Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed as a landlord? In this video, we're sharing our top 4 tips to help you become a more efficient landlord and maximize your midterm rental business. From utilizing property management software to streamlining your lease strategies, we're covering it all. As a Furnished Finder host, you know how important it is to stay organized and on top of your game. That's why we're diving into the best property management hacks and tools to help you succeed. Whether you're just starting out or looking to scale your business, these tips will help you take your midterm rentals to the next level. So, if you're ready to join the ranks of successful entrepreneurs on Furnished Finder, be sure to watch until the end.
Welcome back to the Furnished Finder Landlord Diaries podcast for part two of our book review with Grace Gudenkauf, Bigger Pockets co-author of The Self-Managing Landlord. Grace is an entrepreneur with over twenty rentals, a real estate coach and co-founder of WIIRE, Women Invest In Real Estate. In part one, we discussed the pros & cons of self-managing, tenant screening advice & how to handle tenant emergencies with Amelia. Today with Grace, we will dive into the operational side of mid term rentals to discuss things like MTR lease advice, fees & the overall structure of the mid-term rental "move in" process.
Episode Highlights:
0:00 - Landlord Diaries Intro
2:10 - Writing The Self-Managing Landlord
3:00 - Grace’s journey: From quitting her W-2 to owning 25 properties & 12 MTRs
4:25 - BRRRR strategy: When to flip, hold, or rent mid-term?
5:15 - Rising demand for ranch-style homes with fenced yards
6:30 - Why Grace prefers Furnished Finder over Airbnb
8:05 - MTR operations: Managing one to several properties
8:40 - 10 key lease details every MTR host should include
16:50 - How Furnished Finder’s Worry-Free Waiver replaces security deposits
20:00 - 3 reasons cash flow is critical for rental success
25:30 - Roundtable: Standard fees for mid-term rentals
33:00 - MTR move-in process: Setting house rules & guest expectations
36:10 - The power of standard operating procedures (SOPs)
38:25 - Avoiding emotional decision-making & fatigue
41:05 - Simplifying check-ins with Furnished Finder house rules
42:25 - A simple step to start implementing SOPs
Episode 130 Transcript
I get decision fatigue a lot and SOPs tell you what to do. So you don't have to make the decision. You don't have to. If a tenant says, can I do X, Y, and z? For example, can I move out at 5:00 PM If you have a specific procedure, you can go back to that procedure instead of sitting and thinking, well, this tenant was really nice to me and they were really good, and I feel like I'll be rude if I enforce the strict checkout time.
You can just say, Hey, our policy is X, and it takes out all the decision making. It takes out all of the emotional and gut decisions, and you can only rely on emotions and gut decisions for so long. 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.
Welcome back for part two of our book Review with Grace Gudenkauf. Co-author of the Self-Managing Landlord. Grace is a real estate entrepreneur with over 20 rentals. She's a coach and co-founder of WIIRE Women Invest in Real Estate. In part one, we discussed the pros and cons of self-managing, tenant screening advice, and how to handle tenant emergencies.
With Amelia today with Grace, we'll dive into the operational side to discuss things like midterm rental, lease advice, fees, and the overall structure of the midterm rental move in process. So thanks for being with us to today, grace. How are ya? I'm so good. Thanks for having me. Yes, definitely. And as we said in part one, grace and Amelia were, uh, stars in one of our most popular episodes, episode 62, on how like three steps to get started in midterm rental and double your income by housing travel nurses.
So go back and catch that episode if you haven't caught it yet. And today we're here to talk about their new book, which happens to be a bigger pocket. Book. So what it, what was it like writing the self-managing landlord? Oh my gosh. It was fun. It was overwhelming at first, but writing it with Amelia made it a lot more simpler and we started with a really, really in-depth outline, and that made the process a lot more easier.
I will admit that at first we were like, Hmm, is self-management that fun of a topic? But as we dove into it, we're like, oh my gosh, we have so many great things to say and we think we put together a pretty good book. All right. Now Grace, let's dive into your backstory. Just a minute here. Give us just a quick review for those who might be new to your story.
Um, tell us a little bit about your background, how you got started, how you ended up where you are now. Yeah, so I got started in real estate. During COVID, like a lot of people, I had a remote job. I was like, Hmm, what should I do in this boring Iowa winter? Maybe I'll renovate a house. And then one house quickly turned into, oh, I think I could really do this, uh, as a business for a living.
And so I quit my job way before I should have, but it all worked out. Started WIIRE at the same time, live and invest in real estate. That was, uh, three, four years ago now. I've done lots of burs, long-terms midterms, flipping, and now at this point I manage everything from Arizona and my whole portfolio is in Iowa.
Why don't you dive into that portfolio and how many midterm rentals you have as. Yes, so I have about 25 rental units. 12 are midterm. The rest are long term. I also started within 2023, flipping a lot. I've done 11 flips in 2024 so far. Hoping to close it out at 12. Um, so I've been building up that side of my business and hoping to do more of that in 2025.
As far as how I acquired most of them, we did a lot of value add burr properties where you buy it, rehab it, rent it, and refinance it. So that's how I was able to scale in small town Iowa. And I also just have to throw out there it is small town Iowa prices are very inexpensive. It's not like I have 25 units on the coast of California.
I like that bird conversation because 11 flips in such a short period of time, since 2023 is fantastic. In a new part of your journey, uh, how do you decide whether you're going to sell them, keep them, or midterm them? Ooh, that is a good question. When it comes to flipping, I'm looking at more expensive and bigger houses that don't make sense to keep as a rental maybe.
'cause the pity is just not going to help me. Cashflow in terms of what it could rent for and then what I'm gonna keep, I want it to be in solid B plus neighborhoods, probably a three, two or a three. One. A simple house that's. It doesn't have a crazy basement or second story that is gonna be really easy to rent, but still sell well at the end of the day, maybe when I go to sell my portfolio down the line.
And then between long-term and midterm. Um, at first it was all the small multifamilies that I tried to do midterms, like my two ones and my one ones. Within the last two years, I realized, wow, there really is a market for these ranch houses that have a fenced in backyard for these people who are traveling with pets.
And so that has been, uh, the last few midterms that I've done were those single families. Yeah, we're seeing that a lot. A lot of times people hesitate to get into maybe the larger properties and that doesn't have to meet a six, seven bedroom. It can mean a three bedroom, but like a single family home, like you said, with a yard or a garage and, and even my own portfolio, it's been like when we kind of dipped our toe into that type of property, it was like, Ooh, this is different.
I'm not as familiar with the demand, I'm not as familiar with the travel type. They're there and that demand is strong. And for those travelers, they really do value having things like a fenced yard or a little bit more privacy or a garage. So I would encourage anybody who, if you're thinking about that type of property, like there is a ton of demand there.
I agree. Yeah. Uh, well before we move into the operational side, a few more questions on the midterm rental and just, uh, some overall landlording advice. So, how is your midterm rental portfolio doing? What percentage of your bookings would you say come from Furnished Finder? Absolutely. My bookings were primarily as in like, probably more than 80% unfurnished finder for the first.
Majority of my entire portfolio. Once in all, this is a tip to people who are experimenting, putting it on Airbnb. If you do put, uh, the middle of a booking on Airbnb, let's say there's a week between guests, you kind of get sucked into Airbnb bookings with weird timelines. So I love Furnished Finder because.
You get to control the dates that people come more. And those are the only two sites. I list Airbnb and Furnished Finder, and that's all I've ever needed to list on. And I will say, as far as the pet conversation, probably 75% of my tenants have pets. So if you're thinking about being pet friendly or not, obviously dig into it.
What are the pros, what are the cons for your property? But I highly recommend exploring that. Occupancy has been great. I'm in a really small area. There's not a lot of people doing MTRs. Um, and there's a few new hospitals going up, so that's exciting. And I have a little bit of decreased occupancy in the winter 'cause it's Iowa.
Nobody really wants to come hang out in Iowa for the winter. But overall, it stays pretty full. All right, well thanks for the update on your midterm rental portfolio. Now let's talk about the operational side, uh, and as we jump into our main topic today, uh, our goal is to discuss strategies you can build on starting with just one property or already operating multiple properties.
So if you're just getting started, the nice thing is Furnished Finder thoughtfully created these tools for you to run your midterm rental business. Successfully from marketing to move in. So we're gonna dive into some of those. And as a reminder, we've al already discussed tenant screening with Amelia. So let's pick up at the midterm rental leases and what Grace likes to add to her leases or how she's structured it for her midterm rental stays.
I will say the first lesson I learned with midterm rental leases was my first couple tenants. I didn't even have a move out time. It was just like this date, and that brought so much confusion between me and my tenants. So if you don't have a move in time and a move out time, a very specific hour, add that, especially if you're in an area where you're getting booked back to back.
You really need to be that specific so your cleaner can get in and you're very clear about the expectations with your guest, and the guest knows what's going on. Um, some other things to include in your leases is if you don't have a lease. I also say it's okay to use 'em from the internet as long as you then take that to an attorney and have them lick it over.
I think it's okay to use something as a basis, but you need somebody to look it over and make sure that it works for your state. Guys, just a quick reminder that on Key Check, that's one of the biggest features is they're all state specific leasing. That's awesome. And that's a huge deal. 'cause that's what Grace is talking about, is like if you take a boiler plate lease from the internet and it's just like.
United States Lease or rental lease. Yeah. Like there's certain requirements for every single state. Um, with, with uh, key check, we give you a little bit of a leg up there, so it's already state specific and you can customize it. So maybe this is a good time for us to do a little round table and talk about the things that we like to customize in our leases.
Um, some of the stuff I always like to customize is I add in if there is excessive cleaning charges from my cleaner, that they will be passed along. Um, I also, like Grace said, I love a checkout time, like very, very clear on that. Um, I put a cap for utilities. I put that in there just to cover my bases, like if there's any overages, I like to put that in there.
I also like to put. Specific pet responsibility. So like if your pet does any damage, it's on you. Right. And I do require in the lease that animals be crated when, um, my tenant is not home for, for dogs specifically. Um, and that just gives me a little bit of a sense of protection as far as unintentional damage from pets.
Absolutely. One other thing I would add is crystal clear lawn care. Responsibility, especially with snow removal when it snows in Iowa, of course, everybody wants the snow person to come, the snow removal person to come to their property first, but everybody needs it. So being realistic with your tenant of like, Hey, it might take up to X hours after a snowfall for somebody to come out.
And that way they already know that ahead of time they can plan for it. They don't. Have to be annoyed when they don't realize that they gotta leave for work and the snow removal people aren't gonna be there for a couple hours. And same with lawn care. Making sure that they're aware how often that's gonna happen, what it includes, and then they can plan around it.
'cause a lot of travel nurses sleep during the day and they don't really wanna sleep during the lawnmower riding right outside their window.
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Yeah, so for going along with what Grace has said and then keeping the book in mind, uh, because there's a whole chapter on leases and you know what to include in your leases. So it's just a good spot check. And with that key check lease, the nice thing is all you have to do is literally answer questions and they've.
Thought through all the big stuff for you, including smoking and, you know, pet policies, that kind of stuff. So the things over time that, that Dave and I have chosen to add to our lease is, uh, exactly what Grace was saying, like the move in and move out time. So we do a. 10:00 AM check out and a 4:00 PM check in.
Of course, if we don't have anyone moving in same day, then we let the guests know and it feels like we've done them like a, a really special service. Right? Because, uh, we'll allow them to stay, like, move out at whatever time they'd like. And there's some flexibility there. Um, other things is, that we don't talk about on the show too often is the, you know, what.
A lot of midterm rental travelers. Love is the flexible lease terms. And what does flexible lease terms mean? Well, what that means is, you know, a lot of midterm rental guests don't always know their move out date. They don't know what's coming next. Uh, you think of someone doing a remodel and their project gets pushed back.
You think of a travel nurse that extends their, uh, contract for another three months. A lot of that you don't know until the last. 30 days of your stay. So what Dave and I do is we ask them, Hey, what is, like, what are the dates you're gonna be here for? Sure. And we set up the fixed dates in the lease for that timeframe, but then we build in, uh, in the, with the, uh, into the, the lease that they can have automatic month to month extension after that.
And they just need to give us a. 30 day heads up now, like Grace is saying, definitely uh, check and make sure it would hold up and if you needed to take it to court. Um, but that's how we do it. And the only time I prefer month to month is with our room rentals. So we've got a couple houses that are three bedroom, two bath.
We rent 'em out as luxury room rentals with just. Two people in the home and then one person in the a DU in the backyard. And so I want some flexibility there. If someone, an entire family wants to come in, uh, and I only have one of the rooms, uh, filled at that point, well I want that flexibility to be able to move to a, uh, you know, more of a full entire unit rental than the room rental.
Um. The smoking in the book. I want you to kind of go in Grace A. Little bit more about the smoking. And then you had also said things like, uh, adding property description to your lease, uh, and move out cleaning requirements. So I love the smoking details and I'll let you take it from there because I hadn't thought about more than just saying, no, it's not allowed, or, yes, it's allowed.
I have seen many people. Not smoking in the house, but they're standing in the doorway with the door open smoking, and that essentially accomplishes the same thing as smoking in the house. So we try to say, you know, you can't smoke within 10, 15, 20 feet of the property. So it forces them to go completely outside, shut the doors, shut the windows, and not damage the house.
What was the other thing you asked about? Smoking. Oh. And then, yeah. Uh, cleaning requirements in the lease. Mm-hmm. I have had leases where I will list out the cleaning requirements for when they leave, and this is a lot of times more for long-term rentals and deductions related deductions. So let's say you leave a broken window with what it costs so that there's no surprise when they leave and I'm like, oh, I need to charge you for this.
There's no surprise they've already signed a list of what those deductions might look like. This is a great, a great chance for everybody to remember our new product Worry free waiver too, guys. Um, if you are concerned about damages at all or you want that added protection, it's an amazing, um, product that can help you replace security deposits for a low fee.
You can just incorporate it into your rent and the tenant doesn't even necessarily have to know you have it. Or you can offer it as a security deposit alternative, but you can have that protection for things like Grace is saying, right? Like if there is a broken window or a pet does some damage, you have a lot of coverage and it's, it's higher than the typical security deposit amount.
So you end up being a lot more covered. Um, which I like. I love what you said about the smoking also being very. Particular about that. Like, okay, not only can you not smoke in the apartment, the condo, the townhouse, the home, you can't smoke in the hallway right outside of it. Right? Or you can't smoke right by the back door.
That's, that's not gonna help. I also like to specify like no vaping, no. Um, you know, when quiet hours are, things like that. It's just making sure that everything that you expect, you put in writing. Mm-hmm. And it doesn't have to take a long time. This doesn't have to be overly complicated. You need to sit down for just 15 minutes when you're making your lease and just really think about like, okay, what are all the rules of the house and what are the things that I need tenants to abide by?
Yeah. Two other comments I would make is if you have like. A guest book or a handbook that does, that's not your lease, it doesn't hold up in court. So if you want those to be enforced, they need to be in your lease. And the second thing, I didn't do this when I first started, but I should have now, I will go over the lease, whether it's over the phone or in person because nobody reads their lease.
I'm gonna be honest. I never read any of the leases I signed when I was a tenant. Um, so just go over it and set up all the expectations from the beginning. So there's no surprise, there's no confusions. You don't want to have a surprise charge on your tenant. That's not fun for anybody. Mm-hmm. How do you fit that into your midterm rental process?
So for, if you're getting somebody who's about to sign lease, I would set up a 15 minute phone call with them. Say, I'm gonna send it to you while we're on the phone. Let's go over, I'm gonna point out these very specific things. Go look at paragraph 12. It says, not only can you not smoke, but it has to be at least 10 feet away from the property.
And most of the time tenants are gonna appreciate that 'cause. They're not reading the lease. It's confusing to them and they appreciate the clarity. Hmm. I love that. That's cool. I think the last part with this, which is kind of a separate section, but also is important to have in the lease and is already defaulted to ask you about in the key check lease is fees.
So any fees you wanna charge, you wanna make sure that they're in your lease. So Grace, what do your fees look like? For midterm rentals, yes, I think you should always have late fees to incentivize people to pay on time. You have to pay your mortgage on time, so you need to have late fees. As Katie said, if there's any extra cleaning fees due to pets or excess cleaning, you should also include that.
Well, uh, we'll re we'll move on to, uh, midterm rental house rules. But first let's have a fun in-between question just to kind of, uh, like spark some interest, uh, along the way before we jump back into the operational side. And I'm gonna pick in the book y'all talk about the importance of cash flow, uh, for your.
Business. So I'm gonna let you explain that and why it is important and how the midterm rental strategy is one of the best strategies right now for that. Absolutely. You have got to cash flow on your rental properties to ensure a few things. One, you're being rewarded for your time and your investment and your energy.
Two, so you can build up reserves for anything like vacancy or damages or a natural disaster that could happen in the future. And three, you need to make sure that you're. The best return on investment for your property. So if you're not cash flowing on one property, maybe you need to sell it and get a different property that will cash flow.
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Yeah, and I think it's important to remember guys, cashflow doesn't mean you have to be making a thousand dollars on a property per month, right? It means that, that you are in the positive, and if you're not in the positive, you have a plan for it, right? Because there's things that come along like seasonality.
There's shifts, you're gonna have vacancy, there's gonna be months in any business, including your rental business. Even if you have one, one property or you rent out one room in your house, um, you have a midterm rental business, right? And even if you have some months where you're not profitable because you're investing in new furniture, or you have, um, a higher turnover, right?
Or you, you have a longer vacancy, whatever it is, that's okay, but you wanna make sure that you're pricing yourself accordingly and setting up enough value in your property that you are. In the clear every month, and my first question to anybody who comes to me and they're like, Hey, like I'm not pulling in enough rent with my midterm rental.
How do I increase it? I'm like, well, what type of value are you providing? Right? If you have travelers that are coming in, are you providing a really nice. Room or property, apartment, home, whatever it is, right? Like do you have nice bedding? Do you have a tv? Do you have comfortable furnishings? Are you a professional landlord?
And I don't care if that means you have 10 properties or you have one. But are you using real tools like key check and tenant screenings and worry-free waiver, right? Like how professional are you being? Because when you think about it like. No matter how big or small your business is, you don't want to be the lemonade stand on the corner.
They're not pulling in a lot of money. Right? You think about when you're a kid and you run a lemonade stand and like my kids will have a lemonade stand in the summer and they'll be like, oh my god, mom, I made 20 bucks. And I'm like, yeah, and I spent 25. You know, going to target buying all your supplies and I should take your 20 bucks and you owe me five, but I'm being nice and I won't do that 'cause I'm not a terrible mother.
But you get what I'm saying, right? Like, if you're professional and you set yourself up for success, you're gonna have that cash flow and that, like Grace is saying, is. Super important. Even in the Midwest where we don't have hurricanes, like we've still got tornadoes, we've still got floods. There's always things that you need to be prepared for.
So that is a huge, huge aspect. So if you're not quite there yet, think about how you can add some more value. Yeah, and one other thing I would say is. The great thing about MTR is usually to double your rent and you need to buy like double the house or double the beds. Yeah, double the baths. You can have the same exact house or apartment or spare room and just by listing it unfurnished finder, you can probably double your rent pretty easily.
Yeah. You need to furnish it and you need to do these things Katie is talking about, but that is such a great pathway for somebody who does have. One property or one room to really enjoy this cash flow and give a great product to somebody who needs it. Yeah, I, and I think to add on to your point, remember guys, when you book on, when you, when you list your property on Furnished Finder, there's no booking fees.
We don't take a commission, right? It's one flat fee to list your property. So if you have a tenant that comes in and their budget is $2,000, you're gonna get $2,000 of rent. Now, on other sites like Airbnb, vrbo, a lot of those sites where you make the booking directly on the platform. A tenant's budget can be $2,000, but you might only see 1700 of that.
Okay, so that's taking profit right off of the top. That doesn't change like a tenant or traveler has. They have one budget, right? They have one budget. They don't have a budget for rent and then for fees and then for commissions, et cetera. If they have a $2,000 budget, they have a $2,000 budget. So it's a matter of how much of that are you gonna get to create your cash flow and cover your expenses.
That, that's a great segue, Katie, for our last two sections of the, of the midterm rental process we're gonna discuss today. Uh, and just to dive a little further into those fees, I'm very curious, grace, because there's no go-to place to see, oh, what's a standard fee? Uh. For a midterm rental, like we're educating our host by listening to this podcast, tuning into our social media channels, et cetera.
So Grace, what do your move in fees look like that you make sure and include in your lease as well? Absolutely you should have a deposit for a pet. It's up to you if you want it to be non-refundable or refundable. There's two ways of thinking. I used to think if I make it refundable, then people are incentivized to take care of the property better so they can get their money back.
I've since moved to, I think it maybe needs to be non-refundable 'cause there's always. It's usually a certain level of pet hair and extra cleaning that comes with a pet. And then I also charge, um, rent for Pets. I do $50 a month per pet. And then of course you need to do the security deposit unless you're gonna use another program.
And I do about 75% of a month's rent. I don't do the full month's rent because typically these tenants are really great. They're professional, they don't. Leave a lot of damage. They're only there for a few months. They're working most of the time, and I want people to be, and also these nurses are probably have one or two or three bookings out because they're looking into the future.
So I don't wanna have to have them pay $3,000 just to even secure the property. Kelly, let's hear about your fees. What are you, what are your fees look like? Yeah, for sure. I think you're on the right track from a business perspective, and I think that's what I love most about Grace and Amelia is how much they value their midterm rentals as a business.
And really, uh, y'all say make sure you're the CEO of your business, right? Whether you think you are or you're not, you are the CEO of your business and people's lives, uh, and, and livelihood, uh, are in your hands because they're in one of your homes. So I love that. Uh, and in regards to fees, I make it more, uh, of like what I prefer.
So the short-term rentals pretty much always have a fee, right? When it comes to to pets, that's what people are used to. But I have two dogs and one of mine doesn't really leave much sign that she's been there. And so it's always bothered me to pay my own pet fees. Uh, so I kind of pass that on in my listings, which.
Business wise, I could totally, I could totally ask for a pet fee, a pet deposit, et cetera. But what I typically do is I roll up the pet, uh, just any conversation about the pet into the deposit, and I have that conversation with them of what does the life of your pet look like when you're not home? And I wanna make sure that you get your full deposit back.
So, uh, are you confident that they're going to be able to, you know, take care of the home if they're not in a kennel, uh, when you're gone? And I've had great success with that. We actually haven't had to keep anything from a, uh, from a pet. Damage. But I love the way Katie says it is we all choose to kind of write off those little things.
Like instead of asking out of your deposit, saying, uh, oh, a sheet was damaged by the dog, or, uh, a plate was broken, things like that. We roll everything up into the cost of doing business, but with our new worry-free waiver product, you don't have to do that. You can go ahead and kind of make note of the things that are different, uh, and it does need up.
Need to measure up to at least $50, uh, to be able to turn in a claim. But they're looking for coverage and all you have to do is snap a photo, uh, and they're looking to help you with whatever it is that got damaged, whether it was pet damage or something like an accident happened. Any. Uh, oh moments, uh, that a tenant caused damage in the home.
So on top of the pet idea, cleaning fees, uh, we do around 200, uh, between 200 and 300 for our cleaning fees. 'cause we have three bedroom, uh, homes a majority of the time. For our a d that are like 300 to 600 square feet, we do about a hundred dollars, uh, to $150 cleaning fee. Um, and then we don't have any additional fees on top of that.
What about you, Katie? So we try to keep it pretty basic. Um, I've actually been through a couple of cleaners until we found one who was really essential to our business. Since we're managing our properties long distance, we have the challenge of, okay, what if we need to. Refill the starter supplies, right?
Like toilet paper, paper towels. We always give people a starter supply or I need someone who's okay with if they go in and the sheets are getting really dingy, like I can Amazon them some sheets and they can have some backups, right? Um, so just we needed someone who was like. Exceptional and also did an amazing job cleaning.
So our cleaner is more of a high-end cleaner, so we do have a cleaning fee. Um, I'd say it's probably a little bit higher than most, but our properties also come out like spotless, so I think it's worth it. We don't charge pet rent, but I do charge a pet cleaning fee, and that goes straight to the cleaner.
And it's like, Hey, if you've got a dog. I don't, it doesn't matter how clean you are, right? Like we have pets in our house and I swear I run my robot vacuum eight times a day. We actually have two. And sometimes I make them have like a little robot battle, but it doesn't matter if you're turning it over, like you don't wanna move into a property and find dog hair in places.
So like that goes straight to her. Um, and that is for her to spend extra time, make sure she's long enough, she's there long enough that like. The linens and the towels can get washed on heavy versus standard, things like that. Um, and then I, I add in worry-free waiver because that, um, I just really like the appeal of that product.
I like how it gives me a lot more coverage without having to be the custodian of all this security deposit money. I don't like holding other people's money if I know I have to give it back to them. I don't like it. Right. Especially once you get to have multiple properties, it's like who has what? And it's another thing to manage.
Um, and I like just knowing we have the larger coverage, but that's pretty much it for fees that we, we charge unless, uh, like Grace said, a late fee. But very, very rarely have I had to use that. If ever I've had a couple people who have like, hey. I'm having an issue with my bank or I had identity fraud, something like that.
And of course we're gonna be flexible. It's just being human. Um, but you do, you know, you wanna set, set yourself up. So those things are in place if you need them. I forgot to say cleaning fee. I definitely have a cleaning fee. Yeah, the cleaning. I've had tenants also that do like an amazing job cleaning, and they go to leave and they're like, can I have my cleaning fee refunded?
And I'm like. It kills me to say this, but no, because every tenant that moves in needs to know that there was a professional cleaner with my checklist in there. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. And some landlords still do the cleaning themselves if they're only managing a property or two, and that's totally fine, but like I want to make sure I'm managing those standards.
Definitely. All right, so the last part to get your guests successfully moved in for the midterm rental process and reminder, what we're trying to encourage y'all with today is, uh. You can access all these tools through Furnished Finder. We've already done the work and thought through it for you so that you ha are set up for success.
So, midterm rental house rules and guest communication. So the house rules is similar to the Furnished Finder lease, uh, or the key check lease where. It just kind of prompts you through what to think about and you just fill in the section. So you find that under the edit listing process for each of your properties, and therefore you're able to have a separate set of house rules for each of your stays, even if it's a room rental.
Or a entire unit with access codes, the wifi, the trash details, the lawn care, everything you need to know for that specific, uh, stay. So grace, what have you learned over time are some important house rules that you like to emphasize to make sure it's a smooth check-in process and any guest communication associated with that?
We get lots of questions about trash day. So having that information posted behind the front door or maybe as a magnet in the kitchen on the fridge is super important. 'cause also you don't want your tenants to miss trash day and then have it build up and then od at the cleanliness of your property. So that's really important.
Another thing we've gotten a lot of questions about, we have a couple of funky washer and dryer stacks. Basically it was the only thing that could fit through the door. And we have one that's a combo and we used to get so many questions about it. It's brand new, it's really nice, but combos are not very common, meaning it can wash and dry in the same unit in the us.
So having a placard that is very clear of like, this is what it is, this is how to use it, is gonna make them. More able to do the laundry without having to ask you questions and cuts down on your time and energy from having to answer. So if there's anything quirky in your property, post signage, post rules on how to use it, maybe a QR code to a manual, it's gonna be more helpful for you and your tenant.
Guys, if you get a question twice, it's too many times point. So that means you either need a sign or you need a message that it, and it doesn't have to be fancy. You can copy and paste it, or you can save a template in your Furnished Finder messages. But like Grace is saying, you can also like do a QR code to a YouTube tutorial.
You can get as fancy or as simple as you want, but like if you get the same question twice, it's too many. And this is kind of where we're at in my business right now is like, like Grace said, I'm so sick of telling people where the trash is. And that's on me, right? Like I need to get ahead of that and think of something better.
But a laminator on Amazon is like $20. Just, we're just gonna put up with some signs that that's actually a fantastic transition for our last section, which is. Grace's powerhouse is the importance of standard operating procedures. It's like if you get that question, don't just answer it like pause and make sure it's noted somewhere in your standard operating procedures, which for the sake of time, we're gonna call SOPs for the rest of the episode so that we don't have to say the whole thing.
Um. It's important and I'll let Grace, uh, Lee, uh, I'll let Grace explain why it's important to have standard operating procedures, even if you have just one property, because you never know what's gonna happen. So what are some of those reasons? Grace. Absolutely. I think a great example is somebody who has one property.
Let's say that you have an MTR guest who stays for two years 'cause their house is, was damaged in a fire and it's being remodeled. They end up staying two, three years. Finally they leave and now you gotta go and re-list the property and write a new lease. If you didn't write anything down. Even if it's just a bullet point checklist, now you have to reinvent the whole wheel.
Sit there and remember, what did I put in my lease? How did I list it? What was that? Furnished finder website and re-figure out how to do something you already figured out how to do. So just write it down. It can be a bullet point checklist list on Furnished Finder, add photos. Here's the listing description so I don't have to make it up again down the line.
Here's how, here is the worry free waiver that I use. Here's key check that I use so that you can just do it easy without thinking, and it's the same way every time. Even just one. It's so important, and I love what y'all putting out in the book of what if you get sick? What if, what if you're not around or something happens or your demands change at at your job and you just don't have time to take care of it anymore?
Well then it feels like a. Burden if you have to go back and write your SOPs to be able to hand it off to someone else, where if you already have them in place, then you're ready if something happens. Kind of like those, you know, emergency situations or if you just wanna add someone to your, to your team.
I think the other thing that I want you to explain of, uh, some of the reasons why it's so important is in the book y'all emphasize it avoids emotional gut decisions. And I think you have and, and decision. Fatigue, and I think you have some examples for that. Yeah, I always say I have like 10 decisions in me a day, and once I've done 10, I can't do anymore.
Like, don't even ask me what's for dinner. So I get um, I get decision fatigue a lot and SOPs tell you what to do. So you don't have to make the decision. You don't have to. If a tenant says, can I do X, Y, and Z? For example, can I move out at 5:00 PM? If you have a specific procedure, you can go back to that procedure instead of sitting and thinking, well, this tenant was really nice to me and they were really good, and I feel like I'll be rude if I enforce the strict checkout time.
You can just say, Hey, our policy is X, and it takes out all the decision making. It takes out all of the emotional and gut decisions, and you can only rely on emotions and gut decisions For so long, that's called being scrappy. I did it for two years until it becomes super overwhelming. 'cause you're constantly reinventing the wheel.
You're constantly burning yourself out on problem solving when you could have just made one procedure. Followed it for all the many times you do that same task over and over again and again, simplify this, you guys. It's okay if you have one property. Simplify it. It should start with one property because it's gonna be way easier to do property.
Number two, if you ever get there. Yes, simplify it. Make it just like. I always think KISS keep it simple, stupid and like be nicer to yourself than calling yourself stupid. But you know, it's just like, it's just keep it simple. Sexy. Yeah, there you go. It's just like, you know, you're trying, A lot of this is repetitive, right?
So like Grace said, setting that, move eight, move out date, making these decisions ahead of yourself. I also, if I have to make too many decisions in a day, I get really grumpy and my husband doesn't like me. So your spouse is on your side. And simplify your, um, decision making processes. That's great. One other example I would say is I used to do this with check-in instructions.
I'd sit there and think, Hmm, what else my tenant need to know? So I was reinventing the wheel every time. And then I wouldn't give them all the information. I'd forget to say, Hey, check-in. Is that 11? The lock boxes on the front door. Whereas if you just write out your check-in instructions once and copy and paste them, then you know three things.
I'm never gonna miss anything. The tenant's gonna get the same information every time, and I don't have to reinvent the check-in instructions with every tenant. Yeah, I've come to really appreciate that about the Furnished Finder house rules, uh, because it's just like a PDF that you generate once. And then the really nice thing is if you make a change in your system to all of your properties, rather than, uh, you know, having to pull up a bunch of different documents, you just, I just copy and paste that one line that I'm adding to all of our, let's say I changed a, changed the a cleaner.
So I need to update, uh, you know, if anyone wants an. Additional clean during their stay, then they can contact this person or this company. Well then I can easily go update that across all my house rules on Furnished Finder. I just copy it once and then I keep selecting and moving to the next property and I'm done in like five minutes adding a new rule, uh, to my.
To my house rules. So with the standard operating procedures, uh, how we've said how nice it is, just to kind of have everything laid out for you and you just answer a bunch of bunch of questions, grace and Amelia have, uh, put together on their website for you and we'll put it in the show notes. It's their, uh, SOP template.
So it just kind of talks you through like what. What should I have SOPs for? And then you can build off that. And I've heard AI can actually be a great tool for helping you write your SOP. Uh, I haven't tried it, but that sounds fantastic. On chat, GPT. Uh, so let's wrap up with Grace. If you're just getting started in the midterm rental space or have multiple properties, uh, but you don't have your standard operating procedures in place yet, where would, like, what's the simple thing that you would do first?
To get started, I would templatize your communication, whether it's move in, move out, answering questions about the listing, and put that in one document that is your central hub, and always refer back to that. And then from there you can start to templatize other things like how you do the move-ins, how you manage and all of that good stuff.
But just start with one small thing. Yep. I agree. It's an elephant. You guys eat it. One bite at a time. That's an interesting analogy. I haven't heard you use that. You haven't heard that you have to eat an elephant one bite at a time. I've heard that. Okay. Thank you. Maybe, maybe this is a Midwest thing.
Grace. I feel like you and I can connect on so many levels. I love it. I've heard that elephants never forget. Okay. Well, grace, thank you so much. We've given everyone plenty to think about. Um, why don't you let everyone know if they want to connect with you, how you would like them to do so? The best place to find me is Grace dot investing on Instagram.
Okay, excellent. Well tune in by their book, the Self-Managing Landlord, uh, and it'll talk you through all sorts of details on what to think about in the landlord process. Uh, great job ladies. I really appreciated the book, and until next time, we appreciate you being here. Don't forget to like, subscribe, comment, share this episode with a friend. All right. Thanks everyone. Have a great day. Bye-bye.