SPEAKER_02 0:00

I went through all the bigger pockets podcasts and all the other podcasts and I stumbled on you guys because I needed folks that were so Airbnb crazy like me because I was pushing my chips in and I could not find anyone else that was just talking about it, you know, like I I needed more like-minded people because I think you had a podcast one time you're saying, you know, like if you go like to like an outing, right? There's a and you're in the Airbnb game. Everyone around that's not in the Airbnb game, they can't relate. You know, they're kind of like civilians, like they don't get it. Like you want to talk to them about personal finance, you want to talk to them about Airbnb. Now they don't want to hear that shit, you know.

SPEAKER_09 0:45

And I needed more people just as crazy as me. I found YouTube. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

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 1:02

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

SPEAKER_05 1:13

All right.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

What's up, Micah Man? What? What's up, Micah Man?

SPEAKER_05 1:18

Chilling, chilling. Uh, I've been doing good. And today we got a special guest with us. Special guest? Yeah, it's been a while since we had a guest, actually.

SPEAKER_03 1:28

It has been a while.

SPEAKER_05 1:29

Yeah, we got Yuri. I'm not gonna butcher his last name. What's his name? Yuri? Pascar. Pascar.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

Yui Pascar. Uh the I butchered it. Yuri Yuri. And um, yeah, this is episode 89 on your favorite Airbnb VRBO, home away, um, sit here and BS about real estate podcast, you know. And um, so we're glad to be back and and hopefully all this video and stuff works. But yeah, we have a special guest, and it's Yuri Pascar, and we're very excited to get to to know him and his um Airbnb journey. So nice to meet you, Yuri.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Nice to meet you guys too.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

Cool.

SPEAKER_05 2:07

Yeah, yeah. So uh uh I actually met him in what one of the Airbnb groups on Facebook. Um so yeah, I actually met him in there. He actually said anyone to be on. I was like, oh heck yeah, we're looking for some people. So um so tell tell us a little bit about yourself, Yuri. Where'd you get started? How did you get started with the Airbnb journey and so forth?

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Sure. Um gosh, I um I think I fell into it kind of uh half-assed backwards. Some people start Airbnb in their own house. My wife never let me do that. Um but I've been buying and selling real estate and fixing and flipping houses for about four years now. Okay and I I I stumbled into Airbnb when we finished um this monster seven-bedroom, five-bathrouse, and it's it was huge right next to the university, and we put on the market and it just wasn't selling as fast. And I had the option of moving seven college kids that would just wreck the place. Or I I bit the bullet, and I I only had one friend that did Airbnb back then, and I like just picked her brain, everything she knew, and I just I just furnished it, you know, seven bedrooms, seven queen beds, or six queen beds, one king. And then once you start, you gotta finish, you gotta get all the the couches, the toiletries, everything that humans consume. Um coffees. And uh now we've been running it for about a year and a half, and we have multiple Airbnbs, and I still fix and flip. That's my bread and butter that keeps my guys busy. Um, but when the product is done, I kind of just want to furnish it. And um you know, and I only do like monster houses, like six, seven bedroom houses. I think like when you like I can sleep 16 plus um comfortably.

unknown 4:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

So that puts me in a different category than all the three-bedroom, two-bathrooms that are going to the market, you know, becoming an Airbnb every day.

SPEAKER_05 4:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

So so where do you operate out of it? I am in Omaha, Nebraska, born by the country. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:18

So so real quick, so going so big, getting these big houses, first of all, I guess you have less competition for these giant houses and you get a better deal on them.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Uh like acquisition-wise or price per night?

SPEAKER_03 4:33

Well, I guess acquisition-wise when you're buying when you're buying the thing. So you have less competition because no one's looking for these giant beast houses or what?

SPEAKER_02 4:40

Well, I'm uh I'm always buying them when they're just at the worst of the worst. I mean, like like houses that have been sitting for like a couple years and um the competition's probably still there, but you know, I I look for something that has at least a sixty, seventy thousand dollar construction budget, because then my crew can work for five, six months straight. Um I mean there is still competition. I mean, there there's a lot of investors in Omaha. People are fixing and flipping and wholesaling, and so there's still there's still a lot of competition, but once the product is is ready, you're right, there's only like five or six sixteen homes that can sleep sixteen plus here in Omaha. I happen to be one of them.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

And I would assume everybody's fighting over the the three, two bread and butter, you know, uh starter homes. That's what everybody wants to fix and flip because they sell like hotcakes, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:35

Right. Yep. And um I just realized they just don't produce uh pri um nightly rate, those three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes, they just don't cash flow as well as these bigger ones, you know. I'm gonna spend all this time Airbnb and I I want two, three, four hundred dollars a night. Unless it's a special event, I want more, you know. So question.

SPEAKER_05 5:58

So go ahead. You're doing these huge, gigantic houses. It's like do your first one. How much is it costing you to furnish something like that, like a seven-bedroom?

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Well, that's a good question. Um, I furnished this one about two years ago, and I didn't really know about Amazon. Well, I knew about Amazon, but I didn't know they will deliver everything you need to your door. So I went to Nebraska Furniture Mart, I went to garage sales, I you know, here, there. Now the system is streamlined. Um, Amazon delivers everything the mattresses, the beds, the toilet paper, the just the pots and pans, everything. Um, so I can furnish a two-bedroom apartment for about three, four thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_05 6:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:51

Smart. There you go. Okay, how about one of your houses, the big houses? Um I mean under 10. Under 10, yeah. Well, that's pretty good, even though because you're what how much are you rent like on the high end, high season, how much you rent that thing out for? I would say at least four or five hundred a night.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Um we are between like two fifty and four fifty. Wow, that's good. And um, I just recently set uh two night minimums, and then for holidays, three night minimums.

SPEAKER_05 7:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Um, because we were having too many people try to sneak in a little party here and there um with those one night minimums, so I had to be careful. Um But yeah, I mean it cash flows uh about two times better than a regular rental. Um but the other benefits of like never having a 30-day vacancy, never having to deal with an eviction, never having to chase somebody down for money or a make ready when I have to clean the place up. Plus, it's staged, so I could flip it at any time. Anytime. It's like perfection. It's like a I tell people it was like a museum. The furniture never gets moved, it gets cleaned better than my own house does. Um it's it's definitely more active. Nobody should get into Airbnb thinking it's passive. Like you have a long-term rental, you uh you collect your check once a month, you don't have to worry about the the internet and the utilities, but Airbnb man, it's you're like a hotel concierge. You can't be a crusty landlord and survive in the Airbnb game.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

Sounds like you're kind of kind of running little hostels over there in a way.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

Well, um only um the people all know each other. I don't rent by the room. So these are all groups. You know, like groups 12, 14, 16, lots of bachelorette parties. I mean, they just love love this place.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

Um Do you offer yours do you offer your services at the Bachelorette parties?

SPEAKER_02 8:56

There was one time I had to help fix the air conditioner because uh same movies start out like that. Uh then they luck in the the Bachelorette party, they uh they said something like uh oh we're going to a funeral, and then we have the uh the camera outside the door, outside, not in the house, we have it outside. And uh I mean they're dressed way too nice for a funeral. Uh just the killer, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

Real quick, going back to uh something that because you said you get Amazon to deliver everything, which is freaking amazing. But um I get nervous when like one or two boxes gets uh set on the front porch. Where do they put all your stuff putting all the beds and everything?

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Right. That's a good question. Um that's a that's a good question. Um so I'm furnishing actually two homes right now. Right the College World Series is about to hit Omaha. Oh, yeah. And that's when the hotels are sold out and rates are just skyrocketing, and and two people reached out to me. They're out-of-town investors, and you know, they wanted me to furnish their places, and you know, they're both out of town. They don't want these packages just sitting at their vacant house. So it arrived at my house. So my wife comes home and there's like 37 packages on the front door, uh, and usually she's the one getting Amazon packages, and all of a sudden I've got like mattresses and beds and nightstands and you know, everything they can get to put together with an Allen wrench just arrives to my house. So took over my living room, and uh today, just now I just finished delivering uh two truckloads. I'll probably have more tomorrow.

SPEAKER_05 10:42

So uh do you have a crew setting up all your furniture? Because you said everything put together with an Allen wrench, are you you putting it together personally or you have somebody doing it?

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Uh it's a hybrid, it's a hybrid of both. Um so the so I've been fixing and flipping for three years, and I've got guys that only work for me. I've I've paid them every single Friday. And for a contractor to get paid every Friday, I mean they know where their where their work is when their paycheck comes. So um when my guys aren't fixing houses, yes, they're moving furniture with me, they're setting it up. Absolutely. Um but like today I'm I'm setting up the beds by myself. Um so I you know I do a lot of the sweat sweat equity part, but when I need help, I I can it's just a phone call away.

SPEAKER_03 11:28

That's cool. Yeah, and I found like a neighborhood kid who likes to turn a Allen wrench and get him to do it.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Yeah, I could. Oh man, but there's there's so much more. Like I've got so I told you there's there's two houses I'm I'm furnishing, and all the boxes have just like combined together. So I'm putting the bed together, but it's a bed that's supposed to be in a different apartment, and all the boxes are now looking alike. So um, yeah, I mean it's it's a little bit more than just putting it together. I gotta go through the inventory and but it's okay. I'm building a I'm building a system, and um I see I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

SPEAKER_03 12:06

But that money's so good, Yuri. It's worth it.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

It's every weekend, you know. When you're a landlord, you gotta wait till the fifth to get your check. If you got a property management company, they might pay you on the 8th. And then if your tenant doesn't pay you, then you gotta fight them. But Airbnb, the money just goes right into your bank account, like four, five, six times a month. There you go. It's a beautiful thing, man.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

It's a beautiful thing. Do you mess with any others like VRBO or home away or anything?

SPEAKER_02 12:31

I did VRBO uh two years ago on a different house, and I had a good experience. You know, it was an older crowd that booked it. Um, folks that didn't really want an Airbnb profile. Um, but I'm strictly Airbnb right now. I may take some listings off the app, maybe turn it into a cash listing, but recently it's more important for me to have that income documented because I'm I'm actually going through a refinance based on Airbnb income. And so, you know, because I've had a year and a half of uh of solid income, and so my taxes are done, and I'm trying to pull some cash out of that house, and uh it was you know, I it was a little learning experience because bankers aren't um too keen about Airbnb underwriting just yet. You know, it's it's it's a foreign topic. But once it's on your taxes, then yeah, let's it's income. It shows, you know.

SPEAKER_03 13:30

What bank are you trying to go through, if you don't mind us asking?

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Yeah, no, absolutely. Um I grew my portfolio and I've got long-term rentals too. I I've got um I kind of kind of a mixed bag of Airbnbs and just regular rentals. Um I use a community bank here in town. Um shout out to Dundee Bank. Um, they're just really investor-friendly. They keep their loans in-house, so it's like a portfolio lender. Um, and that's what I would recommend for anyone uh trying to scale. Uh was that your Airbnb app? I heard uh I heard a I heard a chime.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

Micah's goes off all the time. He has 500 listings.

SPEAKER_05 14:10

Mine's a unity.

SPEAKER_03 14:12

It's funny you used to say that, Yuri, because I I um I recently turned my my last Airbnb into a long term because they you know they've been banning it over here. And so I just thought screw it, I'll go long term because it's gonna they're just gonna ban everything. And um and I used to get that. I uh it hasn't happened no more, but I uh every little string, a shing, everything like on the radio or on the TV, I'd be like, oh, it's like uh Pavlov's dog, man. I was like, whoa shit, is that it? I got a booking, looked at my phone, no fuck. But yeah, I used to get that, so that's probably what it is, Yuri. You're probably just hearing things.

SPEAKER_05 14:50

Heard some money.

SPEAKER_03 14:51

Hear some money, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:53

So on your refinance rent, the finance, because you said you've been doing it a year and a half, so your bank, they're they're they're I guess being more friendly towards the Airbnb income.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Yep. Um so the taxes show what the income was and then it shows the expenses. The expenses are kind of heavier in the cleaning side, because we do 1099 some cleaners. You know, it was heavier in the utilities uh versus a long-term rental, because that's on me, the utilities. Um, but really those were the only the internet. Um you know, those are the only expenses uh once you get the furnishing set up. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:33

That's awesome, man. Yeah, because I'm I'm going through a refi and I was able to use my Airbnb income. That's what everyone's been asking me. Like, hey, how do you do it? And I'm like, only people that I know so far, and it's good that you you actually found a community bank. Only people I have found was Kit Quicken, and I believe uh uh Wells Fargo. So it's good that community banks are hopping on board. Me and Steve need to get on some community banks down here.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

I know, right? Yeah. And so um it is a huge house, and you and you kind of you kind of mentioned it a little bit about um you change it to two at least two night minimum to avoid getting uh the party house thing going on. Has that I mean, have you had some crazy parties going on, or um is that like an issue?

SPEAKER_02 16:15

You know, uh it isn't even that bad. Um we had one kegger slip through. Um my neighbors messaged me, you know, like, you know the entire bar scene is at your house, right? You know, and it was like the next day was Christmas Eve, and this nice family asked to check in earlier, so I was already rushing. And so I messaged her, I messaged her, and I'm like, Annie, I know you're having a party, just clean everything up. And when we get there in the morning, and they they stayed off the carpet, but there was some beer spilt on the um on the uh floors and cleaned it up, um, hustled, but boom, you know, the next the next guest went right in, you know. We had one we had one family stay for one night, and the next morning um I show up to kind of clean it a little bit, and the wall is a completely different color, like a different gray. Like we go, we use like Sherwin Williams agreeable gray. Oh, yeah. The wall, like, there's like it's like a darker gray, and then it looks like somebody just threw mud on it and didn't even sand it. So this family had like kids, and then maybe one fell, maybe put an elbow through the drywall. And instead of just leaving it alone and and and getting like you know, the little fee that I would have charged, they they stopped their vacation short, they went to Home Depot, they bought some mud or something, they put it on the wall. Then they bought whatever gray they could find and they try to fix it.

SPEAKER_03 17:57

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

I still I still charge them. I went through the Airbnb Resolution for the first time. I only charge them a hundred bucks, you know. Um but like would you stop your vacation to to patch up some drywall?

SPEAKER_04 18:09

Like probably not.

SPEAKER_03 18:13

I just put like a poster over it and just call it a day.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

Yeah. But uh, I mean that's like you know, other than that, nothing nothing real crazy. Oh yeah, we we did have one crazy thing. Um, so I do have um, I I have a co-host myself. Like I have a little team, I have a four-man operation. Um, and um my cleaner came to the property one Monday uh after after a booking, and I get a message like, hey, didn't the last guests like check out? And I yeah, they did. And he goes, Well, there's someone sleeping in the basement. And then and they go, and they go, they go, what do you want me to do? Do you want me to call the police? And I go, no, wait right there. I'll be there with my baseball bag. I just I just I was already on, I was already amped up. I wanted to get I wanted to get into some kind of trouble. So I show up and my cleaner's outside, and I walk around, and it looks like one of the doors is kind of like busted, like one of the doorknobs is bust busted, and like we peep through the uh the camera, the outside camera's like unplugged, so it's already like a little sketch. Yeah. Um we ended up calling the police, they were there quick, and it's just some homeless guy just was walking up and down this neighborhood, and this is a good neighborhood, too. Just trying doors, found like one door that I had that was wobbly or something. Um he actually broke in with it like a screwdriver and just fell asleep in the basement. So you know, thank god my cleaner found him and not a guest.

SPEAKER_05 19:52

Wow, that is crazy.

SPEAKER_03 19:54

And you're ready, you're ready to do some battle.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

You know, other than that, like I don't know, it's some sheets have been ruined, but that comes with the territory. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:08

So how many so you said you do like six to seven bedrooms? Like, how much how do you advertise that? Like, how many people do you advertise that for? Like 20 people or how much?

SPEAKER_02 20:17

Party balls. We got yeah. Uh uh, we don't want them too crammed, so you know, we try to keep them comfortable. Um it's on Airbnb, it's you know, every bed's a queen or a king, so that's two two people per bed. Uh a couch someone could sleep on. Um you know, I don't have any air mattresses. So we just we just go through the Airbnb thing and you know, put how many guests can sleep there comfortably, and that's just how it's advertised. Um Yeah. Nothing special.

SPEAKER_05 20:51

So how many units do you have now? Airbnb units.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

So I've got um I've got uh I've got a s I've got a seven-bedroom house. I got a uh five-bedroom house. I have a two-bedroom condo that I that I'm doing arbitrage for the first time, but I'm actually gonna shut that down and we can go into into why. So I tried arbitrage. Okay. The good, the bad, and the ugly, and I'm I'm now managing, well, two out of towners, Airbnbs, and then I have two fix and flips that are at the tail's end, and I have the option or the luxury of either flipping them or biting the bullet and staging two more BMBs, and that and that's a six-bedroom and a five-bedroom. So I don't know what that adds up to, but um a little less than ten.

SPEAKER_05 21:41

Um you started when? Two years ago? How many years ago?

SPEAKER_02 21:46

Uh I started uh I formed my LLC, I bought my first property four years ago, but I got into the Airbnb world two years ago. Only now do I have some some momentum, I feel.

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Okay, let's let's dive into the why you're anti-arbitrage. What's that all about? Because Micah recently hopped out of an arbitrage, right, Micah?

SPEAKER_05 22:09

Yeah, yeah, I'm hopping out the arbitrage game.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

Go ahead on your and your Well, I'm not I'm not anti-arbitrage. Um it's it it's it's just like real estate is super local to your market, you know, people talk about the recession, but in 2009, Omaha didn't really get hit, you know. It's real estate's local. And so, you know, I see on Facebook, you know, these Airbnb millionaires who post their screenshots of their Airbnbs, and and it's it's from arbitrage, right? It's from going out and getting a bunch of apartments and and stuff. But you're not getting any tax benefits, there's no depreciation, you're not building any equity. If that landlord kicks you out, or if there's a policy change, you gotta shift. And in Omaha, where I'm at, you know, people travel less in January, February, March. So whereas I might be thriving in the winter, I'm just surviving I'm sorry, I may be thriving in the summer, I'm surviving in the winter. And I do my own snow, I do my own lawns, so I'm the one that's extremely active. Um, but on the arbitrage, I mean I'll share the numbers with you. I got a two-bedroom condo pretty much downtown, 775. I put it on Airbnb and and um people were just trying to party there. I mean, it wasn't a six-bedroom house, so I couldn't get my my 400 a night, you know, I was getting $90, $80. And I could see the writing on the wall that like this is not I I can't keep having like one, two, three night bookings. I wasn't getting there, it was oversaturated, everyone's doing it. Yep. So I took a page out of Micah's book, and I went corporate housing, burnished, finder, travel, nurse housing, and that's been a game changer. Um, but I'm still shutting it down because you know, I um you know, I went corporate housing, I had another person I wanted to move in. I tried to get another unit in that same apartment building, and then the crusty landlord just got a little, you know, like, well, why can't I do this myself? And he didn't want to get me, you know, he didn't want to do another lease with me. After that, I was just like, you know, the cash flow is I bet I I'd rather own the home. I'd rather get my depreciation, I'd rather get tax benefits, you know, I'd rather so that's that's that's why. And and it works for others, you know, if you're not in a position to put down payments and buy homes, yeah, or get your fiwet, arbitrage, co-host. Um but I think owning it is the long-term goal always.

SPEAKER_03 24:43

I guess they say you're like you're kind of like buying yourself a job in a way, right? With an arbitrage.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

You're buying yourself a job. Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:51

Well, Micah's hopping out. I have never done an arbitrage, but uh I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 24:56

Yeah, I wish we could get a two-bedroom condo in Dallas for $700 a month. That'd make me want to hop back in. But yeah, man, uh that's kind of why I hopped out too, man. It's just like when you look at it, if you look at it from the owner's point of view, you're making pennies on the dollar to what he's making. If you take 10 units from him, you know how much money he's making by leasing his places out to you, you're really not it's a cash game. I mean, arbitraging is you're just making cash. Like you said, there's no equities, no depreciation, no tax benefits. So you're right, that's kind of why I left it. I'm like, yeah, I'm about to focus on buying, you know.

SPEAKER_03 25:32

But we will get a straight arbitrager on the show to to state his case for arbitrage, you know what I'm saying? Adam James is huge about arbitrage, right?

SPEAKER_05 25:40

Yeah, yeah, he's big in it. There's a lot of a lot of our past guests have been big in it, you know. Right. And it is a great way to make, you know, cash flow.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

Now the Airbnb automated guy. You know who that one, that one from on YouTube, the automated Airbnb automated.

SPEAKER_05 25:54

He will be a future guest, yep.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

He's big into um into arbitrage. And I and I had a I had I had a I had a hunch, I had a thought, you know, how these people can grow so quickly. You know, one, you need a place where it's people still travel in the winter, you know, places where it's nice year-round, that's important. But then eventually you run into like a cash crunch, right? Like you're just putting all this money out, deposits, first month's rent, furnish furnishings. Did you see the uh Airbnb host capital from Cabbage? Did you guys get that little email from Cabbage? Yeah, yeah, okay. I saw what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_05 26:30

From from actual from actually from Airbnb, right? From Airbnb. Did you kind of click on it, mess around with it? I looked at it a little bit, but I didn't spend too much time on what was going on.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

Well they're they they will advance up to fifty thousand dollars. It's all based on your future revenue. And then you pay them back, you pay them back, like every time there's a guest, you know, you can pay them back half. It's automatic. And so I think that's how these guys scale so fast is that they just get bookings, get apartments, and then they they got they they're gonna run out of cash eventually. And then and then they they go through cabbage, and I've seen some of their screenshots, like they have different like names, like like it, like, like it might be like um well this person's profile and a different person profile. I bet you they one they hit their 50, and then they just create a new profile, and then they get more apartments, and they get another 50 racks. And I I think that's how they're doing it. I mean that's what I would do if I was in a city like Miami, and I and you know, I just that's what I would do.

SPEAKER_05 27:34

Man, think about Miami, man. And then the like those cities, like this is my my new, I think I talked to pretty much talked about my new strategy is I'm just going to Airbnb's website and only going to cities where Airbnb's contracted with the city to pay taxes. Because at this point, it's like so many cities are getting shut down. A lot of people are just like doing the thing of, oh well, there's no uh there's no uh restrictions here, so I'm gonna go here. But okay, if that doesn't mean there's no restrictions to come, you know what I mean? So and it's just so many, so many, it's so many things with short-term rentals that they're not accustomed to yet, you know. So yeah, it's it's I don't know. But the arbitrage thing, I do say this about arbitrages. I think they're safe from city regulations. I will say that. I've noticed that. Um but which is we we kind of don't have that luxury when we're buying, but you know, there's ways around it. We can look for, you know, look in places where just depends on where you look, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 28:32

Yeah. I like your uh little advice about just dropping that little pin in the middle of the lake.

SPEAKER_04 28:42

Oh man.

SPEAKER_03 28:45

Yeah, man. Well, it works. You gotta cloak it.

SPEAKER_07 28:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:50

There was uh oh, real quick, I mean, do you is that something you worry about in Omaha? Has there been some city council meetings about Airbnb getting out of control and stuff?

SPEAKER_02 29:00

I'm glad you I'm so glad you brought that up. Omaha is so Airbnb friendly. So Warren Buffett, you know, we have Berkshire Hathaway here every year. And like four or five years ago, Warren wrote to his shareholders in in a let in an open letter, hey, um, the hotels are squeezing you guys, my shareholders, um, because they sell out. Try this Airbnb thing. And this was maybe it was more than four or five years ago. This is when Omaha had like 15 Airbnb. And um, I think that year Airbnb was gonna like uh double the payout. That was their initial, you know, that was the thing. It was on my Facebook, it was like um Berkshire Hathaway come in, Omaha, Nebraska, double your payout. And so that got more and more people doing it. Um, and then the the question, so warrants for it, and the question is city council meetings. They just passed some legislative legislation just recently that said they're gonna get out of the way for short-term rentals. There will be no new planning, um, no new planning rules, there will be no um interference, they just they will not create any new laws around short-term rentals because we only have 15,000 hotel rooms in our city, and they sell out quick when we have big events, and we love our tourism money. Um, so no, Omaha is very Airbnb friendly. I don't see that changing. And they don't collect taxes, like how Micah said, you look at uh places that Miss City State collect taxes. Omaha doesn't, it's up to the host to do that.

SPEAKER_05 30:40

Really?

SPEAKER_02 30:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 30:42

Now, do you have to pay like a hotel occupancy tax?

SPEAKER_02 30:47

Uh Steve, I I I didn't. Um even on my even on my Airbnb, you could click the button that says add tax. I don't. Um I don't even have a deposit on mine. And I'll tell you what, I I was just floored this year after we finished our taxes. Um we got money back. And I was expecting to pay, uh, because I made more Airbnb income than I ever have. And I flipped three three homes, and somehow, um, I think it was like this double depreciation or bonus depreciation. There's something. Um my accounting friend said that um my accountant said that uh this year, all his clients that are W-2 employees, they were just pissed.

SPEAKER_05 31:31

All his self-employed uh clients, they were just happy. Yeah, I've I've heard that even in my job, there was all the W-2 people that live on W-2, they were like, oh, I owe money. I was sitting back like, damn.

SPEAKER_09 31:45

How did you owe money?

SPEAKER_02 31:48

But hey, we don't yeah, but so I'm in a I'm in a real cool place to do Airbnb. Um I hope I can do it for a while.

SPEAKER_03 31:59

So if any of y'all fans out there listeners want to start up an Airbnb in Omaha, hit up our friend Yuri, he'll hook you up.

SPEAKER_05 32:06

Yeah. Yeah. Hey, yeah, Omaha. I never even thought of Omaha. I mean, that that's what then that's kind of what I was telling Steve. You can go to like these random markets you probably won't even think about and you know, make a killing. You know? Now my question is this. Now shifting to the real estate side of Omaha.

SPEAKER_08 32:24

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_05 32:25

How much does a typical 3-2-2 go for out in Omaha?

SPEAKER_02 32:29

Gosh, I'm anywhere from $70,000 to $150,000. Yeah. Um, I mean, we have our million-dollar homes here, but we also have just there's inventory. Um I'm buying a duplex in a couple days for $95,000. Um, yeah, I mean, there's there's still deals here, and there's a lot of competition, but our our property taxes are high. You know, but how high is that?

SPEAKER_03 32:57

Like percentage-wise.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

Oh gosh, I don't know percentage-wise. Mine's like $600 a month in my primary residence.

SPEAKER_03 33:05

Um $600 a month?

SPEAKER_02 33:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

Damn. That's pretty high. I don't know for I don't know percentage-wise. It's kind of a mixed bag, but um I mean, can I ask what they value your house as uh at at or Yeah, they they uh absolutely the tax assessed value is like $290.

SPEAKER_03 33:26

$290?

SPEAKER_02 33:27

Yeah, that's the tax assessed value. And so do some math.

SPEAKER_03 33:31

Mike Mike could do some math.

SPEAKER_05 33:34

I was gonna say do some math if you're gonna re- I'm kinda actually kind of funny, man, but they uh seventy two hundred dollars is a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

We're in a we're in a school district that's um I mean they squeeze us in the in the school district that we live in. I don't even have kids. Um if I w if I was in a different part of town, I wouldn't be paying that much.

SPEAKER_05 33:54

It's it's it's it's the school district that's so you so your house we could say your but your house is appreciating pretty good then, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:02

Yeah, yeah. It's it it's definitely appreciating. Yeah. If I wanted to uh jump out of it, I could probably get half a mil if I wanted to get out of this.

SPEAKER_03 34:11

So you go use like the school's um gym and and pool and monkey bars and stuff just to get your money's worth?

SPEAKER_02 34:16

Well uh we walk our dog around the track and he might take a dump. Uh some school dollars will pick that up. I'll pick it up. But no, we don't uh we don't use any of the school facilities.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

So y'all are y'all closing this uh Go ahead, go ahead, Steve. University of Nebraska.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 34:38

Oh, see all the football games you'll get a pretty good crowd.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

We get uh we get a good crowd for the football games, and um I don't know if it's Steve or is it you or Micah that has uh a home in uh Arkansas? Is it you, Micah? That's me, yeah. Yeah. Well, and you you had an episode that you were kind of surprised about like for like the holidays, like the get-togethers, like Thanksgiving, like birthdays, like graduations. Graduations have been also huge. We got a bunch of schools here. We got Creighton, University of Nebraska, we got and every you know, that they have graduations all year round. So birthdays, graduations, Thanksgiving, Christmas, every single holiday. Um, you name it. We had we had the women's roller derby championship. We had six sixteen gals in this house, and then they would go skate around a circle and just beat the crap out of each other, and then it just anything and everything.

SPEAKER_05 35:39

That's crazy. Yeah, and that's the thing about colleges that you have to think about. There's your graduations year-round. I never even thought about that. I forgot Crate was okay. Year-round, absolutely. Wow, man.

SPEAKER_03 35:53

Do you have do you okay? You've been doing it for a while a little while. Um, do you have any like killer tips that you ain't heard on any other like podcast or any other blog or whatever that you like? This is a Yuri tip, a Yuri.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

I got a little one, and it's not even I got a little one, and it's not even that. You know, Airbnb is coming out eventually with that customization link where you can, you know, instead of telling somebody go to my webpage, www.airbnb backslash rooms one two three four a six. You know how the long hyperlink. Well, um about a year ago, I was like, oh, I wanted to share my my webpage with people. I just I wanted to share my listing page with people. I didn't know how to I didn't want to text their phone like the entire hyperlink. So I just went to I just went to go daddy.com and I I registered just a website. Mine is um www.airomaha. So that's a-i-r-o-m-a-h-a.net, if you want to take a look. And the only thing that website does is redirect. Back to my smart. Back to my so now if I want to show somebody my my digital business card, I just text them this easy link, and then it pops right up on their phone, and that's that's me. My wife's in the picture. Those are some of our homes. We have our reviews. Um, and it it's just it's just so easy. Um hold on. Quick question. How do you what's your website again? I gotta try this. It's uh it's www.airomaha.net. They didn't have.com. So I had to get like.net.

SPEAKER_04 37:32

I don't even know what that is. Oh man, G Steve, this is genius. That is genius. Oh, that is genius. Hey, that's hey, if you're listening right now, I just typed that in. That is the best tip I've ever heard. That is genius right there. Wow, that's genius. That that that's hey, I'm about to do that. I'm doing that.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

15 bucks a year. And you know, it's it's just such an easy digital business card to text somebody, to tell people.

SPEAKER_03 38:02

That's a Yuri original. You heard it here first. On uh Live The Thrive, y'all. So don't say we never gave y'all nothing. Thanks, Yuri. Thanks for the hookup.

SPEAKER_04 38:14

Wow, okay. You got some nice houses. You got six of them.

SPEAKER_05 38:17

I like these. These are dope, man.

SPEAKER_10 38:19

Thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_05 38:20

199 a night, 300 a night, 230.

SPEAKER_10 38:23

Yeah, that's before you add all your guests. Once you start going past four guests, then it starts to change a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 38:31

I like this though. That that was smart, man. I like now I like the background picture you got. That's dope, man.

SPEAKER_08 38:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:39

Alright, the flipping game. I mean you have you you deal with I mean, you that's what you do. You deal with contractors. And a lot of people have um bad um bad luck with contractors. How do you how did you get to where you you got it, you know, you got it running smooth?

SPEAKER_02 38:55

Oh man, uh, trial and error. Um, so three years ago, no, four years ago, five years ago, whenever I bought my first, my primary residence, um, so my wife and I, we bought our house, and the very first night, you know, I'm taking a shower. My wife's watching TV in the den, right below where the shower is. And then I hear a scream.

SPEAKER_10 39:21

I go downstairs and she points at the uh Cox cable outlet. So out of the cable outlet, there's water coming out of the cable outlet.

SPEAKER_02 39:32

And we we just moved from like an apartment to this house, and you know, we just closed that day and missed it in the inspection, because you know, what inspector looks at your cable outlet when he when he runs the shower. And so that's how that's how it started. I just I had to ask around, like, hey, do you know a plumber? Hey, do you know a plumber? And then got the wrong one, and then we got the right one, and then they cut into the the drywall, and then they replaced the plumbing, but then they cut into the drywall that had the wall pay, the pink wallpaper. So now we had to take the wall green wall, the pink wallpaper down, and then when we took that down, we gotta put the drywall up. And it that just that just led to remodeling the bathroom that was attached to it. And the plumber had brought um the a paint the plumber had bought like a paint brought a painter with him. And then the plumber would just leave, and the painter would just do everything mud, drywall, sand, and you know, this is the first time I had watched a house change, like even like taking wallpaper down, you know, I like it was actually a change. Every day something new happened and it was exciting. And so I would take time off work just to kind of help the painter do whatever he's doing. And I started you know thinking, I, you know, I I need to see this again, like this this change, this this bathroom changing, this, this, this wallpaper coming off. I I need this again. So we kept remodeling the house. And eventually I I talked my wife into putting a down payment on on the first rental property. And I I called the the painter back, and at that time, who he was working with, the plumber, he just didn't have any more work for him. And so I gave him work. And that guy has been with me for the last three years, and he's gotten paid every single Friday. And now I've got two more guys that are also jack of all trades. So I got three guys that I pay every single week. They only work for me. Um, and I've got other subs I could call for like roof and for other things, but you know, as long as I keep finding these beat up houses, I can keep my guys working, and that's that's the most important thing. Just keeping my guys busy.

SPEAKER_03 41:46

Nice. It's kind of like you got your own construction business in a way.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

Just real small, just real grassroots, you know.

SPEAKER_03 41:54

Yeah. That's cool. Did you um think of maybe making a construction business and doing it for other people?

SPEAKER_02 42:01

Yeah, that's a great question. And I've had to take on clients when I like and when I'm in between construction loans, when I'm in between closings, I you know, I gotta keep them busy or they're gonna go work somewhere else. And so I I've I've done work for other people. I have. But it there's not it doesn't you know, working for other people who uh aren't in the trenches, they might bark at the receipt, somebody they might not get understand how why there's so much material cost or why there's so much labor. You know, they they think it's like HGTV, you know, everything happens in like a 30-45 minute segment. That's there's so many things that happen. And um, yeah, so I I have work for other people, but it's only just to fill a void until I get my next construction loan.

SPEAKER_03 42:47

So that's a like a unique position. You get to see it from both sides as the you know, the customer and as the um the worker, you know. That's yeah. That that's interesting. Um and so and so this is your primary gig now? Do you have a f uh W 2 job or this is what you do?

SPEAKER_02 43:04

Um I did. I uh I I used to have a W 2 my corporate life. I uh I was an insurance agent, I still am. I kept kept my insurance license. Um I worked for Mutual of Omaha, this was a big company here. Yeah um and I grinded, I grinded 60 hour work weeks and I I I crushed it, but I didn't have that freedom. And I started reading more books and started doing like my uh personal financial statement, and I realized my house was growing, my my mortgage was lowering, like my yeah, I had my 401k, I had my savings, but it looked like my home was like my biggest asset, and I was like, you know what? This has to hold true for the second one, the third one, the fourth one, and um you know I I I I stuck it around corporate life as long as I could, and then I just I just bailed. But by but before I left though, I maxed out the fact that. I had that sweet W2. I went and talked to every bank. And I'll give you another tip. I'll give you one more tip. Because I like how excited Micah got with the first tip. I'll give you another tip. Um I had used this uh software, I think it was called like personal capital or mint.com. It's just something that like you can upload like your accounts, and then it kind of shows you your your assets, your liabilities, and and I had a I had a check-in account with like a thousand dollar overdraft protection, right? You know, if you if you go out, you know, if you if you have an overdraft, that's what it's there for. And in that software it said line of credit. And it was the first time I had like started realizing what line of credit meant, you know, like what it could be used as acquisition-wise. And so I called that bank and I was like, you know, and I had that sweet W-2, and I was like, you know, I I don't really need this, but like it's a thousand, like, how high can you go? Like, and they're like, oh well, we got a much better product, this credit card with a lower interest rate. And I go, no, I I know, I don't really need a credit card. I'm just wondering how how high can you go take this overdraft protection? They took it up to 25 G. And then I called the next bank that I had like a $500 overdraft protection. And to raise that thing up to 10 G's. And you know, when you're applying for credit, it's called batching, you do it all at once, right? If one bank runs a credit, you might as well talk to everybody. And so before I left my W-2, I had just made sure I could I got as many lines of credit set up as possible, and I had formed an LLC too, before I left my W-2, and I had bought a bunch of properties in my LLC because of my W-2, and I even found some strength partners, some folks with better W-2s than me, you know, and I partnered up with them. You know, and sometimes you you gotta stand on the shoulders of giants just to just to kind of you know go forward. And so when I finally left my W-2, I had 10 properties, I had my lines of credit set up that I could just buy a house cash if I needed to, and then refinance it with my community bank. So um I didn't just wake up one day and say, I'm I'm gonna stop going into work. It was six years of of planning, a lot of podcasts. I went through all the bigger pockets podcasts and all the other podcasts, and I stumbled on you guys because I needed folks that were so Airbnb crazy like me, because I was pushing my chips in and I could not find anyone else that was just talking about it. You know, like I needed more like-minded people because I think you had a podcast one time you're saying, you know, like if you go like to like an outing, right? There's a and you're in the Airbnb game. Everyone around that's not in the Airbnb game, they can't relate. You know, they're kind of like civilians, like they don't get it. Like you want to talk to them about personal finance, you want to talk to them about Airbnb. They don't want to hear that shit, you know.

SPEAKER_09 47:12

And I needed more people just as crazy as me. I found you two. There you go.

SPEAKER_03 47:18

I found Micah through bigger pockets, so same kind of thing, you know. Yeah, that's true. He's the one that told me about Airbnb. He was killing it on Airbnb. And so, yeah, that we just uh let's just do a podcast about it. I used to do like a rock and roll podcast back in the day, so I was like, that sounds cool. I know how to podcast, you know how to do Airbnb, let's let's do this thing. Maybe someone will listen.

SPEAKER_02 47:39

Well, you guys, you guys just have fun on your on your, you know, you guys will talk about this, you go and talk about this, but you guys have fun, you know? And it's all share economy, you know. You don't you guys don't really talk about flipping houses or wholesaling or new construction. It's kind of Airbnb focused. Um, and that's what I needed at that time. Like I was just, I think I was furnishing another giant house, and I was just like, you know, like I just needed more people like me. Um you can you can send your check to um Fort Ward, Texas and I should set up a little little fun, little nonprofit, little let live, let thrive, go fund me uh something. That's coming.

SPEAKER_03 48:21

Yeah, we need to do a lot of things, man. That's um sounds that sounds cool. Um you meant you got you mentioned it real quickly about strength partners. And that's the first time I've heard that term, but what exactly you mean do you mean by strength partners?

SPEAKER_02 48:37

So wherever you're weak, you go find the person that's not weak in that situation. So I left my W-2, right? And banks love W-2, they love W-2s. So I when I found somebody that had a strong W-2, needed help investing. So then you form an LLC, you know, and maybe 50-50 or 60-40, however you figure out, and you get to leverage that person's W-2 in your LLC. You know, that's awesome. Um if that and that and that that is how you scale.

unknown 49:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:07

I think each LLC is allowed like a million bucks in debt, and so once you hit your first million, you get another LLC with another partner.

SPEAKER_03 49:16

Um partners, I like that. And has it um I don't know, I've always been scared to take on like partners. Is it is it um can it be pretty challenging at times?

SPEAKER_02 49:29

Yeah, it can. I've left two partnerships. Um, you know, I've I've been in a few partnerships and I've walked away from some. And people get all excited about jumping into bed with somebody, but they never think about what happens after the honeymoon phase, you know. And so I've you know, I've had to amend operating agreements and walk away, and usually during that time there's assets involved because you both personally guaranteed houses loans. Um that's actually how I got my seven-bedroom house was when I left the LLC, I took this house with me. I said, You guys have the other stuff, I want this one. Um so yeah, you know, partners, you know, I've heard different things. You know, some partners are with you for a reason, some are with you for a season, some are with you for a lifetime, you know. Now my partners are my family, you know, because they're with me for a lifetime. Um but you know, if you so it's tough to say. There's no wrong answer, you know.

SPEAKER_03 50:29

So you're I mean you're cool with doing business with family?

SPEAKER_02 50:33

Uh that's a good that's a you know, they say never rent to friends, family, don't don't do business with friends, family. Yep. With with my with my folks, I I I'm comfortable. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 50:45

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

With my folks, I'm comfortable. That's good.

SPEAKER_05 50:49

And and more funny you said that, don't rent to friends and family.

SPEAKER_02 50:54

Because you gotta be the bad guy eventually.

SPEAKER_05 50:57

It's funny, the last two months we've had, like I because I've I got an Airbnb in Arkansas. Last in the last two months I had two family members asking me to rent it, and I was like, Yeah, I was like, yeah, I know what you mean, man. Then they find out what you're doing, they try to get in on you like, ah, I'm good.

SPEAKER_03 51:21

Just let them just let them pay six months at a time. I mean, it'd be smooth.

SPEAKER_05 51:26

Yeah, then you don't want to go in your place after six months. Ooh, that's true. That's kind of what Steve's going through now. He don't know what's going on in this place.

SPEAKER_03 51:39

Talk about Goth Girl. Oh. Is that what you're talking about? I don't know. Or the first one. I'll let you explain that today. Yeah. Dude, did that was on the last podcast. Did you listen to the last podcast, Yuri?

SPEAKER_02 51:52

I missed it. I I I listen on um on iTunes, and I think that might be behind a couple.

SPEAKER_03 51:58

Okay. This one's episode I think 86 was the last one I put up. Anyways, yeah. Check it out. You'll you'll hear about God Girl on there.

SPEAKER_02 52:08

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:08

The story goes deeper than that, but I have uh parts I can't say on the on the airwaves. So um and and not to harp on the partnership stuff, but just like, okay, if if I'm gonna decide to do like a partnership with somebody, what what what is like your number one suggestion or a couple suggestions to do to make it a smooth thing?

SPEAKER_02 52:29

Um I don't know, kind of get everything out in the open um at first. Because when you get into a partnership, like there's it's that honeymoon stage, you're all excited that you're gonna take over the world. But talk about what happens if there's a capital called if you need to get put in some money, or what happens if you need a part ways. What happens if somebody gets T-boned and doesn't come home that night and now you're in partnership with their wife? You know, like it's it's it's it's it's it's just the what if, you know. And I'm uh my background is in insurance and life insurance, and so I you know, I know how important it is to have a plan, maybe a trust set up. Kind of like that what if, like oh crap moment. Um so you cut yeah, that's just kind of it. Just get everything out in the open on how to get into the partnership, how to get out of the partnership. Um the standard bylaws of an LLC document is just is real basic. It talks about dissolution of the partnership, but go one step further and you know, and make sure you like the person because you know you might end up work you might end up being partners with their wife one day. So you know um but yeah, if you don't need them, don't. You know. Micah, you've got that sweet job at at the at the airport, at the airline. Oh, that's me. That's me. Oh Steve, yeah, you yeah, you got a sweet job where you're gonna be able to retire and and and fly wherever you want. Like, you know, I I you got a sweet WT, you might not need a partner. You know.

SPEAKER_03 54:00

I yeah, that's the thing. I don't I don't like the job so much. I like the benefits of the job. And I mentioned it on the show next February is when I could actually retire and keep my flight benefits. So it's it's weighing on my mind a little bit. But I but now I know I can I have to find me a strength partner if I'm gonna if I'm gonna jump ship and run up as many lines of credit as I can to get as many lines of credit. I've never heard that before. And you know, um, did you I don't know if you listened to the the Bigger Pockets episode where the um that girl from Detroit um uh Ashley, did you listen to that one?

SPEAKER_02 54:40

Is it is it recent?

SPEAKER_03 54:41

It's recent, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:42

No, I I didn't listen to it.

SPEAKER_03 54:44

Okay, well she did a thing where she went to I believe it was um Chase Bank, and she got like one of those credit cards that's like um one year zero interest and she ran yeah that she went and bought houses with that, you know, and paying so it's better than hard money. There's always different ways to do it, man. That's pretty cool. Sir. So how has one more question how has um you know uh living, breathing in the insurance industry, how has that helped your career at all in this um in the real estate and Airbnb and all this stuff?

SPEAKER_02 55:18

Kinda. It's a it's a slow, a slow burn. Like I don't gone are the days where I try to sell somebody and shove a policy down their throat. Like I what's nice about still being in the insurance world is you know, I'm growing my holdings. I'm gonna I'm acquiring more and more. My partners are acquiring more and more. Well, you know, I get a little kickback off that property and casualty insurance. You got you know, if you have a loan in a house, you probably should have insurance on that house. Even if you don't have a loan, you probably should have property insurance. So, you know, my little baby check grows every month. You know, it's a renewal check. So as I grow in my portfolio, my partners do too. You know, I just get a little check every month. And there's no toilets, there's no tenants, there's no overhead, it's just a renewal check, right? So, you know, that's another hustle too. It's not that hard to pass your insurance exam. I mean, if you can study for two weeks and absorb facts, you know, you could be a life and health agent or property and casualty agent, and then everybody needs insurance. Like it's a law. You have to have car insurance. You should have life insurance. Uh people don't, they don't think about it until they get sick or somebody passes away. Um so yeah, it's it's just another hustle I have.

SPEAKER_03 56:38

Um see see that's a that's a cool that's a cool thing, because like I would consider, I mean, would you would would this sound like a bad idea? I would consider like getting my license just so I can like put my own stuff under my under my own insurance and I can you know get better deals and and maybe like you said, the little kickbacks and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 56:57

I think it's a great idea. If if you have two weeks, literally, if you can you can have two, three weeks of just cramming, you only need a 70 to pass. And uh that's it. Um now you can write your own auto policy, you can write your own home policy. So you can, you know, you're everyone you know has a car and an apartment or a house. Every you know, so you got a little bit of kickback every month or two.

SPEAKER_03 57:25

Dude, that's awesome. Because I I plan on accumulating more real estate. And every freaking year, well, the the house with the house value goes up and the insurance goes up. I'm like, dang, you know, I mean, if there was a way to to help that out a little, that'd be that'd be a game changer.

SPEAKER_08 57:40

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 57:43

Other tip. Yuri's full of tips today.

SPEAKER_05 57:46

Yeah, he is, man. I'm already I just went and bought my little uh domain over there. I just haven't redirected it yet.

SPEAKER_02 57:53

Are you gonna share it? Are you gonna share what it was? The domain name?

SPEAKER_05 57:57

Oh, I just bought sharebnb listings.com. I'm just gonna redirect it, man. That was a genius idea. I told you, and I act on stuff. As soon as I get it, I act on it.

SPEAKER_03 58:08

Yuri has more tips than a hot hooter's waitress.

SPEAKER_04 58:15

Oh man, this has been good, man. I'm so happy we were able to get somebody with a lot of tips, man.

SPEAKER_03 58:20

Throwing some knowledge at us today. This is awesome. Um are you a fan? Are you everybody's everybody says they are, but are you a fan of uh Warren Buffett and you like kind of study what he does a little?

SPEAKER_02 58:32

Um you know, he says go the opposite way of of of the herd. So if if the herd is buying, you should be selling. If the herd is selling, you're buying. Um but that's about it. You know, I you know, I I'm not super heavy in the market. Um, it's there, my wife's got her 401k, but you know, I'm building the the rentals and the B and Bs. That's that's mine and the insurance renewals. Um But I'll tell you who is a big fan of Warren Buffett, it's everyone that comes to Berkshire Hathaway meetings for three days here in Omaha. And I'll tell you a story. Um my wife, who I told you would never let us Airbnb. Our house, she was out of town that weekend, and she goes, Well, I don't care if you if you if you put the spare bedroom on Airbnb. And I didn't really I didn't really argue with her, I just did it. Like I didn't really say anything. I I I got their green light, and so I was just like, that's all I needed. So I took some pictures, I took a picture-some picture of the rest of our house, and I put it on the market. It's just like a one-bedroom in a bathroom for like 275, something ridiculous, for like a bedroom. And I wasn't getting hit. And then the day of Berkshire Hathaway, I lowered it to 225, and I get the bring, you know, that Airbnb cash register that we all love. Um, and it was a gentleman from like Mexico City, Mexico. Oh wow. Uh he's and he's a businessman, he has 176 employees. I thought it was like part of the cartel, so I was like, I was a little bit more like excited to see what's going on. And and talk about like Warren fans. Like, for those three days, Warren Buffett's house is is here in Omaha. I mean, he's he's on the assessors page. His name, his address is not hidden. In front of his house, everyone is taking pictures. And that was like I I picked the guy up from the airport. I, you know, for 225 a night, I figured what what the hell? You know, he wanted to stop by Warren Buffett's house so you could take a picture of his driveway, and everyone's talking Buffett, and everyone's talking about investing.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:38

But 225 at night for a private room?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:43

Yeah, well, it's because the hotels, I I went, I went on VR BO I went on VRBO and for some reason they had hotel rooms on VRBO. 400 bucks. Jeez.

unknown 1:00:52

What?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:53

Yeah, 400 bucks for a hotel room. And we only I mean again, we only have like 15 or 16,000 hotel rooms, and they're building more, but we got influxes of people coming that just sell those hotels out. So really.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:08

I wonder if people are buying up hotel rooms and putting them on VRBO.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:13

You know, not I don't think in Omaha. I don't think they're down in Omaha. No one's caught on really.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:18

Um, it might be a good side hustle. Cause like that's one of the problems in Arlington. We ain't got no hotels, but they want to shut down all the Airbnbs, so that doesn't make any sense. None at all.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:31

Yeah, Jerry Jones controls um Arlington, Texas, y'all. And um, so he's doing he's in the hotel business now, so of course he's gonna get rid of all the competition beforehand, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_07 1:01:44

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:44

But um that has been this has been a great interview, Yuri. Uh we've we're we've learned a lot. Um What where do you where are you going from here, man? Do you just want to keep accumulating Airbnbs and and like how many I don't know. How do you you have a number in mind?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:00

Yeah, that's that's that's a great question. W you know when I started getting long-term rentals, I thought, you know, man, I get like fifty rentals and they'll cash flow three hundred each after the mortgage, and you know. But then that's fifty air conditioning units and eight and furnaces and roofs and tenants, and with the B and Bs, because they cash flow two to two and a half to three times better than long-term rental, I realized it's not about quantity, it's about quality. So I mean ten to fifteen Airbnbs, I should be good. Like, I should be good, and so I'm I'm I'm hustling right now um to get them up and running. And it's you know, I don't get to vacation as much as I as I'd like to. I know Micah just got back from the Bahamas, so that he had to have fun over there.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:50

Thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:52

So just 10 to 15 Airbnbs, and I I think I should be straight, man. And I'll still be in this game. I'll be in this game until I'm old, you know, be flipping houses. Um I love it. Like I I'm never gonna retire, but I'd like to take a little bit more vacation time. And that's the systems, you know. I you have to have systems, and I'm building those up.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:13

Yeah, yeah. Once you have the systems, man, it's uh it's funny because when I was on vacation, you know I asked I I turned it into a business trip. I went to visit some uh old podcast guests of ours, and that's what we were talking about with systems, and yeah, you gotta have those systems. Once you have those, man, it makes it so much easier. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:31

So you uh that's cool though. You're kind of delaying the the fun a little bit. But what what is that Dave Ramsey quote? Live now like others won't, so you can live later like others can't.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:42

Exactly. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:43

So it all it's great advice unless you get hit by a bus.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:46

So if I get hit by a bus and my wife retires in Beverly Hills, I'm loaded to the gills and life insurance. Man, I still stay at night knowing, you know, no matter what I get into, I can get her out of it. You know, it's uh God forbid.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:08

That's awesome, man. Uh, you got any more questions for our man Yuri? Uh but real quick, uh what what is that uh the origin of Yuri? What is that? What kind of name is it?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:16

Uh I'm from Russia. I came to the United States in 1990 when communism was falling apart. So my family's from Russia.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:24

How old were you when you came here?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:26

I was five. I was five.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:28

Oh wow. So you speak you speak Russian?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:32

I speak Rusky, yeah. I speak Russian.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:34

Stolitchnaya. Mm-hmm. That's a vodka.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:40

Like, wow, I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:44

Perestroika. You're like, yeah, Steve knows Russian, man. Shit. I don't know. I just know vodka.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:52

Yeah. I just know my name means shirt in Russian.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:55

Yeah. Mike Micah. That Micah. Yeah. Micah means shirt.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:59

Yes, it does. I know a little bit of something.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:06

That's cool, man. Well, thanks for hopping on, dude. This has been a great episode.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:11

This is the only podcast I've ever been on. This is probably the only podcast I'm gonna go on.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:16

Oh, you're gonna come back on ours again for sure.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:18

Yeah. Once people hear your story, man, they'll be hitting you up, knocking at your door, be like, hey, come on this podcast, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:25

Listen out. So so where can folks um, you know, find out about you and um, yeah, website or email or whatever?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:32

Yep. Well, um, and I don't I don't mind talking to people. Um breaks the day up. I'll I'll give my personal phone number out if that's cool. I don't mind. So it's 402 578 3366. And my homepage is www.airomahaw.net. Um you can find me on Facebook, Yuri Pascal. You can call me. Um I'm not really selling anything. I don't really have any sales pitch or anything. I'm not really growing a co-host business. I just felt like chopping it up with you guys because, you know, the um yeah, like I said, when I pushed the chips in on Airbnb, I needed some people just as crazy as me that were talking nothing about Airbnb.

SPEAKER_10 1:06:22

Because I wasn't guessing at the at the local barbecue. Like I couldn't I couldn't just talk about it because they look at me weird.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:30

It's definitely people stand in his house.

SPEAKER_10 1:06:32

What's wrong with it? They don't realize that it's other houses.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:38

Yeah, they're like, random people from the internet? What?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:44

It's definitely a cult, man. We love we love talking about our little Airbnb cult, but it's growing, you know. But it's um, yeah, man. This has uh been a great episode. We appreciate you hopping on, Yuri. And uh we will, yeah, we'll do another follow-up episode very quickly, if you don't mind. Like tomorrow. We'll we'll call you tomorrow.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:05

Don't worry.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:06

All right, y'all. Well, this is um Airbnb. This is Airbnb. This is uh Livelet Thrive. Thanks for listening. Any closing words, Micah?

SPEAKER_05 1:07:14

Episode 89. You can catch us on Facebook, liveletrive.com. Check out our Instagram. In fact, you check out everything at Livelet Thrive.com. We updated it, everything's there. So, yeah, man. Thanks for hopping on, Yuri. We are out.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:30

See you later.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:32

Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of Livelet Thrive. Be sure to tune in next week for all the latest in the world of Airbnb and all that entails. Bye bye.