Adding Location-Based Touches To Attract Guests

Okay, so welcome to the behind the Host podcast. On the Boostly podcast, I'm Liam Carolan and today we are joined by a host. He's based up in Glen Falls. His name is Joshua Kitlis and today we are interviewing him about his short term rental and how he got started in, in short term rentals and the lessons he's learned across the way. So today, listen in for the next 20 or 30 minutes where you can pick up tips from other hosts, things that you can implement in your business to help you. So welcome along Joshua and thank you for joining me. Before we get started, if you could just introduce yourself how you got into short term rental space and you know, sort of a little bit more about your property.

Yeah, sure. So my name's Josh Kitlis. As, as you said, and I got into short term rentals. I guess if you were gonna go way back, you, you know, as a kid, my parents, when we'd go on holidays, we would stay in short term rentals or short term lots and we did that throughout the northeast us. I was raised basically in the same area that I'm living now and it was just a cool way to spend a holiday really. And you have access to all these different kinds of properties and it's, it's a really unique experience. Whether you're staying in somebody's cabin on, on the lake or you know, some house in, in the mountains. It was really cool. So that always, that always stuck with me. And then, you know, over time, you know, of course Airbnb came up and just, it continued to be something of interest. But then from trying to transition this into the, the business aspect, you know, I'd been doing commercial real estate investing and I was just looking for something else and consumed a lot of real estate content and Airbnb, as everybody knows, started popping up and I said, huh, this sounds pretty cool. And this is also something that I'm familiar with. And so then ultimately I just said, this is it, I'm going to go and do it. And then I went and I started researching where I'm going to do it. And that's the big thing, right? And so for, for my first property, because this is not just my first investment property, this is also my first property. I live in New York where it's like a million and a half dollars for a one bedroom apartment. So a lot of us are still renting, so it's kind of a big deal. First property. And I wanted it to be close, you know, close enough to travel to, not something that was all that far away. And I just. The Hudson river is a really popular place to both live and vacation on in New York. And it kind of starts down by the Atlantic Ocean in New York City and then it works its way all the way up into upstate New York. And so what I did was, you know, I knew that something on the Hudson river would be a good place to. To have a short term rental. And so I literally, I literally started about 30 minutes north of New York and I just started calling every planning and zoning department at all these main cities going up. And I went one to another to another to another. And it just like Glens Falls is up there. Like, I really had to work my way up because I was running into one of either two issues. One, they were banned or they were restricted on a level that just didn't make sense. Where, you know, some places short term rentals were permitted but only 90 days out of the year or you had to live in the town as well, you know, so there were all these restrictions that I just kept running into. And so I just kept going one town after another. And then I might find a town where the restrictions permitted me to be there. But it was out of my budget. So I just kept going and going and going and going. And then finally I hit Glens Falls and everything was great. So that's how I ended up going to Glens Falls. It was really the closest municipality to me that permitted short term rentals that didn't really have any restrictions. And so that's how I ended up there. And give a little bit more about Glenn's Falls.

Yeah, certainly. So why. So you've ended up with Glenn's Falls for, for that, that first one and what it sounds like you had to be pretty determined to, to get there. Like there was a lot of, a lot of no's along the way. So, you know, first of all, you know, accommodations for keep going. And also, what was the. When you set on Glens Falls, you found out it was okay to do short term rentals there. What were some of the aspects that you considered as to whether or not it would make a good place for short term rental? As the listeners will be thinking, well, you know, I've got to research a place. And it sounds like the state laws, you know, is one really important aspect to look at when you find somewhere that allows it. What other things should somebody consider?

Yeah, well, there's state, there's county, and then there's also city. I'm not sure how it is overseas, but here like Those are really the three laws you have to look at. And it's not so much state, it's in more county and city that you need to look at. So the, to answer your question though, the other pieces to consider are, you know, I think one, what's, you know, what's driving the demand there because you need to have bodies in the house to pay the bills and make it successful. So one thing that I really like about Glens Falls is that it's, it's centrally located to a lot of attractions upstate that a lot of people from the city go to. So there's. In the wintertime, they're skiing. In the summertime, there's a lot of hiking. It's very accessible to the Adirondacks, which are a mountain range up in upstate New York. It's very popular for people to go. And then also in the fall and autumn time, people like to go there to do what we call leaf peeping, which is look at the different foliage, the changing color of the leaves. Summertime also it's, it's very close to Lake George, which is a very popular lake for recreation. So it's about 15 minutes from there. It's also about 15, 20 minutes from Saratoga Springs, which is the home of horse racing. And there is about a, it's like a six or eight week span that just wrapped up this weekend where people from all over the world come to Saratoga Springs to watch the horses race. And so there's, there's a lot of different things that are going on year round. And you know, the demand that I've seen so far is really, it's been, been really nice. I was at capacity for almost all of June, all of July, all of August. September is starting to shape up nicely. And you know, I know it's going to be a slightly, or I believe there's going to be a slower season once you get into the dead of winter. But look into two other avenues to fill those times, like looking at nurses and professionals to, to help fill the gap there.

I mean, it sounds like you've really done your research. Did you know that before? Was, was this all part of the research or did you know about some of these places before you, you sort of set on, on Glens Falls.

I'll say it's a mix. Like, I did know about Lake George, I did know about Saratoga. I should know that there's also a pretty significant performing arts center up in Saratoga. So I did know about this. But you know, there was also that element of a leap of Faith. Because you never really know in like a newish place, like you can, you can read and study all day long, but at the end of the day, you know, you're, you're not going to know until you know you're really there and experiencing it. And so it's, it's been working out.

Definitely. Experience teaches us if we need more of it. So like you say, just it sound as though you've, you've done the research, you've, you know, you've gone there, you kind of know it's a great place and you know, talk us through. How did you feel when you finally got, got the property? And is there anything in particular you've done to prepare it for short term rental?

Yeah, so when I finally got the property, it was kind of one of those like, whoa, Momo. It's like, okay, you know, I just signed this note for this place and you know, it's a, it's a big deal. So like, there was the newness of homeownership, there was the, there's a newness of having purchased this for, for a business that I haven't gone into yet. So, you know, a little, I guess, natural concern there. But you know, to get it set up for short term rental, I really, I really took on the guest perspective as best I could. And I would say that's, that's how I set it up and that's what I used as the barometer for creating the place. So what kind of, if I put myself in the guest shoes, if I were the guest, like, what kind of bed would I want to be sleeping on? You know, what kind of appliances would I want to have in the kitchen? Would I want to have a hot water kettle? Would I want to have a blender? Like, how many different kinds of pots and pans would I want to have? And so that's the approach that I took with, with setting it up. You know, I did put in some cameras on, on the outside, none on the inside because that's illegal and also creepy.

But yeah, not a good idea on the inside.

Yeah, in fact, I don't, I don't want to see what people are doing anyway. I'm not, I'm not that interested. But I, I just tried to take on that, that guest perspective, you know, and understand, try to understand what, what a guest would want. And you know, it's worked out really well because I've gotten really strong feedback from, from guests thus far about how well the place is, is equipped. So, you know, in addition to comfy beds and some of the appliances that I mentioned. For the kitchen, I got like a washer and dryer. You know, I know not everybody has that, but that's been, that's been huge. That's been, that's been really helpful. You know, I got some what we call Adirondack chairs, which are like outdoor chairs that are common in upstate New York. So I brought a little bit of that, that regional flavor as well into the place. And I also have some, some really unique artwork that has been handed down to me from my mom, who has had that, you know, for a really long time. I mean, this is, this is artwork that was created probably like, I don't know, 60 years ago or so just by, by local artists. But it, you know, it adds some, some flavor to the place and it doesn't give it that cookie cutter type of perspective.

That's cool. That is a beautiful answer and what a great way to, to bring it to a close. So people listening will have been inspired by your story, Josh, if they wanted to get in touch. What's the best way?

Yeah, LinkedIn is probably the best. My handle is my last name, Kitlis K I T L A S. You can just go to LinkedIn.com in Kitlis and Nerma and you can find me there and we can talk more. Short term rentals.

That's really cool. Well, thank you so much for your time today. And yeah, really the passion is shined through. So thanks again. That's it for another episode of behind the Host podcast. And bye for now. See you on the next one.

Having a blast. Gonna get it on the Bruce Lee podcast. Bruce Lee, like Bruce Le. Because it's so hard and the T is loosely making up those rhymes. Don't write it, just do it loosely.