Welcome to another episode recap of The Landlord Diaries (opens in new tab), your go-to podcast for all things real estate and midterm rentals! Hosted by industry experts Kelly Bailey and Katie Lyon, this episode takes a deep dive into the world of midterm rental success with special guest Karen Lombardo, a savvy investor who’s redefining the rental experience with her unique approach to midterm housing. Sponsored by Furnished Finder (opens in new tab), this episode explores house hacking and how Karen has leveraged creativity and hospitality to build a thriving midterm rental business.
From Long-Term Rentals to Midterm Rentals
Karen Lombardo, a seasoned real estate investor, has transitioned from managing traditional long-term rentals to becoming a pro at midterm rentals. She’s currently managing three active listings on Furnished Finder, including a 700 sqft ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) and two midterm rental condos. Her journey to midterm rentals started unexpectedly after a chance meeting with a traveling nurse at a local restaurant. This encounter opened her eyes to the lucrative opportunities that midterm rentals could offer.
Karen's Real Estate Portfolio:
700 sqft ADU featuring 3 master suites designed to maximize space and comfort.
Two well-appointed midterm rental condos catering to healthcare professionals and other traveling professionals.
This episode highlights Karen’s creative strategies for setting herself apart in the competitive midterm rental market, all while offering valuable insights on how to stand out on platforms like Furnished Finder.
Creative Strategies for Midterm Rentals
Karen’s philosophy on midterm rentals is simple: create an exceptional guest experience. She treats her rental properties like high-end hotels, focusing on attention to detail and guest satisfaction. Some of her standout strategies include:
1. Quality Furnishings: Karen ensures her properties feature comfortable mattresses, luxury sheets, and blackout shades to provide an elevated level of comfort. By investing in these key items, Karen makes sure her guests feel at home—whether they’re staying for a few weeks or a few months.
2. Personal Touches for a Unique Experience: Karen goes beyond the basics, incorporating unique design elements like custom lighting, drink shelves, and special touches that create a hotel-like experience. These thoughtful details help her properties stand out and generate rave reviews from her guests.
3. Weekly Services for a Hotel-Style Stay: Weekly linen changes, restocking essential items (like toilet paper), and offering other hotel-style services are all part of Karen’s strategy to maintain high levels of guest satisfaction. This commitment to hospitality ensures her guests keep coming back, driving repeat business and glowing reviews on Furnished Finder.
Why Karen Chooses Furnished Finder for Her Midterm Rentals
One of the standout points of this episode is Karen’s decision to market her properties exclusively on Furnished Finder, rather than platforms like Airbnb or Vrbo. Karen appreciates the transparency and control Furnished Finder offers landlords. Unlike short-term vacation rental platforms, Furnished Finder focuses specifically on midterm rental tenants, giving landlords the ability to screen guests and foster personal connections. This results in a more stable tenant base and higher occupancy rates for Karen.
Karen’s high occupancy rate and glowing reviews on Furnished Finder are proof that her approach works. By connecting with tenants seeking longer stays (typically 30+ days), she’s able to maintain a steady flow of income without the hassle of constant guest turnover.
The Ultimate House Hack
Karen’s latest project is a perfect example of the ultimate house hack. She’s in the process of building a unique rental space featuring three master suites, each designed with a luxurious, hotel-inspired theme.
Each suite includes:
King-sized beds
Electric fireplaces
Blackout shades
Custom lighting and backlit headboards
To elevate the overall guest experience, Karen has also themed the suites around popular destinations: beach, golf course, and vineyard. With these personalized touches, Karen creates an ambiance that makes her tenants feel like they’re in a five-star resort—without the price tag.
Key Tips
Karen’s journey is filled with valuable lessons for real estate investors looking to break into the midterm rental space. Here are some of her best tips:
1. Focus on Lighting: Proper lighting is essential for creating a functional and inviting rental. Karen emphasizes the importance of having different lighting for various activities—whether reading, relaxing, or working.
2. Ceiling Fans for Comfort: To keep her tenants comfortable, Karen installs ceiling fans in every room, a small touch that adds significant comfort during warmer months.
3. Space-Saving Design: Karen suggests incorporating custom closets and C-shaped tables to save space while enhancing functionality. These thoughtful design choices ensure that her properties are comfortable and efficient.
4. Anticipate Tenant Needs: Think beyond the basics. Karen envisions the extra comforts her tenants will need, such as extra blankets, space for yoga, or a fully functional desk for work.
Conclusion
Karen Lombardo’s story is a testament to how midterm rental investors can maximize their profits through creativity, hospitality, and strategic marketing. Whether you’re just starting or looking to scale your midterm rental business, Karen’s insights can help you create a successful rental business that stands out in today’s competitive market.
For more tips on midterm rentals and investing strategies, subscribe to The Landlord Diaries (opens in new tab) podcast and check out Furnished Finder’s blog (opens in new tab) for additional resources.
Episode 116 Transcript
Welcome to the Landlord Diaries, where we talk about midterm rentals and the opportunities behind them. We'll share landlord stories, talk about maximizing investment potential, and discuss how to live the very best landlord life. This podcast is proudly brought to you by Furnished Finder. The leader and largest online marketplace for midterm rentals.
Remember to like, and subscribe if you enjoy our content. It's your host of Landlord Diaries, Kelly Bailey, and Katie Lyon coming to you from the Furnished Finder Marketing Team and Midterm Rental Investors ourselves. We get to talk not only about current midterm rentals today, but upcoming midterm rental projects with Karen.
Uh, Katie, what were your big takeaways? Yeah. Karen's all about opportunity and hospitality. So she talks about how she purchased, um, another condo when she wasn't really, that wasn't really on her radar. And then we also talk about her upcoming projects where she's making three very luxurious master suites that she's going to house hack with.
And it's really cool to think just like a different take, like these are like master suites. So thinking about the details and how she takes hospitality to the next level and is able to charge for that. conversation.
Karen Lombardo tunes into the landlord diaries podcast almost every week. She has three active listings on Furnished Finder, a 700 square foot ADU she added to her home in 2021 and two midterm rental condos. Karen is underway on phase two. Well, one thing I love about you, Karen, is that you're all in on the midterm rental strategy, uh, especially with this ultimate house hack project you have going.
Tell us about your real estate journey and what led you to house hacking and the midterm rental strategy. Well, I've always loved real estate and I've enjoyed being a property manager of long term rentals and I had discovered a traveling nurse at a restaurant and I am did up stumbling into furnished finder and I saw properties there and Honestly the ones that I had seen I thought oh, oh I could do so much better than that.
I mean You know, a chair is a chair and a couch is a couch, but I felt I could provide a service that would make you feel more at home with the higher end feel of things, you know, blackout shades, comfortable mattresses, nice sheets, good pillows. I saw pictures of beds with potato chips for pillows and I thought, no one's going to want to sleep on that, but they would want to sleep on something I could provide.
So that's when I decided to, um, convert the space I had in my. As it's called a basement into an apartment and that was phase one And it was designed to have another door to enter into what I'm working on now, which is phase two. Yeah. I'm excited to get to phase two towards the second part of the conversation.
So let's dive into your midterm mental portfolio and we'll start with phase one. Tell us about, uh, you know, what were the challenges or the success stories and actually Building that 700 square foot ADU, uh, especially with a kitchenette, uh, you had to make all those decisions. Do I add a kitchen? Do I add a kitchenette?
What do I do? So what was that process like, uh, for your first midterm rental? Well, it was challenging because I began in 2019. So I finally got the plans approved at the end of 2019 and headed into 2020 trying to find a contractor to do the work and all of COVID happened and all of the challenges happened.
And I ended up getting a contractor through, uh, a man I met that did my tile. And he said, Oh, he can do your work. So I ended up, um, finding Kenny to do the build out another contractor to just redo my decking and it took a while. I didn't get done until June of 21. Um, So it, you know, it takes a lot of patience going through all of the things and, um, one of my first tenants was a long term.
He stayed seven or eight months. So I'm struggling to get my first review because there's no one's leaving.
Yeah, that's a excellent problem to have. And what was the decision like for the kitchenette versus the kitchen? Like you chose not to put a full oven or some of those features. Um, what was that decision process and has it affected the rental at all? It hasn't affect the rental. And the interesting thing about the kitchen decision was because you're only allowed one ADU.
Okay. So technically, this is in addition to my house because I have a service door access between our laundry rooms, so I can go right from my house into that space to do the servicing and, um, I do not like ovens, but regardless, I decided to put a cooktop in there and it has a convection microwave. And a full fridge, full sink, dishwasher, all of that.
So the convection microwave is a great idea. I feel like if you're on a budget or if you have a smaller space, you're converting a space like you were a convection oven or microwave or an air fryer, something like that. Like I actually don't use my oven very much because I tend to use all these other more convenient appliances more.
So there we have the technology today where you can get creative and I think that's one of the best, best pieces of advice. In real estate and property management and being a landlord is just get creative. It really is. And, and, you know, Kate, it's a good point because I've noticed no one really uses my ovens.
But once I discovered air fryers, I was Oprah Winfrey and you get an air fryer and you get an air fryer and I bought one for my whole family. I started putting them in all my rentals. You know, it's just been the greatest invention ever. And all of my, all of my guests, they love the air fryer and. You know, on occasion they may use the oven, but they, everybody air fries.
Now, all the small appliances, they, they make the space. I like what you said about the ADU that you can only have one in California at a time. So. It's what I'm what I'm recognizing here in this conversation is the importance of having the full picture plan in place for your property before you got started because if you would have added it to this specific property, the ADU, 700 square foot ADU, then you would not have been able to add a proper kitchen to the three bed, three bedroom, three bath, uh, addition that is underway right now.
Is that, am I understanding that correctly? That is correct. If I, I don't believe I would have been able to build out beyond what I did, had it been an ADU, had it not been connected to my house because my house became a three bedroom to a four bedroom. So, um, yeah, so I learned all of that and I knew. Oh no, this is connected.
This is an addition, that kind of thing. So yeah, very important. And we're going to get to phase two later in the conversation, but give us a 30 second preview, uh, or so like that elevator pitch to keep people excited to stay tuned until we get there. I'm building three master suites that are five star hotel feel and views and servicing and I've never done it before and it's the most gorgeous thing I've ever created.
I love that. I love that you've never done it before, but you're like, let's jump in. I think that's awesome. The first space that I created, um, every single angle, lights, layout, everything has been well thought out. For example, the living area is kind of narrow, but I wanted to make sure there was a full couch that you could lie down on in front of a fireplace and a television.
So there wasn't room for end tables, but you always have to have some place to put your drink. So I built in a shelf in the wall so you could put your drink there and there wasn't place for a lamp. So I built in a little soffit with the recessed light on its own switch that dims. So you could set your own lamplight.
It's that creativity. It's that creativity, man. I love it. Yeah, we're coming We're gonna continue that conversation in the second half. So thanks for getting everyone excited about it let's go ahead and talk about the mindset of right? You're sharing, you're choosing to share your beautiful view and your yard and your space with other people.
So how do you like landlording from the convenience of your home and how do you balance guest interaction since you're on site? It's been perfect. Um, every guest has been marvelous. No one. Gets in any other space. They always notify me by text or phone. Cause they don't always know if I'm home or not. Um, no, one's been really super needy at all.
It's, it's been a wonderful experience. It's just convenient for me in that I can just run right over there and service instantly. So, you know, Hey, Karen, do you have an air fryer? You know, they wanted to make a big Turkey for Thanksgiving. I said, Oh yeah, let me run one down. And I just, here you go, borrow mine.
So they're like a neighbor. They become my neighbor. That's a great way to look at it because, uh, you know, if you're not having a room rental where someone's in the home with you, it's just like sharing a yard or sharing a driveway, like just like a condo or a duplex or things like that. So speaking of condos, that's your, uh, next to midterm rentals.
Uh, and you get a lot of your ideas. listening to the Landlord Diaries podcast. And one of those was the desire to find a one one condo. So what led you to add or purchase the two offsite condos since you already have, you know, the big project at your own house? Well, patience is a virtue and I've got to say, waiting for construction to finish has been hard on me because I started the construction in 22.
Here we are in 24. It's not done yet. And so I'm, I've been in business now, um, rounding the corner of three years, you know, it's been over two years. And, um, I've been doing this this whole time without recognizing or realizing that there was a whole network of people doing exactly the same thing as me.
So I soon discovered the Landlord Diaries through Furnished Finder and started watching podcasts, or I would just listen to them. And of course, Brandy out of Nashville, that girl, this is all her fault.
This girl's running this enterprise of one ones and just taking over Nashville. And I, and I just, I got up and I said, Oh, and I just started going through my phone. I said, I need a one one. And I found one and I called my agent and I said, get over here. I looked at it. I said, darling, I'll take it. And I'm sitting in it right now.
Um, but that's a fun story. Go ahead and tell them the story of why you're in that, uh, condo right now. So we're trying to get my wifi to work and my internet speed, and it wasn't fast. And. And I thought, I know where I have really good internet speed. So I called my guest and I asked her, I said, can I come over your house and do my podcast because you know, do you speed test?
And she did. And I said, well, this is great. I'll come over there. So here I am in her living room. Now, one ones are. One ones are fantastic for midterm rentals. I know a lot of people think that midterm rentals are only for traveling nurses, and that is a very popular use case for midterm rentals. And roughly a third of the tenants that you find on Furnished Finder are traveling medical professionals, not just nurses.
It can be ultra ultrasound tech, surgical techs, physical therapists, um, even doctors. It can be any type of medical professional, but that's not. The only use or the biggest use case at all. There's so many, but a lot of these travelers are individuals, right? An individual business traveler, um, an individual who might be traveling for medical treatment or something.
So they're very popular about 50 percent of the inventory on furnished finder is one bedroom or a studio. Um, so it is, we do have a lot of those. inventory types, but there's also a lot of travelers looking for that type. So it's a really solid study. If you're looking for like, what's, you know, what's my next midterm property or what's maybe one to like dip your toe in or like, you know, they're usually cheaper too.
If you're looking to purchase a property, it can be a lot more attainable. So I love that you took that and you were able to, um, really run with that idea. And it also helps as well, Kate, because you get all the amenities with these condos. I mean, this place has three swimming pools and three hot tubs and a fitness center and all of the things.
So it really adds, you know, to the value. Um, and I bought another one across the hall. So how are they doing? Are you happy with your purchases? What is the, you know, what does it look like, uh, as far as investment goes for you and the operational side? How are you liking having those condos offsite as midterm rentals?
Um, and the. Yeah. What is your investing goals with that? Well, it's working out very well and, um, again, it's about networking and getting to know people. Um, the reason I, I ended up buying the one across the hall is because I got to know my neighbor and cause he would see me coming every week to do the servicing and he'd say, what are you doing?
And I tell about my business. He said, Oh, so he ended up texting me saying, Hey, the unit next door, the girl moved out. I think the landlord's going to sell. And I thought, Oh, you know, I'm in the middle of construction and I just can't afford to buy another plates right now. Like, come on. And then he sends me the link and I saw the price.
And my jaw dropped and again, my, my, my poor agent had to call her up. I said, we got to get this one now. And I got, I got it right. I got for the list price and I bought it and it was under market by at least a hundred thousand dollars. So nice one. Nice grab. That's amazing. Yeah. And, and, you know, you'd be amazed at how ready you can be to make a move even when you're not ready to make a move, because I wasn't ready, but I found a way to do it.
And you know, acquiring properties is, is, is amazing. It's not an easy thing. It's not cheap by any means. It takes money. Um, but you know, over time you end up having other investments and things that you can manage funds from. And then of course that goes into building relationships and finding investors and so on.
Um, but I can't believe I got that. Other property. It was, it was a Hail Mary and it, it, it worked. Now is that one that needed some work done and needed some sweat equity in it? Or how were you able to get such a good value on it? It was, um, it was still 1972 in there, so it, it had to be Karen iced. So, um, it was, it was just remove it and replace it.
So it has all new, everything took down the popcorn ceilings and, and updated it. So it's very, very nice. And you mentioned something that I wanted to make sure and hone in on you said you show up to the property weekly and what those listening don't know is you offer, like, like you said, like you've like you've hinted at you've you offer a hotel style, uh, midterm rental experience.
Not only. at your on site property where you live, uh, but also at your condos where you offer the weekly linen services and restocking of the, uh, papers, toilet paper, paper towels, et cetera. How has that been for you? Has it made you stand out in the market? And I mean, that's a, that's quite a bit of extra time and costs associated with that.
So, uh, Are you 100 percent like, yes, this is the way to go or how's it going with that? It's going great. And I feel I'm really focused on customer service because I feel, especially after the pandemic, during and after the pandemic, heck even before, but more so after customer service went to the wayside and people got hunkered down and people weren't taking care of each other.
I feel as well as they could. And I imagine. Or remember traveling and having to stay in a hotel for two weeks and the arduous process of this disgusting frying pan, you know, and two forks and one spatula, and you're like, I got to make do with this and the, the feeling of no comforts and all of the, the things that you just didn't like about it, but, When you're working hard, especially, I know it's not all nurses, but when you're working hard, I had a tenant that was working 14 hours.
He was gone 14 hours a day, six to seven days a week. And he loved the fact that he did not have to worry about clean sheets, clean towels. Oh my gosh, I ran out of toilet paper. No, you never have to worry about any of that stuff because it's always going to be there and you know Take I just i'll run out the trash if there's trash I take out the trash.
I replace everything it it takes minimal time and um I've looked into what the cost would be, you know to hire someone to do it because it's not actual housekeeping We're just running in and, you know, switching out things for people, you know, just, and I know that my tenants also, um, they appreciate that because they know that I'm nearby and I have my eye on them and if they need anything, you know, it's, you're not just dropped with a key and I'll see you in three months, you know, that there's someone here looking out for you.
Did you price it differently because you included those services or you went with just the whatever the market rate was for your area of California for midterm rentals? I'm a little higher than market rate and the feedback I've received from tenants, um, this is also interesting. The one that I'm sitting in.
I, when I was an escrow, I was purchasing, designing in my head, getting everything together, loading up all of the things. And I had eight days to put together the furniture, to have it delivered, to replace the appliances, all the things I did here. And the traveler, she was working at a refinery. She came from Texas to California.
She had never seen the place, but she had read my reviews on my other unit. And because of those reviews, she felt confident. With me and came sight unseen and i'm not kidding you the same thing happened with the one across the hall And I couldn't put any pictures up because it was dark and dingy and you know, it didn't have It didn't have anything to take a photo of and I have uh travelers that came from texas sight unseen And they based it off of my reviews.
I had I have tenants that came here and said, I found another property. It was less than yours, but I read your reviews and I saw what you do and I wanted to stay with you. Now, this is, this is an important point because getting reviews for your midterm rental and furnished vendor is a little bit different, right?
Um, with the short term rental sites, it's someone stays, they leave, they review, they stay, they leave, they review, but with a longer stay, it's more of a relationship and you need to be more involved in getting that review from that person. So. You're going to want to ask for it, right? And you're going to want to maybe send them the link.
You're going to want to help them through the process. And then you're also going to want to point people to it. Okay. This is the second part of the puzzle that I think a lot of people miss is when you're responding to an inquiry or a lead, or you get a message from someone, put a little link at the bottom, like read my great reviews or check out.
Our, you know, latest five star review or something like that. Use that as some evidence to how amazing you are. Cause you earned it, right? Like you don't see a girl scout out there. Who's earned all these like 45 different badges and they're not wearing their sash. Like if you have these reviews to put on your sash, like show them off, use them.
And share them with people. So I think that is just such a huge thing that a lot of times people forget to even ask for the review or they follow up. Remember you have to follow up. You just have to have to follow up and make it easy for them. Um, I like to thank them with a 5 gift card to Starbucks or a local coffee shop, like, Hey, you're all checked out.
Cleaning went great. Here's your deposit back as 5 gift card to scooters or whatever, as just, I hope. It makes travel to your next place convenient. If you wouldn't mind leaving a review, here's the link. Um, and then use it, use it, say in your listing heading that you have five star reviews or that you're top rated like Brad a little bit.
Yeah. And, and also I asked before they leave, I don't wait for them to be gone. I asked before they leave, you know, like, Hey, oh, you're, you know, you now know that you can't renew, you're going to leave at the end of the month. Um, and I'll send over the link and say, Hey, I'd love it if you could leave me a review.
And I do follow up to make sure that they, they do that, you know, especially if they've already moved out now. Oh yes, I'm on it. And you've seen my reviews. And some of these people are just they're poets. I was like, wow, you guys really write well So, but yeah, I definitely am able to Maintain the success thus far based on based on those reviews.
It really is making an impact It's like the new way to get a card in the mail instead of getting that physical card where you get to Oh, I got mail. It's like review. Ooh, I got a new review. Let's see what it says. It's exciting. Oh yeah, it is exciting. It is exciting. Definitely. Uh, while we're on the Furnished Finder topic, I believe that you advertise exclusively on Furnished Finder.
Correct me if I'm wrong. Uh, but if yes, what led to that decision? Well, I had, um, dabbled a little bit on Airbnb and, um, I'm not comfortable with Airbnb because I've been a property manager since 2006, and I'm more comfortable with an application that is signed with their information, with a copy of their color ID, uh, their work assignment so that I can qualify them and know that I know who's there and I know when they're staying and when they're going.
Um, Where Airbnb is, it's so blind. I just feel you don't necessarily know who you're getting. And sometimes you don't even necessarily know their names because their name might be on, you know, their spouse's name might not be on their profile. And it's just, it's just a little impersonal. And I'm just not comfortable with that because.
I know all of the legalities of contracts and I, I'd like to have my own. Yeah, it's Airbnb, the platform and Verbo. And we could say this about a lot of different, um, platforms, you know, it's a great place to put your property and there's nothing wrong with having your property listed in multiple places.
If you're comfortable with each and every platform, the perk about furnished finder is. There's no hindrance in that communication, right? So it's like you can call them, the potential tenant, you can have a conversation, you can do a tenant screening, like you can be really, really, really comfortable with that transaction.
And then there's no fees taken. So it just, it works so well with midterm rentals because they're just, they're just different than short term, right? Just different enough where like you want to have that extra layer of communication and just like the settling of the stomach. You know what I mean? Oh yeah.
It's and it's personal. It is. It's very personal. And that's the thing is you're showing that in your hospitality to like, this is very personal. It's personal to you on a whole new level with, you know, house hacking, sharing rooms in your house. And doing those extra steps that we talked about with the hospitality, but you're not able to get that on these platforms that it's almost like a blind booking, right?
You might not even see their profile picture until they complete the booking. You sure can't call them or FaceTime them or always do a tenant screening, right? It's like, this really gives you the chance to feel like it's so much more of a relationship. So Karen, you've, uh, how many years have you been, uh, Advertising at the midterm level on Furnished Finder.
And what does your occupancy look like? Do you have a preferred gap amount in between? Do you like nightly flips? Um, how do you operate it? Well, um, I've been doing, I've been on Furnished Finder for over a year. I'm sorry, like three years and two months, I guess you could say, so over three years and my occupancy has been 100%.
Um, depending on. Some people's move in, move out. Someone might move out one day, someone moves in the next day, but I've done them on the same day. Um, just, I try to accommodate the traveler. Um, I had these travelers, uh, in, in my apartment in the house, they were staying in a motel. And as soon as my current traveler said, Hey, my job ended, I'm leaving.
I immediately reached out and I said, Hey, you guys, you want to move in? You want to move in tomorrow? You know, cause I'll, I'll get it ready for you by six o'clock. And they said, Oh my gosh, please. And they wanted to get out of the hotel. So I got it all set for them. They moved in at six. So it worked.
Those are challenging. Awesome. Same day. They can be. It's like, at least it's done and you get to put, uh, the way I like to say it is, if I have too large of a gap, then I start thinking about what needs to be done. Like, should I remodel? Uh, you know, change out a piece of furniture and then you end up, uh, spending extra money you didn't need to spend in the first place because you're getting five star reviews.
So I'm with you. I like the same day flips or one day flips, uh, where you get, you know, just one day in between. Um, so in regards to, you know, just how Furnished Finder has been a beneficial part of your midterm rental business, Business and really set you up for success our sister company key check with our suite of Business tools that once you get someone that says yes, since we're not a booking platform You need those tools in place to be able to take that booking request and turn it into you know a completed booking through tenant screening and and Putting a lease in place, which is fantastic since your guests are over 30 days, uh, taking that first month's rent and deposit, et cetera.
So how has key check been a benefit to your midterm rental business? It's really helped when some guests don't want to put their social security number on the application or their banking information. They're not comfortable with that. So I always send them the link to key check and they'll just go through there and verify through that process.
So it's been, it's been really easy and. No bumps and everything comes back so fast. It's immediate. Awesome. And I think you, uh, if anyone wants to pay by credit card, you use, uh, Kecheck's rent payments as well. How often do people want to pay by credit card and, and has it been a smooth process for you? It has been smooth.
Um, and I had one tenant that was at this apartment and she, she did it the whole time she was here. So for her three months, she paid on credit card through Kecheck. Yeah, I always love that because I want to put anything I can on credit card to get those points. Oh yeah, fly miles, gotta travel, or use it for cash back, either one.
Yup. Alright, so let's get to this big project you're working on. So yeah, you can only imagine the points I'm getting from the project I'm working on and using my credit cards to buy material. I mean, I, you know, buy it, pay it, buy it, pay it. I got more colds cash than I've ever seen in my life. Alright, that's perfect.
So let's dig, let's, let's dig more into this. You're building three master suites. Right. And are you going to rent them by the room? Are you going to rent them as a whole? And tell us more about like, what does this project entail? Are you knocking down walls? Are you digging holes? What is happening here?
Well, I'm on a hill, so I'm building underneath my home. Um, the holes were dug to put in the posts and the piers to support it and the foundation. Um, so there's part of it under my house, and then the lower level with the kitchen and third bedroom are popped out into the backyard again, all on post and peer foundation.
So it's all on a hillside. Yeah, it sounds amazing. And reminder, you can get on the sh uh, show notes on YouTube and audio, um, podcast platforms and click on. Karen's listing, they look great and you can see her 700 square foot ADU on Furnished Finder shows that view she's talking about. So she wanted to create these, uh, three units so that she could share her view with others.
And fun fact, I think you also are on that train of king beds only. So let's get into the theme and the design and how you Karenized Uh, the, our Karenizing the property. Yeah. All rooms have Kings. I like the, the, uh, podcast about the, you know, Kings only guy. Um, and I, I'm like, all I do are Kings and it's really nice as well because not only if you have a single traveler, they may have friends come to see them.
Everybody fits on the bed. Um, and the other thing. that I make sure that I pay attention to are, um, you gotta have a good sofa. You gotta have a nice couch in the living area. So they have a place that they can lounge and enjoy. So the two main things are the mattresses and the couches. So I always get a high quality mattress as well.
And you're creating themes at each of these three units. So tell us about those themes and how it ties into being in California. Well, what I'm doing is. One room is a beach theme. It has its own balcony, its own private balcony with a view of the bridges and the treetops. The room next to it is a golf course theme and it does have some views of the water as well.
And the one down below is a vineyard room and all of the art that I'm putting in these units are California. golf courses or vineyards or beach views so that you'll have a California feel in every room. Karen, I've written down from a previous conversation, you have five tips when you are building a new rental and you want to think through the important aspects of what your guests might need.
And you've already shared, you like to have the five star hotel type service for your properties and lighting. Uh, was one of those. So let's go through quickly the those five things that that you wanted to make sure and touch on starting with lighting. Yeah, well, the lighting. I like to have the backlit mirrors in the bathrooms and, um, the lighting in each area.
So that. You can have a lamp or lighting to read a book to make it dim, to have it bright in case you lost the contact. You know, I want to make sure you can have any kind of lighting in the room that you need and ceiling fans everywhere. Yeah. Ceiling fans are so important. And did you mention that you're doing backlighted headboards as well?
Oh, that's fun. Yeah. In the beach room, I'm doing the headboard is the, um, veneer wood. That I'm using as a headboard and I'm going to put an led light, tuck it around the back of it that is connected to a light switch for a plug. So when you come in, you can just illuminate the back of the headboard and when you come into the room.
See what I think is fun about that is that's going to show off. So cool. And pictures and it'll just give people something to remember, right. As they're scrolling through and all the properties look the same. It's kind of like, what makes you stand out? Um, I know I live in a neighborhood that for some reason, we all built white ranch houses.
It was like, we all went to the builder and we were like, we would like a ranch. And they were like, what color? And we said white, and they're not supposed to let you do that, but they, I think they got away with it because we all have like a different color shutter or something, it's. But it's literally like, it looks like we live in the definition of suburbia.
So I always have to tell people, yeah, we're the house that in the backyard, we have the slide coming off of our deck because I'm a little bit wild and I put a slide coming off of our deck, but just something, something like that. Make your property have the lit headboard or the slide coming off the deck.
Do something to just be a little bit different and a little bit memorable. That's why we always remember like the funny commercials at the super bowl or you know, the shocking ad promotions. It's all about doing something to stand out, stand out in a good way and do something really cool and unique. You guys, it doesn't all have to be like, White cabinets and, you know, gray floors.
You can get, you can have some fun with it. Even if it's as small as throw pillows or blankets. And you'll hear Katie say on other episodes, just her blue couch, like just having a colorful couch can be that little emphasis that you need to make your property stand out. Yeah. And it doesn't cost much either because the led light, you can pick those up online.
Um, you can get, you know, just getting the right kind of lamps, like you said, pillows, just the little things that throw blankets with the right color. It can just make it cozy and it's, it's not a lot of money. It just makes such a difference. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Um, we've got a couple more to, to roll through.
I'm going to combine two of them, uh, for tips on when you're designing your home and creating your own midterm rental. Uh, you, Karen, do not like dressers, instead you do custom curtains. closets and you don't like coffee tables, you do C shaped tables instead. So give us your, your mindset and thought process behind those and where we can get those customized closets ideas.
Yeah, the, I, the closets, I get the drawer systems from Lowe's or Home Depot. And they're very simple. You just assemble them and you can put them in and you've got an instant dresser in the closet. And that way, when you have a smaller bedroom, you're not trying to figure out where to put a dresser or God forbid, thinking of anything less than a King size bed.
So you can have your King, have your two night tables, and you need a chair. Always each room needs a chair to sit on and make the closet, the dresser. Um, and. The, uh, the C shaped tables. I like that because I've had coffee tables before. I always run into them. They always hurt my shins. They seem to encroach on the space.
where when there's not a coffee table, now the whole room is opened up. And if someone wants to set up their own table or pull over that C shape table, you now you can create the space as you wish and you can tuck it away when you want to. And it's not just stuck there regardless. I'm with you. I love C shape, uh, tables, especially if you have a smaller living room, maybe it makes it feel more open.
But I like just to be able to lay down and stretch or do yoga or abs. So it gives you that space and a nice, uh, rug to be able to do that on. So one thing that you say, which we're kind of touching on right now, is envision yourself in the home. Uh, and, and really think, what does, what are my guests going to need?
So some of those is like, where are they going to put their suitcase? Uh, where, how are they going to be comfortable in my space? You already mentioned, where's the drink going to go? So what are some of those things that you make sure and touch when you're looking at each of these units? I always think in detail too of blankets and pillows.
Um, I have always a nice heavy blanket in each room. And I, I see some of my guests will, they'd like to have the weight on their bed, have an extra weighted blanket, have the, um, spare pillows and blanket. And if they're having guests and they, Allude to me that that's happening. I'll say, did you want more?
I'll come over early. I'll give you more towels, you know, that kind of a thing. Um, but you know, what, what guests are looking for is a place that's clean. That's super comfortable that, you know, they can just melt into and feel at home. And that's all I'm, that's all I want to do. I want you to be a guest in my home.
And you can be at home. So that's why my business is home to home. So I didn't come up that great. Yeah. And lastly for me, and then we'll let Katie wrap us up is, uh, with any questions that she might have, but that idea of envision yourself in the home, keep it clean, keep it comfortable. We're talking about professionals that are working.
Full time and have chosen to stay in your property as a place to relax and unwind after their shift. Sometimes that might be an overnight shift. Uh, we already talked about some, you know, uh, travelers working 14 hour days. So you, one thing, the last thing to touch on is those window. coverings and you want the hotel style in your spaces.
So what do you do for your window coverings to make sure it can be dark any time of the day and look nice as well? Yeah. All of them have blackout shades and curtains. Um, so it can be nighttime anytime you want it to. And, um, I wanted to mention another feature that I have in all of my properties are fireplaces.
So, um, the master suites all have their own master fireplace. With the exception of the vineyard room. And are those like electric fireplaces? Yep. Or like, okay. Electric fireplace. They're beautiful. They're aesthetic. I would turn my computer on and show you one, but it's not on. But, um, yeah, there's fireplaces.
In each one of the units, um, the suites all have them except the vineyard room because the way the footing of the wall So I couldn't squeeze one in there, but there's one in the main living area Um, so yeah adding blackout shades the fireplace Oh, and my other thing because I am building My own I put bathtubs.
I don't do walk in showers Because some people just want to take a bath and if you want to take a bath the option's right there You There you go. Yeah, I think this is important. You know, we can circle back to the conversation about catering to the tenants that you're there to serve. Um, I think you really have to think about right.
And obviously Karen is looking for people who want a home away from home and a really good place to relax and unwind when you're talking about bathtubs and fireplaces and extra blankets, right? It's that it's that you're looking for that cozy environment. Um, but I think you need to. Think about your tenant type.
So I would give everybody the home. That's their homework today is think about what is your tenant type? Is it? Is it a medical professional? Is it a relocating family? Is it someone who's been displaced from their home? Um, is it a snowbird? Is it people who are home shopping and they don't have their home yet?
What is it? Because all of those different people are going to have different wants and different needs. And one of the best things you can do to stand out is to proactively, um, accustom your property to that. So I just, I think that's like a great thing for someone to just. Think about that's worth taking a beat and just thinking about like, okay, what am I going to do in my property?
Cause you'll hear, you know, Kelly and I talk about tips and little things we do. And we talk to all sorts of landlords like Karen who tell us their little tips, but what are you going to do that will maximize the impact on your tenant type that you're looking to host? So I think that's just, um, the little homework I'll give out to everybody today to think of.
Love it. Love it. Katie Lyon, great edition. Karen, if anyone wants to connect you with you, how would you like them to do so? Um, my website is still in the works, but you can go to home to home California.com and the number two is for home number two HOME, and California is just ca so home to home Broadcom Inc. | Connecting Everything .
Excellent. We'll also have your land or your Furnished Finder, uh, landlord profile in the show notes. Thanks for tuning in guys. We appreciate y'all being here. If you're loving our show, please don't forget to leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts or Spotify and share the show with a friend so that they can participate and y'all can talk about your takeaways from each episode.