Exclusive Insights Short Term Rental Industry Secrets with Stephanie Figueros
17 Dec 2023 · 65 min
In this episode of The New and Experienced Investor Podcast, host Alex Barnett is joined by experienced investor Joe Homs (calling in from a cruise) and short‑term‑rental (STR) specialist Stephanie Figueros. Stephanie shares her journey from nursing to full‑time STR investing across multiple states, explaining how her hospitality background informs her approach. The conversation covers the distinction between real‑estate and hospitality aspects of STRs, underwriting methods that consider both short‑term and long‑term scenarios, and how market selection (including emerging markets like Michigan, Myrtle Beach, the Gorge in Kentucky, and inland‑Empire cities) drives success. They discuss the evolution of STRs toward experience‑focused, themed properties—3D installations, Disney‑style rooms, domes, treehouses—and the substantial upfront costs of amenities versus expected ROI. Rental arbitrage (master leasing) is explained as a low‑entry strategy, while HOA and municipal regulations are highlighted as major risk factors, with examples from California, Boca Raton, Dallas, and Big Bear. The hosts compare platform dynamics (Airbnb, VRBO, Google Vacations, direct booking) and note how large events (Taylor Swift tour, Coachella) can spike demand. Operational insights include property‑management fee structures (15‑30 %), the use of virtual assistants (e.g., Bravo Virtual Assistants) to outsource repetitive tasks, and the importance of guest screening and review management. They also explore scaling ideas such as boutique hotel conversions, the benefits of offering kitchens, laundry, and communal spaces, and the need for contingency planning when regulations change. Throughout, Stephanie emphasizes the active, hands‑on nature of STRs, the value of mentorship and community meetups, and practical advice for newcomers on entry price points, market research tools (AirDNA), and balancing short‑term, mid‑term, and long‑term rental strategies.
Chapters
Hi everybody, welcome back to the podcast, The New and Experienced Investor Podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Alex Barnett. I'm the new guy. And we have a guest with us. If you can't tell, this isn't Joe. This is Stephanie, Stephanie Figueros, and we're gonna meet her in just a second. But, um, actually I have somebody calling in right now. Are we able to pull up the experienced one? Hey, Joe, how's it going? Oh, okay. Well, what do you got to do? Okay.
There we go.
Fun part of the live stuff. There's a little sound. Okay, are you there?
Yeah, I'm here. I'm here.
Okay, nice. Boost it. Can you boost his levels? Producer, producer stuff. There we go. So why aren't you here?
I'm in the middle of the ocean. I'm on a cruise. I'm calling from just outside San Diego from my balcony suite. And this is Kind of like a test. We've never done this before. This is awesome. Awesome.
Yeah. Yeah, it is.
Anyways, I'm the old guy. I'm the old guy. So I'm here. I'm here.
You're the experienced one, as we say.
Oh, experienced.
I'm sorry.
Experienced.
That's right. Okay, nice. Well, what have you— what are some sights you've been seeing out on the high seas?
We saw some whales, dolphins. We went up to San Francisco. I met Several of my agents up there took them out to lunch. Just got finished with some agents down here in San Diego. We're headed to Ensenada tomorrow and then back home on Saturday.
Sounds like a good time. Do you have any agents that specialize in short-term rentals?
I think I just hired one, honestly, but she's in the Bay Area.
Okay. Do you need anything in the Bay Area?
I do. Yes, I do.
Okay.
I always need new, uh, new agents.
Gotcha.
To connect with.
Maybe you could take the, the names off. Um, okay. Well, that's what, that's kind of like the theme that we're talking about today is short-term rentals because Stephanie is a short-term rental goddess. Is that fair to say?
Wow. That's a— it's really generous. I'll take it.
I'll take it. Okay, nice.
Acceptable.
Okay, gotcha. Maybe, uh, you could, um, introduce yourself to everybody and kind of go into your background.
Yeah, so I'm Stephanie Figueros. I am a short-term rental investor and short-term rental realtor based in Southern California, but my background is actually nursing. So I didn't come from financial real estate business. I came from the hospital. And basically Pretty much said I wanted to leave the 9-to-5 grind. I wanted to depend, not depend on my nurse as an, or income as a nurse. And so I decided I need to start a side hustle. And so it turned into like maybe e-commerce, but then decided after watching some YouTube videos that real estate's it. And so short-term rentals really, really spoke to me. And then I got convinced not to do short-term rentals, still did it anyways. And 9 months after I officially started, I was able to actually match my income as a registered nurse. And I quit to do short-term rentals full-time. And I pretty much live, eat, and breathe STRs in multiple states, California, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida. And I'm here now living my best life.
That is awesome. I'm— I guess your background in nursing kind of goes hand in hand with being in the hospitality Business, would you say short-term rental, is it real estate or is it hospitality? Which one is it?
Oh, so it actually translates extremely well. And it's the part where you can handle many personalities. You know, it's like, give me a real problem. Um, everything— you realize every problem has a solution. And, um, it's— to me, it's like patients and guests are interchangeable. So I would probably say it's definitely more hospitality, but There's a lot of strategies behind it that are more business-oriented. And the real estate aspect of it is just making sure that you're buying a piece of property if you're doing the buy route, that you're getting it on a good buy and that you're getting the tax benefits, appreciation, depreciation, having the real estate. But I really think it's where business meets real estate with short-term rentals.
Love that. Now, when you're underwriting for a short-term rental, are you just doing it for short-term rental or are you in the The thought process of it has to pencil out as a long-term rental as well. What's your idea?
It really depends on the market. So if it's a, it's a vacation market, for example, like a true one, there's not that many long-term rentals to begin with. So that one I exclusively only look to see how it's going to perform as a short-term rental. But if I'm buying something in the metro area where it's a lot more highly regulated, then I'm starting to look more in terms of what the exit strategies are. And it also depends on the state too. So if I'm looking in California, I'm actually looking if it's going to pencil as a short-term rental and a midterm rental versus a long-term rental, because I personally don't have intentions of having a long-term rental here. If I had to at that point, I might sell it, but I'd probably midterm rent it. So that's kind of my main exit in this area that's not a true vacation area.
Why do you hate long-term rentals?
I don't hate long-term rentals. I just don't like it in California. That's all.
That's all. Why is that?
You could tell me.
I could tell you. The pictures scare me.
I don't want to do— I'm like, I'm sure it's not— you get through it. But if I can like avoid it like the plague, I do.
So for me, it's like— Just let them live for free then.
No.
Like, what's your problem?
No. Midterm rent it. That's like my next thing after that.
So. Okay. That's good. Because then they're in and then they're out 30 days, maybe 3 months. Boom, boom, new people.
Yeah, that part I'm actually happy to get new faces because when people get comfortable, people get like extra, more extra, I guess.
Yes. Okay. Yes, very true. Yeah, they start thinking it's their property.
Exactly.
Been there. Okay, so someone wants to start out in short-term rentals and they're like, oh, this is easy. All you have to do is Buy in Joshua Tree, and I'm a genius. Why is that statement wrong?
Oof. Well, the truth of the matter is short-term rentals have evolved simply from just housing people to creating an experience for people. So in a market like that, that's you have to dress things up to the nines. So if you're going to go into that market, you have to go with the intention that you really are going to go the full nine yards with it to be successful. We're talking. Design, amenities, things that people wouldn't do at their own properties. And that's the truth of it is that because when people come out there, they don't want to live in their own house. They want to go be in a place that I don't get this where I live in the area. So it's very front-ended and it's the design in and of itself is an investment that needs to be accounted for.
Okay. Was it easier the days where you could just throw a dirty mattress into your bonus room and then rent that out? And make a ton of money. Wasn't that a time at one point?
It was. But you know what though? I mean, is it surprising though that people are upping their game and that, that doesn't stick well? It always blows my mind that people are like, oh, why isn't it that simple? And I'm like, well, that's because everyone's always getting better.
Yeah, for sure. And then there was all these murmurs about the platform changing, Airbnb specifically. I know there's, there's different platforms, but what's the big— what was the big change that they made recently?
Well, so Google Vacations is actually the new kid on the block.
Really?
And I shouldn't say it's new, but it's just getting more popular and known. And a lot of hosts are either they're going— I mean, VRBO is another platform or OTA or online travel agency platform that people list on. But a lot of hosts are realizing that they have to take their bookings into their own hands. So whether that's direct booking or really going on different platforms, and because Google is Google, that is like the new Everyone's just going all in with Google Vacations and getting their properties on there. So people can just Google and make like, I want to be in this area or Joshua Tree, right? And then making sure your property has a direct website that's SEO-friendly to be ranked versus Airbnb.
Wow, I didn't know that. Yeah, nice, dropping nuggets already. Um, is Joe still there? Okay, Joe, do you have anything to chime in?
Okay. Yeah, yeah. Um, Are you there? Can you hear me?
I can hear you.
Yes.
Okay, maybe describe a little bit what the difference is between long-term and short-term rental.
Sure.
So, you know, what do I as an investor need to know and what do I need to do differently? I mean, I have lots of long-term rentals and I know what to do, just lease it out. I'm sure short-term rental is different.
They are completely different animals. Completely. But it's a great question because I do see a lot of long-term rental owners that are interested in going into the short-term rental space and they don't quite know what to expect. So the big thing is, first off, you know, you're not housing tenants in a short-term rental. You are housing visitors or guests. And there's a lot of pros and cons that come with that. One of the, like, big technical logistics is with most long-term rental housing, you don't have to furnish the place. With short-term rentals, you're the one furnishing all the— everything. Kitchen, you're the one paying the utilities. You know, the guest just has to show up and know that they have everything that they need. So that furnishing a property is pretty expensive if you think about it. all the bells and whistles. And you're not just covering basics, you're covering amenities, a hot tub, a sauna. People are dropping $60K+ for a pickleball court just to get more bookings and to stand out. They wouldn't do this for— maybe they'll do it for their own house, but they're doing it for as a money-making amenity. So that's one big difference is you have to think in a more business-like aspect with short-term rentals because You are also marketing the property. With long-term rentals, these people have one purpose. They need a place to live. Short-term rental guests come for a variety of reasons, whether it's vacation, for work. Basic things is a clean, safe space to live in, but that's no different from a long-term rental. So the big difference is, is who are you catering to? And then is the location, the area, is it suitable for Is there a demand for visitors too? That's the other piece.
Is it mandatory that you have like an old school Pac-Man game in the corner of one of your rooms?
It's not mandatory, but it definitely helps to the point where we have a game console in every single one of our houses. So I guess it is mandatory.
But I'm noticing that it's becoming more themed, I guess, right? People want to have a themed experience.
Mm-hmm, yeah.
Okay, what are some of the most unique themes that you've seen?
Ooh, 3D installations into properties. So it's not just a wall, it has texture. There's like people, it always blows my mind in the Disney markets, people like, this is a bed, but it's a slide. And it's also this and that and all these things. Or it's the game rooms are like, you're going to Dave Buster's, but it's in your house kind of thing. Basketball, air hockey. So it's just the way the theming is like, do you have this at your house?
No.
So that's what people look for. And I think too, for adults, it always blows my mind because they will pay more just to, not for just comfort, but for the experience of, you know, I don't feel like I'm in a house, even though it is a house. So I like the 3D installation. I think those are pretty cool.
Nice. Do you have like somebody that you go to to do that?
Oh, so in the Disney market, at least in Florida, they have people that used to work for Disney for the stage, like stage Imagineers. They all— they have businesses now where they did stage art and then now they're doing this for houses because they can build sets. So they're building sets in people's houses and it's like a common business out there.
Crazy. That's cool. Okay, so people are dropping some serious dough. I mean, how does that pencil out? I mean, you're gonna buy this property that's hopefully turnkey already, and then you gotta add all this stuff in there. How long until you're getting paid back for all that?
Ooh, so I was very fortunate with the one we got because we got it themed and we were okay paying the premium for it to be themed.
Okay.
Because we did not want to do, we didn't wanna have the time or have it out of order, so to speak, for it to be done. We just wanted it to be good. We were okay doing that. And the situation helped too, but my neighbor, actually paid about $75K plus for the whole house. I think it actually went over budget to like the $100K plus after like she was finished. And she got this, I met the stage person because we were gonna do some upgrades later. And so it takes months. It's like a rehab for a property.
Yeah.
I think hers was like 4 to 6 months for it to finish from end to end. They had 9 bedrooms to theme. But out of the 9 bedrooms, I think they themed 5 of those.
But then, oh, wow. Okay. But then you got 9 bedrooms. So it's like you're asking a daily rate of what would you say? Ooh.
So she charges more than me. So I'll speak for her because she went through the 9 yards, but we always compare because we have a similar configuration. I mean, she's charging on average at least $600 to in the thousands, depending on the season. And I already know for me that I, that's, We're in a little bit of a different parameter, even though mine is themed. Hers is like extra themed, like freshly themed. So I see, I compare my property to her to see like, okay, is this gonna, if I go in and add slides to these beds and these windows are not the real windows kind of thing, will that be a good enough return on my money for me to do that? And how long would it take? So she's kind of like my experiment to see how she does.
Okay.
Because that is a lot of money up front. So money, most people actually, They won't make that investment right off the bat.
Right.
If they have the means, they'll do it. But most people will do it just like one season at a time.
Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, you take some of your profits and build it up. Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. HOA, friend or foe?
I don't like HOAs.
Okay.
Unless it's specific for short-term rentals, which there are HOAs that are like that in some markets.
There are?
Where? Not in California. Oh, actually, no.
Boca Raton.
Yes, there are some in California. In La Quinta, actually, that allow— and it's funny because La Quinta single-family houses are not allowed to be short-term rentals anymore, but there's condos that's totally fine.
By the golf courses.
Yeah, yeah. And they're HOAs, but like they're designated as short-term rental friendly. Those are okay. But a typical HOA in a residential neighborhood, absolutely not.
What are they so mad about?
People. I actually had a property in an HOA and I got in trouble for it. This is when I first started, but we knew it was gonna happen, but it was a good learning lesson too. Yeah. It's just not fun.
And they sent you a letter?
Yes, more than one letter. More than one letter. Yep, true story.
They said, you're gonna talk to our lawyer if you don't stop.
It was fines and then hearings with the HOA and then more letters. And then we're like, okay, fine.
Then you got rid of the property?
Yeah, we did. We went to a different spot.
Gotcha. That was in California?
But no regrets. I mean, it served its purpose. It was our first property. It was our first short-term rental.
Yeah.
So for us, we were so hungry to get into it that we knew that this was going to be short-lived. But if it served the purpose of for us to have proof of concept, we were okay getting kicked out eventually, which again, I think that's like against the grain for a lot of people.
Yeah, I guess. I mean, if you're— I mean, if you're gonna drop like the $100,000, you're gonna want to make sure you know about all the ins and outs of what everything is, what's allowed, I guess, in each.
Yeah. So this was arbitrage one though. So that's why we didn't put that much into it. Okay.
Nice.
Yeah.
Can you explain arbitrage?
Sure. So rental arbitrage is, it's also known as master leasing. So you have the same relationship with the landlord as their long-term rental tenants, but you have permission to sublease the property. to short-term rental guests or midterm rental guests. That's basically it.
Oh, nice. Okay, cool.
So it's a very simple concept.
All right.
You have you, the landlord that you pay the rent to, and then you are renting the property with permission to guests. And then you get to keep the difference in profits after you pay utilities and the rent to the landlord.
Okay, cool. Who makes out the most in that sort of deal?
Oh, it depends. Usually the arbitrageur, because you're guaranteeing to the landlord that no matter where I get my money from, you're going to get your rent.
So then you—
but the margins can— are there for sure. Just because if you're depending on the season, you know, if your breakeven is, let's say, $3,000, but you're bringing in $8,000, you get to keep the difference.
Okay.
So, I mean, that's— that's— you don't get that in other asset classes, right? As entry, like with the entry fee being relatively low besides just furnishing the property.
Gotcha. Okay. What are the, what are going to be the top grossing cities in America 2024? Go ahead.
That's such a hard question. Everyone always asks that. All right. So go to AirDNA. I mean, that's a great start. There's data companies that do it. But my opinion in terms of what's going to be there is that that's the real question is I really think there's, it's, people don't think about this. They think about just markets and yes, markets are important. But the properties in and of themselves, if it's in a high-demand area and you can make that property its own destination where people come for the property and not just for what's around, then you have so many more options. So secondary markets that are not like, not Palm Springs, but the proper— or the markets close by to Palm Springs where you still have those Palm Springs guests, right?
Right.
Those are the types of markets that are going to continue to do well. And because there's not a lot of data on it, People just don't consider them. But because data is not present doesn't mean it's not a good market. No, it just means it's not being captured.
Okay.
But they could still do well. So you really have to start looking at the properties themselves in those markets as your proof of concepts versus the whole market by itself.
Okay. Didn't answer my question, but that's fine.
Okay. So I have no—
give me, give me top— I can't give you top 4 and then tell me where does San Bernardino fall in all that?
Oh my gosh. National markets. Okay, so I'm hearing a lot of good things about Michigan.
Oh.
Michigan. Yeah, I've never been.
What's going on there? I don't—
every Michigan person I talk— not Detroit. But every Michigan fan, not in Detroit, that I talk to, they are doing great. And I'm like, I don't get it. These Michigan people, like, isn't it cold?
Yeah, it's freezing. That's what I've heard. I've never been there, but.
Yeah, so Michigan people seem to be doing really well because people don't think At least on the West Coast about Michigan. And I mean, these— I'm going to give you states versus markets because I don't know all the answers here. All right. You know, I really like Myrtle Beach, though, in South Carolina.
Oh, there we go.
And I have an agent there that I'm just like, I want to be your buyer, but I'm giving you buyers instead.
Okay.
That one is coming up more and more. The Gorge in Kentucky. So I didn't know about this market until a colleague of mine was telling me like, this is where I service. And I'm like, the Gorge? That's such a fun name. Yeah. And that Kentucky, I always hear Kentucky, but that's a tricky state though. The certain places in Kentucky, the neighbors have rights to vote if you should have the permit or not. So caution, just because these are popular, good states doesn't mean they're—
And they're like, where are you from? And you're like, California. Like, you're out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You don't want to do that. So you got to be careful though. Regulations are gonna vary from state, but if you can get past the regulations in some of these places, you know, you're gold. You're good. You're good. So, um, another state or another market. Um, I can't think, honestly, I, I can't answer that one because I can't think of more just off the top of my head. That's just—
Okay, she's gonna keep it a secret. It's all good. I'll get it from her later and then I'll tell you guys off air. Okay. And San Bernardino?
So they just— no. I say the city of San Bernardino is a no for me. But San Bernardino County though, big county.
That's different.
You know, you got options still in San Bernardino County, just not in the city.
Okay, cool. Grand Canyon?
Oh, ah, you know, there's nothing there. Like the infrastructure is not as big to support short-term rentals.
Okay.
Yeah.
I always see these one-off videos where someone bought a mobile home, they put like $20 grand into it, and now they're cash flowing like $30,000 a month. Is that real?
Yeah. Some places, it's insane to me, like domes. Domes don't cost that much to put together and they'll rent more than some single-family houses because they're decorated so well. The only bad part is that, you know, rain, snow, hail. Wind, you know.
Dome doesn't stand up to the elements. You got more problems.
You might need a backup dome if something happens. So, um, but yeah, the unique stays right now is becoming the big thing.
Gotcha.
So, and even for us, we're like, let's go find a treehouse.
Yeah.
Because that's just, that's what at least Airbnb keeps promoting. But people are willing to pay so much more for like things like A-frames, domes, treehouses. But you gotta be careful though, because that right there is like your one exit unless you're gonna move in.
Why do they want people to live in the trees so much?
Beats me. I don't know. I think about all the bad things that can happen with a treehouse, but that's why people are like, I'm here for 2 days. I'll be fine.
I know. They do look cool though. I saw one guy put like a VW Bug in a tree. Looks pretty sweet.
It's the novelty, and that's right. That's the you got the right thought process. So if you think it's cool, yeah, everybody else will think it's really cool, and they're gonna want to pay to stay there.
Hmm.
Yeah.
Okay, that makes sense. Yeah, treehouses. That's probably pretty fun. Okay, Hawaii. Oh, Hawaii!
I know I'm being quizzed.
This will be the last one.
This is like a data person question. I mean, I don't. I like data, but like I don't look at. Like I'm not in the— I usually say go talk to somebody because they're the person that studies it all the time.
Like there you go.
There's short-term rental data scientists, believe it or not.
Oh yeah.
It's interesting.
Yeah, I met one and I was like, what? This is what you do for a living? Like they wrote their thesis on this and I met her and I'm like, wow, I have so many questions for you about like money-making amenities, but market research is fun. So Hawaii, Regulations there are really, really tough. I, that one, unless you're local and you have a really good pulse on it, I do think a lot of people have to be careful starting STRs out there just because of how regulated it is.
Okay. What's like the entry point for someone getting into STR?
Really depends on your market. So if you're looking for something, let's say less than $500,000, Usually more of the East Coast up, some south.
Right.
West, a lot harder unless you're going to the desert, like Joshua Tree or parts of the desert inland. Those ones you can get something for that price point. Otherwise, let's say $500,000 plus, you can get everywhere. So it totally depends on if you're looking for a beach market, desert market, Metro market.
Gotcha.
Yeah.
Okay. I know Joe knew somebody in Anaheim when they were first doing short-term rentals. Do you have that? What's the story, Joe?
He was doing the arbitrage, which she had described earlier. And He was he was pretty amazing with that stuff, and then he moved from the apartments to fourplexes where individual owners were just leasing him the fourplexes to do the arbitrage and what you're doing with the short-term rentals. I posted on the chat. I don't know if it's all over, but my agent up in Northern California that's that's doing something similar to what you're doing. I posted her. Information there if you want to reach out to her. And then the other question I was going to ask is, what's a typical client that's renting a place like this? What are they looking for? You were describing a little bit of it, but to me, like, you know, wanting to live in a treehouse is nuts. So I'm not going to necessarily rent anything. From you, but what is your typical client looking for?
Are you referring on the buyer side, like as a like they're buying a short-term rental or a guest?
No, no. The people that are yeah, the guests, the guests, the guests, the guests.
Oh, okay. That's so dependent on what the occasion is. I I know. Let's say this is a family that's visiting. I've noticed we have a lot of places that cater to families. And they just, it's weird. They want separate TVs for their children. It's one thing I've learned. I didn't know that. We got in trouble once because one of the TVs actually broke right before.
Oh my, that's the new babysitter.
Have you gone mad?
I didn't know that. I mean, I was like, wow, this is a deal. The TVs were a deal breaker. But so that a lot of, some people really like bunk rooms for children and they like toys. They like to have Um, kid-friendly, like a playpen. So it really depends on your avatar. So let's just classify family as the first one. So making sure there's enough entertainment and space for where adults could be upstairs, kids could be downstairs. That's one thing in a configuration of a house. We actually bought a house with the intention like this will be for more than one family to stay in because there's a kitchenette downstairs that could be for one family and upstairs could be a different family. With the way it was set up. If you're doing something like a bachelorette party, let's say Scottsdale. It's funny we're talking about Scottsdale.
Bachelorette capital of the world.
Now you're looking for like, hopefully there's enough bathrooms to each room.
Yes.
You know, so, and then that's going to come down to design. Like, how are you going to set this up? Because some people will do like bachelor, like pads instead and cater to men.
Oh, okay. So like a stripper pole in the middle?
No. Yeah, maybe. I've seen, I've heard that. I'm a friend that, that, that's who they cater to. They cater to bachelors. Like the, this is the stag house and this is the Barbie house.
Gotcha.
And I'm like, you know, you're who you're going for. Yeah. So, but it really just depends on the guests and then also why they're visiting. So like in a Disney area, so like let's say Anaheim. People will still get, like Tustin gets the overflow too from more Santa Ana, from Anaheim. So for those ones, theming those rooms are gonna be super important because those people are gonna be like Disney everything or a lot of Disney. So that's, a lot of people will look for stuff like that. They wanna see a place that they don't necessarily have at home. They wanna feel the luxury and the experience.
Okay, gotcha.
I'll say it like that.
Yeah, nice, okay. That makes sense. And what's interesting is I, I looked up, I think, I don't know, AirDNA or something, but there was a house in Garden Grove and they were just killing it in Airbnb, which you wouldn't think because they put like, oh, I'm 10 miles from Disneyland. But you're like, oh, Garden Grove can kill it in the STR world? I guess so.
I had a property in Moreno Valley and they said that they were visiting for Disneyland, which is like so much further, but The reason why they picked it was because they had family close by, but their house wasn't big enough for all of them to stay in.
Yeah.
So the whole family just stayed in one big house and then, yeah, like caravan to Disneyland, which is like an hour and a half away.
Right. But it kind of makes sense because the further you are from Disneyland, you're like, oh, it's only an hour and a half. We're flying, you know, 5 hours to get here. So then it's only an hour and a half. So it's like pretty small, but you're like, that's far. If you get caught in traffic, it's going to take you like 3 hours.
Yeah. So you never know why someone's going to book a property 100%, but you can attract the type of guests that you want to be there with how you set it up.
Gotcha. Yeah. Because I know like young couples is one, right?
Yeah.
Like honeymoon and honeymoon houses or honeymoon cabins.
Okay. Gotcha. Now, is there like a book that you would recommend if you're getting started in this or how do you even like—
Honestly, I would say podcasts are a good place. There's a couple of them. I have a friend, she has the No Vacancy podcast, which is geared towards short-term rental, just short-term rental stories and stuff. STR Unfiltered by Bill Faith is one. He pretty much, if you want the honest, brutal reality of being a short-term rental investor, he pretty much breaks it down with no filter. And He's a good one. My friend Patrick has a podcast too. It's literally called The Patrick Show, but he interviews a lot of short-term rental investors. I'm on it too.
Nice.
I've been guested on there.
Cool.
I think another good one, STR Secrets is another one. That's a podcast and it's just about short-term rental things. Those are like my top 4 that I would probably recommend from the top of my head that are very geared towards this. Okay.
Um, I had some headlines I was gonna pull up and have you react. Is it— can you pull those up, Elle? They're like in the browser. And then show Stephanie, then I want to get your reaction.
Oh, okay. Yay!
I want to see.
I'm excited. Let's bring it on.
Yeah, it's pretty— it's just, um, regarding the, the state of STRs, because, okay, you know, you hear this, you hear that, like, how do we know what's the truth? You know?
Yeah. Oh, well, I'd like to see it. There's truth to some things.
Yeah.
But it's like a conditional truth kind of thing. Okay. I find blanket statements super hard. Right.
Okay. So, oh yeah, hold on. So let's go to this first one. Taylor Swift and short-term rentals. It's a love story.
Oh, I like it.
So yeah. Do you know it's basically alluding to like when she went on tour She's bringing like all these people into the town and then, you know, everyone's numbers went crazy.
Yeah, I totally love that. And that's actually like a thing. It doesn't have to be Taylor Swift. It could be simply like the game, like a stadium or just an event like Coachella is a great example.
Right.
People will literally leave their houses and rent for just the weekend. And even if they're not short-term rental operators, they'll just post it because, and they'll just like, We're going to go stay at a hotel and you guys can enjoy the house.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. Is that possible to, let's say, I guess it would be more in like seasonal places, but you got to make your full year's amount in like 4 months and then the rest of the time it's a little bit slower. You can still have a business model like that or is that risky?
I really think the risk tolerance has to be there, but it's very doable. A lot of beach markets are actually like that where they make the majority of their money During summer and then winter, it's like winter.
Yeah.
So if it's not like a snowbird area and even the desert too, summer is blazing hot over 110 degrees. So they make the most of their money during winter, fall, winter, and maybe a little bit of spring until like spring is like a week in California. So we go from winter to summer in 2 seconds.
Totally. Oh my gosh. Okay. So like when you're underwriting, are you taking, you have to take all of that into account? That seems like so many moving parts.
You do. And that's why you have to look at it from an annual perspective when you're underwriting and not just monthly, because July is a very pop— like for a summer market, July is usually like the most popping one. But if you go to April, you know, April's not bad, but it's not July. And so you have to think, okay, well, but then you have, let's say September is super slow. And so you have to look at it from an annual perspective in order to get the complete picture. So if you're only looking at it for monthly, you're going to get a very skewed Look at it, and it won't be accurate.
Right? Okay. Gotcha. What's your favorite Taylor Swift song?
Oh, I don't know. I do like Taylor Swift, but I can't think of a of a song that comes up that I'm like, that's the one.
And I mean, second question: Why did you invite two people that have the same exact Halloween costume as Lauren and I to your to your STR meetup?
Oh, I did. I don't. I didn't see that.
It's Travis and Maggie. You're dressed up exactly.
Oh my gosh! Well, they got the memo. I don't know. Yeah.
They were cool. Okay, go to the go to the second one. So we have Dallas City Council bans short-term rentals from single-family areas.
Boo!
This was a big story.
Yes.
I heard it even in my neck of the woods. They shut it down in Dallas now. Can you speak a little bit about, you know, that's like just another governing body controlling people's investments?
Yeah, I'm not a fan for sure, but it is a— and I'll always say this, like, that is truly a possibility, especially in non-mature vacation markets where they were existing before Airbnbs were mainstream at this point. So like, the cities are always susceptible to stuff like this because they weren't meant to be. Then you're competing with hotels at that point too. So at that point, I'm always like, if you, you really do have to understand that the possibility of having to pivot to like a midterm rental, even a long-term rental, is a possibility. And you have to really think, is that okay? Are you, are you okay with that? Some people, it's like, well, it's already fully furnished, I guess I'll learn a new skill and do midterm rentals. Um, some people trip out, and I'm like, You gotta have to keep that in the back of your head. Just like for me with the HOA, you could sell, you could long-term it. I could have rented by the room instead if I wanted to. Pad splits is becoming a thing that a lot of people are considering. Renting by the hour instead of the night is another possibility. So you gotta like, to me, if you ahead of time, or even if you're in the thick of it, it's like start thinking about these things now.
Mm-hmm.
Because it shouldn't be, Most of this stuff isn't a surprise when it happens if you keep a pulse on it.
Gotcha.
You'll hear it through the grapevine somehow.
So then, then you gotta start thinking of what you're gonna do just in case.
Yeah, worst case scenario, like, what are you gonna do? You do have to be conscientious of that when you're looking for a short-term rental.
Gotcha, because that's crazy. That's like all single-family homes are out.
Yeah, I, I think that's whack, 100%.
Like, think, you know, somebody has like 10 properties. That's just like Now your income just got cut.
Yep. So they have a decision to make, you know, like, what do we do from here kind of thing? It's not a fun place to be. I feel bad for a lot of those operators.
Gotcha. Okay. What about— have you heard anything regarding California or any of the places you have short-term rentals? Are there constant meetings about, you know, should we keep it or should we not? Or have they just brought it all on board?
Well, what's happening in California is that things are just being regulated. And that's not a bad thing, actually. Banning only happens when there are no rules in place because people just get kind of scared. But bannings can like, it's funny for from banning, but it's the same. It's like funny to me. But like these bans can be lifted too or reduced. Actually in Big Bear, there have been talks about like reducing how tight some of the regulations are in Big Bear Lake, meaning like, we're not going to— it still hasn't like been written, but it's like a council meeting. They were— a lot of short-term rental owners came, you know, said their case, which is great that they represented themselves, but they've decided, at least verbally, that we are not going to force you to have to have somebody show up to let the guest in the property.
Oh, that was the thing?
That was one of— that was one of the things that's different from like the county-regulated side of things. In Big Bear Lake, it's just, it's weird because it's city-regulated, but it's Big Bear Lake. But Big Bear City's county-regulated. You have to get like a person to go and open the door for the guest kind of thing over there in Big Bear Lake. They're actually verbally have agreed to lift that.
Oh.
So verbally, you know, things happen though. But my point is, you know, talks are always happening. It's good to have a pulse of what's going on. They're doing regulations where they don't want STRs within 500 feet from each other kind of thing. That's a possibility in most markets too. And I don't think that's a hard thing to cope with. You just, you know, be the one person, then everyone has to work around you. I don't see them like disappearing. I just see them having more hoops to jump through and the people that are willing to do that. are going to be the ones that get to have that. And I think that's okay.
Yeah, I guess you're right. It gets rid of the low-hanging fruit and the people that are just kind of half-assing it and not really having an experience that kind of puts the short-term rental in a bad light when people have the gripes with certain ones. Because there are operators and hosts that are just so amazing that you'll never have an experience like that even at the top hotels in the world. And then there's the other ones that are just like half-assing it and then—
Yeah, like the professional hosts, the people, and that's like, that's the funny part. There's 2 types of hosts, hobbyist hosts and the ones that are like, they're being professional about it. They're really wanting to succeed and make a good experience for guests because now this is like what they do. And most hosts, actually all hosts, for the most part, they want their guests to have an amazing stay and also not have their neighbors hate them.
Yes.
Too. So like for me, like we're not afraid to say no to a guest if they're not a good fit for our property.
Oh, what's that conversation like?
Well, I screen them. I say like, oh, what's the nature of your visit? You know, do you have pets? Are you agreeable to, are you going to agree to my house rules? Example, this, this, and that. I'll say that. I've had people, I don't know why, if it's true, but they'll like take back their request. And I'm like, that's fine. I didn't want you anyways.
Okay.
I see. Because they saw the rules and they're like, They're not just gonna let me go crazy in there. Yeah, you gotta—
I mean, and that's the bad rep that a lot of people have. So, screening, like, and that's what prevents you from having like not so good guests. And then people think it's bad on the host after a bad guest, but it's like sometimes you can't prevent these things, but you can mitigate them somehow, some way.
Okay. Gotcha. Wow. And these are all the things like You think you're just going to get in a short-term rental. That's what I thought. I was like, oh yeah, I want to cash flow like crazy. So I'm just going to get a short-term rental because that's what everybody says. And then I went to one of your meetups and I'm like, wow, there's a lot of stuff I don't know. And if I sucked at being a regular landlord for a long-term rental, like this is going to be like, I'm just going to shut my phone off whenever something bad happens.
Oh no, you can't do that. Or you can't. Somebody has to keep— somebody has to.
No, you can.
You could do it. I don't recommend it.
I'm like, why do I have 1 star on everything?
Someone has to pay attention to it. And that's the thing. It's active. This isn't passive income. This is an active business. And that's why I'm like, if you're gonna tell me right now that you don't want to have anything remotely close to that, that's totally cool. That's great because now you don't have to dump all this money into furnishing it. I mean, you can out— obviously you can outsource everything, which is fine too. So like, if you wanna have the short-term rental for the sake of having it, but like do zero work, You can totally outsource it, but know that you're going to pay for somebody else to handle that for you. And you should be okay with that.
Oh, okay. Well, how much is it? You emphasized pay like super hard.
Because it's like the funny, the difference too, this is a good answer to a question. Like people, I've had long-term rental owners ask me like, how much does it cost for either a co-host or a property manager in the short-term rental space? And it's like, well, industry averages between 15 on the low end, 15% to up to sometimes 30%, depending on how much. And then I understand with long-term rentals, you know, like—
It's like $100.
Yeah.
That's what I want. It's like $100.
But if I tell you that this person is going to talk to your guests for you, talk to your vendors, make sure that you're booked, do revenue management, resupply your properties, Market the property, you know, make sure it's profitable, be everything that you don't want to be, except unless the house like is on fire or like if it's over $500 and now we gotta replace the laundry machine, I won't contact you. Most people are like, okay, I get it. That's a lot more work because it is a lot of work.
It is.
And so if I were to give up my property to another person, I would be okay giving them just because I know what it's like to do it. But that's just the trade-off.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah. Do you like have to tip them or anything?
Oh, no, no. I just pay.
So the 30%, is their tips included?
I mean, yeah, sure. I mean, I think the reason why sometimes it's 30%, it depends on the market.
Right.
But some of the PMs that charge that much, they are paying for some stuff so that you don't have to pay for it.
Right.
Okay. Like simple resupplies up to a certain number. They're like, we'll take care of it so you don't have to. So we're gonna include it all in our fees.
Wow.
Yeah. So it's not for everybody. Or you could just self-manage and like me and no. Okay. You could do it with virtual assistants.
Okay.
Do you know any?
Oh, VAs?
Yeah.
Yeah.
You do?
I do know VAs.
How would I hire one?
Okay, well, you can do the freelancer route or you can do the agency route, which I'm gonna put my plug in real quick.
That's what I'm looking for.
We have Bravo Virtual Assistants where we source real estate virtual assistants.
Bravo Virtual Assistants.
Yes, .com, and you can find us there. But it's like, it's cool because not only are you finding like a property manager VA, bookkeepers, social media editors, You can have project managers, cold callers, executive assistants, like any type of help or assistance you need in the real estate space or business space, we've, we've got. And I have VAs now that help me on so much stuff. It's like, how did I like not do this sooner?
Wow.
Versus like wearing every single hat. Now I'm like, take this for me. Thank you.
Exactly. Yeah. Once you're able to do that and you have like a little bit of funds, you realize then you could go and spend your time working on more money-making activities.
Absolutely. If like I told you, would you pay to get 20 to 40 hours of your time back? Would that 20 to 40 hours be worth it to pay somebody to take away some stuff off your plate?
Absolutely.
Yeah. And I had to ask myself that question. And finally I was like, This is an investment, not an expense. Right. And now I'm like, how do I continue to do this?
Yeah.
I need 100 VAs.
I need 100. Oh yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, you don't need that many, but you got to consolidate. Right. But yeah, they've been life-changing. And now it's cool because even though I self-manage, they help me with the day-to-day stuff so that because it becomes repetitive.
Right.
So I'm not the one checking the cameras to see if our cleaner showed up. They're the ones checking for me.
Wow.
So that's like one less thing for me to do.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah. Oh yeah, that's part of it too.
Oh my God. Is there like a checklist or something? Or how do I, like, how would you even?
There is a process. Check-in, check-out process.
Would you, would you suggest someone gets a mentor when they're going to do like short-term rentals? Yeah.
And I wish I did because I learned it off of free information. And then finally I went to meetups and I realized Wow, having somebody to talk to and bounce it off of makes it so much easier because we were struggling. I'm telling you, it was really funny. Some of the stuff we were doing in the very beginning when we started.
Yeah.
If someone would have slapped us and said, why are you doing that? I would have been like, okay. Instead, I got feedback from people that were there, or I posted it to the internet and said, what did you think of my listing? And then they just like were savages.
Just roasted you?
They did roast me. They're like, you need more wall art. You need more this, more that. And so then I literally went to At Home, dropped $2K on decor and said, and someone was like, you're not going to make it with that type of house. Like they were mean. And I'm like, I get your point, but can we not say that?
Did you keep that person's name?
I wish I did. Because that house killed it after that. But then I thanked them because I was like, well, if I had somebody that could at least You know, know that this person's going to give me honest feedback and help me grow versus like roast me instead. Yeah, whatever. It helps. It got the job done, right? Yeah, it would have made a lot easier. And I'm glad I asked for feedback, but I realized there's like constructive feedback versus just like noise. And maybe some of it's helpful.
Yeah, exactly.
If I want to make it helpful.
Yeah. Okay. Gotcha. And now we were kind of talking before this, you're looking into possibly getting a hotel. And turning that into all short-term rentals?
Yes.
Is that the future of like our world and our civilization as we know it?
A lot of short-term rental operators will eventually want to go into the commercial space. And so like a lot of long-term renter or long-term LTR people like to do multifamily. STR operators tend to veer towards hotels because it's the same economy of scale. So, but yeah, we've the past year and a half, we've been actively looking at hotels and it's definitely a different ballpark space, but the operations in and of itself are very, very similar if you want to make it like a self-check-in type of hotel, which is what we're going towards versus staffing it.
Okay, gotcha. How do you still provide the same amount of, I guess, service that a hotel would have, or you don't need to, they know that coming in there? What's— why would someone choose that over a hotel? Is it going to be a price difference?
With short-term rentals, I mean, you're getting a kitchen, you're getting laundry, parking usually. That's the big thing. I always tell people, like, if you're going to go, don't— okay, take yourself out of the hotel pool. Don't get a 2-bedroom if you can avoid it. Get a 3, 4, 5, or 3 or 4 or 5, because if you can accommodate 12 people in your place, Whatever that looks like. Does that— who's gonna— if you have a group of 12, are they gonna want to go and get 3, 4, whatever hotel rooms, or are they gonna all go in the same house instead?
Right.
And so you want to be in a league of your own with short-term rentals, and that is what kind of keeps you separated from why someone would want to go to a hotel. But it really comes down to the kitchen amenities and laundry, believe it or not.
Okay.
Laundry is a must.
Laundry is a must. And so you would have like In these hotels, you have laundry in there or just on-site laundry?
Probably on-site laundry. I mean, for us with the hotels, like our idea is to still provide— the one that we were planning on doing was having like a communal kitchen, almost like a hostel actually, where they really wanted to go in and cook food or heat up something, they can be in a communal kitchen instead. I'm curious because sometimes if the hotels were to put like a kitchen like that's accessible for guests?
Yeah.
How would that change like for them?
Yeah.
Um, but I also think it's just different with expectations too, right? So standardized that people just go eat out for at a hotel.
True.
What would they do that like? I'm curious if someone had that because I have yet to go to a hotel that you're allowed to use their kitchen.
Apparently the, uh, Wrigley Mansion. Oh, in Catalina. You can apparently, but that's a B&B. So it's like, it's like, you know, it probably started off like that, like people's homes and they had a bunch of extra rooms and then, you know, people would come stay and you're like, well, we'll make you breakfast, but then also you can use our kitchen if you wake up late at night. And then now it's like coming full circle. You have a hotel and it's set up like that.
Yeah. Well, we're looking at units like less than 20 to keep it kind of boutique. To where if somebody wanted to rent out the whole place instead for an event, then they can do that versus individual rooms.
Gotcha. That's pretty cool. Okay. I mean, can people bring you leads or what are you looking for? Like, let everybody know, what are you looking for?
Yeah. So, I mean, our goal is short-term rentals, but we also want to have some midterm rentals in there too to diversify. But I mean, in terms of hotels, California is the goal to be for at least hotels. 20 units or less would be ideal, preferably more turnkey if possible. Anything creative is always nice, especially in today's market. In terms of single-family houses, we're looking for stuff in the Inland Empire. So Moreno Valley, Riverside, Redlands, even Beaumont, Banning, which nobody knows Nobody goes to, so we'll take those because we're from that area.
Okay.
And those ones we'll probably do like an STR MTR hybrid for those ones that we can burr it or fix it up, and that would be fine. Yeah.
Did you say San Bernardino?
Okay.
No, I thought I thought you said San Bernardino.
Yeah.
Did you just say San Bernardino? Oh yes. Still there? Did you lose him?
Yeah. Oh, not I. Can you hear me now? Yeah. A few questions. So first one is, are you able to ding the bad guests? Yes. Would you even do that? Because obviously they can ding you back. And give you bad reviews. The question is, who is Taylor Swift?
Ah, that's a joke question because everybody knows Taylor.
Yeah, ah, I have yet to find someone who doesn't know. But so dinging guests, it's a funny thing you say that because I personally, I don't know, maybe I'm just really nice. Like, I really don't like giving people bad reviews. I'd almost rather like, but I mean, we have if they do, but here's the thing with reviews, at least on Airbnb, you cannot see the other person's review when you're doing the review and they won't be posted until one of two things happens. So if let's say a guest 3 days later decides to put a review, you, in order for you to see it, you have to either review them back without knowing what their review is, or you have to wait till 14 days passes and do nothing or do something and the review will post on its own. So, and it goes both ways. So that's, you just don't know until it gets posted.
Yeah. We had, we rented an Airbnb in Ireland one time and we, they were like, okay, they brought us the wine. They made it all nice. They're like, leave us a 5-star review. Leave us a 5-star review. We'll be a Superhost. Like just pushing it on us super hard. And we're like, okay, that was nice. So we left them a 5-star review and then they just left us like the worst review because The ladies like use the their the the towels for their makeup, which is probably like a no-no.
But yeah, that's a big no-no. This is why I put black black towels that say makeup on it.
She got so mad. But then you can't take you know. Then you already gave them a five-star review after they were begging us, literally begging us to leave them a five-star review.
Yeah, and then they were rude. I I know, and like we. We're really nice. Like, if I— if they— we're very merciful.
Yeah.
When it comes to— because like, I want, you know, if we're asking for it too, you know, I want to be reasonable and stuff. And if it's like the guest from hell, you know, I let my VA decide. You know, you decide. I tell her because I get kind of like, maybe I shouldn't be the one to decide.
Yeah.
You're like— she's— she used to work for Airbnb.
Okay.
And so she's so good at customer service. There's times where I'm like, You said it so much better than the way I would say it because I'm just way more direct with people sometimes where I'm just like, like, you know, and she's just like, oh, you know, we understand your pain.
Yeah, we value your customer service.
Yeah, yeah. So I'm like, okay, use your best judgment, whatever you think you should do.
Nice.
I'll let you decide. And then I don't have to think about it now.
Oh, that's good. But she knows like to light people up sometimes. I mean, in a soft hand.
Yeah, with a soft hand. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Now I let her decide for me, like for us.
Wow.
She's become the new spokesperson because she's just, she has the right, all the makings of customer service.
Yeah. That's important.
Yeah. Oh, that's very important.
Yeah.
You gotta like, I like people, but like, I'm like, sometimes I want to just like smack them.
You know what I mean? Especially like it's your baby and your money and all that stuff.
How dare you?
Tied into, yeah, one property.
And you're like, we bent over backwards. I Instacarted you Sour Patch Kids. Like, what do you mean you're not happy with me?
Have you done that?
Well, it's usually gummy bears or Sour Patch or sour candy.
You'll send it to them and it'll show up?
If like, for example, we've done this. Oh, the coffee maker broke. Oh no. I'm like, don't worry. We'll Instacart you one because I like coffee too. And if they're not having their coffee, they're not happy. Plus I gotta get that thing replaced anyways. So I'm like, thanks for telling us. So sometimes, or if it's like a really unfortunate event, then I'm like, Here's this, but I'll throw them some candy. Gummy bears or Sour Patch Kids or something.
Oh, awesome.
Yeah, we had like the water stopped working, but it was like the whole comp— like the whole area. Yeah, so we shipped them like $70 worth of water.
Dear gosh.
And a bunch of gummy bears.
Oh, that's amazing.
Forget flowers. Yeah, the gummy bears work.
Soften the blow for sure.
Adults or kids, it always applies. You can't go wrong.
Oh my gosh. Okay. Just one. Yeah. Like one horror story. Sorry. I know. Not, it doesn't even have to be like, it doesn't even have to. Yeah. I guess it doesn't even have to be like one of your properties, but.
Oh no. I've got enough. I'll use this one. It's like, it's just one that I will never forget.
Yes.
But it's, so it was the 9-bedroom I have in Florida. I got a phone call from the guest. One of the kids walks walks into a double-paned glass door in the backyard and shatters it completely. And of course I'm like, he walked. First thing I said was, okay, I hope he's okay.
Yeah.
I'm gonna send my cleaner to make sure everything's all right. Is that okay with you? Because then I can have her like make sure that the glass is really cleaned up. And then I asked her like, is anything else broken? Because he was fine. I even asked for like, hey, you know, Can you just show me some pictures? And just because I'm like, I also need to start the claim and get this thing figured out. But the stove was also messed up too. So it was a glass top and it got cracked.
Okay.
I was like, that broke. We have stuff in the bathroom that broke. But kids were fine. And so it sucked because this happened during a turn. So they were leaving and a guest was coming and it was like, No, how could this happen? So the next guest wasn't happy, right? But we tarped it up, and now I'm like, I gotta replace this thing in record time. Let's get measurements. You know, now I'm like trying to figure out like how to do a little mini rehab on a custom door in between guests, which is the hardest thing to do because they got— they have to be gone.
Right.
You know, you can't have— we try our hardest not to have people in there unless it's like gonna make or break the booking, like electricity, HVAC stuff. So, but it sucked because I was so mad. I was angry. I was like, how could you break a door?
Yeah.
And it wasn't cheap to figure out how to replace it. First, I was like, let's just get it done. And then after that, I was like, so this is interesting. I've never had to do a double like this stuff, but my cleaner was so like, she's the real MVP. She Pretty much, we both work together, which is not usual, to be honest. Most of the time it's like, here, owner, figure it out. Instead, we work together to figure it out. And that's why I am like, whatever she wants. I'll give her flowers and gummy bears when I visit. And like, here, have this too. But it just really, really sucked. I have nothing like gross. I'm trying to think of a gross story.
No, no, it doesn't have to be gross. That's crazy.
It was a horror story for us. Because it was, it was the time crunch of having to figure this out.
Yeah.
Like, why? What else broke? The next guest coming in, replacing the thing. Because it took 2 weeks for us to get a new glass door.
Oh, wow.
And so this whole, like, thing, the minute you walk in, it's a beeline. You see the backyard glass door. But instead there was a plastic black tarp all over it. And I'm like, this is not going to be a good experience for these guests. They're going to see this and think that the house is broken.
Right, right. Okay, how did the— I mean, how did you resolve it with everybody else coming in?
We just— you have to tell them ahead of time. And I was prepared that if they were— if it was a deal breaker for them because it wasn't the experience they wanted, that we would like let them go and give them a refund and say, but you have to tell us now.
Right. Yeah.
You know, just so I can get somebody else to book that's okay with it.
Okay.
So it was a lot of communication. You have to overcommunicate when things go bad.
Fine. I know you're like, I don't want to do that.
I don't want to do that.
That's, that's, that's good masterclass right here. Um, how can people get in touch with you?
Yeah.
So, um, you can find me Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube. It's literally just my handle @stephaniefigueros. Um, my VA company is Bravo Virtual Assistants. Um, I also have thestrsuccesscircle.com. So You know, come find me in the STR Nation Facebook group as well. And so we do monthly meetups in person for those in downtown LA.
Nice. Yeah. When's the next one?
It will be the end of November. We don't have a date locked in yet. It's always tricky though during the holidays. So we're debating if we should do it the week after or the week before or just like not do it just for the sake of the holidays because we usually get way, way less people. So, but yeah, to be determined.
Okay. And then the conference, you just had it.
I know. It was amazing in San Diego. So we are currently looking for our new venue. It could be in the same one in San Diego, but we're looking at Orange County or LA. So it will likely be in June of next year.
Nice.
Yeah.
So if you guys are anything STR and even hotels and stuff, reach out to Stephanie. She literally knows every single person. I'm thoroughly convinced. I'll like see her at a meetup and then it's just like she knows everybody. So, um, you know, if you have, if you need something, if you're just like, oh, I'm looking for an SDR here or anything SDR related or even just real estate related.
Yeah, actually real estate in general. It's funny how that works.
Yeah. Just reach out to her and tell her like whatever you're looking for or what you're thinking of doing and then she'll hook you up.
Yeah.
So we had a good time. Joe, anything else to add or do we have I don't know, stuff.
Oh, I'm back. I'm back. Yeah, I lost you there for a second, but it looks like I'm back. Uh, nope, nope, I'm good. Thank you for, uh, yeah, filling in for me. I appreciate it. Appreciate it.
You're welcome, Joe. Anytime. Yeah, Joe's living the dream.
What's that? Oh yes, okay. Yeah, um, we have an event coming up on October 30th, so that's this upcoming Monday. At Hangar 24. And, um, Sam's gonna be there. He's going to be talking about flipping, and he's doing this really cool thing where you can, um, basically be a part of his flip and, you know, for like almost like fractional shares. And you can like, you know, if you're like, oh, I have $1,000, I want to put it in on the flip, then, um, you can be a part of the flip and then, you know, you split part of the profits. So It's kind of a cool way to crowdfund and stuff, but it should be really cool. And it's a great networking event. You can find private money lenders, buyers, whatever. Everybody kind of comes to this event. So that'll be October 30th, Hangar 24.
Cool.
All right, you guys, thank you so much for joining us and we'll see you on the next one.
See ya.
Take care. If you want some more advice on real estate investing, reach out to us one-on-one.
