Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: This is Short Term Rental Management, the show that is all about short term rental property management with your host, yours truly, Luke Carl.
Here we are, we are in the fall of the year.
Short Term Rental Management.
The government shutdowns are the topic of the town, although could be cleared up by now. I'm recording this podcast a few days before it is released. My brother is a government worker, works for the National Parks Department. And it's a, it's a hot button topic around here. Comes up all the time. And it's, it's, it's, it's in the forefront at the moment. So we hope that everybody, hope that everything works out well for everyone. I know my brother is annoyed, to say the least and maybe already cleared up, but you never know. See, the problem with government shutdowns is they could clear it up at the last minute or they could go on for 10 years. You know what I mean? Not 10 years, but for a long time.
Could be anywhere in between. So just a lot of unknowns there. But pending home sales, 3.8% up year over year. In other words, we've sold a few more houses in 2025 than in 2024. 3.8% as of today, as a matter of fact, which is. I would say that's right on track. And I would say that I don't have statistics on what month these were coming in, although this past 30 days was in the 4% range, so slightly higher than the average for the year. And I would say that that's holding true for our very large real estate team that operates in multiple towns. We are noticing things moving not in every market, but in some of our markets, more established markets. I would say we are seeing some people interested in buying real estate again, which is nice. And I think it's. Again, there are so many people that do not realize that real estate is dead.
And I think they're finally starting to come around to it, which in some cases is not all that favorable. The 22 folks. I talk about it all the time. The 21 folks. The 22 folks that bought when everybody was buying some of those, Those you should hold your house.
Long story short, if you bought in 21 or 22, you either need to be prepared to take a loss, which may be not that much of a loss. Maybe you did rehab or something like that. It could be a lot worse. Okay.
Or you hold onto it, which is really the whole point of real estate anyway. Rental real estate is meant to be held in my house. That's what we do. We like to hold it.
Got a problem with a property, forget about it.
Get it to a point where you can forget about it. And 10 years will go by and you will be glad you forgot about it and you'll be glad you had it.
It's never going to be easy. I talk about it every day.
It is not easy. If you're not doing well with your house, try harder. I hate to tell you I am seeing too many people lately looking for excus and I don't appreciate it as a guy that gets up every day at 3:50 in the morning and occasionally I'll hit the snooze. I will. Every now and then I'll hit that snooze. Sometimes I'll hit it twice and I hate it. I hate it. When I, when I do get up I'm like, man, I wish I had those eight minutes back.
You know, you gotta get up and work hard.
Hello. I talk about it all the time and it's difficult for me because I know that I'm preaching to the choir.
If you're listening to short term rental management, I hate to tell you, you probably don't need to hear this stuff.
Lord knows what's going on out there. The stock market's still doing well.
I do think we're going to start to see Susie Homemaker and Johnny Hou maker getting ready to make a move on their home. I think this holiday season is finally going to get to the point and finally what's two years in the grand scheme of how much Covid changed the world? It's really just been two years of, of the slow. So you had three years of the craziness and now it's been two years of the dead. Right? That's Covid.
That's the five years, almost six years now since COVID Three plus years of nuts and crazy and money flying all over the place in two years now of dead and people not having very much money.
So all I can do is hope that once those two numbers even out so another six months or so we will be evened out in the universe and maybe we can have some sense of normal.
But I do think Johnny and Susie Homemaker this holiday season are gonna, they're going to be making babies.
We want people making babies. It's good for the economy.
And when they make babies they sell their house and buy another one.
We need a new bedroom. Let's build a house, let's move.
And I think we're going to be seeing a lot more of that. I think folks are Going to finally get used to it. The fact that, you know, because they. Anytime I have conversation with somebody about real estate, oh, they, oh, you're in real estate. Oh, tell me about apartments. Tell me about this, that and the other. The first thing they do is tell me about their uncle that bought 36 units in Nashville in 2018 and now they're a millionaire.
Okay, first of all, you said Nashville, that's not real. You hit the lottery if you bought in Nashville in 2009 or whatever.
I think I said 19. I think it was. Let's go a little further back than that. But you know, Austin, Texas, same thing there. You hear these stories. You hear these stories, and these stories always lead to their uncle got filthy rich and quit working at 46 years old in real estate.
Well, your uncle was either already filthy rich or he got lucky or both. I'd love to have both those things. It'd be great, you know, and I'm getting there.
I think I'm already there, to be honest. I'm very lucky. And we'll leave the filthy ridge thing out of it.
But I have bought some clunkers too. I have, I have. There has been some clunkers. I had a few in my hometown that I bought that did not do well and I made a choice to get rid of them. I dumped them and I took a loss and it was horrible. And that's 20, 21 for you.
I could have held on, but I decided get rid of them and just forget about it and move on. And luckily I'm big enough that I survived such a thing and present somebody that's not big enough to survive such a thing. I feel horrible for you if you bought in 20 and 21 and perhaps you're sick of it and bored and not spending as much time on it as, as you should be. And your rents are not as good as they should be. That's not a good situation to be in. However, if that's you, you're not listening to this show.
People listening to this show want to do well.
I keep hearing all these crazy stories about, oh yeah, I did it for six months and then I decided it sucked when I put. I gave. I hired my mother in law to be my property manager because she would do it for cheap.
What?
And hey, man, I mean, honestly, that's a pretty cool story to some extent. I think if you didn't know what you were getting yourself into, that's, you know, I, I got no sympathy for you. I have no sympathy for you because I get into it every day.
You know, I've done well in life and I'm still doing the job that you're trying to tell me that you don't want to do, and it's a little offensive.
Oh, yeah, Luke, I got into real estate and I decided I didn't want to deal with people and reviews and blah, blah, blah. And I'm sitting here like, you do realize you're saying this to somebody that does that for a living?
And it's, it's the doctor syndrome. I have a name for this, right? It's doctor syndrome. Nobody goes to a doctor and says, oh, dude, I thought about, I thought about giving, doing surgery on myself. And I, you know, I, I tried it one time and it was fine, but then I decided I didn't want to do it anymore. It was too hard.
Nobody ever says that to a doctor at the Thanksgiving dinner table. But when you're a property manager or a landlord, everybody has these stories about how they dabbled and they decided it wasn't for, for them. And it's like, you know my point? I'm gonna, I'm gonna give you this person that's doing this, the benefit of the doubt. My point is maybe I, Luke, should have a job that people don't dabble in.
You want to complain that other people don't want to do your job? Maybe you should have a job that other people can't do. You know what I mean? I, I, I'm, I, I admit I understand that I am no doctor.
And if I didn't want people coming to me saying, hey, I hired my mother in law to do what you do for a living, even though they don't even realize that's what they're saying to me, then I should have been a doctor.
Because then nobody's going to come up to me and say, oh, you're a doctor, man.
You know, one time I tried to get myself a kidney transplant and I did it and it didn't work out that well, so I decided to hire that out to somebody for 18%.
Oh, man. Am I making any sense here? Are you following what I'm saying at all? It's comical, really.
But I do have a point today. Let's get to the point.
It's a rather short point, so I wanted to give a nice little market update and Lord knows what's going on with the government. Hopefully the government shutdown's been figured out by the time you're hearing this, and we can all just go about our day. And here, here's what I'm gonna say one more thing about it. I would really like to not wake up every day to another crazy thing.
Hello. Can we just have some cool, calm and collected chill vibe in the economy, in the news world, in the. In the. Just, in the world in general. I don't want to wake up and open up my news on my machine or, or on the radio or whatever and, and say, oh, here we go again, another crazy day.
Oh, I never even saw. I didn't see this coming. I guess we're gonna go meet in the Oval Office today.
Can we just have some normal, please?
And I'm not picking on our president here, but just. Can we just calm down a little bit?
Can we calm down and just have a normal day, please? Can I have a normal day?
[00:11:42] Speaker B: This episode of the Short Term show is brought to you by the Short Term Shop. If you're interested in buying a short term rental in one of the top vacation markets in America, just go to theshortermshop.com and click Get Connected with an Agent. If you purchase a home with the shop, you'll have access to all of our client only benefits such as training on how to manage your short term rental. So we'll teach you everything you need to know from how to set up your Airbnb and VRBO listings to how to use the property management software that you'll need to streamline your business all the way down to helping you source your local boots on the ground. Like cleaners, handy people, et cetera. We've taught thousands of people just like you how to buy and manage their vacation homes from anywhere in the world. So head on over to the ShortTermshop.com and click Get Connected with an Agent to get started. I do have to mention that we're brokered by exp or else I get in trouble. We'll see you guys over there.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: Anyway.
All right, what the hell are we talking about today? Oh, yes, I want to talk about guests with a lot of reviews.
Okay. And this is actually valuable. So if you are listening to this podcast in two years, I'm sorry for the first 15 minute rant that is no longer relevant, but what I'm talking about now moving forward is relevant. Okay.
Lately I've been getting some of these. Now this is. Hold on, I want to back up just a little bit further.
Let me make a note about what I was my. That we call this add.
Make a note what I was about to say. And then I want to say, lately I've been getting some of these not so great guests, which is okay, I still love them. I love them, I love them. But that's pretty common. It's post season blues, right? Like, we're, we're in the fall of the year right now. It's post heavy season. And now what we're getting is not only are we get some less money coming in, we're getting some folks that are, you know, they're looking for deals, they have more options, and they're less grateful.
When I was shopping to rent your home, I had a million options.
So now that I'm at your home, I'm going to be very picky and say, man, you know, maybe I should have gone with that other one. Pick season folks don't have as many options. It's a very busy time of the year.
And also, you know, like in the COVID days, a lot of hosts were getting cocky.
We can't get cocky in September, October, November, especially in beach markets. I live on the beach, which I do want to talk about that sometime. Everybody wants to move to the beach.
Then they do it for two years and then they go right back to real life.
So you think you want to move to the beach, but no, you don't.
We'll do it. I'm gonna, I'm not gonna talk about that more right now. I'm gonna write that down and do another podcast on that.
Moving to your vacation town.
That'll be a fun one. Anyway, tangent number 27 here on the OCD program with Luke Carl in the Cash cave.
Anyway, so the fall guests have more choices, therefore they are more picky, and therefore they tend to kind of rip us apart a little bit more. And they paid less money. And it's just not as, you know, in some ways it's a, it's just different. It's different than the summertime guests because the summertime guests, they do have a lot more on the line. They paid a lot of money, so they do have that expectation. But they're also a little bit like, oh, my God, I'm so grateful I was able to score this Airbnb, you know, the, the summertime peak season. Again, I'm speaking mostly in beach language right now.
The summertime peak season folks are like, oh, man, we got the best one.
You know, they're all excited about their.
They don't have, you know, maybe they have less, a little less buyer's remorse in the some peak summertime season, that kind of thing.
So because of all that, I am right now kind of starting to witness Some higher maintenance guests. And.
And I'm also getting more well traveled folks. And I don't mean well traveled like they live in Venezuela and they've been to 17 countries.
I mean, people, it's. Here's my point of the day. Okay? Here's my point of the show. Eight to ten Airbnb reviews.
Those folks are pain in the ass.
Okay? I'm generalizing right now, which I hate to do. And I love you for being a very well traveled individual and participating in the plan. And I'm not picking on Airbnb, whatever platform it may be.
But then they start to feel like they act like they're experts, you know, Says the guy with the podcast.
But they do. They. They're like, oh, let me tell you about Airbnb's terms and conditions. Let me tell you about this, that and the other. Let me tell you why you're wrong and I'm right, because I've done this before. I'm an expert.
And. And they always. I mean, it's very common for them to, like, make themselves known. Like, oh, I'm so good at this. I have. I've traveled so much and I'm like, dude, you've been eight, got eight reviews. You've been on vacation eight times. Good for you.
You know, what, do you want me to get you a gold watch?
Okay. And I love my guests. I love my guests. I love my guests. They're the only thing that matters. They are the only thing that matters. I will do everything for you. But, Mr. Eight reviews, you don't need to be up my rear end.
And I. The irony of the situation is that new folks are always so nervous about these new people with no reviews. Oh, my goodness. I had somebody try and book my house that has no reviews. I can't rent to this person. They're going to burn my house down and I'm going to end up with cookie crumbs in the corner. Oh, my goodness. Sally, don't rent the house to them. They don't have any reviews.
Well, I'm here to tell you that the folks with the eight to 10 reviews, those are the real pain in the ass.
I don't know what it is, man. Man, I just. I had a string of like three or four in a row. It's not no big deal. I'm just bringing it up, playing a little, Having a little fun here.
But there is something to be said there with the folks that have eight or 10 reviews on a platform that think that they know everything and that the host is an idiot.
And to be honest with you, there's nothing you can do but just, just to say, you know what? You're right, I am an idiot. How can I make your vacation better?
And this is why people don't make it. This is why people hire their mother in law.
And I'm not saying you shouldn't hire a mother in law. I think it's a great idea in some cases.
But what are you doing with your time? You know what I mean? Like if you're just a part time, whatever, car salesman and you're hiring your mother in law to manage your properties, what we doing?
What are we doing?
Try harder. Wake up earlier.
I love car salesman. I didn't mean that. By the way, I'm actually in the market right now. I'd love to buy a car right now. If anybody's a car salesman, got a. Got a little moving and shaking, I'd like to do in that department right now. And I appreciate a great salesman of all types, especially car salesman.
I will buy a car just because the salesman was good.
And I think that that's what the. These, you know, these 8 to 10 review travelers, I hate to say pro travelers because 8 to 10 is really not that much, but it seems to be that 8 to 10 sweet spot there where they're starting to be a pain in the ass. Pardon my language. I hope that you're listening to this with your children and they gain some value from it. So I do apologize for the. A word there didn't mean anything by it. Anyway.
I will buy a car just because the salesman was good.
I will, I will buy a house just because I had a good real estate mute agent.
Sorry, my screen said unmute yourself. So I said a good mute.
We are no longer muted. Anyway, I will buy things from people that are good salespeople because I, I respect a good salesperson and it's difficult to find, to be honest with you. I think Grant Cardone has a million books on the subject. I think he was a great salesperson. I think he's still a great salesperson, but.
And the greatest of all time, Mr. Zig Ziglar. Greatest salesman of all time.
Z. If you're not hip to Zig Ziglar, get into it.
Read his books, the Secret Secrets of closing the Sale.
Ziggler on selling. The guy's got a bunch of stuff.
Old school dude, died in 2012.
He was born in Alabama, believe it or not, which I live very close to and spend quite a bit of time in.
Died in Texas, in 2012. He was born in 1926. Zig Ziglar, world's greatest salesman of all time, lived in Yazoo City, Mississippi, which is where my wife's grandparents live right now.
I've been there.
Yazoo City, I believe they call it.
Maybe not. I can't remember. It's one of the two. I always get it wrong. Anyway, so the eight to 10 people being a little bit of a pain in the ass, nothing you can do about it. Give them what they want, move on, simple as that.
The zero review people are not the problem. I've never had a problem with them. I mean, yeah, you're gonna have a little problems occasionally, but when you're brand new, like if you're a noob listening to this for the first time, don't worry about people with no reviews. Rent the damn house. It's like I always say, take the money and run, which is your quote of the day. Take the money and run. Steve Miller Band.
You know, obviously there's much more to it than that. You got to have systems in place, make sure you're not renting to Riff Raff and make sure they're not looking to do terrible things in your house. But it's not what we're talking about today. What we're talking about is sometimes those 8 to 10 people can be kind of a pain in the rear end, and we just deal with it and move it on and.
Oh, don't even get me started on the hosts.
The hosts are, man, they can be.
We'll do another show on them sometime. But other hosts, man, I know you feel my pain there. They're, they're, they're pretty crappy guests. Not me, though. I will say that I am a fantastic guest. I don't know what's with these hosts that show up and they're terrible guests.
Not me.
I don't, I don't pick on anything. I show up on time, I leave early, the house is clean. I gave a hundred dollar bill and I'm on my way. And you got the greatest review you've ever had in history.
Because I feel your pain. I know what you. I know what you go through. I'm not one of these hosts that's going to come in there. Seems like you get a lot of these other hosts and they're coming in there like, let me tell you what you should be doing differently. These are not the right drapes for this home.
Great.
Cool. So you've had, you know, you've had a couple beers before big deal. Anyway, don't be afraid of people with no reviews. And also shoulder season guests.
It's not that they're worse, it's that they're different. And then we're transitioning, right? We're transitioning from the heavy season to the shoulder season guests. They're different types of guests. And sometimes they can catch us off guard. And if we're not good at this or paying attention, we can be a little annoyed.
But it all just comes in cycles.
Okay, so I gave you a quote.
Take the money and run. Steve Miller Band gave you a couple of books from Zig Ziglar. I love you.
Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt.
Luke, Carl, don't overthink it.
