Real Estate Underground

Riding the Short-Term Lane: Kenny Bedwell’s Data-Driven Journey to STR Riches

• Ed Mathews • Season 5 • Episode 181

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Mastering Short-Term Rentals with Data-Driven Real Estate Strategies - Featuring Kenny Bedwell from STR Insights

In this insightful episode of the Real Estate Underground podcast, host Ed Mathews welcomes Kenny Bedwell from STR Insights to discuss the intricacies of short-term rental investments. 

Kenny shares his journey from a data analyst at Citibank to a successful real estate investor specializing in short-term rentals. He emphasizes the importance of choosing the right markets, investing in amenities, and focusing on the guest experience to succeed in the competitive short-term rental space. Kenny also highlights his strategies for managing properties remotely, leveraging local resources, and the value of balancing work and family life. 

This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to optimize their investments in the short-term rental market.

00:00 Introduction and Podcast Overview
01:19 Guest Introduction: Kenny Bedwell from STR Insights
01:45 Kenny's Background and Real Estate Journey
02:19 The Shift to Short-Term Rentals
02:45 Navigating Regulations and Diversifying Investments
04:00 Understanding the Short-Term Rental Market
09:17 Creating Unique Guest Experiences
15:50 Managing Short-Term Rentals Across Multiple States
20:07 Managing Property Operations
20:57 Human Capital and Property Management
23:35 Personal Drive and Motivation
25:09 Valuable Advice and Lessons Learned
32:41 Defining Success and Personal Growth
34:46 Hobbies and Family Life
37:25 Connecting with Kenny Bedwell

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Kenny Bedwell

And there was one guy in the room, he was a little bit younger, he is like in his forties, and he was like I want he was super, he had like more energy about him and he was talking about Airbnb and he is guys, like I am renting out some of my long-term. I flipped into short term because they're making a lot of money.

Ed Mathews

So the big question is this, how do real estate investors who don't have a ton of free time, don't have access to off market deals and didn't start life on third base? How do we conservatively grow our real estate business to support our families? Finally, leave the corporate rat race and build a legacy? That is the question. This podcast will give you the answers. I'm Ed Mathews, and this is Real Estate. Greetings and salutations Real Estate underground. It is Ed Mathews with the Real Estate Underground. Thank you so much for joining us today. I'm grateful that you are making us a part of your day. You know, one of the things that I keep harping on and I'm grateful for you to indulge me is keep those comments coming because I wanna hear about, Obviously we started off as a multifamily show, and, that's what I do for a living. But I also flip houses and, you know, every once in a while folks want to hear about other unique asset classes where there's opportunity, especially given that multifamily, there's not a whole lot going on these days, especially here in the Northeast. So with that I have invited Kenny Bedwell from STR Insights. Really happy to Have him come to the show and join us today. So, Kenny, welcome.

Kenny Bedwell

Hey, thanks for having me on, Ed. I'm excited to be here and share some nuggets.

Ed Mathews

Yeah, let's go. So so for those folks who haven't discovered you yet why don't we start with Talking about you and your background.

Kenny Bedwell

So my background is actually not that exciting. I'm just a, data analyst. I worked for Citibank for a few years as a data analyst in the equities market. When people ask me what I did during that time, I was, oh, I worked for Citibank and I did, this? Start to fall asleep and so keep kinda engaged. I'm like, I just deal with data. And they're like, okay, cool. And they leave me alone. as far as they're like, okay, that's it. So I, I started investing in real estate though in 2017 while I was at Citi. And. I house hacked. So I this is pretty common. A lot of people get started that way. I lived in one side of a duplex and wanted to rent out the other, but I rented out the other side as an Airbnb. And at that time you could throw up any property anywhere and make money on Airbnb. And and that's what we did. We were doing three times the rent and in that particular property than what we could get as a long-term rental. And so we decided to double down and we. Kept buying properties in and around the area we lived in, which is in Buffalo, New York. And so as I was growing more my portfolio down there, I realized that other cities across the country were starting to, ban or limit or regulate short-term rentals. Regulation's been a big piece recently in restricting what you can and can't do with short-term rental properties. And I just it felt as a guy from, with a, as a data analyst, Citibank in the equities market, this is gut feeling of diversification. I had all my eggs in one basket and I do invest somewhere else. And so that's where I used my data skills and I pulled in a bunch of data and some spreadsheets and picked some markets to invest in and really started to expand my portfolio outside of where I was comfortable with. And so today I have short-term rentals in New York, North Carolina, Kentucky, Texas, Arizona, and I have a boutique hotel in New Orleans.

Ed Mathews

Cool. Okay. I was just down in New Orleans. So yeah, it's funny when you talk about corporate life, I, I remember, so I'm a former technology guy. I remember overhearing my daughter talking to one of her buddies about what their dads did, and Maggie, my little one was not little anymore. Was you know, was saying, I don't know. He does something with computers, but no one really understands what he does. Like,

Kenny Bedwell

Yeah, seriously. You're like,

Ed Mathews

right. That's not right. Yeah, it's really not. So, so so how did you pick short term rentals as opposed to, I mean, there's even, there's even subs, sub niches within that space, right? You know, medical professionals and obviously vacation rentals and so on. And so how did you kind of land on, on STR as an asset Focus?

Kenny Bedwell

yeah, that that's a good question. So it started with I'm like very adverse. I, when we did the house hack, it was always this idea that it was gonna be a long-term rental and make sense from those numbers standpoint. And at the time it could, 2017 prices hadn't explode. They were hot, they were getting up there. I remember it was, oh, this is pretty expensive, and,

Ed Mathews

Yeah.

Kenny Bedwell

But then COVID happened and we see the numbers today. And so it's hindsight, but at the time, yeah, so we're like, okay, this has gotta make sense as a long-term rental. And I met this guy, I was actually at one of these REI meetings in Buffalo, and man, they were just full of all these old geezers who had, 50 apartment complex, unit. And or a hundred unit, everybody's speaking in terms of doors or units in the

Ed Mathews

Yeah.

Kenny Bedwell

space and they just sit around and talk about, apartments and stuff like that. And I was just this is what real estate investors do. This is how they invest. This is, I'm gonna do long-term rentals. I'm gonna be like, old Joey over here and have a hundred doors. Some point. And there was one guy in the room, he was a little bit younger, he is like in his forties, and he was like I want he was super, he had like more energy about him and he was talking about Airbnb and he is guys, like I am renting out some of my long-term. I flipped into short term because they're making a lot of money. And everyone's ah, that's just a trend, that's a fad that'll go away. That's, that's sc random guests. That's scary. Whatever. Like, all but I was looking, I was like. Maybe he's on something. I'd stayed at Airbnbs at that time. I, I was in my twenties at the time and I had stated I was staying in hostels and room shares and all this kind of stuff, and I was like, you know what? I could try that and if it doesn't work out, worst case we just turned it back into a long-term rental that's furnished and maybe even make more money from

Ed Mathews

Sure.

Kenny Bedwell

as a long-term rental. And so that, that's how we got that confidence is somebody else talking it up and showing us the model, showing us essentially the data. Look, I'm making X, everybody else is making y it's a no brainer. And then you're like I have the property. Let's give it a shot. So that's what we did,

Ed Mathews

Yeah, so I've, I've been in similar rooms. Mine was in Connecticut, not Buffalo, but very similar rooms. At our R here. The you know, it's interesting. I, so I, one of the things that got me there was kind of two events that got me interested in, in short-term rentals, although I don't own any right now. One was a lady by the name of Robin Thompson, who travels the RIAs and talks about, she's got a training program and she's done very well. She's the. I think she markets herself as the queen, the queen of rehabs. But she has since moved to short-term rentals. And, you know, the metric that she spoke about was something that you, you mentioned as well, and that is two and a half to three x. What a typical monthly long-term rental would, would bring in, you know, from a, from a, you know, whether it's VRBO or Airbnb or you're doing it on your own, you know, the short term play. So can you help me and the audience understand where that. Can you, can you talk us through why, you know, if I have a thousand square foot, two bedroom apartment and I can rent it for, pick a number, a thousand dollars a month in, in one city, two doors down, you have the exact same building and you can rent your unit out for 2,500 to 3000 a month on average, you know, annualized. Right. Why is, how does that work?

Kenny Bedwell

I, people naturally, they want shorter the, it's kind the discount thing, right? If we buy something in bulk, we expect a discount,

Ed Mathews

Yep.

Kenny Bedwell

something that's supposed to last a longer period of time. consistency. We want some sort of discount or we're, we pay less for that. And people on the flip side, like contractors or servicers or whatever, they're willing to give a discount because it provides consistency of revenue. That's one of the benefits of long-term rental or passive income, is it's consistent. For the most part. And there's not a lot of variance in it. What you get is what you get, and that is highly valued, especially when time is very precious to a lot of people. And that's why multifamilies are very popular for the most part, is because it's theoretically passive income and it's cons, theoretically consistent. I know there's stories out there, so like I, that's why I said the most part it's

Ed Mathews

Well if you're, if, if it's well managed, right? I mean there, there's a management component to it that you actually have to follow through.

Kenny Bedwell

If you're dealing with squatters, all this other stuff, that's a whole nother

Ed Mathews

Yeah. It's not quite as lucrative.

Kenny Bedwell

at one point. They were consistent paying tenants. I have long-term rentals myself. I, it's really nice when I get the check each month and I'm like, oh. Awesome. I just didn't have to do anything, and then there's $3,000

Ed Mathews

Right.

Kenny Bedwell

But at the end of the day the short-term rental side, the risk obviously is inconsistency. It's shorter stays, but if you have the amenities, you have what people are desiring, they're willing to pay for that.

Ed Mathews

Absolutely.

Kenny Bedwell

and it, if you're for example, a lot of the properties I buy, they're bigger than, they're five bedrooms or more because I believe, I'm not competing with hotels. Hotels don't have five bedroom properties with kitchens, I have full kitchens, full everything. This is, I'm targeting families, groups, reunions, getaway, gr, corporate retreats, things like that. Weddings even at some of our properties. And my competition is not is not hotels. So I'm competing against quality and resort like style amenities. And that's exactly what we add to our property. But people are willing to pay for that. People are willing to pay for quality and not for quantity.

Ed Mathews

Right. Yeah, I, I couldn't agree more. I mean, when we, I mean, just speaking to my own experience. When, when our kids were, you know, little to medium sized, small to medium sized we had I mean, we stayed in short-term rentals all the time mainly because, you know, we have dogs and occasionally if the property was dog friendly, we'd, we'd bring the puppies with us. And but the very, at the very least, it's so much easier to feed a hungry toddler in a kitchen than in a commissary down to downstairs. Right. So.

Kenny Bedwell

And they'll have, but probably should have booster seats and high chairs and all kinds of things that a hotel just m might have like a standard version of, but if somebody else is using it, you can't u like, there's just a lot of big benefits in my opinion for families and short term rentals, which I

Ed Mathews

Yeah.

Kenny Bedwell

a lot of people argue against that.

Ed Mathews

So, so when you're looking at properties, you mentioned you have long term as well. Ha You mentioned five bedrooms or, or five bedrooms or more. What are some of the other things that you look for, you know, when you're trying to decide, okay, is this a property, is this a target? And then is it a long term or a short term property? What are some of the things you're looking for?

Kenny Bedwell

Yeah, so I don't, the number one mis misconception I see today for a lot of real estate investors who want to play it, quote unquote safe in the short-term rentals so it's their fir they're trying to do it, they're trying to get involved in the space is they say, wanna find a property that if it doesn't work out as a short-term rental, I can just long-term rent it. Okay? Those properties don't exist anymore. You could do that when I got started, but because of the level of competition there is in short term rentals today, especially vacation rentals you have to go all in. You have to invest into the property. You have to make it meaning you add professional design, you add really cool amenities, and you make the property special towards a guest experience. This isn't a residential home anymore. This is almost like a resort style. This isn't even true for two bedrooms or three bedrooms you put up on Airbnb. It's gotten really competitive

Ed Mathews

So,

Kenny Bedwell

yep,

Ed Mathews

alright. No, go ahead. Finish your thought.

Kenny Bedwell

Yeah, no, so I was just gonna say like the, to begin with, like, when I'm looking, I am specifically looking in markets that I know I'm going to be having a vacation rental, not a long-term rental. The gla like the lens or the, I don't the cap of I'm putting on the cap of, I'm looking for long-term rentals is completely different than the

Ed Mathews

Okay.

Kenny Bedwell

of I'm looking for short-term rentals

Ed Mathews

Okay.

Kenny Bedwell

for deals.

Ed Mathews

Gotcha. So when you talk about amenities and I, and I get the idea of you know, obviously you're furnishing 'em, you are, but, but it's more than that, right? You're creating a, you are almost creating a character, right? In terms of the, the property itself. We were talking about a, a media company before we hit record that is quite litigious, so I won't even mention the name, but The.

Kenny Bedwell

yeah.

Ed Mathews

But but it's interesting, you know, I mean, I, I, I I think that's what you're talking about when you're talking about amenities. Can you, can you say a little more about that?

Kenny Bedwell

Yeah, so amenities, it, it starts with a guest avatar. So when I'm looking at a short term rental property and trying to decide what to add to that property to make it special and stand out and be lucrative, it really comes down to your furnishing and the amenities that you add to the property. And but targeting around. The who, not the what. Let's look an example. I have a property on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. I bought for a million. Okay. We put about $400,000 into it. That's not including the down payment. So that and all that 400,000. You're like, what? What was this property? It's a nine bedroom, seven bath. It was 9,700 square feet. all, that money went into improvements into the property. It's a big property. It's on five acres, it has two ponds. But it was all focused on the guest experience, who is coming there. So when we looked at the property, we didn't just go, oh, this is a really big property and we wanna buy, it's a million bucks and we wanna put all this money into it. We said, why are people going to this market to begin with? It's the Bourbon Trail of Kentucky. Obviously bourbon drinkers, so we know. not targeting families, right? We're not finding a property where we can add a ton of family amenities. We're finding a property where we can add the target the guest avatar, which are older groups of, it's think of the Napa Valley, but for bourbon and people want bathrooms, their own bathrooms. They don't wanna sh they don't want bunk beds, they want king beds or queen beds, they don't want when we think about the hot tub, this place sleeps 28 people. There's, if you only put one hot tub in that's eight person hot tub. That's only eight people that are adults. They wanna hang out together. So we have two hot tubs, we have a heated pool, we have a yoga studio, a gym, a movie theater, a golf simulator. There's many pup putt. There's, it's like a little micro resort. The theming the the mo or the design of the property. It's moodier. It's like bourbon themed, think like brown leather and cigars and things like that. It's not that a family can't stay there, and we actually have quite a few families that stay at this property and enjoy it. But all the amenities and

Ed Mathews

Yeah.

Kenny Bedwell

is targeted towards our ideal guest avatar, which is. trail groups and our property. So that property last year, $375,000 it netted. So this is after my mortgage, my all my expenses and everything. This is profit. It profited $175,000. That's net.

Ed Mathews

Good for you.

Kenny Bedwell

it's a big property. We invested a lot of cash. A big investment, but big reward. And it all started with the who, not the what.

Ed Mathews

Yeah. Yeah. And eight years from now you're, you're you're completely outta debt if you want to be. Right?

Kenny Bedwell

Yeah.

Ed Mathews

Yeah. Interesting. Alright, so, so in terms of, now you mentioned several different states that you own properties. I understand. You know, New York 'cause that's where you're from. I understand Carolina, 'cause that's where you live. But you also mentioned Arizona and a couple other states Kentucky obviously. You know, how do you decide where to, where to hunt for these types of properties?

Kenny Bedwell

Yeah I it's funny, I, so when I was living in New York, I bought New York, but before I even lived in North Carolina, I bought North Carolina. So it's it's so I'm looking for me personally, I'm looking at. properties that number one, fit my budget.

Ed Mathews

Yep.

Kenny Bedwell

I typically target around the 800 to 1.3 range. For the types of properties I'm looking for. I'm looking for larger properties that I can target large groups 'cause they're willing to pay the most money. In my experience that sleep more than 20 people. And then I'm looking for regulation friendly markets as well. That's very important in, so typically vacation markets where there is some sort of regulation, but it's not anti short-term rentals. It's friendly. They just wanna make sure you're not, throwing wild parties or not having safe properties.

Ed Mathews

Right.

Kenny Bedwell

and then most importantly, in markets where I'm seeing high revenue potential, meaning I'm already seeing properties in that market based on the data who are performing the revenue numbers, I wanna see. So if I can get hey, budget right, regulation i've I've got a recipe for a potentially successful area to hunt into.

Ed Mathews

One of the things, and, and my friend Stephanie does does vacation rental. She lives here in, in the Connecticut area with her family. And, but she rent, she invests in Joshua Tree. I think that's like Northern California and or central California. know, I'm always interested in the systems, right? And so, you know, with a, with a short term rental, there's a lot of moving parts. You've got people moving out at 10:00 AM hypothetically 10:00 AM on Saturday, and you know, 4:00 PM 5:00 PM that same day. A new family's coming in. And so how do you, you know, I'm, I'm given the, given the, the geography of your, your holdings, I'm fairly certain you outsource your management, but, either that or it's, you know, one heck of a travel bill. But the, you know, I'm curious about how you manage those systems to make sure that everybody has a, an experience on your properties that's consistent with the standards that I, you obviously set. I.

Kenny Bedwell

Yeah. So every time we go into a new market, we obviously have to hire cleaners, handyman, quality control people. And so typically what we like to, so there's three parts to it, cleaners, handyman, quality people. So quality people are people who go in who? The third parties could be a neighbor, could be somebody else in the market. We hire maybe another handyman or something to go in and just check in on the property and make sure that the quality of it is at the level that we want it to be on. You won't be surprised how many neighbors actually work for us. Now we go on, before we buy any property, we'll actually go and knock on their doors. And tell them, Hey, gonna buy a short-term rental down the street. And if it's in a vacation neighborhood, like that's fine, obviously. But usually the, there's residentials or residents there in the neighborhood and we go, are you okay with us running a short-term rental in your neighborhood? And if they say, no, I don't buy the property, rarely say no. They're actually grateful that we ask them and they might ask a few questions and we tell 'em our experience, but we get to know them. We become their friends and we even ask 'em, Hey, do you mind like keeping an eye out? Let me know, here's my number. And a lot of times these guys, some they're retired. We got one guy who does our landscaping. Another guy just walks in the property every now and then checks in on it, makes sure things are bro not broken or whatever. And if it is, he tells us we go get it fixed. And it's really important to have those key three pieces and you can leverage your neighbors. But having a cleaning company we rely heavily on cleaning companies 'cause they have staff, especially for the big ones. The, all of our properties are the North Carolina place is like 4,000 square feet. And there's two or three cleaners that clean it at a time. The Kentucky 1, 9700, there's 10 cleaners that come in and clean that place in the same day so we can have a same day flip. It happens in the same day. We have people guest checking out at 10:00 AM 28 people going out, 28 people coming in, at 4:00 PM and the place has gotta be ready. And so we'll have cleaners and the whole crew come in and take care of the place. It is a it's a little bit of an endeavor, but we get it done. Yeah.

Ed Mathews

Yeah. So how, so you've got you know, obviously the, the human capital piece of this is really important, right? What about, what about the back, the, the operation itself? You know, how does, like how do you manage towel rack is broken by accident, right? Or you know, the hot tub needs to be cleaned or, you know, whatever, right? How do you, you know, what is the, the under, you know, being the geek here, right? That's me, not you. The, you know, the whole idea of, of, you know, keeping an eye on this and keep tracking it so that you know that, you know, the last time the hot tub in this property was, was emptied and cleaned and new filter and all that, you know, you gotta do that every six months or so. You know, how do you know, how do you, how do you track all that?

Kenny Bedwell

We hire it all out. The, there is property management software that can track some of it but the, their companies. So number one, I think it's really important to point out that I am buying in maybe not traditional vacation markets, but vacation markets nonetheless. And so the benefit of that is that there are companies in place that are, can be responsible for these

Ed Mathews

Gotcha.

Kenny Bedwell

for example. In we'll use the Kentucky property. The, there we have a specific company that comes and cleans the pool and deals with the chemicals of the hot

Ed Mathews

Yep.

Kenny Bedwell

changing of the hot tub every single week. That's what they do. Same thing. This, it is the exact same thing from my property in New York, Asheville, the cleaning the cleaners, they have a part of their company does hot tubs 'cause they have to deal with so many of them and they have a separate person that comes and does that. For me to make the tracking and the easier. I believe it, like human capital is actually really the answer to it. Because the, when you have people boots on the ground, they can visually see if something is not up to par and they can report. And so if you have three different parties involved in the same. Endeavors, meaning having a clean, functional, high, standard five star property, if somebody's not performing, the other person, one of the other two parties is gonna see it and report back to you.

Ed Mathews

right.

Kenny Bedwell

But they have their own systems and processes. And I'm a big believer. I run my own company. I have a company of nine employees. I also have got the hotel. I've got these I don't hire property management. I think it's a waste of money because there's so much technology that can automate things and messaging and VAs and all this stuff that we use and leverage. But at the end of the day, I'm a big believer in you hire people. Who can solve a problem for you, and you get out of their way, you let them solve it for you. So the cleaning companies, for example, every single one of 'em has a different way of connecting to our calendars and our, schedules and things to see when they need to do turns. And then if they're doing certain, like if they're doing landscaping or they're in charge of also the hot tub maintenance or whatever it is, they have their own systems and processes in place. I don't question it as long as it gets done to our standard that we're looking for. So it depends. We have to it differs market to market,

Ed Mathews

Sure.

Kenny Bedwell

there is a level of time that we have to take to figure that out the very beginning.

Ed Mathews

Gotcha. Okay.

Kenny Bedwell

compared to just everybody follow our current systems that we have.

Ed Mathews

Yeah, makes sense. Okay. So I'm always curious about you know, successful folks like you, who you know, have done very well in corporate America and have now done very well on their own, running their own businesses. You know, and what I mean by well is, you know, the mortgage is paid, the car, you know, the car payments, if they even exist, are paid. Everything's handled right? And yet you still get up on, on Monday morning and go to work. So what, what drives you? What is that purpose that gets you outta bed?

Kenny Bedwell

Yeah. I think it's changed over time for me personally. At first, when I was doing the hustle and the, I quit my job, it's oh, I want financial freedom and I want legacy and all this, and that's still true. It's not that I don't want that as much anymore, but I think I had to dig deeper. For me, I get a lot of satisfaction from helping other people. And I and I'm currently actively trying to help out with some organizations in the community as well. But for me, what I want to do is be able to live a life where I have the opportunity to help other people. Whether it's financially or teaching or I love educating people. So I want to be in a position to be able to do that long-term, whenever I want to do that, and I have to be financially free in order to do that. It's like a chain of events, a chain reaction, and so for me, when I get up on Monday and Monday morning, like that's at the back of my head. I'm like, what do I need to do today to get me one step closer to being, to that point where I can just, hand the keys off to somebody else. The business keeps thriving and I can go and do these other things

Ed Mathews

Awesome. Awesome. And, and so you know, obviously. One of the things that I find unique about folks that started in corporate America and have moved into this space is that they've, they, it's a, they get a wide array of people in their lives that have given them advice and, you know, mentors, so to speak, coaches. And, and so I'm curious about, you know, your pick dealer's choice, right? But I'm curious about she ever got and who gave it to you?

Kenny Bedwell

That's a really good question. I know you even prepped me from the beginning, but I was like it's funny I do some podcasts and, they prep me with some of the questions beforehand. And usually it's like when it's like when I'm talking, it'll come to me and I'll be like, that's the piece of advice I'll use for this. And in this case I think of I think of one of my good friends had a, I had a buddy really, he was highly successful. And he got in a really serious accident a

Ed Mathews

Sorry.

Kenny Bedwell

Where it he couldn't do his job. He couldn't work anymore, couldn't do anything anymore. the one thing he told me was, he said, Kenny, like the end of the day. All your effort and your energy to make money, it doesn't even matter. He's like, why are you doing it? What's the drive? Remember the, and I'm like it's like I wanna help people. I wanna do this. And he is he's don't forget about your family spend time with your family. And he's I wish I had done that more. I wish I had done that more. And even though, like leading up to this, like I can't do as much of that now as I did before. He is I'm lucky to be alive, but I'm limited and I wish I could have done that more. And so that's always stuck with me through every decision I make. And so I find myself telling people. I just saying more of no. Rather than, yes, I can do that, or Yes, that's a good idea. Let's invest in that. Or yes, let's do all these different thousand things that we can do. It just takes away from the actual priorities in life and I just always think he told me, he is does it matter to the grand scheme, any ev the decision you make that you're making a big deal out of, doesn't matter to the grand schemer. What is your whole purpose? And so that, that's really sat with me and every decision I make, I, it goes back to the family. Sometimes I have to make sacrifices. If it does, it's a strategic play, but a lot of

Ed Mathews

Sure.

Kenny Bedwell

matter. And I probably should just say no. So

Ed Mathews

yeah, You know, it's, it's interesting. I, it, it's, it's, somebody had given me some similar advice and it. It, it, to paraphrase, it was, you know, on your deathbed, there's no one ever wishes they worked more.

Kenny Bedwell

Yes.

Ed Mathews

So so speaking to kind of your experience and, you know, I fundamentally believe that we learn way more from our mistakes than we do from our successes. So I'm curious, you know, what's decision, professional decision that you look back on and be like. Man, I would love to have that back. And how did you handle it?

Kenny Bedwell

man? Where do I begin? list. Yeah. number one, thing, I, it would've it just would've saved me so much time. And money too. Money I lost money doing this stupid thing. so first off, I bought some land in Arizona and I wanted to build a really cool short term. It's near the Grand Canyon. It'd be the closest. Property near the Grand Canyon. I was gonna build this big house on it. I paid 10 grand for architectural plans and got a perk test and got an alternative septic system and we were in like $50,000. and then I went to apply for a permit to do the building structure with the county and they denied it. I was like what's wrong? They said, you can't build this size on this type of land and what you're trying to do and as a short term rental and blah, blah, blah. And I just I. I didn't pick up the phone and call, which was sounds ridiculous. But was just like, I just assumed, I assumed someone, my realtor told me it was okay, oh, this the septic guy. I was like, yeah, you can build that. You could theoretically build this size house based on this septic system. And I'm like, yeah, let's do it. It was never a. Let me, trust but verify situation. And I couldn't build, and I still have that property. It's just empty land sitting today and it's just a, a cold, harsh reminder that don't be afraid to pick up the phone and make a phone call to know, especially with short term rentals and regulation,

Ed Mathews

Yeah.

Kenny Bedwell

The truth, get down, cut, cut and dry. Can I do this or can't I do this? Get things in writing. I that I can't tell you how many times it's bailed me outta trouble now that I understand that, and it sounds super simple and stupid, but if I could go back in time and tell myself one thing other than get start, get started sooner, would be to like, don't be afraid to pick up the phone and think about who is coming to your properties and what they'll enjoy. Those two things are like key pieces of advice I would give myself.

Ed Mathews

Really good advice. So I'm also curious about you know, how leaders like yourself. how you continue to grow, you know, how do you sharpen the sauce, so to speak. And so I'm, I'm, I'm interested in learning more about how you take in information, books, audio books, conferences, whatever. And who are you paying attention to these days? What authors and creators?

Kenny Bedwell

Yeah. I, so I do a lot of audio books. I watch a bunch of YouTube videos and I also, I talk to other people. Other friends and colleagues and people, partners I have relationships with and and I talk about their businesses with them and I ask them these questions and I find that I typically get like the best advice or the best direction from people who are doing something. Who have nothing to gain from you doing that as well. If I were to get an ad and click on an ad, obviously it's salesy and they're trying to sell me into a program and it sounds good. Sounds like it's gonna fix all my problems, but to hear somebody else say, I'm like, man, I am struggling with this marketing component. How do I solve it? And then to hear what they're doing to solve it in their recommendations. I have found that it's like some of the best success in listening to who they refer, and it just gives me a wide open view of all the different options out there. So that's a good place I start with. One of the most. I listen to a lot of audio books, so I can't say oh yeah, this, this particular author, but I will give you one that I've listened to all this stuff and I recommend it a hundred percent. Mike Mitz. everyone knows him for Profit First. That's like his book. That's his thing and he speaks on Profit First, but his second one is actually the one that's changed fundamentally changed my business, and it's called The Pumpkin Plan. And I listen to it like at least once a year, and it's all about niching down and focusing on how can we. Really concentrate all of our efforts on the right type of customer avatar to grow our businesses. And so I listen to all I listen, he's got Clockwork and I can't remember the other one. I don't know. I've listened to all of his stuff. It's great. It's great. But that one is on another level. It was on another level for me. And so for people who are like, Hey, I have questions about growing my business, like that book is, I'm like, you gotta listen to that book. So amongst many others. But,

Ed Mathews

Oh, that's fantastic.

Kenny Bedwell

one. And then obviously listening to or speaking to other people, networking and

Ed Mathews

Sure.

Kenny Bedwell

So

Ed Mathews

Yeah, Kenny, I asked that question selfishly because I'm always looking to build on my reading list. So and I read profit first, but I haven't read any of his other stuff.

Kenny Bedwell

Pumpkin plan

Ed Mathews

yeah

Kenny Bedwell

it

Ed Mathews

just made the list.

Kenny Bedwell

my mind blowing experience for me.

Ed Mathews

That's awesome. That's awesome.

Kenny Bedwell

opened some ideas and doors yeah.

Ed Mathews

So, so I suspect where I, where you're gonna go with this, but I'm gonna ask anyway. How do you define success in your life?

Kenny Bedwell

That's a really, yeah, that's a good question. We'll see where you, let me know if I answer the way you thought I was going to.

Ed Mathews

The wrong answers.

Kenny Bedwell

Yeah, seriously. For me, I think it's that's actually a really tough one because I know myself and a lot of people have a tendency to. To always be like. for the next best thing. You know what I mean? We're always we're never satisfied. We're always hungry. That's the plight of the entrepreneur. It's never, we're never there yet. And we, maybe we've defined there, but then the goalposts keep moving. And so I think success really centers back to how grateful we are for what we've been have accomplished so far. I think we have to take a step back and I do it every now and I go, wow. Look at the position I'm in and look where I've come. We accomplish so much more than we've ever imagined in, 6, 7, 8 years compared to what we think we can do in eight, 6, 7, 8 months.

Ed Mathews

Okay.

Kenny Bedwell

we kinda short end our long-term goals and try to expedite our short, goals and it tends to be the inverse is true and for me, I look at success based off of just being grateful for what I have and my family and where we are today. I think it just, it changes. I don't really have a great definition for it. Maybe I should one day or write it down, but it kind, I've noticed my definition of it changes as I progress through life and I look back and see what I've been able to accomplish.

Ed Mathews

Yeah. And as a, as a guy who's way older than you, it will change. That's normal. So that's all good.

Kenny Bedwell

Yeah, and that's fine.

Ed Mathews

yeah. When I was in my thirties, I wanted to conquer the world and, you know, run companies and slay dragons and all that. And at 56 I say no a lot, you know, it's interesting.

Kenny Bedwell

That, that's, I, and that's funny. I think that's a level of success too, where you have the opportunity to say no to things. You

Ed Mathews

Yeah.

Kenny Bedwell

like, that's a great opportunity, but I just can't do that right now. I think that's a level of success that's been reached.

Ed Mathews

Yeah. Well, good for you. Congrats. So when not talking about real estate, what do you like to do for fun?

Kenny Bedwell

Oof. That is a great question. Changes depending on where I live. I've lived in a lot of different locations, not like a ton, but may, maybe a ton. It's probably a ton for most people. But like for example, I lived out west when I was in Utah and Colorado. I used to go dirt biking and climbing and things like that. And I still do some. mountaineering, but I have to travel for that. And when I moved to New York, I got, I had a really, I got really into like welding. Because it's like cooler up there and I could weld more during the year. I don't know. That's the thing. And then now I'm in North Carolina where we've got the beach and the mountains. But I love I just got a off-roading truck. So I've been doing some of that. And then obviously just spending time with my family and trying to enjoy. Enjoy. I've got two toddlers, I got another one on the way. And so it might sound lame, the kids are take up a lot of the time and the hobby stuff. So I I try to focus on

Ed Mathews

At all.

Kenny Bedwell

focusing on family things. We got a pizza oven and started a whole thing around that. I could tell you all about bacon, homemade pizzas and dough recipes and things. And but it all centers on doing stuff with the family now. And that's fine.

Ed Mathews

Yeah. I remember years ago my uncle and aunt who decided not to have kids in there and my uncle who is, you know, he's the cool uncle, right? He's the, these guys that fix his cars and boats. Right? Right. 'cause he doesn't have tuition to pay for and stuff like that. Although he does help us. But, you know, he is like, Hey, you know, you need a hobby. And I'm like, hang on. You see those two little girls running around in your backyard? Those are my hobbies. I do, that is my, all waking hours are spent chasing them, dressing them, feeding them, hanging out, throwing some, a ball or you know, swimming or whatever. Right.

Kenny Bedwell

soccer, all of that. Like you're at those things supporting them. And it sounds lame, that's parenting. Not that parenting's lame, that's what. That's part of the job. And so it's enjoyable though seeing their successes and their growth and being a part of that, that was one of my goals in life was like, I had a good dad, I wasn't perfect,

Ed Mathews

yeah.

Kenny Bedwell

How can I elevate that and be even better and improve that experience? And being, seeing that in my girls as well has been great. So

Ed Mathews

One man's opinion, but you know, got a 23-year-old and an 18-year-old, and you only get 18 summers with him, so you might as well just enjoy the hell out of it because, you know, pretty soon mom and dad aren't cool and they don't want to hang out,

Kenny Bedwell

That's a

Ed Mathews

right?

Kenny Bedwell

point.

Ed Mathews

Yeah. So if people wanna learn more about you or STR what's the best way to do that?

Kenny Bedwell

They can follow me on social media, so at Kenny Bedwell, B-E-D-W-E-L-L as it sounds reach out to me on Facebook or Instagram, or I've got LinkedIn as well. If you're more professional you could, it's Kenneth Bedwell on, on, like it's under Kenny too, but you could reach out to me, private message me. I told you at the beginning of the show, I'm not that popular, so I talk to people I'll message back and if you're interested in investing in short term rentals or that's why I specialize in, I help people find deals. So if you have any questions at all, feel free to reach out to me and I can point you in the right direction or get you some good resources to help you.

Ed Mathews

Fantastic. Well, Kenny, thank you so much for joining us today. It was really a pleasure meeting you and I'm really excited to stay in touch and, and continued success.

Kenny Bedwell

Thanks. Thanks for having me on the show.

Ed Mathews

Absolutely. This has been the Real Estate Underground. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe. It helps us grow. Until next time, under grounders, remember, your real estate journey begins with a simple step forward. Now get to it. Bye for now.

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Ed Mathews

Host