After losing her son in 2016, Theresa Barton of Longwood, Florida, a small town north of Orlando, discovered that remodeling her home was a very cathartic experience that led to better financial and emotional health. Theresa has been hosting through Furnished Finder for about five years, and she has a lot of excellent landlording advice to share.
Theresa's Portfolio
Theresa had a 3 bed, 2 bath single family home, a guest house on the same property, and a rental arbitraged lakefront home in a nearby city in her portfolio before Covid. She was aware that her properties, which were at the time short-term rentals, would be impacted as Covid began to have an effect on the world. She gave up on her rental arbitrage property as a result and started looking for a property rental strategy that could withstand the upcoming effects that Covid would have on the short-term and vacation rental markets. She eventually learned about Furnished Finder and the market for mid-term rentals.
A Difficult Time in Her Life
Theresa endured excruciating grief after losing her son in 2016. By chance, the house next to where they were living became available, and she bought it. She invested all of herself in the remodeling project because she couldn't sleep from her grief. Her coping mechanisms for the intense energy and emotions of her trauma included caulking, painting, fixing and upgrading light fixtures, cleaning stoves, and—possibly the most therapeutic—demolishing and rebuilding parts of the house.
Avoiding Scams and Making Tenants Feel Secure
Theresa is aware of the large number of con artists operating in the short-term rental market under the guise of landlords. By first advising those interested in her property to check her county's website to confirm she is the real owner of the property they're interested in, she allays the fears of her potential tenants. To show them how difficult it would be to fake this kind of online presence, she then directs them to the numerous other websites where she has listed her property. The next thing she does is offer to start a quick video chat on her phone and walk through the house (or maybe just around it if a tenant is already there) to show the house in person, so to speak.
Another layer of safety and security she offers is if her new tenants will be paying rent or deposit through Venmo or Cashapp that she insists they first send only $1 (rather than the whole amount, which is what scammers typically do). This way, once she receives the $1, she can reply, showing that she's a real person, and allow the tenant to send the rest of the money feeling secure. Even more reliable with tenant repor is Furnished Finder’s sister company, KeyCheck (opens in new tab), designed with mid-term rental landlords in mind offering tenant screenings (opens in new tab), state specific leases (opens in new tab)& rent payments (opens in new tab).
Theresa also makes sure her tenants are safe and secure during their stay by adhering to the state, county, and city laws regarding short- and mid-term rentals, which are constantly changing. She does this because short-term rental property owners frequently fail to take the necessary measures to comply with the various layers of regulations, especially those pertaining to short-term rentals, putting tenants at these properties at risk of having their reservations prematurely canceled and possibly even being evicted by local authorities. She mentions that at a recent city meeting, of all the short-term rentals in her city, only three were properly registered; two of those properties were hers.
As a side note, you are ultimately protected by making sure that every facet of your property rental business complies with regulations. Insurance companies are more than willing to reject a claim on the grounds that the property was not compliant with regulations if one were to arise, whether for liability or damage to the property.
A fire extinguisher and a landline phone are two particular conditions she mentions that her county required in order to obtain compliance and approval. The landline is an intriguing feature that landlords might want to implement even if there is no emergency services requirement for one. The fire extinguisher is obviously advantageous to the tenant. The majority of people are unaware that dialing 911 from a landline automatically transmits the caller's address. Mid-term and particularly short-term renters are unlikely to have the address written down or be able to recall it in an urgent situation, but a call to 911 on a landline would get emergency services dispatched that much faster.
Staying Competitive
Theresa notes that one easy way to differentiate your rental property from others is to make it pet-friendly as the short- and mid-term rental markets become more competitive. She points out that many landlords may be reluctant to allow pets for fear that the animal will damage the property, but in her experience, tenants with pets, especially in Florida where it gets very hot, must be conscious and considerate simply because it is necessary to keep the pet alive. She is more than happy to welcome guests with pets because these are the types of visitors she hopes to draw.
One of her tenants even went so far as to bring her own sheets to cover any upholstered furniture there. The tenant wanted to make sure Theresa's property was respected and taken care of despite training her two dogs not to climb on any furniture. In light of this incident, it might be a good idea to provide furniture covers or extra sheets for this particular use when housing tenants who have pets.
Remember, as a landlord, you can charge whatever you'd like as a pet deposit. That deposit can be refundable or even non-refundable. Tenants will understand a non-refundable deposit as they know a deeper cleaning will be required when they move out.
In order to vet her potential tenants who have pets, Theresa has a long phone conversation with them before they sign the contract to learn all she can about the pet. She's looking to make sure dogs aren't inclined to bark all the time, if it is calm, sweet, non-aggressive, if it can handle lightning and thunder which is common in Florida and if their dog or cat has ever clawed, chewed or sprayed on anything.
If there is a good fit between the tenant and the pets, Theresa makes sure the tenant is aware that for the first few weeks, their pet must be kept on a leash whenever it is outside. Since the other house on the property is also pet-friendly, this initial period is intended to help the tenants and their pets become accustomed to one another and prevent any unneeded bad behavior between the animals.
Insurance
Having worked in liability insurance in the past, Theresa understands there are a lot of risks that come with short- and mid-term rentals. She notes that if you're talking with an insurance company about insuring your short- and mid-term rental, and they do not ask you anything about bunk beds, swimming pool and pool fencing, trampolines or anything else that might pose a liability risk, they're probably not the company for you.
She ultimately decided on Proper Insurance (opens in new tab), which offers comprehensive coverage designed especially for short- and mid-term rentals. In addition to the typical liability and property damage protection that you would find in a typical long-term renter's policy, Proper also offers pet liability insurance, bed bug protection, squatter protection, liquor liability to cover welcome baskets for visitors that frequently include a bottle of wine, and more. Theresa says it is her preferred insurance provider despite being fairly pricey.
Decor and Functionality Tips
Theresa emphasizes how incredibly fast the internet service is at her properties to distinguish them from the competition. Fast internet is especially useful for digital nomads, remote workers, and other traveling professionals who work exclusively on a laptop and may have homeschooled children. Her property may have a husband, a wife, and several children who all depend on the internet for work and education, so having that service available is undoubtedly appealing. Another way to attract potential buyers to your property is to post a screenshot of the speed test results to your Furnished Finder listing. Be sure to also highlight if you have a dedicated workstation, even if it’s as simple as just a small desk and lamp; it makes a big difference for anyone who works from home.
Bed Bugs
For any landlord, bed bugs are an expensive headache. If bed bugs are discovered, you'll have to buy a new mattress and box spring (possibly one for each room), hire bed bug pest control services, and probably pay for your guests to stay somewhere else while the problem is being fixed, not to mention the unpleasant experience they'll have to endure. Theresa uses two bed bug protection covers on each mattress to ward off bed bugs. Since these mattress protectors are waterproof, they also protect your mattress from guests with small children who might wet the bed or otherwise damage it.
Sheets
While everyone can appreciate white sheets, Theresa avoids them like the plague in her properties. Keeping white sheets from eventually looking dingy and/or stained is a never ending battle. Her simple solution is to never use white sheets. She keeps three sets of sheets in each property, all of different colors and materials, so her guests can change them out to fit their preferences.
Furniture
Theresa discusses how certain tenants are drawn to your furniture. She chose a farmhouse-style aesthetic for all of her furnishings for two reasons: first, this type of furniture is diverse and frequently includes older pieces that are incredibly well-built and solid and have a very low chance of breaking (since it was made decades ago). Estate sales abound in Florida, making it simple to find older, well-made furniture. The second reason is that it's typically very affordable since it's used.
Furnished Finder Use Tips
Theresa advises landlords using Furnished Finder to diligently check their unmatched leads and follow up with them. She reaches out to every single unmatched lead and secures new tenants all the time as a result. Sometimes potential tenants input incorrect information regarding what they're looking for in a property. Perhaps they selected too many rooms, too many occupants, too low of a budget, and as a result received few if any property messages from tenants that fit what they're actually looking for. Since Theresa follows up with her unmatched leads, she's able to speak with that lead, show them exactly what she has to offer, create a great first impression and is much more likely to secure them as a tenant.
5 Star Reviews
Getting in touch with her tenants one month before their lease ends allows her to lay the groundwork in a non-pushy way regarding the importance of reviews. She details how she needs the reviews as a landlord, as does the tenant to easily secure future leases in the future.
Episode 35 Transcript
Welcome to Landlord Diaries where we talk about midterm rentals and the opportunities behind them we'll share landlord stories talk about maximizing investment potential and discuss how to live the very best landlord life this podcast is probably brought to you by furnished finder the place for everything midterm rentals remember to like And subscribe if you enjoy our content it's your team on the landlord Diaries Kelly Bailey here in the Austin Texas and surrounding areas with my co-host okay hey everyone I'm Katie a member of the Furnished Finder team and Midterm rental landlord Kelly and I today get to talk to Teresa who is in Florida and she has a handful of properties one of which is right next door to her so she has got all sorts of tips and tricks up her sleeve and she is like the ultimate host she takes the idea of really being a host and showing your Travelers what that means to the next level and we just we get so much good information from her story so I encourage you all to listen take notes this is one you're going to want to take notes on guys um and as a reminder this episode and every episode are brought to you by furnished finder so there are more Travelers than ever looking for midterm rentals and Furnished Finder is the home for everything midterm rental so listing your property is only 99 a year you get unlimited leads and we have endless resources for for landlords on the website so make sure you check it out um and enjoy this week's episode thanks everyone [Music] today we talk with Teresa Barton in Longwood Florida which is just a little north of Orlando Theresa lost her son in 2016 and found Home Remodeling to be a very therapeutic process leading to improved financial and emotional health this is Teresa's fourth or fifth year as a Furnished Finder host and she has many great landlording tips to share with us today Teresa thanks for joining us how are you I'm good thanks for the invite it's a lot of fun yes I'm excited for our guests to just get to hear all your fun tips so we'll jump into the first question which is why don't you start by telling us about your properties your midterm rental portfolio and why you chose to pursue midterm rentals with your properties okay so we started all together about six years ago we have this property which is a single family home split into a 3-2 and a guest Suite Under One Roof big big house and then I arbitraged a lake property in the city not far from me called Casselberry so we had three units operating for quite some time when covet hit and I knew something was going to happen with the short-term rental I made the decision to let the Arbitrage property go and started looking for ways that we could be all right financially and get guests um that were not going to be impacted by like vacation travel they needed to travel for work so that's how I found Furnished Finder excellent and we already kind of gave everyone an introduction that you have a special story that can encourage others so why don't you tell us how it was going through such a difficult time in your life and how real estate kind of was impacted as part of that Journey yeah I'd like to talk about that because I think looking back I didn't even know what I was doing and now that I know what I did I want people to consider it for them we lost our son in in May of 2016 and it was beyond dramatic and the opportunity to purchase this house which is actually insanely convenient it is next door to our home um came up and we were able to purchase it and at first honestly we weren't exactly sure what we were going to do but the reason why it was helpful was when you were in deep grief sleep is unobtainable you cannot sleep so it's a lot easier to caulk and paint and drywall mud and fix light fixtures and clean stoves at two o'clock in the morning next door or my whole family is not worried about where I am at two o'clock in the morning then keeping everyone awake in the house so it became my absolute grief therapy for a very long time that's beautiful so sorry to hear that you had to go through such a painful event that is heartbreaking but at the same time so very thankful that you found something that was able to provide you with a little bit of relief and like you said something you could do safely where your family felt you know that you were doing something purposeful in a safe and close by environment so um I think that's that's a really good way to kind of use those emotions and um use them to heal yourself yeah I mean there's no place to put all that energy all that trauma all that frustration and this was the best thing I mean there's nothing like breaking tile there is nothing like we can get rid of anger and fury does your family come from a history of real estate or construction or anything like that or is that just something that kind of piqued your interest and you kind of dove in we do my husband and I have been high school sweethearts from Key West since 1979 and every house we ever bought had a lot of problems on purpose um that way it allowed us to buy bigger houses with nicer land terrible houses as far as um everything but the bones so we did that over and over again and it's actually for me drywall and bust and tile is as therapeutic as it gets I'm sure other people go to therapy I go to Home Depot I love that well thank you so much for sharing I think that's an encouragement for a lot of people and Katie unless you've got something more to add as in kind of just a get to know Teresa question I'm excited to jump into all of these excellent tips that Teresa has in the landlord Logistics section so any last things before we transition oh let's do it okay let's have some fun guys I was shocked by everything Teresa just shared in our intro call and excited to pass those on to you so first off most of you know how important it is to Furnished Finder that we educate both landlords and travelers on how to avoid scams and travel safe so Teresa has some fun helpful tips that she utilizes uh and I think it's five ways that landlords can convince a traveler they are not going to that they're not talking to a scammer so Teresa what are those that you use in your area so I start out with um the county this happens to be Seminole County Florida and I tell them to look up the property by my name and they'll see that I'm the owner so that's kind of the first piece the second one is I do have it listed in many other platforms and if they want to go look at it there it would be pretty hard to fake it in that many places then with some people I will ask them if they would like me to do a little FaceTime and walk around the yard because if I have guests inside I'm not going to bother them however I have found the furnished finder crowd are very different than the short-term rental crowd and most of them tell me no if you want us to show it to somebody if they want to especially when it during the time when we were doing almost all nurses my sister happens to be a hospice nurse and I was paranoid about how they were traveling in unsafe environments and not staying in safe places and I didn't want that so anytime we got a call from a nurse I tried very hard to make it work and so a lot of the Furnished Finder guests are perfectly happy for me to pop in um introduce them just by first name on a little face chat and then the other person knows so each layer of that would make someone feel better that there is no scamming um one of the things I do for money is if they're going to pay me on cash app or venmo they only can send me one dollar first I don't want to take any chances that it goes to the wrong accounts they send me one dollar and then I reply back and um let's see there was something else um what was the other one Kelly it was another give the fun fact about Google Earth oh sure so so um you can look down at Google Earth and you can see um in our backyard you can see physical things because Google Earth is changing constantly it's amazing how often so I can describe to them let's see right now there's blue um chairs and a green umbrella and Google Earth is constantly updating so it's usually dead accurate I love that and then the last thing that intrigued me is if you look at Teresa's listing on Furnished Finder she puts her rental number but she's not a real estate agent so why do you choose to embrace that rental number and reg I think you register it with the county is that correct it is I do have to correct something I just did get my realtor's license in December I don't think I told you that congratulations I'm not using it for this but anyway so just to correct um so the reason why is I am a proponent of operating short-term and Midterm rentals completely legally I think the reason why the business is in so much trouble is people playing halfway legal I won't do that because that first of all I don't want the Panic to worry about it down the road and second I want to be part of the folks that make communities like short-term and Midterm rentals not hate them so I do everything by the book The funny story is I went to a County Commission meeting about this and they were bringing up the statistics from our little County and there were three properties properly registered two of them are mine wow to be fair it was very hard it's it's a gauntlet to figure out how to get through all the County city state and then they add new stuff Seminole County recently added something I think it's so they can collect 250 a year per property which I think is fair I had to have a certain kind of fire extinguisher and I had to have a landline that was their new requirement and that was landline interesting fairly reasonable I don't think that's unreasonable to ask so um I try to make sure that I'm constantly aware of the changes and no matter what we have we're dead legal also because quite frankly if you're not and you have an insurance claim you are giving your insurance company an opportunity to not pay that claim if you don't operate legally they look for any reason not to pay claims and that's one of them yeah we're going to jump into the insurance talk later yeah for all the listeners to remember that every city every state every County will have different requirements and if you don't know them sometimes it can be really overwhelming to try to navigate the legal talk and language that might be on a city-state or County website reach out to a real estate professional in the area even if you are not using that person you know if you can establish a relationship and let them know that you might use their service in the future you were referred to them or whatnot those people are people of service and they want you to do it right also so it's it's it's something that they more than likely already know so reach out to them and get the insights there's so many places there's building codes there's fire codes City regs County regs then there's even jurisdiction they're just all so different I mean they have properties in we have properties in four different areas and they're all different yeah and it is so frustrating because I want to add it as a part of my process and just say okay when this happens I do this and I I can't do that it's not and staying staying current for the changes too so I pay a lot of attention to what's going on with the County Commissioners and when they're talking whenever I see Airbnb or short-term rental is the conversation I pick up my ear and I pay attention in case they're trying to change something a because I want to have an input on it and because if they change something I got to play by those new rules yep yep all right so one of the other aspects I didn't want to put it in the introduction but we all know there's a lot of talk right now about as short-term rental regulations increase and Midterm rentals gain traction and promotion then we've got a market that might become oversaturated depending on which Market you're in so one of the things I wanted to make sure that we hear often is you know why is my property not getting any leads and a lot of it comes down to your marketing so that's some of the things we're going to talk about on this episode is ways that Teresa has taken her properties and kind of set herself apart in different aspects and so I want to jump into one of the biggest ways that is you know not always welcomed for hosts is being pet friendly so Teresa is an advocate for hosts having pet friendly properties and I wanted her to give you the opportunity to explain why that is Teresa so first of all my experience of the whole time I've been using the furniture finder was one gal who just got too young of a puppy and she was working too long of a shift other than that every single guest who's brought pets has been phenomenal for example I have a lady who came with two big beautiful golden retrievers the first thing she did when she walked in she rented the main house we're sitting right now in the guest Suite but she rented the main house she walked in and put sheets on every single one of my upholstered furniture she said my dogs aren't supposed to get up on the chairs but just in case they do I don't want you having to deal with gold hair I'm like dang you are the boss and that was my experience golden shed a lot and it was over and over and over again that that was my experience I don't find people traveling with pets bad Travelers as a matter of fact I think they're the opposite I think they're beyond conscientious they have to plan it's Florida you cannot leave a pet in the car for even a minute so they have to think about what hotel they're going to stay at they have to spend money they have to I think they are absolutely fabulous conscientious guests that's been my experience and I think it draws quite frankly the people I want the people I want to enjoy our property we live next door I want them to enjoy our property and be lovely people I will also add that we have found that a lot of landlords that we speak with um have found that it really opens up the number of people that they can rent to um and that also just by having a decent pet deposit required it covers a lot of your risk for damage right and having those Clauses in your lease a lot of times we hear that people don't allow pets because they're afraid of damage there are ways to protect yourself right a good clause in a lease covers you pictures of before the property covers you so there's there's ways that you can do that in a very you know ethical and professional way that are totally doable yep I've been hosting for about two to three years on Furnished Finder and we have five houses and they're all pet friendly and most I would say probably 70 to 80 percent of our guests come with pets and we've given back 100 of the deposit so far and things that we could have charged for it wasn't for the pets it was for you know things going missing or just not having a good inventory uh you know with three bedrooms two bath things like that so I would encourage you for those that are struggling in their Market some that's one of the things you can do is analyze can I be pet friendly if you're already pet friendly can I adjust my pet fee or make it a refundable deposit rather than a fee that they're going to lose you know and that's what we do is we just say hey we've got a thousand dollar deposit I'm not going to charge you any extra for your pet but just remember it's a thousand dollars so just make sure and take care of everything and then we've been able to give that deposit back 100 percent of the time so far I just want to add one more section while we're talking about things that you can be uh adjust keep in mind your overall deposit as well if you've gone years without having to use your deposit then maybe think about in a in a tough Market dropping it from twenty five hundred to a thousand or a thousand to 500 like adjust your adjust your numbers adjust your pricing adjust things as needed that are flexible that you haven't even had to tap into in the years that you've been doing it because your properties are a lot larger than my midterm rentals yeah my midterm rental the deposits are 300 bucks right exactly it's a little it's a condo right so know your property know your market and know are you taking a family are you taking a single nurse like what are you taking and what's reasonable for that because that is a really good way right I have two more little points if you do pets um buy as many Roomba vacuums on Facebook for 25 or 30 dollars because they're for sale all the time and what's wrong with them is a dead battery which is 19.95 on Amazon and when I when the cleaners get when the cleaners get done I put three roombas in the house and let it go to see if you can just find a few more little hairs doesn't take me any time it's while I'm checking supplies and then I take them back home and recharge them and I don't they're inexpensive because people don't know that they're just batteries pooped out so that's my little trick to make sure there's not a hair left in the house I also like to put googly eyes on the robots and watch them compete if anyone's wondering what it's like to live in my house that's a fun Mom right there there you go uh so before we leave the pet conversation last thing Teresa you know I think you you allow cats and dogs so what are some ways that you vet those pet owners for our nervous landlords to make sure you get quality pet owners every time so first of all I definitely have a phone conversation with them one or two or three and I tell say tell me everything about your pet and then I have a very long explanation of what a good pet is here and I say things like um calm sweet not aggressive not scared not scared of lightning in Thunder in Florida because that's a whole problem here it's a constant um that they won't be scared by the pool man coming by now if they bark two times to say there's somebody here that's their job and that's fine but they can't be a barker and keep bothering because we have two families or two folks on one physical property that shares the outside they don't share anything on the inside but they share the pool and the yard so I really have a long discussion with them and then because I am a pet person myself I offer things like do you need um a dog crate because I have every size um if you're worried about your cat has your cat ever sprayed on anything has it ever clawed anything and you know the more you start talking to them I have found them to be real straightforward now I'm sure sometimes it'll happen not that way but I just ask a lot of questions and because I'm a pet owner I can kind of speak pet so maybe that's why it works well okay so speaking about pets and all things shared backyard how do you Market that how do you Market a shared backyard where you might have families on both sides that have a pet do you make sure the pets get along what do you what do you do there so that's why I have a lot of conversations with them so say there's a nurse and a guest suite and the way the physical layout of the property is it's very easy for the people in the main house to use the backyard and the guest Suite to use the front yard now the front yard is not fenced but it's kind of a big space we happen to be 150 yards from an amazing um Rails to Trails in Florida called the Wekiva Rails to Trails and it's just at the end of our street and most of our guests that's one thing that draws them here I'm pretty sure um and they leash walk their pet there so what I tell everybody is when you come here you have to start with everybody on a leash that's the requirement they have to start that way and then if the folks that are in the main house or vice versa the folks during the guest Suite if all the dogs get along fine great and usually because the relationship is almost more intimate is that I'll say can I share your number with the girl coming into the guest Suite or I'll ask the guest Suite girl can I share your number with the folks in the main house so you guys can connect and say hey can I let the dogs run out tonight in the backyard and and they're just more we just set this we set the standard from the very beginning to be kind cooperative and nice folks to each other um and that has really worked matter of fact to tell you how good it works the current guest I have in the main house and the guests I have coming tomorrow morning to this guest suite are my second year snowbirders both who happen to have blind chihuahuas we have a pool and the first time they came I was out here meeting them and the dog tried to walk into the pool three times I'm like this is not gonna work so we happen to have some fencing so we threw a quick fence up around the pool because they're not swimmers they don't care about the pool at all so I said listen this makes me feel better but then I'm like what am I gonna do when people come in the main and the guest Suite they come three days later they have a blind Chihuahua I'm like you are kidding me so and now they like each other so much this is their second year of coming back and they match their dates almost and the fence oh my gosh wow so it really I really do believe it's just a lot of Engagement and being real Frank and telling like if somebody says well my dog can get a little bit aggressive listen that's not a good match for us you do not want to make plans to stay here and then it failed we all want it to work so that's not gonna work that's excellent advice and I don't even think Chihuahuas normally like other dogs so that's so cool that they're both blind and they both liked each other how fun I'm gonna go ahead and add keeping that conversation going about if your Market is saturated and you want to stand out she said some key things right now one she recognizes that there's a trail close by that is extremely marketable and draws a lot of people to her area so you can put it in your description but even better add pictures because how many of us look through pictures and never read the description unless we like the pictures first so Market your pictures in the same way that you're going to advertise those extra amenities in your description as well and then uh pool of course is always something to Market well and the fact that you're dog friendly I just love that you know it's it's okay to say no like what you were saying it's okay to make sure it's a good fit especially in a shared space like that so that's excellent advice right I think the other thing is too and to make sure that you have the confidence in your property the way you furnished it the way you Market it the way you either bought it or arbitraged it that if it is not the right fit for a tenant do you know that you can say no because you know there will be another one coming right even if it means that you're vacant for a week or two the midterm is you have to be a little bit more patient not everything happens overnight but there is validity to that to just knowing and having confidence in your property and waiting for the fit that is the right one don't force it right I agree Okay so everybody Teresa has a background in Insurance not necessarily liability and liability and so I wanted to give her the floor she has a unique perspective on why insurance is so important and how you can ask the right questions to make sure that your property and your tenants are well covered especially with features like a pool Etc so why don't you go ahead and share with us Theresa your process so when I first started short-term rental this property in particular which is a shared property has so much more liability than a one one single rental on top of the fact that there's a pool we have children because the house the big three two house has a bunk room it's definitely a family place and then we have an acre yard welcoming dogs so the liability is just layers of it first insurance I bought I knew it was not enough because when you're doing the application to any insurance if they're not asking you the question that you're afraid they're going to ask it's not the right policy you already know that no they asked bunk beds trampolines pools bicycles um um joint property they asked the very questions that make me know they understand all the risks that I need to be protected against as well as my guests um that's another comment about the licensure they ask are you fully in compliance with all of your County city state regs yep and here's how so that's another reason why it matters because the insurance company wants to know that you're paying by the rules for them to insure you um so I went through multiple companies over that first three or four years and then I found a company called proper and I'm not I'm not advertising for them I'm just telling you that's who I finally found it's okay if you are yeah that actually asked me the right questions now they are expensive and in Florida it's even more complicated because if you change Insurance during Hurricane Season which is about five months now you can't get an I can't the property owner can't get an active insurance coverage of any damage from a hurricane until there's no storm swirling out in the Atlantic or the Pacific or wherever they're planning on coming up from Africa so it's a timing problem so in Florida you have to be really careful with that so I found proper really answered all my questions like the pool like the fact that I don't keep a fence around the pool there's a fence around the property which is the requirement by the county but there's no fence around the pool and the reason why is you're more at risk if you put something that's supposed to protect them and that thing wasn't maintained meaning if the guests in the main house have two young teenage boys and they leave the gate open to the pool fence and then the guest in the other side their family member goes in the pool because the gate wasn't closed and drowns if you want to look at that pull up any hotel that's why they're so obsessed about those Gates closing because the hotel can't control what the guests do well I'm kind of in those shoes so when I found out from the insurance company that if I had no fence around the pool that takes away the impression of security meaning the fences around the yard pool's not fenced and I have them sign a waiver specifically every guest before they get here for two things house rules and the waiver about liability and I'm and I even funny sort of in my interview with them I asked them is anybody coming who can't swim and if they say yes I said okay I'm going to send you three companies that provide swim teaching classes either they'll come here to my pool or you can go to the Y because I want to make sure that they know I want you to be protected I want you to know how to swim and your family know how to swim in you to be safe but it's an open pool and that is an insurance issue that is a problem because if you just buy renters insurance you kind of think you're covered you're just not because renters insurance as a general rule is long-term tenants very different liability so that was what I went through it took me a long time to get and I spend a lot of money on it and I sleep well because of it I'm going to add to that because one of our properties is in Florida and we just got it this past June so we were hit with quite the first year um with hurricane Ian um right in Cape Coral so we got hit real good um but I I always hear people talking about your core team right you want your cleaners you want your property management you want your realtor very you want your lender right very few people talk about your insurance agent or broker or company and of my entire experience in Florida thus far and Kelly and I are going to do episodes at some point talking about our experiences as as land Lawrence but so I'll keep it quick here but um one of my biggest lessons was it was really really great to be able to call up in the middle of the hurricane my agent who knew my policy my house the local you know all the laws with everything and he was able to tell me you know you're covered here you're covered here we need to worry about this we don't need to worry about this I could talk directly to him and he was so knowledgeable about that area and what I had to and you're right like Florida has all these weird quirks that me as a Colorado and I'm like that's crazy but whatever you say right so just having that person on your team like I'm sorry I I he is like the Top If You especially if you're in an area like Florida that does have a lot more natural disasters now some of our other properties are are in areas where it's a lot less risky as far as the natural disaster area right so I feel like we you know we just go through a company but you still you're right you want to make sure that they ask all of those questions and y'all touched on an important part of especially in Florida and and you're saying you know one everyone's getting hit at the same time so that might take time and then two you're saying they won't cover it until basically hurricane season's over so you want to make sure that loss of income is covered as well so that you're still making money on the property even though it's not available for rent during that time period so that's a good question to make sure and ask as well yeah that was the final straw that made me willing to pay the more premium because not any other insurance company that I spoke to about short-term rental provided much in the way of lost income they kind of dabbled in it they did not actually cover it if and if I had lost let's say a tree fell in the center of this big long ranch house right in the center mess up both units in the middle of Florida hurricane with everybody else having it if I could get that thing up and running in nine months that'd be a miracle miracle so that was why I will pay the extra per year of Premium because if it happens we will be shut down financially for a very long time no matter what we do right yeah so the last thing I want to add to this section is y'all may not know as furnished finder landlords if you use the key check business tools that for that furniture finder recommends and is our sister company and you go through the payment process to set up payments for your tenants and have it emailed to them just you know reminders of hey it's time to pay hey it's time to pay it's it's a nice payment system but it also encourages landlords and tenants to provide insurance as well so it reminds the landlord of hey do you want to ask your renters for insurance and the process reminds tenants hey insurance is important here's someone that you could use we're not recommending any specific company but here's a company you could use so that it gets that renter thinking about the importance of having that insurance in place now I know that some things that can be a little frustrating about the renter Insurance process would be things like well what keeps them from canceling a month after they sign up or how do I you know ask them for verification without sounding like I'm you know being too overbearing so one thing that you can do to set yourself apart is renters insurance is actually really pretty cheap depending on what your needs are and I'm not talking about the insurance for the home I'm referring to the insurance for your Travelers since they're not coming with much typically I think our coverage is like a hundred thousand in property liability and then five no five thousand property liability and then a hundred thousand in Risk you know if something happens a a dog but their dog bites a neighbor or something like that so we're talking about those ways that you can set yourself apart in your market and that's something that you could do you could say Hey I'm I'm a type of landlord that I go above and beyond I include all the utilities take care of your lawn care you know I include renters insurance so that all you have to do is show up enjoy the town and make sure and take care of the home well you know so just an idea for everyone out there I have a question Kelly do you know if that the runner's policy covers if they lose the place to stay so the tree that you know they stayed with they're gonna stay with me for 90 days tree falls in and they need to go someplace else do you know if it covers that I don't have to ask that question I do not I you know I'm pretty trusting so we've got an insurance agent and we just trust whatever he says is best I like your style of asking questions I haven't done that in the past but so far you know he seems very reliable and sets us up uh with you know the the best insurance that we need for what we're telling and we're doing so yeah that's a good question we should we should come back the mind is we lost power for five days which is pretty unusual for we're in Central Florida we're not down in South Florida so we don't typically lose it for very often and the guests I had were wonderful and they managed um but I thought about that that if they had had renters insurance would that then pay for them to get a place somewhere else when we have no power we can't make the power come on we have no way so I guess that's something now I'll check out because I don't actually know these are just all the questions that Florida brings and other states it's not just Florida and I'm telling you man the things that I have learned from having the rental in Florida for seven months now like are things I would never have imagined Florida is just this special little place Texas is up on the list as well we of course have Tornado Alley in the middle of of our country so it's a lot it's definitely a lot of States but this has been a fun topic so now you've got a list of of questions that you can ask your insurance agent and say hey what do you what can you tell me about my insurance coverage cover coverage for this so that's so fun let's move on to our last part of what we call landlord Logistics which is some fun facts five decor and home functionality tips that Teresa has for us today and uh Teresa don't worry I'll prompt you through them so that you don't have to remember what they were from our intro call but one of them is it's a it's staggering and encouraging how many remote workers we have now you know I think it's somewhere around 25 percent of the of the working population uh is now involved in working from home so they can travel while they work and one of the things that Teresa does to set herself apart not being necessarily tech savvy is communicating about high-speed internet well and you want to give them your tip on what you do to show them how good the internet is um gosh with the speed test what did I talk about and I have to remember yep yep okay yeah because I the other reason why I like remote workers and now because remote workers can also have um online school kids so they're not held down to what they used to be held down to so they can be a husband and wife who are both remote workers and three kids who are all in remote schools which means they've got to have really good Wi-Fi and I tell them it's important have what you need because one's working in one side of the house and I was working the other side there's two kids in bedrooms on there all on their equipment so um we we show them how to do the speed test and I I walk around and show them the speed test so they know that the Wi-Fi here is wicked fast and I always tell everybody if it ever goes slow for any reason let me know because it should not I pay a little extra it's not even that much for the highest one I can get and I want that to be a draw because if you're looking if you're a guest and you say well I really want to go travel with my son or my wife or my sister or whatever but we both need to work remotely then I want to make sure that that's not a barrier to them coming to our place exactly so you can just take a screenshot is what uh is what Teresa was saying she does she takes a screenshot of thespeedtest.net and sends it over to interested parties or you could even go one step further if you know that it's excellent in Internet that you're providing go ahead and take that screenshot and put it on your listing so like what like what we've been saying pictures are worth a thousand words and if they see wow that's really good internet that might move your property up over another person's property that's a great idea I will add to that yeah and I'll add to that and I hope I'm not spilling the beans on something you're going to say later Teresa but adding a workstation um one of our rentals is even a little studio apartment there's not even a bedroom it's just a studio and we still put a little tiny desk a little tiny desk chair a little tiny desk lamp because everyone needs a little space where they can get in the zone and focus and do what they need to do even if they or a nurse or you know even if they're not working on the computer all day you need a space yep yeah for sure excellent and for tiny spaces that you don't think you have room for a desk I'd say that airbnbs where it's just one of those pop-up desks you know you just there's a there's a bar stool type chair that pushes in nice and tight and then it just pops up and you can also I want to show you how we handled ours so okay can you still see me let's see so that is a corner desk can you see that I see it yeah okay it just fit perfect in that corner and we're in a guest Suite so there's no bedroom here and I just found it and it fit perfect and it's been just a perfect little simple desk but it fit the spot that had the right area that wouldn't take up too much room for the folks to have space that they need but they have a desk all the time exactly yep love it so these are such great tips how about tips for bed bug prevention Okay so again I'll bring up my little sister my sister's a nurse she's worked in every possible field in nursing not afraid of any infection not afraid of broken bones amputations none of that scares her tell her there's a bed bug and she'll run like a skull of the dog it's very funny but anyway oh yeah so okay first thing is I really believe that you're going to get a bed bug sometime in your sometime in your experience I don't want one I had to happen to be the strangest time in my life I was sitting in a bank one day at the chair talking to the banker and I'm watching this bug in Florida so we're bugged City I'm watching a bug I was gonna say this seems like a Florida issue I'm watching a bug walk across his desk and I went I never really seen one I mean I've seen pictures but I went I think that's a bed bug so I took it with a napkin squished it and put it in my purse because I wanted to first of all know was I really right about it but then but more than that I'm like okay so no matter how good your guests are or you are or your cleaners are I wasn't sitting in a bank chair he could have jumped on my leg or whatever so um what I use is they are basically little um plastic light things they're called flea traps and they have a little tiny five watt bulb and a sticky pad and then there's old top that sits on top of it and you just plug it in the reason why it works really well is it's a very gentle night light so I put it under the very center of the bed so they have five Watts it's barely visual it's a barely but it's warm enough bulbs and you have to use can't use the new LEDs you got to use the hot bulbs because their bugs are drawn to the Heat and then it's a sticky so every time the cleaners come they pull it out and look is there a cockroach in there is there spider is there a flea is there a bed bug every single time and if there's a bug there they're going to be in there and if I see a bed bug holy mackerel I'm gonna go bananas and tear the place apart I've never had one not in either property and I keep one of those lights under every bed now some guests do ask me if they can turn off the light because they like a pitch black room and I'm like okay you're okay but other than that it's been wonderful and they're very inexpensive they're I don't know six of them for Amazon are like 20 bucks then you get the little sticky pads and you change them out I find it a big relief to me Florida is a buggy place and no matter what we will have ants in this all this no matter what we do we will have ants so the ants walk across they get stuck on the sticky pad I don't really love chemicals because I've got children and dogs in our houses I don't really want to use chemicals if I don't have to so this way I don't have to and then you also take that next step and do total encasements for your mattresses and guys for your box springs don't forget about your box springs too so Andrew has an excellent Teresa has actually tested and approved one of those encasements because that's what I wonder it's like it says that it's waterproof is it really waterproof well Teresa has tested that and it it is so you want to tell them your story about that by accident actually very recent um so there was a family here and they had two toddlers in the main house and um you know toddlers often have bathroom issues in the bed and that's just a reality it's okay well they had had a lot of issues apparently because I took off the top and I it's yellow I mean that bed bug protector is yellow and I'm like I just bought a brand new dream Cloud king mattress mattress oh my God it's got to be ruined take it off nothing not a drop not a scent nothing then I spent the next now I keep extras of everything and on many beds where I think there can be children sleeping I put double because yeah they're 60 bucks got it I got their 60 bucks I put two one this way one that way so that that way there is no way you put two encasements or you put one encasement and then a cover on top two encasements plus the mattress you do I do because first of all if I'm in a hurry for a turnover I can take one off get and then put the bed back together but the other reason is if a kid pees in a bed it's just the reality of children I've had children I pee in bed plenty so I just want to make it easy for everybody I also put in the closet for fan for the family spaces I put um big kid pee pads so they can put them underneath their kid if they want to that's just their own choice but um so I've used double so it's a lot of money for an initial investment but um and I don't buy the cheap ones nope not at all because I want to protect my mattresses so that's what I do and I sent the mattresses are one of the most expensive Furnishings you get too because no one wants to sleep on a crappy mattress so if you're gonna succeed you have to invest in a decent mattress and they're not they're not cheap and they're a big investment and you want it to last right I have to put my insert about this conversation and it's been a long time since we've talked about it on this show but just because depending on what state city you're in especially for larger cities and what your city regulations are so in my area Goodwill won't it won't take mattresses so there are constantly mattresses high quality mattresses on Facebook Marketplace or wherever you go to to look for things for sale I go to Facebook Marketplace or next door and so guys you can get very high quality mattresses basically brand new no stains whatsoever for I I never spent over 100 bucks and a lot of times they're free because they don't want to have to figure out how to get rid of that mattress or pay someone to come pick it up especially those mattresses that are still in really good condition don't have any stains and they just decided you know what I'm I want to upgrade to something different which I don't know about y'all but my parents do that all the time they're like nope trying this one now purple what's that's the new bed the purple we're gonna go the purple oh now it's Tempur-Pedic I'm going to Tempur-Pedic people do that all the time so now I want to put a disclosure there for you on your behalf because you are the type of person that does your homework yes and you're gonna go see this you're I know you well enough to know that you're gonna go see this mattress and if it has any type of a stain or a smell look you're you're gonna be um so that's the asterisk example I'm not telling you to go find a mattress on the side of the road no in a reliable home in a reliable neighborhood yes and you I mean we're going to circle back to that sketchy conversation bed bugs bed bugs you can see them so it's like you're you're looking at the mattress intently Etc but uh for your cleaners and uh to kind of protect that deposit another tip about for the bed bugs is I had uh one of my cleaners tell me all you you want to check the head of the mattress so undo that encasement kind of take a peek in there if you see any little dark blood type spots that's what you guys I'm gonna puke hey these are real conversations we have to have these are good conversations but listen this is all the bugs I can handle I'm moving us along okay how about keeping your Linens bright because no one wants dingy sheets so what I do first of all is I stay away from white sheets I know it's the thing that everybody loves I don't love them at all um One is because I like my places to have lots of color and I think white sheets are boring now there's a perception that people say well if the sheets are white people believe they're really clean maybe but I'll tell you what makes people believe sheets are clean is how they smell the minute you get into a bed how she smells what makes you feel that they're clean so I tend to buy most of my sheets I often get them at Costco's the Costco ones and then I sometimes well Florida is kind of unique because we have endless estate sales because everyone elderly is moving out of big homes so everyone moves to Florida to die well you know it's it's they call it God's waiting room but anyway so um I I tend to buy really high quality linen sheets that have a lot of like body to them um and I just stay away from White I've never I've never felt that and I've never had anybody tell me they didn't like the white sheets um because some of my people are long-term term guests I leave them two or three full sets one that's on the bed and then two in the closet and if there's one that they like better than the other they can choose to when they change out their sheets they can put whichever one they like the best one is kind of more like um the silky kind and then one's a little bit more of like a linen feel and then whatever they like but I I find for my group that the aggravation of trying to keep them white is a lot of work so for example when the urine was on the um bed bug bag the cover it took me a long time to get the stains out between you know I don't know if you guys will use it all but baking soda white vinegar automatic dishwasher detergent um there's about 40 things you can use to get something white just don't dry it wash it and if it's yellow wash it again don't ever let it get dry just keep washing it in whatever next thing you want to try Dawn is Miracle just keep and eventually I got every and I I said Kelly the pictures to show her how bad it was and they're white completely white but I probably probably washed it six times that's good well you took care of it that's great so I we have some really great things to talk about in the Furnished Finder and key check favorite section so I want you to answer this last question uh in our home and uh home tips but I need it to be a little quick so we can dive into that Furnished Finder section so you noted and I think this is important that you choose durable furniture that shows your style so that you attract a certain type of traveler as well so tell us about that so the main house is basically Farmhouse feel except not new age industrial Farmhouse feel Farmhouse feel um decorations are so easy to come by incredibly inexpensive well-made furniture that is going for sale at Facebook uh Marketplace uh next door um everywhere and I'm talking about furniture that I've had here for the entire time and not one broken leg not one cracked piece I'm not a fan of Ikea I'm not a fan of the furniture that falls apart a year later I don't want to deal with that so I realized after a while that the decorations themselves actually draw the personalities you're looking for if you a lot of industrial really white and gray and uh European look they may not be the country family that I want so my decorations are pretty country and they and they're often antiques that I got for ten dollars for an amazing dresser that you can't break it if you jump on it because they were built 40 years ago so that was kind of accidental and it's turned out to be a very good decision that that's also the draw of who wants to stay in a place that has chickens all over for decoration that's my people yep so it sounds like Kelly and I are taking a massive road trip to Florida no like with a U-Haul to do some estate sale shopping come on February is the month I got plenty right here yeah February is the month yeah February is nice and cool which we don't normally have so interesting all right all right so we're gonna move on to Furnished Finder favorites but we always put the link to a the landlord's profile that we are interviewing in the show notes on uh on YouTube and I've started adding them on the audio version as well so go to the show notes and I want you to go look at Teresa's fence she has taken tapestries and made a very cool fence with a bunch of famous people's faces on it I'm Gonna Leave It That We're not gonna talk about it just go pull up her pull up her listing so you can see it all right Furnished Finder and key check favorites so Teresa has had a unique journey in marketing her property she's been with us on Furnished Finder for four to five years but she started somewhere else and now is loving Furnished Finder and she also has mainly two places that she advertises Furnished Finder and one other so I'm gonna let her just kind of tell you her marketing story from the beginning to the end not too long just a just a little bit of her journey there so when the things start looking rough coven I was knowing that something was going to happen I didn't know what so I started looking for I knew there was something called corporate housing but I didn't know exactly how that worked and I knew there was some other things and then I realized there's something called There's different labels but it's either called ale which is alternative living environment or loss of use and in Florida we are the we are the queen of that issue so if someone in my neighborhood was to have a tree fall in their house they're not gonna be able to live in that house for a very long time not a couple weeks not a couple months many months their insurance company hires kind of like almost like Headhunters to find the property they usually find me through Furnished Finder and they call me all the time they say I got a family of four a family of seven and especially because I have a big property with a pool dog friendly and kid-friendly we are really that's often and it's great because the contract is typically actually with the insurance company State Farm or whoever and it's kind of a combination lease between the guests being in the house but the State Farm paying us and it's probably the highest rate it's real close to short-term rental rate it's a very high rate because think about it that State Farm would have to pay four hotel rooms for that family per night and that's miserable for everybody so the rate is wonderful and they are a phenomenal guest because they they're in my neighborhood so they don't have to go kids don't have to take a different bus or go far away to a different school so I am now regularly send out uh there's five or six vendors that I shared with Kelly they're different um headhunters for properties that they're looking for your property in your city because they're trying to fill the need for an insurance company um claim of someone who needs to go move out the other groups are under construction and closing delays so that's the other thing so I reach out to Realtors often when real close to my house I basically draw a two-mile Circle and I send old-fashioned faxes with basically the picture of my beautiful peacock because it gets everyone's attention and then the other house a picture of some chickens because it gets their attention and then I just say temporary housing for your people who can't close or the closing got delayed or the construction got delayed those have been a big part of my success and it's very much referral based because once you make one of those Headhunters happy one time your name and your property gets put to the top of their pile and if they've got somebody in that City that needs your place they're calling you first yeah so that's like that's the two spots that she advertises mainly Furnished Finder and then because of Furnished Finder tenant leads and direct messaging and quick reminder Furnished Finder is a lead generation platform not a booking platform so you can take those leads that come in under your attendant leads matched and unmatched housing and you can build your business with that as well so it is totally fine just to let the renters come to you and reach out to those tenant leads as they happen but if you want to take it to the next level then take those Furnished Finder tenant leads connect with them whether it's a good fit for your property then or not and then start that relationship and all of that is building your book of business from those Furnished Finder leads and the unmatched don't ignore the unmatched leads I can't tell you how many times it'll say they needed eight bedrooms and like eight bedrooms wow they just clicked the wrong number and they didn't realize it or it will say um that they their their budget needs to be 500 a month they just click the wrong thing so I can contact every single lead matched or unmatched and I say is there anything I can do that will make you that is our property completely not workable for you or might it be probably a third or more just click the wrong thing and they didn't they didn't know what they did they didn't even realize that they clicked eight bedrooms so um I contact every one of them I also do it because it's an opportunity for me to send them my links to both my properties and I say just keep them next time you come to Florida you know how to find me it's just easy marketing it's easy it's not a lot of work two it takes me two minutes and plenty of times um unmatched leads became guests it just a little reminder to everyone that fits in really well here just like Kelly said Furnished Finder is a Marketplace it is a it's a connection place but it does not happen if you are not active on it this is not Airbnb or VRBO where you put your site up I'm sorry your property up and you wait for your inbox to ding with you've been booked you've been booked you've been booked if you sit back and wait you will be highly disappointed because this is a spot where you are meant to go communicate with tenants find the right tenants for you and then you get to move forward um and that's what key check is for right but it is a place for activity and communication and part of the reason for that is because these people are not staying at your house or your property for two or three days like they might with a short-term rental where it's a volume game they're going to be at your property for 30 days or more so you want to make sure that it is a fit on all the levels that are important to you so that's why it's really important that we make those initial connections for you provide kind of those lines of communication and then you decide who is the right fit for you and and move forward so get on there yeah get on there as a college professor once told me he goes the the people who get far in business aren't sitting and waiting for the mail to come they are out there creating the connections and as a comment to that give them a way out if a gracious way out if it's not a good fit for example I don't allow any smoking on my property none not weed not cigarette not tobacco not Vape none not inside not outside period end of story non-negotiable so I always say to them if there's anybody in your group and your family and your visitors who will need to smoke this will not be a good place for you so please don't rent it I'm not blaming them I'm not telling many things it's just here's my rules that I don't bend and I don't bend on them and even though there's an outside pool area and people say oh we can smoke around the outside no you can't absolutely not because I got little kids out there and I'm not gonna be breathing smoke sorry non-negotiable so that's the decision I made and I'm I'm because I always tell them up front it gives them a way to say oh okay well thanks Snapper worked for us fine I'm not it's no accusation it's no anything it's just not gonna work for us and that's a great transition so I've got two comments and then my final question for this episode The you know Teresa's bringing up a great Point there's some of those when if you're in a tough market and you're having a hard time getting booked those are the things you gotta look at do I really need to be so hardcore about the smoking policy you know what if I changed it to smoking a loud per you know per landlord approval and you talk to them you say hey it's not okay to smoke with the door open but if you're going outside and you're in the backyard and it works for your property setup these are all the things yeah look at guys to figure out what can I change to make my property more attractive to a variety of audiences and that's that's one so um last last piece of advice guys reminder it's 99 bucks to add your property to Furnished Finder so yeah I do yeah per year thank you 99 per year it's so cheap but what I do is I don't wait for it to be fully furnished and beautiful I add it whenever I secure the sale so when we're going through the purchasing process sometimes I might even add it before we're close we've closed and I am just confident that it's going to close because if something happens you don't close on the property is a hundred bucks Really Gonna matter no not in the terms of a real estate sale so there's been times where I've added my property to Furnished Finder before I've even closed on the property and I have someone moving in almost immediately after closing because I've been communicating the whole time so that's I have a signed lease before we I had assigned a lease before we closed on the last property which I do not recommend no yeah don't do that I was very honest I'm glad it worked great got it worked knock on wood I'm never gonna do that again but okay so my last question I I wanted everything perfect perfect before I put it up and when you said that that helps me understand nope didn't need to do that but I'm glad you said it that's a great tip good good good uh so the last question that I have for this episode is continuing that theme you can set yourself apart as a landlord by just asking for those reviews if you scroll through Furnished Finder it actually shocks me how many professional business owners utilizing Furniture Furnished Finder for corporate housing or have multiple properties and they don't care about they don't care about their reviews they just they just keep going and guys it it it can set you apart in those moments that you need that extra push for your property and that extra level of security and someone to feel like okay I have that relationship this is a trustworthy landlord so Teresa my final question how do you secure those five star reviews every time because you've got them um two ways one is when they come I tell them right off the bat look you guys need good reviews for me and I need good reviews from you because if you need to rent somebody else's property they want to look at you make sure you're a good tenant so we need to not let ourselves forget to do this so typically I set a reminder a month before they're leaving roughly four weeks before they're leaving and I say hey if you'll do mine first it's easier for me to do your second because for some reason I have trouble doing theirs before mine maybe just me not understanding Furnished Finder but I've tried sometimes before and I kind of struggle with it so I just say I have trouble with it if you can do mine first and by then they've been with me for two months they're very happy they're not now I did have a couple people say well we don't like to do that until you send us back our deposit I'm like oh okay I didn't think about that but okay that's fair um and then I kind of pester them and I have their phone number so I text them I say hey have you had any chance to do the review on furniture Finder I need to review you because you guys are need to rent again and if you'll put my your mind in that put mine right behind it and the vast majority of them will do it I also do an old-fashioned guest book in in the um inside the units and that kind of helps because at some point when they're sitting around they're reading the guest book and they see the review book people are writing they'll kind of keys them off to do it but I I kind of pester them and I have pestered people even a couple months after they left saying oh God I realized I never got a review ever gave you a review that's terrible I really need to do my job so can you do a review for me and I'll do it right now it works most time good because that's sales sales requires follow-up we're in the business of marketing hospitality and sales uh as landlords yep yep Katie anything any final questions no this has been such a good talk I love it when we get to kind of talk about such a wide variety of things and topics and tricks and it's good and it's all good stuff all good stuff it's fun that even having done this as long as I have I learned like multiple things today that I haven't done which is phenomenal because now I'll do them you know Nicole I will say that being supportive to the guests is the valuable if they've got pets I ask them do you need a pet sitter here's five pet sitters I know if they're coming into town as a nurse and I'll say okay are you working the night shift because if you are I'll put the um I'll put the light blocking curtains up and I'll have my lawn man come at 3 P.M not 9 A.M I ask some things about them personally one reason is because I get to know who they really are this is before we close a deal then I get a little bit more comfortable and they get comfortable with me and then also things like if they ever need help I tell now we live next door obviously that's unique I tell them if something happens call 9-1-1 call my cell phone next whatever it is anything I don't care if it's two o'clock in the morning obviously I live next door and that's a little bit unique but still I want them to feel comfortable and especially it's a young nurse her mama calls me and they want to rent the place and she's terrified about her daughter traveling for the first time and I'm like listen she just basically rented a family we're right here and we will help her we will if your car breaks down if she needs somebody to fix a tire or something we'll do anything we can and I know that's not a normal landlord job and I'm not saying we do that all the time but we are supportive to the people who are guests and that has been I'm sure it's our secret sauce I'm sure well and and to remind people that you can do that on all sorts of different levels yeah right um if you have 15 properties you can't do that yeah and that's reasonable but you sure can leave a five dollar gift card to the local coffee shop with a cute little mug and a handwritten welcome note on the counter and you can have a text even if it's the same text that you have have gotten ready that you sent to the same tenant every time letting them know they're in good hands that you're here if they have any issues you you can show your hospitality in a large range of ways the important thing is that you show it right I have beautiful little cards printed with this peacock behind me which by the way you know what this peacock is it's a shower curtain s shower curtain um I had little index little uh postcards printed and after every guest leaves sometime a month or so later I tell them thank you so much for coming share this card with somebody that you think might want to come to Florida and visit it's just a beautiful Visual and it's not forgettable and they're the cheap the cards are cheap cheap and I just sent them out I also give them to people when I'm in like other my other professional meetings and stuff and I'll say hey if you ever need a place in Longwood it's it's just sales and it's constant and if you do it all the time you really can't not succeed but you do have to understand it is it's not just you know washing one time it's wash and repeat mm-hmm yep well we've talked about so many great tips today I hope you all have enjoyed this episode thank you Teresa for being with us if you want to connect with Teresa reminder you can go to our this episode on YouTube and leave Teresa a comment and anytime y'all comment and ask a question to the guest I always make sure that they know even if it's five months from now I make sure that they know they have a new question on the episode you can also go to the show notes on YouTube to see the link to her profile on Furnished Finder and connect with her by message or phone that way so we really appreciate you being here we hope you all took a lot of great takeaways from the episode today if you're enjoying it please leave us a five-star review on Apple podcast or Spotify uh subscribe on wherever you get your typical podcasts we appreciate y'all and look forward to seeing you again next week bye everybody