In a recent episode of Landlord Diaries (opens in new tab), The Monthly Rentals Podcast by Furnished Finder, Ilona Limonta-Volkova shared her journey into real estate investing. As a finance professional and host of NPR’s Money Memories podcast, her perspective offers a thoughtful look at risk, cash flow, and what it really feels like to become a landlord for the first time.
While her background might suggest a perfectly planned entry into real estate, Ilona explained that her path was much simpler and more relatable. She became a landlord by accident.
What surprised her most was not just that real estate worked, but how it worked. One furnished property, paired with the right tenant type, helped her reduce risk, create cash flow, and build confidence as a first time landlord. That tenant type was travel nurses, and eventually other monthly rental tenants.
She shared her full story in episode 157 (opens in new tab) of Landlord Diaries. This article expands on why travel nurses and monthly rental tenants can create such a strong foundation for new landlords, even those with only one property.
Her background in finance and why risk matters
Ilona has spent over a decade working in institutional finance, including venture capital and private equity. Her work revolves around evaluating risk, understanding downside scenarios, and making decisions that balance uncertainty with opportunity.
When she bought her first property, her biggest fear was not renovation costs or spreadsheets. It was tenants. She worried about who would be living in the home, how long they would stay, and what could go wrong.
That anxiety shaped every early decision. She was not looking for the highest possible upside. She was looking for a strategy that felt manageable, predictable, and aligned with her comfort level as a new landlord.
Discovering monthly rentals through travel nurses
While renovating her property, Ilona learned it was located near multiple major hospitals. Neighbors and friends began mentioning travel nurses and medical professionals who regularly needed housing for temporary assignments, usually 3 months.
At the same time, local regulations were tightening around short-term rentals. Managing constant turnover or navigating unclear rules did not appeal to her.
Monthly rentals immediately stood out. They offered:
Stays of 30 days or longer
Fewer turnovers than short-term rentals
More flexibility than year-long leases
A professional tenant base with clear housing needs
That search led her to Furnished Finder (opens in new tab), a platform built specifically for monthly furnished rentals and widely used by travel nurses.
Why travel nurses are ideal for first time landlords
From both a financial and practical standpoint, travel nurses checked every box Ilona cared about as a new landlord.
Predictable demand
Hospitals rely on travel nurses year-round. That consistent demand gave her confidence that her furnished rental would not sit vacant for long periods.
Longer stays with less turnover
Most travel nurse assignments last several months. That meant fewer move-ins, fewer cleanings, and less operational stress compared to short-term rentals.
Professional, purpose-driven tenants
Travel nurses are working professionals with demanding schedules. In her experience, they value clean, quiet, and functional housing. That reduced many of the fears she initially had about tenant behavior and property wear.
Willingness to pay for convenience
Because travel nurses need furnished housing with utilities included, monthly rentals can support higher monthly rents than traditional unfurnished long-term leases. That pricing difference matters, especially when an investor owns only one property.
Monthly rentals are not just about travel nurses
While travel nurses were her entry point, monthly rentals extend far beyond one tenant type. Over time, Ilona began receiving inquiries from:
Relocating families
Corporate and contract workers
Insurance displacement tenants
This diversification became an unexpected benefit. It provided optionality. If demand shifted in one segment, another could fill the gap. That flexibility fundamentally changed how she thinks about risk.
The financial impact of one monthly rental
One of the biggest myths Ilona sees among new investors is the belief that one property cannot produce meaningful cash flow.
Monthly rentals challenge that assumption. Because the rental is furnished and utilities are bundled, pricing works differently than traditional leases. While expenses are higher, revenue can be as well.
What mattered most in her approach was:
Buying at the right entry price
Pricing gradually and intentionally
Tracking real numbers rather than assumptions
Even with utility costs and furnishings, the monthly rental strategy allowed her to generate cash flow that exceeded her expectations, especially as a first time landlord still learning the business.
Why she decided to use Furnished Finder
Ilona continues to use Furnished Finder (opens in new tab) because it aligns with how she wants to operate as a landlord. The platform allows direct communication with tenants, supports tenant screenings and leases rather than blind bookings, and attracts the renter profile she was seeking.
For new landlords, simplicity matters. One annual listing fee, no booking commissions, and a tenant base actively searching for monthly housing.
What new landlords can take away
New investors do not need multiple properties to get started. They need a strategy that fits their risk tolerance, time constraints, and goals.
For Ilona, monthly rentals and travel nurses provided a way to enter real estate without feeling overwhelmed. They offered stability, flexibility, and a clear path to learning by doing.
For those considering becoming a landlord, especially for the first time, exploring monthly rentals and understanding who these tenants are and what they value can be a powerful first step.
Learn more from the podcast episode
Ilona shares more detail about her journey, pricing decisions, and lessons learned on Landlord Diaries, The Monthly Rentals Podcast by Furnished Finder. Listeners can tune in on YouTube or their favorite podcast platform.
For anyone curious about whether one furnished rental could work, her experience shows that it is not only possible, but approachable.
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About Ilona
Ilona Limonta-Volkova is a finance professional, host of NPR’s Money Memories podcast, and a Furnished Finder landlord. Her work focuses on helping people better understand their relationship with money, risk, and long-term decision-making.
Episode 157 Transcript
One of the biggest anxiety I had about becoming a lay, I was like, oh my God, who are my tenants gonna be? Like, I've been a good tenant, but I know that's not only, you read all these horror stories and I felt like that segment of renter, the travel nurses could really de-risk the anxiety and that I felt around who I'd be renting to.
And secondly, and not insignificant part of this was. The zoning and the regulations. So right around the time, that I was looking into renting, the city of Louisville had put in an ordinance pretty much, like banning new applica or like severely restricting, I should say, new applications for people to Airbnb.
Welcome to the Landlord Diaries, the official podcast of Furnished Finder. Your trusted companion for building success and monthly rentals. I'm Kelly Bailey with eight Cash Flowing Monthly Rentals in Texas. And I'm Katie Lyon, marketing director at Furnished Finder and real estate investor with 13 furnished rentals across multiple states.
In every episode, we share real stories, practical tips, and expert insights to help you grow with confidence from securing better bookings to maximizing your rental income. So follow up the show and let Furnished Finder be your partner in building a thriving monthly rental business.
This week we're joined by Ilona Limonta-Volkova, host of NPRs Money Memories Podcast and founder of Bear and the Bull. With a background in finance and a passion for personal wealth personal wealth building, Ilona shares how one unexpected property can change everything, and why she believes positive cash flow is non-negotiable from accidental landlord to intentional investor.
Ilona shares the mindset shifts, money lessons, and midterm rental strategy that helped her build cash flow and confidence. One financial choice at a time. Ilona, we're so excited to have you. How are you today? I am so excited to be on the show. I'm doing great. Thank you for asking. Yes. And I know a bit of your story, but I'm sure many of our listeners do not.
So why don't you kick us off with, what is money memories and bear in the bull, and how were you inspired to start those platforms? Great questions. I'm more than happy to share. So by way of personal context, professional context, I've been working in institutional finance for a little over a decade.
So I worked, I currently work in venture capital, but prior to that I was in private equity and corporate finance. And when I say those things, a lot of, for most people, they automatically assume that I must be great with like personal finances and accounting. And the truth is it couldn't be unfortunately, sometimes further off.
I deal a lot with like big company financial strategy and whether to invest in companies or not. And, but. Along the way, because I work in finance, I had many personal friends of mine consistently reach out to me 'cause they felt anxiety or uncertainty around their own personal financial matters.
And they would always preface this by saying, I feel so embarrassed, or I'm so ashamed, or I'm scared to admit this. And. After hearing that recurring I feel embarrassed, I feel ashamed, I don't wanna talk about this. I realized there's something going on with how people feel about their personal finances.
It's something that for whatever reason people feel like shame or scared to talk about, and they feel like they can't always necessarily go to, they don't know where to go to, I should say to talk about their concern, anxiety, and that was really the kickoff for money Memories. I was walking, I was literally going for a walk and I was ruminating on these things and I was like, wow, money memories.
Wouldn't it be great if we, if I had a show where I asked people about their earliest or most impactful money memory and we unpack, what that felt like at that time and that how went on, how that went on to shape their, experiences with money and I started the podcast because I had that idea.
It was COVID and people joke, everyone started podcasting COVID. I have longevity. We've been at it for almost six years now. And it's been a great way to distill people's anxieties around money. And along with that, I've also been, writing for a long time, not only about personal finance, but also things on like the more corporate and FinTech side of the world.
And so bear in the bull. Is my platform, which includes my Forbes FinTech column and some of the other more institutional editorial writing that I do around FinTech. So I like to think that I get to me both of those worlds of personal finance as well as more institutional and corporate finance with my platform.
Katie, I don't know about you, but I think it'd be fun to show, share our earliest money memories. Oh, man. We can do that. I will tell you that I. I grew up feeling a lot of financial insecurity, whether that was, from different family circumstances. And I feel my parents tried to really protect me from feeling that.
But as when you're a kid, I think, especially when I was a kid I would pick up on little things and feel them probably even more severe than they were. So I am with you. I am in the group of people that. Talking about finances and looking at things, debt in the eye can be really scary and unnerving.
And sometimes I tell my husband, I'm like, I don't wanna know. What I've spent on Christmas, you just tell me when to stop because there is things. So I think that, it is a lot of times can carry a lot of shame and hesitation and a lot of just insecurity. I love that you are talking about that.
And then also talking about on your other platform financial strategies and insights and techniques, because you ki you need to have. Both of them they've gotta go hand in hand, right? And we don't talk about it enough in our culture. We don't give our kids enough resources to understand it. We don't give young anul, young adults enough resources to really understand it and strategize.
Yeah, I have two fun ones. My, my first two money memories would be walking into Wells Fargo with my mom and her helping me open a checking account and teaching me how to balance my checkbook. I'm so thankful we don't have to do the balancing of the checkbook anymore, that it's all online and does.
For you. And then my other memory is I had really good tooth fairy parents. They would leave somewhere between five and $20 most of the time when you lost a tooth. So you were excited to lose a tooth. That's awesome. But those are my first two money memories. If you wanna listen to Elena's show, that's how she kicks off the episodes.
And there's a lot of people that share, just as Katie shared, like it's not the best experience and that's why they learned how they wanted to do their life with money. Alona, I'd love to hear more on just your real estate part of your journey. And you recently shared in Business Insider how owning rental properties in Louisville, Kentucky has helped you afford life in high costs, living cities like San Francisco.
Can you walk us through that decision? Yes. And also thank you so much for sharing your money memories, ironically my, one of my first money memories as well was my dad teaching me how to balance a checkbook. And I think we could all benefit from that, even if we don't write physical checks that often.
But let me give you a little bit of context on how I became an accidental landlord. So during the Pandemic 2020, we were all forced to, work remotely because it was a really uncertain time. It sounds crazy. To talk about it this way when it was only five years ago, but in some ways it really feels like a lifetime ago, right?
At the time I, my employer was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but my parents were living in Louisville, Kentucky, where I grew up. And, being an only child and also being part of an immigrant family, my only family is really my mom and dad. And so COVID, when that happened, I knew I had to.
Get back home and be with my parents as soon as I could. And what, even what initially thought I was gonna be there for six to 12 weeks ended up turning into a few years which was great. I got to save a lot of money because I was living, rent free with my parents. And I had also saved up a lot.
In my, for my previous jobs, but I started to get that itch of okay, I can't live with your parents for so long. I had been living independently for about a decade before that, and I initially started to explore buying like a small apartment or a condo just for myself to ride out the rest of the pandemic.
And I remember I shared a couple of listings with a friend of mine. He was really into real estate and he, so he started going on Redfin for me, and he was like, Ilona, look at these gorgeous houses. Look these gorgeous Victorians. And I was like, Chris both has a half a million dollars. They're massive.
What would I ever really need with that? But on a whim I just decided, to, I was looking at houses, open houses, so on a whim I decided to walk through a couple and I took my parents with me. And we started seeing so many of these older homes in Louisville that had been reformatted, duplexes and triplexes.
So we were like, huh, that's interesting. Do people do this? Do they buy and rent them out? And I started reaching out to Chris and some of the other, my other friends in my network, and they were like, yeah, you can buy, you don't have to live in the house that you buy. It doesn't have to be a primary residence.
That was like a light bulb moment for me when I was like, wow, I doesn't, just because I buy houses and mean I'm tethered and like anchor and fallen chain to this property for the rest of my life, which is how I thought about it. I started thinking about it in terms of okay, so you're telling me I can buy something and then rent it out and it'll still be like my house.
And that's really what sparked that initial kind of like thought process. So I started to do res, obviously I work in finance. I started to do research. I started to see how much I could afford, what kind of rent I would need to bring in. And along the way I still continued to see, I continued to tour older houses and there was this one in particular.
That the Redfin listing was a mess, like the photos still had booked those, from like the, maybe I don't know how old your listeners are, but I had like physical cameras and did prints when I was a kid and they had the stamp of the date and time and I was like, who took these photos in the year of our Lord 2022?
If this is how I. And my mom was like, we have to see this house. It's so cheap. And I was like, okay, mom. And so we went and my mom, and there was a whole, like literally the sky, the snow was falling into the second floor. There was like two staircases. There was like a brand new jacuzzi that made no sense in the context of everything else.
Like it was, the door was like broken. The glass, there's beautiful original glasswork, but someone had tried to break into it. And my mom was like. This is perfect. She's I, oh, I just love your mom. And I was like, okay, mom. And then I just walked out that house. But then during the week she kept on, she was like, that house is really cheap, compared to the ones we were seeing.
And finally I was like, if you like it so much, I was like, I will buy it. I will buy that sheet property, but you need to be, I was like, you gimme a plan and you gimme the contractors to rent. To turn this around and we'll do it. And she said, fine. And then couple months later we had a deal. And that was my journey into being an accidental landlord.
That's amazing. Yeah. Sometimes you have to look for opportunity in places where it's a little nerve wracking, especially in a market like San Francisco, where if you want ready to go you're gonna pay for that. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And even though I think to conceptualize, even though I was still looking at properties like in Louisville it was, there were still more exp like houses there that I thought were a little bit more expensive.
And so this one just hit all the right marks in terms of it was cheap. Just cheap period. Yeah. For which market. And as an investor, I think one of the core foundational principles that you, that I've. That I've that I try to focus on is entry price is really one of the biggest determinants of outcome.
And so when I put on my investor hat, I was like this is one of the most important factors of making sure whether this investment will succeed or not. Is this entry price right? And if this is a really fantastic one. And for context, I ended up buying that house for $152,500.
In 2022, which I think is still a relatively good intro entry price. All things considered. Because it's a four bedroom too, I think, right? Correct. It was a, yeah. Correct. It's a three bed, two bath, technically. Yes. Yes. So how did that journey go from acquiring that property to becoming a true landlord?
What did that look like? Oh, I thought you'd never ask. You're like, oh, yeah. It was a journey. It was a journey. I bet. It was quite a journey. It was really stressful. I think, so first when I, when I submitted my oh my God, my offer on the property was accepted and then right when it was time to, formalize the offer, my realtor is like, by the way, this house does not qualify for conventional financing.
'cause there is literally no roof. And I was like, what do you mean the roof is fine as a hole in it, but it's fine. And she was like no, it's there. Exactly. She's no. Banks will see this as a structure and say that this is not mortgageable because it's not inhabitable. And I was like, what does that all mean?
So she's you need to get a construction loan. So I used to scramble, find a lender who was able to provide the construction loan. I had to learn all about this financing. I was, and that was honestly, I would say probably the most stressful time of the journey. Even more stressful than the repairs I would ensue.
Because when it comes to. Like money and financing. I think those are like some of the most important decisions. Those are like such important decisions and you really have to understand what, and my dad always instilled in me, he's know what you're signing, know what you're reading. Like you have to understand, everything you're going into.
And so having to make a decision so quickly around something is huge. Just financing was really stressful. But ultimately I was able to kind to understand what the cons, how it works. So in my case, I took out the construction loan for the amount of repairs that I thought, the house would need.
And I bundled that together with the down with with the purchase price. So let's obvious. Do a quick math example. So the house was one 50, the construction load was a hundred K. So my all in purchase was 250 and I put 20% down on this 250 K. Okay. And that then allowed me to draw down. So there was certain milestones I had to hit.
So if I told the lender I'm putting a new roof in. He would, the lender would come around and take a photo to make sure the roof was there and things like that. So I drew down gradually with all of the repairs until the construction loan was complete. And at the end of about, I think the renovation took a little under a year because we started in the spring of 2022 and we're complete by like the winter of that year.
And then at that point when it was almost complete, like the last things that we had to do were like, pick the tile. From the bathroom or the counters or something like that, I refinanced it to a conventional 30 year mortgage. And it was, so while we were doing all those repairs and drawing down on that loan I had relocated to Southern California for a new job.
And so I wasn't even able to be really on the ground managing the repairs and things like that. But because I had relocated, I knew that this was not gonna be, my primary property and that I was gonna rent it out and through that journey. Started talking to neighbors in, in where the house was located, and they were like where this, this neighborhood is close to seven of the major hospitals in Louisville and we are getting a lot of travel nurses coming through.
And I was like travel nurses is interesting and what are my best friends, actually is a nurse. And I asked, I was like, Hey, Chrissy, tell me more about this travel nursing thing. What, what, how do, what, how does that work? And she's oh, travel nurses. She's they all go to this.
She's they all are super connected. They have really tight networks and they let me ask around for how they find their rentals. And she came back 'cause she was like, Furnished Finder. And I was like, what's that? But tell me more. Yeah. But after a little bit of investigation, I on Reddit and I was like, oh, this is.
This is it Furnished Finder. This is where the travel nurses go. And I put my listing on Furnished Finder. I got my first travel nurse in that way. And it's been pretty much consistent ever since then. So it all happened. I think the takeaway is like we were definitely literally building the plane as we were flying it, so lack better analogy, but that's how it all come, came together doing the renovations, asking around.
Doing my own independent research and finding a strategy that worked for me. And I'm happy to talk a little bit more about why I really like the Furnished Finder approach versus some of the other agreements then. Sure. I don't think we're even needed in this episode, Katie. Yeah, I would love to talk about that.
Also, Alana, I think. I think we've learned a lot about just your personality in this first 15 minutes that you don't like to do anything the easy way. You like to jump in as you're like, let me put on skis for the first time and go to the double black diamond. I pretty much, I feel you're like, give me a super distressed property and then let me move across the country.
It's fine. So kudos. But that's huge. That's huge. And but I just think that is, that's incredible. But then let's talk about how you decided to do midterm rentals with it. Because you put your heart, your soul, your money, your blood, your sweat, your tears, all the things into this property that did not have a roof, and now you're across the country.
Why did that make sense to you when someone mentioned midterm rentals and travel nurses, and I'm assuming you rented by the room since it was a four bed property. So tell us why what you were thinking when you're like. Okay, this is what I need to do with this property. Yeah.
Exec. Yeah, it's a good question and i'll cover both because I rent there's two parts of the property that I rent out. But initially what appealed to me about travel nurses was a like everyone that I talked to was like, oh, they're the best tenants. They're a lot of, and I, my friend.
That I talked to about who was a nurse. She was actually working night shift at the time, so I knew firsthand, like her schedule was like, usually she'd be working in the evening, sleep, like sleeping all. So like very in terms of what's it called, like wear and tear of the property? Potentially quite limited because they're very busy.
And most of them are they might, so a lot of them actually are in my experience, will live not too far actually, like their homes or their families might be like within. Within driving distance. So some of them might actually drive home on the weekends, and so they're literally needing a place to stay just for their shifts.
It really depends. I've had travel nurses from all over, so one, I felt like in terms of a core tenant base, one of the biggest anxiety I had about becoming a lay, I was like, oh my God, who are my tenants gonna be? Like, I've been a good tenant, but I know that's not only, you read all these horror stories and I felt like that segment of renter, the travel nurses could really de-risk.
The anxiety and that I felt around who I'd be renting to. And secondly, not insignificant. Part of this was. The zoning and the regulations. So right around the time, that I was looking into renting, the city of Louisville had put in an ordinance pretty much, like banning new applica or like severely restricting, I should say, new applications for people to Airbnb. And I think again, to contextualize 20 22, 20 23, I think it's probably, you guys would know better. You have all the stats, but. It was like the peak of that boom, of where everyone was like, I'm gonna buy a house. I'm gonna Airbnb. It's gonna be so easy. That, that was really starting to get constricted, but then it.
And in hindsight or when I was evaluating midterm versus short term a the zoning played a big part because I was like, I don't know how long this process is gonna take. This seems an error. I have no idea what that even means. And then b, the idea of I'd ra I wanted to, I thought it'd be better to have.
A more stable tenant base. So would I rather be cleaning out at a port, like something every like week or weekend or having someone in place for three to six months? I thought it was again de-risked from like the occupancy standpoint. Where on the one hand if they were not great, you're like, okay.
They're probably gonna be there for a couple months and then we can move on. But on the flip side, if they are good, you don't have to worry about like constantly turning. So it seemed like a sweet spot. And honestly for me as a first time landlord, it felt perfect because I didn't have to necessarily go in with okay, I'm flock in for a year and I don't know it's gonna happen.
Or like the constant turn of the weekend. So for me, the mid, that segment made a lot of sense.
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to your question about how I like rented the property, so as we were renovating it. They were actually able to, there was like a, so the original, the home, it's built in like 1899, but then someone at some point had added this like porch add-on to the back of it in like the 19, I don't know, definitely not 1899.
And because my home is. In a registered historic district, there are certain restrictions about what I can and can't do in terms of renovations. And so I'm not allowed to just build a garage. It has to be within the original historic character. And because someone had already built that little addition in the back, I was able to rebuild it because it was part of the package of the house.
And so while we were rebuilding that little back patio, we were like, huh, this could be a little. We could put a little bathroom here, a little kitchenette. And so we added like a little studio. A mini studio to the single family home, which allowed me to rent, to first rent out that little studio before, like renting out that big home.
So it was really cool how I was able to give myself flexibility, right between a studio structure and the full home structure. And I was actually able to start renting that little studio while I was still completing renovations on the main house. And so was able to give a little bit of. Not cashflow because we're still renovating, but Right.
A little bit of offset while it was being constructed. So that worked out really well. And then that bigger home, did you end up renting it all as one unit or did you do those room rentals for it? I ended up, red thing. It all is one unit. Because it would work for such like family now and now the families are relocating and things like that.
It's really nice for them to have a place to stay and to, test out Louisville. So I'm getting a little bit more inquiries. So you have like really experienced the evolution of furnished finder tenants. Like firsthand, you started with the focus on travel nurses had this studio, which we still have a really strong base of travel nurses, but we have a lot of growing demand for relocating families, corporate travelers insurance claims, digital nomads, all that.
So you have one property that you are able to serve two completely different types of tenants. That is a really cool experience that we don't see very often. A lot of times we have, a landlord with a duplex, but they're very similar, sides or something like that. So that's pretty unique about your property.
How has that been serving? Two completely different tenant types. Yeah. To be honest, it's still one that I'm like navigating and learning along the way. I think when it comes to because I've had more experience with those travel nurses, I think I've honed in on exactly what they need, exactly what they're looking for.
Usually when I get a booking request from a travel nurse. It's, there's not much back and forth. They see a location. They ask about the parking situation, if there's like a washer and like kind of essentials. And then I do it with a background check and, or it's more like a credit check.
It's the tools that are interfered with Furnished Finder and then I drop a lease, we agree to the terms and that's then we're good to go. And I should have mentioned that the least part is actually another really thing that I really like about Furnished Finder compared to, like short term rentals or even like listing on Airbnb because you can list longer on Airbnb.
But I still prefer Furnished Finder because the fact that I have control with a lease and I think that's just better for landlords and tenants. But anyways, so when it comes to the nursing side, I think it's like a pretty well owned machine for the family or sometimes I've also had groups of because my property is located by university, I've had like housemates of college students as well.
And so that's also been an interesting niche 'cause I was a college student myself, so I rented, a house with my friends and stuff like that. So it's been. I have to say, I think I have a more well willed process and understanding of the travel nurse segment. But when it comes to the families and things, the families and like the groups of people it could be nice because like I said, they're testing it out and I don't have to worry about like the structure is taken care of, but could also be a little bit more daunting because my house is so big.
But I did think the key similar, like the key points that I enjoy about both are like the flexibility with the leases. Being able to adjust the length of stay depending on what they're looking for, what they need. And and yeah, I think to be honest the relocations have been coming up or I've given, seen more requests within the last, like six to eight months.
So I haven't had as much experience to have with the travel nurses yet. But, I think it also is the nicotine of the economy, right? When I see, I'm like, oh, now this is interesting. People are reco people are recalling from different jobs and things like that. So it also speaks, I think, through being a landlord, I learn about the the economic dynamics of the city as well, because there's nothing that tells you more about, I think a city then.
It's real estate. You're the way you tell, you talk and tell stories, just makes your imagine run wild in so many different ways. So I'm sure everyone listening has been thinking, oh, I could do this, and I love what she said about this. If you're thinking those things, put it in the comments. We'd love to hear your thoughts.
So far as we go through this episode, mine have been you are talking about one of my favorite property strategies of having a house with an extra a DU or attached structure like your studio that you could rent out. Garage apartments are great, garage conversions. There's so many opportunities and so what I've found is, the nice thing about midterm monthly rentals is you have so many exit strategies, right? You could long term it, you could short term it, but you can also keep it as a midterm and just turn it into a room rental if the if the full house isn't being rented at that time. So I do that in one of my markets and I just market it both ways and see which strategy wins out.
And right now the room rental strategy has. Has won on one of our properties. So it's always interesting to see how you can play with different strategies, even within the midterm, monthly rental space. Lna, you have that background in finance and I'd love to hear you as an accidental landlord now and establish investor with.
Two properties. You've got, you've got your four bedroom rental with the studio, you also have a duplex. Have you found that it's possible to actually make real money with one midterm rental? 'Cause a lot of new investors wonder if one property is enough to really move the needle. What do you think?
Yeah. As soon as I started renting out my property, like a good little finance Wharton student, I created Excel spreadsheet. Woohoo. Katie loves those. But it's important, right? Because like I said I, I ran my numbers when I made the investment and then I still track the investment, to stay 'cause you need to, for your tax.
You just need to see where the money's coming in and out of, and I was at, that's actually was one of the most surprising things for me was to see the cash flow on the mentor rental strategy. Because just for also for context, I pay all the elec, I pay for wifi utilities as well as like gas and electric in my property.
Because in a midterm rental, it doesn't make sense to have people like sign up for new, that's just not really feasible. And especially in a city like Louisville, where in the summertime the AC bill can go up and in the wintertime like, the heating and stuff like that, I was really stressed.
I was like, oh gosh, summer's gonna be so much am I gonna break even on this even? But I think so. The fir I mentioned, I started renting out the little back studio unit before the main house was done, and I rented it like really under mud. I knew that because, but that was part of my strategy is because I just wanted to get my, I wanted to like test and learn.
So I was like, okay, let me just get my first person in, see and see what this is. Even like how, do they have questions? Do they like it here? What kind of things come up? Like in terms of, and also, after our nature renovation. Like you're in an old home, it's it's gonna keep talking to you for lack of a better term.
So you might have fixed this leak or done this thing, but then when someone's actually using that every single day, you need to, things might come up. So I priced it like pretty below market to, in order to a guess, to just learn and B, see, make sure all the repairs were working as they should.
And so once, so then my strategy was once, like with every new tenant to like pretty much increased by $50. Until I reached like a ceiling in which I felt like there was like softness and I wasn't getting the same kind of returns. And so I did that with a back unit and I was do, and then for, I did a similar strategy for the main house as well.
And then, and I remember there was like. 'cause I knew like my mortgage payment and then my insurance and taxes. And so I priced it. So it was just, and then I also knew obviously like the el, like the eat internet. The only, the one that fluctuated the most is utilities. Like I had click a ballpark on what like the utilities might be depending on the season.
And I tried to priced it a little bit above that. And I was surprised like when my property was, when I had the, both the. The unit, excuse the studio and the main house, like how much cash flow I was able to generate. I was really surprised when I was at my numbers words. 'cause I hear I was like, as a landlord, I'm always stressed.
I'm like, oh, this is so stressful. I'll have to say so. But then when I actually went back and saw the number, I was like, oh no. We're cash flowing. And we're cash flowing by at least depend on what the AC bill is, but it can be between like. From 500 to up to a thousand depending on the time of the year.
On just that one Stand back right. Strategy. Yeah. Yeah. I'm happy with it because I read on Reddit and they're like, I'm gonna cash you 125. And I was like, I would not find out. I was like 25. It was like one ac like not bringing even, but. People approach it with different things. So yes, that's to say is yes, it is possible, obviously and again, this goes back to entry price, right?
Because I was able to purchase my house, which is a low rate and refi, et cetera, et cetera. That was like, that's really the most key to the foundation. But and then setting a pricing strategy accordingly and making sure, and I feel that I, like my house is well taken care of. The amenities are top of the line, I think.
And yeah. Like having conviction in your price point. It's a product at the end of the day too, right? Yep. So positioning it that way is really important. I wanna pull out a couple things you said that I really like, that I wanna make sure everybody hears. And the first is that you are in control of your pricing, right?
So you can tinker with it and you can play with it as much as you want. What's nice about midterm rentals, it's you usually don't have bookings a year from now. You're usually going quarter by quarter. So you get to really immediately see the impact of your pricing decisions. With that, like you said, the amenities and how nice of a product you are presenting, right?
If you did a really great job doing that renovation, which I'm sure you did you can be able to charge appropriately for that. I also like what you're saying about knowing your market is knowing the real estate. Like I think that's really key. I've never actually heard that phrase. I don't know if it is a catch phrase, but I feel like it should be.
I want it on a t-shirt now, but I just think that is true, right? Because every market is different. We have a great. Market Insights page on Furnished Finder that we can give you specific data to your market that you can see. It's on, it's linked from the homepage that you can get really good data, but you have to know your market.
I also think that you touched on knowing your goals, like you were coming from this, from an investor's standpoint, right? You wanna maximize cash flow. You wanna maximize building that, swipe equity into that property, buying it cheap, getting the value high, and making some monthly cash flow, right? That might not be your goal.
If you're listening, you might just be like, I need to help cover some extra bills. Or, grandma moved to a retirement home and we're not ready to let go of her house. We just need to cover the mortgage. Know your goal 'cause your goal is different than everybody else's goal. I couldn't, I think that, yeah, way to succinctly say, I feel like I'm just been rambling.
I like that meme from No, you're putting the, you're putting the, you're putting the story to it, which is like perfect, right? Like you are the, you're demonstrating it. So with that, like what do you, what was the, what do you think the difference between what you would've gotten in rent from a midterm versus a long term rental is like, how much of a significant difference were you able to pull?
That's a really good question. I should probably sit down and I think, so I do have a point of comparison because as you all mentioned, I ended up a couple, like a year and a half later, I bought a duplex and that, so it's also historic property that had been split into two. And that one I knew I wanted to do a long-term rental strategy on because while I really enjoy the flexibility of having a midterm, the turn, like managing the turn and keeping everything up to date does get a little bit, it's time consuming. And I knew I couldn't do that. And I, my team is myself and my parents. We don't have a pro, if I had a bigger team, maybe I could, but I also just wanted to see what it was like, like I wanted the stability of locking in like 12 month leases. And to stabilize that cashflow base while also getting to optimize on the midterm side.
And I do, I think that the answer in finance is always, it depends, but it's true. I think that, the benefit and I think, so for the long-term leases, you're not gonna be able to arbitrage like if those, for example, in the holiday periods. Historically, I think you can, I was able to charge a little bit more because there's a lot bigger bonuses that some travelers can have.
Like it just depends on. The kind of incentives that are going on in that time to see year. So you're not able to optimize, like if the market is like heating up really quickly, for example, right? Once you're locked in like a 12 month lease and if you've set your rent like before the market started kicking heating up, you're locked into that price.
But for the, for those 12 months. But at the same time, if the market starts to cool down with the 12 month lease, you're ki like again, you've given yourself like you've de-risked that little ban, which means the fluctuations aren't as extreme. Versus with the midterm rental, there have definitely been like.
I don't wanna call them boom and bust times because again, I have an eye towards cash flow, but there have been times where the margins are mu, like, where I'm like, wow, that was a good cash flow period. And there were other times where I'm like, okay we made like a couple hundred, ill say that I think like it's more like.
Can do, can I stomach that variation? And also just depends. I feel like I kinda ask, earlier I mentioning I see more people moving into Louisville market, but I definitely wouldn't say it's a market like, I don't know, acute. What are some really boom, like there are some markets that I feel there's consist like booming, booming, booming. And those runs continue increasing. The Louisville market isn't quite that way in my experience. There was a period post COVID where it really picked up and I think now it's feeling some of the economic softness. Yeah. It's hard to, it's it's hard to say, but I definitely think it's like lumpier or more vari Sure.
Variation with midterms. Yeah, you're still gonna have seasonality, right? You're still gonna have ups and downs. You're still gonna have times where there's unexpected expenses. I think what's so cool is you were able to buy it a property so cheap, and then make it truly into two properties, and then you're midterm it, like you're taking that profit margin and you're making it bigger.
Bigger. So even when you have those seasonal downturns or you know the market goes up and down, you're still able to have that cushion and fill that need, especially when you are midterm. 'cause people are gonna pay a premium for it to be furnished and to be able to not have that full month or that full year lease.
I also think it's really cool that you have been able to look at. Your portfolio and say, this one, I want to midterm this one. I want to long-term, because it's not the answer for every property, and that's okay. And it might be that in two years from now, you want to midterm your long-term property or you flip, right?
There's like flexibility and just optionality. That I think is huge. That as an investor, like giving yourself those options is so powerful. I couldn't agree more, and I think that flexibility has been the biggest like aha moment. A changing in my perspective on not only like on risk, but also wealth creation.
Because exactly to your point, when I wanted to list my, the duplexes, a long term rental in my mind, I was really like, and if it doesn't go, I'll just put it as a, I was already like, pla, I was like, I can midterm rental just because I already know how to do this. Yeah. And I've even started now that I'm thinking about purchasing a property in California, again, knowing I am like I could do a room like, because I've used Furnished Finder for so long, it's like that great knowledge in the back of my mind of oh, there's like a, I can, here's more options.
And I think when we have options what, it doesn't matter if you're invent. Any choice you have, once you have options, makes a decision a little bit like less scary. And so I even got my friends in California, I was like, use Furnish. I was like, stop this Facebook game. Go on British Finder. And and they've been really happy with it too.
So I love what you're saying, like it's, the optionality is really key. I think I wanna tie in one more question and then Katie's gonna wrap us up with the rapid fire section for some fun facts from Milona. But one thing I really wanna wrap up with is the idea of. Just getting started, you were an accidental landlord and you realize, wow, this is totally a great investment strategy.
I wanna dive in further, and you've been a host on Furnished Finder for over four years now, so thank you for that. And I just wanted to put a reminder out there that you know when you choose to. Purchase a Furnished Finder membership. It's one low annual cost for the property that pays itself back within like the first week of the first day.
And so most landlords make 55 times the return on their investment in Furnished Finder. And another way to put it is our top 10% of landlords earn around 30,000. Per year in rental income. So you've seen that, of that opportunity, you've seen the cash flow. What would you recommend, especially with your finance background of just someone that is thinking about getting into real estate, doesn't know how to get started, what would you be your first recommendation for them?
Go see as many properties as you possibly can. Go to every open house, get yourself a nice, friendly, real, just go see as many properties as you can. She feels like a fun activity. Prior to me purchasing this property, I had, I lived in New York City. I went to open houses in New York. I went to open baths in Queens.
I was, I mentioned, I started with condos. So I felt by the time I finally was able to commit. To purchasing. My first property I had probably seen i'm the between 50 and 75 different types of properties and units across the United States. And like honestly, if you're traveling, go check on.
Like just go see. I don't know. I love real estate, so this is fun for me. I take, my friends are like, please don't do this stuff. And I was like, no fun. It's fun. It is fun. It is. I'm with you. I love going into open houses. I hope there's cookies when I go, but especially the ones in my neighborhood, I'm always like, if I'm on a run, I'm like, oh, there's an open house sign.
Let's go check it out. And it's just great to see what's happening in your neighborhood. And like you said, around the country I've also enjoyed doing it in other states oh, there's an open house sign. They're always enjoyable and a great real estate experience. And they're definitely like super educational because as you go to more and more properties, you'll start getting like, it's also like a feeling where you'll just you'll start noticing like, ah, I don't like it when I have this entry like this.
Or, ah, I don't like it when the garage is here. I don't like what this. Now there's things I look for like in neighborhoods and blocks I'll pay attention to is it walkable? Are there coffee shops nearby? Is there a university, like the character of the neighborhood? And I think. The more data you can have before making any kind of decision, the better off you'll be.
And like I said, like we said, like open houses are one of the easiest ways to do that because it's no commitment. You just walk in there. And also, I have to say, one of the worst pieces of advice I ever got from a realtor was to not shop. He's you shouldn't go to house. You shouldn't. Put, go to open houses or schedule appointments in houses that I saw your price on.
Do that too. Do that too. Go to like the most expensive houses and go to the cheapest ones. See what the range looks like because that's all information. So boo to that realtor person. And really, 'cause you have to also see like what is the top of the line finish, right? What kind of aspects potential here, what's the end goal?
Thank you. Yeah. So good. All good. All ends. See all the house. I like how you are continuing to learn and expand and grow even when you're not in acquisition mode. I think that is really cool. And I think that's a lesson that everybody can take. Don't wait until you are ready to buy the property or to rent the room to just start absorbing information.
And I'm probably preaching to the choir here 'cause we're on a podcast about this, so everybody is looking for information. But it's true, like I am looking I'm an out of state. Investors. So I can't really go to the open houses, but I could look on Zillow and stuff all the time because I wanna just keep a pulse and I wanna know, okay, what are things going for?
What's on the market? What's trending? What does that higher end property look like? Keep gathering that information so that when you are ready, like you can hit go. Absolutely. All right, Alana, are you ready for our rapid fire go? I like her a little. I feel like we're all cowboys now with our rapid fire.
All right, this is my new favorite part. It's how we wrap up just some other quick facts that we can get to know about you or your experience. So I have two for you today. First one, what's one splurge you never regret spending money on? My hair. I'm a Leo, my hair, my haircare products, my Kevin Murphy's shampoo and conditioner.
And if you guys can't, if you're like listening and not watching, Alana has a very simple hairstyle right now, but it is under control and beautiful. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna say I recognize that. All right, second. Hey, Kelly. What's the one splurge you never regret spending money on too many things.
You only get one. You only get one travel. Travel. That's fair. Yeah. I'm gonna say my one repetitive splurge is coffee. I will never, ever feel bad about getting a coffee on the go because that $7 coffee's not gonna make me broke. So anybody who tries to tell me that is a big fat liar. And life is about the joy.
Yep. All right. Next and last question, what has it been like working with NPR? Because how Cool. Thank you. It's been the best I. I love, I'm on this podcast, I love podcasts. I have a podcast. I love listening to the radio. And I got distribution for money memories by literally reaching out to my local Louisville NPR affiliate.
And I first, I was like, I have a podcast. Can you run an ad? And they were like, we'll just distribute your programming. And it's been the biggest. Incredible opportunity. I love not only like NPR, but y'all support local news, support your local radio, local newspaper, local journalism. And so it's been the biggest honor of my life to be able to to partner with the station and a community that's given everything to me.
I know I live in California now, but Louisville is really what shaped me and formed me and, it's fantastic. I love NPR I love all their programming, and so to be able to say I'm distributed through that is wow, what a big stamp of approval for what I'm doing. And it, I continue to dis distribute through NPR because of that credibility, that authority and my way to give back.
So it's phenomenal. Trite, everyone should, or just listen to NPR y'all. Listen to NPR and support local journalism and news. And if you have an idea, you have content, you have something, reach out. Out. Yeah. The worst someone can say is no. So I love that this is just a reflection of.
You're going it. You're going for that double black mountain. I know so far you're doing just fine. Is it a bad time to say I don't have an ACL? Because what a double black diamond. This isn't bad time. I need to pick a new analogy. I don't have anything on hand. I think it's a great analogy. We've had a lot of fun on this episode, so if you're enjoying our show, please we would love a review or a five star rating from you on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, YouTube.
Just hit that follow button and make sure you're set up for any new notifications so you keep up with everything. Furnished Finder and Landlord Diaries. If you wanna connect with Alona, what's the best way that someone should find Bear in the bull, your podcast, et cetera. Yeah, so Money Memories is available everywhere you listen to podcasts.
So Apple, Spotify, and of course, distribute on NPR - Breaking News, Analysis, Music, Arts & Podcasts . You can connect with me at Alona on the Money is my Instagram handle and at Money Memories as well. And please subscribe to my newsletter, baron the Bull for weekly guest highlights takes on tech. And that's really at the centralized place, but lots of ways to get in touch with me.
Oh, in email Ilona at Bear in the Bull . Say hello. I wanna get to know you. Wonderful. We can't wait to stay in touch. Alana, you have such great content and we love that you are putting midterm rentals into real life. Thank you. Bye everybody. Kitch time.
Thanks for joining us on this episode. If you're enjoying The Landlord Diaries, be sure to like, subscribe and share it with others. With over 300,000 listings across the country, Furnished Finder makes it easy for landlords and tenants to connect directly. No middleman and no markups ready to list your property.