Secrets to Get Your Mid-Term Rental Booked

Hey, this is Shauna from She's Got Assets. I'm gonna do a little live training for you guys, just getting started here, making sure everything is working. Um, so just give me one second. Okay, my streaming software is not working for some reason. Okay, sorry, bear with me here. I don't know why it's not working. Um, technology, so frustrating. Okay, it's not working in Facebook for some weird reason. Hmm, okay, I might have to restart this. Okay, give me— I'm gonna be back. Maybe it's working, let's see. It's always fun. Should be working. Thinking. Nope, it's just loading. Waiting for camera. Streaming software. Okay, let me see if this works. Go live. Okay. I think it might be working. So thanks everyone for hanging in there. Are we live? Let's see. Okay, I think we're live. Oh my gosh, I gotta start everything in all the places. I'm gonna go live on Instagram. If anyone's on YouTube watching, like, I know it's really boring watching all this behind the scenes stuff, but I'm okay. I think I'm live, so welcome everybody. Really happy to have you. I'm just gonna make sure everything is working. If you're just tuning in, please be sure to say hi. We're gonna get started really soon. So I really appreciate everyone being so patient. I'm going to adjust my camera just a little bit.

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All right. Awesome. Okay. So if you can see me and hear me, just say hey. Let me know that everything's working because sometimes things don't work and I don't know and I'm just talking to myself. So I super appreciate it. So Let's see if I can see myself. Okay, we are here. For some reason the video is not coming through on Facebook. That's really interesting. Why is it not working? Okay, you guys, um, that's super annoying, isn't it? I don't know why the video is not working. Um, I don't know, technology is funky. I'm gonna give you a link to YouTube and you can watch it there so you can see my face and then Or you can just listen to me. If you can hear me, let me know. There's clearly some kind of technical thing. Yeah, can you hear me? I don't know why it's not connecting. I'm going to give you the YouTube link. I think I'm live there. So lovely. I'm going to have to do some testing and figure out why that's not connecting. Just give me one second while I get the other link for you guys. I may just go live in livestream in Facebook because whatever, whatever reason it's not connecting. Okay, you can hear me? Okay, well let me know if you want to watch me on YouTube or you want to— I'm just gonna put the link in here because if I try this again, so I'm just gonna say you can check me out on YouTube. To get the video. So I'm so sorry, I will figure this out. This happened last time, I think. Super fun times. Okay. And you can watch the replay there too. So there we go. If you want to watch me, I'm just going to keep going with this. I have no idea why it's not— the feed's not coming through. So check out YouTube. Anyway, I'm Shona. Thanks so much for joining me from She's Got Assets. So I'm going to do a training today. Again, if you can't see me, just click on that YouTube link and you can actually see me there. I can definitely see your comments. I don't know why this stream is just being really glitchy. So just thanks for your patience. And hey, I see a few people on Instagram. Nice to see you. So I'm going to It's always something trying to stream on 3 different places is always fun. So I'm going to open my presentation here if I can find the right tab. Okay, so I'm going to talk about 3 secrets to get your midterm rental booked and attract the right guests. I love engagement, I love questions, so this is really interactive. Don't be shy. I know that the stream is not working on Facebook, but it's working on YouTube. So a little bit about me. I'm Shona. It's so nice to meet you. And the serial entrepreneur— I'm gonna try and go in presenter mode here. Um, um, hold on. Present, present. Let's see if this works. Presenter view. Okay, it looks a little better for you guys. Okay, got it. Okay, okay, so I think you can— let me know if you can see me. Hopefully you can see this. I don't think— okay, enter full-screen mode. Okay, gosh, you guys, it's always something. Okay, so I'm showing it. So nice to meet you. I'm just gonna start again. Founder of She's Got Assets, podcast host. I'm a course— course— can't talk— course author and coach of the REIA Playbook, MTR Playbook, Cedar and Porch Properties, and Shine Advice Houses. Just got like an amazing Lead Right Before This. So I teach you how to find off-market deals without door knocking, cold calling, how to 2x your rental income. I have a couple communities. I have the one on Facebook, Maximize Cash Flow for Real Estate Investors. So if you're watching on YouTube or Instagram, be sure to join me there. I also have a school community called The Asset Society. Operations-wise, we have 14 doors, 8 midterms and counting, and I do this every day all the time. So I'm definitely in it. A little more personal, I've been a landlord a long time, like 20 years. I feel so old saying that. I guess I'm old at this point. I don't feel like it. And my background is a marketing and branding expert. I started out way back when I had a boutique design studio, but I co-founded a creative agency with my husband and that was successfully acquired. And before that, way, way back machine, I grew up in the vacation rental business in California. Like before Airbnb was a thing, we had answering machines like pre-internet. Right? So I've been at this a long time in the hospitality business, which I think we're in, in the MTR business. And I've helped 80+ students land $6K to $9K MTR bookings and help them find off-market properties. So that's a little bit about me, all the boring stuff. Reach out if you need help with any— need help with coaching or anything like that. I'm going to give you some great tips today. So we're going to dive into that. So mistake number 1, this is all about how to get your midterm rental marketing and booked. I think the biggest mistake is not being pet-friendly. Everyone is terrified of pets, they're terrified of cats. Yes, they can do damage, but so can people. And look, honestly, in my experience, guests— I like to call them guests— midterm guests are really, really responsible. They're part of the family. They're not your typical renters. They're really responsible. So please, please be pet-friendly. I feel like a broken record saying this, but I can't stress enough. So I think you really need to be pet-friendly or you shouldn't be in the MTR business. That's my honest opinion. So you really are going to get the largest guest pool. About 70% of guests have pets. So being pet-friendly really attracts more renters. You have way more vacancy. You just get higher income. You can collect pet fees, pet rent. I think you get longer stays. And really, honestly, most insurance stays, which everyone loves to get, are going to have pets. You definitely get some interesting pets, typically dogs, occasionally a cat. Cat. I recently had an inquiry for a, I think it was called a sugar squirrel, which is like a flying squirrel. Apparently they're nice pets. So that was a first. I've had inquiries for ducks and things like that. Just be open to it. You can charge fees to protect yourself, but it is really important. And if you think about it, somebody moving, people in transition, what are they, what are they going to do with their pets? They're not going to put them in boarding for a few months, right? So please be open to pets. And the quick thing you can do is just go do a search on like Airbnb or Furnished Finder, right? And you'll see the results are cut in half when you put in pet-friendly, right? So it's a really good exercise to do. So you can see it went in this screenshot, right? There was 99 homes, and then when I changed the filters to being pet-friendly, it was like 34% less availability, right? So if you are pet-friendly, you're going to get more bookings, more inquiries. People are really appreciative of it. They're typically really responsible. So if you have questions about pets, ask me, but I talk to anyone in the space, and it's super important to be pet-friendly. Friendly. Um, so that's first thing. Um, here's a couple more tips. Um, you can charge a pet fee. Typically for insurance, we typically charge a pet fee, not so much for regular guests because we're charging a lower deposit for insurance. But insurance, definitely we're compensating for a lower deposit with a non-refundable pet fee, right? We're going to use that if there are any damages. I've never had any pet damages I actually had that were that serious. You can charge pet rent. Make sure to have a pet addendum. Make sure to add protection like couch covers and stuff. I usually provide that. This keeps the hair at bay, right? Make sure you understand what any restricted breeds are with your insurance. Like, I typically don't love aggressive breeds, and insurance doesn't allow that either. Leave out a little welcome gift and pet bags. Also charge a higher cleaning fee. There's typically more hair with pets, right? Sometimes there's smells, so you can run like an ozone machine for lingering pet smells. I don't, you know, have to do that a lot, but it's just some tips. Mistake number 2 is bad DIY listings, right? Like you can see in these examples, the lighting is really bad. They obviously have a nice bathroom, but the toilet seat is upright. The shower curtain's all janky, right? I mean, there's just so many things. Like please, please, please, even though I know we have smartphones in our pockets, you cannot, you really need to hire a photographer It makes such a difference in how you position your listing and make sure that they capture all the right things. So don't take your own photos. I just can't stress that enough. And I really think it's important to have a real estate photographer. And also when you have them come, make sure to stage your property, make sure everything's tidy, right? I do like stuff on the counter, but like make it look like welcoming, like there's the amenities of a fully stocked kitchen without showing every single appliance, right? Like just make sure to kind of pare it down. Like when I'm working with a client, I do some co-hosting. Kind of go through and we clean up the kitchen and we stage things just so, so it looks really inviting. It looks like it's furnished, but it's not really cluttered. Like when you look at your kitchen, you probably have every single appliance out. That's, that's great that you have those. You don't need all the fancy things, by the way, for midterms, but just make sure to clean it up and stage it for the photo shoot.

Remove all the clutter.

This is an example of a professional photo, right? It looks cozy. A lot of times I see photos of living rooms and there's no like blankets or throws. That's a really kind of reasonable thing to add So just make sure you're doing that when you're prepping for your listing. The other mistake I see is not posting in the right places or just posting on one platform, right, and just, you know, not being really proactive with it. So these are the tippy-top places I highly recommend. There's a lot more places, but at the very minimum, this is where you need to be. I think most people know Furnished Finder. There's very mixed feelings about it. I get a lot of leads from there. Highly recommend Furnished Finder. The interface is janky. It is what it is. But definitely I get a lot of leads. I get insurance leads. I have multiple properties, so I get inquiries for one property. I can move them to different properties. I get a ton of leads from there. And they do charge, I think it's a $200 annual fee, but other than that, there's no fees. They're not charging you booking fees. It's like a matchmaking platform. Just make sure you download the app and be really responsive as you get leads. Check your unmatched leads, right? There's a huge goldmine of opportunity. And match leads, being more proactive. Definitely be on Airbnb. I think a lot of people think that that is just short-term, but you definitely want to be there as a midterm. Just put your minimum days to 30, right? Um, then you don't have to add like a license or anything, but definitely be on Airbnb. And there are ways to get guests off Airbnb, um, you know, if you want to do that. Um, another tip: you do not need to have reviews on Airbnb to get bookings, unlike short-term People will book you without any reviews. Um, definitely be on Zillow, which is traditionally more long-term. Just make sure to check furnished and make sure you update your lease terms. Get a lot, a lot of leads from there. I'm seeing an uptick in VRBO, right? A lot of people are using that. Um, so be on there. Um, these are just the really top places you want to be. And let's see, and optimize your listings. Really dial them in for midterm stays. They're not vacation rentals, they're people coming to stay for a few months that need a temporary home away from home. So we want to use the right keywords to attract the right guests. So here are some keywords. I'm sorry on Facebook that you can't see this, but just make sure you're watching on YouTube. I feel really bad that the video is not working. But okay, so you want to say you have flexible lease terms. We typically will say things like flexible lease terms, temporary stays, monthly stays, all those juicy keywords. You want to let people know that you partner with insurance and relocation companies, right? You want to let families know that because a lot of landlords, they don't understand this model. They're looking for a 12-month lease or they're doing short-term and they do not understand the midterm model. So you want to let people know that you really do understand that model and that you are flexible on lease terms. Obviously, we charge a premium for that, but, um, furnished temporary housing, monthly stays, all those GC keywords, you really want to make sure to put those in your listing, especially in Airbnb where people are looking, they typically are thinking just a couple-day stay, short-term, right? So we want to really maximize those keywords and we want to kind of tailor it to each platform that we're on. So I'm always putting that front and center. I'm always saying pet-friendly again because so many hosts are not pet-friendly. So you really want to optimize your listing. And let me just advance my slide here.

Okay.

Another mistake I see is taking too long to list, right? I want you to list right away.

Do not wait.

Don't wait until you have all your furniture. You can list just totally unfurnished. Just get your listing up there. You can trust pricing, get market feedback. I just took on a new client and, you know, she really didn't— the stairs are kind of steep to the basement. We're like, why don't we just list it without a washer dryer, right?

We're just going to list the upstairs.

We got tons of market feedback that that was really an in-demand amenity, which I already knew, but I kind of tested the market. But if I had not done that, I wouldn't have gotten that feedback and I would have missed out on tons of bookings, right? So please, please, please, like, get your listing up. Virtually stage it. That's how I coach you to do in the course. But you don't need to have any furniture in there. People will even rent unfurnished. Insurance companies will furnish for you. So do not wait till you have a perfect listing. Just get it to market. So market ASAP and you can generate attention and exposure. You can gauge the interest. You can get it rented sooner. You can like test out your pricing. So it's super important. Um, so here's just an example of waiting to advertise, right? One month you have no rent. Month two, maybe you collect $8K, right? $8K is a lot, but what if you got it to market a month earlier and you're collecting $16K, right? So you need to be positioned to have it ready, but don't wait till it's perfect. I've even had students get their places booked while they're still finishing the rehab, right? So it's a great way just to test your pricing, test interest, get feedback on it. It's really invaluable. Like you can do as much data collecting as you want, but to me, the best data is actually getting it, getting it to market and getting that feedback. I do that with all our properties. I really want to get them listed right away. So pre-list your unit. Make sure your calendar is up to date. And if you're doing, you know, don't have a bunch of scattered bookings, especially in Airbnb. If you're doing the hybrid strategy, say you offer short-term and midterm, if your calendar is peppered with a bunch of short-term rentals, guess what? Someone searching for a 3-month stay is not going to find your listing. Because your calendar is blocked, right? So this is really a specific Airbnb strategy. What you can do is do what's called the duplicate listing, actually have two listings. One is optimized for short-term, one is for midterm. Just, you know, do it under two different logins. That way you're capturing that, you know, that midterm interest.

You have an open calendar and you can fill your gaps for short-term.

Can't get into the full strategy here, but it's a great strategy if you are able to to do the hybrid short-term and midterm. Quick tip there. Not designing your empty space, like make it nice.

It's not fancy.

I would say it's like functional and homey.

Like I definitely have a certain style. I like it really welcoming.

I like it to have some soul. But be really intentional.

If you don't like design, hire someone or use an AI tool, right? But take good photos, make it welcoming, stage the photos right. If you don't have an eye for this, hire someone for it. It's really, really important, I think. So along with that comes not, you know, not having or showcasing the right interior amenities. Like, hands down, having a fenced yard to me is the most in-demand amenity. Everybody wants to let their dog out. It's just, it's— I, you know, I laugh at it because I get so many inquiries. And sometimes I've had students where they have a backyard, the backyard was not fenced.

I'm like, let's just put in the listing fenced yard available.

If you get a booking and they want a yard, you can fence it, right? You don't have to do it before you list it, but definitely put it in your ad because people want the fenced yards. Make sure that you're showing pictures of the fully fenced yard. A washer dryer is really important. These are the really top amenities. So tippy top amenities, there's a lot of them. If you want my buy box, just let me know. I'm happy to share it of what I think the most in-demand amenities are pet-friendly fenced yard, also dedicated workspace with high-speed Wi-Fi. This, I feel like everyone I talk to is, you know, I'm getting a lot of inquiries for digital nomads. So if I have a 3-bedroom, I'm only putting beds in 2 of the bedrooms, right? The 3rd bedroom, I'm putting a desk, right? A dedicated, it's a dedicated workspace and that's saving money on a bed. And most people want that. So in my experience, I've never actually had to take out a desk and put a bed in, right? It's very is very different than the short-term model where it's heads and beds, right? So hopefully that's making sense. But that's what I do. Being clear about lease terms like flexible lease terms, monthly stays, again, because a lot of long-term landlords are not flexible on their lease terms. So be really clear about that and how you position it. Again, going back to marketing, not having an omnipresent marketing strategy, not being in the right places and databases, like list yourself in all the databases, ALE Solutions, there's a ton of databases I have them in the course, so you can just use like AI or chat or something to find you a list, but go submit yourself to those places. Also submit yourself to all the places you would traditionally think of as long-term rental places like Apartments.com, et cetera. They all kind of syndicate out to multiple places. So have an omnipresent marketing strategy. It is a lift at first, but once you've done it, you just, you have your listing in there. You just refresh it as needed. And then, you know, just talk to leads as you're getting your house set up. Get that feedback. If you're doing tours, get feedback and optimize things. And it's really helpful if you just wait till everything's perfect and you're like thinking you're going to rent it instantly. You're not going to get that market feedback and figure out if you need to do something or you're missing an amenity.

Like, like I said earlier, I just, I have a co-hosting client.

I'm like, let's try it out without a washer and dryer, right? And it just got the feedback that it was really important. So we're like, we're going to open up the basement not part of the main living space. But if I hadn't gotten it to market, I would have got— would not have gotten that feedback. Right. So, and then if you guys are interested in one-on-one coaching in the courses that I have, just reach out. It's a really easy call. And I work with students all the time. I kind of give you the jumpstart, give you the recipe to get your midterm rental fully booked. Or if you're looking to scale your portfolio, portfolio, how to find off-market properties without door knocking or cold calling, because no one likes doing that. At least I don't. So I'm going to take away the screen, but just reach out and I'm really happy to answer any questions. And I'm sorry on Facebook that the livestream was not working. If anyone is still there, it's echoing as well.

Okay.

Well, sorry about that.

I have my earbuds in.

I don't know why it's doing that.

Any other questions?

I'm happy to stay on for a few minutes. If you have any questions or if you're watching the replay, feel free to leave questions and I'll circle back. I'm just going to check a few platforms. Yeah, anyway, well, thanks for tuning in. Again, if you have questions or need some help with getting things set up, just reach out. That's what I do. So, I don't see any questions, but thanks again for tuning in. Again, just really high takeaways right now. Get your listing online sooner than later, optimize it, know who you're marketing to, right? Are you marketing to families that are displaced? Are you marketing to digital nomads, right? I think— but we never want to get really focused on one guest avatar. We want to, like, make sure to optimize our listings for multiple guests, right? But we want to make sure that we're really highlighting those amenities, fully stocked kitchen, washer/dryer, high-speed internet, dedicated office space, fenced yard, pet-friendly, flexible lease terms.

Those are really important keywords.

So just make sure you do that. And yeah, if there's no other questions, I will— don't be shy, like, I have a few minutes, happy to answer any questions, and I got to get back to that.