This week I'm excited to be talking with Devana Cavé from The House of Courage, a collection of sober living homes that Devana owns and operates. Forget everything you've ever known or pictured about a sober living home, because Devana does things completely different.

Yes, she's a real estate investor, but what sets her business apart is the care she takes with every single house guest. From the colorful designs and nice furniture she invests in, to custom built bunks that offer total privacy, to the care package that every new house guest receives on arrival, Devana has made sure that what she offers is so much more than "heads in beds".

If you've been interested in investing in co-living spaces, but aren't sure if sober living is the right avenue for you, this episode will encourage you in how fulfilling and rewarding this type of real estate can be. Devana wants to be very clear – this is NOT for everyone! But if you feel called to offer an experience like this, you'll get to hear first hand how thoughtfully you can approach this for the people who need it most.

Check out some of the resources Devana mentioned:

narronline.org

The Sober Living Network

Find Devana on instagram @devanainvests

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This week I'm going solo on the mic breaking down every nitty gritty detail of my latest project... drum roll please... raising investor capital for a luxury, waterfront Upstate New York property! As I write this, I'm happy to announce we officially closed and all funds have been wired.

All that to say, I definitely made some mistakes with how I went about this. And today I'm sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly. In this episode I'll take you through the entire process, start to finish, and detail what worked and what definitely did not.

As promised, here's the investor interest form I mentioned in today's episode. Either copy it for your own purposes, or fill it out if you want to partner on a future deal!

Episode 156 with Madi Johnson

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This week I sit with Brian Hatcher to talk about his new Japandi-inspired wellness development in the mountains of Georgia. This 5-unit unique stay will feature a dedicated wellness center, and it's being designed by none other than my partner in crime, Tatianna Taylor-Tait, so you know it's going to ooze luxury and serenity.

Brian takes us through every step of how he found this land, the deals that fell through before finding the one, and the struggles of doing this all self-funded (that's right, Brian has ZERO investors on this)!

You'll hear Brian walk us through his start in house hacking, the rental arbitrage business he built along the way, and how his real estate journey has evolved to get him to the DREAM project. Enjoy!

Follow Brian's journey on Instagram @hatch_capital

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This week I talk with Katie Johnson PLC on all things STR law! Katie shares tons of insight on how to:

Make sure your portfolio is protected

Legally form partnerships

Ensure regulation won't change on you

Double check that you're actually allowed to STR your property

As a bonus, I share my current asset structure with me and Katie gives me a much needed reality check on how vulnerable I might be right now 😱 Hope you enjoy this one, and if you're now terrified of your risk profile, just listen to Katie's podcast or work with her directly.

Listen to Katie's podcast here.

Work with Katie Johnson PLC.

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This week's episode with Ariel Smith was such a fun conversation! Ariel is the face behind Stay At The Coastline vacation rentals in San Diego, CA, and in just 8 months she's grown her cohosting business from zero to 40+ properties.

Ariel walks us through exactly how she's finding her clients, how she's grown so fast, and the details behind her unique partnership structure with her brokerage that has sped up her growth process.

Most importantly, she tells us exactly how she's managing over 40 listings without using any VAs for guest messaging?! It seems like every guest we've had on the podcast in the last 2 years is sharing how essential VAs have been to their operations, so I was dying to hear how Ariel is successfully scaling while still personally responding to every single guest message.

If you've been hesitant to hire VAs, you'll find this conversation so encouraging that you might not need to! Maybe what you're already doing is exactly your secret sauce that's helping your business thrive.

Connect with Ariel here, and check our her listings here.

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On this week’s episode, I talk with Jesse Vasquez about all things midterm rental. I’ve done episodes on the MTR strategy before, but this one was next level in terms of PRACTICAL knowledge you can apply today.

By the time you’re finished with this conversation, you’ll know exactly where to find your next midterm guest, how much to charge them, how to keep the relationship warm for next time, AND how to make money even after they check out by referring them to their next rental.

My biggest takeaway from this episode was that you don’t even need property for these tips to work. Jesse shows us how he’s making $30-40k per MONTH in referral fees alone.

The bottom line, listen to this only if you’re ready for 100% occupancy, because your booking calendar is about to be slammed with leads coming in.

Connect with Jesse at @therealjessevasquez

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Today we catch up with Marilynn Taylor on the latest Airbnb updates (remember her from episode 56?)... could this spell trouble for hosts and set you up for MAJOR liability risk?!

I always do a solo episode whenever we have new Airbnb updates, but the summer release went right over my head. There was so much to break down, so many changing policies, so much that left hosts vulnerable... but luckily, Marilynn did the hard work of calling Airbnb and getting to the bottom of this so I didn't have to 😜

For anyone who has been scared by what you've seen on social media about this update, I think you'll find this episode really clarifying on what we actually need to worry about, and what could end up a blessing in disguise!

Watch Marilynn's webinar replay!

Read the update for yourself here.

Check the Airbnb approved list of preferred PMS partners.

Hint: Our sponsor Lodgify is a preferred partner! Sign up for Lodgify with code NoVacancy20

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Today I talk with Madi Johnson. If you don't know her already from STR Book Club and her growing brand, For The Love Of Upstate (FTLOU), you may remember her from episode 96 where we talked about how Madi's favorite deals are "the ones that don't pencil in AirDNA".

When we last had her on No Vacancy in February 2024, Madi's idea of going all in on the Upstate NY market was just a gut feeling, but 15 months and 4 live properties later, she has proven her intuition true – this market, and her approach to it, is CRUSHING IT.

Some quick stats:

FTLOU is outperforming in winter 4x market projections

Their summer months are outperforming their own high-end revenue goals by 30-40%

Their social media presence has exploded, landing Madi over $18,000 in free furniture for their listings

And over $5,000 in sales commission through her affiliate shop

Over 600 DMs looking to book FTLOU properties directly

I'm also so excited to announce that I'm now working with FTLOU to help find partners for their growing portfolio!!! If you're interested in partnering on our current or next deal, fill out this investor interest form.

INVESTOR DINNER SERIES - Austin, TX | Wed, June 25th | 6:30-9pm

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Pssst, only 8 seats left!

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On today's episode I sit with Federico Zimerman, a revenue management and pricing genius, who is launching his brand new company, revfactor.io today!

Revfactor.io is a revenue management service, which is a fancy way of saying, Fede and his team will help you squeeze every dollar you can out of your listing calendar. You only have 365 days a year available for booking, and once a night is gone... it's GONE.

Today, Fede breaks down the 4 factors you need to look at when determining each night's price, and he tells us exactly which settings he is taking advantage of inside PriceLabs and Airbnb.

Apply for our Austin Investor Dinner here! 🤠🍽

Learn more about the Investor Dinner Series here

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This week I chat with Bri & Jordan from Somerled Designs – an STR design firm where every design decision is backed by strategy.

I almost didn't want to record this episode, because I worried that talking about design wouldn't come across on an audio-only podcast without having imagery examples. But after just a few minutes, I realized that was not going to be an issue at all! Bri & Jordan do not make a single design decision without first determining the strategy for the property, market, and guest avatar, and in this episode they walk us through that entire process.

After this episode, I'll never approach a design project with "aesthetics" first again. The Somerled philosophy will have you convinced that if you follow these steps and do this research first... then your final design will always be a good return on investment!

Click below to see some of the listings mentioned in this episode:

The Pepper Place, Waco TX

Disney House, Kissimmee FL

Howdy House, Scottsdale AZ

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