[00:00:02] This is Short Term Rental Management, the show that is all about short term rental property management with your host, yours truly, Luke Carl.
[00:00:16] All right, Short Term Rental Management.
[00:00:18] We're going to talk about rehabs and the off season, a little bit of the off season. It's never too early to be talking about, you know, slow season and Christmas and, and January and February.
[00:00:34] But specifically today I do want to talk about, you know, doing some work on your house, especially if you're new, you use. There's some things you need to understand here.
[00:00:45] There's a lot to understand about vacation towns. First of all, these are generally very small towns. Not a lot of people live in these towns. The people that move to these towns tend to like to be on vacation and not do a lot of work, and that's why they moved here.
[00:01:06] I say here because I live in one of these towns myself and I do, I do like to work. So I, I, you know, if you move to one of these towns, Let me tell you, let me let you in on another secret. If you move to one of these towns and you answer your phone and you work hard, you can crush it, crush it, crush it, crush it. Because there's not a lot of people here that are answering their phones and working hard. They're, they're vacation type people.
[00:01:29] We got the toes in the sand and a drink in our hand, you know what I mean?
[00:01:35] Not me, baby. I answer my phone. I'm old school.
[00:01:39] So, you know, there's a lot to learn. Again, if you're doing a vacation house in a vacation town, which is where I do them, there's a lot to learn about the town. You, you'll never quite understand how small this town is that you bought this house in.
[00:01:54] I live here, lived in the vacation business for many years. And it's a weird life. These towns are weird.
[00:02:02] They are. You know, there's no jobs outside of real estate and tourism, and there's a lot of people from other areas bringing money and dumping it here.
[00:02:16] And that's where the money comes from. Other places, in most cases. Not a lot of financial resources in these areas.
[00:02:25] Hospitality, tourism, fishing and real estate, that's pretty much it.
[00:02:36] So what I need you to understand is that's what you're dealing with when it comes to.
[00:02:46] Trying to get work done on your property. You're dealing with a small town.
[00:02:53] And I often run into people, they're like, luke, I can't find anybody to put floors in my unit. You know, and it's like, well, what, what were you Expecting this is not Cincinnati. There are not 40 different flooring places to choose from.
[00:03:13] Of course, I will say that those types of folks that didn't realize what they were getting themselves into.
[00:03:18] Hold on just a second.
[00:03:20] Give me a cold one. Going here on short term rental management. Those types of this water, by the way, those types of folks, they're, they're not listening to this show. You know, they're not listening to this podcast. So to a certain extent, that's a, that's a choir I am not preaching to right now.
[00:03:40] All right, so also I want to point out the fact that you should not be looking to do rehab when you first buy the home. In most cases, it is, it is a great idea to kind of get your feet wet in the market and get to know some folks and also get to know the property before you start ripping things out. Like, you know, I see it all the time where people are like doing this whole design thing. They were like, you know, over amenitizing and all that. That was, that was really hot in like 2023.
[00:04:13] That's not my style. Why are we ripping out things if we don't even know if they're any, if they're bad or not? You know, like, let's, let's get to know this house. Like, let's let. The guests are going to tell you instantly if there's things that they don't like. You know, so let's wait to hear what people don't like about this house before we start ripping things out of there or condo, you know, and, and furthermore, more importantly, really is that if you have purchased the home anytime other than like, you know, late fall, maybe very early winter.
[00:04:47] Those are the only two exceptions really for, for rehabbing a home when you first buy it because it's going to be empty for a minute and you got time now, once mid January rolls around, you're too late. We're, we're already preparing for March at that point. You don't, you do not have enough time to get things going on a tile rehab or a shower remodel.
[00:05:08] Once it's like, you know, January 15th and, and, and, and further on than that, you're too late. So at that point, personally, I would be just preparing for the season and let's do these remodels next year.
[00:05:22] Get to know the property, let's get to know the market. Let's get to find, you know, finding some folks that maybe will do this job for me. Another thing I see all the time is that people don't understand how small potatoes they are.
[00:05:36] You know, I hate to tell you, but your small potatoes, it's a single family house or a condo. And you know, at the end of the day you're, you're not that big a deal. I, I hate to tell you, you know, some developer put together that 200 unit condo building. He's probably a big deal. She's prob. Big deal. You owning one unit in there, you're not a big deal. Get over yourself. I see this in a lot of aspects in this business, not just the remodel space, which is what we're talking about today, but I see it all the time. Like cleaners, you know, I see people big time and cleaners and stuff like that. Who, who do you think you are?
[00:06:10] You own a couple houses. Who cares? I mean, really, who cares? It's not that big a deal. Get over yourself.
[00:06:17] You're not Grant Cardone. You know what I mean? Um, you're not, you're not some, you're not Dr. Horton.
[00:06:27] You'll buy 10 Dr. Hortons. You're still not Dr. Horton. You know what I mean? Like, you're just, you're, you're small potatoes.
[00:06:32] Small potatoes. Every day when you drive around out there in the world, you're driving by high rise condos and apartments and, and, and hotels and hospitals. Somebody put those deals together.
[00:06:45] Those are big deals.
[00:06:47] Couple of houses is not a big deal. I don't care if it's a five million dollar house, it's not a big deal.
[00:06:52] Nobody cares.
[00:06:54] All right? So I hate to tell you, and that's a podcast for another day, is get over yourself. It's not that big a deal. But when it comes to rehab, I do think you need to understand that like these people that you're calling, they don't really care.
[00:07:08] You're just a small potatoes little job.
[00:07:11] And to be honest with you, if you want somebody that's all excited about it, you're going to need somebody that's small potatoes.
[00:07:15] You're going to need a small potatoes tile guy to get excited about doing your tiny little one bathroom condo.
[00:07:25] And I'm not, I'm not trying to crap on it. I'm not trying to talk down to you like, you know, like you're not good enough. I'm not saying that at all. But I, I see it the other way around where these tiny little condo people seem to think that they're too big and too bad because they have this condo and that, that, that the help needs to just Hurry up and jump and do what they say.
[00:07:46] No, they don't.
[00:07:48] Because if you're a tile guy in a vacation town, you got all the business you need.
[00:07:53] If you're a tile guy and you live and live in a vacation town and you have a cell phone that you're willing to answer, you are busier than you want to be.
[00:08:01] So Mr. Condo Owner needs to get over it.
[00:08:05] They don't need you.
[00:08:08] So take your time.
[00:08:11] Find the right person that's eager and answering the phone in the right time of year.
[00:08:17] Believe it or not, even though it would be, it would make more sense for the vendors and the workers to get busier in the off season. They're usually not as busy.
[00:08:27] Be just human nature. There's not as much money coming in in the wintertime.
[00:08:32] So I think that most owners just don't really even think to spend money in the wintertime. It's just, you know, human nature is so weird. You know what I mean? So I, but we do see that where, you know, occasionally I'll have a painter that's dead in January and I'm sitting here like, oh, hell yeah, dude, I'll put you to work.
[00:08:52] Because I think, you know, most people just aren't that great at this and it wouldn't cross their mind to pay a painter to paint the unit when there's no money coming in.
[00:09:04] So they start. Think most people are going to start thinking about this in April when there's a couple of bucks rolling through the door. Oh yeah, I probably shouldn't paint my, my unit because I had somebody complain and now I got some money rolling in. Well, it's too late now. It's full.
[00:09:17] You're supposed to do that when it's empty.
[00:09:21] Thank you for listening. We sincerely hope that you find value in this podcast.
[00:09:27] We would love it if you would use our team to purchase your next vacation home.
[00:09:33] We sell houses in all of the best vacation markets in America and we want to earn your business.
[00:09:41] Reach out to us
[email protected] stsconsultation.com that's the short term shop.com so, you know, there's a lot of things to think about.
[00:09:57] Most importantly is that you don't. You need to know what you're getting yourself into. These people don't need you. And a lot of times contractors, you know, they're, they're tough. They see an out of state zip area code, you calling them from an Arizona area code and you're calling them in Myrtle beach, you know, there's a pretty good chance you're going to get walked all over. You don't even know. You don't even know it's happening to you.
[00:10:20] You know, you got to be careful about giving them money up front.
[00:10:23] You got to be careful that, that they're maybe not even going to show up, you know, to show up three or four times and then leave you with a half done job whether you paid them or not.
[00:10:36] You know, and that's something you need to keep, you know, keep an eye on is if you got a California area code and you're calling some designer contractor person in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and you tell them that you want a Barbie's Barbie themed treehouse.
[00:11:06] I can just hear the dollars adding up the dollar figures is the cash register. Cha ching, cha ching.
[00:11:14] California Barbie Treehouse, East Tennessee. Oh, we're going to get rich.
[00:11:20] You know what I mean? Like, I don't think you can quite grasp who you're calling and what you're asking them to do. If you're that person, you know, the California Barbie person, I'm making all this up, of course, and you might be from Arizona and it might be Spider Man. I don't care what it is, you know what I mean? But sit back and think about what you're doing there for just a second. When that person on the other end of the phone is going to be like, these people are from Appalachia and they grew up. Their uncle makes moonshine in a bathtub, you know, and God bless them. And they're not doing a damn thing wrong. And you're not doing a damn thing wrong either. California. But it's not how we do things around over here. You see what I'm saying? You know, you got to be careful who you're talking to and how you're talking to them because you can get ripped off.
[00:12:12] They go, see you coming.
[00:12:18] Oh, you want a, a, a triple decker bus painted purple like Barney and you want to have Tickle Me Elmos hanging out the windows and you want a, a three bedroom, two bathroom built inside of the triple decker purple bus.
[00:12:35] No problem, we can do that for you.
[00:12:39] Can I interest you in a piece of the Brooklyn Bridge while we're at it? You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, that's why I never understood the glamping thing. You call somebody from North Carolina and you live in, you know, Nevada or whatever, New York City, and you call somebody in North Carolina and tell, you tell them you want to put 20 tents glamping tents on a 2 acre parcel.
[00:13:09] Can you imagine?
[00:13:12] I would love. Let's make a reenactment of that and put it on YouTube.
[00:13:17] Oh sure. Yeah man. Hell, I got 2010 out in my garage. We can get you going on that, no problem.
[00:13:25] Oh, you want air conditioners? No problem, no problem. My cousin, my cousin just came into some air conditioners. He found them, fell off the back of a truck at a stoplight and he just, you know, picked them up and we got some brand new ones for you. No worries.
[00:13:39] We could, we could cut a hole in the side of a tent and put an air conditioner in there. Oh, you need power? No problem.
[00:13:45] I got a ditcher. We can come over there and run a trencher from the nearest subway gas station combo and get you some free electricity for your H vac units. We can have this job done by next, no problem.
[00:14:05] And listen, I am in no way saying that these people in Appalachia and wherever are bad people. I'm not saying that at all. And I am in no way saying that the California, New York City person is a bad person or doing something wrong. I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that you are different people and you kind of need to get to know what you're getting yourself into, you know, because somebody could get ripped off. I'm just saying the message may not be conveyed in the right manner and they may not understand what you're trying to say and this, that and the other.
[00:14:47] So understand that if you are in a beach town, a mountain town, a vacation town of any kind. Branson, Missouri. These are small towns. Matter of fact, I'm going to google it.
[00:15:03] The city of Branson has 12,800 to 13,000 year round residents and over 10 million visitors a year.
[00:15:20] 12,000 people, they actually live in the town town. I live in exact same numbers. I live in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Vacation town. 12,000 people live here.
[00:15:38] Millions and millions and millions of strangers coming in to spend their time in our beautiful areas through vacation, to have a good time, to go to Silver Dollar City, to go to the beach.
[00:15:51] Not in the same town.
[00:15:55] So again, you need to understand what you're getting yourself into with a vacation town. And number two, you need to understand that there is a lack of people and if you don't have a ton of experience and doing a rehab, you should be careful doing it in a small town. That being said, I will say, man, if you got a bunch of experience, you probably have a worse time because you got bad habits. And those Big city. Bad habits are not going to do well In a town of 12, 000 people, you know, so in some ways, you're probably better off not having any experience doing rehab in a small town, because whatever experience you have is from some town that is not like Branson or Myrtle beach, you know, Googling it. Myrtle beach, population 38,000 people. Be nice and you'll get results.
[00:16:50] Pay people and you'll get results.
[00:16:54] Simple as that, man. You know, so if we learned anything today is that you need to understand what you're getting into with a rehab. And what is a rehab?
[00:17:06] I'm not talking about countertops and appliances. That's easy stuff.
[00:17:10] And if you're trying to do rehab and you've never done countertops, do countertops first. Get your feet wet. That's a great way to get your feet wet. It's an easy job.
[00:17:20] If you've never done countertops, you know, you're not really in the business. So let's, let's get some countertops going.
[00:17:28] That's an easy job. If you have a hard time doing countertops, then don't do the whole kitchen, don't do the bathroom, because it's going to be way worse. You know, rehab's hard. It's a pain in the ass. But it's also, it's one of those things where you kind of get hooked on it.
[00:17:43] You know, the finished product's going to be beautiful. You made the world a better place.
[00:17:47] And it's one of those things where, like, it's almost like training for a half marathon. Like, it's really hard and it sucks and you hate it. But then once you, you get across that finish line, you're like, ah, crap, I think I want to sign up for another one, you know, or maybe you're not right for the real estate business.
[00:18:09] It's gonna be constant rehabs. Constant rehabs. I have five rehabs going on right now.
[00:18:15] One apartment building, five houses right now.
[00:18:23] Just, you know, it's gotta keep organized, make notes, make lots of phone calls and stay on top of it. It's pretty much all there is to it. So if we learn anything today and say we don't do rehab in this, in a busy season, it's not a good idea.
[00:18:42] It's not too early right now. Whenever you're listening to this podcast, if it's anywhere near where the pot when the podcast came out anyway, that it's not too early to start planning for an offseason rehab for this year, Christmas gets busy, the holidays are insane. You know that. And the holidays are going to be here, I hate to tell you. They're going to be here soon.
[00:19:01] So to add a rehab on top of that is a lot in your life. So let's get, let's get to going, let's get going on it now because January, February, you know, like a couple days after New Year's is ideal to have people going in there start work because life gets slow and you also won't have any bookings to deal with.
[00:19:21] So right now it's not too early to start dealing with that. So hopefully you learned a little something today on short term rental management with Luke Carl by the way, if you're looking for the house to buy that you're going to do the rehab on, we would love to help you with that.
[00:19:36] Or if you want one that doesn't need any rehab so you don't have to deal with any of this crap, we could definitely help you with that as well. It's the Shorttermshop.com hit us up anytime. We would love to facilitate the deal for you. I am not a licensed real estate agent, I'm a landlord.
[00:19:55] But our the Short Term Shops team of fantastic real estate agents would love to help you with that. And of course you would get me to teach you everything I know about managing it as well. So the
[email protected] I love you.
[00:20:15] Don't overthink it.
