Optimize Your Mid-Term Rental Listing: Attract High-Paying Guests Fast!

Hey everyone, this is Shona from She's Got Assets. I'm gonna go live in a second. I guess I am live. Just want to say welcome to everyone. I just need to do a few more things to go live in all the places. If you're tuning in, just say hey, let me know where you're calling in from, maybe how your Thanksgiving was. We're gonna get started really soon. I just need to do a few things, running a tiny bit late tonight, but we are gonna make this work. So I just need to go live on Facebook. Just one second. See, thanks for hanging in there. So a little bit of admin stuff. Okay, almost there. A few more clicks. Okay, okay, almost there. Let's see. Okay, I'm almost there. I just need to do a few more things. Every time I think I've got this and then I forget a step, so thanks for being patient. Um, okay, almost there. Okay. Ready to go live on Facebook. Okay, I think it's working. Again, if you can see me and hear me, you guys know the drill. It's tough to go live on Instagram. Hopefully this works. Okay. Hey everyone, again, this is Shona from She's Got Assets. I'm doing the weekly 5 PM livestream. I so appreciate you guys tuning in. Um, again, if you can see me and hear me, just say hey. I super appreciate it just to know that everything is working. I'm going to do a quick post, then we're going to dive into a fun topic tonight. So again, if you're there, let me know. Let me, let me know where you're calling in from, how your Thanksgiving was. All right. I'm just going to check one place here. Again, if you, if you can let me know you can see me and hear me, that's super helpful. Okay. I'm just going to do a quick note. All right. Hey, Lakeisha, thanks for tuning in. Awesome. Um, all right. Okay, okay, few people are here. Yeah, I appreciate you guys taking the time out of your evenings. Really, really appreciate it. I know there's lots of things to do always, so I'm going to give everyone maybe like 2 more minutes. Again, let me know how your Thanksgiving was. I had a great Thanksgiving. Awesome, Jennifer from Wichita. Awesome. I appreciate it. Um, yeah, so how I had a great Thanksgiving. We went to the coast, rented this adorable little A-frame. I realized I love the way they look, but they're a little bit, a little bit tight. But it was super nice. We like went crabbing, made fires, ate great food. So it was super fun. Um, okay, so I think, let's see, I need to do more of you. But yeah, again, let me know where you're calling in from. If you have any burning questions, we'll totally have lots of time for Q&A. So please hang out. Um, just need to find where I am here. Sorry, one second. Okay, almost there. Just need to find— I have all these windows open. I'm trying to find my livestream window. One second. Okay. Okay, I found it. All right, I think I know where I'm at. Okay guys, um, again, just let me know where you're calling in from. If you have any questions, we'll totally get that to the end. I'm going to, um, go ahead and start the presentation tonight, all about how to optimize your listing. There's a lot of things I think we don't think about that I'm super excited to dive into. And so I'm going to share my screen, so just give me one second while I do that. Let's see, I'm going to go to present mode. Share screen. Okay, just a few more clicks. Okay, share screen. Chrome tab. Okay, I think this is going to work. Okay. All right, you can see my messy screen, so let me just clean that up a little bit. Hide a few things. Let's see. Okay, where is that screen? Okay, just commenting a few more people. Hey Leah, thanks for calling in. I hope I said that right. Hey Dee, cooked and worked, can't wait to cater for Christmas. Yes, that is a great idea. It's so much work. We got invited to a friend's house and it was really a treat to not have to cook. We brought delicious appetizers that we didn't cook. Um, love it. Okay, so where is my tab with my presentation? Okay, here we go. All right, so I'm going to share this and present. Thanks for your patience, you guys. There's just a lot of, a lot of behind-the-scenes things going on. Okay, I'm going to go in presenter mode and we're going to do this. Hopefully it works. Okay, and then I'm just gonna rewind a little bit here, and then we're going to dive into this presentation. So just ignore that, I always forget to restart. I kind of reviewed the presentation and I forgot to, um, okay, awesome. Okay, here we are, we did it. Again, if you guys have comments, feel free to paste them. I'll probably look at them at the end just because I can't look at two things at once. So tonight's live training again is on unlocking the secrets to optimize your MTR listing. I'm going to go over some high-level tips. I can't get into a lot of it, I do that in the course, but these are hopefully some great takeaways. Like, take screenshots ask questions. Um, so before we dive in, just a little bit about me. I've had a lot of new people join the group. If you haven't come across me, um, my name is Shona. I like to say I was raised by capitalist hippies, um, growing up in a little town in Northern California called Mendocino. Very small town, very destination town, and very expensive, right? So I'm originally from California. The idea of owning real estate just seemed insane, like super expensive. Um, but then way back in 2005, I house hacked my way into my first, you know, owner-occupied investment. It was having— called having a roommate back then. So I've been at this like a long, long time. Um, and I used to be really private that I was a landlord because there's a lot of, you know, I think people have mixed feelings about. But now I'm really out there. I really try and pride myself in being a, you know, great landlord, housing provider, providing stylish, comfortable housing for all kinds of guests. So that's a little bit about that. Um, and then quickly, before I became a full-time master, um, kind of design and marketing is kind of in my DNA. That's probably why I love the marketing piece of this so much and the design with midterms. So, um, previous to this, I had a boutique design agency way back when. I like built websites, branding, all that stuff. Um, uh, and then I founded a creative agency with my husband, and I'm really forever like an outside cat, right? Like, I am an entrepreneur. Pretty much a serial entrepreneur my whole life. And so I'm the founder of She's Got Assets, the community. I'm the podcast host. I'm a course author. I have the REI Playbook, which is essentially how to, you know, buy an investment property without— an off-market investment property without door knocking or cold calling using creative deal structuring. Then I also have the MTR Playbook, and we have our rentals under Senior and Poor Properties. And then I buy fixers under Shona Buys Houses. So a lot of hats. And so I live with my family in Portland, Oregon. We own a mix of long-term and midterm rentals. And on a side note, just personally, I love treasure hunting. My daughter and I love going thrifting on the weekends. I'm obsessed with design and pretty much all things real estate, which maybe you guys are too if you're on the call. And then a couple other things. I, you know, I put out a lot of free content. I do have paid courses, but just a quick promo here. I have a podcast called She's Got Assets. If you scan this code, you can subscribe to it. It's super, super helpful. To me. I have really interesting guests on. I just try and have like very in-depth conversations, ask the questions I want to ask, right? I was a BiggerPockets fan forever and I felt like they never really got into the weeds. And that's kind of the goal of this, to inspire people and be very educational. So here's some guests that I've had on, like Sarah Weaver— she wrote the book on 30-day stays— and then, um, the co-founder of PriceLabs, which we all know well and love. And so it's on all major podcast platforms. Again, please subscribe, uh, leave a, leave a review. That's super helpful. You can scan this little barcode. And then, um, I have a YouTube channel. Um, so I have tons of free content in there as well. All the podcasts are there, all the live streams go there. So please subscribe, don't— to not miss any content. I super appreciate it. It's really helpful for me to spread the word. Okay, so we're gonna kind of jump into the meat of this. And, you know, part of a marketing, right, just basically your branding is kind of who are we talking to, who is your avatar, right? Like on the marketing geek week. But really high level, we need to like kind of optimize our listings to— is it a family that's been displaced by like water damage, or is it a digital nurse or a traveling nomad? They're all going to be kind of looking for different things, right? And so I— we don't want to just focus on one of these, right? Like we all have insurance leads that we— those are hard to predict. So we want to make sure we're appealing to a kind of a wide audience, right? So, you know, if we have a bigger home— and it also depends on the type of property that you have. If you have like a one-bedroom, a studio, you're probably not going to get families placed homeowners, right? You're going to be more going after traveling nurses, digital nomads, maybe corporate housing, right? So depends on your property, you know, what, who you're kind of marketing to. But just, this is kind of some high-level avatars. Um, and again, it really depends on the kind of property, right, that you have. Um, right, so just high level here. Again, I go into this really in depth in the course, but if you have like a 1-bedroom, 1-bath, right, You know, and the other thing I love with that midterms is long-term, that's not the most desirable property, right? Your rents are pretty low. They're kind of capped out. That with the midterm, you can, you know, oftentimes to really to extra cash flow and you get a really solid quality tenant base. You're not, you know, they're not there that long. They're usually 3 to 6 months, right? Especially nurses travel on 13-week contracts. They're very high caliber guests. They're not going to overstay. So I think all these things we worry about, especially if you're a new landlord of people trashing your property, it doesn't happen, right? These are professionals. They have a home somewhere else, right? So, um, again, so this, you know, the one-bedroom studio, really we're going after probably the travel nurses. We want to aim our amenities towards that, right? Who we're speaking to, digital nomads, right? COVID really opened up that whole market and there's— they're really on the rise, right? The digital workforce. Again, then going to like a two-bedroom, one-bath, kind of a similar, similar avatars, right? Maybe some families, smaller families, um, And then I think the sweet spot really is a 3-bedroom plus, right? That's like the typical American home, right? Most people have a 3-bedroom, 1 or 2 bath, and they're also— you can fit the most wide amount of avatars in there. It could be a family, it could be traveling nurses, it can be construction workers, right? So, and this is the one where we really want to make it, you know, make it family-friendly, have dedicated workspaces. So we're appealing to multiple avatars with like the bigger properties, right? And they're also harder to find, especially like maybe a 4 or 5-bedroom. So that's definitely an asset. I'm gonna just check the comments really fast if there's any comments, but let me know if any of this is making sense. If you're getting value, it's super helpful for me to know. Um, I know a lot of people have questions about, you know, what kind of asset. And the course, I, I do have an MTR calculator that really shows you how to do your research and figure out what you can charge and all your expenses and all that stuff. So, um, just gonna check the comments here if there's any burning questions. Before I go on. All right. Okay. Awesome. Okay. Let me know as we go. It's super helpful that you're watching and you have, if you have questions. Okay. So that's kind of the property types. So what we wanna do is feature the amenities kind of based on your property and who you're really marketing to. Like for me, what I see very commonly is like a fenced backyard. So I'm featuring the fenced backyard. I'm featuring the washer dryer, right? Those are maybe not, and this is really different than like the STR model. We're really focused focused on vacation amenities. We're going to show like the, like the hot tub and the game room. But men— MMTR is midterms— are really focused on like professionals. They're there for a while. They want, they want all the amenities of a home, right? You can have the fancy stuff, but you don't need the hot tub or the fire pit, right? So we're really focusing on what they're looking for. Um, you know, so what we want to do is really make sure in our listings that we're— um, sorry, my daughter just walked in— that we're focusing on the keywords that people are looking for. So I can't emphasize this enough, being pet friendly. So many places, so many landlords do not like pets. I totally get it, but they are part of your family and you're missing out on a huge, huge opportunity if you don't allow pets. So I think just leading with the things that people are looking for, like pet friendly, flexible lease terms— a lot of times people are in between things and a lot of landlords just want a 12-month lease. They want to set it and forget it. Like, we are charging a premium for our leases, right? Especially the 1 or 2 month, right? And I coach students on that in the course, like how to price your midterms, you know, based on length of stay, right? We're charging a premium for shorter stays because it's more risk for us, right? And we also want extended stays, right? If we're on Airbnb, a lot of times, you know, there's all these bookings in there and people don't want extended stays, right? So we're really emphasizing we're flexible, we're open to extended stays. Um, you know, we partner with insurance and relocation companies and we have furnished temporary housing. And this is kind of just a highlight. I have a full list in the course. Um, But that's really, um, who, you know, we really want to kind of bake these keywords into our, into our listing copy. Copy is like an advertising term that basically your listing description, right? So we just want to— and as we get leads, we start to see like, hey, let's say like, I'm a family, I had water damage, or all these things. And you kind of see the patterns of what people are looking for, that by putting this out there, it's really appealing to people because we understand the model of temporary, you know, flexible accessible housing, which is what we offer. All right. So these are some of the top amenities, right? There's a lot of different amenities, but again, I know I feel like a broken record. Be pet friendly if you can. I have a few tips towards the end. Um, fenced yard is really important. People want to bring their pups along. They don't want to necessarily have to take them on a walk. They just want to open the door and let them out. So that's really, really important. Also, like a private fence yard, people really don't necessarily want to, um, have a shared yard. Um, again, a fully stocked kitchen, right? All cooking supplies, pots and pans, can opener, and all the stuff. I've got a full list in the course, but just think like, what would you have if you lived there? You'd want a coffee maker, you'd want a blender, right? All of that kind of appliances. I don't think it has to be fancy, but it has to be really functional, like Tupperware and, you know, spatulas and a can opener, things like that, right? Full-size washer dryer in the unit, or if it's shared, right? A dedicated workspace. Just put a desk in a corner, have it just— it's really important. It's a very easy thing to do. Um, you know, we have super fast Wi-Fi. This is especially for digital nomads, like they're working from— they need really good wireless internet. Um, you know, single-level homes are really in demand for accessibility issues, not having any stairs. So like a ranch-style house is ideal. Um, again, another kind of top thing is having a primary bedroom or a bedroom on the main floor, again for accessibility issues. Um, so any questions as we go? Okay, Jennifer, I have a 3-bedroom, 1-bath, hot tub, and air hockey. So Jennifer, that's a really great question. I don't think it is— I think it's super cool, and especially right if you are doing like the hybrid strategy, which I teach in the course, how to optimize for midterm and short-term. I probably wouldn't lead with air hockey, like on Airbnb we're going to feature all of the fun amenities. Definitely mention it, it's, it's It's fun, it's, you know, but it's not something I would highlight like in my listing description, right? But if you have it, that's awesome. You know, a hot tub is great. I think it just adds— it's an extra amenity. I don't think it's expected, but I think it's definitely— if you're weighing two properties, right, like one has a hot tub, I'd probably go for the hot tub, right? So I think that's great, especially for hybrid, like people that are maybe doing short-term, um, you know, in the high season, right, when you can command a great nightly rate, and then just doing midterm in the slower season, right? Or kind of optimizing for midterm and then filling in your kind of vacancies with short-term booking. So those are great. I just think we don't need them, but they, they're great, you know. So great question. I hope that answered it. Um, okay, Jennifer, you have a 5-bedroom. Yeah, that's amazing. You know, for the larger properties, that is really like— we can't— again, the caveat, we can't predict insurance leads, but we can optimize for them. When you think about a large family that had damaged their home, they had a fire, they had water damage, right? We're getting into stormy season. They need to be put in a comparable home. So say they live in a 3 or 4 bedroom, right? And they have a couple kids and they have a dog. They need to be put in a comparable property, right? So that, I would say that avatar is definitely like displaced families for insurance claims or corporate housing or, you know, contractors maybe looking to, you know, stay in a place together to save money. Cause you think about what they'd be paying like an extended stay hotel to have all those rooms, right? Um, so yeah, so definitely I would say the avatar, like, definitely optimize for insurance claims, which I teach in the course, like how to optimize where to list. I have like over 100 places to list. Um, and then Jennifer, too, cleaning. Um, you know, there's two schools of thought on that. Some people include like a monthly cleaning. I personally don't. I, you know, I think it's because part of it is I have this— I come from like the long-term rental kind of you know, experience. And I, my experience, people don't necessarily want to be bothered with cleanings, right? So I think what you can do is offer it as an option, or you could include it in your fee. And then if you're negotiating on price, say, well, I can take out the, you know, I would say, I wouldn't, I would say monthly is probably fine, right? You can do, just adjust your price, right? It's one of those things you can negotiate on. I mean, so I don't do it personally. I think a lot of people like to do it because they can kind of get eyes on the property and it's a nice amenity. I don't, I don't think it's expected. Again, I think it's an amenity. Um, so yeah, there's two ways to do it. Again, just kind of add that into your price, but I think once a month or every two weeks, you know, would be, would be okay. I don't think it's— but it's not expected. Um, so Monica has a question. I'm downsizing, trying to decide what to do with my 5-bed, 4-bath— 5-bed, 4-bath home. Sell at LTR, STR, MTR? My home is about 40,000 people. Well, you know, personally, if I can hold an asset, I'm all about that. And it sounds like being close to an Army post, there's probably a lot of military travelers that are looking for a place. So, you know, I would do some market research, kind of see what's out there. I teach that in the course. And again, I teach this in the course, but like, I don't know how long you have to make your decision, but I would put it out there and test the market. And I teach that in the course. But if you can hold an asset and have it cash flow, you're going to keep building your equity, you're going to get cash flow, you're going to, you know, get all the tax tax benefits. So I think that's a great asset if you can keep it. Like, by all means, that's what I would try and do. That's my perspective. Um, so yeah, okay, more questions. I'll get back to the presentation. Um, do I collect a month's? Yes. So there is a bit of a caveat to that. Um, for a typical, like, say a nurse avatar, right, and the rent's like, I don't know, let's say $2,500, I'm collecting a deposit equal to one month's rent. Some people do less. That's just for me. Again, it's really straightforward, is fully refundable, right? The caveat is if you have, um, a family that's been displaced, right? And say your rent's like $6,000, that's kind of a chunk to come up with for a deposit. And typically, not always, the insurance will cover, you know, the monthly, the monthly rent, but they're not going to cover the deposit. So with insurance claims specifically, I adjust my deposit to take that into account, and I'll charge like a $2,000 deposit. So it kind of depends on who you're renting to, um, but that's, that's the short answer for that. But if it's a typical, just, you know, 1-2 bedroom, not an insurance claim, I'm doing 1 month's rent. So great questions, I love it. Okay, all right, anything else? I'll just keep checking back. Okay, so optimizing your listings, um, so here's like an example listing, right? And so what I want to highlight here is, um You know, we're saying relocate. These are all kind of the keywords to our pet-friendly home. And, and again, like from the, if you put the perspective on of a guest that's looking, a lot of homes are not pet-friendly. And then we're saying specifically designed for families in need of, you know, again, temporary housing, right? And this is a platform, Zillow, where typically it's like a 12-month lease, right? It's just pretty straightforward. It's a typical landlord thing. And again, we're also kind of emphasizing, and we're doing some branding here too. I just wanna call it, I, I teach this in the course that we're saying, you know, @SeniorandPorchProperties. This is really particularly if you have, if you're on like a platform like Airbnb and you want to get them off platform, they can actually Google your business and find you for a direct booking. So we're saying at, you know, your company name, we offer flexible stays for those encountering home repairs and/or relocation. So this is going to resonate with that kind of person. Then we say we also work directly with insurance companies and policyholders in need of temporary housing. So we're really optimizing the listing because again, compared to a typical listing, there's no way you know, and how a landlord is going to take a lease for 3 months, right? They want the 12-month lease. So we are charging a premium for that. And I teach in the course how to kind of do tiered pricing depending on length of stay. And I like to include high-level keywords, right? Like, again, these are like temporary housing, extended stay, as needed, um, dedicated office or workspace, you know, fast internet, fully stocked kitchen, smart tech, you know, basically update it according to what your amenities are. These are just like— this is an example, right? Um, Okay, so any other questions as I keep going? I love questions, um, it's helpful for me. Um, also, okay, so optimize your listing title. And this is the difference between like MTR and STR, like STR being Airbnb. Like for an Airbnb listing, we're gonna say like, you know, charming, beautiful, you know, cottage with hot tub, or something that's very like vacationy and like evokes like, oh, I just want to hang out and relax. Right? It's like a very different kind of title. With a midterm, we're really— I would say we're more practical, right? Someone's going to be living there. So again, like, if you have a hot tub, you could say that, but you might say, you know, here I'm saying a charming 3-bedroom pet-friendly apartment with fenced yard close to Providence Hospital. It's, it's much more practical. It's not like spacious, beautiful, like all those descriptive words that we might put in, um, or that ChatGPT helps us come up with. ChatGPT is notorious for doing these like highly, um, flowery kind of descriptions. So I do have prompts in the course, but just keep it kind of descriptive. What is it close to, right? What does it have? You know, great for remote workers, whatever, whoever you're kind of targeting, right? So this is a much different description than you're going to do for like a short-term rental, right? Um, so that's the nuance. Okay. And that— so that's the title, right? And again, in your photos, like, I just realized when I was putting this together, I should have put like the fence yard, like include the top. Again, that's the difference between MTR, right? If, if you're doing short-term, you might feature the hot tub and the game room. And then for your MTR listing, right, you're maybe going to focus on like the kitchen, the desk space, like all the things in the fence yard, the things that are people are looking for going to live there, right? So this is kind of an example of a listing. You know, I'm saying again, I'm— this is some branding here. Welcome to Cedar and Porch Properties, right? Your perfect home away from home. This, you know, fully furnished 3-bedroom, 1-bath duplex is full with hardwood floors, stylish furnishings, and all the comforts of home. Again, we're really emphasizing that we've— it's a place to call home, right, while you're away. You know, we're calling out the amenities. Enjoy, enjoy a large fully fenced backyard, perfect for letting your pup out to play. We're saying pet friendly there, right? And then we kind of go over the details. You know, 2 of the bedrooms are furnished with queen-size beds with comfy mattress. Um, we have a dedicated workspace, um, you know, fully stocked kitchen. And we're kind of highlighting what it's close to, just close to downtown and close to the local hospital. Um, again, and then we're saying, you know, make this your home, staying as long as you need. We have flexible lease terms, you know, message us right away. I also personally always like to offer 3D and virtual tours, right? Because a lot of times, especially traveling nurses, they are booking sight unseen. They're literally driving across the country. They're not going to come see the property. This is different with insurance claims. They're always going to want to see the property typically because they're local. Right? So I, I say here we have 3D and virtual and video tours. You can get a tour without going anyway. We're also happy to arrange an in-person tour, right? I like, I love bookings where I'm not actually showing the property ahead of time, but I want to be flexible, especially if I have a vacancy. I'll show it all day, right? Um, so that's kind of it. And then depending on the platform you're at, you know, they're not going to let you hotlink out. So like this is a Furnished Finder listing. So I'm just saying online video and virtual tours, you know, cut and paste in your browser to view it, right? Video tour, virtual tour. And then I'm throwing in my online guest reviews, which I have on Google My Business, which I teach you how to set up in the course, right? And then I'm including like a recent review. So that's like very high level of kind of what I'm trying to focus on and explain all the kind of amenities. And it's not too flowery. Like ChatGPT tends to really overemphasize stuff. You can, you can kind of tell, but you wanna use ChatGPT as a tool, but make it human. Don't— it just tends to go a little bit crazy with like emojis and descriptive things, like words, just you can tell. So make sure that it's appealing but kind of practical, right? So any, any questions on the listings or anything that I— you guys have? I'll check the thing. Okay, I don't see anything. All right, so, and then again, in the listing I'm saying— I'm kind of putting about my business at Cedar and Porch Properties. We offer fully furnished, right, keyword properties with all the of home and flexible lease terms for short and extended long-term stays, right? I'm letting people know, hey, we're flexible again, because a lot of times people are not that flexible, right? We cater to our guests' diverse needs, including traveling medical professionals, i.e., nurses, remote workers, pet owners, and those facing relocation or displacement, right? And then we're saying specifically, we also work directly with insurance companies and policyholders in need of temporary housing as well as healthcare companies looking for temporary housing for medical professionals on assignment, right? So we're really, we're kind of appealing into different types of people, right? And that's kind of— you guys can copy this, make it your own, right? That's what I recommend. Um, so as far as where to list, I think it's really important to, um, have, you know, an omnipresent marketing strategy, which is a fancy way of saying be in a lot of places. I think a lot of times people just list maybe on Furnished Finder or, you know, you know, maybe Furnished Finder and Airbnb, right? And they're not like— they're not optimizing their listings correctly. They're their calendar is kind of full of spotty bookings, so they're not getting midterm lanes because their calendar isn't open, right? So I think being in the right places is super important. So I, you know, I have a full list on the course. I just updated it, and I think there's about like— I have 20 of the top places to prioritize. And all in all, I have about like 100 places that I recommend listing, which includes, you know, obviously Airbnb, Furnished Finder, Zillow, Rental Manager. And make sure that, you know, if you're on here, you check Check the furnishing box in Airbnb. I recommend turning off Instant Book. There are ways to get a lease through Airbnb, but I just want to control that. And again, ALE Solutions is a temporary housing provider, one of the bigger ones. So I have a full list in the course, but you know, if, um, these are kind of the top, top places to list. Um, and then these are again the top temporary housing companies, which insurance companies partner with temporary housing companies. I have some more training on that if you want to let me know, but we cover that really in depth in the course too. So like ALE Solutions, Cedric, THD, CRS, these are some of the big ones. Little bonus tip here is, um, you know, be pet friendly. I can't stress this enough. You know, about 70% of renters own pets. You're gonna attract more pet— you're gonna attract more guests, uh, reduce vacancies, higher income, longer stays. And again, if you're going after— if you have a larger property, you're going after insurance claims, most displaced families have pets because they are not renters, they are homeowners. So that is just super, super important. Um, So I'm gonna spin through a few case studies. My camera decided to turn off. Yeah, just— I think it overheats or something. Interesting. Well, we'll see if I can get it to turn back on. Does that— it's a little bit finicky. Okay, well, I'll fix that in a minute. Okay, so, so case studies, right? I'm gonna go over some kind of juicy numbers right here, Rex. I think we all hear these numbers are actually real. These is the— you can have, you know, a small but mighty portfolio with like some serious cash flow. So here's a case study. This is— it's like a modern-looking kind of townhome and it has the upper levels, the bigger unit, the bottom is like an ADU, right? So here's— I always like to compare it to kind of long-term— this camera thing's gonna drive me nuts. Let me see if I can fix it. Hold on. I don't know why it's not working. Okay. Why is it not— I think it overheats or something. Okay, well, okay, so basically compared to long-term rent, you know, you can see the numbers here, midterm, and then after expenses it's like almost $5K, right, on one property, which is really unheard of, right? So that is— there's some great numbers. Um, then another case study, this is, um, a duplex that, um, I purchased off-market, zero down, and rehabbed it. And I was going to do long-term actually, but I ran it kind of market tests, and I wasn't happy with my, my long-term numbers, which you can see here. So I actually ended up midterming both sides. I actually rented this out without— it was not even furnished when I got, when I got it booked. And I teach that in the course. That's my pre-listing strategy. So you can see here the cash flow is almost $1,800, which is pretty awesome. So really nice numbers. Um, okay, this is another case study. This is, uh, like, it's a duplex. I love, you know, You know, duplexes, it's 2 doors. You can also mix it up, do like long-term, midterm, right? So this is like the long-term rents. You can see the midterm rents here. Monthly cash flow is, you know, basically $4,600, which is pretty awesome. Again, this is one property. This is actual net cash flow after all my expenses, right? So really good numbers. This is a client case study. You know, the cash flow is about $2,400. This is a 2-bedroom, 1-bath, right? It's nothing fancy. It's nice. We rehabbed it, but it's that's, you know, I think long-term, like, you're happy if you— people get $200, right, a door, right? This is, this is why you can have a small but mighty portfolio with the midterm strategy, was why I love it. Another case study, this is like, I think this is a 3-bedroom, 2-bath, it's about $2K cash flow, right, with the PITI. And your expenses are always gonna vary, right, but it's about $6K a month. So yeah, that is the overview of like how to optimize your listings. I am running some special blog Black Friday sales and Cyber Monday deals. So if you're interested in having me coach you personally, I love working with students. I can get you up and running really quickly and you can recoup this investment really fast. Um, or the other option, if you're kind of more of a DIY kind of budget conscious, I am running this $397 Cyber special. Um, so I'll drop some links in the chat if you guys are interested. Again, I'm sorry, my camera— oh, it's on. Okay. Awesome. Thank you, Jennifer. Yeah. So any other questions? Um, I appreciate everyone tuning in and taking the time on a Tuesday night in the summer when we're kind of getting into holiday season. Um, so yeah, I think there's a little bit of lag on Facebook. Yeah. Any, any questions like ask me anything about marketing or property or amenities? Um, I'm going to drop some links in here, but if anyone's interested in signing up or has questions about the coaching program, it's usually easier to book a call. We can go over all of the details. Um, but I had a lot of people ask me about the Cyber Special and the Black Friday one, so I extended that. So yeah, I'd love to have you guys ask questions. I'm all ears. There's anything— any other comments? Just getting the links here. Um, hold on, I think my computer is being a little bit slow. Okay, and if anyone is watching the replay, like, feel free to, you know, let me know if you have questions, and I'd love to know like everyone's like takeaways if you got value from this, it's super helpful for me to know. Okay. So, okay. I'm going to drop the link in for the MTR Essentials. I just kind of launched this. Um, it's kind of a self-paced thing, but it's a really great deal if you just want to get in on a budget and get started. You get access to all my, um, properties. Okay. I see a question. I'll answer that in one second. And then, um, Um, if you're interested in the coaching course, I am. It's, you can save $500 from now through the end of the week. It's a really great ton of value. I mean, most people, you get direct access to me, you get one-on-one coaching calls as well, group, those group calls. And I'll tell you, most other courses are not offering that. So I'm still at the stage where I am. It probably won't be for long. So let's see if I have any other questions here. Okay. Um, so Jennifer, what's the best platform to get booked on now? I mean, I think you should be everywhere. You don't know where your leads are gonna come from. Again, I would focus on the top ones, like make sure you're on Airbnb, Furnish Finder. And just a caveat, Furnish Finder is not just for traveling nurses. I get insurance leads there all the time. Um, Zillow and ALE, right? Those are like the top, top ones. I do have a full list in the course where it's— I think it's like the top— I've prioritized it by like the top 20 places. There's a lot of places to listen. There's like new upstarts coming all the time. And then I have over 100 places to list, which includes all of the insurance databases for or temporary housing databases for displaced families. But I would focus on those 4, right? And make sure you're optimizing your listing. And then, um, but I would say, yeah, I do include that in the MTR Essentials, but focus on those 4. Make sure your listing's optimized, make sure you have good photos, make sure you're highlighting your amenities. Um, so yeah, great question. Um, and there's no magical way. I think it's just being in the right places, doing the right kind of outreach, right? If you're not getting booked, you can actually reach out to the temporary housing companies directly too. See if they have any vacancies, um, that they could fill in your market. So, and I would say the other thing, you know, sometimes MTRs are a little bit seasonal, right? So if you have a vacancy, you might want to tweak your price a little bit, right? There's definitely— it's, it's definitely a tiny bit seasonal. It's nothing like short-term, your STR rentals, but in my experience, MTRs are a little bit seasonal. And we are getting into the kind of the winter season where we have storms and stuff, but it. Um, I, you know, I would definitely kind of, if you're not getting bookings, kind of adjust your price, look at your pictures, make some tweaks to your copy, just refresh your listings. Those are the things that I do. Um, so yeah, I hope that helps. Um, Jennifer, do families book directly? Um, so it depends, right? So if someone, sometimes I'll get, you get a lead if it's on Airbnb and they want to book through that, I'm fine with that, right? But oftentimes you'll get a lead. Like, a lot of this, like, Furnished Finder is more of a matchmaking platform. They just reach out to you and you're paying the listing fee, right? It's just a one-time fee, and that you just connect directly. You connect directly with that temporary housing company, and then it's a direct booking, right? And then it's just like you're running a background credit check and you're doing all the screening, and then you're drafting a lease, right? So it depends on where they're coming from. Um, there are ways to get guests, like, off platform on Airbnb. Like I said, I'm always dropping my brand name in there so people can Google me. And it just depends, there's a few caveats. And if I'll just take an Airbnb reservation, sometimes it's just, it's quicker, I can accept the booking, you know. Um, but typically the family will want to see the property, right? So you do kind of want to say, hey, you know, reach out directly at, you know, company name so they can see the property if it's an insurance claim because they are local. So there's just a little bit of nuance to it, but you do not need like a direct booking site, right? It's just, um, you definitely need software, right? Like, once you have the lease in place— I cover that in the course— you're going to want to have software set up to, like, collect your rent and the deposit. You don't want to take it through Zillow or Venmo or something like that. You really want to have a platform, um, that's collecting your rents. Like, I use Buildium. It's mostly for long-term rentals. I use it for midterm, right? Because midterms, we're doing a proper lease, right? We're doing all the stuff we do with long-term rentals. It's just usually for shorter stay? So great question. Yeah, marketing is definitely, um, you know, sometimes— and the other thing with bookings, they can come in really quickly. Like, for example, I had, um, a vacancy at one of my, um, smaller units. It's a one-bedroom. I think I did a tour on— yeah, it was yesterday. I was on Sunday and they got an application. I moved them in on Monday, right? People generally are very they will book very last minute, right? They're just, um, they just— it's really quick and go really quick. So you can have a vacancy and like have it booked in a couple days. So just keep the faith, keep the marketing up, and it'll happen. Um, sometimes it's faster than others, but definitely. Um, so Jennifer, the software I use is called Buildium. It's definitely— I don't know how many doors you have. It's definitely for like a portfolio. If you just have one door, um, I'd recommend— there's a platforms. Again, if you're just doing MTR, I'd probably go with like Avail, avail.co, or I would go with, um, TurboTenant. So they're going to allow you to kind of do your leases and collect your rent, and then people can pay like with a credit card or ACH. I'd go with one of those just depending on what you're looking for, but they all generally allow you to collect rent, do like maintenance tickets, and kind of manage your rentals. So again, that's avail.co or TurboTenant If, you know, depending on how many doors you have, if, you know, I like, I love Buildium, but again, it's kind of a, it's a bit of a learning curve and it's if you have a portfolio and maybe you're doing midterm and, and, you know, midterm and long-term. All the software does like similar stuff, right? So I mean, pick your flavor kind of. Um, and they also, those platforms will also do the background and credit check. Again, if you're doing direct bookings, you want to make sure that you're doing your due diligence. Yeah. Your first MTR. Yeah. Awesome. I think it's good to get all your ducks in a row and I I teach that in the course, right? So that when you get that lead, you kind of know, okay, great, you know, here's the application. Because you, if you are doing a direct booking off platform, right, like off Airbnb, you do want to properly screen your guests, make sure they're financially qualified, all of that stuff, right? Because there's really no, and there's no insurance that you have, like, right? With Airbnb, they have their AirDNA coverage or whatever they call it. So it's a little bit more, uh, just you need to be a little more thorough. So I hope that helps. Let me cover all that in the course too. Um, yeah, any other questions? I'll drop those links in again. Um, again, this, um, the MTR Essentials course I just launched, and it's really for someone that maybe like just needs to jump start like what they're up to, right? They, they're pretty, um, motivated, hands-on. You can kind of just jump in and run with things, um, which is great. But if you want like more of a full-service coaching experience, someone to like hold your hand and help you with strategy and whatnot, like if you're not getting booked, then I definitely recommend the, the MTR Playbook, which is the actual coaching course that comes with a lot more support. And these specials won't be around much longer, so if you're interested, definitely book a call with me. We can kind of go over where you're at, you know, see if it's a good fit. If it's not, no problem. Hopefully I'll just leave you with some advice, but, um, You know, and these are also great tax write-offs, right? We're kind of at the end of the year. So, um, and my goal is that the investment pays for itself, that you get booked. And I've had clients like take these strategies and run with them and they get a booking immediately, right? Sometimes it's just a matter of making a few tweaks or listing in the right places that we didn't know about. So, uh, Terry is asking, is there a special insurance you should have for MTAs? That's a really good question. Um, It's just basically, it's not special. It's just check with your— and I guess it's, you know, nuance, but check with your insurance carrier and just say, hey, like, I'm doing leases that are shorter than a year, and I think anything less than like 12 months is considered short-term. So yes, so make sure your policy covers that, that, you know, if you have to file a claim because the adjusters will come around if they find out, hey, you're, you're doing rentals that are less than a year, right? That could be an issue. So I definitely recommend just calling your insurance company, making sure you have a rider for that. Just say you're— say you're like doing leases anywhere from like, you know, 1 to 6 months, right, in that range, and they can adjust it for you. Um, the other thing is I do— I do personally require renters insurance. It's really cost-effective for guests to get, just protects them and all their belongings and whatnot. So that's my thoughts on insurance, and it's really important, right, um, that you have the right insurance. Jennifer's asking, what are some guidelines for pet-friendly tenants? I mean, I, my take on it is like, yeah, okay, so the number one thing is breeds, right? A lot of, um, I have a different training and I can share with you too, but I would make sure, again, on the insurance line, a lot of aggressive breeds are not allowed, right, by your insurance. So make sure that, you know, you, you're not accepting a breed that is going, not going to be okay with your policy. So that's one thing. You know, that just that they're responsible pet owners. In my experience, most people that are professionals that are, you know, traveling for work or on contract are professional. They're professionals, right? You can kind of just tell they're part of the family. So I, I don't have guidelines on, you know, weight. To me, that's a little bit arbitrary, but you could have like a weight restriction. I just, you know, I just say like, hey, I expect that you're responsible, you pick up after your dog. And if, if they they pass my background credit check. There's really not a way to background check pets, right? But in my experience, if the owners are responsible, they're gonna be responsible for their pets, right? You're welcome, Terry. So there's some things I do, like I recommend you can leave a little pet welcome gift. I, you know, one thing I do with pets is I get— that's really ugly, like I kind of hate it, but I will get like couch washable couch covers for your furniture, right? So that way it takes care of all the hair, right, that tends to get on furniture and the scratching and stuff. So I'll do that. But other than that, yeah, and I, you know, I do charge a pet rent. So I have that, like, if it's a family, you know, I just sometimes I'll do like a non-refundable pet fee and pet rent, just depends. But definitely for insurance claims, I'll do that. So yeah, I think, you know, protect yourself with pet rent per pet. Um, I'm anywhere from $75 to $150 per pet for pet rent, and then your pet fee can be, you know, upwards of like $600, right? And that just covers the incidentals, like the extra cleaning. Maybe charge a higher cleaning fee. Um, and yeah, pets can do damage. Like, I, I can tell you stories, but I've also can tell you stories of like great pets. I've, I've, you know, I've— it, they just come— comes with the territory. But again, you're gonna— if you're— especially if you're not getting booked, you really should consider being pet friendly. So that's what I do personally. Um, again, it's not always perfect, but you know, just maybe also I'm thinking about washable rugs too. I think that's the next thing I'll probably do as far as pets go. Um, yeah, any other questions? I'm here for you. Gosh, it's almost— yeah, we've almost been on for a while, so thanks for hanging in there. If you guys are still there, like, anything is game. I'll answer any of your questions. My cat is joining us right now. I don't know if you can see her. Um, but yeah, I hope if you guys have questions about the MTR Essentials, I just launched it. We're going to do— it normally doesn't include any live coaching, but I'm gonna do like a one-time thing. Um, speaking of pets, the cat just jumped in here. Um, we're gonna do, uh, like on December 14th, we're gonna do like a live workshop, right? And if you can't make that, you'll have access to the recording, but doesn't include any one-on-one coaching or live coaching. But I'm really downloading my brain to it. You have all the resources, like the full list of where to list, how to list, how to optimize your listings how to do leases, furnishing tips, kind of from A to Z, right? Um, to help you get, you know, online quickly, um, and get all your, you know, just make sure that you're fully optimized and running and all that stuff. So I'll drop that link in one more time. But yeah, it's a really great opportunity just to get— take advantage of the Cyber Monday sale and, um, and get up and running quickly and get links to all the resources. And I, you know, I include all my SOPs, and I have— I'm a big fan of like Google Sheets. See, everything is like editable. You can make it your own. You access to that, those tools kind of forever, right? So, um, big fan of Google Sheets. Um, okay, I see a question here. Jennifer, Jennifer's saying, I have one king and two queen beds. Okay, do you recommend, do you accommodate crib if they ask for additional furniture? That's a really good question. So here's my take on it. Like, I, if you're gonna, for like, say an insurance claim. I just had this happen recently. Um, so basically we did a— we did an in-person tour and I was like, hey, you know, let me know what you think. And I always say, you know, if you're interested, we need to move quickly. We've had a lot of interest, right? And I say, if there's anything that you might need that we don't have, let me know. In this case, they needed a crib and I was like, no problem. Like, we're charging a premium for rent, like I think it was $8,500, so I'm— I can have a crib overnighted, right? No problem. So yes, I do want to accommodate those requests, especially for charging a premium, and it's just a nice thing to have. And they also wanted like an extra desk. So I, you know, I don't have— you know, I didn't have a CRIM before, but it was just a matter of like an overnight, you know, quick delivery. So yes, I think, you know, you're— we're charging a premium and we're in the hospitality business, so if someone needs something, I'm going to provide it, right? And it's also— then it kind of adds to the property and it's there forever. So that's my personal take on it. I think most people in the industry like recommend Just, you know, if people are looking for something and always say that, like, because they may not ask for it, I always make a point of saying, hey, if there's something you need that's not here, let me know. If there's an amenity or a kitchen appliances or whatever, it's like one of the properties I was co-hosting, you need a microwave, I just had it shipped directly, right? Like, those little things are one-time things, and I think it really shows, like, hospitality and, um, just going the extra mile, which guests really appreciate. Tiffany, you're saying, thanks so much for introducing Rent Sherpa. Tommy reached out to me to book my MTR in Dallas. Oh my gosh, that's awesome! That's so great. I love hearing those stories. Yeah, I mean, you just never know where leads come from. Like, you hear people griping about Furnished Finder, and like, yes, their nurses can be very budget-conscious, right? They have a stipend. Then there can be great leads. So just keep an open mind and know that leads can come from anywhere. That's again why, like, hey, you know, it's it's that— I think it's like $150 for a listing. Sorry about the cattail. Um, they come from anywhere, and if you're out there, you'll get found, right? So just, you know, don't write something off because someone had something negative to say about Furnished Finder. So I love that, Tiffany. Thank you for sharing. Um, any other questions? Um, I will share a tip on beds. I have this in the course, but this is going to sound like really geeky. But as far as bedding goes, I have all that in the course, but I highly recommend— I was just talking to someone about this— like a mattress mattress encasement, which basically encases the mattress, um, and it, you, it zips up basically. And, you know, uh, also an encasement for pillows that way if you— and plus a cover if you have like bed bugs or something, right? I've never had that happen, but it's a just— it protects your mattress. So a little tip on bedding there. It just does— the bed question made me think of that. So, um, that's all. I have links to all, of course. Uh, you're welcome, Jennifer. I'm so glad it was helpful. Yeah, anyone else would please post your takeaways. If you're watching this afterwards, uh, feel free to sign up for the MTR Essentials or book a call with me. I love talking to people. If it's not a good fit, like, no problem. But it's sometimes it's easier just to get on the phone and see what you're looking for, where you're at. And some people need marketing, some people need setup. Everyone's like in a different place in their journey, right? That my goal is to get you up and running quickly, get you cash flowing right away, because there's nothing like having vacancy, right? So, um, that is truly my goal. That's why I started this. That's why I do this, and I just, I just love the model. So any other questions? I'll hang up for a few more minutes. There's a few people still on here. And again, if you're watching this like after the fact, just chime in with questions. And if there's anything I didn't talk about or you're, you know, would be helpful to know, just let me know. Because I talked about this stuff all day, so sometimes I forget like what people don't know, or if you're just starting, right? There's a lot to take in. I hope it's not overwhelming, especially Just follow the process and you learn as you go. Right. But once you get one down, once you get your first booking, it's like the best feeling. Um, okay. Jennifer, so set up a call. I will pop it in here. See, just basically it's a Calendly link. You can just, uh, it'll let you choose according to your time zone. Um, so let me get back to this. I have way too many tabs open. All right, Jennifer, I'm going to reply to you or I'll put it in the main chat. Okay. Um, no, I have two tabs open. Yes. And, uh, Jennifer, it's totally free. No, I just basically like, it's a discovery call where you're at, what you're looking for, if the course would be a good fit and it's not a good fit for everyone, but if you're the right person, I'll send you an invite, right? I want to make sure it's a good fit and I really want to help you get up and running quickly and making that great cash flow. And there's a couple, sometimes it's just a couple of tweaks and people just need someone to kind of have a game plan to get started, right? And it can be all the difference in getting a booking or not, especially with insurance. Like there are so many temporary housing databases and when you get like someone reach out, it can be a little bit overwhelming. And then of course I have kind of a whole pricing proposal, right? How to price, like if they're wanting a month versus 3 months, right? How to look at comps. I have a calculator in there. So all that stuff, it's just really helpful to have someone hold your hand. And like, um, you know, once you get through it, you kind of get it. But I know I'm, it's taken me a while and now I have it down and I love helping other people kind of get through all this. So feel free to book a call, like totally no obligation. I would say if you're interested, you know, book it sooner than later because that Black Friday special, you can save $500 on the one-on-one coaching, which is a great deal. And again, you get to book a call with me pretty much anytime. Uh, we have weekly coaching calls. Like kind of hot seats, get all your questions answered. And then we have a private community where we have a, you know, we share leads, get your questions answered specifically. Where in this group I don't have time to get to everyone, but I'm really there for you and I'm kind of basically your coach, right, for getting your midterm going wherever you're at in the process. Oh my gosh, it's almost 6:00 PM here. I have to take my son to taekwondo, so I'll cut out. But again, you know, feel free if you're watching this after to post questions or book a call or sign up for the MTR Essentials. I'm really excited about that because it's really just, you know, how to get your MTR up and running really quickly if you just are a DIYer, can do it yourself. So awesome. All right, you guys, well, I really appreciate you tuning in. I think I'm gonna sign out. Thank you everyone for hanging on till the very end. I super appreciate you taking the time out of your evenings and tuning in and, um, Yeah, I'd have to just find the screen to close the livestream with all of my wonderful tabs here. So, um, but yeah, again, if you're watching the replay or have any questions or interested in the coaching or you're not sure, like, hey, what's the right fit for me— for you— I'll, I'll be really honest, totally no obligation. If the MTR Essentials is great, if you think— I think you need more kind of hand-holding or coaching, you know, we'll talk about the coaching program. So, all right, you guys, I'm gonna sign off. It was great having you. Thank you for all the questions and engagement. Like, I super appreciate it. It's really helpful for me to hear questions. And again, if you're watching the livestream, feel free to put your questions in there. I'll get to them. I'll talk to you next week. Bye!