Shampoo and Booze

iTunes   YouTube   Download .mp3  Download .ogg Anne Marie has a great combination of rental income happening- a long term rental near a university, a full time Airbnb rental in the lower floor apartment in her house, and the ability to rent her whole house when she and her family leave for vacation. She's truly utilizing her real estate assets. Check our her beautiful home and lower floor rental in Boulder, Colorado. Thanks Anne Marie! Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

iTunes   YouTube   Download .mp3  Download .ogg I realize our roofer dudes are wearing t-shirts on an oddly warm day in the above image, but I assure you it is now 10 degrees outside. Despite the cold, they continue to work, thank goodness. Any work we can get done on the new rental right now is bonus. Another great winter surprise for us is that our Farmhouse is doing well for February. This is our first year anniversary of the rental business, this being our first winter, and we're pleased with the amount of nights rented. Here are some apartment size fridges that we love (but didn't want to pay full price for!). Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

iTunes   YouTube   Download .mp3  Download .ogg We have more bookings than we expected for the chilly month of February. Getting a sign made for the Farmhouse so people know where to turn- an essential element that has been missing this year. I also bought some driveway reflectors to lead people down the right path. New house progress includes getting the power taken down, roofer starting and the power plugged back in again. The glamour never ends! (See above photo of my cleaning lady-esque slippers and my very trusty Eureka Airspeed One). Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

iTunes   YouTube   Download .mp3  Download .ogg In the spirit of being total gluttons for punishment, we ripped out all of our water pipes in preparation for the electricity to be shut off so the roofer can do his thing. So this really is a total gut! We even discussed ripping all the tile floors up and replacing them since they're in really bad shape. But we know from past experience that if you want something done right, you have to do it, even if it takes longer and costs more. Not everyone does business this way, as we find out talking to other rental owners. As we have acknowledged, this is not a quick flip and we are not normal business people. Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

iTunes   YouTube   Download .mp3  Download .ogg As we've said before, we're not normal business people. We're trying to build rental businesses in a sustainable and creative way. If it's not fun and challenging, we're not doing it. Sure, it generally costs more and takes way longer than we think, but in the long run, we've built something we're proud to show off to every single person who visits. Expanding on that theme, Jay took a 10 hour round trip drive to North Carolina to pick up some heartwood pine flooring for the new house. Now that's dedication! P.S. Remodelista is the book we mention about using quality materials. If you haven't already, check out Airbnb for the next time you travel. Or even consider renting a spare room or any property you have.

iTunes   YouTube   Download .mp3  Download .ogg We've come to this realization: We aren't normal business people. We kind of knew that, but the last year has really showed us that we are very much into "Slow Business". We're not saying we want business and sales and rentals to be slow and not make money. We're saying that it pays off in the long run to build your business slowly, sustainably and creatively. Of course not having a bundle of cash up front to do a quick renovation really helps this philosophy as well! Here are some of the ductless HVAC systems you can buy on Amazon for a lot less than $10,000. You'll have to pay for installation, but hopefully it will equal about half the quote we got. Check out some photoshopping Ryanne did to test some color schemes for the new rental-- The color the house is now, brown, brown brown. My first instinct was to go lighter. but this beige is just too Blah!Next I thought I'd add some color. But the green kind of clashes with the forest around it, and makes it feel to woodsy to me. I think the blue is a great Mid Century color choice. I don't want it too be too bright, but more like a slate blue with some grey in it. Also the current orange-red beams will be a richer burgundy. Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

iTunes   YouTube   Download .mp3  Download .ogg Since we started buying houses, we have, by necessity, been our own general contractors. This means you deal with every detail on a renovation including who does what, budgets, colors, materials, hauling trash, even some demolition and physical labor, etc etc. If you're not willing to pay someone else to do it, you've got to just do it yourself. We do have limits as to what our construction skills afford, but that's when we make sure we have a professional ready and willing. So far this system has worked well for us and hopefully will continue to work for this next big project. Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

iTunes   YouTube   Download .mp3  Download .ogg Yes, that's correct. We have been looking for a few months and we finally bought a second rental. We are very excited. Check out some photos below to see what we saw (lots of cool potential, nice view, solid bones). Also see how insane it is that people rent houses in our area in this condition. The horror, oh the horror! Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

iTunes   YouTube   Download .mp3  Download .ogg We met Anna through our Scavenger Life blog because she also sells on eBay for extra cash (and fun of course). We were thrilled to find out that she also runs a successful vacation rental long distance from California. Before we got our rental started this year, we got a lot of good advice from Anna on how to get started and run things properly. Her story is inspiring because she's able to run her place from about 1100 miles away with very little friction. Check out her lovely abode in Silverthorne, CO and her guidebook to the area. If you want to stay there, she's giving fellow listeners a coupon for $50 off. Thanks Anna! Coupon code: Shampoo4u You know you want to stay here: Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

iTunes   YouTube   Download .mp3  Download .ogg Competition is inevitable in the rental business. You wouldn't be able to run a rental without it, because your area would not be a place that people wanted to come stay. So overall, it's a good thing. We can also learn a lot from our competitors, like how much to charge and when the slow seasons might be. We try to spin it as a positive even though we definitely want all their bookings! P.S. These are the AC air deflectors that we mentioned, we love them and they're working great. Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!