John Hildebrand: How property managers can take control of their short-term rental success in 2023

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When it doesn't feel like a slog to you,

when you're doing something that you love,

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you're willing to put 120% into it.

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But at the end of the day, it's like,

I love so much what I'm doing that

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I never really feel like I'm working.

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It's like if I'm working, it's

like I'm working on something that's fun

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and I'm enjoying it.

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So it's like it doesn't feel like work

every.

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Hello?

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Hello? John.

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John.

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How are you?

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Oh, my. Goodness.

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Firstly, I just want to start by saying

I got so excited to talk to you

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because you and I

share a very similar life philosophy,

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which is just

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I mean, it's not even an acronym,

which my audience is going to be surprised

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because I always have an acronym

for anything.

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It's just like fun, fun.

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If you're not

having fun, what's the point?

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It's so true, man.

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I probably have too much fun

some of the times, to be honest.

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But yeah.

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There's no such thing, John.

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There's no such thing. Totally.

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What was I thinking? What?

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Let me rewind.

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Yes. Fun. All the time. Duh.

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Yeah. Duh. Like, what's that?

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Well.

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Well, I think we could talk a little bit

more about, like,

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because everyone's

definition of fun is different.

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This doesn't mean

that you're just out there,

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you know, boondoggle

ing your way through world.

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You're having fun

doing some very serious work, I would say.

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But it sounds like to me,

you are finding the pleasure

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in some of the little things

about your business,

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which, by the way, is healthy homes.

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You have built yourself

a tiny, little, tiny, big empire.

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That sounded weird when I called it

Tiny, right?

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Sorry.

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No, no, it's relatively tiny, I think.

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Oh, Classify myself

as in the smaller group.

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I'm okay with that.

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I'm okay with that. See, this is.

But you're secure.

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You're like,

Listen, we're cool. We're cool.

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Yeah. Tiny Empire. Yes.

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I'm the new kid on the block. Still.

I get it.

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I'm so.

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That's part of the fun.

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I like working my way up. I like learning.

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I like getting kicked out.

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I like, you know, the strategy.

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Like, that's so fundamental to learning.

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Oh, my gosh, that's a great life

philosophy.

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Like, just if you can embrace that,

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getting kicked out and picking yourself

back up and say, Well, that was a ride.

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Yeah, I've had many of those world

class areas.

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Yeah, I don't know.

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I'm sure we'll probably talk about this

a lot more, but like, I just feel

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like, as cheesy as it may

sound, like I have so much fun when I do.

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Yeah, there's days where I'm like,

What am I doing?

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This is corduroy. What?

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This homeowner is not doing

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what I want to do

or why am I buying this place or whatever.

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But at the end of the day,

it's like I love so much

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what I'm doing that

I never really feel like I'm working.

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It's like if I'm working, it's

like I'm working on something that's fun

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and I'm enjoying it.

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So it's like it doesn't feel like work

every.

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So, I mean,

I feel like I never work really,

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but I work all the time,

so I kind of like, use that for

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the fun bit.

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Yeah. No, I write like,

the little preview.

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Like, Ed.

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We're, we're, we're very authentic.

In this podcast.

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We talk to our our sound editor

all the time.

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I might please edit that out there.

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If you could.

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If you could please cut that part.

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Yeah, yeah.

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No, I think that that's so important.

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I mean that definitely resonates with me

and it is so interesting

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because when it isn't,

when it doesn't feel like a slog to you,

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when you're doing something that you love,

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you're willing to put 120% into it, right?

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You know, like it's

you may be actually working quite hard,

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but you're so engaged and enjoying it.

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So talk to me about

because I think you, like so many of us

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sort of like were fortunate enough

to fall into this business.

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Right.

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I believe your origin story,

were you in Malibu?

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Was it in Malibu or or Maui?

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There are two ends, I don't know.

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It's pretty close in involved, too.

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But Malibu, go with your first choice.

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Always, right?

Your first? Yeah, I knew it.

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I knew it. Yes. Well, Ed, cut that out.

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Yeah, exactly.

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It's kind of weird

because, like, indirectly,

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I feel like I've been part of the business

for so long as.

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As a kid growing up,

we moved over 20 something times, like in.

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Oh, wow.

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And when we.

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When my dad was growing in his business,

we would drive to neighborhoods

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like, one day

we're going to have a house like that.

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And we're always like, okay, cool. Yeah.

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And then we'd move again

and then the house change.

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And so I feel like we were always learning

about buying

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and selling

and the real estate and understanding it.

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And it was always a family

fun thing to do.

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So when I was in Malibu,

I was a starving artist and photographer,

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you know that story.

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We're like,

What am I going to do with my life?

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How can to figure this out?

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I like taking pictures,

but I can't make a living like right now.

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I rented a room

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in my house in Malibu

and it just like, started paying my bills.

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And then,

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you know, I ended up getting the courage

to unlock in my own room

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and renting the whole house out.

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And I was like, Oh, okay,

this is kind of cool.

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Like, these people are fun.

The stories have been fun.

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I had zero clue what I was doing

like, whatsoever and no idea.

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But it just

it just like worked its way out.

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And I don't know, maybe back

then to people were

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a little bit more understanding

because everything was new.

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So if something came out,

they're like, Hey, by the way, you know,

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this is not really working.

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Like no one really cared as much.

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Yeah, it was way more relaxed.

I feel like.

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Yeah, no, you're totally right.

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Yeah, like, I definitely remember it's

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you did feel a little bit

more like you were rolling the dice.

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Like, you'd be like,

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Well, I'm just renting a room,

but it's like 25 bucks a night.

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Great. Like. Yeah,

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but I don't know what I'm.

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Going to get.

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I might have a roommate

that I didn't know about.

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I just knew the other side

wasn't appealing to me anymore.

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I did not want a full time roommate.

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That was like, the biggest thing to me is

like, I don't want a full time roommate.

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I want to come home to my space

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and just like design, regroup,

get creative, and then

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tackle that next journey, right?

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Or whatever it is. Yeah.

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I mean,

I honestly thought it would never work.

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I thought this concept

was only going to last a few years.

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Like,

there's no way this is going to work.

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This is such a great idea.

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I'll be the first to admit it.

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I love that. Yeah. Yeah.

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Well, you probably aren't the only one

that was like, Oh, this can't be a viable.

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I think even when I got into the business,

which truly

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it was only like 18 months ago,

I was, like, shocked.

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I remember

Scott took me to this conference,

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this tiny little conference

called Vermont.

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Time.

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In Austin, Texas, a couple.

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And I was like, I had no idea

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there were so many other businesses

attached to this business.

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Yeah, it's wild. It's super wild.

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It is so crazy.

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So it's it's exponential growth, 110%.

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So you weren't so yeah,

you were doing this kind of on a lark.

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You're like,

great way to make some money on the side.

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And then you and then you said, okay,

maybe this could be a bigger thing for me.

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I'm going to rent out my whole house.

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And then the question that I always have

for folks like you who do have tiny,

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big empires is like,

How did you work yourself up?

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Because I do think you bring up

something really important,

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like nothing is scarier than right

before you buy a house.

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You don't.

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I mean, like, it's just the scariest.

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Like, I just I'm always at the end

with the closing guy.

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Actually, maybe we should pull out.

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Like, what do we really want?

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Are you sure we should do this? You.

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So how did you.

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How did you work up?

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Sort of, I guess, the intestinal fortitude

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to start to invest in short term rentals,

like what was that moment for you?

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Well, I think

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to rewind a little bit,

it's it's always having a good team around

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you or or people that are smarter than you

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in a certain space

or very educated in like real estate.

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Right.

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So it's like for me,

I just naturally enjoyed real estate as,

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as a, as a buyer or,

you know, moving so many times as a kid.

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Right. It to me was exciting.

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It was always my mom and I

that were packing up the boxes

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and trying to unpack them

on the next side.

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You know, my other brothers were,

you know, maybe in college or whatever,

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not doing,

but it was kind of just a fun thing.

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So like, my my middle brother

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lived in Malibu at the time also,

and he started getting into real estate.

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So he became like the master

in real estate,

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like really achieves

insane goals in real estate.

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So him and I would talk all the time

about real estate.

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I never personally wanted

my own real estate license, but

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and then when this, you know, short term

rental thing came about

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and they that conversation

and then I started ran in my room

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he was kind of like asking me

more questions about that side of it.

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So it was it was like a great

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something to bring to the table

and have a conversation.

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And he was always looking in a good

investment, you know, that made sense.

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So I think like building

your team is really important.

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I knew that I was in really good hands

when it came to the real estate,

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and then he just kind of would trust me.

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It's like, okay,

if you think you want to manage a property

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and go for it, why don't you and I buy

a property together and invest it on it?

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And I thought, well, okay,

I'll put in as much work as possible.

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And then,

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oh my gosh,

we would go to like 30 properties

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with this guy and within 5 seconds

he would walk in.

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Note, this is never going to work.

We're never going to build a room.

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Oh, this is going to work.

Perfect of the numbers.

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Don't make sense up.

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I'm I, I just walked in the front door.

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How do you

what is going on? Like, how are you

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was I was like, okay, I'm in good hands.

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I'm going to let him close in, negotiate

on this house, and we'll find the one.

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So him and I did.

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We invested in a place in Inglewood

next to the NFL

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football stadium like two years before

it was getting built.

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Oh, wow.

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Where everybody was telling us

that's really risky.

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I don't know about it yet.

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You know,

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there was I don't think there was any data

at the time because I don't remember

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looking at any data on like I said,

I just looked at long term rent.

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I'm like, okay, long term rent,

maybe I can double that.

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Okay, that seems pretty pretty good data.

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Sure. Yeah.

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And then just put in the work, right?

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So yeah, I was lucky to get like

somewhat education for moving, right?

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And then my brother being in real estate,

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I knew I was in good hands

when it came to real estate.

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I knew I would over missed something or

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yeah, I knew would get a good deal

if it was the right deal.

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So we made a good team.

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It was

it was a really fun experience, actually.

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I love that.

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I think that's such

an interesting point, right?

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Because when you're in this business,

there is I think, the inclination

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that you going to have to wear

a lot of different hats like you.

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You got to be really good

at the real estate thing.

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You got to be really good

at the hosting thing.

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You got to be great at customer service.

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You got to be graded in design like it is.

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It can be quite a lot

like marketing promotion, like it can,

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it can feel like quite a lot.

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And so understanding

where your strengths are

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and then finding partners

to go in with you on this

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that have like, you know, what

you're missing in terms of knowledge.

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And that's I mean, kudos to you.

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That's super smart

because yeah, even just like the thought

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of getting my real estate license,

I'm like, Wait, that looks like too much.

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That's too much studying for me.

I don't know. Thank you.

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Yeah, I have to read how many books.

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Yeah,

I pretty much probably could pass it.

00:11:29:22 - 00:11:31:22

It is. Yeah.

00:11:31:22 - 00:11:33:05

You the education?

00:11:33:05 - 00:11:36:10

Yeah, but, man,

that's a lot of reading and test taking.

00:11:36:10 - 00:11:38:17

And I'm like,

I'm to let my brother do that.

00:11:38:28 - 00:11:40:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:11:40:03 - 00:11:42:02

That's the advantage to having siblings.

00:11:42:02 - 00:11:44:04

120%, actually.

00:11:44:04 - 00:11:44:28

Oh, my gosh.

00:11:44:28 - 00:11:47:13

Well, you gave me sort of this

very, like, lovely.

00:11:47:25 - 00:11:50:05

I'm going to call,

I got to say, warm and fuzzy,

00:11:50:05 - 00:11:53:28

like the sentiment of you with your mom,

like packing things up

00:11:53:28 - 00:11:57:03

and then unpacking things and just sort of

like to your point like that,

00:11:57:03 - 00:12:02:12

that new house excitement that like,

you know, the potential that a home owns.

00:12:02:12 - 00:12:06:00

And so it sounds like you got maybe a

little bit a little bit addicted to that.

00:12:06:00 - 00:12:07:29

Like you're like, yeah, let's new.

00:12:07:29 - 00:12:11:02

Beginnings fully like I can't even

00:12:11:12 - 00:12:13:24

I'm straight addicted, no question.

00:12:14:07 - 00:12:16:13

I go to real estate a like

00:12:18:10 - 00:12:19:28

it's like a drug man.

00:12:19:28 - 00:12:23:04

The excitement, the nervousness,

like is it going to work?

00:12:23:04 - 00:12:24:16

Is it not going to work?

00:12:24:16 - 00:12:28:07

Like there's so many things

that are going on and so fast,

00:12:28:09 - 00:12:31:24

especially in like these markets,

like L.A., Malibu Market was insane.

00:12:31:24 - 00:12:33:28

Arizona market was insane, right?

00:12:34:10 - 00:12:38:14

So I don't know that adrenaline is like,

oh my gosh, is this the right one?

00:12:38:14 - 00:12:41:06

Like and then once you get it,

you're like, yes,

00:12:41:06 - 00:12:43:29

you feel like you won

something. You're like, so excited.

00:12:44:01 - 00:12:45:09

You're like, This is my place.

00:12:45:09 - 00:12:49:11

Like, And then like, I just have the

I just go overboard

00:12:49:11 - 00:12:52:28

with like, the passion and excitement of,

like converting this home

00:12:52:28 - 00:12:53:28

into something special.

00:12:53:28 - 00:12:59:11

It's like, so fun to me, like, every step

of the way, except maybe the permits.

00:12:59:19 - 00:13:00:13

Permits? Yeah.

00:13:00:13 - 00:13:02:16

I'm working into something that's so fun.

00:13:02:16 - 00:13:04:17

Yeah. No. Yeah, I know that.

00:13:04:19 - 00:13:06:09

That's what always sort of stops me.

00:13:06:09 - 00:13:08:08

I always find that very daunting.

00:13:08:08 - 00:13:12:23

But what I like there is sort of like

if you can change your mindset and mindset

00:13:12:24 - 00:13:15:12

such a big part of it

where you change your mindset

00:13:15:12 - 00:13:18:16

and what you're thinking is like,

No, I am like, this is a blank canvas.

00:13:18:16 - 00:13:19:20

Like you're a creative person.

00:13:19:20 - 00:13:22:29

You're like,

I'm going to build an experience right?

00:13:22:29 - 00:13:26:15

And like and I think that there's

something so wonderful and what I,

00:13:26:15 - 00:13:30:07

what I find as a guest of Airbnbs

and short term Rentals is like

00:13:31:17 - 00:13:32:28

it comes for, right?

00:13:32:28 - 00:13:37:25

If you stay at a place that's like

super generic, like, you know, you like

00:13:37:25 - 00:13:40:23

there's something nice about timelessness,

but it doesn't feel like a home.

00:13:40:23 - 00:13:43:04

It doesn't feel like you're having

an experience versus like,

00:13:43:13 - 00:13:47:00

you know, somebody put a lot of effort

into like putting a mural up or like

00:13:47:04 - 00:13:50:18

really catering to like the environmental

urine deserts, right?

00:13:50:18 - 00:13:51:21

So like, what does it look like?

00:13:51:21 - 00:13:54:24

I'm sure each one of your houses

has like a salt room or something.

00:13:54:29 - 00:13:56:17

Like some place.

00:13:56:17 - 00:13:56:21

With.

00:13:56:21 - 00:13:58:07

Crystals.

00:14:00:12 - 00:14:00:19

Maybe.

00:14:00:19 - 00:14:01:15

I need that.

00:14:01:15 - 00:14:03:09

Yeah.

Put it on your list, John. Put it on.

00:14:03:09 - 00:14:05:04

I don't want salt rooms.

00:14:05:04 - 00:14:07:08

Yeah,

I was like, okay, maybe she's honest.

00:14:07:08 - 00:14:08:17

Maybe she has been dating.

00:14:08:17 - 00:14:11:03

I don't know about salt room searching.

00:14:11:03 - 00:14:13:00

It's through the roof and.

00:14:13:00 - 00:14:15:11

I'm going to make it happen. I'm

the only one.

00:14:15:11 - 00:14:18:21

And this is based

on, like, one trip to Sedona and, like.

00:14:18:27 - 00:14:19:19

There you go.

00:14:19:19 - 00:14:21:10

There wasn't a salt room at the house.

00:14:21:10 - 00:14:24:09

We stayed out, but, you know, it felt like

the place where you should have, like.

00:14:24:20 - 00:14:25:25

I feel you. Okay.

00:14:26:25 - 00:14:28:02

I understand why

00:14:28:02 - 00:14:31:26

we have a salt bath,

If that helps, We could help a lot.

00:14:32:01 - 00:14:35:09

Yes, but, yeah,

I think that stuff is so fun, man.

00:14:35:24 - 00:14:39:11

And, like, I still get so nervous, like,

the first five six guests

00:14:39:23 - 00:14:42:11

because I'm like, Oh, God,

when I forget what I forgot.

00:14:42:11 - 00:14:43:09

What am I missing?

00:14:43:09 - 00:14:45:01

Like with the Wi-Fi password?

00:14:45:01 - 00:14:48:18

Oh, did I tell guests how to check

in, like, and then they get in.

00:14:48:19 - 00:14:51:21

You're just like on pins and needles

waiting for them to, like, respond.

00:14:51:22 - 00:14:55:01

You're like, okay. Oh, oh, oh.

00:14:55:02 - 00:14:56:22

So far they roll back.

They said, It's amazing.

00:14:56:22 - 00:14:57:12

Everything's been great.

00:14:57:12 - 00:15:00:04

You're like, okay, calm down

just a little bit.

00:15:00:04 - 00:15:03:00

And that let them enjoy it

and then I'll reach out to them

00:15:03:00 - 00:15:07:05

when they check out, make sure, Oh,

I love the whole journeys.

00:15:07:05 - 00:15:08:11

Fine, man.

00:15:08:18 - 00:15:11:27

Well, I'm sure your get I mean, again,

I think that that like the

00:15:12:07 - 00:15:15:19

the passion you have for it

and the level of caring that you have,

00:15:15:19 - 00:15:17:26

I'm sure comes through

to the guests. Right.

00:15:18:10 - 00:15:20:22

Just in small ways.

It's like you said, like reaching out.

00:15:20:22 - 00:15:22:01

Say, hey, did you get in okay?

00:15:22:01 - 00:15:25:20

Is every I mean, I've stated every piece

where that isn't the case. No.

00:15:26:12 - 00:15:28:13

And quite a few that I'm like,

00:15:28:28 - 00:15:31:21

that doesn't look like you're

putting your heart and soul into there.

00:15:31:21 - 00:15:32:22

But. Okay.

00:15:32:22 - 00:15:35:19

Yeah, yeah, I I've seen that.

00:15:35:19 - 00:15:39:04

And even though I struggle with it

a lot of times because my ultimate dream

00:15:39:04 - 00:15:43:00

always is to buy and have the control

over buying, partnering with someone

00:15:43:00 - 00:15:44:26

who wants to buy or myself buy,

00:15:44:26 - 00:15:45:10

and then

00:15:45:10 - 00:15:48:25

I have the creative control to be like,

this is what is needed in this area.

00:15:48:25 - 00:15:51:02

We have to have this.

We have to have that.

00:15:51:02 - 00:15:52:26

We got to have all these fun amenities.

00:15:52:26 - 00:15:56:03

We got to have a big screen TV

with Sonos like, right?

00:15:56:06 - 00:15:59:03

And then trying to work

with like a homeowner because I do

00:15:59:03 - 00:16:02:23

manage some properties

and really selective on that.

00:16:02:23 - 00:16:06:11

And I'm getting more selective

because I realize that maybe

00:16:07:08 - 00:16:10:26

the education or lack of education

with homeowners, maybe

00:16:11:05 - 00:16:14:27

it's like, Hey, I put my house on Airbnb,

take a couple of photos and I'm rich.

00:16:15:05 - 00:16:15:17

You're like,

00:16:17:16 - 00:16:19:21

pump the brakes a little, you know?

00:16:19:21 - 00:16:21:23

And sometimes it gets hard

because you're like,

00:16:21:23 - 00:16:24:08

No, you have to put in a heater

for your pool. What?

00:16:24:08 - 00:16:26:05

That's for Gran. I'm sorry.

00:16:26:05 - 00:16:28:24

I can't help you

unless you have a heater in your pool.

00:16:28:28 - 00:16:30:16

There's only so much I do.

00:16:30:16 - 00:16:33:18

You know,

that part gets a little stressful.

00:16:33:18 - 00:16:36:11

Or, like, where do you put your foot down?

00:16:36:11 - 00:16:37:20

You're like, Okay, this is going to hurt.

00:16:37:20 - 00:16:38:26

I guess. Experience.

00:16:38:26 - 00:16:40:25

Like,

maybe this isn't the right fit for me.

00:16:41:06 - 00:16:41:26

Right? Right.

00:16:41:26 - 00:16:44:04

Well, you have a brand, right,

that you're like, if I

00:16:44:04 - 00:16:48:21

if you're under my portfolio, like there's

a level of a standard that we have.

00:16:48:21 - 00:16:49:00

Right.

00:16:49:00 - 00:16:52:14

And I want to talk a little bit more

about the Airbnb versus direct booking.

00:16:53:02 - 00:16:55:06

But yeah,

you have a brand that you're protecting.

00:16:55:06 - 00:16:55:22

Well, it's so funny.

00:16:55:22 - 00:16:58:25

I was just talking to somebody else

about this and the concept of like

00:16:58:25 - 00:17:02:18

managing homeowner expectations and like,

how can you

00:17:03:09 - 00:17:06:06

sort of take something that to them

may feel very subjective, right?

00:17:06:06 - 00:17:08:08

Like you're saying,

no, you need a heater in your pool

00:17:08:16 - 00:17:12:29

and then using something like data,

shameless plug alert to actually

00:17:13:14 - 00:17:16:06

show them, okay,

look at the other properties in your area.

00:17:16:11 - 00:17:19:27

Look at the amenities

they have, look at what they're making.

00:17:19:27 - 00:17:23:03

And hey, spoiler alert,

they're making 20 to 30% more

00:17:23:03 - 00:17:26:23

because they have the salt baths

that you don't have.

00:17:26:23 - 00:17:29:26

So you're going to make back

that $4,000 investment.

00:17:29:26 - 00:17:30:28

And the first year.

00:17:30:28 - 00:17:31:04

Right.

00:17:31:04 - 00:17:34:23

Like, I mean, there's a lot of stuff

there that is interesting.

00:17:36:05 - 00:17:36:25

Well, I

00:17:36:25 - 00:17:40:26

so because you're an OG Airbnb

and I love talking to anybody that did

00:17:40:26 - 00:17:44:02

sort of like Yeah, like just renting out

rooms just started

00:17:44:14 - 00:17:46:29

you know our founder Scott Stratford

same thing, right.

00:17:46:29 - 00:17:48:26

Like he rented out his apartment,

00:17:48:26 - 00:17:52:07

traveled through Asia and was like,

How did I just make all this money?

00:17:52:07 - 00:17:54:08

Like, yeah, so.

00:17:55:00 - 00:17:56:25

There's something that are there.

00:17:56:25 - 00:17:59:16

Do you have a long relationship

with Airbnb?

00:17:59:19 - 00:18:03:19

I would say I would say you've

had a quite, quite a history with them.

00:18:04:26 - 00:18:09:08

How are you sort of do

how are you navigating that balancing act?

00:18:09:08 - 00:18:09:28

Because I think like

00:18:09:28 - 00:18:12:29

what's so great that I've noticed you've

done is on your website, right?

00:18:12:29 - 00:18:14:22

You have direct bookings.

00:18:14:22 - 00:18:17:03

Again, you're building your brand.

00:18:17:03 - 00:18:19:07

How would you

what advice would you give folks?

00:18:19:07 - 00:18:21:10

I'll land the plane. You're like,

what's her question?

00:18:21:16 - 00:18:24:28

Does she have like,

wait a minute, that was right there

00:18:26:07 - 00:18:27:01

for me.

00:18:27:01 - 00:18:28:02

Yeah, I like.

00:18:28:02 - 00:18:30:04

Where is the question of the statement?

00:18:30:26 - 00:18:31:25

Yeah, I would.

00:18:31:25 - 00:18:32:28

So funny I do.

00:18:32:28 - 00:18:37:16

I really like this question and, and I

get this question and I feel like I where

00:18:38:18 - 00:18:41:00

multiple hats in this piece. Right?

00:18:41:00 - 00:18:43:21

And I feel that

I have to be totally truthful.

00:18:43:21 - 00:18:49:02

And I do feel extremely lucky

to be a part of of Airbnb in that journey.

00:18:49:02 - 00:18:51:01

Like I said,

I had no clue what I was doing.

00:18:51:01 - 00:18:54:23

I didn't have the slightest idea

about software or none of it.

00:18:54:23 - 00:18:58:11

And Airbnb just made it so easy that

00:18:58:27 - 00:19:02:11

even if you were scared,

you knew you had somebody to lean on.

00:19:02:20 - 00:19:04:19

And I was like,

I can call customer service.

00:19:04:19 - 00:19:05:20

I can ask for help.

00:19:05:20 - 00:19:08:19

Like, okay, I'm not completely my own,

whatever.

00:19:08:19 - 00:19:10:15

I'm just going to try it.

Let me just try it.

00:19:10:15 - 00:19:11:26

And then as it grew,

00:19:13:02 - 00:19:13:25

I just

00:19:13:25 - 00:19:17:19

kept diving more and more to Airbnb

versus lack of education.

00:19:17:19 - 00:19:19:27

I guess I thought that was

the only way you did it.

00:19:19:27 - 00:19:21:14

I had no idea, right?

00:19:21:14 - 00:19:24:23

I didn't even know anything else existed.

00:19:24:23 - 00:19:28:11

But I've always been like a brand person,

so I knew from day one

00:19:28:11 - 00:19:33:02

I wanted to build a brand, even if it was

my own name or healthy Homes.

00:19:33:02 - 00:19:37:01

Like, I just enjoy the brand aspect of it.

00:19:37:01 - 00:19:41:26

I think it identifies, you know, okay,

this brand is doing great things.

00:19:41:26 - 00:19:43:28

Let's let's see

if they have other properties.

00:19:44:10 - 00:19:46:16

So that was always really important to me.

00:19:46:16 - 00:19:51:14

An Airbnb at the time or now

still was the biggest brand.

00:19:51:22 - 00:19:55:06

So for me I was like, okay,

I want to learn as much as I possibly can

00:19:55:13 - 00:19:56:11

and educate.

00:19:56:11 - 00:19:58:20

So as I went

through this journey with Airbnb,

00:19:58:29 - 00:20:03:21

I applied to be a photographer one time

where it was like a staff photographer

00:20:03:21 - 00:20:07:10

and I started shooting for Airbnb,

not for the money.

00:20:07:10 - 00:20:09:09

It was more just like

I just wanted to learn.

00:20:09:09 - 00:20:11:15

I wanted to see other people's listings.

00:20:11:15 - 00:20:13:04

Oh, that's so cool.

00:20:13:04 - 00:20:15:01

What Airbnb thought about photos.

00:20:15:01 - 00:20:18:04

Like they're like, Hey, we don't like

the lights on, we don't like angles.

00:20:18:05 - 00:20:18:15

I'm like,

00:20:19:14 - 00:20:21:01

okay, this is very interesting.

00:20:21:01 - 00:20:22:21

I love this. You were like, infiltrating.

00:20:22:21 - 00:20:25:08

You were like a super powerful spy.

00:20:27:07 - 00:20:29:08

That's a good.

00:20:29:08 - 00:20:29:22

Yeah.

00:20:29:22 - 00:20:33:19

And then one thing, this led to another

with the lockdown and all that stuff.

00:20:33:27 - 00:20:34:25

Yeah, I was

00:20:34:25 - 00:20:38:29

just in the process of one of my places

in Scottsdale, become an A-plus listing.

00:20:39:13 - 00:20:41:28

And I went through months of going back

00:20:41:28 - 00:20:45:15

and forth to Airbnb and styling

and just learning so much.

00:20:45:15 - 00:20:46:22

It was like, unreal.

00:20:46:22 - 00:20:49:01

I was like, Wow, I have a lot to learn.

00:20:49:01 - 00:20:52:19

And I built something pretty cool here

that Airbnb

00:20:52:19 - 00:20:55:21

is reaching out, wanting to add me

as a plus, like, Wow, this is really cool.

00:20:56:01 - 00:20:56:18

Totally.

00:20:56:18 - 00:21:01:11

But then the literally the last steps

was photos and the lockdown happened.

00:21:01:11 - 00:21:05:03

They're like, Sorry, we're not going

to be able to live and I'm like, funny,

00:21:05:19 - 00:21:08:08

funny thing is, I'm a photographer

and actually shot

00:21:08:08 - 00:21:11:16

for you guys with Airbnb before

I know what I'm doing.

00:21:11:17 - 00:21:13:03

How about I shoot it?

00:21:13:03 - 00:21:15:05

And they're like, Oh my God, like 100%.

00:21:15:05 - 00:21:17:05

I so I shot it. I submitted.

00:21:17:05 - 00:21:20:00

The photos are like,

Oh yes, this is perfect.

00:21:20:00 - 00:21:22:16

Approved, approved, barely snuck in.

00:21:22:16 - 00:21:26:04

I think I was the last listing

before the whole plus department went,

00:21:26:14 - 00:21:29:03

you know, went under, which was sad.

00:21:30:16 - 00:21:31:05

The love thing.

00:21:31:05 - 00:21:35:15

Yeah, but that was opening all those doors

within Airbnb reached out to me

00:21:35:15 - 00:21:38:28

and they're like, Hey, we're starting

this program about ambassadors.

00:21:38:28 - 00:21:42:11

Ask a super housing

educated new host to join the platform.

00:21:42:11 - 00:21:45:27

And I was like, Sign me up, love,

this sounds so fun.

00:21:45:28 - 00:21:47:02

I'm like, all.

00:21:47:02 - 00:21:48:26

And they had no agenda where it was going.

00:21:48:26 - 00:21:50:27

I was like, I think there was only two

00:21:50:27 - 00:21:54:26

two other people that were in this program

and nobody knew where it's going.

00:21:54:27 - 00:21:57:22

Airbnb employees had no idea.

We had no idea.

00:21:57:22 - 00:21:59:29

It was just like, okay, sounds cool.

00:21:59:29 - 00:22:02:07

Yeah,

let's let's see where this goes, right?

00:22:04:11 - 00:22:07:07

So I think the other side of that question

was, you know,

00:22:07:07 - 00:22:11:21

you're really deep in bed with Airbnb

and the direct direct bookings, right?

00:22:11:21 - 00:22:12:16

So I think like, Well.

00:22:12:16 - 00:22:14:23

Yeah, thanks for helping me

with my question time.

00:22:14:23 - 00:22:17:01

For starters, I had to take it to be here.

00:22:17:01 - 00:22:19:01

I was like, okay, part two of Dream.

00:22:21:03 - 00:22:24:03

Yeah, I think direct booking

just goes straight to building a brand.

00:22:24:03 - 00:22:27:16

I think Airbnb understands

and Airbnb knows that like

00:22:29:10 - 00:22:31:07

they can only capture you for so long.

00:22:31:07 - 00:22:31:24

Right?

00:22:31:24 - 00:22:34:22

And as much as I love Airbnb,

there is definitely floors,

00:22:34:22 - 00:22:38:02

there's definitely headaches,

there's definitely complications.

00:22:38:02 - 00:22:40:29

Right. But the good way is the evil.

00:22:40:29 - 00:22:43:02

You just have to pick your battles

you can find.

00:22:43:10 - 00:22:44:02

I don't really.

00:22:44:02 - 00:22:46:01

I'm not a guy

that likes to sit on the negatives.

00:22:46:01 - 00:22:47:23

I'm like,

Let me just figure something out.

00:22:47:23 - 00:22:49:20

How to do fix it.

00:22:49:20 - 00:22:50:13

Right?

00:22:50:13 - 00:22:50:18

You know,

00:22:50:18 - 00:22:54:08

I think Airbnb understands that, like,

as long as you're not crossing the line

00:22:54:08 - 00:22:57:10

and trying to promote your direct booking

like crazy through their platform, and

00:22:58:05 - 00:23:00:27

I don't think there's any harm

to be done at the same time.

00:23:01:19 - 00:23:06:02

But direct booking has was

one of those things that was beyond scary.

00:23:06:02 - 00:23:09:09

I was like, This is scary. I'm on my own.

00:23:09:09 - 00:23:11:10

I got to insurance,

I got to get paperwork.

00:23:11:14 - 00:23:14:18

I got ooh, it's

yeah, I got to in a website. Like

00:23:15:18 - 00:23:18:06

it took me

way too long to finally go down that path.

00:23:18:06 - 00:23:21:17

But that's a good that you bring up

a really good point

00:23:21:17 - 00:23:24:13

because I think sometimes people

sort of make it seem easy.

00:23:24:13 - 00:23:27:04

They like go direct bookings

and it's like, Well, wait a minute.

00:23:27:04 - 00:23:30:13

Like there's a you know, again,

there's there is a benefit to going

00:23:30:13 - 00:23:33:17

for a set with someone who is handling

a lot of the stuff like the insurance

00:23:33:17 - 00:23:37:24

and the cancellation policies

and everything else for you.

00:23:38:12 - 00:23:41:12

Well,

may I ask you a somewhat loaded question?

00:23:41:12 - 00:23:44:06

Not loaded, but I just like putting you

on the spot a little bit.

00:23:44:17 - 00:23:46:05

Are you still doing both?

00:23:46:05 - 00:23:48:09

Are you listing on Airbnb and direct?

00:23:48:09 - 00:23:50:09

Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:23:50:09 - 00:23:52:27

How much of how much of your business

is coming from direct?

00:23:53:22 - 00:23:55:24

Not enough, to be honest.

00:23:55:24 - 00:23:58:07

It's still such a learning curve.

00:23:58:07 - 00:23:59:23

Oh, interesting. You know, and

00:24:00:25 - 00:24:04:07

I'm still very I'm probably way

more selective on

00:24:04:07 - 00:24:08:03

who books direct

just because of all those unknowns.

00:24:08:10 - 00:24:09:15

Right, right, right.

00:24:09:15 - 00:24:11:26

You're like, do I have to run a background

check on you now?

00:24:11:26 - 00:24:13:29

I have to stock you on Google.

Who are you?

00:24:14:08 - 00:24:16:16

Yeah, And yes,

I do have to do all of that.

00:24:16:16 - 00:24:20:21

So like so, yeah,

I mean, I work really close with Super Hog

00:24:20:21 - 00:24:24:07

that does all my background checks

because in Arizona it's a state law.

00:24:24:08 - 00:24:27:27

We have to, you know,

so that's one less hurdle that makes it

00:24:28:00 - 00:24:32:26

a little easier to do direct booking,

you know, setting up all your info and

00:24:33:05 - 00:24:36:26

and then just trying to be a human

to the next person on the other line.

00:24:36:26 - 00:24:38:15

You know,

they're like trying to rent your place.

00:24:38:15 - 00:24:42:24

You're like, okay, let's let's jump on

an old school phone call or some emails.

00:24:43:01 - 00:24:46:20

Most direct bookings I feel like

have come through a source that I trust

00:24:46:21 - 00:24:50:03

either my Instagram

or a friend of a friend,

00:24:50:03 - 00:24:52:29

or maybe they stayed with me before

and Right.

00:24:52:29 - 00:24:53:16

I'm family.

00:24:53:16 - 00:24:54:19

They're coming back.

00:24:54:19 - 00:24:57:10

So right now

I'm kind of like in that phase.

00:24:57:10 - 00:24:59:10

But I think it's really, really important.

00:24:59:15 - 00:25:04:10

Yeah, but I think it honestly helps

you with your Airbnb as well.

00:25:04:10 - 00:25:07:26

I think they both go hand in hand

when you're building a brand.

00:25:07:26 - 00:25:12:26

My thought is that brand sits on Airbnb

still or verb or Booking.com or whatever.

00:25:12:26 - 00:25:14:08

Right, right, right.

00:25:14:08 - 00:25:17:21

Google you maybe then

maybe the guest isn't comfortable

00:25:17:23 - 00:25:21:12

yet booking direct because that's

still a learning curve, I feel like.

00:25:21:22 - 00:25:24:26

But then if they see you on Airbnb

and it's still branded the same,

00:25:25:03 - 00:25:28:06

has the same messages like, okay,

this guy knows what he's doing,

00:25:28:12 - 00:25:29:27

this seems like a good host.

00:25:29:27 - 00:25:31:18

This doesn't feel like fake photos.

00:25:31:18 - 00:25:32:23

I'm going to show up the listings.

00:25:32:23 - 00:25:34:24

Nothing what it looks like

00:25:34:24 - 00:25:38:19

because there is a lot of that unknown

and I think on both sides.

00:25:38:19 - 00:25:40:13

Yeah, yeah, sure. Yeah.

00:25:40:13 - 00:25:43:13

So I think the brand having the direct

where they feel more comfortable

00:25:43:13 - 00:25:44:04

they can reach out

00:25:45:26 - 00:25:46:27

it helpful.

00:25:46:27 - 00:25:49:17

I mean I've had many people go,

I found your website but

00:25:49:27 - 00:25:52:16

it's just easier for me to book on

Airbnb right.

00:25:53:04 - 00:25:53:28

No problem.

00:25:53:28 - 00:25:54:14

Yeah.

00:25:54:14 - 00:25:58:21

Like one feeds the other so nicely

and you know, either way, building up

00:25:58:21 - 00:26:02:11

sort of a rolodex,

I think of like reoccurring customers,

00:26:02:11 - 00:26:06:17

so to speak, and just folks

that know about you and yeah, 100%.

00:26:06:17 - 00:26:08:19

That's super cool.

00:26:08:19 - 00:26:10:01

Well, thank you for clarifying that.

00:26:10:01 - 00:26:14:05

And also helping me ask the the question,

because that was exactly the question.

00:26:14:05 - 00:26:14:14

I was like,

00:26:14:14 - 00:26:15:06

what advice

00:26:15:06 - 00:26:16:28

would you give folks about

00:26:16:28 - 00:26:19:23

where they should be listing and how

they should be thinking about that?

00:26:20:24 - 00:26:22:25

I think the answer

to that real quick, too,

00:26:22:25 - 00:26:27:23

I think the days of opening yourself up

to one platform in one system or

00:26:29:01 - 00:26:30:02

there long, long, long

00:26:30:02 - 00:26:32:12

gone,

I think there's way too much competition.

00:26:33:04 - 00:26:35:17

You have to be everywhere at this point.

00:26:35:17 - 00:26:38:18

Yeah, even if you don't book ever

on Booking.com,

00:26:39:17 - 00:26:43:12

that traffic might lead you to a direct

or whatever, right?

00:26:43:13 - 00:26:44:00

Yeah.

00:26:44:00 - 00:26:45:23

No, that is such a good point

and something

00:26:45:23 - 00:26:47:28

I haven't really thought about,

but definitely

00:26:47:28 - 00:26:50:10

like an old marketing trick to write,

which is just like

00:26:50:19 - 00:26:53:05

you got to kind of

just show up in the right places, but

00:26:53:14 - 00:26:57:02

it's very hard to know exactly

which channel is your conversion channel.

00:26:57:15 - 00:26:58:29

Yeah. Totally.

00:26:58:29 - 00:27:02:01

So you have to hedge and be like, Yeah,

they may see me on booking and then go

00:27:02:01 - 00:27:04:03

book me at Airbnb,

or they may go to my website

00:27:04:03 - 00:27:07:03

and then go to Airbnb

or vice versa, right?

00:27:07:03 - 00:27:09:23

Who knows? Yeah. Super interesting.

00:27:10:11 - 00:27:12:06

Well, I think the other thing

00:27:13:12 - 00:27:15:18

that you

and I could talk a little bit about,

00:27:15:18 - 00:27:18:21

because I know you've been pretty active

and I know you've been in some markets

00:27:18:21 - 00:27:23:01

that have seen so much change in

just like what the rules are, the rules

00:27:23:01 - 00:27:27:12

and regulations, as they say, around

operating a short term rental.

00:27:27:13 - 00:27:29:24

And again, you're an OG in this space too.

00:27:30:06 - 00:27:33:14

So similar question

because one of the things we really try

00:27:33:14 - 00:27:36:06

to emphasize for folks on

the podcast is like the importance

00:27:36:15 - 00:27:37:27

of getting involved, right?

00:27:37:27 - 00:27:40:02

And sort of like it's

the old democracy message,

00:27:40:02 - 00:27:42:23

but it's like, Hey, if you're not going to

if you're not going to at least show up

00:27:43:00 - 00:27:43:28

and be involved

00:27:43:28 - 00:27:47:00

and have your voice in the conversation,

you really can't complain.

00:27:47:27 - 00:27:48:17

About.

00:27:48:17 - 00:27:50:26

What's happening

in your neck of the woods.

00:27:51:13 - 00:27:53:29

So talk to me about what

your journey through

00:27:53:29 - 00:27:57:01

advocacy has been or to advocacy

for a short term.

00:27:57:01 - 00:27:59:20

On Journey

would definitely be the right word. Yes,

00:28:00:27 - 00:28:03:08

OG, I feel like yes, somehow,

00:28:03:17 - 00:28:06:22

never in a million years

I ever think I would say

00:28:06:22 - 00:28:09:21

I love the love

00:28:09:21 - 00:28:14:16

being a part of this voice

in a part of this conversation and group.

00:28:14:16 - 00:28:18:17

When it comes to advocacy, never did

I think that vocabulary

00:28:18:17 - 00:28:21:20

would be in my vocabulary,

00:28:22:04 - 00:28:27:07

but it's here and a huge shout out to,

I think, you know then too is is rent

00:28:27:07 - 00:28:31:01

responsibly if if it wasn't for them

taking me under their wing

00:28:31:01 - 00:28:36:04

and kind of showing me the ropes and

and understanding their point,

00:28:36:13 - 00:28:41:01

the importance of my voice

and what a group could do to make

00:28:41:07 - 00:28:43:00

positive change,

00:28:43:00 - 00:28:46:12

I don't think I would have had the courage

to ever speak up completely on my own

00:28:46:12 - 00:28:49:18

because it is intimate

and I still get so scared

00:28:49:18 - 00:28:52:08

going down to City Hall and council

and seeing these people up there like,

00:28:52:21 - 00:28:54:13

Hello sir,

what would you like to say to us?

00:28:54:13 - 00:28:56:15

You're like, I'm not sure I forgot.

00:28:57:23 - 00:28:59:24

What what do I want to say to you?

00:28:59:26 - 00:29:01:29

Yeah. Oh, that's, yeah, you're right.

00:29:01:29 - 00:29:04:06

Like,

that's a whole nother sort of public.

00:29:04:22 - 00:29:06:15

Yeah. Yeah.

00:29:06:15 - 00:29:07:28

But it's so important, right?

00:29:07:28 - 00:29:09:27

I mean, and what I understand

is that you've

00:29:09:29 - 00:29:13:17

sort of were one of the first ones

to understand the importance.

00:29:13:17 - 00:29:15:29

And I love again, another great

00:29:16:11 - 00:29:20:07

just a great little tip,

I think, from John is like, find it.

00:29:20:07 - 00:29:24:19

Find the people that are doing it and

doing it well and use them as resources.

00:29:24:19 - 00:29:25:00

Right?

00:29:25:00 - 00:29:29:16

So you're like, Guys, tell me, ladies

and gentlemen, tell me how to do this.

00:29:29:16 - 00:29:31:15

How do I be an advocate?

00:29:31:15 - 00:29:31:23

Yeah.

00:29:31:23 - 00:29:34:29

And I think like I first I

00:29:36:28 - 00:29:38:17

education on both sides.

00:29:38:17 - 00:29:40:07

Is everything right? So yeah,

00:29:40:07 - 00:29:44:16

I can't express enough how important

it really is to get involved like it.

00:29:44:16 - 00:29:49:08

So if you're in this space and you're

not involved, I'm like, Shame on you.

00:29:49:08 - 00:29:50:10

It's like,

00:29:50:10 - 00:29:54:22

you can't be a part of this business

anymore if you're not advocating some way

00:29:54:22 - 00:29:59:09

with money, donation

since your time writing letters, emails,

00:29:59:21 - 00:30:03:24

just being a better host

in general, educating like

00:30:05:17 - 00:30:08:01

I love

this subject now, I love talking about it

00:30:08:01 - 00:30:09:13

because it's so important

00:30:09:13 - 00:30:13:25

and I think we're at a very,

very critical point in our time where

00:30:14:07 - 00:30:18:00

every body we says Airbnb instead of like,

Oh, I have a vacation rental.

00:30:18:00 - 00:30:21:05

And, you know, sometimes it's

very negative in a certain town.

00:30:21:05 - 00:30:25:03

And like the way you have to talk about

it is so in Portland.

00:30:25:10 - 00:30:27:15

So it's like, may I get involved?

00:30:27:18 - 00:30:29:29

And just a quick story.

I think it's always fun.

00:30:29:29 - 00:30:31:06

Like when I first got involved,

00:30:31:06 - 00:30:34:12

I went down to City Hall

because I heard about a meeting

00:30:34:12 - 00:30:37:28

that they were possibly going to change

the short term rental laws in Arizona,

00:30:38:06 - 00:30:41:24

and I literally just invested

my entire life savings

00:30:42:05 - 00:30:46:20

on two properties in Arizona

because it was so friendly for policy

00:30:46:20 - 00:30:48:20

and it was a state

and it was a statewide bill.

00:30:48:20 - 00:30:50:22

So I'm like, Oh, this is amazing.

00:30:50:22 - 00:30:52:07

And then I heard

about this again. I was like,

00:30:53:07 - 00:30:54:06

Oh, wait a minute, wait.

00:30:54:06 - 00:30:56:11

I could actually lose my entire business.

00:30:56:11 - 00:30:58:21

Like, really? Is this even a thing?

00:30:58:21 - 00:31:02:24

So I went down there and it was me

and maybe three other hosts, maybe,

00:31:03:18 - 00:31:06:01

and there was like 200 people

00:31:06:01 - 00:31:09:00

there that were like,

Burn is at the stake.

00:31:09:06 - 00:31:10:29

No more short term rentals.

00:31:10:29 - 00:31:14:05

This is a disgrace. I was like,

00:31:14:08 - 00:31:18:06

Oh, wait, where's all the people that I've

been talking to, all these great hosts?

00:31:18:23 - 00:31:21:05

Where isn't everybody? Yeah.

00:31:21:12 - 00:31:25:21

And then that's what fueled my fire

to start finding a source.

00:31:25:21 - 00:31:28:02

And that's where right response

we came involved.

00:31:28:02 - 00:31:31:01

And then we started a board

here in Arizona where,

00:31:31:01 - 00:31:35:04

like the large largest coalition

in Arizona protecting the rights.

00:31:35:04 - 00:31:38:03

And I'm very proud of what we built.

00:31:38:10 - 00:31:39:24

We're a501c now.

00:31:39:24 - 00:31:41:07

It's just like, so exciting.

00:31:41:07 - 00:31:44:11

And we've helped so many cities either

00:31:44:11 - 00:31:47:26

adopt new laws or change them or fine

tune them a little bit.

00:31:47:26 - 00:31:51:21

So but it is not easy

work and it is a lot of work.

00:31:53:02 - 00:31:54:06

I believe you.

00:31:54:06 - 00:31:55:15

I believe you on that one.

00:31:55:15 - 00:31:57:25

But to your point, very important work.

00:31:58:10 - 00:32:02:24

And I think absolutely like the concept

of being able to sort of scale

00:32:02:24 - 00:32:06:10

the advocacy, like getting

those frameworks together and like taking

00:32:06:20 - 00:32:10:14

what you built in Arizona and being able

to transfer that other to other

00:32:10:27 - 00:32:14:00

markets is the silver lining,

I would say, right?

00:32:14:12 - 00:32:16:23

My guys learn off of John's homework.

00:32:16:23 - 00:32:18:17

John's already done the work for you.

00:32:18:17 - 00:32:21:27

All you have to do is

look at his playbook now.

00:32:21:28 - 00:32:25:24

It is really hard, but I like

what you also said is like, look at this.

00:32:25:24 - 00:32:27:26

A million different ways to be involved.

00:32:27:26 - 00:32:32:11

Yeah, you don't have to just be,

you know, writing a check, right?

00:32:32:16 - 00:32:34:13

Or if that's more convenient

for you and it's harder

00:32:34:13 - 00:32:37:15

for you to have a voice or write

a letter that might be better.

00:32:39:02 - 00:32:39:26

This is great.

00:32:39:26 - 00:32:43:03

So. So what kind of progress

have you been making in Arizona?

00:32:43:03 - 00:32:45:03

What is shaking in Arizona?

00:32:45:03 - 00:32:46:27

Oh, man. Hits.

00:32:46:27 - 00:32:49:13

We're like I said, I feel like Arizona

00:32:49:13 - 00:32:52:27

is so lucky to have a statewide bill

for many reasons.

00:32:52:27 - 00:32:55:24

Right. I think it's good for both sides.

It's good.

00:32:55:24 - 00:32:58:18

And I hate seeing sides

because it's like there's, you know,

00:32:58:25 - 00:32:59:28

the good side, the bad side.

00:32:59:28 - 00:33:01:29

But like for the neighborhoods, Right.

00:33:02:00 - 00:33:03:20

It helps protect the neighborhoods.

00:33:03:20 - 00:33:04:29

It helps protect hosts.

00:33:04:29 - 00:33:08:07

And, you know, so having a statewide,

this makes it a lot easier

00:33:08:07 - 00:33:11:24

that every single city and county is

not making up a bunch of different rules.

00:33:12:00 - 00:33:14:10

So if you have a home in one county

and then you have a home

00:33:14:10 - 00:33:16:20

in a different county,

it's completely different.

00:33:16:20 - 00:33:20:05

It'd just be impossible to keep, organize

and stay on track.

00:33:20:05 - 00:33:23:28

So, yeah, I mean, like we sit down

with the opposing side

00:33:23:28 - 00:33:26:21

all the time, say, okay, what are the

what are the things

00:33:26:21 - 00:33:30:22

that you really don't like about short

term rentals in your neighborhood?

00:33:30:22 - 00:33:32:12

How can we make this easier?

00:33:32:12 - 00:33:34:04

How can we make this better?

00:33:34:04 - 00:33:37:14

You know, sometimes

it's like, No, that's not correct.

00:33:37:14 - 00:33:39:26

Or sometimes it's

the simplest thing is trash.

00:33:40:05 - 00:33:41:16

Right? Okay, cool.

00:33:41:16 - 00:33:43:20

We're going to find a trash company

that we're going to partner with

00:33:44:00 - 00:33:46:09

that's going to take care

of all of the short term rental trash.

00:33:46:19 - 00:33:47:21

Cool problem solve.

00:33:47:21 - 00:33:49:17

Not that difficult, right?

00:33:49:17 - 00:33:51:27

So it's just like education.

00:33:52:12 - 00:33:56:01

It comes out and then,

you know, these poor like I say, poor,

00:33:56:01 - 00:33:57:16

but they signed up for the job right?

00:33:57:16 - 00:34:02:15

The mayor and the city council members

and all everybody involved in politics,

00:34:03:00 - 00:34:05:09

they just have way

too many bills on their plate

00:34:05:16 - 00:34:09:14

and there's no way they can read through

all of these and understand everything.

00:34:09:14 - 00:34:11:14

So, Oh, my gosh, yeah, that's impossible.

00:34:11:14 - 00:34:15:12

So it's our job to get in front of them

and say, Hey, look, we're humans.

00:34:15:12 - 00:34:16:19

We're mom and pops.

00:34:16:19 - 00:34:21:28

Yeah massive corporations buying

the entire city blocks and and not caring.

00:34:21:28 - 00:34:22:19

We live here.

00:34:22:19 - 00:34:25:07

I was born here

like my grandfather was a mayor.

00:34:25:21 - 00:34:28:23

Arizona, our mesa for a while, like,

Oh, wow, I get it.

00:34:28:23 - 00:34:33:16

And then they're like, Oh,

okay, let's talk and then we'll show them.

00:34:33:16 - 00:34:35:12

This is what the opposing side

is talking about.

00:34:35:12 - 00:34:36:29

This is what we're talking about.

00:34:36:29 - 00:34:39:00

This is what's on the state bill.

00:34:39:00 - 00:34:41:09

Let's come, let's clean it up.

00:34:41:09 - 00:34:44:11

So yeah, I kind of rambled there

a little bit. No.

00:34:44:20 - 00:34:47:17

It was a great

it was I mean, so, so important.

00:34:47:24 - 00:34:49:28

And to your point,

a little nuanced. Right.

00:34:49:28 - 00:34:52:17

And again,

I think like the takeaways for me

00:34:52:17 - 00:34:55:12

there are like open the dialog, right?

00:34:55:12 - 00:34:57:08

Like it doesn't have to be us versus them.

00:34:57:08 - 00:35:02:08

It's like, figure out what's really

bothering people about Airbnbs, right?

00:35:02:08 - 00:35:04:27

And also there's sort of like fact

and fiction there, right?

00:35:04:27 - 00:35:07:00

Like there's

there's things that are real problems

00:35:07:08 - 00:35:09:29

and then there's things

that might feel like problems are things

00:35:09:29 - 00:35:12:19

that people are just like,

generally worried about, right?

00:35:12:19 - 00:35:13:13

Like, oh,

00:35:13:13 - 00:35:16:25

if I let all these Airbnbs into my area

or all the short term rentals in my area,

00:35:17:09 - 00:35:20:29

affordable housing affordability

is going to be all out of whack

00:35:20:29 - 00:35:23:02

and there's not going

be any housing for the service people.

00:35:23:03 - 00:35:26:08

Then you're like, Well, okay, let's talk

about what that really looks like

00:35:26:08 - 00:35:29:15

and what kind of housing, how

that's two very different types of houses.

00:35:30:15 - 00:35:31:25

You have to.

00:35:31:25 - 00:35:32:17

Yeah.

00:35:32:19 - 00:35:35:20

So opening that dialog

and really unpacking.

00:35:35:20 - 00:35:37:29

Why why are you feeling

anxious about this?

00:35:38:05 - 00:35:40:08

Why are you against short term rentals

00:35:40:17 - 00:35:44:01

and then I love this idea

of like humanizing yourself, right?

00:35:44:02 - 00:35:46:16

Like, look, like I'm going to show up.

I'm invested.

00:35:46:24 - 00:35:48:23

I'm invested in this community, right?

00:35:48:23 - 00:35:52:26

This is not just about me going

and just grabbing everything everywhere.

00:35:53:25 - 00:35:54:02

Yeah.

00:35:54:02 - 00:35:57:26

And I think like like I was saying

earlier, I was like, just get involved.

00:35:57:27 - 00:35:59:29

Like, yeah, we started from nothing.

00:36:00:04 - 00:36:02:18

We didn't know what we were doing.

We slowly kept building.

00:36:02:18 - 00:36:03:25

We got more organized.

00:36:03:25 - 00:36:05:22

We became an official board,

00:36:05:22 - 00:36:08:15

but now we're getting volunteers

because we're organized enough.

00:36:08:15 - 00:36:09:13

We get volunteers.

00:36:09:13 - 00:36:13:21

We got amazing volunteers coming forward

like, Hey, we want to help write letters

00:36:13:29 - 00:36:17:29

that everybody can use, that they can just

copy and paste and change a few things

00:36:18:08 - 00:36:19:06

quick and easy.

00:36:19:06 - 00:36:20:26

It's like, Wow, okay, that's amazing.

00:36:20:26 - 00:36:22:13

That's and then, you know,

00:36:22:13 - 00:36:24:29

somebody from Lake Havasu

just reached out to us and is like,

00:36:25:11 - 00:36:26:18

Hey, I don't see on your website

00:36:26:18 - 00:36:29:15

that you have all this stuff

about policy in Lake Havasu and like,

00:36:29:25 - 00:36:32:09

what do you want to help us

because we just haven't got there.

00:36:32:09 - 00:36:34:00

We don't have enough manpower yet.

00:36:34:00 - 00:36:35:18

We're all drafted up.

00:36:35:18 - 00:36:37:19

And then they drafted up

and we put it on the site.

00:36:37:19 - 00:36:39:21

So it's like it's always evolving,

00:36:40:15 - 00:36:42:04

which is really cool

because that's what it should be.

00:36:42:04 - 00:36:45:26

Hosts are always coming together,

so it should be a group effort.

00:36:46:23 - 00:36:47:28

All right. Yes, it's very cool.

00:36:47:28 - 00:36:51:13

Well, I also like that you like because

because the inkling could be to be like,

00:36:51:21 - 00:36:53:22

oh, man, why are you bugging me?

00:36:53:22 - 00:36:56:27

Why are you writing my ass

about not having Lake Havasu data?

00:36:56:27 - 00:37:00:02

But instead you turned it into like,

Hey, man, come help me out.

00:37:00:06 - 00:37:02:09

Like, Yeah, yeah, you're right.

I don't have that data.

00:37:02:09 - 00:37:03:02

Do you have the data?

00:37:03:02 - 00:37:04:15

Let's get some data together.

00:37:04:15 - 00:37:06:06

Like, I like that.

00:37:06:06 - 00:37:08:08

It's true because sometimes you do.

00:37:08:08 - 00:37:10:16

Sometimes you will take it personally,

right? You're right.

00:37:10:17 - 00:37:11:22

Yeah, I'm trying.

00:37:11:22 - 00:37:12:27

I'm trying where?

00:37:12:27 - 00:37:15:16

There's only so many cities

we can't even keep up right now.

00:37:15:16 - 00:37:17:16

It's so every city is changing.

00:37:17:19 - 00:37:20:17

Like, please,

we're trying to be nice to me.

00:37:22:00 - 00:37:22:10

Right?

00:37:22:10 - 00:37:23:18

Yeah. Don't take it personally.

00:37:23:18 - 00:37:25:12

Just turn it into an opportunity.

00:37:25:12 - 00:37:27:15

Turn a challenge into an opportunity.

00:37:27:24 - 00:37:28:12

Totally.

00:37:28:12 - 00:37:29:14

And we've been doing these fun

00:37:29:14 - 00:37:32:13

little meetups lately,

like at local coffee shops.

00:37:32:13 - 00:37:33:17

We, we just did one.

00:37:33:17 - 00:37:37:15

And that, surprisingly enough,

too many people showed up,

00:37:37:24 - 00:37:40:10

But nobody shows up for advocacy stuff.

00:37:40:19 - 00:37:42:23

Right? Right. People are like,

Wait a minute.

00:37:43:06 - 00:37:44:06

And it was so cool.

00:37:44:06 - 00:37:48:00

We ended up having to go to a house

because we had to meet Google and then we,

00:37:48:04 - 00:37:51:28

you know, so we're doing these little

meetups and people are really interested

00:37:52:06 - 00:37:56:01

in the topic now and how to get involved

and how to be a voice in this,

00:37:56:01 - 00:37:59:12

how to be a better host,

which in general is what we need.

00:37:59:12 - 00:38:03:10

We just need hosts that treat it

like a business at the end of the day.

00:38:03:26 - 00:38:06:10

Yeah, yeah, that is so funny.

00:38:06:10 - 00:38:10:00

Like I find sometimes that

not to get cheesy, but I'm going to like

00:38:10:11 - 00:38:13:21

the universe just keeps

sending out the same signals to you.

00:38:13:21 - 00:38:16:14

And so over the course

of the last two weeks,

00:38:16:14 - 00:38:20:21

I think that has been one of the

like sort of resounding drumbeats

00:38:20:21 - 00:38:23:11

that I've been hearing from folks

like you, which is just like,

00:38:23:24 - 00:38:25:11

this is a business like it is.

00:38:25:11 - 00:38:27:23

It's time to get serious,

to take yourself seriously,

00:38:28:14 - 00:38:32:13

you know, take your business

seriously, run it like a business.

00:38:33:00 - 00:38:35:18

And and you know what we've been

sort of saying over here is like,

00:38:35:28 - 00:38:38:29

yes, this is this is this

this industry is maturing.

00:38:39:16 - 00:38:41:27

Yeah, it's it's entering a new phase.

00:38:41:27 - 00:38:44:19

And so you do have to evolve, right?

00:38:44:19 - 00:38:48:03

Which hopefully is exciting

for most people to evolve.

00:38:48:03 - 00:38:50:11

But you do have to evolve with the times.

00:38:50:25 - 00:38:53:27

Well, I promise you guys adding

00:38:55:06 - 00:38:56:10

or added

00:38:56:10 - 00:39:01:16

more information on how to search for,

you know, what the temperature is in

00:39:01:16 - 00:39:05:04

advocacy

in that area or the policies or I forgot,

00:39:05:16 - 00:39:08:01

I think I remember seeing that

00:39:08:05 - 00:39:10:08

which it comes back to the data.

00:39:10:08 - 00:39:11:06

It's so important.

00:39:11:06 - 00:39:12:26

I think that's probably

the first thing I look at now,

00:39:12:26 - 00:39:15:18

if I'm going to buy is like, okay,

what's the temperature over there?

00:39:15:29 - 00:39:16:29

What's the laws?

00:39:16:29 - 00:39:20:02

Is there any you guys are adding that

in your stuff now, right?

00:39:20:11 - 00:39:25:29

Yeah, we do have so we have a regulation

score in our tool and then we just issued

00:39:25:29 - 00:39:30:25

our 2023 Best Places to Invest report

and for a shameless plug.

00:39:30:25 - 00:39:31:10

Sorry guys.

00:39:31:10 - 00:39:31:18

You know,

00:39:31:18 - 00:39:34:05

I knew I was going to do it, but,

you know,

00:39:34:07 - 00:39:37:00

there were a lot of like sort of zingers

in there, right?

00:39:37:00 - 00:39:37:20

Because folks were like,

00:39:37:20 - 00:39:40:22

wait a minute, you put Fairbanks,

Alaska on there, You put Sheboygan.

00:39:40:22 - 00:39:42:20

I think it's in Michigan or Wisconsin.

00:39:42:20 - 00:39:45:06

Sorry. Sorry, folks in Sheboygan,

I apologize.

00:39:45:06 - 00:39:46:16

I'll figure out what state you're in.

00:39:47:27 - 00:39:50:28

But but people were like, whoa,

whoa, whoa, what is this about?

00:39:50:28 - 00:39:53:02

And we were like, well,

it's about a couple of different things.

00:39:53:02 - 00:39:55:05

One of them being regulation, right?

00:39:55:05 - 00:39:57:12

And so we actually partnered

with our friends at Remedy

00:39:58:05 - 00:40:01:03

and leverage their database

after we sort of narrowed down

00:40:01:03 - 00:40:02:29

our list of best places to invest.

00:40:02:29 - 00:40:06:27

And a lot of that was also based

on what we call invest ability,

00:40:06:27 - 00:40:10:25

which is like how much is a house cost

you and does a house cost

00:40:11:00 - 00:40:13:27

expenses is like, you know, like

what is your mortgage going to look like?

00:40:13:27 - 00:40:15:27

Like all the practical stuff

that goes into

00:40:15:27 - 00:40:19:03

actually the investment component versus

just thinking about like, well, sure,

00:40:19:03 - 00:40:22:03

you probably could make $1,000

a night, right?

00:40:22:26 - 00:40:25:10

But how much it costs

you to make $1,000 a night.

00:40:26:12 - 00:40:28:12

So, yeah, we definitely we're doing

just that.

00:40:28:12 - 00:40:32:13

And and again, we are super happy to

I know Jamie,

00:40:32:19 - 00:40:36:16

my co-host, has provided like Atlanta,

for instance, the city of Atlanta,

00:40:36:16 - 00:40:38:26

with a lot of data to help. Right.

00:40:38:26 - 00:40:41:18

Because to your point, like,

if you can prove empirically

00:40:42:12 - 00:40:45:21

that this is the true situation

and this is the true impact of short

00:40:45:21 - 00:40:48:27

term rentals on a community

certainly helps.

00:40:48:27 - 00:40:51:12

So we're always,

always happy to help folks.

00:40:51:12 - 00:40:53:27

It's like yourself, John.

00:40:53:27 - 00:40:56:01

And are you with data

when we can, for sure.

00:40:56:13 - 00:40:57:08

Oh, that's exciting.

00:40:57:08 - 00:41:00:15

I'm going to hit you guys up

for about that because you know, do it

00:41:00:15 - 00:41:04:17

like showing

real data to the city councils,

00:41:04:22 - 00:41:07:28

not the newspaper data.

00:41:08:20 - 00:41:11:02

Yes, the newspapers

reach out to us often to they're like,

00:41:12:01 - 00:41:13:16

okay, we're not going to help.

00:41:13:16 - 00:41:15:00

We're not like

00:41:15:00 - 00:41:16:06

we're not going to help you tell the story

00:41:16:06 - 00:41:17:22

because the data is telling us

something different.

00:41:17:22 - 00:41:19:04

Yeah, Yeah.

00:41:19:21 - 00:41:21:13

Good point. Good point.

00:41:21:21 - 00:41:22:14

Oh, my gosh.

00:41:22:14 - 00:41:25:09

Well, I promise

not to talk to you for too much longer.

00:41:25:09 - 00:41:27:07

It's my. It's my new thing.

00:41:27:07 - 00:41:28:23

Natalie Palmer and I came up with it.

00:41:28:23 - 00:41:30:29

This podcast is not torture.

00:41:30:29 - 00:41:33:24

No, we're not torturing listeners

or guests,

00:41:35:05 - 00:41:37:07

but I would love to know with all of this

00:41:37:16 - 00:41:40:25

maturation of the

I don't know if I said the right

00:41:42:10 - 00:41:46:01

of the industry,

what are you thinking about for 2023?

00:41:46:01 - 00:41:49:10

What's sort of your strategy

going into a year that, yes, you've got

00:41:49:16 - 00:41:53:00

regulation, headwinds,

you've got invest, ability, headwinds,

00:41:53:28 - 00:41:56:09

you're operating

in all these very interesting markets.

00:41:56:16 - 00:42:00:00

So lots of demand,

but supply might be coming after you?

00:42:00:22 - 00:42:02:10

Not now that I'm depressed.

00:42:02:10 - 00:42:03:26

You carry on.

00:42:03:26 - 00:42:07:01

What what do you think and

how are you mitigating the risks of 2023?

00:42:07:01 - 00:42:09:20

I literally almost started crying. Yeah.

00:42:10:17 - 00:42:12:19

I did. Maybe this podcast is.

00:42:12:19 - 00:42:16:28

Pretty well

to to dissect out a little bit, right.

00:42:16:28 - 00:42:22:26

I think it does brings new challenges

that some of it is exciting.

00:42:22:26 - 00:42:28:04

I think sadly enough, it's going to it's

going to weed out the weak, right?

00:42:28:04 - 00:42:33:02

So the properties that are just average

are going to be hit really hard.

00:42:33:06 - 00:42:34:22

Like really hard.

00:42:34:22 - 00:42:38:29

I think the property management companies

that are doing a job,

00:42:38:29 - 00:42:43:03

you know, with the 4.6 reviews and stuff,

are going to get hit really hard

00:42:43:03 - 00:42:45:10

because people's hard earned money,

they don't want to risk

00:42:46:02 - 00:42:47:27

a property that they're not sure about.

00:42:47:27 - 00:42:49:07

So if the right branded,

00:42:49:07 - 00:42:52:22

if it's not good reviews,

people just aren't going to book it right.

00:42:52:22 - 00:42:55:24

So I think a lot of those people going

to have to really like take a deep dive

00:42:55:24 - 00:42:58:28

and be like,

okay, is it time to update some furniture?

00:42:59:00 - 00:43:01:00

Do we need to add some amenities?

00:43:01:00 - 00:43:03:27

Yes, all white walls are kind of boring

sometimes.

00:43:03:27 - 00:43:05:05

Do we need to paint some white walls?

00:43:05:05 - 00:43:06:19

Do we need to add some wallpaper?

00:43:06:19 - 00:43:08:16

Like do we need to, you know,

00:43:09:22 - 00:43:10:13

ask ourselves

00:43:10:13 - 00:43:13:05

internally, like, what's holding back?

00:43:13:12 - 00:43:16:25

You know,

can we afford 5% dip in the next year?

00:43:17:11 - 00:43:18:12

Yeah.

00:43:18:12 - 00:43:21:18

So I think it's going to be

a big reality check.

00:43:22:12 - 00:43:26:20

And then sadly, like a part of

the industry needs that a little bit.

00:43:26:20 - 00:43:29:02

Right.

And it does need a little correction.

00:43:29:13 - 00:43:33:14

Yeah, I think more hosts

do need to step up a little bit.

00:43:33:14 - 00:43:36:29

And so I don't know,

I think there's parts of me

00:43:36:29 - 00:43:41:03

that is excited for 2023,

even though it's insanely scary.

00:43:41:09 - 00:43:45:21

I got to admit, you know, revenue is down,

occupancy is down.

00:43:46:20 - 00:43:50:19

The properties that that I have

that that were really like

00:43:50:28 - 00:43:55:12

focusing on design and customer service

and all that stuff are doing well there.

00:43:55:13 - 00:43:58:02

They're not the same numbers

but we're booked

00:43:58:24 - 00:44:01:03

and we got, you know, great feedback and

00:44:01:21 - 00:44:04:19

yeah, so it's it's just more work maybe,

00:44:04:20 - 00:44:07:02

you know, there's a lot more

that's got to go into it now.

00:44:07:23 - 00:44:08:08

Yeah.

00:44:08:08 - 00:44:10:28

Yeah that's, I

well that was very well said.

00:44:11:02 - 00:44:13:02

Also very realistic which I like. Right.

00:44:14:21 - 00:44:17:08

We were both very real with each other.

00:44:17:08 - 00:44:18:19

We're going to have a good cry

00:44:18:19 - 00:44:21:06

that we're going to just ourselves off

and get back to here.

00:44:21:06 - 00:44:22:16

Exactly.

00:44:23:02 - 00:44:27:04

I mean, look, at the end of the day,

every business is going through something,

00:44:27:04 - 00:44:31:23

no matter what business it, you know,

it's like it if you're in control

00:44:31:23 - 00:44:34:26

of your own destiny, which I like to be,

I like to be in control of my own.

00:44:35:07 - 00:44:37:09

So I'm just going to figure it out.

00:44:37:20 - 00:44:39:13

What is it that we need to do?

00:44:39:13 - 00:44:44:05

Like, Yeah, let's go to the data is

do I need a hot tub that's heated?

00:44:44:05 - 00:44:45:04

Do I need this?

00:44:45:04 - 00:44:49:16

Do I need to add what do we need

to do to make some adjustments?

00:44:49:16 - 00:44:49:26

Right.

00:44:49:26 - 00:44:54:15

And that part's kind of exciting,

but it's been it's scary as heck for sure.

00:44:55:05 - 00:44:56:26

But I'm still trying to buy

00:44:57:25 - 00:45:00:06

and not like crazy.

00:45:00:06 - 00:45:01:22

I'm dying to get another property.

00:45:01:22 - 00:45:02:11

I just

00:45:03:12 - 00:45:07:25

confused on where right with It's all

everything going on, right?

00:45:07:25 - 00:45:11:27

It's a I have so much policy in my head

and that I'm always like,

00:45:12:13 - 00:45:15:20

okay, let me dive into that first

and really see. So.

00:45:16:01 - 00:45:16:24

Right.

00:45:16:24 - 00:45:19:25

And the uncertainty

of where the market is going.

00:45:20:25 - 00:45:21:28

Yeah, yeah.

00:45:21:28 - 00:45:22:22

No, it's true.

00:45:22:22 - 00:45:26:26

But you know, I do think fortune favors

the bold as they say.

00:45:26:26 - 00:45:27:07

Right.

00:45:27:07 - 00:45:30:10

So and you know we've talked about a lot

it's like just you know,

00:45:30:23 - 00:45:35:07

a lot of people looked at people

who are buying in 28 and back.

00:45:35:16 - 00:45:38:20

Like. Oh three what are you crazy?

00:45:38:20 - 00:45:41:06

And I was like, well,

you know, usually pays off.

00:45:41:06 - 00:45:43:22

So but you got to be in it

for the long game.

00:45:43:22 - 00:45:45:13

You got to treat it like a business,

00:45:46:28 - 00:45:49:01

you know, still lots of opportunity.

00:45:49:01 - 00:45:51:24

But, you know, again, it's not,

you know, it was never passive income.

00:45:51:24 - 00:45:55:26

That was a complete miss mythology

that maybe got spread a.

00:45:55:26 - 00:45:57:12

Little over there.

00:45:57:12 - 00:45:58:13

It needs a

00:45:59:29 - 00:46:02:06

everybody on Tok

saying how passive it is AM

00:46:02:06 - 00:46:06:02

like really

I was weed back in the other day for hours

00:46:07:04 - 00:46:10:13

never did I think I would be weed

whacking for passive income Like.

00:46:11:22 - 00:46:14:28

You're like,

wait a minute, am I doing this right?

00:46:15:03 - 00:46:15:23

Right.

00:46:15:23 - 00:46:16:27

Okay.

00:46:18:05 - 00:46:19:07

Oh, my God.

00:46:19:07 - 00:46:21:21

It's scary. It's it's scary, but yeah.

00:46:22:12 - 00:46:23:01

Scary fun.

00:46:23:01 - 00:46:23:29

Scary good.

00:46:23:29 - 00:46:27:05

Very fun. Very scary. Good.

00:46:27:05 - 00:46:30:01

Well, again, you know, it's the lots.

00:46:30:03 - 00:46:31:21

Fortune, favors, the bold and those

00:46:31:21 - 00:46:35:28

who are willing to be brave

and in the face of scary scariness.

00:46:35:28 - 00:46:37:09

Yes, that's what I'm trying to say.

00:46:39:01 - 00:46:40:06

John, I would

00:46:40:06 - 00:46:44:01

love to wrap this podcast with you

by playing a fun little game.

00:46:44:01 - 00:46:45:26

Are you up for it?

00:46:46:13 - 00:46:48:22

Okay Look,

I don't have a choice, so let's go.

00:46:48:23 - 00:46:50:17

Yeah, I mean, you're stuck with me.

00:46:50:17 - 00:46:51:12

We we haven't.

00:46:51:12 - 00:46:54:12

We haven't come up with a conclusion yet.

00:46:54:12 - 00:46:56:20

So the game we make everyone play it.

00:46:56:20 - 00:46:57:06

Okay.

00:46:57:06 - 00:46:59:05

And again, this podcast is not torture.

00:47:00:21 - 00:47:04:02

So it's who, what, where.

00:47:04:14 - 00:47:08:16

The first question is apart from yourself,

because I've learned a lot from you

00:47:08:16 - 00:47:11:05

and I really just like your outlook

and your mindset

00:47:11:07 - 00:47:14:18

I think it's so important to have

the right mindset of this business.

00:47:15:02 - 00:47:19:25

But apart from yourself, who would you

recommend folks go to for inspiration?

00:47:20:28 - 00:47:22:27

Wow. Okay.

00:47:22:27 - 00:47:25:12

I mean, your podcast.

00:47:25:12 - 00:47:27:00

Is for. All of us.

00:47:27:00 - 00:47:30:13

No, I just think there's insane

amounts of resource right?

00:47:30:13 - 00:47:34:19

So like one resource

you should always look is, yes,

00:47:34:19 - 00:47:39:15

you should educate yourself

on advocacy policy regulations.

00:47:39:25 - 00:47:40:10

That's like

00:47:40:10 - 00:47:43:11

literally at my top of the list

before I buy anything, I might dive it in.

00:47:43:11 - 00:47:46:13

So go to read responsibly,

find out if they

00:47:46:13 - 00:47:49:27

if they have a group anywhere in your city

that would be like one.

00:47:49:28 - 00:47:52:25

The top things you should do

if you're getting into this business

00:47:53:12 - 00:47:55:22

or if you're in this business, right?

00:47:55:22 - 00:47:58:18

And then there's so many amazing

resources.

00:47:59:09 - 00:48:01:18

My friend Rob Bill has an awesome YouTube

00:48:01:18 - 00:48:05:20

channel and a great hosting community,

which I teach on once a month to

00:48:06:21 - 00:48:07:09

blog.

00:48:08:16 - 00:48:11:08

He does a great job in on how to invest

and whatnot.

00:48:11:08 - 00:48:15:14

I listen to my good friend

Michael Valiente, amazing

00:48:15:14 - 00:48:19:27

guy on numbers

and content, gets you very inspired

00:48:19:28 - 00:48:23:06

and just I don't know, there's so many

I can think of.

00:48:24:10 - 00:48:27:00

My my good friend Will has a podcast

00:48:27:00 - 00:48:31:00

where he has a million other podcast

all about the short term rental business.

00:48:31:12 - 00:48:33:24

I mean, you can go down a rabbit hole

on that thing.

00:48:34:15 - 00:48:36:01

Yeah. So and.

00:48:36:01 - 00:48:36:20

Shout out to.

00:48:36:20 - 00:48:39:00

Shout out to Mr. Bruce Lee because he.

00:48:39:15 - 00:48:42:01

Gets. In so much content.

00:48:42:12 - 00:48:43:00

So forget me.

00:48:43:00 - 00:48:47:09

If you need to learn about direct booking,

definitely go down that route for sure.

00:48:47:09 - 00:48:50:13

Man. Yeah, yeah, we got enough.

00:48:50:13 - 00:48:51:13

I mean, yeah.

00:48:51:13 - 00:48:53:15

No, there's families out there.

00:48:53:15 - 00:48:54:03

Yeah, that's.

00:48:54:03 - 00:48:54:15

You're right.

00:48:54:15 - 00:48:57:14

Like I did it clarify, but you can go

00:48:57:19 - 00:49:00:24

with more than one person or resource.

00:49:00:24 - 00:49:02:12

It was too hard for me to say one.

00:49:02:12 - 00:49:03:08

No, I think.

00:49:03:08 - 00:49:05:15

Well you named a few of our favorites

as well.

00:49:05:15 - 00:49:08:04

We love working with Rob

and with Michael Phonte.

00:49:08:23 - 00:49:09:03

All right.

00:49:09:03 - 00:49:11:05

Well,

you ready for the next one and stuff?

00:49:11:16 - 00:49:12:22

Okay. Okay.

00:49:12:22 - 00:49:14:27

It is. What?

00:49:14:27 - 00:49:19:15

What do you wish you knew that

you now know when you started?

00:49:21:06 - 00:49:26:27

Hmm. But it's this is it.

00:49:27:17 - 00:49:30:29

This is a funny one because I feel like

00:49:31:10 - 00:49:35:10

what you don't know

gives you the confidence to just do it.

00:49:35:16 - 00:49:39:02

Oh, such a good zinger on this one.

00:49:39:02 - 00:49:40:02

I like that.

00:49:40:02 - 00:49:42:10

You're like, Listen,

if I knew, I wouldn't have done it.

00:49:42:14 - 00:49:46:08

There is no 100% like there are some times

00:49:46:08 - 00:49:48:23

where you can get stuck in numbers

paralysis, right?

00:49:48:23 - 00:49:53:21

And you just don't do it because, yeah,

you run the numbers death, right?

00:49:53:21 - 00:49:56:24

And they're out. So yeah.

00:49:56:25 - 00:50:01:24

Sometimes not knowing is more helpful

because you just do it right.

00:50:02:02 - 00:50:03:07

But yeah.

00:50:03:07 - 00:50:06:27

I wish I would have known more

about the data

00:50:07:02 - 00:50:08:22

to be totally honest, because it's

00:50:08:22 - 00:50:13:13

so I didn't realize how important it is

and how amazing data is and then

00:50:14:21 - 00:50:15:04

able to

00:50:15:04 - 00:50:18:28

dissect it and understand

it just gives you just enough confidence.

00:50:18:28 - 00:50:21:21

We're like, okay, this is the data.

00:50:22:08 - 00:50:23:09

How can I improve?

00:50:23:09 - 00:50:25:29

Can I work harder than that

to get to the next level?

00:50:26:09 - 00:50:27:06

Okay, Right, right.

00:50:27:06 - 00:50:30:03

So I would think data would be definitely

at the top of the list.

00:50:30:17 - 00:50:31:16

I wish I would.

00:50:32:06 - 00:50:33:17

I love I love that answer.

00:50:33:17 - 00:50:36:14

Obviously, this is this is the S.T.A.R.

00:50:36:14 - 00:50:37:06

Data Lab.

00:50:37:06 - 00:50:39:22

We love that. To the table

to say that either.

00:50:40:00 - 00:50:40:14

Yeah.

00:50:40:14 - 00:50:40:22

Yeah.

00:50:40:22 - 00:50:44:05

No, I yeah, I bribed him. Don't worry.

00:50:44:10 - 00:50:45:08

All right, All right.

00:50:45:08 - 00:50:47:15

The last question is

00:50:48:12 - 00:50:52:06

where if you were to hop into your hot

tub time machine,

00:50:52:06 - 00:50:55:23

where would you have invested

when you first started?

00:50:56:25 - 00:50:58:10

What's the one that got away? John?

00:50:59:16 - 00:51:00:27

I still it's still kind.

00:51:00:27 - 00:51:02:20

It haunts me ish.

00:51:02:20 - 00:51:07:03

So we've had a family house in Park City

for like 25 years.

00:51:07:16 - 00:51:09:20

Now where I love that place.

00:51:09:20 - 00:51:13:00

It's literally

used to be one of my favorite places ever.

00:51:13:11 - 00:51:17:25

And years ago

when I was just starting vacation

00:51:17:25 - 00:51:21:27

rentals, I was

I almost bought a condo and a cabin there.

00:51:21:27 - 00:51:23:17

Like I almost bought this condo one time.

00:51:23:17 - 00:51:27:05

That was one,

and it was still priced a tad too high.

00:51:27:05 - 00:51:28:03

I got scared.

00:51:28:03 - 00:51:31:06

I was like, I don't know if enough people

are going to come here, right?

00:51:31:06 - 00:51:33:12

Well, that one definitely got away. It.

00:51:34:04 - 00:51:37:09

We ended up selling our family home

two years ago

00:51:37:19 - 00:51:41:01

and now I don't have any

place to go in Park City, but

00:51:42:09 - 00:51:45:03

that's probably one

that I wish I was like, Man, I shouldn't

00:51:45:03 - 00:51:45:21

try to figure it out.

00:51:45:21 - 00:51:48:07

Then that way

I always have a ski place to go to.

00:51:48:17 - 00:51:49:27

Yes, Yes.

00:51:49:27 - 00:51:52:11

Yeah. Double the double purposed.

00:51:52:11 - 00:51:52:28

Yeah.

00:51:52:28 - 00:51:57:18

Utah got onto our radar too late to

you like to your point around the data,

00:51:57:18 - 00:52:00:24

I think that's one of the things

that the data can help you understand.

00:52:00:24 - 00:52:02:21

Like as you're

searching for a new markets,

00:52:02:21 - 00:52:06:04

because by the time it occurs to me,

for instance, that a place is poppin,

00:52:06:11 - 00:52:09:01

it's already jumped

the shark, it's already past.

00:52:09:15 - 00:52:11:23

And I'm like, Oh,

this place is popular and cool.

00:52:11:23 - 00:52:13:22

Oh, so does

everyone else thinks the same thing.

00:52:13:22 - 00:52:16:15

We're so weird.

00:52:16:15 - 00:52:17:29

So it's like, yeah, finding those little,

00:52:17:29 - 00:52:22:01

like diamonds in the rough,

those like emerging markets, so to speak.

00:52:22:09 - 00:52:23:07

Oh, my gosh.

00:52:23:07 - 00:52:26:12

Well,

I could again, like, talk to you all day.

00:52:26:28 - 00:52:29:14

I'm not going to make you do that

because this podcast not torture.

00:52:30:09 - 00:52:33:10

However,

I do want you to tell people you mentioned

00:52:34:00 - 00:52:37:19

that you're working with Rob Belt

in his master class or his coach.

00:52:37:19 - 00:52:39:14

I think he's calling you coach class.

00:52:39:14 - 00:52:40:21

Host Camp Yeah.

00:52:40:21 - 00:52:41:06

Thank you.

00:52:41:06 - 00:52:43:25

Host Camp I should know that. Rob,

if you're listening. I'm sorry.

00:52:45:02 - 00:52:45:12

So you're

00:52:45:12 - 00:52:48:18

working with Rob on at host camp,

but where else can folks find you?

00:52:48:18 - 00:52:49:02

Where else?

00:52:49:02 - 00:52:50:13

If people want more of your life

00:52:50:13 - 00:52:54:11

philosophy, your wisdom,

how to get an advocacy group started?

00:52:54:28 - 00:52:58:03

Well, I have a soft launch

on my personal website, so

00:52:58:03 - 00:53:03:05

My personal website is John Hildebrand dot

com because someone took dot com.

00:53:03:06 - 00:53:03:25

How rude.

00:53:03:25 - 00:53:05:28

I mean that's not relatable to us

over here at there.

00:53:05:28 - 00:53:08:07

Daneyko. Yeah exactly. Exactly.

00:53:08:16 - 00:53:10:22

So you can go to John Hildebrand Eco

00:53:11:20 - 00:53:15:27

I'm always really active on my Instagram,

which is John Hildebrand, Sigi

00:53:16:05 - 00:53:19:07

and then YouTube has been a new fun

journey for me.

00:53:19:21 - 00:53:20:28

He'll be awesome.

00:53:20:28 - 00:53:23:00

My direct

booking site is Healthy Homes as well.

00:53:23:00 - 00:53:25:15

So yeah, reach out because

00:53:25:15 - 00:53:28:06

I love connecting with people

and that's super fun.

00:53:28:06 - 00:53:28:24

Yeah.

00:53:28:24 - 00:53:31:00

So this was not torture.

00:53:31:00 - 00:53:32:24

This was fun content.

00:53:32:24 - 00:53:35:00

Shameless plug, not torture.

00:53:35:00 - 00:53:36:02

Well, I have enjoyed.

00:53:36:02 - 00:53:39:00

Being in one of those sweatshirts

soon also.

00:53:39:06 - 00:53:41:17

Yes. Yes. We'll get to

we got to get you some swag.

00:53:41:17 - 00:53:42:18

I agree.

00:53:42:18 - 00:53:44:27

Swag is all.

It's all about this flag. Yeah. Yeah,

00:53:46:25 - 00:53:47:02

yeah.

00:53:47:02 - 00:53:49:03

Thank you again. That was super,

super fun.

00:53:49:15 - 00:53:50:15

Yeah, it really was.

00:53:50:15 - 00:53:52:20

Well, John,

thank you so much for joining us today.