SPEAKER_03 0:00

All right.

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Got the cell phones on silence.

SPEAKER_03 0:06

Yeah, I gotta make sure that.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:09

Gotta make sure of that.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Cool. Alright, man. Um yeah I'll count us in. And then um, yeah, we'll get the show going.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

All right.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

All right. In three, two, one. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another exciting episode of Live Let Thrive. I'm calling this the Steve O'Digs Deep episode. Because I'm doing some solo eps, a few solo ups to put on the Patreon. And so um I got a special guest with me today. And it is um do I call you AJ or Azubique?

SPEAKER_03 0:51

Yes, sir, yes, sir. AJ's fine.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

AJ's fine, cool, man. And um very excited about today's episode. We're gonna dig in. AJ has been on the show before with Erica, his uh significant other, and they um they told us all about the wonderful world of co-hosting. So um I really want to dig in deep on this because I want to actually try this myself. It's all good. And it's good because um, you know, I don't want to wait to have to save up 20 grand or 30 grand to get another house when I can start making money today, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. So, anyways, welcome to the show again, AJ. Thank you, thank you, thank you for having me on your show. Yeah, thanks for hopping on, man. So uh, what have you been up to lately?

SPEAKER_02 1:38

You know, man, this is the same old grind. You know how Michael says it just grinding every day. You know, you have to you can't eat if you don't grind.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

That is the truth, man. That is the truth. Um, I've been good though, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

You know, just continue trying to grow, you know, continue trying to expand and perfect system, things like that. So, but everything's been good on mine. What about yours?

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Oh man, the same thing. Busy as hell, raising a family. Uh, got another baby on the way, October 16th coming up. Yeah, yeah, it's already crazy enough as it is. So it's gonna just throw some more crazy into it. Why not?

SPEAKER_03 2:17

I can only imagine.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

You only live once. Uh notice you got a uh Manchester United shirt on. Uh is that uh you a big fan of them?

SPEAKER_02 2:27

No, just I just like the jersey.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Okay, good. I don't I don't like them.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

I guess we're on the same page then.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

I'm an Arsenal Arsenal fan myself, so yeah, some some EPL talk right here. English people.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

I only know like three football players. That's it. There's Messi, there's Ronaldo, there's that's pretty much it. Oh, okay. From my knowledge ends.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

I see I saw Messi play over in Barcelona one time. We went on a trip to Barcelona. Yeah, we went over there, we got tickets, we're all excited. That's when they had Messi and uh another world-class player, Neymar. He might have heard of him.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Oh, yeah, yeah, that's the one I know as well. Neymar, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

And then Swatis. And they have all three on the front line, them three of the best players. It was an amazing squad. Wow. And um we got there, and and ten minutes into the game, Messi got injured and he didn't he didn't go back in. So Wow.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

That sucks.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

It's part of the risk. It's like it's kind of like going to uh uh back, you know, a LeBron game and then you know, saving up all year, gonna go see LeBron, and then they he don't play that game just because you know they don't want to lose.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

He's tired, he's resting.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

All offseason to rest, man. Come on. I paid a lot of money for this. Um, anyways, we're gonna get on topic. Uh I I just want to go ahead and start with the first question. Um Erica are co-hosts. Correct. And uh we on go find the episode we uh I'll put it up in the show uh the show notes, the episode that they were on on Live Let Thrive with me and Micah. But I want to see um go ahead and explain to the um to the listeners what what exact what is co-hosting?

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Okay, well I I like to explain it by saying property management, even though it's not that. That's just the easiest way that somebody can understand it really quickly, you know. Um so that's what I like to say, just to start off with, but pretty much co-hosting can run from making sure that the cleaners clean the properties, you know, small things like that, or even aesthetics like make sure the grass is cut, you know, making sure the two times a month the the trash that the heavy trash is taken out, things like that. So it can really range, but if somebody's just asking doesn't know what co-hosting is at all, I'll just say co-hosting is helping and um assisting the actual owner of the property or home to host the property on Airbnb. That's kind of simply what it is. There's a lot of things under it, but that's just simply what co-hosting is.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Okay, and and and when you say helping, do you pretty much do all the work and they just kick back and do nothing and and they receive 80% and you receive 20%?

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Correct. Okay. So that's what quote unquote helping is, because you know, at the end of the day, it really depends on the entrance point or even the vantage point of which the property owner is is starting at or even is at. If they only have one property and they have an additional property that they're paying two mortgages in, they're kind of in a precarious position in which they have to kind of time is of the essence more so. Um as opposed to somebody who has, you know, 10-15 properties. It's just it's just really different how you kind of um kind of uh relate to the actual person on what you're actually doing. Because again, if you own if that person only has one extra property, it's it's gonna be more so of a joint working because they're gonna be more so hands-on, you know, they're gonna be more so looking at all the bookings, looking at things like that. But if they have, you know, five to ten, maybe fifteen properties, and you know, you're using one of their properties at Airbnb, it's more so like you're doing everything, you know, and they're just collecting a check because they're kind of diversifying the portfolio of the what they already have. So it really depends. Like I kind of see it on all ends, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Yeah. Now when you said that hands-on or hands-off thing, I was I automatically thought back in the day I used to do uh just I was in a band, they used to do some music and stuff and do recorded a few CDs. And I remember uh one of the producers saying, Okay, this is how much it's gonna cost to record, uh, let's say, I don't know, let's say 500 bucks for uh to record a couple songs, whatever. Um that's if I do everything, then you know the producer does everything. He goes, but if y'all want to sit in and and you know, while I'm recording and and give your input and all that, it's gonna cost a thousand bucks. So in other words, he didn't want our asses there while he was fixing it all up. So now in that end, do you prefer that the owner is hands-on or hands-off and let you do your thing?

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Honestly, um that's really like in the position in which I am right now, honestly. Um, because like I said, some of our properties, the the homeowners are pretty much hands-off all the way. You know, like I said, one of them lives in Alaska, so there's only so much that he can even even do. So like some of them are hands-off all the way. Uh, but some of them, they're, you know, every every inquiry, they're like, oh man, I hope we can get this one. Oh, you know, so it really ranges, you know, and like um Erica, Erica really helps me in this to kind of set boundaries with the the property owners because it it wouldn't be out of bounds to say, you know, uh, this is what I do, I'm comfortable, don't worry, you know, it takes a time. Kind of just let them understand um what's to come, you know. I think that's probably uh a good thing to do for what you're asking, you know. Kind of set the expectation kind of early. Because if you don't, they may um have a feeling in which something that should happen, which it won't happen, you know. So you want to kind of let them know of those kind of parameters. So what you're asking, like, would you rather have somebody hands-on or hands-off? Um I will rather have somebody who's honestly hands off so they can allow me to do everything that I need to do, you know, because although they may think they're helping, or although they may think they're trying to help, um, they're kind of just starting in the game. So the things that they're doing, or the things that they're trying to do, it may mess up the flow of things, you know, it may mess up the you know, the function of how we like to set things up. Uh, because, you know, there's um it's kind of a system, and like I know Airbnb is really SEO heavy, so there's things that you'll want to do for the first couple months or even the first couple weeks on Airbnb to keep it on there so you can get the most views, most clicks, and things like that. So there's just little things like that that they may not understand. Um, and they may try to do to do things to circumvent that. But I'm just like, no, you have to understand it's a process. Like, it takes time. You can't get uh everybody to book it in one day. Because that's actually what's actually happening. One of my hosts, he he wants to, the next time you can be superhost, I believe is October 1st, you know, and he just started maybe the end of August, beginning of September. And I believe you need 10 stays, all 4.8, you know, the just the basics, no cancellations. And he was like, Do you think I can get uh superhost by October 1st? And I'm like, um, it it may be kind of hard, you know, for you to do that because you need a certain number of stays and you just started, you know. And even though it's not a bad thing to think to be a superhost, those are steps that you need to get to, you know. Like you just can't start on. You just can't start and then want to go to the top immediately, you know? Yeah, yeah. So that's kind of like the idea of what I was trying to get to them. But it it it that is kind of a challenge though, honestly, to kind of like um too many too many chefs in the kitchen, right? Yeah, yeah, that that that is a good way to say it. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Like um, I guess uh Jerry Jones and the Cowboys, man. You don't let the coaches be the coaches.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Things happen. Things happen.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Right. Oh, that's cool, man. That's so you're like, yeah, so that's another sports analogy. So they're the the team owner, and you're the uh what is it called? The the I won't say CEO, but the what is the they say in sports? The general manager. Yeah, you're the general manager, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

General manager, yeah, the GM. GM.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Yeah, so you're the GM. That's that's a good that's a good analogy for a sports. Essentially, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:07

Essentially, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

That's pretty cool, man. And um, yeah, tons of questions today. Um so so why and and why again did y'all choose um co-hosting as your favorite method instead of like arbitrage or I don't know, um whatever what all the other methods there are.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Um honestly, um it was a financial decision. You know, it just makes sense, you know. Um we we have um we're doing two arbitrages right now, and the rest are Airbnb co-hosting. Um, but it just makes sense in the sense that we knew what we need to do to start an Airbnb. Meaning we knew exactly how much it was gonna cost, we knew exactly the areas that it may need. We knew how much deposit was gonna be like we kind of knew how much it would be if you wanted to start an Airbnb, whether it was one, two, or three bedrooms. And we knew that we didn't want to like del off a certain amount of money for just one property, you know. Like uh if we had the capital, of course, you know, it'd be a lot easier, but I didn't think it made much financial sense to like put all your eggs in one basket and then hoping that kind of runs its course. So we're just we did that one rental arbitrage, and then we're just really trying to figure out like another way that we can use our knowledge and continue to do it. So that's why we found Airbnb coasting, and coasting has really been like the the best way to do it as opposed to rental arbitrage because of the main thing is the responsibility of the rent or the mortgage, you know. Um that I know may stress homeowners and property owners out, you know, per month. You know, like really trying to figure out whether they're gonna get the rent or get the mortgage. So I can understand that. Me being a host myself, I know when there's some months, they're like, okay, so I understand that. So that's why it may be good that I was a host before being a co-host. It's because I can understand their plight. Um, but I think that may be the biggest thing because I knew that feeling, like, okay, making sure that oh, all our rental arbitrages are going good because those are the things that we have to pay no matter what. You know, every month you have to pay your rent, every month you have to pay your mortgage. That that won't that won't change whether you're doing Airbnb or not. So that's one of the things that we're like, okay, if we can kind of get away from that, still try to get the same profits of that, I think that'll probably the best way, and still use our knowledge, you know. That was the biggest thing because we gained so much knowledge, so we wanted to somehow use that. And co-hosting was nearly like the best possible way.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Nice, nice. And um so so the so walk me through this. Um I see, I'm fascinated by it because it's something that someone could do right away. And um, oh, real quick with to another thought. Were ya did y'all start doing the co-hosting thing whenever um Airbnb decided to like stop splitting up the payment payments for y'all? Remember, I remember they did that at one point.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

Yeah, that kind of is when we kind of started, honestly. Like we I I know once we first started co-hosting, that just had happened. That that then changing over to that new system with the co-hosting, that just had happened. So that kind of, I guess that's yeah. Yeah, it was around the same time once we started co-hosting when that happened.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Okay, so um, did they did they reverse that after all where they do split at 80 20, or how does that how does it work?

SPEAKER_02 14:51

Um I I I they s you just have to add a bank account, so my bank account as well as the homeowners or the property owner's bank account, and just do the split that way. The only thing that is the cleaning fee that you have to uh pretty much just figure it on your own, you know, but a as far as the actual split, the payout comes out, you can do that any percentage that you want on Airbnb.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Oh, nice. That's that's cool. Um, so that's the that's the thing. I asked you, I had asked you um like a few weeks ago about about um co-hosting. And I said that um, well, when Airbnb shows your payout, right? Let's say someone's gonna stay for a few nights, it's gonna or you know, a week, they're gonna pay you five hundred bucks. That includes the a hundred dollar cleaning fee, whatever, four hundred plus the cleaning fee. Now you said that y'all split you'll split the gross, you get you split the entire five hundred bucks? Is that how it works? Or how does it work?

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So whatever the uh entire reservation amount is, that's what is spent twenty percent to us and then eighty percent to the host.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Oh, okay, cool. Yeah. And so um and how does and so so the the cleaning fee comes out uh how how does that work? How does the cleaning fee?

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Um the cleaning fee is the only thing that's kind of quote unquote tricky, because before that was kind of in the system, so it's a lot easier to split. Um, but essentially, you know, if you have one reservation for the week and it's a $700 reservation, $120 cleaning fee. So of that $700, I'll get 20%, and then the host will get 80%. So, and you only have one reservation that week, we'll invoice you that week for that cleaning fee that you had. Essentially what the guest was paying. So let's get let's say, like I said, it was $120, we'll invoice you that $120 for your uh uh guest cleaning fee that week. So we kind of just do it in the system like that. We do them weekly, and before we did them bi-weekly, it kind of started to add up. Um but yeah, so we do that weekly with all our uh hope co-hosts, excuse me, homeowners, property owners. So that's kind of how we try to rectify that situation. Because that's like the only thing that's kind of out there.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

So you're paying the cleaners and then invoicing it to them.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Oh, okay. And that that's never been an issue. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Yeah. So so so far it hasn't, you know, sometimes, you know, um we may we tr we we're trying to learn things. We invoice them, you know, on Thursday. We want to get paid on Friday. We've seen that they may take a couple weeks. Not cut to a couple weeks, they may take a couple days to a week. So we okay, so we tried to invoice them on Mondays to be due on Thursday. So we just try to spread it out, just try to make it as best of a system as possible, you know. Uh, but that is kind of a tricky way because, like you said, some people may take a couple days to pay, but no matter what, the cleaner has to get paid, you know. Like no matter what, the cleaners are cleaning it right after the guests leave. So that's kind of the only thing that we try to figure out.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Now, do y'all use turnover B and B?

SPEAKER_02 17:55

We we don't. We don't. We have our own uh cleaning crew, pretty much cleaning company that we that we use that pretty much just cleans um all of our things. Uh but we use your reporter to kind of rectify and sync all that up.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Okay, yeah, because I I would suggest to try it. Okay. To try Airbnb uh turnover BNB, because I mean, of course, Michael's been using it for a long time now. And uh he got me on it, and I got and this is the first time with with the house I'm um um Airbnb in now. It's um since my wife's you know big and pregnant, so since she can't do the cleaners no more, which is good because I don't gotta go help do the cleaners no more. So we're we I I got on that air that turnover BNB, man, got a great cleaner right away. And the and the cool thing about it, that you know, sounds like a commercial for them, but we just we don't get paid by them or nothing. But we love that. We we we interviewed the CEO of that uh the the startup.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

Oh yeah, it was kind of recent episode. I don't remember that.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Yeah, yeah. It's uh it was a real good episode. Um the CEO slash um uh founder. And um what was cool about it, you know, you put in a cleaning, right? And then then people bid on it, and they you know, bid, yeah, I'll clean it for 100, I'll clean it for 75, blah, blah, and it shows all their credentials, it shows all that, and they all all of them know how to do tur um Airbnb turnovers, which is a little bit different than cleaning a regular house, do you know what I'm saying? And so um with and plus it syncs it to your Airbnb, you know what I'm saying? It syncs the Airbnb calendar to the turnover B calendar. So whenever, boom, a cleaning pops up, it pops up on there. People bid on it, and you choose one. You find a good one, you just keep using them over and over, and it pays them through the system. The thing is that what I was trying to get at is like that would rectify the I guess the invoicing and stuff like that with y'all because you just put your the landlord's um um card on file for that turnover B and B, and boom, the cleaner goes in, goes out, she you know, puts that she's done, and it and it charges to his card every time. It don't even you don't even have to pay him.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

My only fear that would be is well like I haven't used it, so I don't I don't know much about it, but what if there's like you just really in need of a cleaner is nobody bidding on it, you know? Will you just is there like you're always getting the bids on cleaners no matter what? How does that work, you know? That would be my only fear, you know. I really need a cleaner today and nobody's bidding on them to get the to get it cleaned.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Well, see, that's the um the CEO, the the founder himself, he said that it's good to at least get two or three cleaners from the system. Use tri or two or three different ones out that you like, have three of them. So you always have a backup, then a backup to the backup, you know what I'm saying? But here in Dallas, and I'm pretty sure in Houston is almost you know one of the largest cities in the in the country, um, it's been man, we have a lot of cleaners here. Airbnb is hopping over here. So I mean it's been real soon as soon as I post it. Yeah, yeah. It's just um it's just another tool you can use. I I what I'll tell you what, if you started it, you you'd love it. You don't have to the thing is you don't have to pay nothing on it because it's um you know they they take a little fee out of what the clean, you know, the cleaner gets, whatever. So um it's it's just a really neat thing. I think that would that would help out um with the clean ins for for for that situation. No invoice is needed, it'll just it'll just charge it to that guy's card or whoever the owner the owner of the house is. A nice and clean process. I'm a believer. But um so what what tools do you use to help you do your your co-host?

SPEAKER_02 21:32

Um mainly it is uh your porter, honestly. That is like the main one that we use. That's for disc communication, um, that's for syncing calendars if you use different platforms, different STR platforms. And that's also what we use to alert the clock the cleaner for what she has to clean per week. It's an updated calendar. So whenever we get a new reservation, whenever we get a new booking, the cleaner. Is automatically updated with that link that the cleaner has, you know. So uh the cleaner just checks her calendar pretty much daily, weekly, however she long, however the frequency she wants to do it, and she sees the cleaner that she needs. So your porter is a real big one that we use. Um, also, we just changed the price slabs. We used to use Beyond Pricing. I just changed the price slabs. And so far, I like it. You know, there are some um, I guess the actual interface I had to get used to. I'm kind of used to Beyond Prices interface. Um, but we like it. So that's another one that we use. Um, but only those are like the main two that we use often, like no matter what, that we can't go without. It's the dynamic dynamic tool for price labs or beyond price and pretty much whichever one you use. And your porter, your porter really does a lot for us.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

So that your porter, does that uh does that have automated messages that automate yes?

SPEAKER_02 22:59

Yeah, so you know if you get a booking two days before they're booking, it sends their checking information the day after they're booking, um, it sends them a message that's saying make sure you had a great stay. We hope you left the you had a five charts five star stay, things like that. It sends those uh out. Yes, it does.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

And so how much how much does that cost to use?

SPEAKER_02 23:19

It is uh seven dollar per cliston.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Seven bucks? That's nothing, man. Yeah, it's a good thing. I need that. I need that.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

Yeah, seven bucks per listing. It is really, really useful. Again, I'm not getting paid by your reporter, uh, but we really like your reporter, it really helps us a lot.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

So is it your like Y-O-U-R?

SPEAKER_02 23:36

Uh yeah, like Y-O-U-R and Porter. Porter.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

They also have an app. They also have an app.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Oh, hell yeah. Yeah. I have one listing. So I mean seven bucks.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

I mean, that's that's that's easy.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Cheaper than a value mill. Yeah. Exactly. And so so every other list, every listing after that is seven bucks, or do they give you a break after a certain amount?

SPEAKER_02 24:01

I I believe it's just seven bucks all the way. I do actually um if it's less than three, it actually may be less than seven dollars, honestly. I believe if you have like less than three listings or less than five listings, it's a cheaper price. But once you get to five, they're all seven dollars.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

But you actually may have a cheaper price, honestly. You may.

SPEAKER_00 24:21

I'm gonna sign up for that today, man. I'm gonna be like Micah. Sign up while we're talking.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

Really, that that'll really help you. It's really good. I really like it.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

Man, I'm gonna check them out. Thank you, thank you. Everybody remember that. Your porter, turnover B and B. That's what's up. Um B. So so you consider yourself, I mean, how automated are y'all? Because it that your reporter sends out all the messages for you and everything. How often do you have to communicate with the guests?

SPEAKER_02 24:49

Honestly, not that often. When they ask specific questions, maybe, you know, sometimes a guest may inquire about a property and they're asking how far something's away, like where they're coming from. So those type of questions we still answer. And of course, if there's an issue at the property, like lights going out, or if it's draining, like right now, it's raining really hard in Houston. So one of our properties kind of leaking. So things like that, of course, that's what you'll respond to. But for the most part, a lot of it is automated. You know, you have those questions that people may ask before they book, and then you you ask those, but after that, once they book, all the things are automated. They send them out the check-in instructions are automated, sending out the uh where they need to do exactly what they need, the why pretty much all that information is sent out, you know. So a lot of it is automated. The only part that's not automated would be uh, like I said, going to the property, make sure that restock is good, those small things, pretty much the quality managing of it, you know. And even that could be automated, you know, hiring somebody to do that, so I wouldn't have to do that, but that's probably like the most part that I actually do.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Okay, now that's the that's the question I was gonna get to next was quality control. Yes. Because of course, yeah, you have a good cleaner, but you know, everybody has a bad day, right? The thing is, like I'll go into my example. I I'm getting five stars. I'm happy, like my cleaner, but I know, I know how I am, man. I'm a perfectionist. If I end up going to that house for some reason and I'm gonna find something, man, and I'm like, ah, just don't look for things. You know what I'm saying? Or else you're just gonna be then I'll be moving things around, I'll be doing this and that, then I'll be messaging the cleaner. I'm like, kind of like if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But I know that I'm just ah, and so how do you how do you do the quality control thing without driving yourself crazy?

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Um the honestly, we just changed our cleaners recently. That's the that's the funny thing. Um, but the the best way to do it is it is pictures, honestly, you know. Um that that's really a good tool and just uh a good system to start off with. We didn't really start off using pictures, but that's one thing that we tried to move to because that allows you to not always have to check up on it a second time, you know. So right after they clean it, they take pictures of, you know, the main areas, the restroom, the bedroom, the kitchen area, things like that, things that are visibly what you know need to be seen to make sure it's clean. And of course they take pictures of everything else, but that's uh a good way to kind of manage that. And also having a good cleaner, you know, because having a cleaner that you know you can communicate with uh with no issues, it allows you to know whether something is wrong or whether something's not wrong, you know, or whether something is really clean or not clean. If you can communicate to them, like, okay, um, last time a booking, they said this about the cleaning. Make sure if you can communicate with it uh properly, things like that allow you to not have to go there all the time. Uh, because before we had a cleaner and I found myself still visiting the property um a little bit more than I expected to, being that I have a cleaner, you know. So that's kind of one of the reasons why we're I moved over to my other cleaner, but that's kind of where I kind of saw the the line in the sand, like, okay, I'm paying somebody to be a cleaner, you know. Of course they're not going to be managing it, but I'm at least paying them to be a cleaner. I should expect them, or at least if I go to the properties after it's been cleaned, it should be clean without me having to check on it. So um the best way to say it is those pictures really help, you know. Um telling the cleaners to take pictures right after they clean it. So at least, if anything, if the guest comes after, you can say, these are the pictures. You can see the timestamp, you can see exactly when they took them. So you know that the cleaner cleaned, you know. So those are a couple things that I do so I won't have to, you know, be at the properties every day just making sure it's clean, you know.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

Yeah, because that'll drive uh probably if you you're like me, it drives you crazy, man.

SPEAKER_02 29:07

Yeah, like I used to, like she used to clean, and I used to go there just to do some, you know, just doing nothing, and I'm like, huh. So it's like, okay, like there's no point of me adding that stress if I pay a cleaner. So it's like, okay, I really had to just really now another thing, honestly, is putting trust in your cleaner, you know, because um, although they're, you know, they're cleaning, um, they're cleaning it. If you actually trust them to do just that, they'll probably be able to be more comfortable, they'll probably be able to do a better job as well. So I'll put I'll have some onus on that on myself as well, just um actually trusting a cleaner, you know, to let them do their job. So I'll put some onus on myself with that.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And um speaking to that, um, what was gonna say? Okay, the one thing one thing that's been um tripping me up a little bit is the um is the trash pickup.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

And here's the thing, I mean, okay, I for example, my house that I'm Airbnb right now, the the trash they pick up is Wednesdays and um and Sundays. So the the problem with that, I'm sorry, not Sundays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. So the problem with that is most guests check out, you know, Sunday or maybe Monday. And I don't want to, you know, rock the boat by putting the trash out for days, you know what I'm saying? That's how you get that's how you get the Airbnb police on you. And so and so plus people usually check in on Fridays or Saturdays, right? And so that's it's just ah, it doesn't fall right. And so, and um I'm just wondering, I I I end up having to go like uh across town on my lunch break or or the day before a few, you know, the day after, and going and taking the trash, either throwing it in my little pickup, taking it back to my house, or doing something with it. So I just can't find a way to automate the trash, you know, the trash pick um pickup.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

You know, that's honestly that's um an issue that I've seen with myself as well and other other hosts, and that that's like one of the main things that they're trying to see if they can get automated up. Um fortunately for us, we haven't had too much of an issue. Um, all my properties that I co-host, they're maybe 10-15 minutes from me, you know, from where I actually live. So it's not that big of an issue. Um most of the times our cleaner honestly takes it out because a lot of them are bigger houses. So like you said, on Sunday, our trash day is actually Tuesday, so it kind of works well. So on Sunday when they leave, she kind of brings it out on Monday, and then they take it out on Tuesday. So even if it's left out Tuesday when they come on Friday, at least it's empty trash, you know.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

Um, so so it kind of works out well for us. A lot of ours are on Tuesday. Um, but to to kind of automate that, that's that's a great question because like I said, um only way that we've kind of rectified that was our cleaner. She takes it out those times. Um, but other than that, like I said, I live close. So I just drive by or just do it myself. I haven't really found out a best system for that, honestly. I really haven't. Um because I just live close to all my properties. So if if that's the only thing I had to do per week for, you know, five, six properties is you know, take the trash out. I I that's not that bad, you know. Um, so that's that's kind of how I see it. So I guess it's just lookadrunk for me that a lot of my properties are kind of nearby. Um, so that's not that big of an issue. But I know a lot of hosts are asking about that, how to automate that and how to figure that out because a lot of hosts have a lot of trash.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

So I'm uh I'm coming up with some, I'm just in my head thinking how I can cash in on this conundrum, man. Yeah, you know, yeah, because it really is a conundrum. I'm gonna go online and copyright the name, trash B B. I'm gonna be the I'm gonna be a trash man. And I'm gonna just load big big ass truck, load up everybody Airbnb's, you know, Sundays and Mondays trash and go take it to the dump.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

I'm I'm telling you, like give me $10 a park. Um like laundry services, you know, for like washing lendens. I've seen like in Houston Airbnb groups people starting to offer those type of services. So literally what you said, that I know that's that's doable. People will want that.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

I'm gonna lock it in now before this episode drops. I'm gonna get me some trash B and B to your neighborhood soon. I'll even work with the cities. What's up? Um going back real quick to the cleaners because you know that's it's a very important part of what we do. And a vital, crucial. We couldn't do it without them. And so um here's what to harp on every uh turnover BNB, what's cool about it is uh on your property, you know, you have a description and stuff like that. And it lets you put a checklist. So you can put a whole checklist there so that way any cleaner that does pick it up, you know, it's it's always good to, you know, to train a cleaner or whatever, how you like to have it clean, but at least they'll have like an outline, like a checklist, and boom, boom, boom, they'll go down the checklist, leave you know, leave leave two toilet paper rolls in each bathroom, leave two soaps, blah blah blah. And so they'll see they'll have a visible checklist, know how many towels, all that stuff. I mean, and that kind of helps too. Kind of helps continuity. So if you have to switch one out, your your cleaner can't go. All right, boom, here's the house, here's the checklist, go do what you can. And I mean, at least it's better than you have to explain every single one. It's a cool thing, man. I think it will really work for you. You know, I'll definitely check it out, definitely check it out. Trying to sell it. I don't know why I'm trying to sell it. But it's good. I I suggest all our fans. I think I love all of our fans are on. I mean, a lot of them are on it. They said, man, it's it's changed their changed their world. I'm a I'm gonna partner with them, make some money. Uh we should do it. Let me see. Um so how many units do you currently have?

SPEAKER_02 35:32

Okay, right now at nine and going on ten. So we have nine right now, and uh one of one of the property owners that we work with, she has two properties, and one of them the lease for her long-term renters ending off in September. So once it's done, we're gonna take over that one as well. So that'll be the tenth one.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

Sweet. And so, are y'all gonna have like a clean slate with no furniture in it at all, or how's it work?

SPEAKER_02 36:05

Yeah, that's that's how it is. So it really just depends on the package she wants to do. You know, we offer separate certain packages. We offer um, you know, us um kind of design it all for the homeowner. Um, we so we can set it up, you know, because we kind of have it down there. We can set up pretty much like a three-bed, two-bath in less than a week, you know, maybe like five to seven days. So that's kind of what we um kind of let them know. So we sell certain packages. So if you want to do that, or if you want to furnish it on your own and just whenever you furnish it, just come in and allow us to manage it. So it really just depends on what they wanted to do, you know. Um, so one of our uh ones that we just started, it's uh it's an apartment complex here in Houston. Um I remember we were talking, I was talking to him for a while. He was like, I'm ready to do it, I'm ready to do something because you know he knew how to gotta talk to my Airbnb. So I was like, I'm ready, I'm ready. So he went ahead and got another got an apartment, uh, just a one-bed, one bath apartment. And before I was telling him, I was like, whenever you're ready to like furnish it, let me know. Because um there's one thing you don't want to do put off too much money to begin with because you don't want to be starting from a desk deficit, especially if you're in a rental arbitrage game, because you're already paying that rent and you don't want to be playing backup, I mean, uh playing backup for too long, you know. So um we to I was telling him that and I was like, he had his whole thing furnished, and I was like, how much did you spend on furniture? Just a one bed, one bath. And he said close to 3,000. And I was like, man, you know, and it took him close to a month to set it up. So like how I see that is like one, you spent almost twice as much as you should have, and then two, you spent twice as long as you should have setting it up. So there's like so much money lost, and so much money that you could have gotten in those two weeks. So although we can only explain that so much to the property owners, you know, like um, because sometimes they may not see the the benefit of actually paying us to do all of that, you know, because they think, well, we're just paying you. I can I can furnish it, you know, like we we've seen it multiple times with our own eyes that somebody who wants to furnish it on their own, it takes literally month, month and a half for them to just furnish it and get it ready, as opposed to us, we can furnish it with almost 50% less than what you are, and with 50% less at a time, you know. So that's kind of how we see that, you know. So we just offer different packages, whatever you wanted to do. Um of course we do recommend them to do our package because you can get start making money quicker, and that's of course the name of the game. But you know, some homeowners want to buy the things themselves, they like they like certain items, so it really just depends on the homeowner and property owner, but we do offer different packages.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

So could you go over like the pack the type of packages y'all have?

SPEAKER_02 39:14

Yeah, it's mainly just uh setup and go, as in um we'll go ahead and set up everything. Uh we charge $850. Uh so we essentially we give them a checklist guide with exactly what they'll need to buy, all the way down to the sheets, paper towels, base towels. So pretty much essentially there's we do it so much that we give you this checklist guide, and you can either one purchase it on your own, you know, well, we exact what you tell you, or we purchase it. And either and if you purchase our setup fee, you know, like our setup package, once everything is delivered, we set it up for you, you know. We make sure we get the guys to set up the beds, and we pretty much set all that up for you as opposed to them do it on their own because a lot of times they may have another job. A lot of times this is not like the first thing they're thinking about. So they may get the bed this morning, but uh, I'll set it up tomorrow. So like things like that. So that's kind of what we do. So mainly the different packages often just uh pay us to set it up, um, and then also just you pay all the you know the services, your furniture, uh, you buy it all yourself, and then you just come to us when you're ready to manage it. Uh but you can go to um a website, eAlarging.com, and you can see the actual services there that we offer. But those are like the main popular ones. It's just uh allowing us to set it up all the way, or just allowing them to set it up and then come to us when they're ready to manage.

SPEAKER_00 40:45

Because when you said 850, correct. Is that that includes the furniture?

SPEAKER_02 40:50

Uh no, that that doesn't include it. I think that includes um all of our uh time and actual setup like manual hours, you know, like if they have beds coming in, if they have cars need to go up, pretty much all those things that that's what we're doing. Because a lot of times we're finding the furniture not just on you know websites, we're finding on um Facebook Marketplace or FiveMouse. So we're finding them at a lot cheaper price, so we're finding them a lot quicker, we're we're driving, so it's it's we're pretty much doing all the groundwork to make sure that you're paying less for the furniture. So it really depends on you you kind of understand there because if you're buying all the furniture straight from Amazon, you're gonna pay at least $25,000 to $3,000 to furnish a one bedroom. But we can furnish it for about a thousand, you know, and if you set up our use our setup fee, you're still under the amount that you'll be paying for the furniture, and it's less days because you're doing it for about a month. So it's still average. So like we I kind of understand like the number of days, and um some hosts don't really understand that uh I'll just do it next week, or I'll just do it, and you know let them know that you can, you know, that's not an issue, but just know if you were to have it set up this weekend, you can get it a bookie next week, you know. So just understand, like waiting a week, you can lose. I mean, waiting a week, you may not lose money, but you're losing the money that you can possibly get, you know. So that's kind of like the name of the game with that, because that setup time is real crucial.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Time is money. And that's and you know, because y you and I are in the game. Uh, we we've been doing this for a little while. And so it what what frustrates me here here goes like I don't know if you ever had like a friend or something, hey man, I think that's cool what you're doing. I think I'm gonna try that, you know. And um well, I have a buddy right now, um, shout out to Jimmy. What's up, man? He's he um he moved in with his with his girlfriend, and um they're gonna they got a house together and all this stuff. So that his previous house, it's in it's in a nice area too, over here in, you know, this area. And um he it's just been sitting, you know, sitting uh vacant like for like going on like five months. Wow. And he's just yeah, you know, well he's he has his job and he's got some kiddos and and of course they got the new house they're doing, and he just oh I don't have I don't have the time man, you know, I I need to get to it next weekend. Oh then I got a trip coming up. You know, like you said, he's I'll just do it tomorrow. I just and that turns into a week, it turns into a month, it turns into an up, and uh, I'm just sitting there, man, how much money. And and the area he's at, he could be charging damn near two thousand a month. So that's just to me, I'm like, that's like ten grand he's losing. Plus he needs to keep paying for the mortgage and electricity for all that shit. And no one's in there. And I'm like, man, if if but he that's how it is, people that aren't used to the game. To us, man, I always put I always put a deadline. Like when I'm gonna move out of a house, I le I mean, I you know, like I said, I usually leave you know most all the furniture behind, and then we start new at the new house. You know, it makes it easier when We house hack, we hop house to house. And so, um, but I still gotta organize things and I still gotta put like if the couple of the bedrooms didn't have queen, you know, I put some queen beds and you know, you gotta do some things. So I'm hustling and then I start taking pictures as soon as it looks, you know, almost ready. But I mean, even if I have in the back room all the junk back, you know what I'm saying? I just start getting pictures going and I start getting it online right away because time is money. I was like, oh crap, you know, now we got a booking Friday. We got to get the F out of here. Because with no with no deadlines, man, this you're never gonna do it. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 44:34

That's really true. That's really true. What you said, like just like what you said, you may say, like, oh, I'm doing it this week, do it this week. But once you put the pictures up, like preliminary pictures, and then it's open a book, and you get a booking, that's when you put some fire in your ass to like, okay, maybe, you know, so like that kind of happened with one of my homeowners, you know. Um, he was kind of taking his time with not really taking his time, he was he was excited, you know, let's get it open right now. And it's like, are you ready? Are you sure you're ready? And he was like, Yeah, I'm ready, I'm ready. And then as soon as we opened it, we had it, we got a book in like that weekend. And then, you know, it was like four days, and he was like, Oh, we have to do this, and we have to do it. I was like, Oh, so all the things I was telling him to do before, once we got that book in, he was like, Oh, okay, we have to do this. I was like, Yeah, you do. You got you know, we got bookers coming up. So, yeah, you're definitely right about that. Once you get a book and you get some fire, yeah. Chew that, man. Oh, and go back to what you're asking before with the services. Um, if they choose our services, we also do um listing and photography and all of that. You know, so we do their listing title, the listing descriptions. Um, I'll take the the pictures, you know, so make sure that it's um professional, you know, high-resolution pictures because I know Airbnb has the SEO um rank and all that as well. I believe you need either seven or eight high-res picks and you get a little SEO bump. Uh so yeah, I'll make sure that we take all the professional picks for the list and all that. So it's not just, you know, I pretty much do it all to get the Airbnb ready, you know.

SPEAKER_00 46:10

Now, do you take the picks or you pay someone to do it?

SPEAKER_02 46:13

I do, I take the picks. I take the picks.

SPEAKER_00 46:15

So you got a nice camera.

SPEAKER_02 46:16

Yeah, I got a nice camera. You know, like I've I've always was ever since, you know, when I was younger, I've always, you know, had an affinity for no cameras and pics like that. And I've did videos and the video editing, things like that. So I'm I'm a little, you know, I I know my way around the camera per se. So and just me working with Airbnb for a while, I was able to, you know, gain the knowledge to know the angles and know the lighting and know exactly the the pictures I need to take. So uh yeah, I take that, the pictures for all our listings.

SPEAKER_00 46:49

Nice, man. That's uh that's that that's money right there, because yeah, I recently had someone do professional picks. First time ever, you know. My my previous Airbnb, I never, I just used uh iPhone picks. I broke all the rules, you know, third wall rules, they say, and lighting rules, and and even I was doing stupid panos that made the room look all sunk down. I was doing all kinds of stupid shit. I made good money, but I was like, man, when this when this um this lady came in, her name is Desiree, she she did a freaking phenomenal job. She does, you know, she does furniture for the MLS for like these high-end houses that are selling that gotta get professional pictures. She's been doing it for years. And so she came in, she said 125 bucks. I said, okay, cool. And you know, to me, it's like that sounds like a lot of money, but whatever. That's good. Hopefully that that'll get covered by the bookings. And she went in there, man. The first thing she did, she opened up all the windows, um, or like all the drapes, and you know, opened up all the the number one thing you need that light. She turned every single light in the house on and just flooded the house with lighting. She had her tripod, and you know, I never like I said, just the iPhone pics, whatever. I know. But she had her tripod professional camera, and she's like, she just started snapping, you know. I went to the next room, you know, she would do different rooms, and all I mean, she made my house look badass. I was like, man, I want to live here again, you know, from the pictures, you know. Like this is my house. And man, my my views and and listings man shot through the roof.

SPEAKER_02 48:14

I was like, it really makes a difference. It's a huge difference. It really makes a difference.

SPEAKER_00 48:18

It does. Even if if y'all ain't, you know, if y'all ain't like uh like AJ, you can't take them yourself, you know, pay someone, pay a professional 120 bucks to get in there, and it's well worth it. That's like one booking.

SPEAKER_02 48:30

Yeah, it really is worth it, you know, um, because when when we first got started, um, like like you said, I was doing what you're doing, you know, camera, camera phone, all the lighting, continuity issues. Like I had it all in my Airbnb photos, but like you said, I was getting booked, you know, so I didn't see an issue. I was like, I don't need a photography, I don't need that. But once you understand and actually see the difference, you understand, like, especially in the guest eyes, a guest will for sure definitely book a property if every photo is a professional photo, as opposed to the exact same listing, exact same specs if it's an iPhone pick. Like, probably 99 out of 100, they're gonna pick the high-risk picks. So I completely understand. I completely understand and get it.

SPEAKER_00 49:18

Pictures sell, man. Yes, yes, yes, they do. See, I don't even know why I need a new iPhone, but I see the pics of this of the iPhones, they look all cool with the colors and all that stuff, and now I want one, but I don't need one.

SPEAKER_02 49:29

Exactly. That's how it works.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

It's advertising. Oh man. And so um, could you tell me? I don't I I don't want you to give too much away, but I mean, you you're helping out people here, helping me out, especially I'm taking notes like crazy. Um, like what would be a typical script? Well, first, first, how do you find potential um landlords that want to do Airbnb and that would let you co-host? And then and then what's like a script that you use to like kind of kind of get them to let you Airbnb their house?

SPEAKER_02 50:01

Um, well, the the main areas where I would go is honestly uh Facebook groups, Facebook groups, you know. There's I'm sure there's like DFW, Dallas, Fort Worth area, uh Airbnb groups. Um, that will be the first place where I would go because that's where most homeowners or even property owners will go to if they need to find any question or if they need any um issue with Airbnb in the city locally. So that'll be the first place I'll go to. Kind of scour um all the groups and kind of actually search co-host or managing um for each of the groups so you know exactly what they're saying, and you can even get familiar with the people the people talking about having property and call and managing it because you may go through a thread and it may be three, four, five, even six months or weeks old, but the people are still the people that needed it or needed a co-host. So they may not they may not even receive the help um that they've asked for weeks ago. People just been mentioning them, and you may message them, and they'd be like, Oh, wow, yeah, I have been asking about I just never really got anybody back. So this that's one of the um easiest ways that you can find potential homeowners or property owners. Um, another way is there's an Airbnb community. I'm not too sure if you're familiar with that. It's just pretty much Airbnb.com slash community or like Airbnb community, and you log in, and it's pretty much what Facebook is, groups, but for Airbnb. So what I do specifically, you know, actionable items, you'll go to your Airbnb community and type in co-host uh Houston or co-host Dallas or co-host San Diego, and again, you just see people talking about people in need of co-hosts, people who have co-hosts, people who are co-hosts. So those would be like the two best ways that I will start immediately. You know, just get familiar with those platforms, get familiar with the groups, because it's something that you may need to start checking weekly or bi-weekly or even daily if you're really trying to um get more or even trying to get a c a property to co-host. So those will be like the two things that I would like do immediately if you're trying to find some. Um Airbnb community and then the Facebook groups that in your respective city, whether it be Houston, Dallas, Miami, New York, wherever it may be, there's Facebook groups and search through there because I can almost guarantee you there's a homeowner that like that's asking a question. Oh, I need help, I need in this city. Um I can almost guarantee you. So that's where I'll start.

SPEAKER_00 52:50

So it's so it's mostly the Airbnb groups then. It's not it's not like uh like um DFW real real real estate or whatever you real estate groups. It ain't it ain't really them.

SPEAKER_02 53:01

They don't you can, um, but I I say to start with those because if you're just starting to be a co-host and if you're just being introduced to it, those will be the easiest people to quote unquote convince or quote unquote to get started with because one, they're already interested in doing an Airbnb. So that's the common place that you have, the common variable. So that'll be the best way to start, as opposed to if you're not really familiar with being a co-host and you're going to somebody who has multiple properties, you have to really be well-versed and not just co-hosting, but well-versed in hosting, well-versed in the numbers that you could possibly get. Extremely well-versed to talk to somebody who isn't even thinking about Airbnb, you know. So that's why I say when you're just starting, that's where I'll start. With people already interested in Airbnb, people already thinking about Airbnb, people already talking to providers. So it'll be a lot lower barrier of entry. So you'd be able to get in a lot quicker.

SPEAKER_00 54:05

Okay, that yeah, that makes sense instead of just hitting people hitting people up that have uh a house for rent and saying, hey, you know what? Exactly. You ever thought of Airbnb in it? And then uh what the hell is that? That might be a little harder to sell.

SPEAKER_02 54:18

You may get some, you know, and of course, if you're have a lot of properties and you understand the game, then of course you can move to those separate arenas to find properties. But if we're just getting started, that's what I'll recommend. I'll just recommend uh Airbnb related groups because you know they're there for a reason. You know why they're there, you know what's going on. So that's where I'll start.

SPEAKER_00 54:40

Okay, okay. Yeah. Let's do a role play in here if you if you don't mind. So you so you so you you hit me up on the group, you send me a message, and I'm like, okay, you know, I've I've been thinking about Airbnb, and yeah, actually I I would like a I might need a co-host. Um what uh what can you do for me?

SPEAKER_02 54:57

Okay, um how how I will always start is um if whether or not the property is furnished or not. That's kind of my entry. So if it's furnished already, I'll say um if you are interested or what you'll need, I'll just be like, okay, um, how much are you expecting, or how much do you think we can get this to rent out for, you know? Just kind of understand first what they're expecting for the property, you know. Because if they're expecting $5,000 to rent and you know that it can only rent for $3,500, there's no point of, you know, even going there. But so that'll probably be the first thing, just be like under asking them how much do they want or how much do they they think the property can get. So once you kind of get that number, that's when you can kind of play the game. You know, you can say uh most of the properties in that area tend to be uh that's what that's when you know get a little uh market research and kind of understanding the flow and things, but that's when you'll say, okay, uh with the property type like yours, uh something in that area, area that tends to rent for about $70 to $80 a day, you know. So simply put, you know, because a lot of the times they want to know exactly what they'll be happy to pay or exactly how much they'll be wanting to get in simple terms. So that's what I would do. I say, okay, um, your rent is usually around $70, $80 a day. Average occupancy tends to be about $50 to $60. On a good month, about $70. And I break that down to days to them. So about 18 to 20, 20, 23 days booked. So I just let them know that if your property is booked around this amount of days for this average, you can possibly get this. So that's just that's just the entry so they know, like, okay, I I see how you, I see, I see how you get those numbers because I used to just go in like, um, yeah, you probably can get about $3,000 a month, even though you're asking for $1,500. And I know that they're like, I don't care about that, you know. But if you kind of say your house can rent out $100 a day for at least 18 to 20 days of work, they see that's $18,000 or $2,000. They see that, you know, like that's easy. They understand that it's a lot easier for them. You know, a lot of real estate people are math people, so they see that really quickly. So that's kind of how I try to convince them. Well, not really convince them, just allow them to see where I'm coming from. That's smart. So that's that's kind of how I I do that. So I'll just let them know um average around 23 bucks. So with that, you can get $2,300. You can get between $1,800 or $2,300 for your father. You know? And I just let them know. And some people like, that's not bad. I could I can deal with that. That that is a good number for me. That wouldn't be breaking the bank, I'll make some money. Or some people are like, um no, I I I don't I don't want to I don't want the game of having people in my house. I don't I don't want to be cleaning. And once they say that, I said, okay. I say, is having people in your house the issue, more than one person, or having it to be clean after each the issue, you know. I just I I kind of just hear what their main issue is because they're always gonna have one main issue about Airbnb, you know. Um it's a real popular uh platform and they're gonna have one big issue, whether parties, whether it being dirty, whether property. So I don't I don't really like saying this, but kind of understand what that issue is, honestly. So you can kind of go to that. Uh so those would be like the tactics that we'll use to kind of convince somebody to do Airbnb. And again, I've I've talked to literally thousands of people about Airbnb, whether it be on the phone, Facebook messaging, Zillow, wherever it may be, mess um regular text messages, excuse me. I've talked to thousands of people, you know. Um, and I'll probably say maybe between five to ten, actually like, oh yeah, oh wow. Got conversation, got called back, actually stayed in contact. So I want to let people know just because you do this doesn't mean you're gonna get a co host the next day, you know. Like you're not gonna get one tomorrow. It it really is the relationships you build with the people, you know, kind of being that point of contact with your Airbnb in general, kind of like you. So I also think it'll be a lot easier for you because you've one, you've already been a host. And I think that's a big conduit of being a great co-host because you can be empathetic to the host or the property owner when um they're kind of hesitant or kind of scared about uh daily rates or occupancy. Because I can personally understand that, and you know you can personally understand it as well. So that's why I think um it'll be a good starting point for you since you are already a host. You can understand the plight of a host. Um, because if you weren't a host before, it may be kind of hard for you to understand the property owner or the homeowner saying, Oh, I really I really don't like my my property empty. I I really need to you wouldn't understand that because you've never been a host. You don't understand. So that's why I think you being a host is really going to be beneficial for you. And it'll be a uh a lot quicker to get to them emotionally, as in I understand you just want to get your money in. I understand that. That's why I'm letting you know good averages that if you have a bad month or you have a not so good month, you'll still make about this much averaging with the average uh market research or with the average occupancy rates or the average daily rates, you know. So I always like to let them know the averages in the area, um, kind of set expectations as well. That is a really big thing. Um, and also just being up front, you know, uh, because you may some people have been like, oh yeah, I want to do Airbnb, and they don't let them know that there's a fee for managing, or there's it like those type of things. I let them know that I do 20% per booking, and some people are turned off by that immediately. They're like, there's no point of me paying somebody. I'm like, I get it, you know. If you think you can do it, no problem. Like, I'm going through that now. It's it's so funny. Um, at the beginning of the summer, um, we started working with um a property homeowner who had a bigger house, six, seven bedrooms, you know, three and a half baths, so it was a big house. We started in the summer, and as soon as we started, we honestly got the whole summer booked, you know, like pretty much for him. You know, I wouldn't say for him, we're co-hosting the forum, but we pretty much, you know, got it booked immediately, you know. Um so and then after a while, he was like, I have some time now. Um, I think I can do it on my own, you know, and we're like, you signed the contract, um, there's our things in play, but we did not we don't want to be like have bad blood up. You sure you want to host it, no problem. So we just agreed to have a different percentage since we did help you get those bookings, so as opposed to before it was 15, but as opposed to being 15, we just got 7%, you know, for the remaining bookings that we weren't hosting no more. Uh so yeah, so after the summer's done, um he's like, oh, no more bookings, no more bookings. And I'm like, this it's not just about having time, you know, it's about having the knowledge to understand things and things like that. So that that's really excuse me, that's uh that's really a big thing that we've seen. Like so many people think being uh a host or just a co-host in general is oh, if you have time, you can do it. You have time, you can do it. So before I used to be kind of hesitant to kind of tell people my percentage, you know, like I'm like, oh, it's only blah blah blah but now I'm like, oh no, it's 20%, you know, because I understand everything that we do, I understand the knowledge we have and how we can expedite so many things just with the experience that we have.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

Right, right. And most most uh a lot of hosts get um no, I'd call it hosting fatigue from going through all the mess and the bad, you know, renters and the bad, you know, just experiences. And so and so like, I mean, man, 20% is cheap if some you don't have to go through any of that. And that's it's a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:29

And like again, some people that you talk to, they'll just flat out understand that. They'll understand, you know, d delving out 20% to somebody to do this, you know. And some people just don't really understand that concept, you know. They're they think that they're giving money away that they could possibly have. They don't understand that they're paying for a service, you know. That's and that's kind of where you can understand how to communicate and how to go forward with that person, you know. Because again, if a person understands um that, yes, I need to pay 10% to get that done, is I I don't have the time or the knowledge or do I want to do that, you know, as opposed to some people's like, I think I can do that. I don't wanna you kind of get in the way of your your own self and think you're kind of doing that type of thing, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:24

Right, right, right. You get what you pay for. Exactly. Exactly. And um, so you see as a cool as a smart like um the first thing you hit them, you hit them with is the pricing. You let them know, you know, how much they can make. You let it hit them with that first before you even go any further. And then do you get into like because I just me thinking, I'm like, well, I would probably hit them up with um the the great thing about doing Airbnb is your house is always gonna look good, it's always gonna be clean, you ain't gonna have a long-term renter in there destroying stuff. Everything gets fixed right away if anything has a problem. And um and you can use it whenever you want. And that's that's like a big plus for people, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:06

That that's the second thing I go to. That's honestly the second thing I go to. The first thing is always money because money talks. I like to tell them exactly how much they could, how much they possibly, how much they would make on the property. That's number one, because like I said, money sells. That's the number one thing people want to hear. Uh, but secondly, that is the biggest second seller point that I do. I tell them, um, because again, again, some of the homeowners or property owners uh may want to get their property rented or get their property sold, you know. So they may have a different play in mind. So you kind of use that to your advantage. So pretty much if they have something like that, you can tell them pretty much what you just said. You um like I understand if you may want to get it rented or even sold. Uh, the good thing about using airbnb, the property stays like rent ready, it stays sell ready. Because we have to clean it after each guest. You won't have any small nicks and cracks, any uh holes in the wall because it is inspected before and after each guest. So whenever you want to, you can literally have somebody walking to see the property if somebody wants to buy or rent. And I'm actually in the process with that. I'm co-hosting one of our um he has a forplex and he's actually trying to sell the fourplex, but he still has it on Airbnb, and I'm co-hosting the for him. So, like, it's not only that I'm saying that just to say ideally that could happen. I'm saying that because it's happening with me now, you know. People like people have different ideas what they want to do with their own property, but the when you're wise, when you're smart, you try to capitalize on everything, you know. Even if you're trying to sell it, you might as well be making money while you're trying to sell it, you know. Even though you want to get it rented, you might as well still try to make money while you're getting it rented, you know. So that's what you pretty much what you said is the second thing that I lean into is your property is always rent-ready, it's always clean. You don't have to worry about um holes, you don't have to worry about dirty carpets, you don't have to worry about any of those type of things.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:15

Yeah, and and and the funny thing is uh what you made me think of right now was like um professional home stager. Go in there, you're gonna spend some G's, man. You're gonna spend like, you know, four or five G's to make it all staged and look pretty. Why might as well, you know, spend a little bit less and buy the furniture and make it look pretty yourself or pay someone to do it, and then it'll be staged and making money for you. I mean, it's a double whammy.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:41

Exactly. That's why when I talk to someone, it's like I see it's a win-win situation for you, you know. You're already trying to sell it, so the property doesn't really have much significance to you to not want to sell it, and if you already have the means to stage it, you know, you have the means to furnish it as well. So I don't know, like how I how I see it at times. Uh sometimes I may see it too simply, so I may be convincing them even though they don't need convincing. Uh so uh, but yeah, sometimes I see it's just a win-win situation for them. Um, but of course, they have to make the decision on themselves.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:24

Right, right, right. Got some more, a few more questions, man. We're we're we're burning through it, man. It's this is this is awesome. Um I tried to go a whole episode without saying awesome. Um let me see. Uh da da da. So so the way you're doing it, you see scaling this business. I mean, you see that being like not a problem. Because you I mean, I guess you're still a little hands-on, but not a lot. But um you see being able to scale it like big time. I mean, maybe even jumping into like you can run some in Dallas, you could run some in uh another state. I mean, is that even possible?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:05

Um, I I think it is possible, honestly. Um a lot of the things are automated, and a lot of things you don't actually need to be there. Honestly, you know, it's just um I was listening to the bigger podcast, bigger pockets podcast once, and I remember them saying, if you have a rental property 15 minutes from you, you're gonna go there every day. But if you have a rental property three hours from you, you're only gonna go there when you need to go there, you know. So that's kind of how I see it. So I'm almost confident that I can successfully run an Airbnb outside my city. I had one in Lake Charles. Um, I set it up well. We had the first booking, the first booking was the issue, and that kind of like downhill there from the so you couldn't continue from there. Uh, but we had one in Lake Charles that we're setting up, and it wasn't much of an issue. Just that one initial time you go there to look at it, make sure everything's good. Uh, but as long as you get a good cleaner, that is going to be key. Um, and then of course, just the maintenance man all the way around. Um, and that's easy to find, honestly. Um, that would be key. Um, and then to your question about scaling, um, I don't think it'll be hard to scale. Like I say, a lot of the things is automated. So as we get more properties, um, the the things that I tend to do tend to um go down, you know. Um I tend to do less than when I do get more properties because the systems are in place that things kind of just get automated with bookings and things like that. So I I do see scaling something, I do see scaling not an issue and something that uh can definitely be plausible. Um I I know um we have the idea and we still do, and um there's certain ways that I want to uh try to grow, not just co-hosting in general, uh, but kind of sort of how y'all have trying to teach people because so many people ask me questions almost daily, you know. Whenever I'm out, they always ask questions about Airbnb. Like, how do I get started, this and that? So that's I'm uh I'm kind of wanted to uh focus on that a little bit, you know. Uh there's still ideas that I want to do, whether it be a webinar, YouTube page, whatever it may be. I'm trying to find a way that, you know, I can actually uh teach people and actually tell people about my knowledge because again, so many people ask me, you know, and um so I just that's the way that I want to do. And of course, um I'll bring it back to my clarity page because you know, knowledge is it's not free, you know. Um but but definitely that's something I kind of wanted to go move towards um as I'm doing more co-hosting. But I do think you can definitely scale co-hosting. Um cleaner, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:05

Nice, nice. A couple more questions. We go ahead and uh one thing I was I was always wondering, or I was wondering, okay, let's say you you stop doing Airbnb at a at a certain at a certain um location. I don't know. They he just don't want to the landlord don't or he or she don't want to do it no more or whatever. What happens to all that furniture? What do you do with all that furniture?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:27

Um it is the homeowners uh or property owners' furniture since they did purchase it. Okay, yeah. Um so that's essentially how that works. There are sometimes, because you know, we've been setting up so many Airbnbs, there are things that we just secure because of that, whether it be like certain decor pieces or certain plats or a side table, things like that. Um we pretty much just, you know, take those out and just kind of rotate them with the other properties, you know. Um because we have so much just probably kind of stored up from doing it so much, you know. Um but that's typically what it is. Um homeowners have it's there, so a lot of times they just sell it, honestly. Um but we haven't had the not the issue, but we haven't had the situation in which somebody purchased all the furniture and they decided not to do it anymore, you know. So knock on wood, we haven't had that issue yet.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:25

Okay, so you never thought of like getting a storage unit and have it like full of ready, ready to go stuff?

SPEAKER_02 1:13:31

We we we we we did, honestly. Uh right now the storage unit is just, you know, my house, you know, so it's just the room in my house. We store everything there. Uh but eventually that may be something that, you know, is um it really just depends on how many properties we have and then how much furniture we have, honestly. If it makes sense if we have so much furniture and so much properties that we have a little storage room to kind of swap that out, I don't see why not. But right now it just doesn't make sense for us to do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:01

Oh, okay. Keep it over overhead low.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:05

Okay. And it's and it's it's kind of backwards that we we saved this for last, since you're when when you go hit up people, is the first thing you talk about is the money. Now, could you throw throw you don't have to get too specific, but could you tell us like okay, one of your like I guess most successful or what you look for to make and how much you make you can make a month at a good um a good Airbnb that you set up.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:31

Um okay. Um I I I'll kind of answer like this. Um per month um for the 20% for it to make sense uh for us to do it. Um just do a couple numbers real quick. I'm sorry, I'm bringing my comments right here out.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:53

I know uh Erica had mentioned that y'all like to go in there, even you know, and and y'all, whatever. He's someone's been doing Airbnb already, making a thousand a month, and y'all y'all want to push that to two thousand or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:06

Yeah, so uh we we try to at least um kind of at least make around 300, 400 per listing that we're doing, you know. So that's about like 15 to 2,000 uh per month that they'll be getting that we'll be getting at 20% off. So that's kind of um how we want to do it for it to make sense for us. There are some exceptions, you know, just to get some market research. We're doing another one for a little bit less percentage because we want to just see how the market goes, you know, it's the area you haven't been in. Uh but typically, yeah, at least about three to four hundred uh per listing.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:43

To me, that sounds like right off the bat, that sounds pretty damn good because like people that do long-term rentals, that's what their cash flow they're aiming for is three to four hundred bucks a month. Yeah. You know, and but they gotta fix anything that freaking fails, so you don't have to do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:59

Exactly, exactly. But and and then uh and the reason why I say ideally because and I guess this is kind of where the quote unquote downside of co-hosting is, because August was a pretty slow month uh for us here in Houston. I'm not too sure if it was like that in Dallas. Um, so in those instances, if a couple of your properties or the majority of your properties are having slow months, you essentially are having a slow month as well because you know you're getting the percentage spread of booking, you know. So I guess that'll be like a quote unquote downside of it, you know. So that's where the the numbers really have to make sense, you know, because if you are having a really, really bad month with all the ones you're co-hosting and you're getting a certain amount, that certain amount has to make sense for you because whether you're getting bookings or not, you're still kind of working, you know. Um, it's not like you're just not working anymore or you can kind of turn it on and off. So that'll be a kind of bad side because like I said, August was a slow month for us, so we did see a decline in bookings with a couple of our properties, you know. Um fortunately it wasn't for all of our properties, you know, and fortunately we had multiple properties. So in this instance, if a couple didn't do or didn't have a good month, uh you're still okay. Uh, but that'll be just something to kind of um keep aware of because although they may have a good month in July or June, and you're getting three, four, even five hundred, that next month may not be that good, so it's not gonna be good for you either. So you just kind of have to understand that.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:46

Now here's what uh came to mind right away when you were saying that. Cause um because we we just recently interviewed um Adam James. He's kind of like a mentor of our show. Um he's he's a amazing entrepreneur out of um out of Oklahoma. And um, but he he he has this thing where he he says you should aim to have seven streams of income. And because like if one part one of your businesses is you know has going slow, the other one could be going up. And um, and I was like, wow. I mean, I I don't I asked him how he chose the number seven, but he just said, you know, he kind of said it, you know, in all these ancient texts and even you know the Bible. It's like a powerful number. And um, and I was like, uh that's pretty cool, man. I mean, because not only does he do he does Airbnb, he flip, you know, that's one of them, he flips houses, that's another one, he does arbitrages, and then he does um what else is he of he you know he he teaches also, you know, you know, teach his knowledge, and um and he's got into Turo. You've heard of Turo, right? The card thing. And um, I'm like, and it got me thinking about Turo too, man. I was like, man, I can give me I can get a badass ride and someone else will pay for it, just like a house, you know. It's like that's pretty neat, and it's easier to get a car than a house. And um so I just thought of that right now. Okay, you had a slow August, but I mean right off the bat, I was thinking, man, you you take professional pictures of uh houses, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:15

I was like, man, that's yeah, yeah. And and that um the August kind of opened my eyes to that. I was always um thinking that as well about the seven um streams of income. I believe they said um I think the number seven came from the average of millionaires. I mean, millionaires have an average of at least seven streams of income. I think that's where the number came from, if I may be mistaken. Uh, but yeah, this August kind of taught me a little bit of that, pretty much that, you know. So I kind of started um reaching out for, you know, listing or description uh revamp, or um there there's people again back to the groups on Facebook. There's there may be people in your city asking for help, whether it may not be co-hosting help, it may be I'm not getting that many bookings or things like that. So um those type of questions and those type of needs uh open my eyes to say, okay, just my knowledge in itself is um is a luxury for people, you know. So that when I saw that, that's when I kind of started, you know, actually offering my photography serves and things like that. Because before it was just kind of included with the um, you know, the hosting that I did uh for the property of homeowners, and then I kind of just like you said, it it opened my eyes. It's like, no, these type of things are services that can be um sold individually. Uh so yes, what you're saying is right, like a slow month kind of opens your eyes to that. Again, like I said, I was fortunate that I had multiple properties, but um still having a slow month for you in one way or one area of your life, um having other things to kind of supplement that. Uh so yeah, that's definitely, definitely good advice. That's definitely good advice.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:09

So, in other words, you're not a businessman, you're a business man.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:14

And let me handle my business, damn. Yup, yup, yup. And speaking of, I know it's kind of off topic. Kanye West just beat Jay-Z for like one of the first years for Cash Cow hip hop for 2019. Made 150 million, Kanye, this year. Damn. And Jay-Z made a whopping 70 million.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:35

Oh, he's struggling. Struggling.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:39

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:41

We're in the wrong business. Uh well, this has been awesome. Thanks for hopping on. Definitely. Yeah, where can people hit you up real quick?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:52

Uh, it's EALodging at gmail.com, and I really appreciate um the last time we're on here because we've been getting uh messaging and emails about uh you know, people want to get some info. So I really appreciate that. Um so if you're listening, uh you can know you can message me. You can email me at ealodging. Um excuse me, ealodging at gmail.com, and the website is EALodging.com, and so you can pretty much get all the info there. EA Lodging also on Instagram, uh EA Lodging, so you can just see all our projects that we have here in Houston. Uh, but yeah, so you can contact me pretty much EA Lodging across the board, Facebook, Gmail, website, Instagram, whether it may be. Um, so yeah, like I said, people are honestly, you know, messaging me. So I appreciate that. I really do.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:42

I keep hearing in my head, EA Lodging.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:46

It's in the case. That's that's kind of how I I saw it, you know, EA Sports. Yeah, I'm born in the 90s, I'm a 90s baby, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:55

Hey man, Madden, come on.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:56

Oh, yeah, all Madden. Hey, yeah. Oh, yes, all of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:00

Yes, yes, yes. Well, thanks for hopping on, man, and we look forward to uh to having you again, I guess uh uh you and Erica come on again in the future. And um, yeah, man, um good luck to everything you're doing and your inspiration over here. I'm gonna do it and I'm gonna check in with you. I'm gonna hop in. I'm gonna I'm gonna hop on your show and tell you how I'm doing. How about that?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:18

Oh, yeah, I'll have a show soon. Don't worry, you'll definitely be on.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:21

Hell yeah. I got the microphone already.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:23

Oh, by the way, I'm already set up.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:24

For the audio nerds, what what kind of mic is that?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:27

This is actually a ATR 1200, uh Audio Technical 1200. And I wanted to use my Sennheiser AE835. Uh I'm kind of nervous with it's it's really nice, it's really slick.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:42

See, I got Sennheiser um headphones on. Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:45

Sinnheiser is real good. Yeah, I like Sennheiser. I have the cheap 1999 Sony right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:49

I'll tell you a story, real quick story about these. I pulled over at a garage, so and this this lady was selling uh electric keyboard, right? I'm sorry, it's an electric piano. It's not a keyboard. It plays like a piano. You you touch it lightly, it plays lightly, you hit it hard, you it play. It's like a real piano, but it's electric. And then um, I was like, ah, you know, she was gonna sell it for like, you know, I don't know, 200 bucks. I said, Wow, I don't really got the money, I gotta go to the bank. She's like, Are you gonna come back? I was like, Yeah, uh, maybe I'm gonna try to come back. How about a hundred bucks? And this thing was like a $900 piano, right? I was like, Well, I could think I could do a I think I got a hundred on me, and I actually did that day. And um, and I was and she said, Yeah, I'll throw in the stool, the stand. Uh, she gave me a bunch of these music books, she gave me a bunch of other stuff, and and so I'm all I'm loading this into my car, right? Big ass piano. And um, so I'm about to drive out, she's like, Oh, one more thing. She runs out with like a like a grocery bag. She goes, You you know, you say you live in an apartment. Back then I was living in an apartment. She goes, Um, you know, so this won't disturb the neighbors. This I have some headphones here, you can have them for free, and you can just you know plug in and practice uh in your apartment. And there were these um these hundred dollar signheizers, she just had them in a bag, she just gave them to me for free. So garage sales, I highly recommend. People always trying to get rid of their junk, right? The man's looking to that definitely. Well, man, this is an awesome show, and yeah, I can't wait to hop on your show.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:16

Cool, cool. Likewise, likewise, appreciate me having your show, man. Have a good one.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:19

Uh, you too. Take care.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:21

Thank you, you too.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:22

Good luck.