How the Mid-Term Rental Strategy Helps You Maximize Cash Flow, Beat Inflation

Welcome to the Cedar and Porch Real Estate Investment Podcast. I'm the host, Shona Lepis. Follow along as we unpack and demystify real estate investment strategies through expert interviews and personal experience. From how to find off-market deals to creative financing to long-term and midterm rentals, our goal is to educate and inspire others to gain financial freedom and generational wealth through real estate investing. Hello everyone. Welcome to the Senior on the Porch Real Estate Investment Podcast. I am so excited and over the moon about our extra special guest, Sarah Weaver. She's an author, speaker, coach, a real estate investor, and business owner. Sarah runs 3 businesses that serve real estate investors and agents. She pretty much does it all and lives an inspiring life by design. She travels the world and the country coaching real estate agents and hosting epic events for for investors. Talk about the dream life, right? She also just co-authored the book on midterm rentals, 30-Day Stay, published by BiggerPockets. If you haven't already, go grab your copy of the book. It's chock-full of amazing stories, advice, and case studies. So I love the midterm strategy. So Sarah, thank you again so much for taking the time. I'd love to know where you're going next in the world, how you found midterms, and a little bit about your background.

Absolutely. So my next trip, I am flying to Guatemala. I am taking 15 real estate investors. It's the most, most I've had for one of my trips. And we are doing a goal setting retreat. So starting off the year strong. I typically try to go out into the wilderness by myself for a day and write my goals. And I'm really excited to like share my wild strategy of how I manifest and how I set goals with real estate investors in Central America and Guatemala.

That's so cool. What a great way to start the year, right? To take that time and just be in an amazing place.

Thank you. It's so good to set intentions at the beginning of the year. And I find that a lot of people, I don't want to say this, but they set goals wrong. And so I'm excited to show people like there is, there's many ways to write your goals. There's not one right way. But there are some wrong ways to do it. And so I'm excited to have a goal setting retreat for real estate investors.

That is so cool. Do you have any top tips on that?

Yeah, absolutely. So one of my things I like to do is I like to write down everything as if it's already happened. So even that very book that you hold in your hand, I wrote in my journal, I wrote, I wrote a book with my name on the COVID and I wrote that months and months before I had a publishing deal. But I wrote it down as if it had already happened. And then, brace yourself, this is going to sound woo-woo, but then I imagine that it's happened, so much so that I'm even like giving gratitude, like thanking the universe or God for allowing me to have this experience. And I'm imagining like, what does it feel like to see like Amazon reviews coming in and have a book launch party and you know, give my book as a gift and be introduced on podcast as an author. I imagined all of that. Like, I actually closed my eyes and I pictured it happening, and here I am.

I love that. There's so much to that, right? It's true. It really works if you believe it, and you can manifest stuff. I mean, it is woo-woo, but I, I'm 100%— I totally believe that. That— thank you. That's real. That's great. That, that's really good advice, especially this time of year. I think so many people, you You set a goal and then you put it on paper and just stick it in a binder or something and don't actually sit with it and visualize it. And that's really cool to like, to have a book that you like wrote down, you're gonna be an author. I love.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

So obviously you do so many things, but I just kind of wanna set the table with, I, I think for midterms, I feel like are becoming trendy, right? There was like all about STRs. Now midterms are kind of getting out there, which I love. And I have my reasons why I love, I love to hear like kind of your top reasons for why you think they're a good strategy for investors?

Yeah, well, for me personally, I loved furnished rentals because it meant more cash flow. So my, my furnished rental, whether it be short-term or medium-term, was going to put more cash in my pocket every month. And that was my goal. I meet a lot of investors who cash flow is their number one objective, whether it be because they're later in life It was not intentional, but a lot of my audience tends to be 55 and older because they see how quickly I went from $1,000 a month to $10,000 a month in cash flow. And they're thinking, okay, I need that right now. Like, time's ticking and I don't have a lucrative retirement plan around the corner, is what some of them tell me. And then I have others who come to me and say, I really need cash flow because I I don't like my job and I want to get out of it as soon as possible. And so whatever your reason for cash flow is usually how you end up in the furnished rental space. And then I personally am always traveling, and so I could be hiking on a Tuesday or snorkeling on a Thursday, and I didn't really like the short-term rental host life. It was not predictable. And I would have clean— like, I have a 2-turnout, or I have 3 cleanings, a same-day turnover, and a unit getting photographed all today. And that was constant. Like, that was happening all the time when I had short-term rentals. Um, right now, because I have medium-term rentals, I mean, some— one of these units that's turning over today, the reason it needs to be photographed is because we filled it before we got it professionally photographed. And then we have had a tenant in there every single day for 7 months.

Wow, that's awesome.

So that's why I love medium-term rentals, is that was the easiest unit ever. I didn't even have to post professional photos. I got it furnished, filled, and it's been occupied for 7 months, and I'm finally photographing it today.

That's a dream. Yeah, no, that constant turnover. I mean, I was doing— I had a couple and it was like I had a cleaner, I had a co-host, so I didn't— it was the mindshare it took up and the little things and the constantly I'd go check on it and check the toilet paper level and the coffee and all the, the high maintenance guests and they, you know, come for one night and I'm like, God, this is just this constant turnover and mindshare that it took up. Yeah, that's the cash flow and the turn. I mean, yeah, totally agree with all those reasons. You kind of like, you not set it and forget it, but you get this like long period of a couple months where you don't hear from people, right? In my experience.

I'm, I'm the most at peace that I've ever been since deciding to become a real estate investor. This is the most peace I've ever experienced.

Right? Because when you are, I mean, you are, you are, I don't know, it's kind of in my head. I'm like, am I a landlord or a host? Or, you know, or it's like the kind of that blend. I feel more like a host as a midterm. I'm not like the land, like the evil landlord that's You know, so, but you're— yeah, so that's interesting. I think it's just so much easier and maybe it's a little less cash flow, but that consistent income to me makes up for that and you can scale that easier.

Exactly.

Yeah, cash flow is king, right? What I love about you is you've got this right-left brain thing going on. Like you're clearly very analytical and you're creative and I think that's very rare. So It's really cool to see that. So I get asked a lot about underwriting for midterms, so I'd love to hear your ideas on that and how you kind of go about it.

Yeah, absolutely. So I run all of my deals as a long-term rental first, so I'm running them as a long-term rental, and then I'm always asking myself, would this be sweeter as a medium-term rental? And for those investors out there, it doesn't mean that I always like the numbers as a long-term rental. I might not buy something as a long-term rental, but if it works as a medium-term rental, I may purchase it. And so the only 3 things that change from a long-term to a medium-term is upfront renovation costs. I include furnishings in that category on my calculator or spreadsheet, which I'm willing to share with your audience. So if they want my spreadsheet, it's nothing fancy, but I'm more than willing to share it. So we'll put that information in the— in the show notes. And I add furnishings to upfront renovations. I increase rent, which is the most exciting part of the whole equation. And then the other line that needs to increase is utilities and include landscaping. I see a lot of investors that forget to include landscaping, especially if they live in California and they invest in Iowa. We get snow in Iowa, and so you have to account for that because it does cost money to remove snow, a lot of money sometimes. So those are the 3 things you're going to add: furniture, increase rent, and increase utility costs and include landscaping.

That's super helpful. So just to unpack that a little bit, are you saying this has to work as a long-term?

Like it to work as a long-term. It doesn't have to be sexy, like it doesn't have to be hundreds of dollars a month in cash flow, but I would like it to work as a long-term. If push come to shove and for some reason the furnished rental space didn't work for that unit.

I love that because I feel like as investors we're always calculating risk, right? And you want, you want all your plans, all your exits. What's the worst case? What's the best case? Right?

Exactly. Well, and what I say is that like I'm risk adverse when it comes to investing because I didn't have a backup plan. I was not a high income earner. I'm single income. I'm single and single income, and so I didn't have a backup plan. And so I really, really need my units to work. So what I've been doing most recently is I've been buying duplexes and one side is long-term and one side is medium-term, and that works for me. That's not going to work for every investor. Like if you're an investor in Phoenix, it's going to be hard to make a long-term rental work. Versus a medium-term rental is going to be great because of increased, increased rent. So again, that's just my experience. But here's the great thing is we live in a country where so many different rental strategies work in so many different markets.

I love that, that duplex thing. That's kind of my thing too. And then I always have that security of one side is going to pay the mortgage. It's like, I think it's especially starting out, right? If you're dipping your toe into it, You know, exactly.

Absolutely agree.

So I love your underwriting. I just want to unpack that a little bit. Like furnishing, right? I think everyone's biggest kind of pain point is like, how do you budget that? And it depends how scrappy you are, right? But do you have any kind of guidelines on costs for that?

Yeah, I'm seeing my one-bedrooms are creeping up. I used to be able to furnish them for $6,500 and they were beautiful with coffee table books. And this is not luxury. These are not luxury units. But these are above average. I was seeing $6,300 to $6,500. Unfortunately, it's costing me closer to $7,000 even for a 1-bedroom apartment, 1-bedroom, 1-bath. The good news is, is I can still do a 2-bedroom for about $8,300. And then when you start talking about a house like a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house with a living space and a dining space, even your floors, like the type of floors that you have, are going to make a difference. If I have to put a $300 rug in every room, well, there's an extra $1,000. And so for a 3-bedroom, 2-bath, on the higher end, I'm spending $18,000.

Okay.

And on the lower end, maybe I could do $15,000. But again, we know, like, through research and experience, that the better you furnish your unit, the more booked you're going to be. And for a higher rate. And so depending on if you're— especially if you're investing out of state, spend the money up front and furnish it really nicely the first time with durable, good decision pieces, good decor pieces. Make good decisions, and you should yield more than if you're trying to skimp and save money.

And I love that. I know I've heard you say this. I think design is what sets you apart. Heart, right? Because there are so many— I mean, sometimes I'm like, did you, did you even try when you took that picture? It just makes me cringe. Um, and design sells, right? We all want a comfortable place.

And well, and sometimes what I'm finding is it's not even that they're not trying, it's just that is like not where they thrive. And so it's really hard to be good at design. That's why we pay interior designers what we pay them, and it's why listings that are absolutely stunning really stand out. It's because not everyone has an eye for this. People just don't know.

Mhm. Yeah, I— it's funny, I feel like you either love it, and I've talked to people and they're like, they hate the design, like too many decisions, I don't want to do it. I'm like, I love that part. That's why I love midterms. I get to play in that space. But to your point, I think knowing— and that, that's an investment that will pay off, right? Like don't try and do it yourself if it's not your jam, because to your point it's— you're gonna, in the long run, your numbers are gonna suffer.

Absolutely.

I love that. My background's a designer, so I just love design. How are you coming up with like themes? Is it like based on the location, or is it like more ubiquitous? Like midterms are just— you need like a workspace and like these things. I'm curious your approach on that.

Yeah, for the medium-term rentals, most of— especially, um, I don't know if your listeners know, but I do own a company called Aria Design Services, and we furnish furnished rentals for investors. And the very first thing that we do is we look at your comparables. So we look at your competition in the area to get an idea of what we're working with. And obviously we always want to be better than our competition without breaking the bank. And so the difference I find between a medium-term rental and a short-term rental is that you don't need to go over the top. It wouldn't make sense. For example, there's a beautiful Airbnb in Phoenix where there's like a selfie station because they cater to that demographic. And so that wouldn't make any sense in a medium-term rental. So you don't need to buy neon signs and backdrop and multiple mirrors and ring lights if you're gonna cater to a medium-term rental tenant. That just doesn't make sense. Um, however, what you, what you need to do is you need to have a beautifully designed space. I had a traveling nurse who was actually willing to live in a hotel for a couple weeks until my unit came available. And my first question with my investor hat on was, well, why would you do that? Are there no other midterm rentals in, in the area? And she said, no, no, yours is just so beautifully decorated, and I've been a traveling nurse for a year and a half, and I'm so sick of living in dumpy units. And so I think about that, like, would I want to live in this space for 3 months? And I am fully nomadic. I have been traveling full-time for almost 4 years. It'll be 4 years next month, which is insane. And so I have stayed in so many Airbnbs, so many, in so many different countries. And I could tell you which— there's some where I was like, I cannot wait to leave this Airbnb. There was one that had like basically almost neon painted walls and I was getting a headache. I was like, I could not live here.

I love all that advice. I think it's like knowing your audience, right? And what they're gonna do. I mean, also the fact that you've been traveling, that's so cool for you. I mean, I bet that's just all the inspiration you get is really cool. That's so helpful. And just going back to the underwriting part again, the 3 things that you're doing, furnishing, then You know, I think people struggle with how much more do you charge unfurnished versus furnished. So how do, how do you approach those kind of comps or coming up with that?

Yeah, I'm using furnishfinder.com/stats, S-T-A-T-S, and really using that to kind of guide me on what my competition is charging.

Okay.

And at the beginning I was charging a good $300 more than my competition. Because just as that nurse described it, my competition were dumpy units. And so it was easy for me to ask for $1,600 a month because the unit was beautiful. And then as time has gone on, I'm now up to $1,875 for a 1-bedroom, 1-bath in Omaha.

That's— yeah, that's amazing. That's a really good resource, that Stats thing. I think some people just don't know where to start, and so I think going there you can see all the data. And I also, I think, just testing it, like, put it, put it out there, test it, right? You're You're not committing to that. See what the market will support. That's exactly my approach. So the price and then utilities. So if you're buying a property, maybe, you know, it's a, a, a climate that gets cold, do you just have like, you kind of like call utility companies or how do you figure out what your utilities are gonna be if you've never like lived there?

Yep. So I'm asking my investor-friendly agent while I'm under contract or even before I write an offer what he or she might think it the utilities will be. And then once I go under contract, once I'm under contract on the property, that's when I call the utility companies.

Okay. And they'll give you ballpark kind of estimates on that?

Yeah, they'll, they'll give me the, the actual average on that unit.

Oh wow. I didn't know that. Okay. That's great. That's really cool. That's— yeah. People expect utilities to be included. That's something you just have to like bundle in.

Absolutely.

So that's really great. The underwriting thing. I think the next thing is you've designed this dream life. You know, being able to travel and you self-manage and you have systems in place and you clearly have that dialed in. So I'd love to hear about your systems and how you make this work so smoothly.

Um, oh gosh, it doesn't always feel very smooth, let me be completely honest.

Right.

So, so I think the first thing to do is to have all of your messaging in a Google Doc. So we actually, if you pick up the book 30-Day Stay, which I'm offering 10% off to your audience if they use the promo code Sarah, S-A-R-A-H, they'll get 10% off. And inside the book, we actually have our messages that we send our guests. And so that's the first thing you need to do, is like, every time you message a guest about anything, even if it's answering how to use the Keurig or what's the Wi-Fi code, all of that should go into a file. Because eventually you might buy more than one furnished rental And then eventually you might hire someone to manage them for you. And so that's where I'm at. I own 9 furnished rentals. I think sometimes people are surprised by that. It's not, it's actually, frankly, it's not that many comparatively to other investors. I've interviewed people who own 20 or 30. Um, but, and, and for me, I really follow the idea of something that Chad Carson has, I think, coined is the small and mighty portfolio. So I don't need to own 50 furnished rentals to make the dollar amount that I needed to make. It happened with— frankly, it happened with like 6. Once I hit 6 units, I was like, all right, this is awesome. So what I did and what I recommend everyone do is that every single thing you do gets recorded. So if you can't pay your utilities on autopay, make a Loom video. Loom. Loom. And record how you pay your utilities, and then put that into a Google folder or a Dropbox, because eventually you're going to hire a virtual assistant to pay your utilities for you if they're not on autopay. So everything that I do, I record. So when someone messages me and I need to switch them units— so that's something sometimes I'll get requested in one unit, but it actually works better for both of us if they book in, book in another unit. I screen recorded how to do that inside of Airbnb. I screen recorded how I set them up if they're not coming through Airbnb, how I set them up on a lease. Every single thing that I do gets recorded and put into a training folder even before I hired someone.

You're documenting everything and then you just—

everything.

That's so brilliant because you're not scrambling when you finally are at the point you're like, I'm freaking out, I can't handle this. You just— you've been doing it all along.

Oh yeah. And I'm— so guys, I'm still freaking out and scrambling. Like, do not think that I have it all together. Um, I'm actually— it's funny, I'm a really organized person, but for anyone familiar with the DISC, D-I-S-C, I am a like almost negative S and C. Like, I am a high D, a high I, which typically means that I would be very unorganized. But I think what it actually is, is I hate inefficiency so much that it makes me organized. But I'm not naturally an organized person. Like, I don't enjoy spreadsheets, I don't enjoy following the rules, I don't enjoy step-by-step instructions. And I love efficiency so much that I just grin and bear it and I do these things to be organized because otherwise you're not running a business, you're just throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. That's not a business.

Yeah. And I think technology has come so far in enabling us. I mean, like, absolutely. The software for management and Loom Video, I mean, it's just, it's so easy, right, to do that. You're doing it anyway, just document it. Take, take the stop, document it. I love that.

Exactly.

So obviously that's really helpful because I think as, you know, a solopreneur, sometimes you're like, I don't want to stop and document, I'm doing it myself. What's the point? But you do reach a point where, and I think it's good to set up the stuff knowing that you will have a team in the future, like your software, set it up. Do you have any favorite software using for getting rent and all that fun stuff?

Yes. So I'm using, if they're booking off of Airbnb, meaning I found them through Furnished Finder or Facebook Marketplace or word of mouth. Then I am writing their lease through Avail, A-V-A-I-L.co. I also have a link for that. I have a link for everything, you guys. And hashtag ads. No. And I put them in Avail and their lease is through there. I collect security deposit through there. I collect an $800 security deposit for my $1,800 a month unit. I collect security deposit right away, then I collect first month's rent a few days before move-in. That's key. Do not wait until the first day, then they'll say something happened, and well, you've already given them the key code and they're already in your unit. So collect rent. I collect rent through Avail. I have them submit all tenant maintenance requests through Avail. You want everything documented. So I do all of that through Avail. If they book through Airbnb, then when I just had one unit, I actually just used the scheduled messages within Airbnb. Once I got to 9 listings through Airbnb, I did switch to Hospitable and I have all of my automated messages go through Hospitable. Hospitable also allows you to set up like robo messages. So if they say Wi-Fi, you say password. If they say bicycle, you say I don't have a bicycle. Whatever it is, it's all a robot. So that takes a lot of time to set up. Again, I don't think it's worth it if you have one unit. I really don't. Um, but now that I have so many, it does make a lot of sense. Um, and I love it. It's a really great way to schedule your cleaners. That's the one thing that if you're gonna just use Airbnb you're, you're not going to communicate with your cleaners aside from like an iCal calendar share. But with Hospitable, your cleaners get reminders, your cleaners get automated messages. You're not having to communicate with your cleaners as much because Hospitable is handling that for you. What other technology am I using? Lots of Google Drive, just so much, so much lives inside Google Drive, right?

My brain is in there, I think. Yeah, it's just downloaded. I love that. Yeah, I think a lot of times, even if you're just starting out, get your software. Don't get a rent check and just get a system. They're pretty much free and it just makes your life so much easier. And then you can scale. I think if you have that software, it's easy to add one more unit versus, you know, getting some paper form, scanning it in, doing DocuSign, all the things, right?

Absolutely.

I am curious. I think in my mind I always thought of like hospitable as more, you know, or those kind of, uh, those services more for STRs, but you're leveraging them for midterms, which I haven't heard.

Yeah, because, um, what happened— gosh, probably it's December— probably about 6 months ago, um, I saw a huge uptick in Airbnb bookings even for my medium term. I used to be probably 70% through Furnished Finder and it just didn't make sense to use a hospitable. Mm-hmm. But then the, the tables turned and now I'm almost 70% booked off Airbnb and then only 30% from elsewhere.

Interesting. Yeah. Things fluctuate, right? Yeah. I love that you're setting all those systems up and you're automating cuz most of the questions you're, you're not just getting 'em once. And if I feel like, oh, if you have very clear, like I call them house notes and I document when the garbage goes out and how to turn the power on and I, I don't hear from guests usually, they just self-check in. And I— they're just good. Yeah, if you do all that stuff, it's, it's kind of upfront homework, but it's so value— I think it's just the clearer you can be, and then guests kind of have a good experience too, knowing what to expect.

Well, and the other thing that I started doing, and I, I actually should probably message my guests and ask them if this is annoying or helpful, but we have reminders when trash day is, um, because our medium-term tenants do take the trash can to the curb. And so that message goes out every week. Every other week is recycling. So that message goes out. And then I also have like nice little messages though, like before they check in, of course it's all the housekeeping items, but then the day after they move in, I'm giving them breakfast recommendations, telling them my favorite coffee shop, what to order, giving them recommendations. And people almost always respond to that. Even just with, with a quick thanks. I mean, I would love that. You show up in a new city, especially like Omaha. Like, I didn't know that Omaha, Nebraska had all of these trendy, kitschy coffee shops all over town. I would have probably just like opened my phone, looked up Starbucks or Scooter's, and gone there because I wouldn't have known that there's adorable coffee shops all up and down the street, and one of them is a 6-minute walk from my MTR.

That's so thoughtful. And a lot of times these, if you're, you know, you get nurses, they literally have driven like for days, all night, and they just, they're landing there. They've never been to the city or, or to the West Coast in my case. Sometimes it's like their first experience and that those thoughtful details I think go so far. It's funny that you mentioned garbage though, because I've had a couple tenants be like, well, who puts the trash out? I'm like, well, You know, like, or they forget or they didn't sort it right.

That's why, that's why the messages came about is just setting expectations because it doesn't feel very good when they say, who puts the trash out? And you have to respond, you do. So just set that expectation from the beginning and then it's not as awkward.

Exactly. Yeah. All those things. Cause it's just like, yeah, I've had this, two people had trash situation. I'm like, this is, you get these little like trends and, but then you document it and it's not an issue. Right. But I love how detailed that is from the trash day. You know, what day is it to like, hey, here's a place to get some great coffee. Like, it's just, it's very thoughtful. And I think it's taking some of the STR kind of short-term strategy to the midterm, like that hosting experience.

Yes. Because, because that's the other thing is that I think a lot of times we're so— I mean, this is anyone with anything— is we're so single-minded because you're thinking, what do I got to do? What's the next thing I have to do? But like, I encourage everyone, like, take a minute and think about what it's going to be like to stay in your unit. And I tell everyone this one, like, tying it back to design, is walk into your unit and what is the very first thing that you see? Like, sometimes— I'd actually just helped a friend. She sent over her photos of her unit before she got it professionally photographed, and we actually ended up rearranging the room because I thought, like, the moment you step in, the first thing you're seeing is this TV and a blank wall. I was like, let's just switch up the room so that the first thing they see is this beautiful artwork and this great accent chair that you purchased with a cool pillow. And she was like, wow, I would have never thought of that.

I love that because it sets the tone, right? So their whole experience is like, if you walk in, you're like, oh, look at that chair. It's just this vibe, right? It's maybe intangible versus, oh, there's a TV, like, eh.

Yeah, well, it's so funny what, what people, what guests point out. I recently had a guest inquire on Airbnb. This was just a few days ago, actually, and it's not the most convenient for me. I would rather he book in the unit below because of the timing. But he was like, oh, he's like, to be honest, I really like this unit. He's like, it sounds really silly, but I was a math teacher before I became a nurse, and that cool Einstein painting that you have like sealed the deal for me. And I wrote back like, oh my gosh, I love it, the unit's yours. Like forget I even asked to switch you. Like, that's so cool. And so people will get interested in your unit or even attached to something that you would have never thought of. The Einstein painting is very cool, though, I will say.

I love that. And that kind of speaks to being a little bit— I don't know if quirky is the right word, but some personality, right? Storytelling, not just like everything IKEA and online. And which actually is a question I wanted to ask you. Do you try and incorporate some local stuff, local flavor, or how, you know, but being mindful of like efficiency, right? Like, I'm curious how you kind of approach that.

Yeah, I, I really don't love— what, what did someone say the other day? Someone was like, oh yeah, they're bringing the outside inside. Like when you walk into like a cabin and there's just mountains and bears and it says like mountains are calling everywhere, or like a beach house and there's just seashells everywhere, that is so not my vibe. I'm not interested. That does not attract me. So I very hesitantly say yes, I like to do something local, but tastefully. Like I am not going to put a giant cursive Nashville on a wall in Nashville, but am I gonna put a really cool painting? Of Bob Dylan. Yeah, like, that's cool. Like, something that tastefully speaks to the area, absolutely freaking— I think it's wonderful. Um, but if I see like Live Laugh Love or Mountains Are Calling on your wall, I'm out.

I can so relate. Home sweet home.

Yeah.

Oh man. No, it's funny because one of the first It was an S tier and then it went mid-tier, but it was our office. I just went super quirky. I went thrift store hunting and I'm like, this is my weird Portland style. That's the one I get the most feedback. I'm like, and I'm like, it's quirky. It is like vintage stuff, a typewriter. And I just, that's the one where people like, I get the most kind of like, I love that style. And it was kind of shocking cuz he, I thought who would, you know, who's gonna go for that?

Yeah.

Um, yeah, no, I love that kind of hinting at that tastefully because you don't want to hit someone over the head with that.

Yeah. And I do think, I mean, you need to choose a design aesthetic that makes sense for your unit. And so in one of my units, I have these like vintage suitcases that are set on top of each other and used as the nightstand. And so it wouldn't have made sense if the rest of the unit was you know, modern. And so I'm thoughtfully integrating pieces that are different. And sometimes the reality is, is that I had 3 units to furnish in like 2 and a half weekends. And some of the stuff that I had to put in the unit just, I mean, wouldn't have been if I had months to curate. Right. And so sometimes, like, you— everyone know that, like, when I'm speaking to you guys, Like everyone's situation is going to be different. Sometimes you just gotta furnish a place and it's as good as it's gonna get, which happens to be the phrase that I say every day to myself when I'm done doing my makeup, right?

You just— yeah, I think I heard you say this too. You get under contract, you get those tenants in there right away. You're not giving yourself 30 days like of down— I mean, my quick— oh yeah, it's like 24 hours. I got the everything, handed the keys, and I was— I think people don't know they can do that, right? They think they have to have this perfect thing, and you don't.

Done is better than perfect. Like, if you go to my website, there's gonna be a typo. I'm not proud of that. I don't love that there's a typo. However, if I spent all my time making sure that every single thing that I did was perfect, I wouldn't get to serve the real estate community the way that I want to.

But that's so true, and I think just accepting that— and you can always improve it and, and change things. Well, I love the whole topic of design. I have to ask, are there any— on the design for anything— mistakes that people make or make things they get hung up on when they're doing it themselves? And maybe they just shouldn't do it if they're not— it's not their jam, I guess.

Um, that's a great question. I mean, I just had a client— so I offer one-on-one coaching, and one of my clients, she's amazing, and she listed her unit on Furnished Finder just to see if she would get inquiries. And she put different photos and said in the description, these are not the photos, the unit's being furnished. And someone inquired and wanted to move in like 6 days later. She had not bought anything. And she looked at her husband and she was like, okay, it's go time. And they had the thing cleaned, furnished, and photographed in 4 days. Yeah, and it took like all 4 days. Like, we're talking she probably, you know, is there 6 in the morning till 10 o'clock at night. Um, but it can be done. Like, is it exactly the way she wants it to look? Absolutely not. Like, could she get the rug that she wanted? Nope. But it— she got it done. And I think that is a really good story to tell because I think a lot of people are like, oh, the couch doesn't come in for 3 weeks, guess I can't do anything. It's like, no, you could go to a local furniture store in your area and buy a couch today.

It's so true. Yeah. Or go to Facebook Marketplace. Yeah. My last thing was 3 days and some bed wasn't arriving, so I had my furniture delivery guy assemble. I'm like, I'm going to ask if they'll— and they did it, you know, they charged me. I think it goes back to mindset, right? Everything's figureoutable. And, you know, you will get it. I had my kids over there. It was 10:00 at night. We're hanging artwork. I guess I like the challenge. So to me, that's kind of fun, right? Nothing like design. Me too. I wanna stress too, I think design is, is so important. It makes you really stand out. Obviously you believe that too. And I love that you started a design company. Was that hard to do or was it just, did it feel like the natural next step in your kind of entrepreneurial journey?

Both. It was hard to do and the people were asking for it and I'm not one to leave money on the table. Um, also it's fun. Like, this is the only business that I have a business partner with, and I adore her. Like, I love working with her. And so, like, how fun to get to work with someone that you admire, respect, and enjoy. And we both have really complementary skill sets, and our clients love working with us because, like, she's definitely, like, the yin to my yang. And we have so much fun and it's not, it's not the end of our world. Like, we care really deeply about our clients, so much so that if we can't serve someone, we won't take the job. And I think that that's really cool to work with someone that's like not in it for just the money. Mm-hmm. Because otherwise we would've killed ourselves this year and we would've taken on probably an additional 20 clients. But instead we've furnished 37 units in 12 different states, and it was fun.

That's so cool. Yeah, that's when you get to do what you love, right? That's just magic.

I love when I'm at World Market and I have just like 3 or 4 shopping carts full, which also World Market shopping carts are the smallest shopping carts ever, so it doesn't make any sense, but you know, I have 4 of them, so I'm like pulling them up to the register, running to the other side of the store, getting the next And everyone's like, what do you do for a living? And I'm like, I furnish Airbnbs. People are like, oh my God, that's like a dream job. And in my head I'm like, yeah, it was my dream job. I dreamed it up.

And you made it happen. Yeah. There's some magic about even like when you're staging it to sell it, right? Even if it's got all the high-end finishes that when you put furnishing in there, it just, it comes to life in a way that like nothing else. Like you can have the prettiest fixtures, but I don't know that magic. Every time I get excited.

Yeah, I think now I'm, I'm, I'm less thrilled about the pillows. I'm kind of over the pillow choosing and I'm so excited for my clients when they message me like the one I just told you about. She was like, oh my God, we got $2,500 and before she was renting her unit for $1,100. Unfurnished. Yeah, like, that is so exciting because now I know my clients intimately, and I know that that money is going to make a huge difference in their life. And then I have another client, one of my absolute— I'm not supposed to have favorite clients, but he's one of my favorite clients. My business partner and I actually flew out and designed this unit in person, and he told us, he said, my goal is to retire my wife. She was working at a, at a school and he actually was able to tell me at BPCon, at the BiggerPockets conference, that Alyssa's last day had been that week.

Wow.

And she's now managing their furnished rentals. And I just think, oh my gosh, we are so lucky to do what we do.

I mean, it's really game-changing and you're impacting people's lives and, and, and you know, from both sides, right? As, as the, as the housing provider and as The best coming. I, I love real estate. Well, I want to be mindful of time, and I ask you like a million questions. One more question on furnishing. How involved are you? You have so many balls in the air.

Less and less as time goes on. So I have an incredible team. I now, like you said at the beginning, I'm running 3 different businesses. So I not only have Aria Design Services, where we will furnish your Airbnb for you or your MTR for you, but then I also have this company called Invested Adventures. And this came about because people were saying, oh my gosh, it's so cool that you travel. I wanna travel. And then I'd get on the phone with them. I'd tell them all my tricks, all my, you know, travel hacking, credit card hacking, all the things. And then they wouldn't buy a plane ticket. And I'd be like, what is going on? Like, what? And so I reached back out to them and I said, if I planned a trip for real estate investors, would you come? And when I first asked the first group that I like hand-selected, there was 11 of them, and 9 of the 11 said yes. And the only reason the other 2 didn't was because of pregnancies. And so I was like, okay, I'm on to something, right? I know I'm on to something. And people are craving connection and community. And so pair that with like an epic adventure of like hiking Patagonia or whatever it might be. And in 2022, we did 5 trips. And 2023, I already have 3 trips that are announced and sold out. And then I'm actually announcing my 4th trip this week.

That, that just that connection and community, I mean, that's where it's at, right? Especially coming off of COVID and all this turbulence we've been in.

Well, and not only COVID— I mean, you're exactly right, people are feeling lonelier than ever. But also because we have chosen to be weirdos who want passive income freedom. We want to quit our jobs, be our own boss. That's not normal. Like, we are not normal. What is normal is to like be quiet and go to work and be a good girl and be an employee and do what your boss says. Put money in your pension and hope for the best. Like, that's normal. We're not normal. We own more houses than anyone that we know, and, and we love it. That makes us even weirder. And so, so that's why I think real estate investors particularly are very lonely. I think anyone that chooses like the financial independent FIRE, Financial Independent Retire Early. I think anyone that chooses that is making an announcement, even if it's quietly, that they are different than their peers.

Truth to that. You know, I used to hide that I was a landlord. I was like, people are going to judge me, I'm evil. And it's— it was very kind of— it was hard, it was very isolating. And yeah, it is not the normal path, and people think, oh, you own multiple properties, they don't understand the risk and the time and the stress.

Well, and, and that the money's all tied up. It's like we're not, we're not rich yet. Yet.

Right. But then to connect with other people that get it, that get that you're a DIYer, that it's just, it's so, you're like, oh, I'm not the only weirdo out there doing this.

Like, well, and you just learn so much by hanging out with other investors and it also will help the people who are scared. I was scared. I had no backup plan. Like, I don't come from money. I had no plan B. Like, it was like this had to work. And it wasn't until I surrounded myself with real estate investors that I was like, okay, like, I can, I can do this. I know I'm not crazy. I've ran the numbers backwards and forwards. I know this is a good deal. I just got to do it. And, and then I love it. Even when I started growing my portfolio to where it's at now, someone said, well, what if you lost it all? I mean, I'd just buy more real estate.

Totally.

And I'd buy smarter. And so like, we know we're not crazy, but that doesn't, that doesn't tell our friends and family that we're not crazy. And so I think that's where the trips are so important. So I'm really excited. You actually will be the first to get to announce my trip because of this podcast. I am taking investors on an 8-day African safari. Safari followed by an 8-day Kilimanjaro hike. The hike is optional. The hike— non-hikers out there, don't worry, you can just do the safari or just do the hike. But I have a couple— I have 2 people that are doing both, including me. Maybe we'll see if I can— I need to train for this. I will do the safari. Um, but yeah, I'm so excited because now I'm able to pair not just trips. Like, it's cool that we can, you know, go to the Smoky Mountains, rent a cabin, talk about our goals, but now we're going on bucket list adventures and it's all a business trip. It's all a write-off.

That's, that's brilliant. Yeah, I bet going on that and being around those people is so inspiring that it— and so many levels, you come back and you're just— I can't imagine how you feel.

I, I could all— I've had 5 trips this year and I could write a book about the people that have attended. I have two investors who came to my trip January 2022. They are now partnering on a BRRRR, and someone else in their group is their private lender.

That, that connection, that's amazing. And I think also, I just— as entrepreneurs, it's hard to stop and take the time to do something like that because you feel like— I always, at least I I need to be productive all the time. But by doing that, look what you accomplish, right? Yeah.

And then another two girls, they came to my event in June of 2021, and one of them had the goal of quitting her job. The other one had a goal of hiring an assistant. So guess what? She's hiring her.

Oh my God. There's a book in there, right? You know?

Yeah. It's so cool. Like I, I really, I mean, I get moved to tears that like this is what I get to do for a living.

That, yeah, those connections. And you are changing lives, right? I mean, what other industry can say they're impacting people like that? Well, you just led into one of my questions. How can people like find you and check out your amazing trips and, you know, coach with you and get you to furnish their places?

Absolutely. I would love to hear from your listeners, so please reach out. I really do read all of my DMs. So the best place to reach me is Instagram, just like any good millennial. So you can find me at Sarah D Weaver on Instagram, and then my website is also the same thing, sarahdweaver.com. And if anyone really is interested on going on a trip, please let me know immediately. All of my events have been selling out, and so I'm really excited to have one of your listeners come join us.

I feel honored that you— I got to announce it here. Um, So also there's a couple questions I just like to ask. Everyone has really original advice. What is like your top business or life advice that you would give someone to kind of live life on their own terms like you have done so well?

Yes. Um, two words: don't wait. If there is a business that you've been wanting to start, don't wait until you have the perfect website or the perfect logo. None of my businesses had names before I got clients. I just saw a need and said, oh, I could do that. And so Aria Design, I think we served 5 or 6 clients before we ever had a name, and we served 10 clients before we ever had a website, and we still don't have a logo. So if someone wants to make our logo, let me know. So just stuff like that, like, I think people, they wait, they wait too long. So don't wait. And that goes with your personal life. If there is something that you want to do, buy the plane ticket, go on that long drive. If there's someone in your life that you love, tell them. Don't wait. That is my advice. Don't wait.

I love that. That is— that's so true. Next question: your superpower.

My superpower is connection. So I originally initially thought it was just being connected with people, I can meet a girl on a 2-hour bus ride and then 2 weeks later fly to Taiwan and she's showing me her hometown. That's a true story. So I'm really good at connecting with people really quickly as well, but also connecting people with each other. So like those 2 stories that I told are just 2 examples of probably 100 of where I've connected people. I truly love people. I think anyone that has contact with me, like, can tell that I just really like people.

I love that. And that is all about connection, right? As humans, that's what it's about. Obviously, you just published a book, you know, plug your book, any other resources that you'd recommend.

Yeah, absolutely. What I love about the book is it's really a book where you could pick up and you could skip to chapter on furnishing, or you could skip to the chapter on analyzing. I'm so honored that people are reading it cover to cover. That's obviously how it was intended to to be read and you can really pick it up and it's meant to be a resource. So I already mentioned that the messages that we send our guests are in the book. The questions that I asked when I check a reference on a tenant, those are in the book. We really dug really deep into the details. And so some of the chapters you can probably, if you already are an expert at analyzing, just skip that chapter. But if you are like, no, I really could use some help on that, we break it down, make it as easy to consume as possible. And then there's a lot of fun stories about travel and My co-author, Ziana, has been co-hosting up to 60 units around the world, so she's got a lot of stories.

Yeah, I can attest it's really engaging and it's so actionable too. It's just, it's a really great read. It's like a Bible if you want to get into midterms. So definitely check it out.

Thank you. I really appreciate that. I think for me, mindset is such a strong part of my story, and so I do weave that into the book.

Yeah, I think mindset, I mean, this business is, there's a lot of risk, right? Calculated, but you have, that's so critical cuz you can really get caught in your head and just not take that action. Well, Sarah, this has been like such a treat. I'm, I'm so honored and thank you for your time. Is there anything else you would like wanna add before we sign off?

I wanna ask you like, what, what's your advice? Because you get to, you get to interview people and you've been doing this for a while. What's your advice to the listeners after the conversation that we've had?

Yeah, I think what resonates with me and the theme I've been hearing is take the action, take the massive action. You're going to figure it out, right? Like, it is just— it's scary and overwhelming, but if you don't take the action, you're not going to figure it out. And it's real easy to get caught up in analysis paralysis. I think the action part, and it's, it's that leap of faith, but it's all— it's figureoutable. So I think you're echoing what other really successful people. There's, it's a real theme. So yeah, great question. Yeah.

And I think the more you talk to experienced real estate investors, it's like, oh hun, we've all learned from like, there's been tears on the bathroom floor and wanting to scream at our phone when we have an annoying guest. Like it's all there and we're still really glad we invest.

Yeah, it's the long game, right? There's those things, but then they make a great story. Your worst situation is like the best story, right?

Absolutely.

Well, thank you so much for your time. I so appreciate it. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you found it valuable. Please take a minute to hit the subscribe or follow button. It really helps other people find this and share it with a wider audience. We also appreciate 5-star reviews. Also, please take a screenshot and tag us on your favorite social platform. We're at Cedar and Porch. The show was brought to you by the Midterm Rental Playbook course, your blueprint to setting up a successful midterm rental. Learn more at themidtermrentalplaybook.com, link in the show notes.