Linda Allen didn't start with dozens of units. She started with one four-bedroom arbitrage property (opens in new tab) on Furnished Finder and built from there. Today, she manages six monthly midterm rentals, and her story proves that smart systems and strategic thinking matter more than a massive starting budget.
In her market, a smaller urban area in North Carolina, long-term unfurnished rental rates hover in the mid to low $2,000 per month range. But Linda consistently secures monthly rentals for $5,000 and up, creating profit spreads of $1,500 to $2,000 per property. Her guests are primarily work crews, insurance relocations, and families doing large renovations on their properties.
Why rental arbitrage made sense as a starting point
Linda and her husband's big picture real estate goals involve purchasing multifamily and single-family properties. But they chose arbitrage as their entry point for strategic reasons.
"We decided to move towards arbitrage mainly because it was a lower entry for us in terms of cost factor," Linda explains. "If we felt that the business model didn't work exactly how we planned, we had a little bit of easier opportunity to pivot early on in the process."
Rental arbitrage allows you to rent a property from the owner or manager, furnish it, and offer it as a midterm rental without the capital requirements of purchasing real estate. It's a proven path to generate capital for future property purchases while building operational systems and market knowledge.
The four bedroom breakthrough: Challenging conventional wisdom
One of Linda's biggest early wins came from questioning common advice in the midterm rental space.
"I think the biggest misconception that we were able to squash was related to the bedroom size for an arbitrage that could actually be successful," she says. "We initially wanted to start with a one or two bedroom really because that's what you hear a lot about in the space."
As a healthcare provider by profession, Linda initially wanted to support fellow healthcare workers in smaller bedroom units. But when she analyzed her market, she discovered something different.
"When we actually started to push the envelope a little bit and go out of the box, we realized that our market in particular had a nice gap in the four and five bedroom unit bedroom size."
The results speak for themselves. While their one two-bedroom property faces significant market competition and requires lower pricing, their four and five bedroom properties consistently deliver those $1,500 to $2,000 monthly profit spreads.
"When it gets to a smaller unit, there's just a lot of market competition overall in that area. So the price does need to come down a little bit on that one. The profit spread is not nearly as much as those larger homes."
The system for identifying the right property
Linda's success didn't happen by accident. She developed a methodical approach to property selection that any aspiring landlord can replicate.
Market analysis comes first
Before reaching out to a single landlord, Linda spent considerable time analyzing her market on Furnished Finder (opens in new tab) and other platforms. She looked at common bedroom sizes, average prices relative to long-term rental rates, and identified gaps in the market.
"We noticed that there was just a lot more in the market the smaller the bedroom size. As we got towards the four bedroom size, we noticed that there was just not as many properties."
Qualifying landlords, not pitching them
Linda's approach to landlords flips the traditional script.
"A lot of times in arbitrage, individuals will look to try to pitch the landlord and try to convince them that they're going to be this great tenant for these reasons. We spent more time trying to qualify the landlord."
She looks for landlords who would be the right fit for a partnership where she provides steady rent each month while taking care of their property for business operations.
Location assessment with the guest in mind
Once she identifies interested landlords, Linda visits properties in person and assesses them based on what her ideal guests need:
Neighborhood quality
Nearby amenities
School systems
Proximity to highways
Proximity to hospitals or corporate centers
Furnishing systems that scale
Furniture represents one of the largest costs in rental arbitrage, and Linda's approach evolved significantly from property one to property six.
Early stage: The detailed spreadsheet
For her first property, Linda created a manual system with a spreadsheet containing active links, pricing, quantities, and delivery tracking for each item brought into the home.
This documentation serves multiple purposes. It helps you reorder when items get damaged, track costs accurately, and replicate your setup when adding properties. Even if you only plan to furnish one unit, documentation saves time and headaches later.
Advanced stage: Strategic sourcing
As Linda expanded, she got more creative with furniture acquisition:
Working with wholesalers
Negotiating with local short-term rental hosts shutting down units
Acquiring entire furniture sets at efficient costs
Moving furniture between properties as needed
"We'll often negotiate with those past short-term rental hosts to acquire all that furniture and move it to the property that we need at a much more efficient cost."
Understanding payback periods
Linda emphasizes a critical financial consideration many new operators miss.
"From an analyzing standpoint, any of you that are interested in arbitraging need to understand that you must have an idea of how long the payback period is going to take because you're also paying rent and that is part of your overall expenses for a certain amount of time until that furniture is paid off."
The property inventory system
While waiting for furniture deliveries, Linda developed another crucial system: comprehensive property documentation.
She creates a detailed inventory that includes:
Breaker box location
Water shut-off valve location
Number and location of outdoor faucets
Number of trash bins
Serial numbers, makes, and models of all appliances
Air filter sizes and locations
Hot water heater specifications
Furnace details
"Since our properties are often booked, you don't want to disrupt a guest stay to ask them those questions or go into the property to get a picture of a serial number or a model number."
Linda uses a simple Google Sheet to document these details and stores photos in a Google Drive folder per property. This allows her to take swift action when issues arise, even when managing properties remotely from New York while working full-time.
Designing for your target audience
Linda's furnishing choices reflect deep understanding of her ideal guests: families relocating to the area with younger or teenage children and usually one to two pets.
Key furnishing principles
Durability matters most
Items that get frequent use, like dining chairs, dining tables, and living room furniture, need to withstand heavy use and occasional spills.
"We make sure we have comfortable seating that is again durable that can handle that little spill of the drink. Maybe we don't necessarily pick the lightest colors or if we do we make sure we have an upholstery cleaner machine in the property in that locked closet."
Adequate seating for larger groups
Linda has a pet peeve about properties that sleep 8 to 10 but only have seating for four.
"People literally want to be able to have fun, watch a movie, play games and do things together. So we make sure we have comfortable seating."
Quality mattresses
For longer stays, bed quality becomes critical.
"Mattress quality was probably the next most important thing for us. The bed is comfortable because these are longer stays and beds are where you spend quite a bit of the time."
Multiple workstations
With remote work and homework needs, Linda ensures multiple spaces for working throughout larger properties.
Flooring considerations
Linda limits herself to properties with minimal or no carpet, particularly important for work crews who track dirt and dust.
"Being able to have floors that can easily be swept is just much easier than full carpeting on an entire floor."
Pet-friendly features
Most of Linda's properties have fenced-in backyards, a major selling point for her target guests with pets.
The lead conversion system
With more than 50% of bookings coming from Furnished Finder, Linda has refined her lead response process into a reliable system.
The three-touch approach
When a lead comes in, whether a direct match or unmatched lead, Linda uses a coordinated response:
Message on Furnished Finder: Uses saved templates, quickly editing one or two details to ask screening questions
Email: Sends the same message to the provided email address
Text message: Sends a quick text from the company phone introducing herself as a local landlord and directing them to check Furnished Finder messaging or email
"That usually lends us to have a very high success rate of getting response back from a prospective tenant."
Screening questions that qualify
Linda's screening questions help her understand traveler needs and match them with the most appropriate property from her portfolio of six listings.
"Sometimes the one that they're inquiring about is not always the one that maybe matches most of the answers to their questions. So we'll give them choices and then let them choose from there."
Optimizing your Furnished Finder listing
Linda regularly reviews and updates her listings to maximize visibility and bookings.
Strategic title optimization
Rather than generic titles like "cozy three bedroom," Linda's titles speak directly to what her travelers seek:
Master on main
Ranch style
Fully fenced
"We're putting it right there in the title for them to help stop the scroll versus putting a very generic title. When I see cozy three bedroom, it doesn't necessarily say everything that I would want to know about the home as fast as possible."
Regular listing reviews
Linda recommends actually viewing your listing on Furnished Finder about 30 to 60 days out to check:
Main photo appeal
Description accuracy and relevance
Pricing alignment with market rates
Overall presentation
Furnished Finder's Market Insights tool (opens in new tab)helps landlords understand average prices for bedroom counts in their market and see what types of travelers are coming to their area.
Marketing to a specific audience
Linda's entire operation centers on clearly defined target guests, and she's comfortable with that focus.
"If you market to everyone, the likelihood that you're going to get who you want just dwindles dramatically. It's okay to narrow in on two to three ideal target guests."
Her primary targets:
Families relocating to the area
Work crews on long-term projects
Insurance relocations
Families doing large renovations
This doesn't mean she turns away others. Linda has had plenty of two-person travelers stay in four-bedroom properties. But by designing, furnishing, and marketing with specific guests in mind, she creates properties that truly serve those guests well.
Turning overflow into opportunity
When Linda's properties are fully booked, she doesn't just turn leads away. She's developed systems to create value from those situations.
Building a referral network
Linda networks with other landlords who have properties of various sizes in similar neighborhoods.
"We've had plenty of times where we are fully booked, but we receive a request and we have a network of local hosts that we know. We will reach out to them directly and let them know we have this lead."
Prospective tenants appreciate the help, and they remember the resource she provided even when she couldn't accommodate them directly.
Creative arbitrage opportunities
For corporate groups needing multiple units simultaneously, Linda sometimes looks for additional properties to arbitrage specifically for that booking.
"You can look to see if we can find other properties that are either in the neighborhood within 10 to 15 minutes of the neighborhood so that all of the personnel are close together in proximity and pitch to that homeowner the opportunity to have us place a corporate group in."
She notes that furniture can always be rented if needed, removing that barrier to creative solutions.
Managing remotely with systems
Linda manages her North Carolina properties while living in New York and working full-time as a healthcare provider. Her secret? Google Drive.
"I have it on my phone. It's with me on the go. Any question, I can go to the property folder and get an answer very fast."
Each property has its own folder with an onboarding subfolder containing photos and documentation of everything from appliance serial numbers to water shut-off valve locations.
This system allows Linda to respond to 5:00 a.m. messages from leads in less than a minute using her templates, even while getting ready for work.
The Bel Lakay Hospitality story
Linda and her husband named their company Bel Lakay Hospitality. The name comes from Haitian Creole, meaning "beautiful home." Her husband originally came to the US from Haiti as a young child.
"We wanted to pick something that was unique and different and just really captured what we felt we would want our guests to feel: that they came into a really beautiful home for their temporary stay."
That philosophy drives everything they do, from property selection to furnishing choices to guest communication.
Key takeaways for aspiring landlords
Linda's journey from one arbitrage property to six successful midterm rentals offers valuable lessons:
Start with market analysis: Spend time understanding your market before committing to a property size or location. Look for gaps, not just what everyone else is doing.
Question conventional wisdom: The "best" bedroom count for midterm rentals depends on your specific market. Analyze your area rather than following generic advice.
Build systems early: Even with one property, document everything. Simple spreadsheets and Google Drive folders save enormous time as you scale.
Know your numbers: Understand your payback period on furniture and how rent payments factor into your overall expenses during that time.
Design for your guest: Every decision, from furnishings to listing titles, should reflect your target audience's needs and preferences.
Qualify, don't pitch: Approach landlords as a partner offering value, not as a tenant begging for approval.
Document everything: Property details, appliance information, and maintenance needs should all be easily accessible, especially when managing remotely.
Respond quickly: With saved templates and mobile access to your systems, you can respond to leads in under a minute.
Build a network: Relationships with other local landlords create referral opportunities and help you serve guests even when you're fully booked.
Think creatively: Overflow demand can become new arbitrage opportunities or referral income.
Linda's success demonstrates that rental arbitrage with midterm rentals isn't about having the most properties or the biggest budget. It's about understanding your market, serving your guests well, and building systems that let you operate efficiently and scale sustainably.
Whether you're managing properties across state lines while working full-time or just getting started with your first listing, the principles remain the same: know your market, know your guest, and build systems that work.
Join the conversation and become part of the new wave of successful real estate investors redefining rental property success. Subscribe to Landlord Diaries podcast and listen to Linda's full episode (opens in new tab) for detailed insights.
Episode 163 Transcript
We've noticed that the long-term unfurnished rental rates are in the mid to low 2000 a month range, and we are able to secure monthly rentals anywhere from, 5,000 and up mostly work crews, insurance relocations, and families doing large renovations on their properties. Linda Allen didn't start with dozens of units.
She started with one four bedroom arbitrage property on Furnished Finder and built from there. Today she manages. Six monthly midterm rentals. In this episode, Linda will break down how she built a reliable, repeatable system that turned one listing into a scalable monthly rental business. Linda, I just think there, everyone's gonna get so many great tips from you, especially in getting started.
How are you doing today? Oh, I'm doing great. It's so wonderful to be here. I really appreciate the opportunity. Yes, we're excited for this conversation. Linda, what are your big picture real estate goals and why did monthly rental arbitrage and co-hosting feel like the smartest entry point? Ooh, our big, our current property goals were to really use the capital to make a few purchases in the multi-family space, as well as a few single family properties.
We decided to move towards arbitrage, mainly because it was a lower entry. Lower entry for us in terms of cost factor and if we felt that the business model didn't work exactly how we planned, we had a little bit of easier opportunity to pivot early on in the process and then go a different direction.
But it worked out really great and we've really loved being able to arbitrage to start, but it's not our end goal. Obviously, we would like to continue to purchase properties so that we can scale in that fashion. And arbitraging for anybody who doesn't remember or hasn't listened to any of our episodes about that is when you rent a property from the owner or the manager, you furnish it, change it up, do whatever you wanna do, and in, in the case of mid monthly midterm rentals, furnish it and offer it as a.
A midterm rental. So Linda, I have a bunch of arbitrage myself. I love that strategy, especially like you said, to generate capital to purchase more properties. It's a great strategy and to get started. And you are great at system. So tell us one mistake or misconception that you recognized early on in your journey that changed how you run your rentals now.
Did you have any of those aha moments? I think the biggest misconception that we. Were able to squash was related to the bedroom size for an arbitrage that could actually be successful. We initially wanted to start with a one or two bedroom, really, because that's what you hear a lot about in the space.
In, especially in the MTR world, I am a healthcare provider by professions. So initially I really wanted to be able to support. My fellow healthcare workers in a smaller bedroom unit size. But when we actually started to push the envelope a little bit and go out of the box, we realized that our market in particular had a nice gap in the four and five bedroom unit.
Bedroom size. And so we decided to take a leap of faith and jump all in into the four bedroom as our first, and we immediately broke all misconceptions that we had as well as others. And we would not look back. We absolutely love the larger bedroom sizes, so we have properties in a smaller urban market in North Carolina.
And so we've noticed that the long term unfurnished rental rates are in the. Mid to low 2000 a month range, and we are able to secure monthly rentals anywhere from 5,000 and up. Mostly work crews, insurance relocations, and families doing large renovations on their properties for that. So we've been able to really bring a nice profit spread.
For each of our, properties that we have, when it gets to a smaller unit, we do have one in the portfolio that is a two bedroom. There's just a lot of market competition. Overall in that area. So the price does need to come down a little bit on that one. So the profit spread is not nearly as much as those larger homes, but we find that in the four to five bedroom range, that in our market, we're able to secure opportunities which bring us anywhere from 1500, sometimes 2000 a month profit spread.
And it could be a lot about the way we built our systems to market to our target audience. I wanna talk about those systems. I wanna talk about those systems. I love that you have found a sweet spot in these larger homes. We Kelly's right? We get that question so often. If you're listening and you're wondering if that might work in your area, check out our new Market Insights tool.
It's linked right on the homepage of Furnished Finder. You can look up specific data for your market or a market you're interested in, and you can see what types of travelers are coming to your area. It's a really great insight and just lets you start to understand the story of different markets.
Let's talk about those systems. What are your repeatable systems for taking a property from empty to full? Ooh, we have so many. I would even say even before we get to the systems that we have for. Getting a property when it's empty to full is more so about what are the systems that we use to identify the property size that was ideal for our market?
I think that is very important for newer hosts or even experience hosts who are looking to change up their portfolio to have a solid understanding. We spent quite a bit of time like analyzing on Furnished Finder as well as in. Just general, like in the other OTAs to take a look at the common bedroom sizes that we thought we were most interested in.
And what those units looked like. What were the average prices relative to a long-term rental rate? And we noticed that there was just a lot more in the market, the smaller the bedroom size. As we got towards the four bedroom size, we noticed that there was just not as many properties. And so we then took that information from there and we created a system where we would go in.
Reach out to landlords who were offering properties for rent with a specific script that we presented our company and the opportunity to really partner with us in this opportunity of a win-win scenario. So a lot of times in arbitrage. Individuals will look to try to pitch them, the landlord and try to convince them that they're going to be this, great tenant for these reasons, and we spent more time trying to qualify the landlord.
Would they be the right type of landlord for us to want to work with in terms of being able to provide them steady rent each month while taking care of their property for the purposes of being able to operate. The business out of. And then from there, once we were able to identify a certain number of landlords that said yes, we would then take our systems and go visit each of the properties, assess them in person, and then determine based on the neighborhood, the amenities that are nearby the typical things that we knew our ideal guests we're looking for.
School systems, proximity to highways, maybe proximity to hospitals or various. Corporate groups that are in our area. And then we kicked in our systems once the lease was signed for the operations side of things. We have systems that then created spreadsheets for us to talk about furniture. And furniture is obviously the one of the biggest pieces we learned a lot from Property One versus now in property six on how we create that created and updated that system.
So at first we were using a very manual system where we. Had spreadsheet, we would have active links and pricing according to what we brought in the quantities to track the deliveries as well for each item that we brought into the home. Now as we've expanded, we're a little bit more savvy on how we source our furniture.
We utilize different wholesalers, lots of local hosts who maybe are shutting down a unit that has level of furniture that meets our criteria for. Quality and quantity that we would need to fill a four or five bedroom home. And we'll often negotiate with those past short-term rental hosts to acquire all that furniture and move it to the property that we need at a much more efficient cost.
So you can get very savvy with how you create your systems for the furniture aspect, 'cause that is one of the larger costs. And from an analyzing standpoint. Any of you that are interested in arbitraging need to understand that you must have an idea of how long the payback period is gonna take because you're also paying rent and that is part of your overall expenses for a certain amount of time until that furniture is paid off.
So many great nuggets that I don't want anyone to miss. What Linda is saying here as far as OTAs, those are online travel agencies. She had mentioned OTA, so just giving you a quick update there. It's essentially like Airbnb, VRBO, where you, your booking actually occurs on the platform where Furnished Finder, we put the control in your hands.
We don't take. Any portion of your profits, you just pay that one low rate to market your property on Furnished Finder and connect with unlimited tenants. So with the furnishings, I love that you have that simple spreadsheet with links, and this is something Katie always emphasizes, like whether you have one property or multiple.
Start your systems early so that whenever a couch gets ruined or whenever you need to, add another property, then it's not like, where did I get that item? You could go back, reorder it, track the cost of it, and really stay on track. Katie, anything you wanna add for the furnishing side there? I just I really love the point about emphasizing, even if you're only furnishing one unit or you're like, I only plan on doing this once, why do I need to document it?
It doesn't have to be perfect. It can be, just a list on your notes app and your phone if that's what you need. But just some sort of documentation will really help you. If down the line you're like, I really did like that coffee table, I'm gonna do it again. 'cause I didn't think I'd have.
12 midterm rentals and here I am, right? Or you might wanna just keep track of how much you're spending or where did you order that you haven't seen it come in. So just those basic organization tips and I'd love to take that back to you, Linda, and tell us what other types of like basic organization has really helped you keep your systems square, because these systems can be very simple, but help you keep things in order.
Yes. I couldn't agree more. It was something we learned quickly where we thought we were just tracking a few pieces of furniture, but honestly, while that furniture was being ordered and we were waiting for the delivery, one of the next systems that we started to do was take full. Inventory of what is in the home, meaning where is the breaker box, where is the water shutoff valve?
How many outdoor faucets are there? So if there's a wintertime emergency, we know what we need to do. How many trash bins are at this location? What are the serial numbers on all the appliances and the makes and models? And while, yes, we are currently renting from the homeowner if and when something happens and we need to make a quick fix.
Those are the things that we need to know right away, and since our properties are often booked, you don't wanna disrupt a guest stay to ask them those questions or go into the property to get a picture of a serial number or a model number. It is much, much easier if you need to contact someone about a broken fridge.
You can say it's this brand, it's this model. And then they're like, oh, okay. I have that part. I'll be right there. It's so much easier. Couldn't agree more honestly. Getting the air filter sizes, how many air filters where they are and again, we just use a simple Google sheet to document those things and to take photos of them.
So we have a Google Drive per property, and then we have an onboarding folder, and within that onboarding folder. Photos of each of those items. And then we have a Google sheet listing where some of the things are specifically, especially when it comes to like water faucets or the hot water heater or the furnace, where those are and exactly what we need to know about them.
So we can take swift action. And you find a lot of times when you're renting, sometimes your landlord doesn't even know as much about the home as you do. In the arbitrage situation.
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So we designed with our target audience in mind. We knew that our ideal audience for larger properties were families relocating to the area. They had maybe a few younger or teenage children, and usually one to two pets. So we do market to the dog friendly community. Because most of our properties are fenced in backyards, which is a big selling point for our target guests.
So when thinking about the furnishings, we wanted stuff that was durable. That, especially when it comes to the items that are frequently going to be used, the dining chairs and the dining table, family events together, living room. It's a be big pet peeve of mine to see photos of larger properties where they say they sleep eight to 10 and they have seating for four, people literally want to be able to have fun, watch a movie, play games, and do things together so we make sure we have comfortable seating that is, again, durable, that can handle that little spill of the drink that, maybe we don't necessarily pick the lightest colors. Or if we do, we make sure we have an upholstery cleaner machine in the property in the locked closet.
But we really do look for those things. When it comes to beds, again, these are longer stays and beds are where you spend quite a bit of the time. So mattress quality was the, probably the next most important thing for us was making sure that we're not just using any type of mattress, but that the bed is comfortable.
There's a space to have a works. Station multiple in a larger property because you have various individuals either working from home or doing homework, and then we limited ourselves to properties that preferably had no carpet. Because our other primary group are often work crews that are.
Coming, being paid by the company to come for long-term projects in the area, and they often track a lot of dirt and dust into the property simply by nature of their work duties. So being able to have floors that can easily be swept, it's just much easier than full carpeting on an entire floor. But we really spent a lot of time thinking about that durability piece for our.
For our properties, making sure that especially living in dining areas, were well, stocked for seating space. All right. Now let's talk about, once we have the property furnished, we've gone through that process. It's ready, it's up, it's live. Now you're on Furnished Finder and you're having these conversations.
You're working the leads, you're answering messages. Give us some tips And what types of systems worked for you to make the biggest difference when you were reaching out? Now more than 50% of your bookings are coming from Furnished Finder. We have really leaned into the messaging that we can put in Furnished Finder.
So we have a series of templates that we have stored in our Furnished Finder messaging. So when we receive a lead. Whether that is a direct match or an unmatched lead, we are looking at the lead and we're quickly then using that template, editing one or few things to ask our screening questions so that we can get a better understanding of what the traveler's needs actually are.
And so our system involves immediately messaging on Furnished Finder, and then if an email was provided, sending that same message to the email contact. And then lastly, we will utilize the. Phone number to just send a quick text from our company phone line to say, introduce ourselves and let them know that we're a local host.
We saw their inquiry on Furnished Finder. Please check your Furnished Finder messaging or email for a great property opportunity. And so that usually lends us to have a very high success rate of getting response back from a prospective tenant. For that and so we are able to close a quite a number of leads that way.
The rest are usually individuals reaching out to us directly via phone, and again, we have our set of screening questions we ask so that we can really get a great understanding of the needs and offer the most appropriate property. Since we have six on Furnished Finder, sometimes the one that they're inquiring about is not always the one that maybe matches most of the answers to their questions.
So we'll give them choices and then let them choose from there. One. One thing I really wanna point out here is as a landlord, one of the best things you can do to make sure your marketing is working well and setting you up for success for connecting with tenants is to actually go look at your listing on Furnished Finder, right?
So about 60 days out and never hurts to go find your property maybe 30 days out and actually see like what are people connecting with for the main photo? How is it displaying? What maybe do you need to update in your description? Is your price still in line And Market Insights is a great place to check to out like what are the average prices for.
A bedroom count in your market. That's a really cool, newer feature on Furnished Finder. And then also we just launched a search feature that has tons of requests and we're so excited to offer it on the website. And that's search by zip code or certain neighborhoods or things like that. So now you can even zero in on what part of the city you wanna be in, which is super cool.
That's very helpful for a market like ours where we have a plethora of zip codes. And I don't think sometimes travelers realize, if they need to be near a certain work site or they're coming in for an internship and yet they're saying they wanna be in this location, how far that drive really can be.
The next thing that we do most frequently on, on Furnished Finder is our titles, right? So we are writing our titles. We're always like, re. Analyzing them, but a lot of our titles will speak to things that we know our traveler are looking for. For instance, a master on main or a ranch or fully fenced.
Those items are often things we know are travelers in particular are searching for. And so we're putting it right there in the title for them to help stop the scroll versus putting a very generic title like cozy, cozy three bedroom, right? Like it's great, but it's, to me, when I see cozy three bedroom, it doesn't necessarily say everything that I would wanna know about the home as fast as possible.
And then it lends somebody to have to want something else to stop them. To actually go to the, into the listing a little bit deeper. And so I think utilizing your listing titles and systemizing like ways that you can alter your listing titles at different times to be very attractive to the ideal guest you're looking for is very helpful.
It's funny because when you say cozy, I always joke, but it's not a joke. Anytime I see a headline that says, cozy condo, cozy apartment, cozy home, I'm like, you've just told me it's small. That's all you've told me. You've told me it's small. Even if you're not trying to say it's small, you just told me it's small.
So I love that and I love what you're saying about. Everything from the beginning to the end is about your target tenant, right? And for you, you are appealing to larger families, work crews these larger groups, right? So you're doing everything from furnishing the property like that you're communicating with that type of guest in mind.
You're making your description, your amenities, everything with that type in mind. Not to say that you don't have flexibility on one end or the other, but just really with some sort of a target in mind because if you don't have some, something in mind, some end user, some tenant that you ideally want to be staying at your property and you're trying to appeal to everybody, that's difficult, right?
People are flexible and they might say, Hey, this is great for a family, but I have a, a bunch of people on a work crew. I could totally use that four bedroom apartment and we could take off the stuffed animals. Like there is flexibility, but you need to be able to be talking to an audience.
Absolutely. And for any of you hosts out there or want individuals who are thinking about becoming hosts and you're worried like, oh most of the guests that I have are are just traveling to people. We have had plenty of. Two person travelers stay in a four bedroom uhhuh.
Again I think some of that comes down to mindset of your perception of what you think. We'll attract a four bedroom home if you're going for that larger size. And just know there are plenty of people who have four bedrooms and are just two individuals, whether they're looking to build or buy a new property in your area, or they are coming from another location where they had a larger home size and maybe they had a lot of children who moved out at some point in time, and they're still wanting the opportunity to have those family members visit.
Don't discount that. It really comes down to being comfortable knowing that if you market to everyone, the likelihood that you're going to get who you want, it just dwindles dramatically. So it's okay to narrow in on two to three ideal target guests, and then if you get the outliers even better, for it. It's not to say that you're not appealing or attractive to them, it's just more so knowing that. You are okay with these target guests as your primary and creating your systems and everything that you do really revolving around making yourself shine and stand out for them. I'd really like to wrap up the, systems conversation with something that you do very well.
There are some midterm monthly rental operators that take that. Their individual listing and take their business to the next level by also learning how to work with business to business type level. And so one thing that you, I would love to hear advice from you on is for a Furnished Finder host that has one listing or just a couple listings and their.
Fully booked and they have no space on their calendar it, what could they do with those leads coming in to potentially be a good community asset or partner with others in the area, or grow in their business in a different direction? How have you found success with that? Ooh, so many fun ways that this could work.
The first one that comes to mind is spending some time networking with other hosts in the area. Find other hosts who have properties of various sizes, maybe in similar neighborhoods as yours. Get to know them because you just never know. When they might be full and they refer to you or you can do the same, right?
So we've had plenty of times where we are fully booked, but we receive a request and we have a network of local hosts that we know. And so we will reach out to them directly and let them know we have this lead. This is what they're needing. Do you have any availability? If so, I will connect you now on the tenant side or the prospective tenant side.
As we're going through our screening questions. We are getting information so that we can let them know we might not have anything available, but we're going to currently reach out to our extended network. As soon as we hear something back, we'll reach back out to you. And so many prospective tenants are so thankful because again, they're trying to fill, their housing need and they don't really know where to start.
So if you can be that person, that's a great resource in general, that guest will always remember the help that you offered for that. So that's one way. Another way you can think of is for the hosts that receive inquiries where they can't fill them, is, can you consider. Actually looking to arbitrage, right?
And so this happens quite a bit for us in situations where we have corporate groups that need a large quantity of units all at the same time. So say they need 18 personnel, but we have every property but one filled at the moment and we can only fit four or five. What do we do with the rest of the personnel?
We can look to see if we can find other properties that are either with. In the neighborhood within 10 to 15 minutes of the neighborhood so that all of the personnel are close together in proximity and pitch to that homeowner. The opportunity to have, us place a corporate group in again, we would then have to get very creative with how we furnish things.
And you can always rent furniture if you need to. So that's not a barrier, but you can find ways to do that. Or again, you can reach out to other local hosts, but. This is something where you want to start to think out of the box because you will, over time receive inquiries that you cannot fill, and there are ways to be the connector, be the referral, or think out of the box and find a property that's vacant that you can help fill so that they can be placed.
So let's go ahead and wrap up with our fun rapid fire section. And it's literally what comes to mind, a quick ten second answer of like, why this question resonates with you. So it's just fun for the audience. So we'll start off with, okay, be honest. Have you ever mentally furnished a random house you walked into just because you couldn't turn off your investor brain?
All the time. Yeah, all the time. I was a House Hunter's junkie before I br jumped into midterm rentals. So I'm always thinking about it. That's like sometimes, you know how some people like need a break and they'll go on Facebook or Instagram. Then I go on Zillow. It's ah, damn. Hey, I can't buy anything else yet.
Yep. All right. Next rapid fire, a Furnished Finder lead messages. You at 5:00 AM you do you respond immediately? Do you schedule it for the morning? Do you pick up the phone? Tell us what your standard practice is. If it's a weekday, I'm probably up because I am about to get ready to go to work.
So although in my head I say I wanna hold off because we have the systems with the template like already there, I can probably push that message back out in less than a minute and just edit the one or two things and then. Go, at least send it back to them. And then later in the day, if and when they respond, follow up for that.
So I would have to say I get the itch and I probably message them. That's great though. And I love that you have leaned into your systems to let you be able to do that because you're working full time, you've got a lot of hats that you're wearing. It's important. And it's. That's the benefit of these systems, right?
And they don't have to be complicated or sophisticated. It's just a quick template. All right. Last one. What's your go-to tool or habit that keeps your North Carolina properties running smoothly while you're in New York? Google Drive. That's the first that comes to mind. I have it on my phone. It's with me on the go.
Any question, I can go to the property folder and get an answer very fast. It is like the lifeline at this point, to have finally chosen to download the app. I used to go a lot with just a computer, and then I was like, why am I doing this to myself? There are times when I need the answer and I can actually get it, so I, the app is free.
I downloaded it, and I can still stay plugged in, especially when I'm at the airport in between states or at work. It's my go-to, I think. I think with this. With this question, we actually should wrap up with a quick one minute answer of, how should someone connect with you and then tell us more about your company name.
'cause it has a cool meaning and you and your husband do your properties together. A little bit of that balance. Oh, sure. So I can be reached on Instagram at Dr. Linda Allen, A-L-L-E-N, or our company, which is at Bella Kai Hospitality. Spelled B-E-L-L-A-K-A-Y hospitality that is actually Haitian Creole for beautiful home.
And we picked that name. My husband is originally from Haiti and he came to the US as a young child, so we wanted to pick something that was unique and different and just really captured what we felt we would want our guests to feel that they came into a really beautiful home for their temporary stay.
Love it. That's another great episode of Landlord Diaries. Please, if you're enjoying your content make sure you don't only subscribe and follow, but you make sure those notifications are on. So every time we add new content you're aware of that and we love your feedback. So if you get on YouTube and comment, I'm the one that sees it first.
So please we love your engagement and we look forward to connecting with you on this episode or a future episode. Have a great day everyone, and we'll catch you again next time. Bye bye everybody.
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