{"id":4048,"date":"2022-10-18T10:20:58","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T10:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/?p=4048"},"modified":"2022-10-18T10:20:58","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T10:20:58","slug":"what-running-short-term-rentals-at-scale-really-looks-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/18\/what-running-short-term-rentals-at-scale-really-looks-like\/","title":{"rendered":"What Running Short-Term Rentals at Scale REALLY Looks Like"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

The short-term rental game<\/strong><\/a> is not one to enter lightly.<\/strong> Regular rental property investors shudder at the constant turnover, consistent guest complaints, and far more intensive upkeep that vacation rental property owners pride themselves on. But is a week in the life of a self-managing short-term rental empire owner that bad? <\/strong>Well, maybe we\u2019ll just have Rob Abasolo<\/strong> AKA Robuilt, YouTube\u2019s go-to authority on vacation rental investing<\/strong><\/a>, answer this.<\/p>\n

Rob has had a troubling week to put it lightly. From guests <\/strong>somehow deadbolting themselves out of their homes<\/strong> to ACs being frozen solid<\/strong>, sending vacationers to the wrong address, and almost obliterating a $20,000 pool<\/strong>, many things can go wrong in the realm of short-term rentals. But, is the profit worth the pain?<\/p>\n

Dave Meyer<\/strong> from On The Market<\/em><\/a> joins along this episode to act as Rob\u2019s therapist\/cheerleader as we go through a week\u2019s worth of almost unbelievable events <\/strong>in the life of a vacation rental property owner. This episode highlights lessons learned from each mistake<\/strong> that you can use to build a better rental property portfolio<\/a>, have a more seamless customer experience, and maybe get a little more \u201cme and my burrito\u201d time.<\/p>\n

\n

Rob:
This is the BiggerPockets Podcast show 676. This particular house didn\u2019t have a fridge, so we bought a fridge, and that the wrong fridge was delivered to our house. Not one time, Dave. Not two times, Dave. Not three times, Dave.<\/p>\n

Dave:
No. No.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Not four times, Dave. Not five times, Dave.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Wait.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Six times. Six times in a week. What\u2019s up, everybody? You got Rob here. We\u2019re shaking it up today. I\u2019m joined here by my co-host, Dave Meyer, as we go through the triumphs and tribulations and victories and downfalls of my short-term rental portfolio, completely transparent and out there for the world to learn from. How\u2019s it going, Dave?<\/p>\n

Dave:
Great. Thanks for having me. I am very excited to be here, because even though I come on and I do bigger news, you and I have never hosted a show together. This is the inaugural journey of Dave and Rob.<\/p>\n

Rob:
I know, the beginning of a budding bromance as they say.<\/p>\n

Dave:
I can\u2019t wait. Well, it was fun doing this interview.<\/p>\n

Rob:
So do you feel like\u2026 I know that you have some property management. I know you\u2019re involved with some of your stuff, but after this episode, how do you feel? Do you have the appetite to get into self management on the short-term rental side?<\/p>\n

Dave:
I don\u2019t just because it\u2019s not logistically really feasible for me because I live in Europe, but no, honestly, I self-managed my long-term rentals for the first eight years. You just learn so much. I think it would be very difficult for me to have hired a property manager without having self-managed at least for a little bit. You can, but I just feel like you learn what to expect. That way, when a property manager comes to you and they\u2019re like, \u201cThis thing\u2019s broken,\u201d you don\u2019t blame the property manager. You know these things just happen.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Sure.<\/p>\n

Dave:
You get used to it. That\u2019s what I loved about the show is that you really just bear it all, and explain to people how things go wrong, mistakes that you\u2019ve made. Honestly, a lot of them aren\u2019t even mistakes, just things that go wrong that you can\u2019t really control, but it\u2019s super helpful to learn and see that even experienced, successful short-term rental investors like yourself still have these challenges, and normalizes some of the challenges. I think everyone listening to this will learn a lot from what you\u2019ve been through.
Just in the last week, all these things that Rob\u2019s going to talk about are just things that happen in a single week.<\/p>\n

Rob:
It\u2019s not always fun, but it\u2019s always awesome. I mean, all the things we\u2019re going to talk about today, 10 things. I actually had to cut out five out of the 10 just for keeping this podcast very nice and concise, but I cut out 10. We\u2019re going to be talking about basically my learning journey in systems and everything that I\u2019ve put in place to fix it. But before we get too far into today\u2019s episode, we\u2019re going to get to today\u2019s quick tip. I think, I\u2019m doing a good David impression on that. I hope he approves.<\/p>\n

Dave:
I like that you\u2019re doing an impression of David doing an impression of Christian Bale.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Batman. That\u2019s right. That\u2019s right. It\u2019s an impression of an impression. I don\u2019t even know what that is at this point.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Oh, you\u2019re nailing it.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Impression squared. Today\u2019s quick tip is when you make a mistake, or you have a failure in your business, regardless if it\u2019s short-term rentals, flipping, multi-family, anything like that, take that mistake and figure out how you can avoid ever making it again by creating a system or a process. Today, we talk about 10 different things that happened and all the different systems and processes that that has created for me, my workflow, and all the workflows of my different employees as well.
Also, if you just want to connect with others, and learn from their mistakes and learn how you can create processes through those, be sure to hit up the bigger pockets forums. There are people connecting there every day, networking, learning from each other, and sharing real-life experiences. All right, with that, let\u2019s get into today\u2019s episode. What\u2019s up, man? How\u2019s it going? I\u2019m excited to talk short-term rental tragedies with you today.<\/p>\n

Dave:
I am too, man. I mean, I have a little bit of experience with short-term rentals, but I\u2019m sure the depth and drama of your tragedies are like nothing I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

Rob:
It\u2019s very funny, because I obviously talk a lot on YouTube about my short-term rental journey. If you\u2019ve followed along since the beginning, most people effectively saw my Airbnb journey go from one unit to 15. Then as of last month, I went from 15 to 35. Then if things continue to go the way they are, then I\u2019ll go from 35 to 58 here in the next couple of months, so scaling very quickly on my end of things.<\/p>\n

Dave:
You\u2019re going to have 58 times more problems over the next couple of months. I guess it\u2019s good that you\u2019ve had some training to give you the experience to deal with them better.<\/p>\n

Rob:
For sure. That\u2019s actually what I wanted to talk about specifically today, because obviously, I really do believe that all real estate is very accessible to the everyday person. For me, I believe that wholeheartedly about short-term rentals. I think they\u2019re very scary to a lot of people, and it\u2019s the vice versa, right? I get a little scared thinking of long-term rentals and thinking of all the things that can go wrong with that. Then most long-term investors that I talk to are like, \u201cDude, are you kidding me? It\u2019s so easy. I\u2019m scared to go into short-term rental, because I\u2019m scared of all the things that can go wrong there.\u201d
I\u2019m like, \u201cAre you kidding me? It\u2019s so easy.\u201d I think I wanted to give a little bit of context to my journey today, and really just talk about how things do go wrong. This is just true. Things go wrong when you\u2019re self managing. This is going to be a self-management masterclass for anyone that just wants to understand the ebbs and flows, the highs and lows of short-term rentals. I\u2019m just going to talk about today 10 things, 10 things that went wrong in my short-term rental portfolio last week. This is the crazy part.
I actually just recorded a YouTube video on this, and it was actually 15 items. But for the sake of the pod, I decided to cut it down to 10, and just give you my 10 juiciest stories and hopefully some learning experiences that came from each one. Does that work?<\/p>\n

Dave:
Yeah, man. I\u2019m excited to hear about them.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Well, don\u2019t be too excited. I mean, I\u2019ll have a little bit of a sweat and PTSD throughout this episode, but it\u2019s okay. We\u2019re going to take it item by item here. So let\u2019s start with number one. Number one was a story of guests that locked themselves out of my property. Now typically, when you\u2019re in the short-term rental game, you try to do your best to automate the idea of check-ins. You don\u2019t want to be there checking people in. I mean, obviously, that\u2019s a very nice amenity if that\u2019s what you want to do. But when you have 15, I just can\u2019t hire 15 people to be there at the door.
We have a lot of different processes for this. One process is we take photos of all the different steps that you have, the literal steps that you have to take to get to the home, picture of the door, a picture of the keypad, and then you basically give them the keypad combination. So for me, when I was getting started in short-term rentals, I actually did use to check people in on my very first apartment. Then I figured out the idea of a keypad or a lockbox, and then I figured out that you can do an electric keypad.
I was like, \u201cMan, this is awesome.\u201d Then now, it even goes one step further, Dave, where you can actually do a keypad that syncs up with your property management system, and every single time a guest checks in, it changes the code for every single reservation to the last four digits of that guest\u2019s phone number, so it makes it very, very easy. What kind of self-checking stuff are you doing on your property?<\/p>\n

Dave:
That\u2019s actually what I have, but I have a professional management company. I live in Europe, and I have automated as much as physically possible. I pay for it. It definitely costs a lot, but one of the benefits is having that kind of technology. I mean, given that you know about all this stuff, how did they lock themselves out?<\/p>\n

Rob:
Right. Right. Right. This is where it gets very interesting. I\u2019ve done this for five years. I\u2019ve never really been in this specific situation. So basically, even though I have an electronic keypad, there is a deadbolt on the handle under it. The guests left, and then they came back, and they said, \u201cHey, the code isn\u2019t working.\u201d I was like, \u201cWell, that\u2019s probably not true because the code was working the whole stay. It\u2019s been a week.\u201d They\u2019re like, \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d Then they\u2019re like, \u201cI hear it, but it\u2019s not actually doing it. We still can\u2019t get in.\u201d
Then they\u2019re like, \u201cIt\u2019s possible that we locked the deadbolt.\u201d I was like, \u201cOh, well, I mean, if you\u2019ve mentioned it, then you probably know that that\u2019s the case, right?\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, okay. It\u2019s no big deal. Let\u2019s just make sure it doesn\u2019t move.\u201d They\u2019re like, \u201cNo, it doesn\u2019t move.\u201d I was like, \u201cAll right, well, good news. I actually have another lock downstairs. There\u2019s a back door entrance where you can get into the home.\u201d She\u2019s like, \u201cGreat. Fantastic. Shoot me the codes over to that.\u201d I said, \u201cGreat.\u201d All good. I\u2019m\u2026 This is a Sunday.
Let me just say, Dave, I really pride myself on managing my places one to two, sometimes three hours a week. It\u2019s very minimal. That was not true for this last week. That\u2019ll probably be obvious as I move through every single one. But basically, it\u2019s a Sunday. I\u2019m trying to have dinner and make lunch and all that type of stuff. Then basically, she calls me, and she says, \u201cHey, that code is not working either.\u201d Then I was like, \u201cWell\u2026\u201d I mean, I\u2019m looking at my app, and it actually says it\u2019s unlocked. She\u2019s like, \u201cNo, we hear it unlocking, but the door isn\u2019t unlocking.\u201d
They\u2019re like, \u201cCome to think of it.\u201d She\u2019s like, \u201cI actually think I left at a different time than the other people in my group.\u201d This was a 13-person group, and I think that they might have locked the deadbolt. I was like, \u201cWell, you\u2019re there with 13 people right now. Do you think\u2026 Maybe just confirm.\u201d She\u2019s like, \u201cYep, that\u2019s what happened. Do you have a key?\u201d I was like, \u201cWell, I don\u2019t, because typically, the other door is the fail safe.\u201d I was like, \u201cHow did you leave? How did you lock yourself out?\u201d
She basically was like, \u201cOh yeah, we left through the garage. We locked both the deadbolts, and we left through the garage. We weren\u2019t really thinking.\u201d She\u2019s like, \u201cI\u2019m so sorry for the inconvenience. This is totally on us.\u201d I was like, \u201cOh, okay. Well hey, let me get my handyman over. He\u2019s pretty good at getting into my house. He always finds a way.\u201d He comes out there, and he basically says, \u201cHey, man, confirmed. They did lock both of the deadbolts.\u201d He\u2019s like, \u201cI can try to get into the garage, but it\u2019s probably going to break if I do.\u201d
Then I was like, \u201cAll right, well, give it a shot, and let me know.\u201d He calls me back five minutes later. He\u2019s like, \u201cThere is no way I can get in without breaking your garage.\u201d I was like, \u201cOh shoot.\u201d So at this point, it\u2019s been an hour, and these are 13 guests sitting outside of my home. They\u2019re getting a little antsy. I\u2019m like, \u201cI\u2019m so sorry.\u201d Obviously, even though it\u2019s their fault, I\u2019m like, \u201cLet me help you. I\u2019m going to get this taken care of.\u201d I\u2019m just going above and beyond to help them out as much as I can. Basically, I call a locksmith, Dave, and the locksmith, I call four of them, and they\u2019re all going to be 250 to 300 bucks.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Oh my God.<\/p>\n

Rob:
I was like, Well, that\u2019s the tax, the dummy tax for me.\u201d I was like, \u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave:
Better than breaking your garage.<\/p>\n

Rob:
It is better than breaking my garage.<\/p>\n

Dave:
It\u2019s cheaper.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Here\u2019s where it gets really spicy, the plot that is. Basically, I call one guy, and then he\u2019s like, \u201cHey, actually, it\u2019s going to be $100. I can be out there in 45 minutes. Everyone else was going to be two hours.\u201d I was like, \u201cOh, you are the greatest man known to all real estate investors in the world.\u201d He\u2019s like, \u201cNo problem, man. I got you.\u201d Well, he says he\u2019s going to be there in 45 minutes. He never shows up. He never shows up. The guests call me, and they say, \u201cHey, we saw someone come about 25 minutes ago, and then he turned around and left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave:
What?<\/p>\n

Rob:
Then I was like, \u201cWell, that\u2019s not good.\u201d I know. I was so\u2026 I was just like, \u201cI can\u2019t believe.\u201d I just want to eat my Chipotle burrito, Dave. That\u2019s all I want in life is just to eat my Chipotle burrito, and so-<\/p>\n

Dave:
You and me both, man.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Do they have those in Europe?<\/p>\n

Dave:
No. Man, the Mexican food is terrible in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

Rob:
I know.<\/p>\n

Dave:
But no, I sympathize even if it\u2019s not a burrito. I just want to eat a-<\/p>\n

Rob:
Well, they do have a Vapianos over there, which is one of my favorite.<\/p>\n

Dave:
What\u2019s that?<\/p>\n

Rob:
It\u2019s like European pandera. Sorry, no, sorry, it\u2019s like European Panera. Pandera is\u2026 Is that even a thing? I don\u2019t even know.<\/p>\n

Dave:
No, I think you made that word up, but I like it.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Hey, that\u2019s what we do here at BiggerPockets. Anyways, I call\u2026 Listen. I call and I say, \u201cHey, what the heck? I heard that someone showed up,\u201d and then the lady on the phone was like, \u201cOh yeah, he drove up to the property, and he didn\u2019t see anybody, so he turned around and left.\u201d I was like, \u201cThat was an-hour-and-a-half ago. You didn\u2019t think to call me and tell me that.\u201d She\u2019s like, \u201cOh yeah, sorry.\u201d I was like, \u201cHe didn\u2019t even drive to the house. He just drove to the beginning of the driveway, made the executive decision that 13 people weren\u2019t standing in front of the house, and he left.\u201d
So needless to say, that did not result in a happy guest. They actually ended up breaking into my house. They did the thing that the handyman didn\u2019t want to do, and they broke into the garage. Dude, it was a big headache. That one, to me, that was a big L on my part for several reasons, because it was the guest\u2019s fault, but it was also my fault. I just got to take the L on that one, I think.<\/p>\n

Dave:
That\u2019s a tough one. I mean, it\u2019s hard to control for every situation with your tenants, especially people who are in a short-term rental game. You have people who are new to your house by definition. Is there anything you learned from it that you think to help you try and avoid something like this in the future?<\/p>\n

Rob:
Yes, I did. It\u2019s also a very obvious one. Let me just be clear with that, but I usually have a backup to a system, right? So the backup to the front door being locked is the back door being locked, and it\u2019s like, \u201cThere\u2019s no way that this will ever fail on me,\u201d and it did. The learning is just to have an extra keypad with keys to the specific deadbolt. Now, we\u2019ve done that. My handyman went out. He bought a little keypad, keeps it under the deck. Like I said, I mean, this has never really happened where the guests locked both of the doors, but just because it hasn\u2019t happened before doesn\u2019t mean I shouldn\u2019t have been prepared for it.
I\u2019ve learned to basically just keep just the original, the time tested, physical key on the property. This was not just the only occurrence that happened this week, Dave. I actually had another guest at a different property lock the screen door in front of the front door, and so they were locked out. Luckily on that one, we basically had other doors that they could get into. Took a lot longer to figure out than they realized. It\u2019s the same code. A lot of messages back and forth, but this one really sank me for a solid five or six hours probably.
So on that one, we learned on screen doors, it\u2019s a force of habit for people. They just will lock it if they do that at their own house. So, we\u2019ve just now replaced that lock, or we\u2019re about to replace that lock with a non-locking door doorknob, which, is again, very dead simple. It makes a lot of sense. If guests can lock themselves out, they will. That was the hard lesson for me. Let\u2019s move into the second thing here that happened this week that really\u2026 Again, lots of gray hairs that happened this week as a result.
David and I just bought this really awesome 6,000 square foot apartment, sorry, 6,000 square foot Spanish mansion in Scottsdale. The water heater broke in it, and it\u2019s a luxury place. So theoretically, obviously, you need hot water with any luxury place, right?<\/p>\n

Dave:
I think you need hot water with any place.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Arguably. Arguably, that\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

Dave:
I think it\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Oh man, so this was a $3,000 setback for me, and I\u2019ll tell you why. So basically, this was a gladiator, or it\u2019s like\u2026 I think the brand was Rheem Gladiator, which is the Home Depot brand. Apparently, it\u2019s just a very niche brand that no plumbers would really touch. I don\u2019t really know why. It didn\u2019t make a lot of sense to me. But we called 10 different plumbers, and they were like, \u201cOh man, sorry, we don\u2019t service that.\u201d So, we were just trying to get someone to fix it, and we were hoping that maybe it was a user error. Sometimes you can just click the on-off button on the water heater, it\u2019ll turn back on.
These guests were just like, \u201cHey, we get it. It\u2019s not your fault. Water heaters go out. We even looked at the label at the front of it, and it says that it was manufactured in 2019, so it\u2019s a relatively new water heater.\u201d So I was like, \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d I really was just putting on my customer service hat, really trying to accommodate them because they did have kids, and they were talking about they were all having to share basically. We have a little casita at the back of it, so they were all having to share and do all that kind of stuff.
I basically was like, \u201cLook, I will refund you the amount of days that you don\u2019t have hot water, so it basically ends up being a free stay.\u201d She was really\u2026 I mean, honestly, she was so nice, because she didn\u2019t have to be. When I called her on the phone, basically, she was like, \u201cWhat you\u2019ve done for us, and how you\u2019ve treated us, and how over and beyond you\u2019ve gone just really goes to show how great of a host you are. We really appreciate it.\u201d I was like, \u201cOh my God, that is so\u2026 That really moved me.\u201d She\u2019s like, \u201cBut as mentioned, do you think you could still refund us for the three nights?\u201d I was like, \u201cOf course. Of course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave:
I mean, that\u2019s just one of those things. I\u2019ve been there. Either both on short-term rentals and long-term rentals, there are certain things you just can\u2019t make up for. Locking yourself out, there\u2019s some mutual-<\/p>\n

Rob:
There\u2019s a system there.<\/p>\n

Dave:
\u2026 mutual fault there. But man, you need hot water. You need heat.<\/p>\n

Rob:
You do.<\/p>\n

Dave:
When these things happen, there\u2019s almost nothing you could do, I guess, except try and be a good person, refund their money if they\u2019re not getting the experience that you intended. But man, is there anything else you think you could do to avoid something like that?<\/p>\n

Rob:
No, but I think the lesson was really just\u2026 This is a tough one, because we have a home warranty, right? Typically, home warranties do cover system faults like this, but the one really big issue with home warranties is that they\u2019re not super fast. Really, the premise of them is to not serve you super fast so that you are forced to go out and pay for this repairs or the replacement without involving the home warranties, especially in the short-term rental world. We have it for the really big systems, but in this instance, because I was trying to\u2026
We thought it was going to be a very easy fix, but again, it was such a niche model that every plumber in town was like, \u201cEven if we could get parts, we still can\u2019t get them for 10, 15 days.\u201d So I just knew relatively early on that we just couldn\u2019t wait to get that fixed. I think the thing that I could have done faster is just knowing that water heaters are not necessarily super expensive, and so I could have just replaced that right from the get go. It\u2019s just not necessarily something you want to do. You don\u2019t want to always go straight to replacing an appliance. It\u2019s not the most financially responsible thing to do.
But effectively, I ended up replacing it anyways. I replaced the $600 heater. It was $1,000 in repairs, so that\u2019s $1,600. Then I had to refund $1,500 in nightly rates, so I ended up spending $3,000 for something that honestly probably would\u2019ve cost $80 to fix if the parts were readily available. So for me, at this level and at this level of my portfolio, I am always just trying to address problems as quickly as possible, because refunds typically cost a lot more than the actual replacement cost of whatever you\u2019re trying to fix.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Totally, especially, man, with water heaters too. I don\u2019t usually preemptively replace things. That\u2019s not a great move. But with water heaters, that might be the one exception to the rule. If it\u2019s been\u2026 I think, most of them last seven to 10 years. If you\u2019re getting up there, that\u2019s one of those things. You\u2019re going to have to replace it anyway. Rather than trying to squeak out another six months or a year, just bite the bullet, and avoid what you had to do with refunds, but sometimes they flood. They break. That\u2019s one of those things you just want to be a bit ahead of.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Oh my gosh. Well, and it\u2019s tough, right? Because I\u2019ve got a business partner on it, right? I got to think of their best interest as well. So in my personal portfolio, I may have just swapped it out. I\u2019m not really sure. I think I would\u2019ve. But usually, it is. You try to fix it if it\u2019s a simple thing, but because once you start having other partners in investors, you really have to start thinking of things a lot bigger than how you would personally handle it. So, that\u2019s something that comes to mind really often in my 15-unit portfolio and now 35-unit portfolio is speed actually does save you a lot of money a lot of the times in this game, especially for something like this, especially on a luxury property where now, we\u2019re charging about\u2026
I mean, peak season coming up, $2,000, 2,500 a night, so one night of a refund could really be quite detrimental to you. Luckily, we were still in the slow season, so it was $500 to $700 a night reservation, but in a couple months from now, it would\u2019ve been a multi-thousand dollars event. Actually, it still was now, but I guess more than $3,000. There\u2019s that. That\u2019s number two. Let\u2019s keep these moving, because the sweat is already beginning to form.<\/p>\n

Dave:
You\u2019re just having flashbacks from that last week.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Yes, hot flashes if you will. Number three, the AC went out at a different property. This was fun. Again, I\u2019ve never had an AC problem ever up until this moment, but hey, that is why you have a CapEx account, right?<\/p>\n

Dave:
Where is it?<\/p>\n

Rob:
It\u2019s in Gatlinburg.<\/p>\n

Dave:
So it\u2019s hot.<\/p>\n

Rob:
It\u2019s hot. It\u2019s hot. Here\u2019s what happened. There\u2019s a misconception out there with most people that if you go to your thermostat, and it\u2019s on 70, and it\u2019s warm, and it\u2019s cooling down, that if you go and you crank it down to 50, that it\u2019s going to make it colder. That\u2019s not how it works. Effectively, the way air conditioners work, from my understanding, not a tech, but basically it just shoots out the cool air until it reaches the temperature that you want it to reach. Just because you put it at 50 doesn\u2019t mean that the actual air is coming out any colder. That\u2019s not how it works.
It just will basically keep running continually until it reaches 50 degrees, which is effectively impossible for any old AC system in a house. I mean, maybe it is, but I doubt it. What do you think happened? The guest goes in. They\u2019re like, \u201cIt\u2019s a little warm.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cAll right, just turn it down.\u201d Basically, they turned it down to 50, and because it was already basically cool, they never turned it back up. So, the AC basically ran for hours and hours and hours, and it froze up. The coil froze up. I was like, \u201cMan,\u201d and so they were basically out of AC for that day until the coil melted and could actually start to function again.
This, again, a very expensive repair for me, because I had to get the AC guy to come out, and both times, he\u2019s like, \u201cYep, here\u2019s the good news. There\u2019s not much I can do. Here\u2019s the bad news. It\u2019s going to take about 68 hours for this to thaw.\u201d I was like, \u201cBeautiful.\u201d I think that one put me back around total, that AC system that week, I want to say it was about $2,600, man. It was a fatty.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Wow. I mean, have you tried Nest or Ecobee or any of these smart thermostats? That\u2019s what I have, and I can control my tenants, what they\u2019re doing with the thermostat. I pretty much let them do it. I mostly use it because I only have one short-term rental, but it\u2019s in the mountains in Colorado. I don\u2019t need it heated in the winter if no one\u2019s at the place, so I can control it and turn it up. I wonder if that same thing would work for an AC.<\/p>\n

Rob:
It would. Actually, that was my learning experience.<\/p>\n

Dave:
There we go.<\/p>\n

Rob:
This is really what it comes down to is that I don\u2019t typically go out and replace things willy-nilly, unless I really have to. So if a house has a functioning thermostat, I\u2019m not really going to go in and spend $200 and then whatever it might cost an AC tech to come out and swap it out, because it works, right? There\u2019s no problem with that. When I actually moved into this house, and I was getting it ready for Airbnb and everything, one of the thermostats was faulty, and so I actually did upgrade that to the Nest. However, Dave, I have three air conditioning units on this property.
The other two thermostats were still the more primitive thermostats, just your typical one, not controlled by wifi. But now knowing the ramifications of that, and the fact, the Nest, like you say, you can set a bottom out of 70 degrees. That way, even if they try, they can\u2019t get it any colder. It shouldn\u2019t really matter, because you\u2019ll never really need it to be colder than 70 degrees. I mean, if you wanted it to be 68, I guess you could still put that at your bottom, but it would at least block the people who try to do the whole hotel thing where they walk in, set it to 50, and leave so that it\u2019s freezing when they come back.<\/p>\n

Dave:
All right. I mean, they\u2019re not cheap, but they can\u2019t be worthwhile. Pain in the butt to install too, depending on your wiring, but they are very useful. That\u2019s a good lesson. All right, what\u2019s number four?<\/p>\n

Rob:
Oh man, this one was a flub. I will say I\u2019m dumb, but also, I have automations in place for this exact reason. All right, so a guest calls me, all right, and she says, \u201cHey, I\u2019m coming to your house. I\u2019m really excited. Can you shoot me the address?\u201d I think she texted me that. Now, I have automations in place that the day before you check in, I send you all that information. I say, \u201cHey, all that information is in the trip details under your reservation. Also, here\u2019s your guest book. It\u2019s a digital guide, and if you use this, it\u2019ll give you all the check-in instructions,\u201d so I rarely have people that call me for this type of thing.
Actually, it\u2019s pretty much, I would say in the last year, maybe two people, maybe. But there is one house, the house that I was just talking about. Sometimes I might get that type of question, because there\u2019s not a lot of service there, and so I figured maybe they weren\u2019t able to get the Airbnb app pulled up. So I was like, you know what, instead of being mini passive aggressive and saying, \u201cAs per the message I sent you literally two hours ago, here\u2019s the information.\u201d I was just like, \u201cI\u2019m going to help her out,\u201d so I shoot her the address via text. She calls me, and she says, \u201cHey, this isn\u2019t the house.\u201d
I was like, \u201cWhat? Can you clarify? What exactly do you mean by that?\u201d She\u2019s like, \u201cThis looks completely different from the photos.\u201d So, sometimes you do have guests that are\u2026 They\u2019re like, \u201cHey, these photos make the place look a lot more spacious than it is, or you used the filter on this, and this is actually\u2026\u201d You might have that every so often. I was really just trying to get to the heart of the frustration or the issue. She\u2019s like, \u201cWell, we booked a chalet, and the photo or, sorry, the house that we\u2019re at is a house. It\u2019s like a cottage.\u201d
So when she texted me, and she said, \u201cI\u2019m on the way to your house.\u201d I thought she meant the house, not my cabin\/chalet, so I texted her the wrong address to the wrong house. I was just like, \u201cMan, I should have just done the passive-aggressive thing, and said, \u201cBy the way, I sent this information to you yesterday, and this was\u2026\u201d I was like, \u201cMan, I was just so annoyed with myself, because I just didn\u2019t ask.\u201d So luckily, the house was only\u2026 I mean, I don\u2019t know. Now, I guess I\u2019m not going to say luckily, but it was 45 minutes away. So luckily, it was within reach. Unluckily, it was pretty far away still.
They weren\u2019t really happy about it. I was like, \u201cHey, I\u2019m sorry.\u201d I always call. If there\u2019s a really big issue, I call. Text is not a really good place to work something out with a guest. So I call him like, \u201cHey, I\u2019m so sorry. This has never happened before. I have two houses. Typically, people call me about this one. This is on me. I\u2019m sorry.\u201d She\u2019s like, \u201cNo. No, it\u2019s okay.\u201d I mean, her husband, you could hear him in the background, and he was like, \u201cAsk him if he\u2019s sure. Is he sure that this new address is definitely it?\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cIt is. It is. I\u2019m so sorry. I\u2019m the worst.\u201d
The learning experience here is just to double check. She gave me her name. She was like, \u201cMy name is Megan.\u201d I was like, \u201cI casually remembered that,\u201d and I didn\u2019t think to check. I was like, \u201cOh yeah, here it is.\u201d If I had just taken 10 more seconds, I could have saved them 45 minutes, right? Again, that one was a flub on my end. I have the automations in place, but you still can\u2019t automate flubs like that, where you just don\u2019t check, right? I should have double checked. That one\u2019s on me.<\/p>\n

Dave:
I mean, being on the receiving end of those passive aggressive host emails recently, I do think they do it for a reason. I\u2019ve asked that question that they\u2019ve definitely sent me the answer to. They\u2019re like, \u201cJust check your housing book.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, yeah, I should do that.\u201d Then when you read, that\u2019s like, \u201cActually, the host put in a lot of time into this, and I should have probably read it like an adult, instead of just sending the host questions.\u201d But yeah, man, I don\u2019t know how you avoid that one. That\u2019s just it. We\u2019re all human thing. It just happens.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Well, yeah. I\u2019m busy too, so I\u2019m living my life, and I automate this for the sole purpose of not having to deal with this kind of stuff. My assistant helps me with all this too. I think she was just busy. Whenever I can\u2026 You know what, my phone number\u2019s on the account, so she reached out to me, and I was like, \u201cAll right, I\u2019m just going to make this super easy, boom, boom, boom.\u201d Then I get a call. Again, this is a 30-minute conversation, and me checking in and being overbearing with hospitality at that point, and being like, \u201cI\u2019m so sorry.\u201d
Let\u2019s move on to the next one, which is a bit juicier. This one, there was a learning experience that I\u2026 Let me just say, for everyone listening at home, I do hate this one the most probably out of all the ones that I\u2019m going to talk about. But I think if you hear me out, you can understand how it would\u2019ve happened. It\u2019s August, and August on the east coast is not the coldest time really. It\u2019s pretty warm, but we do have a cast iron stove in our cabins. We allow people to use that. That\u2019s an amenity that people like.
We had a guest who wanted to light a fire in the cast iron stove in the middle of August when it was 95 degrees, maybe 98 degrees and completely human. So already, that\u2019s just a weird scenario that isn\u2019t going to happen. But effectively, when they opened the cast iron stove, there was a pair of blue jays in there, the birds.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Living in there?<\/p>\n

Rob:
No. No, they were dead.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Dying in there. Oh no.<\/p>\n

Rob:
I mean, they looked relatively fresh. They weren\u2019t, I don\u2019t know, rigor mortis or anything like-<\/p>\n

Dave:
Wait, how did they get in there?<\/p>\n

Rob:
Well, because there\u2019s a flue that goes out to the roof, and so they made a nest.<\/p>\n

Dave:
They were nesting in there.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Yes, exactly. They made a nest. Basically, I guess the nest fell through, because you could see, and they couldn\u2019t\u2026 Poor little things could not make their way out, which is that\u2019s how it works. A little sad, honestly.<\/p>\n

Dave:
It is sad.<\/p>\n

Rob:
That one is just\u2026 We had to apologize. I\u2019m like, \u201cI\u2019m so sorry. Please understand. Well, a, typically, people don\u2019t use this, so we don\u2019t open it.\u201d My guests\u2026 Sorry, my cleaners, it is their job to check the cast iron stove literally between every stay whenever it\u2019s being used. But when it\u2019s not being used, it stays empty. I\u2019ve had many cast iron stoves. I\u2019ve had chimneys. This is not something that\u2019s really ever happened, and so learning experience for all of us, and it\u2019s, \u201cHey, just because the space isn\u2019t being used does not mean that you shouldn\u2019t check it.\u201d
For the most part, it is actually on our cleaning list to check unused spaces like coffee makers, microwaves, cabinets, closets, garages. All that kind of stuff is checked, but a cast iron stove is really more of an aesthetic thing for that part of the year, and so my\u2026 Also, like I said, my cleaner, she\u2019s effectively sweating when she\u2019s in there because it\u2019s hot outside, and she doesn\u2019t blast the AC on or anything to be respectful and everything, so she didn\u2019t check.
Now, our learning experience from this is, \u201cHey, literally, every nook and cranny of the house must be checked very diligently first thing before you ever leave the house.\u201d Now, it is part of our cleaning routine to check for dead blue jays.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Wow. I mean, everyone out there, make sure. Check for dead blue jays, very important part of your checklist. Honestly, I have a similar thing, a wood burning stove. I would never even think about that. Especially in the summer, I don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s checking in there. I mean, who\u2019s starting a fire when it\u2019s already so hot? But people want to do it. It\u2019s tough. It\u2019s a learning situation though.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Right. Well, and here\u2019s the deal, regardless of whether it was hot or not, there were blue jays in there. So if we had gotten to October, and no one would ever have opened it, there still would\u2019ve been blue Jays in there, right?<\/p>\n

Dave:
Sure.<\/p>\n

Rob:
At some point, the other shoe was going to drop. But again, maybe at that point, once we start cleaning it out and getting it ready for use, then it would\u2019ve been discovered, but it doesn\u2019t really matter. I take the L on that one too, because I\u2019m like, \u201cWell, it\u2019s such a rare thing that\u2026\u201d That\u2019s what processes and systems are all about, right? Something happens that disrupts your day or your workflow significantly, and so you go back to your team and all of your employees or all of your vendors, and you say, \u201cHow can we prevent this from ever happening again?\u201d
All of these things are a form of a system. I now have a manual lockbox outside of my house. I now have a nest thermostat in this house. I have the automations because people always would call me and ask me for directions to my house. I said, \u201cI\u2019m going to put this automation in place.\u201d That one obviously failed on me that one time, but that has stopped this problem from happening. Then now, there were blue jays in my wood burning stove, and so it disrupted my Sunday or my Saturday. I\u2019m like, \u201cThis will never happen again, and here\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do to make sure.\u201d
So if you\u2019re listening to this at home, please don\u2019t judge. I mean, this really still happens at a large scale, especially with 35 units, this stuff, this is just another week for us. Stuff like this goes wrong all the time. Then we just say, \u201cAll right, this can never happen again. Let\u2019s fix it.\u201d Now, we\u2019ll say typically this week was a little bit worse, probably the worst week I\u2019ve had in a very long time. But all to say, I was never really freaking out because I was like, \u201cWell\u2026\u201d I laugh about these things at this point. I\u2019m like, \u201cAll right, that was dumb of me, or that\u2019s a dumb situation. Let\u2019s fix it. Move on. Who\u2019s going to fix it?\u201d
Obviously, it\u2019s not going to be me, because I don\u2019t live in the same place as any of my rentals. So all of this is a learning experience, and just understand this will happen to you at home, sorry, at your short-term rentals all the time. You just have to keep your head cool, and move on because you can\u2019t shut down the business just because you failed one time or 10, like I did this week.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Well, it\u2019s not all failure, but I get your point. I mean, you can\u2019t expect perfection. It\u2019s not a personal failure. These things just happen, but your point is well taken.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Thanks for the sympathy, man. I\u2019ve been really down on myself.<\/p>\n

Dave:
I\u2019m just supporting you, man. I mean, if you counted everything that went wrong, and real estate investing is a personal loss, man, that would be a depressing lifestyle. It just goes wrong.<\/p>\n

Rob:
But the good is really good, right? You read the reviews, and you\u2019re like, \u201cI turned this one around. I think I\u2019m always more proud of this kind of stuff happening, and then the guest leaves me a five-star review because of how, out of my way, I went to make it a great experience for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave:
Sure.<\/p>\n

Rob:
For, I think, 90% of these, I think that worked out. Nine out of 10, I think everyone was relatively happy by the end.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Good.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Moving on to the second half of this list, number six, oh man, see, this one, not my fault, but we\u2019ll let the audience be the judge of it. Number six, the guests that stayed at my cabin lied about how clean this cabin was.<\/p>\n

Dave:
When they got there?<\/p>\n

Rob:
Yeah. They reached out, and they\u2019re like, \u201cHey, we\u2019re super unhappy about the cleanliness of this place, and we\u2019re not comfortable staying here, and so we want a refund. We\u2019re going to leave.\u201d My first assumption when this happens all the time is like, \u201cOh man, my cleaner\u2019s going to have it. Let\u2019s have\u2026\u201d I\u2019m just like, \u201cAll right, no. No, let\u2019s just think about it.\u201d So obviously, I don\u2019t ever come at my cleaners like that, but naturally, I\u2019m like, \u201cHow could this\u2026 How could it be so dirty that they would feel this way?\u201d
We reached out. We\u2019re so confused because we had just hired these cleaners. We interviewed them. They were amazing. They\u2019re like, \u201cHere\u2019s our process. Here\u2019s our list. We take photos of everything beforehand. We\u2019re going to send you timestamped photos of every clean, so you can see it.\u201d They had actually done one clean for us, and it was really great. The guest was like, \u201cAn amazingly clean place,\u201d and so we were like, \u201cOkay, they\u2019re great.\u201d So when this guest reaches out and says that it was left dirty, our first thought is that they forgot to basically clean the place.
I mean, this has happened to me before in my career, in my short-term rental journey. We reached out, and we\u2019re like, \u201cHey, I\u2019m sorry to bring this up, but here\u2019s what the guest just said.\u201d We sent them photos. The photos, mind you, weren\u2019t really\u2026 They weren\u2019t\u2026 Let me tell you what the photos were. The photos were\u2026 There was a string of hair on the sink, and then there was a used towel in the bathtub, which is how we tell people\u2026 We always say, \u201cHey, can you leave the towel in the bathtub, so we know that it\u2019s dirty?\u201d
So, we bring this up to the attention of the cleaners, and the cleaners basically say, \u201cHey, listen, I don\u2019t want to get into this with your guests, but they are lying. I can guarantee you they\u2019re lying. You\u2019ve talked to us. You know how seriously we take our job. You know that we\u2019re very good.\u201d So we were like, \u201cMaybe they\u2019re right.\u201d Basically, what happens is this guest is like, \u201cHey, we\u2019re going to leave. I\u2019m sorry. We\u2019re not comfortable.\u201d We\u2019re like, \u201cAll right, we\u2019re checking with our cleaner. Let\u2019s just get to the bottom of this, because we want to\u2026 Can we just send her back out so that she can clean this, and make this right?\u201d
That\u2019s always my first thing. If someone\u2019s unhappy about something, I try to fix it as soon as possible. They\u2019re like, \u201cNo, sorry, we\u2019re not comfortable with that. We\u2019re just going to leave.\u201d I\u2019m just like, \u201cOkay, fine.\u201d We send out the photos to the cleaner, and she says, \u201cHey, that white towel, you don\u2019t even have white towels. They said that the dishes were all dirty. When you called me earlier today, I was literally unloading the dishwasher. You know that I washed the dishes, and you know that you don\u2019t even have white towels.\u201d
Then she\u2019s like, \u201cWait a minute, hold on one second.\u201d She sent me a photo of this one towel that they put in the bathtub at the very bottom of a stack of 10 towels in the laundry room that she took a photo of that was timestamped. She\u2019s like, \u201cThere you go. This was a photo that I sent you today of the laundry room of that towel that we don\u2019t even put out for guests. That\u2019s our personal cleaning towel. They took that towel, because it\u2019s our cleaning towel, and they put it in the bathtub to make it look like we left it there. We don\u2019t use that towel.\u201d
I was just like, \u201cOh yeah.\u201d Again, this is a two or three-hour conversation between me, my business partner, my assistant, the cleaners, and the guests. I mean, it really set us back that Sunday night. This all happens on a Sunday, I feel like.<\/p>\n

Dave:
I mean, what\u2026 That\u2019s just mean. Do you think they just had another place or\u2026 What? That\u2019s weird.<\/p>\n

Rob:
There\u2019s a couple things here, Dave. Basically, it\u2019s not really that secluded, but it is in the country. It\u2019s not really that creepy. It\u2019s like there are houses in sight, but there\u2019s a highway in front of it. So, there could be a multitude of reasons. They could have found out that it was just farther than they thought, which we advertise all that stuff very specifically. They could have been turned off by the somewhat seclusion of it. They could have been a little creeped out.
Dude, this happens all the time. People get to a property, and it really matches up to what we say it\u2019s going to be from a seclusion standpoint. They get in their head, and they\u2019re like, \u201cOh my god, I can\u2019t stay here,\u201d and then they try to find a reason to basically leave. That\u2019s what happened to us this round.<\/p>\n

Dave:
All right. I mean, this one is weird to me, because I don\u2019t even know what you do about something like this. But is there anything you took away from this?<\/p>\n

Rob:
Yes. It\u2019s that you\u2019re going to have the occasional guest that lies that is just trying to get out of things. This is just a part of doing business, right? So me and my partner were talking this out, so does my assistant, and then I\u2019m just like, \u201cOh, heck no. We\u2019re not\u2026 No, I won\u2019t stand for this. I can\u2019t believe that they would throw our cleaners under the bus, because we had verified\u2026\u201d I mean, the cleaners flat out basically proved that they were lying just to get a refund.
So I was like, \u201cHere\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do. We\u2019re going to call our Airbnb. We\u2019re going to get to the bottom of this. We\u2019re going to let them know what happened. We\u2019re going to show them the proof. We\u2019re going to cancel this reservation, and I\u2019m not going to refund this guy, because this is something that\u2026 He\u2019s trying to basically pull one over on us.\u201d I was like, \u201cI\u2019m not going to have that in my business.\u201d So my partner and my assistant, they\u2019re like, \u201cWe agree. I think you\u2019re handling this very well considering what the circumstance is.\u201d I was like, \u201cGive me some time. Let me put my daughter down, and I\u2019ll let you know.\u201d
You know the phrase cooler heads prevail, right? I think that\u2019s the phrase, anyways. I put my daughter down, and I don\u2019t know. Just my daughter is the joy of my life, so I was just like, \u201cI left\u2026\u201d After I put her down, and I walked out of our room, and I was like, \u201cIt\u2019s not that big of a deal. I mean, it\u2019s $500. If this reservation was $2,009, maybe I would\u2019ve been more adamant about it, but it\u2019s $500.\u201d I was like, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter. It really doesn\u2019t. On the scale of a 15-unit portfolio\u2026\u201d I flip flop from 15 to 35 a lot, because they\u2019re two separate animals, and the cash flow are different, and there\u2019s investors and all that stuff.
But on my personal 15-unit portfolio, $500 is such a tiny, tiny sliver of the monthly income, and so it just was not worth the several hours. When you value your time, and you have an hourly rate assigned to your time, you got to think about it, and you\u2019re like, \u201cIs it worth $500 for me to spend the next two hours dealing with Airbnb, And then the next 10 hours dealing with a disgruntled guest?\u201d If they are disgruntled, and they went to these lengths to basically lie and get a refund, what links would they go to win this?\u201d They have the check-in information. They can come back. They can break in. They can sabotage us in some capacity.
My name is attached to this in some capacity, the Robuilt name. I believe in that, right, from my brand perspective. I\u2019m just like, \u201cIt\u2019s not worth the $500,\u201d and so I basically sent a long thing to my partner and my assistant. It was like, \u201cHey, here\u2019s what I\u2019m thinking. We just let it go. We just refund them, and we just pretend like this didn\u2019t happen, and we rebook it. How do you feel about that?\u201d Because I wanted to give my partner a chance to chime in, and he was like, \u201cYou know what? I think you\u2019re right. Every so often, we\u2019re going to have a guest like this, and it doesn\u2019t happen really ever.\u201d
\u201cSo because it\u2019s the first time this has ever happened, let\u2019s just take the L, and move on.\u201d I was like, \u201cGreat.\u201d You know what, I slept much better that night.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Man, I mean, I think that\u2019s such a good lesson, because this happens in so many different things in real estate just when you\u2019re dealing with tenants or just\u2026 It\u2019s not even necessarily with tenants. It\u2019s like you get yourself worked up about short-term things, whether it\u2019s how a long-term rental guest leaves your place, or a short-term rental place. Honestly, you got to just take a look at the long view, man. Of course, you don\u2019t want to let people take advantage of you, and you don\u2019t want to be sloppy with the way you handle your expenses.
But at the end of the day, man, you invest in real estate to make your life better. If it\u2019s stressing you out, it\u2019s just not worth it.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Right.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Luckily, like you said, cooler heads prevail, and you just have to think about long-term view. Think about how you can avoid these situations in the long term, but not get yourself too worked up about any individual problem.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Well, I\u2019d be curious on your side of things, because I know you have a lot of rentals, and I know you talked about how you have a property manager on your short-term rental. What\u2019s that like? I mean, that\u2019s got to be pretty relaxing, right? Does everyone manage your properties, or do you do any self-management?<\/p>\n

Dave:
Well, for my rentals, I did self-management for eight years. I was doing that for quite a while. But when I moved to Europe, I\u2019ve outsourced most of my management of my long-term rentals. I actually still do a lot of the leasing. I do a lot of the legal stuff like negotiating new leases, setting the prices, that kind of stuff. But, I have someone do maintenance essentially for me, and turning the properties. With the short-term rental, I am pretty hands off. They come to me. There\u2019s certain dollar thresholds where it\u2019s basically like, if the expense is going to be over $200, they need my verbal approval so they\u2019ll call me or email me, and that\u2019s super easy.
But for the most part, I\u2019ve never talked to a short-term rental tenant ever. I\u2019ve had the place for four years. That\u2019s makes it a little bit easier, but you pay a lot for it. It\u2019s definitely not-<\/p>\n

Rob:
You do.<\/p>\n

Dave:
\u2026 efficient from a financial standpoint. But for me just living abroad, I have chosen to-<\/p>\n

Rob:
It has to be done.<\/p>\n

Dave:
\u2026 to sacrifice a bit of cash flow in exchange for peace of mind, sort of like what you\u2019re just saying. Peace of mind\u2019s pretty valuable. I\u2019m willing to pay for it.<\/p>\n

Rob:
It is. It is, and let me just be clear with people. I mean, for me, I don\u2019t want to\u2026 I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t want to undermine how much $500 can be for someone at home. If this was your only rental, and that $500 is the difference between making your mortgage or breaking even or making a profit, fight for it. If it\u2019s just your one, and you got the time, stick to your guns. Do it. There\u2019s no problem with that at all.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Totally.<\/p>\n

Rob:
In this situation, it\u2019s just not worth it for me at this level, right? $500 for the amount of time that\u2026 The thing is I already know what was going to happen. We\u2019re going to say no. He\u2019s going to message me for the next 10 days all mad. I\u2019m going to respond, and then he\u2019s going to get heated, and then I\u2019ll probably be heated, and then we never talk to\u2026 It is just not worth it. So I think for anyone starting out, stick to your guns. Choose your battles. That\u2019s effectively what this whole list is about. I\u2019m very pro self-management, and sometimes I have to choose all my battles, and sometimes I have to walk away from all of them just because there\u2019s 15 units.
The show must go on regardless of emotion, right? So if you can pull that out of the equation, and basically just focus on the objectivity of this, then you\u2019ll hopefully just look at the final tally at the end of the month versus the profitability every single day. I think that\u2019s the trap that a lot of people fall into. It\u2019s like, \u201cOh, this is the reservation that makes me profitable or not.\u201d There\u2019s so much more at stake when you look at it that way versus the monthly bird\u2019s eye view and the yearly bird\u2019s eye view.<\/p>\n

Dave:
No, that\u2019s a great point. I\u2019m glad you said that, because that\u2019s definitely true. If it is your first property, and it\u2019s $500, and you\u2019re really relying on that, you\u2019re going to treat it differently. But as you scale, you just encounter different problems, and need to prioritize your time a little bit differently.<\/p>\n

Rob:
For sure. For sure. All right, well, this next one, I can\u2019t make this up, Dave. I can\u2019t make this up. I really can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Dave:
I\u2019m nervous now.<\/p>\n

Rob:
We were setting up a place here in Texas, a new Airbnb, with an investor. Basically, we make this very easy for the investor. Investor comes in. They invest. They finance the property. We set it up. We\u2019re the operations. We furnish it. We do all that kind of stuff, right? Good and bad there. The bad is we do everything, and we have to furnish everything. That in and of itself is an adventure. However, this particular house didn\u2019t have a fridge, so we bought a fridge, and that the wrong fridge was delivered to our house. Not one time, Dave. Not two times, Dave. Not three times, Dave.<\/p>\n

Dave:
No. No.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Not four times, Dave. Not five times, Dave. Six times in a week.<\/p>\n

Dave:
What? Wait. Is it the same fridge they keep trying to deliver, or did you have six different fridges delivered?<\/p>\n

Rob:
Six different fridges, they were wrong. We had the right one at first. That one came in. It was broken. They sent it back. They sent another one. That one wasn\u2019t counter depth, so it stuck out like a foot, because they were like, \u201cHey, this one should fit exactly the same specifications. We\u2019re out of the other one.\u201d Then they didn\u2019t show up, and then they did show up. So six deliveries later, we finally have a fridge.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Oh my God. Oh man.<\/p>\n

Rob:
I felt so bad, dude. I felt so bad for my business partner. He\u2019s the operations guy. He was there handling it. Man, I mean, we should have been done with this in a week, but it took two weeks. He was there for a whole week.<\/p>\n

Dave:
God.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Then they would say, \u201cHey, we\u2019re going to deliver it tomorrow,\u201d and so he would drive an hour and a half the night before to go wait. Then the morning of, they would say, \u201cHey, just kidding. We\u2019re going to reschedule this to tomorrow.\u201d He\u2019d be like, \u201cOkay, well, I\u2019m just going to stay the night.\u201d Then he would stay the night, and they still wouldn\u2019t come and deliver the fridge. Then they did, and then it was the wrong fridge.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Oh my\u2026<\/p>\n

Rob:
Dude, this is not an exaggeration. Every day, he would text me. He was like, \u201cAll right, we\u2019re on fridge delivery number four now, number five.\u201d Then, man, I felt so bad. No learning experiences here. This is just one of those things.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Just a real annoying situation. I guess this is just part of the appliance supply chain issue, right?<\/p>\n

Rob:
It is. It is.<\/p>\n

Dave:
It\u2019s tough to get anything right now. So if anything goes wrong, I feel like it just cascades and sets off this chain of events where it\u2019s super hard. It\u2019s not like you just drive to Home Depot anymore, and just snag a new fridge. It\u2019s just you could be waiting another couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

Rob:
That was\u2026 I mean, I can\u2019t say this is a learning experience, because this isn\u2019t logical. It\u2019s just it was the perfect storm of stuff. The only thing that we could have done differently was rent our own truck, go to Home Depot or Lowe\u2019s. Pick out the correct fridge. Hope that it was in stock. Put it in the truck. Hire someone to help us unload it and install it in the house. That\u2019s the only thing that we could\u2019ve possibly done a little bit different, but it doesn\u2019t\u2026 Logically, you would\u2019ve expected after the second mishap that the fridge would\u2019ve come, so it\u2019s bad luck. Just bad luck on this, especially since it happened on the same week as all this other stuff.<\/p>\n

Dave:
I mean, honestly, I think that\u2019s actually a really interesting point, because it\u2019s like\u2026 We\u2019re talking about how to prevent these things and lessons learned, but sometimes you just got to say, \u201cI did the highest probability thing, and it didn\u2019t work out.\u201d That\u2019s okay. You\u2019re going to have to deal with these things, because if you\u2026 What you did, what you\u2019re saying you could do as an alternative, it\u2019s just not really practical to do that for everything, so it\u2019s just you got to be like, \u201cThis stinks. It\u2019s annoying, but I\u2019m not going to drive my tie myself in knots to try and avoid this one, because it probably won\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rob:
No. No. Well, hold on, sir.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Knock on wood. Actively knock on wood. Oh no.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Let\u2019s move on to number eight.<\/p>\n

Dave:
No.<\/p>\n

Rob:
All right, so this one\u2019s funny. This is a different property in California. My dishwasher went out, and it wasn\u2019t working. Cleaner says, \u201cHey, it\u2019s not draining the correct way.\u201d I was like, \u201cOh, well, all right, let me get someone out.\u201d I hire a plumber that\u2026 He\u2019s actually\u2026 His name is Richard, all right? He works at Home Depot. Him and I have always had a\u2026 We\u2019re spirit animals. I go to him. I talk to him about my problems. I\u2019m like, \u201cHey, man, I need a faucet today.\u201d He\u2019s like, \u201cYeah, but what else is new with Rob?\u201d
I\u2019m like, \u201cI\u2019m so glad to ask Richard.\u201d He\u2019s my guy. He\u2019s my go-to guy for plumbing stuff. I\u2019m like, \u201cHey, it\u2019s not draining. I think it\u2019s because the way you install a hose from a dishwasher to a garbage disposal, it has to go up. I don\u2019t really know the details, but basically, it wasn\u2019t like that. So he goes in, and he installs it. He is like, \u201cHey, you\u2019re good. It should work now.\u201d I was like, \u201cGreat.\u201d Basically, cleaner comes the next day to finish the job. She\u2019s like, \u201cHey, it\u2019s still not draining.\u201d I was like, \u201cDang it.\u201d
I called him, and he said, \u201cOh, that\u2019s probably a motherboard thing then.\u201d I was like, \u201cAll right, sounds good. Let me get a tech out there.\u201d Tech\u2019s like, \u201cAll right, we\u2019ll come out. It\u2019s going to be $150.\u201d I was like, \u201cFantastic. Come and fix this thing.\u201d He comes out, and he basically says, \u201cHey, it is the motherboard. We can fix this. It will cost you about $750.\u201d I was like, \u201cThat\u2019s more than a dishwasher.\u201d He\u2019s like, Yeah, that\u2019s how it is on these appliances. Sometimes it costs more to fix them than to actually replace them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave:
Oh, I get that all the time, man.<\/p>\n

Rob:
That happened to me one time with my\u2026 The very first experience I had with the home warranty, I hit the jackpot, I thought, because the drum inside my dryer broke, and so they were like, \u201cIt\u2019s going to be $1,000 to replace. Here\u2019s $800. Go buy a new one.\u201d This was the first week of living in my house, and I was like, \u201cHome warranties are the greatest.\u201d That\u2019s the only time it\u2019s ever worked out for me. The other 15 claims did not work out for me.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Dude, I wonder if they do that on purpose. They service your first claim really well, and they\u2019re like, \u201cWe\u2019re going to\u2026 Now, Rob\u2019s going to buy a home warranty for every property, and we\u2019re going to screw him over on each.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rob:
Let me tell you, it worked, because I am always like, \u201cI need home warranty.\u201d Now, I\u2019m like, \u201cI don\u2019t even use it.\u201d It\u2019s annoying to use a home warranty.<\/p>\n

Dave:
I know. They are really-<\/p>\n

Rob:
I still pay for it. I\u2019m the dummy here. But basically, so here\u2019s several\u2026 There\u2019s several stabs in the heart on this one, but basically, they come out. They say it\u2019s going to cost $750. This is like the Boyz II Men like, \u201cHow do I say goodbye?\u201d Because this dishwasher, I got for a-<\/p>\n

Dave:
Oh, you have a good voice. Is this a known thing?<\/p>\n

Rob:
No, I don\u2019t know. We\u2019re not going to get into my singing voice now. I\u2019ve got nothing prepared. I\u2019ve got nothing prepared.<\/p>\n

Dave:
I\u2019m impressed.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Basically, I\u2019m real sad to say goodbye to this dishwasher, because I got it for free off of Craigslist five years ago, six years ago. It was a stainless steel one. I was like, \u201cOh my God. Me and my wife were so broke,\u201d and we\u2019re like, \u201cWe got a brand new stainless steel dishwasher.\u201d It really did live its life. It lived it full life. My final talk to this thing, I\u2019m like, \u201cYou wash dishes really well, and I\u2019ll always be thankful for the service you provided to this family.\u201d This dishwasher is null and void. I was like, \u201cMan, I should call my home warranty.\u201d I was like, \u201cOh, I don\u2019t have a home warranty on this. No big deal.\u201d
So fast forward, I buy the dishwasher for this short-term rental, because the guest is like, \u201cHey, your dishwasher\u2026\u201d I was like, \u201cHey, it\u2019s broken, but are you cool to handwash your dishes until I get the dishwasher? Is that cool?\u201d He\u2019s like, \u201cYeah, man. But definitely get it in here, because I\u2019m going use it.\u201d I was like, \u201cAll right, cool.\u201d I order it. They deliver the dishwasher, Dave. The dishwasher is broken. It won\u2019t open, so they call me, and they say, \u201cHey, I\u2019m so sorry it\u2019s broken. We have to send you a new one.\u201d I was like, \u201cPut it on my tab.\u201d
They send it out, and then I\u2019m like, \u201cAll right, they\u2019re going to deliver it.\u201d Several days go by, and I\u2019m like, \u201cThey still don\u2019t deliver it.\u201d I call back. I\u2019m like, \u201cHey, you didn\u2019t redeliver it?\u201d They\u2019re like, \u201cOh yeah, sorry. Just a little life pro tip. We always tell you that we\u2019re going to redeliver it, but you have to call to do that, to initiate it.\u201d I was like, \u201cAll right, fantastic.\u201d They send out the new dishwasher. The delivery guy\u2026 Basically, I don\u2019t really know what happens, but he gets into a screaming match with his manager.
The guest was like, \u201cI don\u2019t know, man, It was so weird. He was on the phone with his manager, and his manager was like, \u201cDo your job.\u201d He\u2019s like, \u201cNo, you do your job.\u201d They were fighting back and forth.\u201d So basically, the guy leaves. He\u2019s like, \u201cI\u2019m not going to install this dishwasher.\u201d I was like, \u201cGreat.\u201d I actually don\u2019t know if this dishwasher\u2026 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s been delivered yet. All to say, fast forward, I actually looked into it. I do have a home warranty on this that would\u2019ve covered this because the mother board was broken. I would\u2019ve just gotten this all handled.
The one time that the home warranty would\u2019ve worked for me actually was this time, and I didn\u2019t even know. I\u2019ve been on the phone with Home Depot trying to coordinate the delivery with the delivery guy, and then this guy, and then they say that they\u2019re going to schedule it, and then they\u2019re going to reschedule it. Then they call me, and they\u2019re like, \u201cJust kidding. I don\u2019t know why he told you that. He doesn\u2019t even work for us. He\u2019s some random guy that just plays pranks.\u201d I\u2019m just kidding. That didn\u2019t happen, but that\u2019s how it feels.
It really\u2026 I mean, I\u2019m just like, \u201cUgh, appliances, supply chains, deliveries, leaving it in the hands of big box stores.\u201d Dave, it just didn\u2019t work out for me. No lesson to be learned here other than don\u2019t buy new appliances. Get them for free on Craigslist. They last a lot longer.<\/p>\n

Dave:
For sure. Wow. I was going to say not likely to happen again, but you proved me wrong in the course of one second. Oh man. All right.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Two more, and then I\u2019ll leave us with an encouraging word to inspire people back into self-management. I promise.<\/p>\n

Dave:
All right. What do you got?<\/p>\n

Rob:
Our pool at our motel was days from ruin.<\/p>\n

Dave:
What do you mean?<\/p>\n

Rob:
I don\u2019t even know how to\u2026 Basically, we bought this motel, an inspector comes out. He\u2019s like, \u201cHey, the chlorine you\u2019re using is illegal.\u201d We\u2019re like, \u201cOh, that\u2019s fun. Thank you. Thank you for letting us know.\u201d We have to empty the pool. It wasn\u2019t in use. It was already shut down. It needed maintenance anyways. But basically, we have to empty out the pool, which is a hard thing to do. The filter, the pumps, they\u2019re broken. Like I said, it was already shut down. Basically, we empty out the pool. The previous, not the person who sold us the motel, but the person before that runs into the hotel and is like, \u201cHey, you can\u2019t have the pool empty.\u201d
We\u2019re like, \u201cWhy?\u201d They\u2019re like, \u201cWe just installed a new liner. The last time that we did this, the liner tore, and the walls caved in, and it costs us $20,000 to fix. You have to fill it up with water as soon as possible.\u201d We\u2019re like, \u201cRight. Hold on. We\u2019re going to do our best,\u201d and so basically, we tried to fill it up with water. The pumps are broken, so we have to go and get the water hauled in professionally from some random company an hour and a half away to fill up this pool. I think we were too late, and there was already a tear. The tear happened in the liner anyways. The walls didn\u2019t collapse.
It\u2019s all fixable, but it was all just one of those things where it\u2019s like, we\u2019re all trying to call pool companies. No one in the one and a half mile radius from Tupper Lake will do that. They\u2019re like, \u201cSorry, it\u2019s just we don\u2019t have a company nearby.\u201d That\u2019s it. I mean, that was like, \u201cOh, okay.\u201d Learning experience there, I don\u2019t know. Pools I\u2019m already finicky on. I don\u2019t like pools. I don\u2019t like hot tubs. Watch my YouTube channel, and you\u2019ll understand why. There\u2019s so much maintenance.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Really?<\/p>\n

Rob:
Yeah.<\/p>\n

Dave:
It\u2019s true. Actually, I have a hot tub, and it\u2019s probably the number one thing I have to pay for, and it makes the electricity bill absolutely insane. But, they do say that you get more bookings because of it. I think-<\/p>\n

Rob:
You do.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Mine\u2019s in a ski town. People love going in a hot tub after they go skiing.<\/p>\n

Rob:
You need it. I mean, hot tubs are they add up to 39, maybe it\u2019s $49 to your ADR, your average daily rate.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Wow. Worth it. Worth it.<\/p>\n

Rob:
It\u2019s a net positive, but stuff goes wrong all the time, dude, all the time with my hot tubs. Actually, nothing went wrong last week, which is weird to say that, because that\u2019s always the one thing that goes wrong in my whole portfolio.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Don\u2019t say that that out loud. Now, you\u2019re going to be cursed.<\/p>\n

Rob:
No. Well, this doesn\u2019t come out for a while, so maybe I\u2019ll be okay until it comes out, until it\u2019s out in the ether. That one was\u2026 But we were already budgeting a $10,000 repair on that pool. We were over budgeting. We were really padding it. It looks like we\u2019re going to use pretty much every dollar of that now. Not anything that we could have prevented because of the circumstances, but learning experience there is don\u2019t keep a pool empty. Apparently, it\u2019s really bad for a pool if it\u2019s got a liner. New knowledge for everyone at home.<\/p>\n

Dave:
All right. Round it out. What\u2019s our last one? Is this going to be positive, or are we going to get some uplifting news here?<\/p>\n

Rob:
I think so. This one was definitely a customer service, not mishap, I guess save the day, all right? Guest reaches out, and she says, \u201cHey, I just got to your cabin. Listen, I\u2019m not confrontational at all. I usually would let this go, but this and this and this was wrong.\u201d Basically, there was a hair on the ground. It\u2019s always just a single hair. I think there was two spots in the house where there was a hair. The string lights were broken. They didn\u2019t turn on. We don\u2019t really know why. The string lights, they just\u2026 I don\u2019t know. They were two years old at that point.
Then the French doors in the living room wouldn\u2019t lock. They would just open. So, this is typically not a big deal, because it\u2019s on the second story, and no one can actually break in. I mean, kudos to anyone who breaks in this way, I guess. However, we do have bears all the time on this property, and so I think they were really just scared that a bear could break in. Because actually, they do go up on that second story balcony all the time, so it is a plausible scenario that a bear could just be like and then open the door basically.
I\u2019m like, \u201cOh my God. I\u2019m so sorry. Let me fix all this for you. I\u2019m the worst. Please forgive me. I\u2019m going to make this up to you. Please, we need this five star.\u201d Anyway, you don\u2019t know what kind of week I\u2019ve had, lady. Basically, my cleaners are amazing, man. They really are. Anytime something like that happens, they\u2019re like, \u201cWe\u2019re on it.\u201d I called them. They\u2019re like, \u201cWe\u2019ll be right out.\u201d Literally, they show up 15 minutes later, and the lady\u2019s like, \u201cOh my God. You are fast.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cI know. Look, if I have an unhappy guest, I\u2019m going to make them happy.\u201d
I get my handyman out there. He says, \u201cHey, French doors actually do work, but there\u2019s a lock at the top of it. Let them know.\u201d They\u2019re like, \u201cOh my God. I\u2019m so dumb. I\u2019m sorry. You\u2019re right. It does lock.\u201d I was like, \u201cNo big deal.\u201d Third thing, he comes out and he fixes all the string lights.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Nice.<\/p>\n

Rob:
He replaces them all within a day. So basically, I will say, dude, I killed it on this one, right? All of these, I try to kill it on, but you never\u2026 Depending on how disgruntled a guest is, there\u2019s nothing you can do to make it right, even if you\u2019re going over and beyond. But on this one, because I was able to fix all the problems within basically an hour or two, and there wasn\u2019t a power\u2026 Oh man, this is annoying. There wasn\u2019t a power cord on my Amazon Prime, because the previous guests stole it, so the actual TV, Netflix and stuff wasn\u2019t working. I had my handyman go out and buy Ruckus, and replace it.
I\u2019m just like\u2026 I\u2019m like, \u201cAll right, here\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen, lady. Sit down because you don\u2019t even understand how fast this is about to go.\u201d I just got Russell out there. He\u2019s going to Lowe\u2019s. He\u2019s snapping next and cashing checks. He\u2019s getting new Ruckus. I just ordered 48 linear feet of string lights. They\u2019re LED. They will save me money on electricity, and thus provide you the adequate lighting that you need around this hot tub. My cleaners will be right there.\u201d I\u2019m just putting it all out. She\u2019s like, \u201cOh my God, thank you so much.\u201d
She ends the\u2026 She was like, \u201cThis is amazing. I\u2019ve never had service this, five stars.\u201d She leaves me that and her emojis and stuff. I\u2019m like, \u201cGreat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave:
Awesome.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Then she checks out, and she just says like, \u201cHey, I just wanted to reach out one more time. This was so amazing. I got to see a bear with my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave:
Oh, cool.<\/p>\n

Rob:
She took a photo of a note that she basically wrote. It was really nice, dude. I always get emotional when I read this stuff, because I\u2019m almost like, \u201cThat\u2019s\u2026\u201d She was so nice. She basically wrote this whole little note that was on a sticky note with lines on it. She filled out every inch of it. She was basically like, \u201cI made new memories here. I got to bond with my daughter. We saw a bear. Your customer service was so great.\u201d That rounds us all out to basically say that, look, there will be bad. There will be good. I just want everyone to know it\u2019s okay, because the good truly, truly, truly outweighs the bad.
If you go down my ratings on Airbnb, I\u2019ve got ratings across the board, man. I\u2019ve got 2,000 ratings, all right? I probably have ten one stars, usually stuff out of my control. I\u2019ve got 20 three stars. I\u2019ve got 50 four stars, but I\u2019ve got 1,800 five stars. So if we choose to live by the negative, you\u2019re going to hate this. You\u2019re not going to want to get into it. If that\u2019s something that you dwell on, it\u2019s just not something that you\u2019re going to be fulfilled in doing. This is something that I\u2019ve had to realize as a content creator on TikTok, on YouTube, on Instagram.
Dude, people are mean all the time.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Oh my God. [inaudible 01:04:25].<\/p>\n

Rob:
I don\u2019t really care all that much. But dude, the people that reach out and say nice things, that say, \u201cHey, I quit my nine to five because of short-term rentals because you got me into this,\u201d or, \u201cDude, I just made $8,000 on my first short-term rental, because of a YouTube video that I saw on the algorithm a year ago that you posted.\u201d That kind of stuff is what makes my life. It\u2019s what makes my career is the satisfaction that comes from that. It\u2019s the same thing on short-term rentals. If I were to focus on the 200 bad ones, I\u2019d be so bummed, dude. I\u2019d be very, very, very depressed about my whole portfolio.
But if you just sat through and read the 1,800 positive reviews, it\u2019s very heartwarming. I tear up all the time. I genuinely do. Not every single one, but there are some that it\u2019s just like when it\u2019s a dad talking about teaching his little daughter how to light a fire in the chimney, and he got to do that with his daughter for the first time ever, and that\u2019s something that was meaningful for them. That kind of stuff, I\u2019m like, \u201cWow, I help someone create that memory forever.\u201d
They will always talk about that trip where they proposed, where they got married, where they celebrated something together, and that connection, that camaraderie, and that bonding all happened under the roof of my Airbnbs. Boom. How\u2019s that? How\u2019s that work?<\/p>\n

Dave:
That\u2019s awesome. I love it. That\u2019s a great way to end it, man. I love the positive message. You\u2019re right, man. Things go wrong, and it happens, but you got to focus on the good things. I definitely identify with what you\u2019re talking about with content creation. It\u2019s like, I probably get 50 to one positive to negative comments, but that negative one, it sticks in your mind, and you\u2019re just thinking about it all day.<\/p>\n

Rob:
It can. Sure.<\/p>\n

Dave:
It\u2019s like, man, if you just think about all the nice things people say to you, your life\u2019s going to be a lot better. You wrapped it up beautifully. Thank you for sharing this stuff, man.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Thank you.<\/p>\n

Dave:
It\u2019s always helpful to learn from people\u2019s mistakes, and not always mistakes, just hard times. It\u2019s good to know. I mean-<\/p>\n

Rob:
A lot of these were\u2026 I\u2019ll be very honest about it. A lot of things were things that I could have implemented sooner and all that stuff, but that is the point of today\u2019s episode. It\u2019s like\u2026 I\u2019m not perfect. I\u2019m very successful in this industry. I teach people how to do this. Honestly, I just had something happen today on this list. The lady finally left me the review. She called it an epic failure, all this stuff.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Oh no.<\/p>\n

Rob:
I posted it to my Host Camp Facebook group. I\u2019m like, \u201cGuys, even Papa Bear fail sometimes. I failed this one, but I learned, and here\u2019s what I learned. Boom. Boom. Boom.\u201d Everyone\u2019s like, \u201cThank you. I appreciate it.\u201d That\u2019s what I\u2019m here to do. I\u2019m here to learn the hard way so people can learn the easy way. I know that\u2019s something you could probably relate with.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Absolutely, man. Well, thank you for sharing, and thanks for having me on to follow your journey a little bit.<\/p>\n

Rob:
I know. Awesome. We got to do more of these.<\/p>\n

Dave:
I love it.<\/p>\n

Rob:
I had a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

Dave:
Same. Whenever you need me, I\u2019ll be around.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Awesome, man. Well, Dave, if anyone wants to find out more about you, where can they connect with you? Where can they learn more about you?<\/p>\n

Dave:
I mean, you could do it in two places. One is I am the host of BiggerPockets podcast called On the Market, where we talk about the data, news, and trends that investors should be following to make informed investing decisions. Also, you can find me on Instagram where I\u2019m @thedatadeli.<\/p>\n

Rob:
Awesome. Everyone, you can find me over on YouTube at Robuilt. There\u2019s a lot of misinformation out there. People that think it\u2019s Rowbuilt, but it\u2019s Robuilt, R-O-B-U-I-L-T. You can find me on Instagram at Rowbuilt. Just kidding, Robuilt. If you want to see me dance and get nerdy, follow me on the old TikTok at Robuilto. You just add an O at the end, because someone snapped Robuilt from me, and they wanted $18,000 for it.<\/p>\n

Dave:
What a jerk. I mean, I guess people do that all the time, but it\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

Rob:
It was my domain. It was my domain. They were like, \u201cHey, I see you own robuilt.co. Would you like to buy robuilt.com for $18,000?\u201d I was like, I like .co. It was 8.99. Well, thank you very much.\u201d What\u2019s a good call out for the\u2026 This is Rob for\u2026 I don\u2019t know. David\u2019s so much better at this.<\/p>\n

Dave:
He is good at it, man. I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

Rob:
All right, how about this? This is Rob for Dave, we\u2019re all missing David Greene wherever he\u2019s at around the world, Meyer signing out. Goodbye.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The short-term rental game is not one to enter lightly. Regular rental property investors shudder at the constant turnover, consistent guest complaints, and far more intensive upkeep that vacation rental property owners pride themselves on. But is a week in the life of a self-managing short-term rental empire owner that bad? Well, maybe we\u2019ll just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/REP_676_WEB.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4050,"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4048\/revisions\/4050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}