On this episode we have Zoey Berghoff. She’s most known for creating unique stays. She started her portfolio with a yurt and is now working on a 1950’s cabin restoration. She walks us through her journey and learnings on how to approach unique stays and new land development. She also touches on how she’s built a community of folks who want to book directly.
Podcast Summary
Zoey’s discussion on unique stays and portfolio building was truly captivating, emphasizing several essential points. She highlighted the significance of embracing opportunities and facing the unknown with courage, as her unexpected venture into short-term rentals demonstrated. Zoey emphasized the need for adaptability in entrepreneurship, showcasing how being open to unexpected paths can lead to success.
Moreover, Zoey stressed the importance of transparency in sharing the journey of property management, including its challenges and triumphs. By showcasing the real journey, flaws and all, property owners can foster a sense of community and intrigue among potential guests, ultimately enhancing the appeal of their unique accommodations. Zoey also underscored the significance of safeguarding one’s interests through thorough rental agreements and careful screening processes for direct bookings, especially when bypassing intermediary platforms.
Furthermore, Zoey emphasized the value of prioritizing quality over quantity when it comes to property management. By focusing on creating memorable guest experiences that inspire positive word-of-mouth, property owners can cultivate a loyal clientele base. Zoey also advised considering long-term strategies, such as potentially selling the unique stay portfolio as a business in the future. Lastly, she encouraged aspiring entrepreneurs not to wait for perfect conditions to begin their journey, assuring that with proper balance, building a business alongside family life is achievable, even amidst imperfections. Zoey’s passion for this niche market was evident throughout the discussion, offering inspiration for continued success in creating distinctive and inviting accommodations.
Essential Highlights
A few key takeaways on Zoey’s fascinating discussion on unique stays and building portfolios
- Being open to opportunities and not afraid of the unknown is crucial, as your accidental pivot into short-term rentals shows. Entrepreneurship requires adaptability.
- Sharing the full journey, warts and all, can actually help build community and interest in experiencing your unique properties firsthand.
- Protecting yourself with rental agreements and proper screening for direct bookings is important when cutting out the middleman platforms.
- Focus on quality over quantity of units, creating memorable guest experiences that generate word-of-mouth.
- Consider an exit strategy of potentially selling a unique stay portfolio as a business down the line.
- Don’t wait for everything to be perfect to start – juggling family life alongside building the business is possible if imperfect.
Follow Zoey on instagram @zoeyberghoff
Transcription
I think having the mindset of like don’t be afraid of the unknown I think when you step into the unknown and you’re not sure what’s next that’s when like all of the opportunities really come forward because you’re not so dead on this one thing has to happen
welcome back to direct booking simplified where we break down the tactics and strategies to win direct bookings on today’s show we have Zoey Berghoff she has a portfolio of unique properties that she’s built herself she’s done everything from land development to new builds and now she’s working in a cabin on today’s show
she’ll break down how she’s grown her portfolio of unique stays and how she thinks about direct bookings by growing your network and your community so let’s bring her in
Hey Zoey
Hello thank you for having me
yes I’m so excited let’s get into it
awesome yeah we um really dive into unique stays with our own portfolio and those who we help build their own portfolio so I’m here to chat all the things unique stays
yes um so we started actually five years ago with our short term rental journey um we actually started by accident I like to say our first property was a yurt and you know we were in the middle of a pandemic we weren’t sure how it was going to go and it just blew us out of the water with what it was performing in the first month or two
and from there that actually pivoted our whole entire strategy so we six months later turned a long term rental into a short term rental and that property was making 25 000 a year and in the first year it made about 120 000 and that was like this is crazy like there’s something there’s more to unpack here
so that really um like I said pivoted everything in terms of our goals our long term vision for short term rentals and real estate um and our most recent project in the last 12 months has been renovating a 19th century Forties historic log cabin that was built to out of Aspen and relocated in the twenties slash forties
we don’t really have a precise timeframe on that um so everything we’ve done has been builds custom builds glamping and extreme renovations so we like to pick all the hard routes first I guess
Yeah so it was actually raw land that my husband had found and really wanted to build in the mar building and renovating i to purchase than buying t which for a lot of areas But given where we are t we’re around he found ra Build on it so the first thing that went up was the yurt and that is like a 800 square foot dome
um we put it on a deck and it’s only rented in the summer it’s only seasonal it can be winterized but I will not host people in the winter on it I just think it’s like negative reviews time and time again if I were to do that um so that was the first project and that was about 40 000 in terms of an investment
um and in the first Six months of hosting and made 30 000 so we almost made our entire investment back in the first six months if we went a whole year I’m sure we would have made about 40 but we only do six months or so um and then on that same land um phase two was the single family home that was also built on the property
so we’re huge in unique stays but also land tacking which is multiple streams of income on one property um maximizing your revenue and only having You know one set of expenses maybe
nope it was spilled so the land was literally dirt it was raw land that we purchased so we brought all utilities into the property so well septic power had to come through um even making a driveway had to happen so people I always say land is not created equal um in terms of what land brings to the table
so we had to develop it completely from the ground up which took about uh A year maybe 2 years to be all said and done um and that property actually still has zoning permissions for an accessory dwelling unit and so we may be going into a phase 3 of another build on that land
yes Yes yeah
120 the first year yeah
yep long term so they were paying you know just a little bit above the mortgage pain expenses um and the only reason why we went into short term actually was we were in the pandemic my husband was a pilot and you know pilots weren’t really flying or working a ton during the pandemic and the renter gave us a 30 day notice which we didn’t really expect
and at 30 days basically to either list the property for sale or figure it out and I was like I mean the year it did well even though it was in the summer I feel like this was middle of dead January like in the middle of winter we had to furnish an entire property um and I was like I just think we should try short term
and since month one it’s been multiple years now we have never um not been able to cover the expenses the mortgage everything like that so we’ve always made well above what that property costs us with short term it’s nice we snowballed on accident
yeah so it is you know it’s a single family home so it’s not gonna be like it’s not a spaceship or anything but this property is on 35 acres backing up against 200 acres of BLM land which is just forest land and it is at 8 500 feet on top of a mountain so it does have 360 views um uh many ski resorts so it’s you know the actual property it’s not like it’s something absolutely crazy that you would ever see on the street but be given The entire experience it provides
it is more unique than what you would get in like our downtown that you could stay at as well
yes that is a great question because when that property was first built short term was not really like in the scope you know this was like 20 um 17 2019 so like it was kind of before we had seen what short term rentals had done I really don’t think Airbnb had its moment back then until you know in more recent years
so it’s funny because we’ve just worked on an extreme renovation with this log cabin and we knew it was going to be a short term rental from the beginning so it has had like the thought process is so different when you’re like building it for guest experience um and with that property up top um it’s you know three bedroom two bath which is a great size for our market
uh one thing I do love is it does have concrete radiant floor heat which is super durable for guests to use and for personal use but that was something that we actually wanted to do in the cabin but they were like no that thing is not built to hold concrete or like sorry we can’t do that um So that’s like a huge bonus
and we’ve been able to tailor that property you know we added the hot tub and the patio and we might do a sauna we do want to do like a pretty big renovation on it and just make it even bigger than it is um but on time you know so it’s nice and unique to see how us a few years later building something for a short term rental
every single piece of why it is the way it is is for a reason you know the bedroom size there’s not a ton of closet space because this isn’t a primary home it’s a rental that space got turned into more living space um the kitchen layout like everything was thought of in terms of a guest where that property being built for a long term rental and just like a normal primary home
um it doesn’t have some of those like flares that you think of after you’ve been a host
yeah yes
yeah it is
yes that’s kind of why we want to we want to renovate it we want to make it bigger there’s also it’s just in a pretty remote area so you know our snowfall is like extreme extensive snowfall in the winter so there’s some things that we want to do that would just protect the longevity of the property
but it’s been nice it’s a perfect um you know there’s some layouts and homes that just do better than others even if it’s not a short term in the beginning and it’s a really nice like open floor plan which I think helps with the um overall you know revenue it can bring but I have noticed um a few competitors that have come into the space and it’s a 1500 square foot floor plans
it’s not huge and I have seen competitors that are at more like a 3000 square feet and they just are reaching nightly rates that we probably won’t get into unless we do a big remodel or make it bigger like they just have that you know basement walkout with the kitchenette like things that you just don’t maybe get with the ranch home but nonetheless when you do good design photography a unique experience and you kind of can craft that even if the home itself can’t build that unique experience um you know the revenue is just it’s gone up ever since we started
yeah yes good question this is actually something I learned early on of my hosting experience was when we first started especially with the year I was like Oh everyone’s going to want to stay in this like it’s a year and then a few months down the road I was like wait a minute like we were starting to get reviews that were you know just so you know there’s no air conditioning
and I was like why would you think there’d be air conditioning? And then there was just so you know there’s not a TV and I was like okay wait a minute why am I getting these type of guest wanting that and like not in the listing so that’s lesson that I learned early you are not Supposed to be everyone’s cup of tea
like you know you’re not gonna host everyone there’s more demand than what there is supply in that one property so that was an early on lesson the year is definitely couples getaway we’ve done a lot of engagements proposals anniversaries honeymoons um the single family home we definitely get a mix of like the couples going on ski trips or vacation
to just families um it and I’m pretty adamant wh into in whatever market y what your you know honey of guests to host is um going to like eight for t I’m also a huge fan that You need to understand What your space can host but what can it host pleasantly? Like eight people could push us a little bit to where it’s just not enough room for everyone
also think of the wear and tear on your utilities your amenities everything like that so you want to have like that sweet spot um but when we were renovating this cabin I was very adamant like we have to host this many people minimum to see what I want to see in this market
yes
yes yeah
exactly yeah it’s going to impact the stay and the experience overall um I know everyone’s like you know more heads equals you know more beds and it’s more money and stuff but I am a proponent that you really need to think of like the functionality of your space and an example like just like a week ago we
we’re really adamant like okay if we put a sleeper sofa in the cabin it’d be two extra people that could get us to like eight to 10 and we finally just made the call like one we were like every sleeper sofa looks so old and like it’s not what we want for the space and then we were just like you know what?
Like it’s a small space in general I don’t think people are going to like love having that as their option if they come with six people or whatever it is so we actually scaled back and we’re like you know what? We’re just gonna wipe that idea and just do a normal couch we like the style better so you do need to think of like the dining table the just functionality of the property
does it actually it’s not maybe designed to have 12 people even though you can sleep 12 people mm-Hmm
yeah instead of like double yeah exactly and something also that can and you know it sounds like okay well I’m sleeping less it could be a negative but if you go in your market and you’re gonna sleep 10 or eight instead of 12 maybe ’cause you’ve been compared to all the 12 person cabins which could be maybe like the 14 or 16 person cabins now you’re gonna scale down and you’re gonna be the larger size home for this eight to 10 people range
you may be able to charge the same amount that you were going for 10 or 12 people because you’re now one of the most premium or largest spots for that amount um so it doesn’t always mean it’s a negative impact on your revenue which is super interesting like you can still get that nightly rate you’re wanting or sometimes maybe even increase it depending on if every home in the area is three bedroom two bath in your four bedroom four bath you may have a huge leg up there
Yes good question it is an endless question my biggest suggestion is you actually need to be very well well acquainted with the back end before you even go live so you need to understand zoning permitting your county um building requirements a lot of people think you can just buy land and throw a tiny home on it and call it a day
there is a lot of back end that will make that even not possible or possible so a huge thing I say is land is not created equal when you see land for 5 000 and 500 000 there’s a big spread as to why you want to understand that and then also with the land tacking um You need to understand the zoning of the property to understand if you’re even able to put more than one property on it
um also your short term rental regulations are huge so we purchase in unincorporated in our market because unincorporated kind of acts as its own we don’t have to have a short term rental permit like like we’re like five minutes from the city but we don’t have to have a permit and pay 400 bucks and have them inspect the home and whatnot because we act per the county not the city because we’re unincorporated
so there’s little things that it’s you need to know what questions to ask because if you don’t especially building and renovating Even our neighbor across the street he’s 200 000 over his renovation cost which is basically broken the deal now um those are like mistakes that you can’t afford to make
and they’re a lot easier to make when you’re doing something creative or unique or building something
yes um I actually would say people don’t understand the cost of dirt and moving dirt um so there’s a lot of money in excavation and actually building a build site in a driveway and making it just accessible for a car let alone semi trucks and concrete trucks so I would say that’s a huge thing that people don’t think about is when you see land and it maybe is like in a forest and it’s awesome
you may spend a lot of money a hundred thousand just on getting that land clear um so I feel like people they glamorize like you know Oh I bet like the most expensive was the amenities or whatnot and it’s like you need to go all the way back to the basics and just start with like step one
yes utilities are super expensive especially power I always tell people like no matter what property you look at ask where the nearest power pole is because power by the foot even is so expensive to pole so that is something that people don’t think of and that’s why you see land for 5000 and 500 000 because they have different utilities access
that’s a good question um my husband and I we are huge on like we don’t want to be the couple with like the most doors I have met a lot of people and I think in this space of just real estate in general short term rentals going to these conferences and everything you know the first question is how many doors do you have?
And I don’t think that’s the right first question to be asking because I have seen people that are like I have a hundred doors and you immediately think like Oh I only have four or five doors and then come to find out your four or five doors are actually making more profit than a hundred hours and I think there’s a huge misconception that
quantity is better than quality in this industry so we really create stays that we enjoy ourselves like we want to own in these markets we want to go to we want to why do all the work that real estate requires if you’re not going to enjoy it yourself so we are building a portfolio that supports the business and it pencils and deals make great cashflow but also really focused on appreciation equity
we’ve seen really crazy things happen with equity we’ve built and that’s something that we kind of invest first for appreciation and equity and cashflow comes second
yes good question um so there’s like a few and why like unique stays are really cool because there’s nothing that defines what a unique state is or isn’t like it’s just out there so something we’ve kind of transitioned to is like we bought a historic log cabin it’s um Like completely old wood it’s you wouldn’t be able to build something like it today
and even though it is zoned like a residential home we have unique touches in it because of what it is so it’s like even though someone might just say this is a single family home it still can pull a unique state element and give that curb appeal that people want to experience what that’s like Also if you’re doing unique stays like glamping or tree houses We’re actually seeing in the industry rather than selling it as just a property that someone would get a 30 year mortgage on You’re actually selling it as a business
now you have proof of cash flow and stuff so Instead of you know people are worrying like if I build an you know an Airstream community how am I supposed to sell that and make money off that? But now you actually are selling it as a business um one of my students in my mentorship actually her goal from the very beginning was she wants to offload her portfolio as a business at the end of the day
she doesn’t want that’s her exit strategy she’s already thinking of it um and that’s something we’re going to see in the unique state business is you can now sell that as a business not just as A 30 year home for a family?
Yes yeah and you with unique stays I mean you can get wild like you can put I’m sure 800000 into unique stay easily but with glamping or tiny homes or we’re seeing mirror houses I mean these things may be under a hundred thousand to put on a property and get up and running and like I said the year it can make anywhere from
30 to 40 000 every six months I mean we paid off that investment in year one you will likely never see that with an actual turnkey residential property so you are getting cash flow a lot quicker um per what it was to build but I do always say like If glamping is something in your strategy you really want to think of what are you going to do with that cashflow to put it into something that may have more longevity or durability?
Because these places are not built to last 30 plus years so that’s something you want to think through
yeah exactly yeah like when they have warranties on tiny home roofs and this and that like there’s a reason for that you know they’re not confident to warranty it much longer than that so you really want to think through how does that play into your strategy? Um and that’s where sometimes land hacking with like a residential property that’s a single family home or a log cabin or whatever it may be
and then having you know An additional structure or glamping on the property it’s like you’re benefiting with that appreciation and cash flow at the same time
yeah so we were able to do one on um the property that has the year and the home um the home takes the you know appreciation it takes the value of everything the year doesn’t really bring much to the table in terms of The value it brings more of the cashflow for us but we actually did have someone um come up to us and ask like we want to buy this as a business and they wanted to see our short term rental financials
and that’s when I was like okay like people are buying these completely just to be a short term rental business they’re not buying this as a property so that really like started to change my mind on things we obviously didn’t sell to them cause I was like they’re just going to do what we could do
like and probably not as good um but it’s you definitely want to think through that in terms of does your strategy play into the tax depreciation cost seg everything like that because certain structures will and certain won’t
Yeah yeah that’s a good question so we definitely especially the year the year definitely brings I mean it’s funny cause it was like the least you know costly to invest in and bring up to speed and everything and it’s the least to maintain it costs like a hundred bucks every few months in like propane
um but we have a lot of repeat guests that come through we have a lot of guests that are like Oh my friend stayed here and I want to stay here like I said a ton of like honeymoon um Engagement proposals um you know it’s not really like a young family spot I actually feel like any of our like reviews that have any sense of like negativity comes from like a four person family just because it’s like it’s not it’s not going to have all the creature comforts as a normal home
if it’s July and it’s 95 out the year it’s going to be 85 like that’s just how it goes um so I definitely see a lot of word of mouth that travels with that and a lot of repeat stays there um also I’m seeing that like If they come and enter our portfolio through the year they’re starting to see the other states that we offer and they want to come see those as well
um and I think that’s something to say about like your hospitality standards and direct bookings in general is when they understand what they’re getting with one property they would rather stay with your other properties and understand you know the five star they’re going to get versus risking it with another person
yeah so we Our market is very high in tourism um our supply and demand is very healthy here so we actually get quite a bit of traffic just naturally given the market we’re in but we are I’ve found we’re not a market that people come back to annually so I feel like there are those markets that like it’s like the family vacation every summer or whatever
we given that we’re in Colorado I do feel like people come to our town and then next summer they’re going to go to this town and then this ski town like they don’t come back to the same spot every time so direct bookings I do honor with anyone that has stayed with us in the past I am exploring um the direct bookings with people that find us through socials or word of mouth even if they know us through a previous guest that is kind of a good screening for us but our properties um You know the year is unique
so like it’s not for everyone um I don’t even allow instant book on it because of that so that’s a unique property in itself but also the property that’s at 8 500 feet you have to have four wheel drive you have to have all wheel drive we get six to eight feet of snow every winter so there’s things that I have to do to screen our properties
more than what someone else may have to do um so I’m kind of like relearning what my direct booking strategy is there and I do think it’s super important I think taking that control in your business having that QR code in your properties to stay with you guys in the future is super important to do
Yeah which is super interesting um I never thought I would have like a social following about real estate I just feel like I fell into it and started sharing and so many more people were interested and here we are now but I have actually found and this is to anyone that’s like sitting you know with themselves wanting to share their experience and they think that you have to share it once you’re done or once your portfolio is done and it’s perfect that is actually not what people want to see
they want to see the nitty gritty they want to see you in the weeds they want to see you in the thick of it they want to see you dealing with the county and permits and what does it look like? That’s where people really I think get intrigued and they can relate and see part of themselves in your journey
so I’ve actually found because this cabin we’ve worked on the last year has been the most intensive in terms of sharing every week every month of what we were going through and I have the most desire to stay at this property from my community because of what they’ve seen it become which is super interesting
I never Shared really thinking that but now people are like well I’ve seen every single day in and out what you guys have been doing and I wanna come see it myself so that’s to anyone who’s thinking about like wanting to share their story or thinking they aren’t far enough in the journey like people wanna see you from day one not day 100
yes mm-Hmm
yeah
yeah exactly I mean even one of your guests you had on Steph she is a friend of mine but she reached out to me and she’s like we want to plan a trip to Denver I really want to come to the cabin I want like when is it going to be live? And that’s just an example that like she’s been seeing that journey throughout the whole year and it’s crazy because you would never think like sharing stories and videos of studs and windows ripped out would generate like three 4 000 bookings
there’s like an endless ROI on bringing people along with your journey
exactly we’re just you know smaller version of the CTV
yeah I definitely think um a rental agreement is something that you really want you want to always think of how to protect yourself you know you don’t want to think of like the what if and the bad that could happen but when you knock out the middleman of Airbnb Booking com you do want to think of how are you going to protect yourself now that it’s between you and the guest
so obviously we have that short term rental insurance on your property and that can always come into play but maybe with direct bookings do you take a deposit a security deposit? Maybe you don’t with other OTAs um I think it’s important we have a rental agreement that gets put into effect I even know some people who say like I need a copy of every license for everyone that’s going to be in the property
like you really I don’t want to encourage anyone like you know think of the bad that’s going to happen but you want to think like if something did happen you would not want your property or assets to be up in the air because of that issue so protecting yourself is really important um and I don’t think guests are you know turned off or surprised or anything if you’re asking for that rental agreement or anything like that
yeah
and I feel like when those things are like an issue it’s almost like a red flag to you as a host like okay if I’m asking for this you know extra five minutes or whatever it is for them to sign this put their info down and they’re refusing to do so why is that? Um and You know the platforms do a good job at screening
like they do catch people that are not authentic or they’re scanned so they’re not wanting to actually stay with you for good intentions they do a good job at that but even then they can’t screen everyone so I even know of rental agreements getting put into play with Airbnb in Verbo is becoming more common
of a norm um and I think as a host your job is to you know approach everything in like a positive light and you can even put it in the light of like we’re protecting you as our guests we want to make sure you know your stay is insured protected honored um you don’t always have to put it in like how it’s favoring for you
Yes and that is um actually I believe a rule with Airbnb is unless you can’t leave a pet at home not attended so these are things that even though like we’re asking them in rental agreements like the platforms are also asking the same thing um I have like beef with pets and properties they do more wear and tear than people do
I swear um I do host to them because I know it would increase our revenue most likely but I’m just like amazed at what pets can sometimes just like the wear and tear on baseboards and you know it’s all setting the expectations is huge but um yeah I think pets are a little bit more wild than people for sure
yeah
um I would say my last piece of advice especially as we’re seeing in the space unique stays are growing and more creative and the OMG fund with Airbnb like Airbnb is very obviously pushing the better the wilder the crazier is what they want um my biggest suggestion would be fine someone who’s done or is doing what you want to do and they don’t have to be a hundred steps in front of you but you really Can make costly mistakes in this avenue of the space
um any space you know turnkey property buying something just anything you real estate is a high capital high risk industry but it doesn’t have to be and you don’t have to make those costly mistakes so I really I think like we would have snowballed our portfolio a lot faster if we would have found someone when we first started
um and it’s just the hack to grow you your portfolio everything you want a lot faster and do it better
I know yeah I I mean I think you know they always say like success leads clues and we’ve seen over the years of what Airbnb is inputting and they’ve put what was it? 10 million into the OMG fund where they gave money to hosts who had the craziest ideas that was that they’re putting money where their mouth is on that one
like they are telling us that that’s where those stays they want to see the icon stays um super interesting that they came out with it I’m not like wildly impressed but I do think it’s a clue at like it’s experience based and you know even though these people of the icon group have a huge awareness brands People are watching them
and what Airbnb did right there is they’re basically showing you that you can book an experience with this person or their stay or whatever it is and they are trying to basically cultivate what that’s going to be so whether it’s a unique property or an experience Airbnb is trying to basically get you out and stay somewhere that you would not experience at home
and that’s I think the amazingness of unique stays is like they would never get to do that at home they want to get away for a weekend and experience something they don’t get every single day
yeah
yeah
yeah I mean we’re even seeing hotels are starting to um kind of dabble in the like unique stay hotels treehouse like getting more unique um so I think it’s interesting because Airbnb is now pushing like you know don’t stay in hotels stay with us and hotels are even experiencing that they have to create an experience
they’re not people just don’t want to lay their heads at night they want something you know that That’s going to be Instagram worthy they can share with their friends it’s cool I do think hotels make sense for some people like two people on the road you don’t maybe need an Airbnb but like you said people with kids pets like it’s becoming more and more realistic
um but to stand out in your market and be a top performer there needs to be something different about you and there needs to be something basically cultivating the experience for your guests um people are spending good money to stay in these properties and they want something more than just you know laying their head at night
oh
for sure and I mean I see it even with the year like it fits two to four people four people would be one on a sofa couch and we can charge 350 bucks a night people will pay a lot of money to stay in something they don’t get every single day so Airbnb definitely knows that I mean we’re seeing very very high rates for some of these days and people are paying it
because it’s something they’ve seen they want to experience they want to be a part of it um it’s really they’re creating like the cool kid club and like if you’re in it or you’re not and you feel FOMO if you’re not in it so I do think we are well past the time of being able to buy a home furnish it with Ikea and call it a day
like the professional photos real estate photos having a community having that experience is required for sure
yes I know it’s going to be so good but it also is going to hold us as hosts more accountable as it should like you know we need to hold guests accountable and ourselves but yeah like you said some of these markets I mean your picks that you’re going to be able to choose from are all just the top 5 percent of that market anyways
that is a great question um I would say I think having the mindset of like don’t be afraid of the unknown I think when you step into the unknown and you’re not sure what’s next that’s when like all of the opportunities really come forward because you’re not so dead on this one thing has to happen
like you’re open to anything taking place like I said we took a long term rental into a short term because we had to pay the mortgage there was no other thought there was no market analysis there was no guest like we literally went into something because we had to find a solution and look at what came of it
I mean a community multiple properties a portfolio financial time freedom all of the above so I think you have to be okay with the unknown and as as an entrepreneur like that is just the surface of what’s going to come and when you own a short term rental you are a business owner you are an entrepreneur
I really hate seeing people you know Oh I only have one door it’s like you’re one door ahead of so many people that never took that leap yeah
yeah you’re always your business it’s not a it you don’t set your pr them you don’t do your f We’re always I mean jus I’ve spent hundreds of do back into our property k is here and our top spend be staying with us you h I
would say not only just direct bookings because obviously you’re the master at direct bookings but understand direct bookings also coincide with building a business and a brand and a portfolio and a standard for yourself and your guests so it’s not just direct bookings to save fees there’s a whole picture behind it
so I really think people As we’re seeing different OTAs come in the space some are you know Airbnb is taking more traction than Vrbo it’s oh there’s always going to be someone but if you can have more control in your business why would you not do that?
Exactly yeah and then as you scale your portfolio they will understand what excellent they’re stepping into in your properties so it’s honestly like the first year like you said it’s an investment into your business so year five you’re not depending on 90 percent of no TA
yeah so you guys can um follow me on all socials it’s just Zoey Berghoff and I share a lot of you know tips to make your own business more successful but also the journey of what we’re doing in ours to show you guys the behind the scenes of what it looks like it’s not always glamorous around here um And as well you can connect with me there um for anything else that I offer
I know she’s like yeah we have been in a mid renovation with a newborn um we closed on the property the day I found out I was pregnant and now she’s six months and this property is going live so it’s been not only navigating the most insane intense renovation we’ve ever taken on but also doing it pregnant with the baby
um Um but it’s just to show
you know you don’t have to have everything perfect to build your business and you don’t have to wait to grow your family you know that too you can do those coinciding together it may look a little different but I’m a huge proponent like it’s not going to be perfect ever
so you have to just start
yes
yeah I know I know we did um we’ve heard Smith the other day we were like should we put all of our handprints in it? And yeah we always say this cabin will go to her because it’s basically she’s been her whole life has been some existence of this project so it’s a lot of fun um but you can do it all
yes thank you so much for having me I really appreciate it bye