Welcome to the officially unofficial Money Making May, where we have a full month’s worth of content all around pricing profitable properties with PriceLabs! Today’s expert guest is Michael Lacalle, a teacher, husband, and father of two who stumbled into house hacking as a means to afford living on the Central Coast of California. From there, he got the real estate bug and now owns five short-term rental listings on three separate properties (HINT: He is looking to partner with like-minded...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Russell asks: Hosts are seeing so much out there right now about cameras and Airbnb. I have one on my front porch. Is this still okay? Can you guys cut through all the noise and tell us exactly what we need to know about the cameras? Can we have them? Should we have them? (00:01:10) What’s the Deal with Cameras & Airbnb?...

This week’s expert guest is Kristie Wolfe, creative off-grid builder and short-term rental superstar. With her one-of-a-kind projects, her focus is on creating unforgettable guest experiences, not just accommodations. Kristie is not only the builder in her business, she is also the designer, and she crafts some of Airbnb's most sought-after wishlist stays. She has several tree houses, a hobbit hole, a cocoon cottage, a shipwreck, and even a potato hotel – properties which have earned...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Kendra asks: We purchased a property, my husband's pipe dream, in western Wisconsin on the trout streams where he grew up fishing. We launched it on Airbnb and VRBO in March. It's called the Trimbelle Cottage and we've had good success with consistent bookings and buzz in the area since that time. We had someone reach out asking...

Today’s expert guests are Austin and Karlee Phippen, operators of an expanding portfolio of hospitality brands and businesses in scenic Northern New Mexico. Starting in just 2019, they’ve already built an empire in Chama – from boutique hotel rooms, a 16-room motel, a dozen co-hosted properties, and a sprawling ranch wedding venue. With Austin’s background in construction, and Karlee’s formal education and experience in the hospitality industry, magic was bound to be made when these two...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Bri asks: How do I prepare guests for nuisance neighbors? I have a neighbor who lives two houses down and he is senile. He does get really chatty and he has doomsday stories. The other day, my guest engaged in conversation with him, and the story is always the same about wanting to get rid of the drug dealers in the neighborhood,...

Today’s expert guest (and one of our new business partners!) is Mike Navarro of Columbus, Ohio. Mike and his wife Ingrid entered the residential market as first-time homebuyers and have since expanded into multi-family housing, constructing single-family homes ranging from 400 sqft to 4500 sq ft. Their diverse portfolio comprises over 20 units, including single-family homes, multi-units, and condos, with a total real estate holding value of $10 million. We chat with Mike today to lay the...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. A listener asks: We are about ready to launch our first short-term rental on the beach. I've been vetting cleaning companies and have been a little surprised to learn of common standard practices related to washing (or not) the top layer of bedding. It seems like most cleaners don't wash that regularly, which to be honest, gave me...

Today’s expert guest is Wendy Doris. Experienced house flipper, host, co-host, and Hosting Business Mastery Method (HBMM) coach, Wendy loves the details, especially when it comes to the operations of her business. We lean into that expertise in this episode, jumping into the deep end on supplies as they relate to short-term rental listings. Managing more than a dozen properties in the Phoenix area, Wendy set out to reimagine her supply chain operations – where, who, why, when, and how. We...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Katelyn asks: My husband and I own Stay Old Town Road in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It's four small, super charming historic houses on one property in the best tourist location in town. We got into hosting because we love travel and hospitality. We've always envisioned our guest avatar as a vacationer. Then, we had a very different...

Today’s expert guest is Justin Ford, an international safety superstar when it comes to short-term rentals. Returning for his record thirteenth appearance on the show, the wisdom just never stops with Justin, as he’s become a close friend of the show – and hopefully, a trusted advisor to all of our listeners. Justin updates us on his latest travels, taking us from a safety survey in a $40k/night Colorado mansion listing to affecting permanent and positive change in Cancun’s STR regulations....

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Samantha asks: We recently started our short-term rental business and we currently have two rentals down at the beach. We are allowing pets at both of them because we're dog lovers ourselves. Our first guest had two dogs, and when we went in afterward, we noticed the scent of a dog. Do you recommend using any products, or staying...

Today’s expert guest is Gwynne Beatty, a specialist in property damage claims, water restoration, mold remediation, maximizing your claim, and managing the repair process for residential and commercial properties. She's here to pull back the curtain on the claims process and give you the knowledge and tools you need if (and when) you find yourself with property damage. She’s a public adjuster (don’t worry, we learn all about what that means) and has tons of secrets to share today as she...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Francesca asks: I am looking for ways to enhance the guest experience through concierge services. As an example, I saw someone post that they'll put away Instacart groceries for guests before they arrive. I'm looking for unique and creative concierge services to offer guests and differentiate from competitors. If you have any...

Today’s expert guest is Lynn Smith, a short-term rental host and co-host for properties in Oklahoma City and the surrounding area. Informed by a mixed background in public health, event planning, and sales, Lynn started her hosting journey in 2020. She’s a star member of our Hosting Business Mastery Method and has actually taught us so much over the years, that it came time to feature her unique perspective and approach on the podcast. Specifically, she’s a master at turning hardships into...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Sandrine asks: I have a few questions regarding guest communication. How much is too much and how exactly do you handle communicating the rental agreement? Do you send the rental agreement right through the booking platform, like Airbnb, or ask for a personal email? What do you do if they don't respond or sign it by the time that...

Today’s expert guests are Bob and Callie Karlen. A husband-and-wife investing team, they currently house hack their primary residence near Minneapolis, own and operate Bigwater Cove – their STR cabin in Northern MN – and are hoping to scale their portfolio in 2024 in the commercial boutique motel space in the near future. Following last week’s informative discussion covering a painful acquisition process that didn’t quite work out, we talk to Bob and Callie about their own emotionally...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Holly asks: What systems and processes do you use to train virtual assistants and other staff members? Where do you store them, how do you build them, and on what platforms? We are trying to systemize every single process so that we can control everything we can. (00:01:23) Question About Training STR Systems & Processes...

Today’s export guest is Tanya Rooney, a creative real estate seeker, life guide and owner of BAFS Real Estate + Yay You’re Here Properties. We’re thrilled that she’s taken the time to join us today to talk about a very important, and very on-trend, topic in our industry: motels and mid-term rentals. She gives us the low down on a painstaking deal that did NOT go through, sharing important lessons so you can better understand and take action on your own real estate opportunities in the future....

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Whitney asks: Can I create a parent-child listing for two homes that are next door to each other? I own one of them and my neighbors own the other. I'm the co-host for their house. I would like to create a parent-child listing to accept large groups that can stay in both homes, but I'm also aware that there may be tax consequences...

Today’s expert guest is Sara Sokol. Sarah is the creator of the Dogs Welcome Facebook group and vacation rental listing website as well as owner/operator of her own very pet-friendly, and award winning, vacation rental on the coast of Maine. She created the Dogs Welcome community as a place to connect dog friendly STR hosts with humans who travel with their dogs as a place to advertise her own property and has watched the community explode with growth over the past year and a half. Its...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Jennifer asks: I run Pepin Forest Treehouse in Wisconsin. How does growth become exponential and how do people tend to do it so quickly? What does that look like with debt-to-income ratios? How are people growing their businesses on such short timelines? What's the secret that I'm missing? (00:01:23) What’s the Secret for...

Today’s expert guest is Tara Zirker. Tara is the owner and founder of Successful Ads Club, a high-touch support training platform where she teaches thousands of business owners how to rapidly scale their small businesses through the power of Facebook and Instagram Ads with tiny budgets (and has received over 1,000 positive student reviews!). She’s worked on ad campaigns with people like Marianne Williamson (New York Times bestselling author), Jordan Lee Dooley (multiple 7-figure lifestyle...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Caitlyn asks: Midterm rentals are a really great option for a lot of us hosts. What do we need to be looking out for when looking for great tenants? (00:01:47) Guests vs. Tenants: 28 Days Later (00:05:13) Building Rental Processes in Zillow (00:07:13) List Your Property as BOTH an STR & Midterm Rental (00:12:39) How Do I...