all guy trips. I have several actually. I think I've had three so far. I want like just a straight bachelor pad, you know, like I want a cool bachelor pad type lofty experience that somebody wouldn't mind going there to do photo shoots or just do certain little cool activities or whatever during the day. So I'm really interested in doing it. I don't know how it would work Airbnb wise, because I don't know what you would what you would do in the Airbnb. I mean, besides like photo shoots and stuff, but I'm really interested in it. I am.

SPEAKER_04 24:10

I just listened-I didn't even know it was a thing. Yeah, yeah, I just listened to my first place, and it was one of the ones that I had an interior designer do. And I was like, dang, somebody want to pay $95 an hour for three hours. I'm like, you know, that's like I was like, dang, but the only part about it is it doesn't link to Airbnb's calendar. That's the only part that I'm having trouble with.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

Right. Oh, so how do you block that off? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

Yeah, that's the only thing. But I'm like, dang, but you know, it's really lucrative because if you think about it, if somebody's willing to pay you $95 a day and they got to be there three days, and somebody's paying you $95 an hour for three hours. It's like, uh, because I know Maddie J down in Atlanta, he kills it doing that. I'm like, and I thought about it, it makes sense, you know. So that's just he's on peer space. Mm-hmm. A lot of people do doing that, but they hire somebody to manually block the count. You can't do it that way.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

I got you. What are they like? What are people booking this space for? Out of curiosity, like what are they booking this? Do they tell you? Do they let you know?

SPEAKER_04 25:11

Yeah, so you can set it up for events, production, and it's another category. It's events, production, and like corporate meetings. Um, I set mine up for all three, and somebody wanted to do a movie shoot there. Like it was like, wow. But it's just how fast they come in. It was just like, wow, but that's the only like the CEO. Uh, I talked to one of the guys who was on the CEO, and he was just like, if you find out, and actually, I'm talking, me and Federico were just talking about it. He said, if you find a way to block the calendars and sync them, I'm all down to listen to you. But yeah, peer space is if you're in the right area and you have the right size unit and the right decor, peer space is a hit.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

You see, I'm south of Atlanta. I don't know if people would come all the way down here. Like, I wouldn't mind putting my personal home. Like, my personal home is fire. Like I would all out from my personal home. So, I mean, I wouldn't, I have two other homes to go to, and then my mother has a whole house that I can go to. I will leave my house and put my house on peer space.

SPEAKER_04 26:05

Yeah, so like something your size, like that five or six bedroom, you might be able to charge somebody three, four hundred dollars an hour for a production of something.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

Oh, yeah, and my house is a five-bedroom.

SPEAKER_04 26:16

Especially if you said you're good with the weekend booking. So, like, let's say Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you just I can just block that off. Yeah, block it off for Peer Space. You might make $15,000 a month on one property. That's how you look at it.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Yeah, I've yeah, I might have to look into that. Because, like I said, I went to the website, I was scrolling through and I was just like, wow, this is really dope. Like whoever came up with this idea, they nailed

Free weekend electricity with JEXA Energy

SPEAKER_02 26:41

it. They nailed it. Yeah, I might I definitely look into that. Yeah, because I like I said, I do better. I'm not really interested. I know people do really great with smaller units, but I think I've seen so much success with the larger unit. I think I've kind of you know figured out my niche. So I kind of want to stay in the five-bedroom, four or five or six-bedroom. I don't even want to go up more than that. I think I'm good with that amount and see, you know, where it takes me. I'm trying to really specialize, you know, um, what I'm the best at. And I sometimes I get a lot of comments and questions about people like, what about I want to get a one-bedroom unit? And I'm like, I wish I could tell you I'm the expert on it, but I'm not. Like, my thing is houses, I'm looking to get the most amount of money per hour. Like sometimes I'll bump, like I'll test out the prices too. Sometimes I'll shoot it up to $400, you know, a night because I look at it like this. If they think it's worth it, and I'll do this by looking at other listing. If the other listings in my area are charging anywhere near $400, but they look like crap and the lighting is bad and they don't have professional pictures, I'm gonna up my price. And I sleep 12 to 14, split that between y'all. Y'all got it. You know, that's how I look. Split it. And I don't negotiate pricing unless it's midweek. Like if it's in the middle of the week and somebody's like, hey, are you willing to do you know, three nights for 800? Because I don't normally book those anyway, you know. I'm like, sure, I'll take the extra 800 bucks, then I'll do it.

SPEAKER_03 28:09

You see, people people are on the groups always argue about that. They're always calling out people, look at this person who asked for a discount or this and that. I'm like, whenever I was a traveler, I always asked. And I'm like, I don't, I mean, what's the worst they could say is no, and I'll still book it anyways. And I said, like, I don't know, like 50% of the time I'd get some kind of discount, and they'd be they'd be like, Well, you shouldn't ask because I don't I'm like, why not? It's business, right? It's negotiations.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

I'm I I never get offended by the ask. You know, on the weekends, because I don't have a problem booking the weekends, I'm I don't have vacancies on the weekends, I don't negotiate prices for the week. Because if you don't book it, somebody's gonna book it like an hour or two later. I'm not worried about it. Um, but the weekday, yeah, absolutely. I'm willing to negotiate, or or if I have like one weekend left in a month, and I just really want to round that out, and everything else is kind of booked, and I know my my money looks good, and somebody's like, hey, can you do it for a thousand? I'll be like, Bet. So I've done it before, but it's gotta be like just that one random weekend that I just want to make sure is booked, you know, it's just extra money at this point. So yeah, no, I'm all right with the asking.

SPEAKER_04 29:19

Yeah, because they say the riches are in the niches, and I I like your niche because like you you you're going for the bigger units. And the funny thing is, like we've had this podcast, this is why I love this podcast. We've seen so many different perspectives, and we've always

Why monthly bookings lose $2,000 versus weekends

SPEAKER_04 29:31

said, hey, you want to try to lower your price here or do a discount so someone can book longer than the weekend. But if your weekends are bringing you that much and it's with a bigger size unit, I'm all for it. You're really making me jump more into the bigger units. I have threes and fours, I might go up a little bit more, you know. So you have a little bit more vacancy around with it.

SPEAKER_02 29:51

Yeah, I would I would suggest it, and I'll tell you why, because I've had like I had an agent. Um, I actually work in real estate as well. So I was talking to an agent one day and she said, Hey, um, you know, I know you got Airbnbs. I have someone who is closing on a house or or selling their house, but their house they won't close on for like a three and a half weeks. I think it was being built. And she said, and I saw your unit, you know, there and they were buying like a four or five hundred thousand dollar house. They really wanted to stay in something comparable. And I said, Hey, I don't do monthly bookings, which I don't. We've done it before we got burnt. This is in the very beginning. We were like wide open, like, we'll take anything, we'll take two weeks, we'll take a month. And we no one is gonna be willing to pay five thousand dollars per month. And because that's what we average, I'm just not I don't even, you can't even, I put it that you can't even inquire about longer than two weeks. Like, don't even ask me. That's not an option, you know. Um, so when I told that when she said, Oh, she needs somewhere to stay for three and a half weeks, I was like, I don't, I don't offer longer than two week bookings. And and I said, she was like, Well, why? I said, Because nobody's willing to pay 5,000. She's like, Well, you should consider lowering your price if you want to stay booked. I said, honey, I am booked, that's why I don't do longer than two weeks. I don't have a problem booking. I will lose money trying to rent to your client for $3,500. I'm not gonna make anything. The only thing I'll get is peace of mind. Like, I know there's somebody in there, I don't have to worry about check-in, checkouts, and sending codes and all that. That's the only thing. But money-wise, I'll be down about a couple grand.

SPEAKER_04 31:28

So what I would do next time they come to you with that, you like uh, hey, like for example, I'll tell you somebody who'll pay $5,000. Them people who behind them insurance companies, they'll pay it. You gotta go get behind the person. Like when people realtors, especially be like, hey, let me put me in touch with whoever's gonna be paying. Like, usually it's an insurance company or relocation. Those people will pay the $5,000.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

Now, relos, you're right. Relos, yes, they do. They they don't care, they're just trying to put their person where they need to be. But she this was like a local client. This was like, you know, and she was trying to, she was asking me if they were if I was willing to do 35. I'm like, no, I'm not doing no, I'm not doing that. Are you crazy? 3,500. No, so yeah. Um, yeah, no, I mean we did do a month, we did a monthly in the beginning, and we got a booking. And by the time you got the discounts and everything, it was like a little bit under, I want to say it came to like 2900 or something. We were devastated. Yeah, we were devastated. So it was like lesson learned. We cut it immediately, like, no more, done. And so ever since then, we've been two weeks is our max. Um, and I already have the discount set up. Um, and like I said, it has to be well worth it for me to offer anything on top of that discount, if not, yeah. The five six bedroom units, that's where it's at.

SPEAKER_04 32:53

I'm definitely gonna be looking into that because I know you uh we have another person we interviewed probably a year ago, and he does the same thing. He does six, seven bedroom houses. I'm like, what? But if you can make everything with the I like it because you're making the most money with a lower occupancy rate, so it's less wear and tear, you know. I I love that strategy.

SPEAKER_02 33:12

It's not like in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, you know. Um, you know, I'm five, five to six bookings per month, you know, is like the standard for us. Um with an average of three nights, or you know, we'll get a couple four nights in there. Um, but we can charge more during the weekends, obviously, because it's the weekend. We know you're coming in town to party and to relax and chill. And you're probably gonna be traveling with eight or more people, adults preferably. Y'all can split that money for the weekend.

SPEAKER_04 33:46

Easy. Now, right now, with you going the five and six bedroom route, are you planning on expanding right now? And what's that process like?

SPEAKER_02 33:57

Um, we we're looking because we just the second one went live November of 2020. So it took us, you know, that year. What and we actually sat, we probably could have done it earlier than that, but we sat on it. We were looking for the right thing. I was very particular. I wanted the kitchen to be very grand, open, and easy for entertaining. Like I'm looking for like stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and stuff like that. So I'm very particular. I won't just take anything. Um, so it took a minute to even come across that opportunity. Um, but a fr I got lucky, a friend of mine's former NBA player, um, he was in the middle of a divorce and he didn't want to sell his house. It was a new build. And he knows that I do Airbnb. And I was like, yay, he was like, I think I'm just gonna rent it for a couple years so I could wait for the equity to go up. This is before the real estate market really kind of like shot through the roof because right now it's crazy out here. Um, so I was like, hey, let me let me get that off of you. Let me rent it, let me rent that. And he was just like, Yeah, like I'd rather it be you because I know you're gonna take care of my home. You know, I'm gonna take care of it like it's my home. And so I made him feel better about it and said, I'll deal with the maintenance of all the appliances and things like that. So I deal with all of that. I got um extended warranties on all the appliances. So I told him, I'm not gonna call you if the AC goes out, I'll handle it on my own. He was like, Bet. And that's all she wrote. So that's how I got into that second one. Um, but like I said, we could have probably done it sooner than that. I think we were in just disbelief about how successful we were with the first one, you know? We were just like, you know, it's just it's it's our first time, I'll be honest with you, you know. So we're like, it felt like taking candy from a baby. So I wasn't, and then and then also I wasn't sure if it was how my place looked like I knew people booked because of how it looked, but I wasn't sure if it was exactly where that place was located, that it was kind of close to the airport, or was it because of what it looked like? So what I did was I did a test run and I put my personal home on Airbnb. And so I got all my pictures, did some professional pictures, I have a big like DSLR camera, and my house is about 20 minutes south of that house. So it's like in a real rural area area, like super rural, like I have buffalo, like I can buffalo on the side of like literally I can see buffalo and cows come into my house. Like I really live in the country, so I put that house, I put my house on there, and within 24 hours, Airbnb was lit up, and so I looked at my husband like it's the way that it looks, it don't matter where we put it. That's a fact, it's how it looks.

SPEAKER_04 36:35

That's a fact. Yeah, I learned that with Peer Space. Like when I started, I I would have never put any of my other places on there, but if you have a theme viewing it, yeah, it it definitely is the difference on the Airbnb and all these platforms.

SPEAKER_03 36:47

So give so give us some of your uh your decor tips.

SPEAKER_02 36:51

Um, decor tips.

Decor tips: Facebook Marketplace and Habitat Restore

SPEAKER_02 36:53

I would say on a budget. Oh, I only do a budget, honey. I only do budget. I do not go all out. Um, for one, I comb Facebook Marketplace like I'm an insane person. I was on it every day, all day, looking for specific items. Um, I would say if if you have zero design skills or anything like that, I would utilize something like Pinterest and get an idea of what look you're trying to go for. And when you have those images in mind, like you know, pin a living room, pin a bedroom, um, you know, a dining room or whatever have you, and depending on how large your space is, obviously, um, when you have those pictures, you could look at the item in those pictures and source them, which is kind of like what I do. I find a look that I want to, I tend to go, I have more modern home. I love modern, clean, neutral colors. So I like a lot of white, black, gray, um, things like that. So I just try to find those items that I see in the pictures, basically. So I would just literally go on Facebook Marketplace and it's like, okay, I need a you know, a buffet table. I'm gonna search until I find the one, the really good deal, the size and scale that I'm looking for. And then I would just go, you know, get my husband, get throw it in the back of the truck, and we'll be done. Um, but I would say, you know, couches, um, you should have a coffee table. Like warmth is what people are looking for. People are looking for, they want to feel like they're away from their home, away from home. So, you know, I see a lot of Airbnb spaces where you'll look and there's like a couch, there's no coffee table. So, where do people put their drinks? There's no table on the side, you know. People want to feel comfortable. So I make sure you have a coffee table. If you have hard floors, I suggest area rugs, um, plants, hard to kill plants that need little light, also bring warmth to a space. Art is very important. No blank walls. I do not do blank walls at all. Nowhere. I'm very big on that. And um, you can go to Hobby Lobby when they're doing 50% off and literally get a whole bunch of little tiny little vases and knickknacks for five, six dollars a piece and just place them on the little tables. You know, you don't have to go all out, but you just gotta put little elements in the space that just warm it up a bit. If it's just a table with nothing on it, people are like, they can see that coldness from the picture. So, like I said, you just want them to get that warmth. They feel the warmth. Like, even my um entryway, I have a table with a lamp, some books, you know, a

Under $12,000 to furnish a six-bedroom

SPEAKER_02 39:25

plant. Um, you I just I want you to feel like the house you wish you lived in. There you go.

SPEAKER_04 39:31

Now, see now I have a question. So you're saying you're going around to these places to pick this stuff up. So on a six-bedroom, like how how much did it cost you to get it fully up and running?

SPEAKER_02 39:41

We went we were at we were under 12,000. We were under 12. What six bedroom? Facebook marketplace.

SPEAKER_04 39:53

See, okay, see, and I okay, so this was my thing, and now you just completely changed my mind on it. I was like, I can't do Facebook Marketplace and all that because it takes so long to set up. But the problem is I'm only looking on the one bedrooms, you're probably looking to make 500 to a thousand a month. But if you're now making three, four thousand in cash flow, I'd do the 12 and then be picking up knickknacks because it's not worth the time. I I like that.

SPEAKER_02 40:17

Yeah, I'm yeah, and to be honest, we we could have probably spent less, but I'm extra. Like, you know, I have curtains, I got area rugs for every space. You know, you don't have like, for instance, for the master bedroom, for instance, I got an area rug for the master, for the kitchen, for the family room, for the um the dining table. My dining table, I I splurged a little bit on it's a six-bedroom house, and I wanted to seat as many people as possible. So I spent a little bit more in the dining room, but she's just I so didn't have to. You know what I'm saying? I could have probably got away with spending about 8k. But I got the that, I don't know if you guys have this place. It's called um Restore. It is Habitat for Humanities, like Google it. You may have it. I mean, if you're in Texas, it's basically Habitat for Humanity owns it. And what they do is they have they get donated a lot of items and they resell it back to the community and they use that money to help for Habitat for the humanity. And shoot, you get a whole bunch of like beds, mattresses. We got a lot of our mattresses from there. Like you get king size mattress, uh, what do you call it? The uh memory foam for $200.

SPEAKER_04 41:28

Now, are you doing interior design for other hosts?

SPEAKER_02 41:31

I am I have been asked. I have one project that I'm working on now. It's a little lake bungalow. It's a cute little, like, we're gonna do like this whole Bohemian lake house thing. I'm working on it now. I actually finished, I did half of it. We sourced all the items. We are doing the setup and um staging of it this Sunday. We finish it out. So I'll probably start posting pictures when we finish. I'm really excited. It's literally right on the lake. And so that's my first official project. I kind of kept it on the low because I wanted to kind of put it out there and have like a portfolio, but I am starting to do that. She reached out to me and was like, yo, your houses look amazing. I need you to do what you did for them for me. So um that's gonna be my that's my first official client.

SPEAKER_04 42:17

So if I was to come out to Atlanta, how much would you charge to do like a four-bedroom house?

SPEAKER_02 42:22

I don't know. We'll have to talk about it. Because, you know, like I said, I'm just starting out too, you know. So I had to really sit down. That's something that you really have to sit down and look at how many hours you're literally looking for items. You know, I want to make sure that it makes sense because the time I'm very passionate about it. So when I tell you I'm looking all day, I have my hot list, like I'm always on a hunt for these items, and I'm always looking for the best price. Um, so it looks really well without you having to pay a lot of money. I do not believe in spending 20K. I think I was on a clubhouse one day and somebody said, like, yeah, 25k for a five, six bedroom house. And I was like, I can never trust me.

SPEAKER_04 43:04

I'm spending like eight to ten on a one.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

So no, okay. So yeah, no, mm-mm. No, Facebook Marketplace is almost everything you want is there. Yeah, everything you are looking for. There's people who are desperate to just get rid of stuff. They are moving, they need it gone, and they negotiate. I mean, I've got people be like, Yeah, I'm selling this table for 75. Like, well, you take 40, like done. I'll come get it right now. Yeah, no, mm-mm. 8,000 on one. I mean, now if it's beautiful and like decked out and the return is good, because we looked at it like this like, how long will it take for us to pay off all we that we just bought? You know, we I want to recoup my and I don't even think we were at 12k. I'm like guesstimate. I'm sure we're under it. I want my 12k back.

SPEAKER_04 43:52

If I'm netting three thousand a month, then I've only spent three twelve thousand. I that's I'm just perfect.

SPEAKER_02 43:58

At least you know, because you know net. Year, it's all you know, you're all it's all gravy. Um, four months all gravy.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 44:07

But what we tried to do with the first one, so you know, we had our first one, we really saved up a lot of cash from our first one. We just didn't take profit, like we just didn't. We were I work full time. My husband works full time and he trades, he's a day trader, and we do pretty well. So we saved a lot of money and cash and bought a lot of that stuff, just cash, like we just you know, and so we we didn't take profit in the beginning. And I would say that anybody who has an Airbnb, if you're looking to do your next one, just save your cash from your, you know, save your profit, just take a take a hit for a few months, save that up, buy up what you need, and then you'll get that back in your profit, and you're you know, going forward with the next one. I think it's worth the the investment and decor because you almost can guarantee you book. I am in the the the boonies, I have no problem booking. I don't have weekend vacancies.

SPEAKER_03 44:58

The big houses, uh I love that. I love the the big houses is the play right there.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

I think so.

SPEAKER_03 45:03

Yeah, because I mean like we talk about on the show how how so many people get into Airbnb and everybody wants to get a one bedroom. That's everybody wants to get one bedroom, so it's saturated everywhere. And so if you have anything two bedrooms or up, you're gonna be number one on the list on the Airbnb. You don't have to do any SEO or try to advertise, you're gonna be like way up there over everybody because someone's looking for a two-bedroom or three-bedroom.

SPEAKER_02 45:24

Yeah, I totally agree with that point. I just think also for people who are coming from out of town, as opposed to them booking four one bedrooms, right, that are in the same vicinity, groups, they're looking for houses. They need houses. So when they put in we're gonna have eight adults, only the things that can sleep eight adults or more are gonna come up. So, you know, I we thought of that situation and we figured we're oh at least we can cater to the people who want to stay together. A girls' trip of eight girls or six girls who want maybe possibly their own beds, they're not looking for one or two bedroom units, you know. Um, also, there was a guy when we first started researching Airbnbs, the guy I mean he does really well. I can't remember his name now for some reason, only because I became disinterested. But he said, yes, you know, we do so well. I'm making a million dollars a year. I have X amount, he had so many units, and he said, and we do about 800 profit per unit. And I was like, nah, bro, I'm not, I'm not about to do all. I can't for me to make that, I just didn't want to go through all of that to get to at least I didn't want to have five units to make four or five thousand dollars, you know? Which is the reason why we said let's start with the home.

SPEAKER_04 46:34

See, and then that's exactly what I was saying earlier. Because like, even if you like my minimum, like my bare bottom line for me to take on a unit has to make 500. But now, if you increase that goal, like yo, this place has to bring me 2,000, then it changes things up a little. That's why my mind's like, okay, hold on. It's exactly what it is.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

It's less stress. So it's like I can't imagine having to like even the even the two homes that I'm doing, the messages, I respond within minutes, you know? I'm very hands-on. I'm very personal with them. So I'm trying to figure out if I can handle 10 one-bedroom units and making sure I remember what does what and how to check in what like I need it to be as um passive as possible, if that makes sense. I don't need anybody for keys, like this all smart locks. I send them the I have auto messages to send them the code. The only time I'm responding literally is if you're sent asking me a particular question, then I'm on top of it. But I want it to be as seamless as possible. So that's the reason why I wasn't interested in smaller units and buildings, because then it's like, how do I get them the key? What's gonna be the situation? I just didn't want to go through too much red tape. And I don't knock it because I think it's dope. Like people who are buying up whole buildings, I love it. But for someone like me, I've got two younger kids, I still work full-time and I love my job. I'll probably ride that till the wheels fall off, you know. It just wasn't conducive for my lifestyle to have smaller units and to only bring in an extra thousand dollars a month for two units, you know. I needed to, I was looking for the big bang. And when I saw we were making 3,500 props, sometimes it was like four, you know, four thousand dollars in the income. We were like, we need to do this again, you know. So um, I don't think I can ever, like I like I said, I do get asked a lot about one bedroom or two, like you know, advice on that. And I'm like, I can't, I can't relate, I can't tell you because my thing is homes and we do so well, I can't imagine doing anything. Although I do want a loft, like a little lofty space, like a one or two bedroom loft. I do want that. That'll probably be the smallest unit I'd do, but it's kind of like I'm looking for like a bachelor pad type of experience.

SPEAKER_03 48:47

So give me a house, Micah.

Larger homes easier to acquire than building arbitrage

SPEAKER_03 48:49

I'm getting me a house.

SPEAKER_02 48:50

Do it, yeah.

unknown 48:51

I am too.

SPEAKER_02 48:52

Like I honestly I think it's easier to get. I think it's easier to get as well, as opposed to buildings.

SPEAKER_04 48:58

Houses are not only easier to get, they're cheaper if you know how to buy right. And the other thing, the systems, like you said, the red tape. There's a lot of red tape when you do arbitrages. And now that I'm thinking about it, is the return really there? Like how you're doing with the houses? I'm like, the return ain't even there. If I'm making three, four thousand, because I'm thinking about it right now because I'm like, I have a four-bedroom house that does, and I'm like, it does way more than everything else. And it's outside of the main city, so I'm like, I'm thinking about it. Imagine the ones that are in this city.

SPEAKER_02 49:29

Imagine if you can get one that's in like the hot spot. Because if I was in Atlanta, oh if I was in Atlanta, oh I I because I know I lose listings because people will say, Hey, how far is the airport? And I'll say it's about 30 minutes. And if they don't book, I know that's just not what they're looking for. I'm gonna get booked regardless, because there's always gonna be that person that's willing to do the drive. But if imagine if I can respond and say, it's about 12 minutes, oh, booked, you know, and I could probably charge more. So, no, I would say, yeah, I think that it makes sense to transition from the one bedroom units to these three, four, five bedroom homes, you get less check-ins but more money. Um, you know, less having to deal with less cleanings and turnovers, you get a little bit more flexibility, and they're easier to get because I've found that talking to other people, like I'm talking to another guy who owns a house, when I can show them what I'm already doing and how well I'm taking care of that home, they soften up a little bit. They just want to get that rent paid. It's the easy, you know, it's like, hey, let me show you. My weekends are booked. Let me show you this. Like, so you know, I guarantee you this rent will be paid on time. And on top of that, I'm not gonna call you when the refrigerator is broke or the AC goes out because I'm gonna put an extended warranty on all of the appliances in the home. Um, I've never run into every any large things happening with the second home because, like I said, the first home is my personal home, but the second home isn't. But um, TJ mentioned something great that up to a certain amount of money, he'll cover it. Anything over 250 bucks, I think, is when he'll go to the owner. So that softens them up. They're like, hey man, take it.

SPEAKER_04 51:13

It's yours. It's yours. For real, that's what I do. And it's a lot of especially right now with this being so many with the moratorium in place, it's a lot of landlords. Like, for example, I literally just got off the phone with a landlord out in San Antonio who has four, he has two duplexes, four units. And he was like, Hey, if you give me five thousand dollars a month, you can have all four, I and I'll let you Airbnb. I didn't even reach out to him, he's reaching out to people because he don't want to rent it normal right now, long term. So those opportunities exist. You're right. Like if you talk to a landlord right now, they they gotta protect their investment and you're good. Yeah, you're protection for that.

SPEAKER_02 51:53

Right. Yeah, I I recommend it like wholeheartedly, you know, and just you have your rules and stuff in place, you know, just to protect yourself as well, you know, so people aren't tearing up your home. Um, I communicate very well with them, make sure they know we don't I don't do any parties and they're doing any of that, and I let them know hey, there's cameras everywhere, and we will remove you from the property of it. And I say it all with a smile, you know.

SPEAKER_01 52:16

So I'm very nice.

SPEAKER_02 52:18

I'm very huge on customer service. So, you know, I'm never rude. Even when I've had issues, I'm still never rude because I know that these people control my reviews, you know. So um I hey, I'm I'm with it. I say houses moving forward, get those houses.

SPEAKER_04 52:35

Go ahead, Steve.

SPEAKER_03 52:36

Man, this has been great. This is like she's dropping some really, really good gyms, man. I mean, I I've I I started off with houses and then I moved and you know that I the cities that I was doing it in got banned. So I I they you know I was making good money in them. I was making real good. Like the last one I was making four or five grand a month, and that was great money. And of course they banned it there. So I just said, well, I just get some arbitrages in Dallas. So that's what I've got. I've got like three in Dallas right now, and then but uh man, I just forgot how amazing. I mean, it was so easy to get those homes rented because like there's not very many, it's all everybody's got one bedrooms, nobody's got houses. I mean, not there's just some out.

SPEAKER_02 53:13

Yeah, but it's not as much.

SPEAKER_03 53:15

But a lot of them are just the people's the ones they live in, and say I'll just throw it on Airbnb when I go out of town, and they just take pictures with their iPhone and just whatever, you know. They're not designed like to be like a blow-you-away Airbnb, you know, it's not designed that way.

SPEAKER_02 53:29

Bingo, you hit the nail on the head.

SPEAKER_04 53:31

Yeah, that's even to go against like the one bedroom thing. Like, I'm I'm having the ones in Houston, like I had to hire a whole marketing team for like my direct bookings and all that because it's so saturated, like everybody has a one bedroom, and then I'm charging like sixty to eighty dollars a night, and they weren't getting booked. I'm like, man, what's going on? I get on there and look through like the Airbnb listings, the people all around me charging $40 a night for a one-bedroom. So they're undercutting. So that's like, bro, how is this gonna work? So I ended up having to sign a contract with the corporate housing company, and then well, not a corporate housing company, an actual company, and I let them take the units, and then they we they did like three, four thousand for them, and so that it worked that way, you know. But other than that, I just had to use the different marketing strategies. I will say one bedrooms are oversaturated. The biggest part is you have to use different market strategies, and I will tell anybody if you're going to the city, you

One-bedrooms are a race to the bottom

SPEAKER_04 54:25

better be going two bedrooms and up, or else you're about to be you're having price wars.

SPEAKER_03 54:29

Yeah, race to the bottom.

SPEAKER_02 54:31

Wow, yeah, it's I hadn't, you know, I I've I've heard, I'll say, I've heard of people look like I've looked on blogs. I'm a big researcher, so I've looked on blogs where people are like, man, like how do I get my how do I get my listing seen? Because, you know, these listings, you know, if you're on the fourth, fifth page, forget about it, you know. And I didn't consider the fact that a lot of them are smaller units and they're competing in all these areas that are already so saturated. Um, that makes sense. Like, yeah, no, no, no. I I that makes sense. Like, I think that that's the reason why when I was hearing what areas, like what cities are the best cities to do. And I'm like, don't don't count out the outskirts. Do not count them out. People still have to visit family and friends, people still have to work out of, you know, in these weird cities that aren't necessarily the city, and people need homes, you know what I'm saying? So I also think one great topic is just how people can get their listing to the top. There's little tricks and stuff that you can do, you know, getting people to click on your listing, get dropping your link in groups. Um, putting I have mine in my Instagram bio. So if somebody, I'll say, a lot this sounds weird, but a lot of guys come to my page, but they click on they click on the link. You know what I'm saying? So I or I'll post something in my story. I get a nice amount of story view. So if I post something on my story about it, people tend to go to that link that tells Airbnb something and they keep moving your listing up that and making small changes to them daily. So if you make small changes to your listing daily, that helps.

SPEAKER_04 56:11

Another quick hack too, um, to always stay on top. If you spend a dollar a day, like $365 a year, just a dollar a day on Facebook ads, it'll keep at the top. Just click on it because it's and it's just going every day. Just a dollar a day Facebook ad. If you wanted to, and it'll always, it'll always be you'll always be on the first page.

SPEAKER_02 56:33

That's what's up. Yeah, well, I'll look into that. If I ever drop to the second page, that'll be an option. I'm really trying to, you know, I want to do, like I said, I want to get into like a lofty space. I'm really thinking of the peer space.

SPEAKER_04 56:45

So yeah, I'm I'm definitely looking further into peer space. Um, I might get one in Dallas, Fort Worth area just to see if I can peer space. I really might do one in Arlington to see if I can peer space it just to see how it works. Because yeah, it it's it's peer space is very lucrative.

SPEAKER_02 57:01

So the the couple, there's this couple that they talk about peer space a lot.

SPEAKER_04 57:06

I I've been trying to get her on the podcast. I've been in her DM like 20,000 a day on a place. I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_02 57:14

I heard them talking. Well, I used to see the ads pop up, but they would never say what they were doing. They never, ever, ever, ever mention Peer Space. They're really good with their marketing. Like you had to click on that class and pay for that class if you wanted to know how they were booking their space out. So it's funny that you fast forward a year and a half or two later, and I following TJ, I followed following you and TJ around on Clubhouse, and he was happening to be talking about Peer Space, and then I recognized, I think that's her, if that's her, I recognized them and I'm like, that's them. They are the ones who are doing Peer Space, but their place is dope. But yes, thank you. I don't know why I want the lofty space.

SPEAKER_03 57:54

Yeah, this has been a great episode. This is like this really, really, really surprised me in a way. Cause like uh before we did the show, it said you had two listings. I was like, Oh, okay. Sometimes we get people that just want to hop on and they have like two listings. I was like, Oh, what can they offer? But you offered a lot. I mean, you offered a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 58:10

Oh, thank you. Yeah, this is a lot of fun. Thank you guys so much for having me on.

SPEAKER_03 58:14

This is, I mean, the it's like it's all about the biggest bang for your buck, right?

SPEAKER_02 58:19

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:20

Why mess with 10 one bedrooms that are gonna pull in, you know, ten thousand dollars when you could do it all in one house? You know, that's just that just saves so much time and effort and money. Uh, it's a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_02 58:30

I totally agree.

SPEAKER_03 58:32

Yeah, well, thank you hop for hopping on, Natalie. This is a this is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 58:35

Thank you so much. Um, let me know if you ever let me come back when I'm doing a little bit more. I'm doing more than the two listings.

SPEAKER_03 58:42

You're doing plenty, you're doing a lot. You're doing a lot. You've definitely inspired us. I mean, it takes a lot to inspire us, but we're guys.

SPEAKER_02 58:50

This was a lot of fun. I thank you so much for inviting me to the show. I had a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_04 58:56

See, that's why if you're on Clubhouse, you get invited on. I'll tell people get on Clubhouse.

SPEAKER_02 59:02

Clubhouse is the truth, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:04

Thank you, Natalie, for coming on. No problem.

SPEAKER_02 59:07

No problem.

SPEAKER_04 59:08

Where can people find you? Oh, yeah, where can people find you?

SPEAKER_02 59:11

Um, you can follow me on Instagram. Um at Natalie Stringfield, no spaces or anything like that. That's um there and my Facebook as well. I'm very active on Facebook, like I said, Natalie Stringfield as well. You can find me there.

SPEAKER_03 59:24

Yeah, you had mentioned uh why you know it's it's strange that a lot of guys, you know, go to your page. I I can see why. I'm just saying. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, as a guy, I can see that's a compliment. It's a compliment.

SPEAKER_02 59:39

Thank you, and I appreciate it. I I definitely don't mind the compliments. You know, I'm not naive, like I know why a lot of people come and I you know I utilize that. I definitely utilize it to my advantage.

SPEAKER_03 59:53

Follow it right now.

SPEAKER_02 59:54

Click on that link.

SPEAKER_04 59:59

Oh yeah, thank you, Natalie. And uh we really told you I'm definitely gonna be talking about this one. This is a this that open that's an eye-opening.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:07

I'm like, yeah, I need to definitely absolutely I um thank you guys again for having me on.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:12

All right, take care.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:13

Thank you. All right, have a good one. Bye. All right, Stevie Stacks. That was episode what? 154 of your favorite Airbnb podcast. Yeah, man. That that that opened my eyes. I'm like, man, if I could just focus on getting bigger units because I'm I'm down to spend $12,000 if you're cash for in 3,000. You know what I'm saying? That's a cool trade-off. I could do that.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:34

Yeah, yeah. That was um Al Williamson's approach. Remember, he said before you start getting a whole bunch of things, just try to maximize that one unit until it makes as much as you can make on it. You know, that's all in on what you got right now. Exactly. So she found her niche, she didn't get sidetracked, she didn't try, oh, I'm gonna try this, I'm gonna try that. No, this is what I know, and maybe make this house make some money, make a lot of money, and then and she maximized it.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:56

That's what's up, man. So you got two units bringing you 3,000 a month. That's what you mean. It's like five units. You in there, man. Like, hey, we sitting here trying to rack up a hundred units. Yeah, man, definitely. But yeah, that that was an awesome episode, man. I really enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:11

Cool, man. Where can folks find us?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:13

You can follow us on IG at Livelet Thrive. Send us an email, liveletrive at gmail.com. A lot of people, we've had a lot of people email us about clubhouse invites. I got a couple more. So, yeah, email us at livelethrive at gmail.com and I'll give you a clubhouse invite so you can hop um hop in one of the rooms. I'm actually about to hop in a room here shortly. Uh with my guy TJ. And uh, yeah, man, that's where they can find us. Anything else? Departing words?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:38

That's it, man. Keep living, letting, and thriving.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:41

Yes, sir. And we are out later.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:46

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.