Hi, I’m William Dotson, Co-Founder of Nova Havens Temporary Housing (opens in new tab), a company dedicated to assisting displaced families find temporary homes after disasters such as fires, floods, and storms. In light of the recent devastating Los Angeles Fires, it’s critical for property owners to understand how to prepare their homes to support FEMA and insurance housing clients effectively.
As someone who works closely with insurance carriers and relocation companies, assisting roughly 20 families each week in their relocation to furnished and unfurnished accommodations, I’ve learned what leads to successful bookings in this area. I’ve partnered with Furnished Finder to share those tips with landlords to ensure your property is ready to provide comfort, safety, and stability for families during this difficult time.
Ensure Safety and Compliance
Families recovering from disasters need assurance that their temporary home is safe and secure. Start by:
Installing smoke detectors in every bedroom and main area along with carbon monoxide detectors on each floor in the home.
Checking electrical systems, plumbing, and heating/cooling units for safety.
Providing clear emergency exit instructions and contact numbers for emergencies.
Offer Thoughtful Furnishings
Displaced families are often overwhelmed and need homes that feel warm and inviting. Essentials include:
Fully furnished spaces with a focus on comfort (e.g., cozy bedding and ample seating).
Keyless entry systems, like Schlage locks, to ensure security without the need to manage physical keys.
Smart TVs with streaming options such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube TV.
A guidebook with clear instructions on how to use appliances, home systems, and any unique property features.
Functional kitchens stocked with basic cookware and utensils for easy meal prep.
Pet-friendly housing options (opens in new tab), as many families relocate with pets. At Nova Havens, all of our properties are pet-friendly, and we provide small and large food/water bowls, as well as various size pet beds, which we’ve found make a world of difference to our guests.
Focus on Accessibility
Providing accessible rental homes can make a significant difference for individuals displaced from disasters. Consider:
Maintaining clean, clutter-free environments to reduce stress.
Offering fenced-in yards where children and pets can feel secure.
Accessibility options such as entry ramps or handrails are a huge plus; detailing in your listing whether you have at least one bedroom on the first floor and a walk-in shower are great points to highlight.
Streamline the Booking Process
Insurance clients are often placed in homes quickly due to urgent needs. To support this:
Be responsive to inquiries from insurance adjusters and relocation specialists. At Nova Havens, we prioritize booking the properties that have the fastest qualified responses, within 15 minutes preferred (1 hour maximum) on the day we send out an inquiry.
Use multiple communication channels, including email, phone, and Furnished Finder messaging, to connect with us quickly. We prefer brief phone calls followed by detailed emails that outline home information, pricing, and current availability.
Stay flexible by prioritizing the needs of displaced families. For example, while we typically establish a 30-day vacate-or-extend policy, be prepared to accommodate last-minute extensions when repairs take longer than expected. If an extension conflicts with future bookings, consider options like relocating the family to another property within your portfolio or assisting the incoming guest (future booking) with alternative accommodations. While these situations aren’t always easy, flexibility is key to supporting displaced families effectively.
Stock Essentials for Comfort
Families will often arrive with limited belongings. Go the extra mile by stocking your property with:
Toiletries like soap, shampoo, and toothpaste.
Basic pantry items such as coffee, tea, sugar, and salt.
Cleaning supplies and laundry detergent for convenience.
Partner with Insurance and Relocation Companies
Building strong relationships with insurance relocation companies and platforms like Furnished Finder can make all the difference. These partnerships ensure that your property is placed with families in need while streamlining the financial process.
To establish these relationships:
Be proactive in reaching out to relocation companies and adjusting to their needs. Highlight your property’s features, availability, and willingness to accommodate unique situations.
Collaborate with claims adjusters, insurance relocation specialists, and even housing crews such as cleanup or construction teams, as they often also seek housing during disaster recovery efforts.
Maintain professionalism and reliability, as this builds trust and leads to more referrals.
In my experience, clear communication, fast response times, and a focus on client needs have helped Nova Havens become a trusted partner in this space.
Closing Thoughts
At Nova Havens (opens in new tab), we’ve built our mission around supporting families during life’s toughest moments. By preparing your property thoughtfully, you’re not only providing a safe haven but also playing a vital role in their recovery.
Thank you to Furnished Finder for spearheading a campaign that highlights the importance of community and collaboration in disaster response. Let’s work together to bring relief to those affected by the Los Angeles Fires and beyond.
For property owners interested in joining efforts to house displaced families, be sure to list your property (opens in new tab) on Furnished Finder. Together, we can provide safe, welcoming spaces for those who need them most.
Catch more of Will's story on episode 111 of Furnished Finder's podcast, Landlord Diaries.
Episode 111 Transcript
Welcome to the Landlord Diaries, where we talk about midterm rentals and the opportunities behind them. We'll share landlord stories, talk about maximizing investment potential, and discuss how to live the very best landlord life. This podcast is proudly brought to you by Furnished Finder. The leader and largest online marketplace for midterm rentals.
Remember to like, and subscribe if you enjoy our content. Hey, Hey everybody. It's Kellie Bailey and Katie Lyon, your host team of the Landlord Diaries podcast coming to you with all things midterm rentals today, we dive into The insurance midterm rental niche. And Katie, what do you learn for Will today?
Yeah. Today we get to talk with Will and Will is another expert within the insurance housing area of midterm rentals. Um, and he talks to us about everything from how he got started to how he's really become a valuable member of someone's team when they're going through an insurance claim, right? Not just being a property owner or a real estate investor, but being someone who's really a resource for these folks when they're going through a difficult time.
So he's a great guy. He's got some very valuable insights and, um, especially in the world of insurance housing, where these insights are sometimes not as easy to learn about, we are here to give you as much information as we possibly can enjoy.
When you meet William Dotson, you can sense this level of hospitality. to the occasion of hosting families that have been displaced from a disaster in their home. At this time, Will's portfolio is all midterm rentals. He operates two out of state properties and ten and growing locally in Nashville through ownership and partnering, many times with other Furnished Finder hosts.
Will, thank you so much for being here. How are you today? Hi. I'm great. I'm great. So nice to be here and, and get the conversation going. Yes, sir. And tell us about your current location so everyone understands where you're at and what fun you're having. I am smack dab in the middle of a renovation here in Birch Bay, Washington, north of Seattle, out a little bit over an hour.
And, um, yeah, it's a new property we picked up added to our MTR portfolio that we have. It got it down and we're getting ready to do install of Flooring and paint come the next couple of weeks. So it's so far so good exciting times Well will I know you've got your a lot of irons in the fire So why don't you give us a bird's eye view of your business?
Yeah, so we own and operate midterm rentals in Three states now. So we're in southern California. Um, mainly in Nashville is where we have the bulk of our properties that we own and also co host. And also now our new territory is northern Washington, Birch Bay area specifically. And in total, we are at a total of 15 properties.
under management to that. We are currently on boarding and a possible another property in three months that we will be purchasing as well in Nashville, Tennessee. Excellent. And you're mainly a midterm rental insurance niche. So tell us about that niche. And I'd love to hear Mr. Reese's story as well. Yeah, so I got in the niche.
It kind of like, it found me when I found it. We had a property in California that the HOA only allowed us to do 30 days. So we knew that we were going to obey the rules and figure out how we were going to do that. When we wanted to move out of state at the time, and we were looking at Nashville. So one thing led to the next, I started going to meetups, started, you know, listening to BiggerPockets and going down that rabbit hole.
Um, they end up going to a STR summit in Orlando. And I went up to, uh, Ziona McIntyre and was telling her, I love your book. And I have this property. I don't know if I'm going to sell it. I don't know what I'm going to do. I need your help. And she said, go talk to Ruben Kanya about, um, interim rentals and insurance.
And I went directly up to him. And ever since then, we've been good friends. And, um, he told me, you know, everything that I needed to know about it in the beginning. And then from there, we just. We, it took off and we had a family, um, move in within the first week of, I joined Jesse Vasquez mentorship. And within that week of just knowing how to get a lease done and head addendums and All the stuff that you're not born knowing in this space.
Um, yeah, within a week of launching it and knowing how to handle, uh, an insurance claim, when it came my way, it landed in my lap, I was fortunate and we housed our first family. And ever since then, I've been in love with it. I love that. And what is the story that Kelly referenced about Ms. Charisse, Mrs.
Charisse? Tell us about that. Yeah, so Ms. Charisse, so Charisse was, her, that was the, it's in Nashville, that was a claim in Nashville, and her house burnt down. And she was, that was her only, you know, that was her home where she had her first kids, where she got married. Um, where life happened for her. She's been there for 38 years.
So when I got the call, I knew that the call was, Hey, she's very particular what she wants and here you go. Well, so, you know, every claim is a snowflake. It's very unique. So not knowing what was going to happen. I called her and sure enough, we went through almost half of our portfolio of coming available.
Check this out. Let's walk through, walk through videos, everything. Um, we finally landed on the place and the first two months I was, you know, getting calls from her. Hey, well, what about this? And I, in the first week I was kind of confused. I was like, I wonder what's going on. She likes the place. Well, when you take a step back and think about it, the psychology of what happened to her, that house was everything, her memories and, you know, and it burnt down.
So taking that into, you know, perspective and understanding the psychology of helping a person who has gone through probably one of the top three most traumatic events in their life. I mean, to this day, once a week, Hey, Ms. Charisse, how you doing? She catches me up. Um, I know her family. I've gone over to have dinner with her.
Um, it's a completely different niche that, you know, you can be close to some, you cannot be close to some, but in that situation, it just, it touched my heart just because we were able to provide more than just housing and hospitality. But it helped during a traumatic event for someone. Definitely. And you lean into a very important part when you are embracing the midterm rental insurance niche, you're in a lot of ways, part of their crisis support team, right?
At. By the time, if it's a relocation specialist connecting you, well, then they've probably had a couple of days. They've probably gone through some of that grief, some of that processing, but you have a cool tip of actually following the fire department and how to be the first person to, you know, kind of help them on their feet and point them in the right direction.
So did you have any training for that? And then what is that fire department tip that everyone should be aware of? Yeah, this is a tip that I really liked. And it's just being creative at the end of the day, we're problem solvers. And if I, the way I see it, if you're not being creative, then you're, I don't know, you're kind of following a system that may have a time limit on it.
So with what we started doing, um, we being my wife and I, um, I started following on Instagram, the local fire department. And that has turned into not only claims we've closed, as of now we're at 11 that we've closed, but that's simply seeing what's going on local, being a good neighbor, reaching out, they're on these Instagram accounts, they're posting the picture of the home that is being damaged and even location.
Sometimes on the 300 block of such and such street, this happened. Well, that's very easy to locate and find and reach out and see if you can assist. And the, the responses have been It's been, it's been amazing because for the most part, once again, it's a traumatic event, but coming with the solution while someone is in the midst of that chaos has been, it's been, it's been a beautiful experience.
Just educating them on what's even going on and, and their ALE coverage. And so there's things that I would say 95 percent of homeowners don't even understand about their own personal home insurance coverage because you, you really don't use it until you need it. Yeah, I think I think that's that's really important that level of hospitality is critical when you have An insurance claim or someone who is in just such urgent need.
It's important in all types of midterm rentals. But when you're dealing with an insurance claim, you're right. It's a tragic event and it's not something you're planning for. It's not something these people are excited for. It's not. A work assignment. It's not somewhere where they're going to go visit grandkids for two months.
It's hard and it requires some problem solving. So I love that you are able to do that. Um, and really become a part of the solution, right? Because that's what we all are as midterm rental hosts as well. It's like, we're giving solutions. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And some of the, I had, I had actually, um, one that I reached out to her and.
The communication styles for everyone is completely different. Some people still write letters and some people don't, you know, some people have, some people have landlines. I called this lady, for example, and she, I think she was probably in her 70, 75, 80, because she would tell me, Hey, William, I don't email.
I, I, I don't have a cell phone. So it was hard to get in contact with her. And she was, her name was on the house. So. She was my point of contact, but just spending the time to walk through process through with her and explain like, Hey, you know what? I, I completely, I get it. This is, this is all confusing.
Let me, let me talk to your adjuster and we'll, we'll get it worked out. I can present some options to you. What's an adjuster, Will? What's going on? So there's even levels to where you're starting the conversation at. But like you said, presenting a solution and being like, you know what? Forget anything that I know or that I think of how to handle this solution.
How can I help this individual right here feel comfortable, find something that is all going to work out for everyone and make them happy so that they can get back to their, their life. Today's episode is proudly sponsored by Furnished Finder, the ultimate platform for hassle free midterm rentals.
Whether you're a seasoned landlord We're just getting started. Furnished Finder has everything you need to find your next tenant. With Furnished Finder, you can say goodbye to booking fees, markups, and commissions, and hello to direct bookings. If you're ready to experience all the benefits renting your property for 30 days or more, head over to furnishedfinder.
com where you can list your property for one low annual price. We make it easy to get started.
I also love how you presented yourself as an expert in that area. Right. Um, and I think whether, you know, the, the insurance claims are somewhere where people really do rely on others to help them be the expert. But even if you're hosting travel nurses or you're hosting digital nomads or, uh, snowbirds, right.
It's, you can still provide the expertise. And that is very, very important. The value that you provide as a landlord is not just in your property. Right. It's in yourself. What kind of expertise do you offer? What kind of communication do you offer? What type of professionalism do you offer? It's a whole package, right?
And, and no part of it should really be forgotten. So we'll with that, um, You mentioned that you use leases and that, um, you know, it can be a little bit different within insurance claims. So walk us through that. Do you use the Furnished Finder Sister Company key check? Um, and what, what type of process do you go through for the booking?
Yeah, I've only used key check. It was the first one I did. My first lease, um, signed it, locked it, completed it, and that's all I use. And I like the fact that I've only used Keycheck just because everything's in one spot. So I can always go there and I can see from my first lease, my petadendums, my, you know, everything is, is in there.
And I'm still discovering things about Keycheck that I'm, it's a, if, for the most part, you can sign the lease, you can do the petadendum, and that's like 90 percent of what we're doing. But, I mean, to a, I had to do, the last one I did, for example, was four different addendums. And I was like, can I do that many addendums to Elise?
And I just kept adding them on Keycheck. So, um, yeah, I did, I think I answered your question. Yeah. Yeah. You totally did. And that's what I love about Keycheck is it's very customizable, right? For your own situation, your own lease. So I think that is fantastic. Let's Katie, let's lean into this a little bit and do a round table.
Uh, what are some of those addendums you add? We won't spend long here, but we haven't had this conversation a long time. So it'd be a good one to lean into. Um, what addendums do you use an ad? And then Katie, you and I can add just a few quick hitters. If we've got any extras. Yeah, for me, whenever, like, because especially with insurance, when you're closing.
The last thing that they want is the, the, they want the lease agreement. If I submit a lease agreement, well, that's a bound legal agreement and key check, they lock it. And then you're like, okay, this is it. Well, any changes that need to be done, if I misspelled or if they move the date and that happens all the time.
I had, like I said, the last one was for. The one before that, we had to do three because the adjuster was like, Hey, you know what? We forgot to put the cleaning fee in the lease. And I was like, huh, before I didn't do that. But now I do. So it's, I go in there, easy addendum, one click, boom, send it, sends the docu sign, um, straight to their email.
And it's just fast and easy. And I get whenever, because I don't, it's not every client that I work with. I'm explaining to them, Hey, I, you know, I have, I've done so many of these insurance claims. You're in good hands, some they're just asking questions and you're responding and the faster you respond is kind of, you know, you're, you're teaching by your actions.
So with this one, it was just that they were asking questions. I was boom, here's an addendum. Oh man, that was fast. Here's a question. Boom, addendum. So that level of professionalism just, you know, Close the deal and moving on that's amazing mine when I getting into actually the addendums and things in the lease Not necessarily for only insurance clients for but for all midterm rental types I like to give myself the opportunity for a same day flip If it's, you know, a shorter stay or if we want to consider that and it lines up for everyone.
So we always add the fact of it being, you know, closer to the short term where it's a 4 p. m. move in and a 10 a. m. move out. Uh, and that gives you that flexibility. A lot of times I'll go back to the tenant, you know, as we get close to say, Hey, no one's scheduled to move in. You're welcome to move out at any time today.
Or if we do have a same day fee. Flip, then I'll remind them, uh, you know, that they need to have, uh, be out by 10 AM. And, and so far that has, uh, worked very well. And then I always add to the addendums, just reminders about the high touch items, like especially kitchens. If you don't have a, uh, uh, countertop or appliances that are.
Protected easily like glass top stoves or for mica countertops or things like that I add those type addendums into the lease as well. What about you Katie? You know, my biggest one is always the pet pet policy, right? I think that one is is huge for me Especially since a lot of my properties are arbitrage as and I want to be responsible to the property owner that I'm partnering with So it's just full coverage there.
I bet it's actually probably in the lease A few times, including the agenda, you know, it's, it's there a lot. Um, but if there's any changes with the pets, if they say, Oh, you know, I want to, you know, bring my mom's dog for a while, which I've had to happen. It's like, okay, that's fine. And sometimes they think, you know, we're fully covered because I already have pet details in my lease.
It's like, Nope, we're going to add this for your extra pet because I want the details of that pet in there. Um, so yeah, that, that. That for me is really important that I just get very, very specific with the pet details. And if that changes, um, that we get it updated. And you do the, uh, I think we both add electric, uh, caps.
Do you add an electric kind of addendum and how like, um, well, do you add how much they're allotted for their, uh, for their electricity and their bills or do you not add that to your lease? That's really important. I do, but not as much recently. I've been trying to not, I've been trying to get away from the caps.
I do do it. I do do it, but I try to get away from it. And what I mean by that is I give the, I give, I make the offer of, Hey, this is the cap. However, we can remove the cap. If we go ahead and adjust the price to here. I'll go ahead and throw in a two cleaner for if we make this adjustment, and if you go over, then we'll just, we'll just do one cleaning for the month.
We'll kind of, we'll work with you on it. So it, it saves me time a little bit from having to go and look at, did they go over and what's okay, what day did that, this month starts here and all that. And I was like, time, eh, okay, let's just go ahead and make this adjustment. Yeah, it, it, it does. I, I have a.
Limit on mine, but to be quite frank, I've never really looked at it unless it's like a whoa My electric bill was five times the normal rate, right? like for me That's kind of the protection it puts it in because I don't know about you guys But when I go to a short term rental i'm like, oh I'm only here for four days and it's the middle of summer.
I'm gonna put this air conditioning at 67. Thank you very much And that's not how I want a midterm rental guest to act because you live there. Right. And, and the rates that we charge as midterm rental hosts don't reflect the expenses being that high where you're running your air conditioning full speed.
All of the time. Right. So it's like, you have to, you have to have some sort of strategy. So I love what you had, what you said about, you know, we're going to increase the cleanings and we're going to raise the price, but then there is no cap. It's, it's a trade off, but I think you need to be prepared if you don't.
Price in or have any limits for utilities. You better be okay knowing that you might get a really high bill and if you do have a cap, make it reasonable, or I think make a plan like you have. I really like that. And before we move on from key check, uh, since it sounds like you're an expert in all things, key check, which is awesome.
Do you embrace the key check rent payments as well? Or where do you take your payments? Because I mainly do, I would say 90. And easily 90 percent of our business is insurance. A lot of our payments are ACH. Oh, good point. Okay. Yeah. Even when we do direct bookings, it's direct booking website and Stripe and it's, it's all through that.
So I haven't yet, um, been able to do anything. Else. And it's been working that way, but in the future, I know I'm going to be doing it sooner or later. Yeah. I, you know what, and that's kind of how it is with insurance. They want you to fit into their system with payments because they're probably processing a bunch, you know, hundreds, if not thousands of payments, completely reasonable.
What I think is cool about midterms and Furnished Finder is like. You can do that, right? You can take the payments however they work for you and however they work for the arrangement you have with the tenant. Um, so key check is a great option, but sometimes it might not work like in this situation. And that's okay.
But I love that you have it like in your back pocket if you were to need it. Exactly. Another tool in the tool belt, another solution. Yes, I love having all the tools.
Hey landlords! Are you ready to level up your rental game and simplify your midterm rental business? Well, get ready to meet your new best friend, KeyCheck. KeyCheck is your all in one solution for stress free property management. With tenant paid screenings, online rent payment processing, custom lease creation, and a suite of incredible landlord tools, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.
No more chasing down checks or sifting through piles of applications. Keycheck helps you organize and manage all things landlording in a simple and efficient way. Make landlord life a breeze with Keycheck, the game changer for modern property owners. Visit keycheck. com to unlock the power of stress free property management and take your rental business to new heights.
Well, I'm excited to be to the, the main topic of our conversation today, which is how you partner with Furnished Founder Landlords on your insurance, insurance leads. Thank you for, uh, going through the details of your portfolio. Reminder that Will, uh, takes on both ownership and And partnership with other landlords.
Uh, so let's jump into that. Uh, cause we've heard a lot about the value of Furnished Finder, unmatched leads, match leads, the ability to connect directly with landlords through phone, uh, but you lean into this additional. Different way. And you are reaching out to fellow Furnished Finder hosts, uh, because you have a ton of insurance leads coming in that you need homes for.
So tell us what that process looks like. Yeah. Bunch of people probably already have the Nova Havens message from, on Furnished Finder. But no, I love it because I could send messages out. So whenever, for example, if I'm booked, then that's a problem. I mean, it's a good problem from an investor point of view, but in the world of insurance.
Like get rid of being an investor, take that hat off like you're, you're a service provider. That's what you are. So as a service provider, um, if I'm booked, that's an issue cause I can't provide service. So I have to find adequate housing. And the easiest way for me is mass message messaging. One, I have my own personal database, my website that I go to.
And whenever I work with someone or we partner or whatever the case is, I add that property onto the database and that's my first go to. So if I get a call from Nashville, for example, and I'm at a hundred percent occupancy. And they're looking for a place, let's say water damage, three, four month claim.
There's nothing in my database that's available. I'm going directly to Furnished Finder. I'm saying, okay, where in this area can I, and the reason for Furnished Finder is because majority of the time I'm going to, I'm going to be talking to a homeowner who self manages or self managing a few properties. I have relationships in Nashville as well with different property management companies.
Same thing, all of them on Furnished Finder, easy to find their properties, I can send them a message, the response is easy, it's quick, and it's my, it's my little cheat sheet.
You know what? I love that because it's, it's. We built Furnished Finder about having relationships, right? And we want it to be very easy for you to connect with people and, and to find different options. Like you're, like you're saying, like, you want to maintain those relationships with, um, the other partners within the insurance industry.
It's better to tell them, Hey, no, I don't have any availability, but let me connect you with two or three other people that I know that do have great availability availability than to just say no. Right. It's not always about getting the booking or, or, or making the profit. If it's about a relationship, you also want to be a tool in their toolbox for solving their issues.
So I love that you have done that. And I think that's going to serve your business really, really well. And you guys, if you're not taking advantage of that part of Furnished Finder where you can message anybody you want. You can get their phone number. You can get their email. You can connect just to connect, right?
You're missing out on a huge way that our platform will help you be better in this midterm rental world So I would really encourage everybody to do exactly what you're doing And even a thing that I have I have my assistant actually go on Furnished Finder And I tell her hey look for three bedroom two and a half bathrooms With a fenced in yard that's pet friendly in East Nashville.
Give me a list that's everything available. So she does that twice a month and she updates our list and she goes through it. So that's where I'm harvesting my data. So when I'm looking, then I'm, okay, this is the number. And I like what you said when you said people, you could connect with people. Because that's where you're going to find people that you go straight to the decision maker.
That's what I need. For sure. And when you're having these conversations with furnished finder landlords and guys get on the show notes because we always put the link to, uh, the podcast guests. Uh, so in this case, Will's, uh, Listings on Furnished Finder in the show notes, but Will has his own properties under his account.
But the properties that he's partnered with on Furnished Finder are still under that host's account. So you can see all of these in the show notes. And so, how are Furnished Finder hosts responding to that? Bonding to you reaching out. Are they a little, uh, reserved and hesitant? Are they open minded? And what does that actual conversation and contract look like?
It's all on the presentation. So my response has been, it's been receptive to everyone's, I think insurance kind of has a, a buzzword to it. When they hear insurance, their ears kind of perk up. So the reception has been. It's been, it's been really good for me because they see it as an opportunity to work together.
And if not on this one, definitely in the future, it could be a resource. Um, I would say out of, if I get a claim and I reach out to two landlords, at least one of them is going to have a solution for me, so it's my easiest way to close. And as far as relationships go, I mean, If, if you got a phone call from Will, I think immediately you feel that connection.
Like you just have that persona about you that is genuine. It's warm. It's very knowledgeable. So if you're in Nashville and you get that call, be ready for Will or reach out to Will. He's ready for your calls. Uh, cause he wants to partner and make it better for everyone because, and then that second part, what does that contract look like?
Like you're not doing it for free. You're doing it as a solution for, uh, your insurance leads for them being able to get, uh, you know, the rental rate that they're wanting, but you're able to, you know, in the insurance midterm rental space typically have, uh, a larger. to work with. So what does that look like when you're talking to them about the details of why they should partner with you?
Yeah. So same thing. It's not, it's a little bit of a gray area. So depending on the claim, depending on the house, depending on the length of stay, It's if I get a I'll give you an example of one. I got a, got a claim for a three month stay. I reached out to the landlord. I explained everything and I said, Hey, I said, I personally don't have any inventory.
I have this claim. I want, you know, I want the family to do a walkthrough. This is the whole process. And the landlord said, do you mind just managing the whole thing? I can't, I don't, I'm not in town. I have never done this before. I'm kind of, you know, I'm confused. I said, my company will take it on as a co host property for the duration of this day.
And I would also be available to you to teach you everything you need to know as much as I can. I'm a nerd in this space. And I did just that. So that one, that's how it worked out. There's others that I reach out to and they say, Hey, just go ahead and connect me. I go, Okay, Hey, great. You know, we could work out a referral fee.
Here's my contract. And you know, I look forward to doing a lot of business with you in the future. Great. There's other, and it's so on and so for every situation is different because we're in a human business, right? And some people have their own way that they like to deal with their properties and do their business.
So it's my job to, the big picture is get the family a home. And however, that, whatever that means for me, It's the crumbs on the bottom of the pan. Yeah. Well, that totally makes sense. Uh, I think it's a great business model that a lot of other listeners will be encouraged to explore. Uh, and many guests that we've already have, I'm gonna have.
to circle back to them and say, Hey, don't miss Will's episode. You're going to really like some new takeaways of there. So, uh, thanks for sharing. And then the last thing, probably on the, you know, just connecting with Furnished Finder Landlords. Are, is there any red flags on marketing when you're looking at someone's listing that leads you to not reach out to them versus reaching out to them?
My biggest thing is quality. So I'm looking at quality of linens. I'm looking at quality of photos. I'm looking at quality of your design, your layout. It does not have to be the Ritz Carlton for me to think that your property is going to be a good fit because not everyone is coming from a Ritz Carlton like home.
And at the end of the day, I just like, I'm more concerned with how, how is the family's stay going to be? And I could, I really just judge that based on what kind of quality you're putting out there, um, in your, in your listing description and your photos. Um, are you shooting it with your iPhone and then just posting it and saying, Hey, this is it, or are you actually caring enough to take pictures of your drawers?
I like the pictures of the drawers. I like to know, I want to see sometimes the blender and the toaster. I like that stuff because it's questions that I get asked all the time. Hey Will, we're going into this house. Do you know if it has a blender? I get blender, fencing yard, and pet supplies more than anything.
So I like to see that. Yeah, I think that's fantastic. And because people are living here, right, they're not staying, they're not visiting, they are living here, especially with an insurance claim, right? They want it. It's a lot of times it's going to be families or, or people that have, um, more extensive needs because they're not bringing much with them.
So like, make sure that you're going to make it really comfortable for them to be in, have some extra blankets, have some extra, Pillows, have good blinds, have, you know, TVs that are ready, have a kitchen that they can bake a cake in. That's kind of my test, is like, with a kitchen, can you bake a cake and make stir fry?
Right? Like, what can you do? Can you also make coffee? Can you make tea? Because you don't know. What types of people that are going to be living in your property, but just because you don't bake a cake every day doesn't mean they don't want to make them feel at home. And I always like to make sure that my tenants know also, Hey, if there's anything that we missed with furnishings, let me know, and I'll have it delivered.
Right? Because you might really like. a panini grill that I haven't used since 2002, but if that's a part of your day to day life, I want you to have it and then it can just stay with the property. So I think that's all the type of communication and hospitality that that tenants need. So, um, I want to shift a little bit here because a couple of your properties are out of state and you're managing them out of state.
What type of tips do you have for managing a property long distance, especially if it's a larger property, like a single family home. Yeah, so we have one. That's a great question because I learned by trial and error collaboration relationships and a team. And I know how everyone's like, well, of course, the team, but this is what I mean by that for our place in California.
I didn't have to put together a team. What I did was I met someone who was also doing. MTRs in That area I connected with them built a relationship with them and just said hey, this is what i'm doing This is what I can offer. Let's collaborate. Let's work together when I get a lead. I see you have eight properties I just have this one.
Hey, do you have a handyman? Do you have here? Will here is my entire list And they, they were just the most beautiful human beings, like they gave me their entire list that was curated over three, five years. I mean, she had notes of this person does this great, this person, like everything was, so all I had to do was just reach out to each person.
You know, to want to build my team based off of that list. And then now if anything happens, I know exactly I have someone for the heater. I have someone for the pool. I have someone for palm tree trimming. I have someone for anything that can go wrong. And then I always say, you don't really know your property until your first year of doing it.
And after that first year is where you're like, okay, I have a system in place. I have a team in place, but that's, what's been the biggest for me for any of my properties. If anything was to happen to any of my out of state properties, I have someone I can reach out to that is as if I was there and I have a solution for it.
That's really good. That was a perfect example. Uh, and how's your, how's your California property going? And in general, what led you to purchase your California property and your Washington property? So we are, I'm originally from California and we were living in San Clemente. It's a little beach town in California and we loved it.
And then we decided, Hey, you know what? Um, a wife, it was time to have a family and get pregnant. And so when we got pregnant, we were like, okay, let's, let's go buy a house. And we bought a house, we furnished it, and we thought it was going to be our forever home. That is the home that eventually ended up being.
Our first MTR because it got to the point where we were like, wow, we were fortunate to buy it at a great time, get a great interest rate and all that. So, um, we were, and then it grew in value fairly quickly. So it was either sell it and make other investments. Or do what? And then that's where, um, you know, I was in the same room with the Jesse Vasquez and the Raza, and was able to ask, you know, those questions, which is why I value meetups so much, because to book time with these guys would be
It's a whole different subject. It's hard. But yeah, they helped me get that off and running. And then after that is where we moved out to Nashville, and then we operated that one as. Um, our first MTR and never looked back. That one is doing fantastic. It actually was the property because we bought it the way we did.
Um, and we, it was a smart buy. It was a great buy. Um, then that, uh, that gave me the opportunity to leave my nine to five and just, you completely dedicate 100 percent of my time to real estate investing and then all the benefits that come along with it, doing a cost segregation study on it and you know, managing other properties and offering more assistance and being more of service to the community.
Yeah, that's great. Uh, really well said. So considering, you know, majority of your properties are in Nashville, you do both ownership and partnering. How do you keep your books straight and your taxes straight and make sure that you're building the right way, uh, as you scale? That's I love that because We went through like four different CPAs, and we were just, we were, we were shopping around.
We were trying to find, we were dating a lot of different CPA, but it is very important. My wife has been an entrepreneur for about 15 years. So I had a big leg up on that. So she already had a bookkeeper. She already had a lot of, but I mean, real estate is a different type of tax strategy, right? And so. We both knew that there were benefits, but we weren't taking advantage of them instantly.
So we found a tax strategist and keyword strategist, not CPA, like CPAs are fantastic. We are, we have a CPA, but he's also tax planner, tax strategist. And he emphasized his, uh, emphasis is in real estate. And, um, and then same thing, getting a bookkeeper, um, after we formed the LLC, which is, uh, uh, access at S corp and.
My bookkeeper does all of our owners, my monthly owner statements. She keeps everything in line and then yeah, with our tax strategist, we meet up every quarter with him and he's explaining, Hey, what's, you know, what are we looking to make? And these are margins. This is what we can do. This is what we can't do.
These are our write offs. And it's been a big education for me, but really creating a system where you're following smarter people's rules. And you're, you're asking better questions as you go on and they're fall. And then also following the big picture goal of where you want to be one year from now, five years from now, and how to grow with a smart team with you.
I love them. I think, I think relying on people who are very, very good at what they do is key to this, right? Like if you need help. With your bookkeeping and accounting. Find someone who's really, really good at that. Date a few and find the right fit. I love when you said that, like, we tried on, we tried a few.
And I think that's right, right? Cause, cause there's other needs then you need someone who's really good at it and really knowledgeable, but also like vibes with you and can meet your expectations or your timetables. Or it's like, I want to do things on a monthly basis. I want to do quarterly, whatever it is, like you've got to find that good match.
And it sounds like that has been a theme across your entire real estate investing and management journey. And I just think that that is so underrated. It's okay. If you try a team member and they don't work. It's okay. Just keep trying until you get the right fit. So I love that. Well, I want to wrap it up with you will be.
And Kelly shared with me that you shared on LinkedIn, that you were so grateful for this space because you've been able to leave your nine to five job and benefit from all the opportunities. That real estate investing and midterm rentals has given you. And I know that's not everybody's goal, right? Some people love their jobs.
Some people are retired. Some people are doing this as a side hustle. Some people are doing it to build long term wealth. But the fact is that you've been able to, to reach for a goal and really achieve it. So what advice do you have for anyone else who might need a little bit of encouragement, reaching their goals, whatever their goals are?
Yeah, you know what? I think quitting a nine to five now, the way I look at it, it's not so much a trophy that I think everyone should go and aspire to do. I think if it fits your life and your goals as a family or personally, then definitely take advantage of it. In our case, my wife, she runs her business.
Her headhunting business, um, completely remote. So in my job before as a superintendent at a welding company, it was, you know, we couldn't move around. So working remote was what we wanted to do. So quitting my nine to five was part of our bigger, larger goal. And then investing in real estate out of state, being able to live a month in Mexico, if we wanted to.
Go and spend three months summering in Washington. Like that's, that's, that was part of our big plan. Um, I think doing it in the smartest way possible, one of the easiest ways, if you were to say, Hey, I want to quit my nine to five and just focus on real estate. We'll focus on co hosting, focus on something that can instantly replace that income.
If you don't have a lot in savings, you know, just make it a smart move instead of a, you know, jump and let's see what happens kind of move and if it fits, definitely it's been nothing but beneficial for me and I'm looking forward to. You know, everything that the future has in store. Yeah. Well said real estate opens up so many doors.
Uh, this has been a great conversation. I love that you mentioned that you were a superintendent, uh, in welding in the past. That's one of my emerging midterm rental. Uh, client types is superintendents. We've had quite a few superintendents now. And one of our guests is building a Chick fil A in, uh, Belton.
And I was like, this is awesome. I get to be part of the new Chick fil A build. How cool is that? And they're with us for about six months at least. And who knows if the project will get extended. We had a superintendent for a floor and decor. So that's a really cool emerging midterm rental. Uh, client type, at least in my area.
Yeah. And construction is always extending. Construction deadlines are always being pushed back. So that's, uh, that's also, that's solid and you can provide that help to them. Yep, exactly. Well, Will, how would you like others to connect with you if they would like to, you know, check out your coaching program or your properties?
How would you like them to connect? So the easiest way, I answer all my Instagram DMs. It's the easiest way to get in contact with me. Send me a DM on Instagram. Send me a follow. There on my, my Linktree bio, if you Want to book a one on one coaching session. I, you can pick my brain and ask away if you have a deal that you're working on and you need someone to help structure it or help close it, or, you know, just any kind of real estate advice, uh, tax strategy, all that it's all there in my bio.
Um, and also. If you want to work with me and my company, the easiest way is to go on our website, Nova Havens dot com and submit your property into our database because that is the first place that I look. It doesn't matter if you're not in our territories, California, Tennessee. Um, or Washington, if you're throughout the nation, I'm part of other, uh, bigger networks.
And so you can also connect and have your property available there. And, um, yeah, drop me a follow and I'll be throwing a meetup out here in Washington and connect. Send me a hi. Okay. I love that because I get plenty of business from being on Furnished Finder and Airbnb that I haven't really needed to go elsewhere.
But. I would look forward to the opportunity to partner with you, Will. So I'm, I'll probably go add my properties as well, just in case you come across something and then you and I can maybe partner on an insurance deal also. So thanks for sharing your story today. Uh, check out the show notes for Will's property, uh, for, uh, on Furnished Finder.