Making Other People Lend Their Basements for Airbnb with John & Wynde Williams

October 27, 2021 melissa Real Estate Comments Off on Making Other People Lend Their Basements for Airbnb with John & Wynde Williams

Making Other People Lend Their Basements for Airbnb with John & Wynde Williams

Today, we’re continuing our conversation on “renting more basements” for Airbnb. John and Wynde, specialists in the short-term renting industry share their secrets on how you can get landlords to let you lease their units on Airbnb. If you’re curious on what all that is, you might want to read this first. (link here)

The points below are from the fifteenth episode of the Real Estate JAM, where John and Wynde talk about their first dip into real estate, figuring out how Airbnb worked, their model of focusing on the customer, the management side of short-term rentals, and COVID’s impact on the business. Hop on the short-term rental train before it leaves! Tune in on the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.


 

Finding the Door to Open

The mindset that Wynde has when she talks to landlords is that she’s there to solve a problem. Oftentimes, she doesn’t know what the problems would be, so it’s important to figure what those are first. If you want to follow in John and Wynde’s footsteps, you’d have to do the same!

These issues won’t come out of thin air, so you’d have to do the digging yourself! Ask questions, even the ones that you might not want to ask. Take a look at this:

“I see this property’s vacant for more than 30 days, what do you think is the problem?”

This kind of a leading question uproots a landlord’s mind to a possibility of “erasing” a problem that’s been bugging them for a while! Even if the problem isn’t about having good-quality tenants, asking the right questions leads to an opportunity for you to present your services. Their issue might be they don’t have the budget to spruce up the place or maybe they don’t even have the idea that their property isn’t tenant-friendly!

Once you find that door, it’s your time to knock!

 

“That Sounds Like Airbnb”

When talking to landlords, especially with offering a “modern solution”, rejection is pretty normal. But, it’s essential for you to push back a little on their hesitation. Before they could say, “I’ll pass,” what should you do?

You have to find the next door to open. It’s likely that they’ve already heard of short-term rentals. There MUST be a reason why they’re hesitant or unwilling to make the switch! Usually, they’re worried that the unit would be turned into a party house. A group of rowdy teenagers might make quick work of the property. Or, a sneaky family brings along a couple of pets when they shouldn’t be!

Once you see this new door, you already know what to do. Show them you have the answer once more! “We don’t want that to happen too, of course, that’s why we have these systems and processes in place.” Explain your protocols, show them the various security measures you have in place, and make them feel like you know what you’re doing (because you do)!

In the podcast, John and Wynde talked about noise monitors, building teams, monitoring bookings, and creating systems with backups! These can ease a landlord into allowing you to lease their units for your short-term rental gigs.

 

Want to learn more? You can listen to the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

 

Outline of the Episode:

  • [01:34] Getting into real estate, becoming “accidental landlords”.
  • [03:31] Discovering Airbnb. The second guest stayed for three months! How much did they get for the first few months?
  • [08:49] John and Wynde’s model for the business. It all starts with the customer!
  • [12:06] You can do short-term rentals WITHOUT owning the property! You can “own more basements”.
  • [16:53] The proper mindset to equip when talking to a landlord. What do you do when you get rejected? What if they’re hesitant about Airbnb?
  • [23:22] The management side of doing short-term rentals.
  • [29:36] The shift of focus to a local and regional market versus an international one (due to COVID). You influence and network are going to be crucial here!
  • [31:29] The impact of COVID to reservations and how they came back around. Even if people “ban” short-term rentals, people are still going to need a place to stay.

 

Resources:

 

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