Episode 6: How to choose the right Property for your Short-Term  Rental (AKA Airbnb)

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[00:00:05] Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. This is the short-term rental authority podcast, where we help you become the best short-term rental operator ever. And today's topic is how to choose the best property for your short term rental business. Yeah. I wanna feel like we get this question a lot. We get this question a lot.

[00:00:27] Yeah. So we thought that we would. Talk about it. So I think that the main thing, if you take away nothing else from this podcast, the, the main thing that is going to help you be successful in finding the best property is to think about who your customer is first. Yeah. We, we advocate that a lot, a lot.

[00:00:54] That's the way we were taught. Yes. And. It's something you don't hear a lot. I want to say in the space, it's more, and I hear this a lot from people that come in that are new to space and are asking for coaching and their real question ends up being, where can I make the most money? Ooh. Yeah. Right. And, and that's a.

[00:01:20] It's a, it's a, I understand why the question comes and we're investors and entrepreneurs, and that seems like a natural question. Like where can I make the most money? Right. But the, the answer to the question is, is, is a little more mindset thing than it is a we analyze the market and you should go do three bedrooms.

[00:01:42] which I've heard before I too, I've heard that too. Yes. Yeah. So, so that's what we're going to be talking about in the podcast today. So always there's mindset associated with everything that we do, right. So we'll talk about the mindset about it. [00:02:00] And then there are three things to consider when you are.

[00:02:06] Thinking about what property type you're you're going to be choosing. And those things are your avatar. Who are you serving? Yep. The, the location and the the property type itself. And I'm talking about, is it an apartment or is it a house? So those are the three things to consider. So, yeah. And so can I interject just a little bit?

[00:02:32] Cause I had a really cool thing, so, okay. We were listening it, it, it was my birthday this week. And, and you gonna take to you? Yes. And so we went to traditionally in Wendy's Val family, we, we go to their house and. You know, we, they combine birthdays is what they do. Right. So if I had a birthday and somebody else had a birthday that was close, right.

[00:02:52] And then somebody else that was close, we kind of celebrate everybody's birthdays together, which I think is fun. Cuz we all get together and grill out. Everybody gets present. Well, not everybody that had a birthday close gets present. Right, right. It is fine. And that kind of thing. So I can actually kind of enjoy that.

[00:03:10] on the way there we were trying to be good parents and instilling in our children. Teenagers. Mind you? Yes. So we have a 15 year old, 15 year old and a 11 year old, 11 year old. And I decided, okay, I've got a captive's audience here. Yes. What I'm gonna do, cuz it's an hour and a half drive. I'm going to.

[00:03:37] Play the audio version of rich dad, poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki. I'm sure a lot of you have read this book or if you haven't go read rich dad, poor dad. A lot of people got started there. It was the inspiration for their real estate journey and investing journey and all this kind of thing. But, and, and I, it's one of those books that I like to reread from time to time, at least once a year.

[00:03:59] That is a good one, [00:04:00] but I want to pass that along right. Financial literacy idea. Believe me, I'm going somewhere. So. I was playing the audio book in the car and we, and it's an hour and a half. So we got through first two, three chapters, something like that was, we got through like chapter four or five, well, on the back back.

[00:04:20] So I made a list it on the way back too, right? Yeah. That's good. And I could tell they were kind of interested in it. Yeah. Cause they didn't, especially on the way down there, both of them were, they did not complain too much yep. About having to listen to this, but. Whatever, and maybe it'll soak in, maybe it won't, but the point is one of the things that I cuz every time you li re re-listen to something, you pick up, always pick up something.

[00:04:43] Yeah. You always pick up a little nugget that you didn't either didn't hear first time or you wasn't forgot about, or it wasn't relevant or yeah. Yeah. Cuz sometimes I think you hear things and it's like, all well that's not real immune. Right. But. One of the things in that book that I heard today was if you're going to build a skyscraper, you need a really good foundation.

[00:05:07] In fact, the foundation needs to be deep. Yeah. You'd gotta dig a big hole. Like it's deep in the ground. Mm-hmm for a, for a large building like that. If you're building a single family house, maybe it's just a concrete slab. that goes 12 inches in the ground. Right? Because there are different types of structures, but what a lot, the analogy he was giving and the reason he was telling that was what a lot of people try to do is pour a six, you know, the, the, the slab intended for a single family house, but they're trying to, but they're trying to build skyscraper on it.

[00:05:44] Yeah. And that's what get rich quick is. Yeah. So it's it. the, the foundation matters. So you need to build the foundation that's relevant to the thing you're trying to build. Yeah. That's really good advice. And that, I like [00:06:00] that analogy that translated to what we were just talking about. Picking your customer avatar first.

[00:06:07] Yes. Because that ends up being that deep foundation. Mm-hmm that then you can actually build an empire on, oh, that's good. Because there's tons of people that they'll just go out and do all these properties, buy the stuff, but they didn't build the deep foundation and it crumbles. Yep. So it's kind of like I got, I got rich quick.

[00:06:30] I did this thing. I have a hundred units. And then all of a sudden it, two years later, it all comes crashing down and I have a certain student in mind. I know you do. Yes. I know that that happened too. yes. Yes. So we've seen it firsthand. Yeah. And, and we, we try to tell people. the right way to do things, but not everybody listens.

[00:06:53] True. True. So please listen to the video, if you wanna be successful long term cause this is, this is that deep foundation. Yes. That you really need to internalize. Yes. And do. So that you really can build us that skyscraper. That's not gonna topple over. And I think, I think what he called it was the leaning.

[00:07:10] You don't want the leaning tower of pizza, the leaning tower of pizza, you want the right Rockefeller center or, or whatever the skyscraper you're talking on. Right. Right. So, and I think mindset goes along with that too, is, is building the right foundation. And, and what you said before, About the people who are just going out and, and, and just getting any property that they possibly can, you know, and, and not thinking about.

[00:07:39] Who they're building this business for there. Yeah. And thinking about your customer avatar first, who's going to be staying there. And what is their experience going to be like, where are they going to be most comfortable? And that's always where we start. Right. So let's talk [00:08:00] about, and maybe give some examples of, of what that looks like.

[00:08:06] All these things fall into place. Once you, once you determine who your customer avatar is, everything else just falls into place. Right? So let's take, for example, the customers that we do, right. Well, we're talking about picking the right property, but yes. Right. So, well, the first thing to pick the right property, to pro to find who the property is for.

[00:08:34] True. Yeah. so, so, so let's give some examples. So let's start with the, our customer. Avatar is families with children and pets who are relocating to the area in between housing or have an insurance claim on their personal property. Right? So if you're thinking about people with families, with children and pet.

[00:09:01] do they want to stay in a one bedroom apartment? Probably not. Probably not. Probably not. What do they value most? And this is a really great question to ask yourself, what do they value most? What are the things that they value most? And I think that people, families with children and pet. One of the things that they value most is privacy and security, security.

[00:09:39] They want a, a safe place. Yes. We get that question a lot. A lot from people who inquire mm-hmm safe. Is this a safe neighborhood? Yes, we get that a lot. Now side note, you can never just say something safe because well, crime happens everywhere, right. But. You get what they're asking? Yeah. They're they're asking, is this in a bad area?

[00:09:59] Right? That's what they're [00:10:00] really asking. Right. And we know this. Yeah. Cuz they have, they have kids, they have dogs, dogs. They have exactly, you know, this family type. So if I was choosing a property for that person that now gives me an idea of, okay, if I'm a local expert on the real estate market and what areas are quote good and quote bad, then I'm really shopping for them.

[00:10:24] And I'm looking for properties that okay, they're gonna, when they get there, they're gonna say, yes, this is a really great, great place. Yes. And I feel safe here. Right? Mm-hmm , you know, with all the co caveats of will crying happens everywhere. Right? It does. So, so one of the things, and, and here's a really great nugget for you.

[00:10:48] One of the things that we look for. And in looking for a safe space is we, we don't want to be around any kind of check cashing place. We don't wanna be around any place that has a lot of graffiti other than. There's a really cool air hip area of town in Charlotte called NoDa. And it has some graffiti, but it's, it's fits the area.

[00:11:21] It's not, yeah. It's more like trendy artist. Right, right. It's not what you would think of as like graffiti. Right. It it's it's, you know, it's not gang signs, it's not gang signs. Right. But it, yeah. Right, right, right. So and abandoned cars. Things like that, that, you know, people begging on the street, for example, you don't wanna be in those types of areas, cuz that's going that, that does not give any kind of reassurance to, to a guest there.

[00:11:54] They're gonna pull up and, and say, Ugh, for that type of avatar for that type of avatar. [00:12:00] Right. Right. And, and just, that's just the way it is. Oh, that's just the way that's what your customer is expecting, but you have to start with who's my customer. Yeah. Always to even know that. Right. And it's, it's not only the property itself, but it's what do you have to drive through to get to the property?

[00:12:16] Yes. A lot of the students that we have are in bigger cities, Have these homeless problems. Yeah, that's true. And we get that question from them. You're like, is this something that is detrimental because if you come from out of town and you're not used to, cause I feel like if you live in an LA or if you live in a and I mean, Los Angeles not lower Alabama, right?

[00:12:41] I mean like Los Angeles or if you're in Seattle, Seattle is or Portland or Portland or. You know, any major city, any bigs, New York, whatever it, we even have that in Charlotte. Yeah, we do in certain areas yeah. In certain areas. So that becomes a concern of, okay, if I've got somebody that's coming and they're not from a city where they're used to that, is that something that's gonna be detrimental to them in their experience?

[00:13:12] And the answer is probably, yeah, it is. because it's not something they're used to. Right. You know, if you're coming from, you know, rural America and you're not used to a city atmosphere, then you see that and immediately you think, okay, I'm not in a good area. I'm not in a good area. And I've got my baby with me.

[00:13:32] Yeah. Right, right. Cause it is the family with children thing that we serve. Yep. Exactly. And you start to have these thoughts. Yep. So you have to think of everything through the lens of. who is your customer? And then I would even go a step further and say, sometimes it's educating that customer on what to expect.

[00:13:55] Oh, now that's really interesting. Let's talk about that. Yeah. So it's setting [00:14:00] expectations. So mm-hmm so if you're, this may be a nugget for you, cuz we like to throw this out, but one of the things we've seen to mitigate that is after book. Because you kind of can't do it before, cuz you can't take pictures of homeless people on your listing.

[00:14:17] Right. But if you, after booking, if you have an experience where, okay, here's how you get into the property, here's the check-in process. And perhaps you provide a video of that. maybe we would use you. We would use Wendy because she's a female and we would film her. walking to the property maybe at night even, and saying, here's where you go.

[00:14:42] Here's how you get this. And then yeah, those other things are in the background. But if you can see that and ex and know that before you're coming, it sets the expectations for what, what you're going to experience when you're. No. That's interesting. So instead of somebody showing up and, and this is the first time they've ever seen graffiti or whatever it is, a homeless person or whatever homeless person or, or whatever, at least they're now prepared that, okay, I see that that's gonna happen, cuz I've seen the video of the check-in process and it doesn't seem that big a deal because well Wendy's doing it right.

[00:15:24] And. that becomes a way to, okay. It's not so much of a shock mm-hmm to say that that occurs. Yeah. That's a, that's a really good nugget. That's that's an interesting thing that we've seen a way to mitigate that problem. Yeah. Yeah. Making a video of the check-in process. Mm-hmm I think a lot of people like that and they do it's informative too.

[00:15:45] Yeah. Because it's, here's how you get in it. It is. But especially for, for families, with children, because. They tend to book farther in advance. They do they plan, I think because they have [00:16:00] to plan out everything. Right? When you have children, you, you know, you, you really have to plan out stuff and you plan around school and all that.

[00:16:07] Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And, and I think that and we've noticed too that our customer, the, the families with the children, they like to have their check-in instruc. Like three days before they, before they get here at a minimum. Yeah. Because they, they wanna know the address because they want to, they've got plans to go see grandma and, you know, they wanna know how far away grandma's gonna be or, or where's the grocery store or where's the grocery store gonna be.

[00:16:37] And, and, you know, they, they really plan their trip. So things like that, giving their, their check-in instructions early is, is another little nugget that we've noticed that, that people really like. So, but that's our avatar. Right. But so if you're doing business travelers, it could be totally different.

[00:16:54] Right. So, so, so it it's all about knowing who your customer is. Yes. Right. And that's, again, going back to building that deep foundation. Right. So that, okay. I go not wide. But deep. Yeah. Right. And get really deep into who do I serve really know them really on a personal level. Yeah. And now I'm picking the properties that serve them.

[00:17:17] Yes. And, and we always say you should have more than one avatar. Yes. Right. So I think that moves into the next thing. Yeah, it does. So you should always have more than one. We say we should have at least three, at least three. Yes. And you know what? That has served us well, getting through COVID. and all sorts of things, but no more than five, because once you get over five, oh yeah.

[00:17:39] Five, then now you're vague. Yeah. That's too many. Right. So you don't wanna say, Hey, I serve everybody. Yeah. Well, when, when you, so three to five, when you, when you are, when you try to serve everyone, you end up serving no one. Well, you end up being generic and it's none. And you end up being commodity. Yes.

[00:17:56] And now you're competing on price. Now you're competing on price and now you're [00:18:00] calling us saying, well, we're not booked. We're not getting booked. Yep. Can you please help us with our pricing? And I'm like your pricing. Isn't the problem, actually, exactly. Your pricing is that your, your problem is that you don't know who your customer is.

[00:18:14] and you did not build it for them because you didn't think of that first. So please think, think of, for your customers first and build it for them. Yeah. And that answers a lot of questions that you actually have, and it actually answers the question of what kind of property do we serve or what kind of property do we want.

[00:18:32] Right. And that goes to the avatars because you want to pick at least three and you were talking about this earlier. Is you need three to five that that can be served by the same property type. Yes. Right. So families with children and pets are probably going to want a, a larger space. Yeah. Two or three bedroom, right?

[00:18:54] A two or three bedroom, probably a house, a single family house or a house, or at least something that's pet friendly. Yeah. Yeah. And, and if you could get something with no carpet. yeah, that that's the way to go. If you're pet. Yes. Is no carpet and children too. Right. But, and fist in backyard steals the deal.

[00:19:13] Oh yeah. It so totally does. And no stairs. Yes. That is that's money right there. But so like a, a, like a, a two bedroom, two bath single family ranch with a fenced in backyard is the perfect. Place for a, for families with children and pets. that we've got. Yeah, that, that's what we've that that's kind of our bread and bread.

[00:19:37] That's our bread and market C Mar Charlotte market. Yes. That's been fantastic. Yeah, it really has uh, that it's but houses are good. They can, yeah. Townhouse can. In fact, we have somebody staying with us right now. Yep. That has pets. Yep. In one of our townhouses, but again, it's pet friendly. There's no carpet.

[00:19:57] Yep. It's. Nice [00:20:00] area. Yep. You know, when they arrive, they're gonna feel. okay. I'm in a safe space, right? Well, there's people walking their dogs yes. In the neighborhood pushing strollers in the neighborhood. So people see that and they're, they're like, okay. I'm, I'm, I'm in a great, yeah. And that's how you earn a good review.

[00:20:16] Right. And that's how you get the next one. Yep. Right. Cause they said, Hey, we came with our, our infant and our three pets and it was a wonderful experience and it was a great neighborhood. Yep. So you don't even have to tell 'em the reviews would tell them and it's because we thought about that and, and built it for them.

[00:20:30] Yep. And then that's why we chose that property. And specifically was because of the, the neighborhood and it was, it was a really great neighborhood and we actually have. Had two houses and right. But going back to property type, what, what I was trying to get at is don't pick avatars that are okay. I wanna first serve families with children and I wanna serve traveling nurses.

[00:20:56] Right. And I wanna serve business travelers and I wanna serve people coming for weddings. Yeah, no, because that same property type cannot serve all of those different people. Because your, your families of children, like we were saying are two to three bedrooms. Your traveling nurse is probably more like a studio, right?

[00:21:16] Or maybe even a room mm-hmm cause they're budget. Your business traveler depends on who the business traveler is. Cuz we talk about that in other episodes, but you wanna be very niche, but assuming that's a single business traveler that all starts, starts ING like a studio one bedroom and not a two bedroom.

[00:21:35] Right? So when you pick these three to five avatar. Pick things that overlap as far as the property type and the location go, and then you'll be picking the right property for the person you're trying to serve. So for example, if you're, if you wanna serve families with children and pets, then, then you could also serve the, the military families too.

[00:21:58] You could, if you, and this [00:22:00] is goes into the next thing. Location, where do they want to be close to? Right. And that's the other part of it. Yeah. Yes. Right. So if you're going to be serving families with children and, and, and pets and the military, you're going to have to be near a military base, like true.

[00:22:18] We are not near a military base. So that, that, that avatar's out of the window. It's, it's off the chart. It's it's off the table. It's off the table for us. However, if you are near a, any kind of military base, it doesn't matter what it is. Yeah. I would say within what, 30 minutes or so. Yeah, 30 to 60 minutes, 30 to 60 minutes of a military base, a military, then that closer to better, but great avatar to serve.

[00:22:46] Fantastic. And then you can also serve the families with children who are relocating to the area or have an insurance claim. So it's things like. So if you have a if you wanna serve the let's say you wanna serve the, the, the people who are coming into town and you have a big theater near you.

[00:23:13] and, and people come to town and stay that work at the theater. And cuz they'll stay for a long time. You mean like the people that are coming in to, to like the performers, the performers, production, the props people and the makeup artists and the costume artists and, and all those people that, that put on this, these theater productions, you know, they, they last for a while.

[00:23:39] So if you are near a large theater, You know, you're, you're going to want to be near that theater. Right, right. Or sporting events if you're doing sporting events. Yes. That's a good one. Medical traveling medical professionals. Cause it's not just traveling nurses that that's true travel. Right. It's if, especially if you are [00:24:00] near a specialty hospital, like a, like a cancer hospital, Or even a plastic surgeon, we have a student that is has, is near a plastic surgeon down in Florida.

[00:24:13] And if you go through plastic surgery, you have to. Recover for quite some time. You do. Yeah. So people have people who are going for plastic surgery need a place to stay for a long time, but they want to be near that plastic surgeon's office and they want to be near that hospital. Right. So we usually tell people.

[00:24:35] Try to find something within three, to, to five miles of, in a, in a radius of whatever that is, whatever your, what we call your point of interest is. Yeah. Right. And then you need to figure out, okay, what are the other two to three avatars that would also be served by that location? Because it always, it is probably near something else too.

[00:24:57] Right. Like a convention center or convention center, or it could be sporting event sporting event, or it could be whatever. Yeah. Whatever it is. Mm-hmm and then now you have overlap and you're not so dependent on just this one type of, you know, traffic that comes through right. Business travelers, for example, didn't travel during COVID much.

[00:25:18] Well, there's that like, cuz that can happen. Yeah. Like one thing goes away. Right. And then you need the next thing and you've you wanna make sure that you've picked the property that can. the two or three, right. Or to five. Right. And so that, that's how you actually protect yourself is by having a property that can serve three to five and still be niche down enough.

[00:25:42] Cause that that's actually the fear. Yeah. The fear in nicheing down and picking an avatar is, is it comes from a place of fear of, well, if I do that, then I'm afraid I won't get enough bookings. Yeah. But here's the, here's the deal about that? Okay. you're gonna get [00:26:00] all that business. That's true. Yeah. So, I mean, people, you put, you build it for them and they are scrolling through Airbnb or VRBO or wherever, and they see that place and it is in the right location and it has all the things in it that they're looking for.

[00:26:22] They're gonna be like, oh my God, they're gonna choose you. They're gonna choose you. Yes. Regardless of price to a certain degree. Yes, actually. And, and I will say one of the most profitable things, one of the most profitable ways people come to you is through insurance claims. Mm-hmm . It is, it's. And if you don't know what that is, it's okay.

[00:26:41] Somebody had a house fire or somebody had, you know, the pipes burst or whatever it is. They, they can't live in their house and they have homeowners insurance and they tend to be local. Cuz that's what that is. And they, they need a spot to stay in. well, they're not paying for it. The insurance company is so they're literally picking you based on, did you build this for me?

[00:27:06] Yep. Is it something that speaks to me? And you can almost, I mean, you can almost set your price. No that's true. Would based on what the insurance company will pay, they have yet to tell us. No, but you can almost set your price. Yeah. And keep in mind that it's not the insurance company that's picking you.

[00:27:27] It's the, it's not the person with the money. It's the person that needs the stay. Yep. And they have to agree that, Hey, we will stay there. And those are some of the most profitable clients you can have. Yeah. They really are. And because we built it for them. they pick us. Yep. Every single time. And the, those are some of the, like I say, a fourth time, some of the most profitable bookings you can get.

[00:27:53] Yeah. Yeah. They really are. so, so I, I know it works. I know that's the way to do it. I know you [00:28:00] should be picking your avatar first and picking the property then. Yep. That serves that avatar. Right. So there's to, to recap, here's the things that. To consider when you are, are thinking about, if you're asking yourself, well, where, what property should I pick?

[00:28:18] So the first thing of course is your customer avatar. Who's going to be staying there and remember the riches are in the niches here also. True. So the, the more niche you can get, I know it sounds counterintuitive. It, it is, this is really that's the secret sauce. It really is. It's the secret sauce. Yes.

[00:28:43] And it sounds counterintuitive, but it works. The, the more niche you can get. In your three to five avatars, you will get all of them. Right. They're going to pick you every time because it speaks to them. Right? So the next thing is the location. Where, why are they coming? What do they want to be close to and be about three to five miles in, in that radius of where they're coming to.

[00:29:18] And then the last thing. The the property type itself, think about where are they going to be most comfortable and what do they value most? Right. So, or if they value safety and security and privacy. Then then think about that when you're going around, looking for properties, you know, are, and the space, the size of the space, you know, families are gonna want more space because they're, there's more people there.

[00:29:50] Right. And if you're serving business travelers than. , you know, maybe there's just, just one or two of them in, in a studio [00:30:00] or a one bedroom, little apartment and, you know, maybe they value being able to work out when they get, get off of work and they, and they like the gym mm-hmm right. Because we have some of those too.

[00:30:12] So, so thinking about all of those things, Is going to be key when you are looking for the, the right property for your space. So well said. Okay. Very good. Excellent. Well, we hope we found some value in the information that we provided here. This is John and Wendy Williams with the short term rental authority, where we help make you the best operator ever.

[00:30:41] And we hope that you will like, and. Excellent. Okay. Onto the next, onto the next. Yeah,

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