00:00:08:15 - 00:00:31:20
Joe
Welcome to Off the Record Talking Real Estate with Joe and Makayla. If you're interested in the Portland, Oregon real estate market and want to unvarnished inside scoop, you've come to the right place. Thanks for giving us a listen. All right. Thank you, everyone, for joining us for another episode of Off the Record with Joe and Makayla. We are super excited for today's show because we've got a special for you guys.
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Joe
We got a really cool thing, right, Makayla?
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Makayla
Yes, I'm very excited about.
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Joe
How are you doing today? I'm good. Good. It's about 110 degrees outside. It's hot. Yeah. And I forgot to ask for my coffee iced.
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Makayla
I was wondering about that. You went up in order to hot coffee. That's hot.
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Joe
And they look at you, like, dumbed down a little bit during that. Yeah. Okay, that's me. Okay, well, good. So, do you want to introduce our guest?
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Makayla
Yes. I'm so excited for this guest that we have today. So, she is very special to us where we have her here today to chat about her experience in real estate investing, specifically in the Airbnb market. She also happens to be one of our very trusted mortgage brokers that we love to work with. We have grown to know and trust her over the past several years, and we absolutely love doing business with her.
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Makayla
She is a top producing mortgage broker and has been since 2009. She's a five star mortgage professional for the past six years. Scotsman, top originator for most loans closed and top dollar amount. She is a top woman originator and among the top 1% of Mortgage Originators in America, which is crazy. She is in the Circle of Excellence and multiple president clubs.
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Makayla
She's a savvy real estate investor. She is a mom, a wife. She loves being outdoors, spending time with family and being on the water. Please welcome Mindy Hay.
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Joe
Hey, Mindy. Hi, Mindy. How are you?
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Mindy
Thank you so much for having me. This is so exciting and I'm so excited to be here with you.
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Joe
It's so great to have you. And just that whole list of accomplishments and everything you've done for the listeners out there. She is the bomb. She's the best. Hundred percent recommend if you have any mortgage purchase refi needs. Mindy and her team will take the best care of you. So we are 100% recommend. So, Mindy, thank you so much for joining us.
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Mindy
Well, thanks, guys. I feel the same way about you guys. You're pretty great.
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Joe
That's nice.
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Makayla
I literally got out of breath reading all of her accolades.
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Joe
She's good. What can we say? She's the bomb.
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Makayla
Yeah. Thanks for taking the time. We're excited to chat with you about your experience in the Airbnb market.
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Joe
Yeah, Short term rentals. Yeah. It's such an interesting marketplace, and I feel like there's so many people out there that are interested in investing and learning more, but there's not very many places you can go to find out exactly what the experience looks like and to get a question and answer type set up like what we have here.
00:03:01:11 - 00:03:07:12
Joe
So this is a really cool thing. And, you know, I know there's going to be a lot of people that will see the title and jump on that. So thank you so much.
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Makayla
So should we start from the top? Mindy tell us you have two Airbnb is that right?
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Mindy
Yeah, I have got two Airbnb. So yeah, I definitely would. I'm so excited to share with you guys all about this because I just feel like the more you can share and help people out, it's so great. And if you find success somewhere, why not share it, right?
00:03:27:04 - 00:03:31:22
Joe
Mm hmm. Yeah, 100%. Where are your where are your rentals?
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Mindy
Yeah. So I've got two currently, and they are in sunny Scottsdale.
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Joe
Yeah, it's a little warm down there. Right now, I'm guessing.
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Mindy
Oh, yeah, just a little bit.
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Joe
And pools at both of the properties?
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Mindy
Yep. Got pools at both of the properties. And so that's phenomenal. So at least if it's hot out, you can go take a morning dip and enjoy the day.
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Joe
That's awesome.
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Makayla
That's got to be a must down there.
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Joe
I was going to say that's a must have down there, isn't it?
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Mindy
I'm surprised. You know, it's funny when you go into Airbnb and you start searching and stuff there, I'm really surprised with the amount of homes that don't have pools. I just assume every home in Arizona had pools. But that's not the case.
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Joe
Wow. Okay. Spas as well or just pool.
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Mindy
Just pool. Yeah.
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Joe
Got it. Okay. So how long have you been doing this? And when did you first get into short term rentals?
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Mindy
Yeah. So basically back in, it was crazy. It was during COVID time and we actually flew to Scottsdale for my youngest son lacrosse tournament in February, actually as January 2021. And it was so crazy because first off, you know, nobody was wearing mask. It felt very free. Whereas obviously, as you know, in the Pacific Northwest, it was a different feel.
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Mindy
And so that was kind of cool. And then it was sunny and 80 degrees and.
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Mindy
Went to our flight and it's sunny and 80 and January, like, what are we doing right? Yeah, my husband and I had been kind of wanting to invest and just more of a long term rental. We didn't even have short term rentals on our brain, but have a long term rental. And I just really wanted to be somewhere that was sunny.
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Mindy
And I got the best advice from actually an attorney friend of mine, and he said, The best advice I have is to invest somewhere that you can see yourself someday retiring or wanting to spend a lot of time in. And I just was like, Wow, that's really profound because oftentimes when we buy rental, that's great for obviously income down the road, right?
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Mindy
It's always great to invest in real estate, but investing in real estate somewhere where you can see yourself spending more time with like that makes sense for me. So anyway, ended up just loving it in Scottsdale. I mean, we have some friends that we kind of hung out with while we were there during the lacrosse tournament, and they were really close to Old Town Scottsdale, and we just fell in love with it.
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Mindy
And so they're in January, and by February we closed on our first loan, so on our first home and Scottsdale. So our house, one of our first house that we bought is only about 0.8 miles from Old Town Scottsdale.
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Joe
Wow. Such a neat area. And all the restaurants, all the different things to do that walking down Old Town is such a neat experience. And I feel like there's still affordability in that area, too.
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Mindy
Oh, 100%. The market is still very affordable there. And so you can definitely get in still and find a reasonable home.
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Joe
Nice.
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Makayla
That's great. Yeah. Thinking about this from for the listener, for someone who's interested and maybe pursuing this with your expertise as a mortgage broker and of course, just doing this yourself, what would you recommend someone down payment wise? Like what percentage of a down payment would you recommend someone putting down on something like this?
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Mindy
That’s a great question. So it kind of depends because if you're like our and our intention for that first home that we bought was truly to use it as a vacation home. And then like Airbnb, it minimally and then crazy enough, then a few months later after we kind of got our first house and kind of got the feel of it and ended up doing so well that we were traveling down there probably once a quarter and ended up doing so well that we ended up buying a second house.
00:07:21:04 - 00:07:38:04
Mindy
There's a house that came on the market that was literally two blocks away from the house that we purchased. And so we ended up buying a second one and closed on that one. So that one going back to your question, the first one that we purchased, we truly purchased it as a vacation home. So we were able to only put 10% down.
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Mindy
And then the second one, we knew it just because our Airbnb we're doing the first one was doing so well just right out of the gate. We knew that we just wanted to do straight Airbnb on that back at home so that we ended up putting 15% down and bought it as a straight investment, got actually 15% down for an investment and 10% down for a vacation home.
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Joe
Nice.
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Makayla
Interesting. I always thought you had to put 20% down on an investment, so it's nice to hear that.
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Mindy
Yeah, that's not the case anymore.
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Makayla
Okay, so next question. I just I've been dying to ask you is have you had any challenges with having an out-of-state investment has that proposed any more issues that you didn't expect?
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Mindy
I wouldn't say challenges. I mean, hey, here's the thing. You get to fly down every month or every other month and check in on him. I mean, that's not a challenge by any means, But.
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Joe
What's not to love about that?
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Mindy
It could be awesome. But no, I you know, I get that a lot because I think investing in a state that you don't live in where you have to physically get on a plane to get there can put a lot of fear in people's minds. But I think the key to that is obviously making sure that you have a really good property management company.
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Mindy
So of course there's going to be all those little things where it's like, Oh, are people trashing my house and I don't get to go check on it every day and stuff like that. That sometimes, I guess can be a challenge in your mind, so to speak, like just thinking about it. But as far as the challenges of investing in another state, for me personally, it has not been an issue just because I love, love, love my property managers and they do such a phenomenal job that I don't get pulled in too much right now.
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Joe
I mean that I guess my question is how do you find the property manager? That's great with working with short term rentals because I know some of them are kind of like, Yeah, that's not really our jam. Did you lucked out? How did you find this property manager?
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Mindy
I do feel like I lucked out. So when I was down in Arizona for that lacrosse tournament, my old branch manager who lives down there, part time, has a house vacation home down there. Her stepdaughter was actually had just got into real estate at the time. I was actually her first transaction. So that's kind of cool and funny.
00:10:02:07 - 00:10:27:13
Mindy
And she actually happened to know my property managers and it just ended up being so cool because they had themselves invested in a couple of Airbnb. They were roommates, they graduated from ASU, were roommates, best friends, bought a couple of Airbnbs together and then they so they kind of learn the ropes just managing their own Airbnb. And so they really kind of learn all about the ins and outs of that.
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Mindy
And then so many people started asking them like, Hey, would you, um, would you manage mine? Or, Hey, would you mind doing this for me? So when I ended up buying my house, she introduced me and was like, Hey, they're brand new to doing this. They have their own. They're very familiar with Airbnb, but they were just launching their business as like true Airbnb managers outside of what they currently owned.
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Mindy
So I do feel like I got a little bit lucky because they weren't such a huge company where you didn't feel like you were taking care of. I mean, I was one of their first clients and so they were awesome about making sure that everything was taken care of. And, you know, when I joined their group, they had four Airbnbs at the time.
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Mindy
And then I think now they're up to over 50 homes that they need. Wow.
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Joe
Wow, wow.
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Makayla
That's crazy.
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Joe
And and they take care of everything for you, right? The cleaners intake exit the whole thing, right?
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Mindy
Yeah. You know what's interesting with Airbnb is obviously, even though they manage, I can still see all the communication that comes in and you guys would be blown away with how many messages they get. I mean, yeah, ours is like, Hey, this isn't working, or Hey, I need help with this, or Hey, I don't have any propane or, you know, whatever the case may be.
00:11:47:02 - 00:11:53:07
Mindy
And they are just Johnny on the spot. I don't see a message sitting in there for more than 10 minutes where they don't get back to.
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Joe
Wow, wow.
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Mindy
I and they're managing 50 homes. So it's it's a lot. But they manage everything from you know, obviously they take they handle all the scheduling, they handle all the communication within the app. They manage the cleaners. So obviously the turnover where you have someone rent and they have to get it all ready, the pool maintenance, the landscape maintenance, making sure the property is being maintained, there's nothing broken or anything like that.
00:12:19:12 - 00:12:32:23
Mindy
What's the client check out? So it's quite a bit. And so that's why that's why I really say you have to really make sure your managers are on top of it. Because I think sometimes with those really big companies, I think you can just be kind of a number, Right.
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Joe
Right, right.
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Mindy
So yeah, I think a little bit of luck, but it's worked out well for me.
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Joe
That's great.
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Makayla
Can I ask what percentage they take kind of the pay structure for those guys work? Yeah.
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Mindy
So it's pretty cool. Airbnb has a really nice platform where, you know, when when a client rents your home, they instantly will divide it for you. So our managers get 20% off the top. So, you know, okay, $600 a night and instantly they get that right off the top. And then Airbnb just deposits the rest into my account, which is pretty nice.
00:13:06:01 - 00:13:09:09
Joe
Nice. And they pay taxes for you, local taxes for you as well, right?
00:13:09:10 - 00:13:11:11
Mindy
Correct. Yeah. Yeah.
00:13:11:13 - 00:13:31:09
Joe
I know that was a big watershed moment when Airbnb started going big years before. It used to be that the owners were responsible for paying taxes to the county and that created some conflict. So when Airbnb took that away six or seven years ago, I think it was that became counties and state governments were just like, Oh, okay, great.
00:13:31:09 - 00:13:45:05
Joe
And it was one of those things where they were receiving their tax income and now everything worked out a lot smoother as far as relations between the owners and the counties in the state governments and that type of thing. So that was kind of cool of them to take that on.
00:13:45:05 - 00:14:03:15
Mindy
Yeah, and it's just one less thing you have to worry about. Honestly, for me, I'm very hands off with my Airbnbs other than I get free vacations or I usually go once a quarter. Yeah, yeah. Which is another reason why you want to invest and have an Airbnb because you pretty much get free vacations anytime you want to go.
00:14:03:15 - 00:14:04:08
Mindy
So that's nice.
00:14:04:09 - 00:14:23:17
Joe
There you go. Hey, so glad to be backing up to when you initially purchased the property. What type of startup cost? What type of investment do you have? And like furnishings and getting the place situated and any type of remodels or updating. What's your experience been with that type of cost?
00:14:23:17 - 00:14:43:09
Mindy
Yeah. So the first house that we bought, you know, you got to remember with Airbnb, that is a pretty competitive market. So you do want to do some things that makes your house stand out, right? So for us, the first house that we purchased, the backyard needed a lot of love. So we ended up doing a full like kind of remodel of the backyard.
00:14:43:09 - 00:15:04:15
Mindy
We had some concrete chipped out, we had some turf grass, but then the pool was already really nice. We didn't have to worry about that, but it just it needed a lot of work. So we did some really nice pavers and so forth. We added a cornhole area and I would say that backyard remodel I think was about 15 to 20000 for that.
00:15:04:15 - 00:15:27:14
Mindy
And then I would say that you definitely want to make sure that because again, you're going to want to add to cool things. So you want to, I would say, budget anywhere from 20 to 25000 depending on how big the House is. But, you know, we bought like a tabletop video game machine and some fun fluorescent lights. So, you know, and that's where my managers also have they have designers that I was able to work with while I was here.
00:15:27:14 - 00:15:44:22
Mindy
So I would just send them kind of things that I liked. And then we just had everything shipped there and they were able to hire a crew to put it all together. And then I just kind of flew in and did all the last minute kind of getting it all ready to list. But I think the key with Airbnb is just trying to kind of make your house unique.
00:15:44:22 - 00:16:07:03
Mindy
So the start up costs can obviously vary depending on, you know, like I said, how big the home is and kind of what you want to do to it are stuck at home. We didn't have to spend I mean, it was turnkey ready. The backyard was amazing. We did add a little like cornhole tournament area where we actually had a local artist draw a mural or like paint a mural on.
00:16:07:05 - 00:16:09:05
Mindy
Turned out really cool/
00:16:09:05 - 00:16:11:06
Joe
Oh, that's great.
00:16:11:08 - 00:16:14:00
Mindy
It was super fun to find that with him.
00:16:14:02 - 00:16:35:00
Joe
It seems like those little touches and the lights and the tabletop video game that you're talking about. I know when we've rented a ton of VRBO, Airbnbs over the years and those little touches are always the ones that we end up going with, right? If if two homes are pretty much the same, we're always going with something that has a little bit of a cool factor.
00:16:35:05 - 00:16:52:10
Joe
You know, the design and the decor is is nice and trendy and that type of thing. And it doesn't seem like that should be that hard to do, but there's a ton of them out there that just don't have that appeal. So I don't understand why you wouldn't want to really make the place sexy and fun.
00:16:52:11 - 00:17:11:03
Mindy
Yeah, no, I agree. It is really shocking. And the other thing is like when you rent or go on vacation and you're renting an Airbnb, there's a reason why you want you don't want to be in a hotel right? And the other thing is that you don't want it to feel like it's just a regular home. You want it to feel super fun, like.
00:17:11:06 - 00:17:13:10
Joe
Vacation
00:17:13:10 - 00:17:27:23
Mindy
Board games, and yeah, ping pong. Do they have a bunch of fun games that you can play inside if you come in at night and you want to play like games around the table. So those little tiny touches are so important for people that are wanting to invest in Airbnb.
00:17:28:01 - 00:17:28:17
Joe
Yeah.
00:17:28:19 - 00:17:50:19
Makayla
I'm going to out myself here, but Mindy was nice enough to let us stay in her first Airbnb with the little video game table she was talking about. And oh my gosh, I got to say, when we came back at the end of the night, that Pac-Man table is all the rage. It's like one of the things I remember from that trip is us being silly and playing with that.
00:17:50:19 - 00:17:52:01
Makayla
So that was such a good time.
00:17:52:05 - 00:17:53:12
Joe
Did you guys play cornhole?
00:17:53:14 - 00:17:54:07
Makayla
No, No.
00:17:54:07 - 00:17:54:18
Joe
Cornhole.
00:17:54:18 - 00:17:56:08
Makayla
No cornhole.
00:17:56:08 - 00:17:59:01
Joe
So, yeah.
00:17:59:03 - 00:18:00:06
Makayla
Very funny.
00:18:00:08 - 00:18:15:15
Joe
So there's different times, different seasons, no matter where you're at. Obviously, here in Portland, we have our seasons and down in the desert they have their seasons as well. Is there much of a dip or a change between the different seasons for Scottsdale?
00:18:15:17 - 00:18:37:01
Mindy
Absolutely, Yeah. So as you know, obviously Scottsdale, I mean, there's so many fun things to do year round there. Right. But a couple things where you can really make sure that your Airbnbs do well is you've got spring training. And like I said, our our home is in a really great spot for any of the spring training games.
00:18:37:01 - 00:18:42:00
Mindy
You've also got the waste management, which is crazy and fun and.
00:18:42:01 - 00:18:43:11
Joe
That tournament is amazing.
00:18:43:13 - 00:19:13:12
Mindy
Oh my gosh, it's crazy. It's so that's a really popular one. Then you've got the Barrett-Jackson Show in January, which is another popular one. But with all that being said, there is times where it isn't all that great. The summers are really hot there. And so, you know, unless you're having to travel there or maybe a sports tournament or something like that, that the definitely the vacancy is a little bit lower during the summer months just because it's super hot.
00:19:13:14 - 00:19:21:16
Joe
What's your overall vacancy over like a 12 month period? So but the highs and the lows, what would you say your total vacancy is?
00:19:21:18 - 00:19:34:09
Mindy
Yeah. Oh, I would say the only time that I have usually availability is the summers are a little bit lighter. Otherwise, other than that, my home is pretty much booked year round, so yeah.
00:19:34:13 - 00:19:38:16
Joe
Higher than 85, 80, 85%. Oh wow. Wow. That's great.
00:19:38:19 - 00:19:39:15
Makayla
Amazing.
00:19:39:17 - 00:19:40:09
Mindy
Yeah, that's.
00:19:40:09 - 00:19:41:02
Joe
Great.
00:19:41:04 - 00:20:03:06
Mindy
Though. It's been interesting. You know, during COVID, it was funny in Arizona because everyone wanted to travel to Arizona because they were like the Wild, Wild West. And so I get me to Arizona during COVID times. But it's been interesting, I think especially this year, as you guys all know, that, you know, it's been a little different this year with the kind of the inflation.
00:20:03:06 - 00:20:05:12
Joe
And so, yeah, the economy and everything.
00:20:05:12 - 00:20:22:09
Mindy
And yeah, it's been a little bit you know, people just don't have as much money to travel. And that's kind of putting a little bit a damper on things. So I would say, you know, especially the last like four months, I've definitely had more vacancies on my properties than I've had since I've purchased them.
00:20:22:10 - 00:20:26:14
Makayla
Mindy, what advice would you give someone who is looking to make an investment like this?
00:20:26:14 - 00:20:49:21
Mindy
Honestly, Makayla, I would say the number one thing that I would recommend is just really making sure that you research location, because just to give you an example, my I had a girlfriend that purchased Airbnb, right around the same time that I did and she purchased it in Mesa, which is literally just, oh my gosh, like 15 minutes from Scottsdale, right, from Old Town.
00:20:49:21 - 00:21:13:18
Mindy
It's not that far, but it was amazing the fact that her Airbnb did not do nearly as well as far as nightly rent and just she had so many more openings than I did. And I think it's really honestly just due to location. So I would say it's really important to research your location As far as one, is it somewhere you like to travel to?
00:21:13:18 - 00:21:31:17
Mindy
What are they offering year round? So as you know, in Scottsdale, there's so many things that they offer all the time that is just such a huge travel destination that there's not that many times where my home isn't booked, like I said, other than summer, but it still gets booked. You know, people still travel or sports and stuff.
00:21:31:17 - 00:21:44:08
Mindy
It's just not as popular. So I would just really make sure that wherever you're going to invest, that it is going to be a place where people really want to travel and they can utilize it year round.
00:21:44:10 - 00:21:47:04
Joe
Do you guys have plans for more investment properties?
00:21:47:04 - 00:22:17:18
Mindy
Yes, we do, actually. I would love to purchase another home in Scottsdale. My managers are starting to kind of branch out a little bit and I think they've got a couple Airbnbs now in other states. So I'm really going to rely on their knowledge That would be the other key guys, really making sure that you partner with an amazing management company that really cares about your investments too, because my managers want to see me do well and they're not going to do well if I don't do well.
00:22:17:18 - 00:22:41:08
Mindy
Right. And so they are so great that I can really trust them. Like actually, how's your Airbnb doing in this location or what would you recommend? And so, yeah, I definitely want to invest some more. I've had such a great experience with Airbnb and interesting because when you think of long term rentals and nothing against, I mean I've had several long term rentals too.
00:22:41:09 - 00:23:11:21
Mindy
You really think about the wear and tear on long term investments versus short term investments. Usually when people use a short term investment, you know, they're maybe they're three or four days and then you have a cleaning crew that comes in and clean after them. Right. Right. And they use terms for the most part, don't trash it. And when you think of long term, it's like you get someone in there and they're there a couple years and all of a sudden you go to, you know, get a new renter and they're in the place as brash as like new carpet, new paint, new flooring.
00:23:12:00 - 00:23:14:16
Joe
That's such a great point. I never thought about it.
00:23:14:18 - 00:23:15:15
Makayla
That way, but.
00:23:15:17 - 00:23:17:00
Joe
It makes total sense.
00:23:17:00 - 00:23:19:06
Makayla
You get to have eyes on the property every 4 to 5.
00:23:19:06 - 00:23:26:07
Joe
Days, getting it cleaned that many times per month compared to never over how many years is pretty amazing.
00:23:26:09 - 00:23:27:09
Makayla
Interesting. I like that.
00:23:27:09 - 00:23:37:22
Mindy
I've got some stories with my long term investment, so it's kind of what pushed me a little bit. I wanted a more short term investment.
00:23:37:22 - 00:23:42:07
Joe
Yeah. So if you weren't in Scottsdale, what other marketplaces would you consider?
00:23:42:08 - 00:24:03:04
Mindy
Well, I'm a huge lover of Bend and I would love to buy an Airbnb. And then in fact, we are looking. About six months ago, Bend's got some funky rules on Airbnb. You got to make sure that you're checking with somebody that does a lot of Airbnb management over there. There's certain pockets where you can't have an Airbnb within a certain amount of miles.
00:24:03:05 - 00:24:22:06
Mindy
I'm another Airbnb. I believe it is. You kind of got a check on that, but I feel like Bend checked all the boxes for a great Airbnb location and you know, they've got the winter sports, they've got bachelor, they've got all kinds of summer stuff that you can do, which is amazing. They have obviously the amphitheater that has so many great shows.
00:24:22:06 - 00:24:27:20
Mindy
They've got the river float, the breweries. I mean, the list goes on and on. As you guys well know, with Bend.
00:24:27:22 - 00:24:31:12
Joe
That price point is a little bit different than Scottsdale. I think.
00:24:31:14 - 00:24:53:14
Mindy
It is. You'd have to have more of a commitment of like, make sure your numbers really make sense. And that's the other thing for us. What we did when we got that home back in January that I was telling you about when we went to the Lacrosse tournament, I want to say we were there for ten days and we spent like, Oh my gosh, I think it was like almost $3,000 or something on that.
00:24:53:16 - 00:25:02:19
Mindy
Yeah. And that's where I started, really. My mind started going like, Well, hey, we only rented this ten days out of that month. That's our mortgage.
00:25:02:21 - 00:25:04:09
Joe
So yeah, the numbers work.
00:25:04:09 - 00:25:13:00
Mindy
Don't they. Yeah. So that's another thing is just making sure your numbers work, obviously. But yeah, Bend is kind of on my next radar for my next Airbnb.
00:25:13:00 - 00:25:14:02
Joe
Really cool.
00:25:14:05 - 00:25:23:04
Makayla
Oh, so obviously a three bed two bath is usually ideal for short term rental home, but what other qualities do you look for when finding your next potential home.
00:25:23:05 - 00:25:45:03
Mindy
That is such a good question. Makayla, I thought the exact same thing. That's my first house. It's three bedroom, one bath, just a little ranch. Super cool. My second house, which I wouldn't have thought of this, but it did rent for so much more money and it has just been way more profitable for us. And it has a casita which would be like an ADU.
00:25:45:04 - 00:26:09:00
Mindy
We converted the casita into basically just a huge room that has four queen bunks. And so really when you're investing in an Airbnb, what people look at is how many people can stay, how many beds can be fit. And when you've got a bigger group, they're more likely to spend more money because they're dividing up right then for, two families in the house can sleep 15.
00:26:09:00 - 00:26:25:19
Mindy
You can charge a lot more per night. I think that a four bedroom and being able to have maybe a room or two that have some bunks and maybe a couple of rooms with a queen or king. And the more people you can sleep at is actually the better for any kind of an Airbnb situation.
00:26:25:21 - 00:26:55:09
Joe
It's interesting, we stayed in a Bend a while back. There was this house was absolutely amazing. We had was my sons and I and a bunch of his friends. It was a birthday party thing and we went golfing over there and did the whole thing. But they had eight bedrooms with eight suites. Everyone had its own bathroom. And I want I didn't get confirmation on this, but I feel like the house was built to be a rental and putting that many suites in a house is so atypical to what we usually see.
00:26:55:14 - 00:27:16:14
Joe
But we loved it. We absolutely loved it, and it just had all the perfect spots, little living areas for doing different things and everything, but having those suites and then every bedroom was just such a huge thing. So now we whenever we get somewhere, my kids always ask me, Now am I getting my own bathroom? And I'm like, Yeah, well, that was a different deal with another house.
00:27:16:14 - 00:27:24:20
Mindy
So we made we may have stayed at the same house because I, we rented the Airbnb and then that had the same like pretty much similar situation.
00:27:24:22 - 00:27:29:04
Joe
Yeah. Yeah. Isn't that awesome though. I love that setup. Yeah.
00:27:29:06 - 00:27:48:16
Mindy
So yeah, that's, it's interesting because like I said, I typically would have thought like, oh, a three bedroom, two bath would be ideal for Airbnb. But the longer I've been in the business, it's, it's really about people want to have as much sleeping space and beds that they can because a lot of times you want to travel with friends, you want to.
00:27:48:18 - 00:27:49:08
Joe
Right.
00:27:49:10 - 00:28:00:06
Mindy
Families. And so a three bedroom is great for just like if you've got a couple of friends or what not, but your big money where you can make a lot more is the more bedroom space and sleep space that you have.
00:28:00:10 - 00:28:27:19
Joe
I love the ADU to the casita type setup as well. We stayed in a place in Palm Springs that had a really nice casita. It had a living area and then a bedroom kind of loft type thing and a big huge suite. And we stayed. My wife and I stayed back there and the kids were in the big house with the rest of their friends and a couple other families and everyone congregated back to the casita and because it was off of the pool and it was just such a neat setup, I just love that idea.
00:28:27:19 - 00:28:30:19
Joe
That's so cool that you were able to get that set up with your second place.
00:28:30:19 - 00:28:32:18
Mindy
Yeah, we definitely got lucky on that.
00:28:32:18 - 00:28:44:01
Makayla
One last question for you, unless you have any other words of wisdom for us, But just curious of what's your opinion of how many of the Oregon coastal towns are sunsetting permitting for short term rentals?
00:28:44:01 - 00:29:06:22
Mindy
You know, I haven't really researched the coastal towns just because I don't have I just don't have any. Obviously, Airbnb’s over in that area. But I will tell you, I do have a couple of friends that have some Airbnb needs in those areas and I think they are trying to fight the good fight of getting more and more little towns situated where they can have more availabilities for Airbnbs.
00:29:06:22 - 00:29:17:03
Mindy
I think the rules and regulations right now are pretty strict on some of those coastal towns. So that's a great question and I would love to do a little bit of research on that myself.
00:29:17:08 - 00:29:33:18
Joe
I have another question to that. I just thought it was so your host, but you also go as a guest quite often. That sounds like what would you want people to know about being a guest? What do the hosts love about what makes a good guest, I guess I should say.
00:29:33:20 - 00:29:35:23
Makayla
I like that question.
00:29:36:01 - 00:29:38:02
Joe
Yeah, Yeah.
00:29:38:04 - 00:29:40:15
Makayla
How about maybe not trash the place?
00:29:40:17 - 00:29:54:08
Joe
I think that's obvious. Yeah. Don't don't trash the place. But what else makes a great guest where the things that you think about when you're a guest, you're like, Oh, yeah, I should really be doing this or that, or wouldn't that be a nice touch if I did this for the host or whatever?
00:29:54:08 - 00:30:23:13
Mindy
Now that's great. I think obviously, especially with Airbnb because you are in contact with the host, right? If there's anything that goes wrong or if you need help with anything or whatever, I think the key is like obviously just being clean, cleaning up stuff like all the regular things that you want. You know, I would say the best advice is to treat the property like it's your own because that is somebody's property that they put a lot of thought into that they've put a lot of work into that they care about.
00:30:23:15 - 00:30:42:16
Mindy
And, you know, I think that if you go into any rental situation, which I do now, especially being an Airbnb owner, I want to leave the property as clean as it was when I came in and they can try and clean up after myself, making sure I, you know, I typically will pull off all the sheets and start a load of laundry and just the things that make.
00:30:42:16 - 00:30:44:20
Joe
It easier on the support staff here.
00:30:44:22 - 00:31:05:04
Mindy
And there on them is great. I mean, for us, you know, we always our guests always have a bottle of wine waiting for them. We have like a booklet with all the fun things that they're going to, you know, that they can do and so forth. And so I think with a lot of Airbnb owners, they try to be thoughtful of going above and beyond to make your experience special.
00:31:05:06 - 00:31:14:14
Mindy
So, you know, I think it's just great if somebody that is renting the property can do the same and just treat the property like it's their own and love it like it's their own.
00:31:14:16 - 00:31:34:17
Joe
Nice, great advice from Mindy Hay. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this. This is so good. And I feel like these are conversations that you don't like. You can go on the internet and do some research and do some stuff, but to hear it from an owner and a host and to hear it this way I think is so valuable.
00:31:34:17 - 00:31:36:21
Joe
So thank you, Mindy, so much.
00:31:36:23 - 00:31:37:10
Mindy
Will you.
00:31:37:10 - 00:31:43:18
Makayla
Agree? Yeah. Thanks for taking the time. You've sparked a lot of ideas for me, so I'm sure I'll be picking your brain again.
00:31:43:22 - 00:31:51:06
Joe
Makayla's wheels are gone right now. She is just putting all the numbers together and how she can get a house to rent.
00:31:51:07 - 00:31:53:17
Mindy
I'm ten phone call away.
00:31:53:19 - 00:32:15:06
Joe
Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you for joining us. And once again, Mindy Hay, Union home Mortgage. She is fabulous. She's the best. We love working with her and her team. She always takes great care of everyone that we send over to her. And we highly, highly recommend her, whether it's for purchase or refinance. And we will have Mindy's information.
00:32:15:12 - 00:32:44:10
Joe
We always do a page, Mindy, for each of our podcasts. We do a page on our website that we send people to. We'll have some resources at LivPortland.com You can go to our podcast page and pull up this episode and we'll have lots of great information there. But we also have Mindy's contact information if you'd like to reach out to her for any mortgage questions or, or if there's anything that she can do to help you out with financing your short term rental, I'm sure she would be willing to help.
00:32:44:12 - 00:32:45:19
Makayla
Thanks again, Mindy.
00:32:45:21 - 00:32:46:01
Mindy
Yeah.
00:32:46:04 - 00:32:46:23
Joe
All right.
00:32:47:00 - 00:32:48:01
Mindy
Thanks, guys.
00:32:48:03 - 00:32:50:09
Joe
Thanks, Mindy.
00:32:50:11 - 00:33:03:10
Makayla
Thanks for joining us today. If you're interested in finding out more about Jo myself or the live Portland team, you can go to LivPortland.com. Thanks for giving us a listen and see you next time on the Off the Record podcast.
