How To Go From Zero To 40 Short-Term Rentals As A Busy Physician With Dr. Jessica Katz

🎙️ 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝗰𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗿. 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗹𝗼𝗲.

💡 What if one unfair moment in medicine could threaten everything you’ve built… and the real solution isn’t “more shifts”—but building income streams no one can take away?

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Dr. Jessica Katz—an OBGYN turned real estate investor—who built a 40-unit short-term rental portfolio in ~3 years through a mix of rental arbitrage, co-hosting, and ownership (all while raising 4 kids with her husband, Jordan).

Jessica shares her raw story of how a bad outcome + politics inside medicine nearly derailed her career… and how that pain became fuel to build a business that created stability, options, and peace.

Then we go tactical: how to start STRs without a massive down payment, how to analyze deals like a pro, what amenities actually move revenue, and the systems that keep this from becoming a second full-time job.

If you’re building wealth through real estate and entrepreneurship, this episode is a reminder: don’t wait until you feel trapped to build your exit ramps.

🔥 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻:
 ✔️ Jessica’s story: from “dream job” in medicine → career fear → building financial protection through real estate
 ✔️ The 3 STR entry paths: rental arbitrage vs co-hosting vs owning (and who each is best for)
✔️ Why owning is the end goal—and how arbitrage/co-hosting can fund your down payment
✔️ Real numbers: 10 arbitrage units averaging ~$1,800/month profit per unit in one complex
✔️ How she got her first YES after 77 NOs (and why action beats perfect timing)
✔️ The deal analysis approach: comps-based revenue projections (not hope-based underwriting)
✔️ How to “secret shop” top listings and build a property that competes in today’s market
✔️ What makes a property defensible: something competitors can’t copy (views, rooftop, unique features)
✔️ Why “design + professional photography” is one of the most underrated growth levers
✔️ Systems + automation: messaging sequences, smart locks, cameras, PriceLabs, SOPs
✔️ Team building: cleaners, handymen, VAs, revenue management, ops (and how it scales)

🔥 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀:
 ✅ Medicine is meaningful—but it’s not always safe. Build options.
 ✅ Arbitrage and co-hosting can be powerful on-ramps when you don’t have big down payment money.
 ✅ Owning is the long-term play—but you can earn your way into ownership faster than you think.
✅ The best STR operators don’t “hope” for revenue—they analyze comps and engineer the outcome.
✅ In a competitive market, “a bed + a painting” won’t cut it—design and amenities win bookings.
✅ Systems and team are what turn STRs from chaos into leverage.
✅ If you want freedom, you have to be willing to be uncomfortable (77 no’s is the tuition).

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Transcript

Dr. Jessica Katz: You know, and so I think everybody's goal in short-term rentals should be owning, but how do you get there? Not everyone has 200 to $500,000 to use towards a down payment and design and amenities, you know, and so I think arbitrage or co-hosting is a really great way to save some money to do that. my. 10 units at this one apartment complex in Jacksonville. I profit on average 1800 a month per unit there.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Welcome to the Physicians and Properties Podcast, the show where we teach you how investing in real estate can give you the freedom to practice medicine and live life how you want. Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor. Now here's your host, Dr. Alex Schloe.

 Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Physicians and Properties Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Alex Schloe, and I'm so excited to have Dr. Jessica Katz on the podcast. She is an O-B-G-Y-N turned real estate investor who has built an awesome short-term rental business. She now helps busy professionals, including physicians, break into rentals with systems that don't consume their life.

Her and her husband, Jordan Host, SDR Properties. They're also parents of four. They create incredible guest experiences, and I'm really excited to have you on the podcast today, Dr. Katz. How are things going in Cleveland, Ohio?

Dr. Jessica Katz: Things are pretty good besides three feet of snow that won't melt, but

Dr. Alex Schloe: We need it.

Dr. Jessica Katz: Yeah, it's been crazy. My kids had like six snow days this year so far.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Oh, wow.

Dr. Jessica Katz: but uh, yeah, they're all at school today and, uh, we had a great weekend and, um, I'm really looking forward to this podcast, so thanks for inviting me.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Absolutely. Very excited to have you on the podcast. We need three feet of snow here in Colorado, so send that our way. That would be awesome. It's

Dr. Jessica Katz: No

Dr. Alex Schloe: the least snowy year ever. Uh, so, and, and that's not being dramatic. It really has. The snow pack is terrible, so we need some more, so we can get some skiing going, but, well,

Dr. Jessica Katz: will do.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, excited to have you here. Do you mind just, you know, telling us a little bit about yourself and, and kind of your journey into medicine and, uh, kind of where you are now. I know you have a really, interesting story of how you got into real estate and short term rental, so excited to hear more about that.

Dr. Jessica Katz: Absolutely. Um, it's just been a crazy four years. Where I am today compared to four years ago is just, boggles my mind every time I think about it. So, um, I live in Cleveland, Ohio now, but that's where I was born in. Raised. My mom was one of seven kids and her, father was a doctor and half of her siblings ended up being doctors.

And a lot of my cousins are doctors. Her father actually was one of the pioneers of pediatric radiology and have a lot of, uh, very well known physicians in my family. And since I was five, that's what I was gonna do. I was gonna be a doctor. Um, I decided that radiology was probably not, what I wanted to go in.

But I, you know, from the very earliest age, once, you know, I, I was gonna be a doctor and there was nothing that was going to change my mind. And so, you know, I worked hard in high school to get into college. I went to the University of Michigan. I, got through their pre-med program and, uh, went to school in.

Des Moines, Iowa from med school. I graduated in the top 10% of my class working really, really, really hard. Decided to go into O-B-G-Y-N, , went to, um, an inner city Chicago program, Mount Sinai in Chicago. I, uh, dragged my, now husband, you know, with me to move to Chicago with me. And, we had our first child there and it was just always our dream to move back to Cleveland.

Um, my parents are here. My brother's here. His parents are here. A lot of, you know, family and connections are here. So it was just amazing for me to be able to get a job where I had wanted to be a doctor my whole life. And, so yeah, we moved back to Cleveland and, the first two years of my attending job was awesome.

I, I was making a difference in my patient's lives and I would run into someone on the street or a restaurant and just like, that's what like I dreamed of my whole life of doing. And, um. I was performing surgeries myself and, I was doing, you know, everything was great until it wasn't. And um, the very short story is that, suddenly someone decided that I was, not a good doctor and, um.

There were some things that happened, and happy to go into a little bit more about that. Because I think it, it, it shocks a lot of people, that this could happen. But basically it turned into a nightmare where I was, after following guidelines, there was a bad outcome which happens to us all.

And I, um, was put on proctoring. That turned into, you know, a national practitioner's data bank report for being on proctoring for, um, more than 30 days and being called, you know, a. A dangerous doctor, and it just turned into a nightmare where, um, I didn't think I was gonna be able to practice medicine again.

I ended up having to move, to another area of Ohio for, um, a little bit because I couldn't get a job, in my hometown where I, you know, dreamed of practicing my whole life. And we were fortunately able to move back, a year later, um, as I took a job, at a hospital an hour away, but shift work that allowed me just those seven times a month to drive, you know, that hour for that 24 hour shift and back.

But it lit a fire inside of me that I wanted to start something that nobody could take away from me. And so, you know, that really led me on my, uh, real estate journey.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Wow. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing that and, and really, really sorry to hear about that experience. But it sounds like that did help kind of set you up to understand like, Hey, my job as a physician is something that I don't have full control. Of, and I need to have these protective measures in place.

And, and you've done that with your short-term rental business? Uh, yeah. Sorry, sorry to to hear that experience for you. What were, what were some other things that you learned going through that experience or, uh, anything else that you'd like to share, for someone else who may be in a similar situation to, to what you went through at that time?

I know it's probably difficult to talk about that, but I think it's helpful and beneficial for folks.

Dr. Jessica Katz: Yeah, of course. Um, you. I mean, talking about this now, six years, six and a half years after it happened, it's, it's. I feel fine to talk about it. I want to, because I think this area of medicine isn't shared enough. But at the time I honestly felt my life was over. I remember crying every single day not understanding how this could have happened to me.

The hospitals have rules, like, how could this have happened? Why isn't anyone speaking up for me? Like, like how has this been allowed to happen? It just didn't seem real. Um, you know, I asked my husband every day, like, will I be happy again? I remember talking to God a lot, you know, asking, you know, for help.

And I just remember wishing at that time, like, I wish there was someone that I could go to that has experienced this before. Or, you know, can just tell me that like, I'm gonna be okay. There's other alternatives to, you know, medicine if I want that. And so yeah, I just, I want people to know that. There are some very bad people inside of medicine. Um, you know, I think there are a lot of dangerous doctors. Not even a lot. I think there, I think there are dangerous doctors out there. I think that there are people that probably shouldn't be practicing medicine, but to do some of the things that happen to myself.

And then I've been sharing this with other people, hearing their stories. This happens way too often and it happens, um, against doctors by nurses, but it really happens within the medical community with physicians doing this to physicians. And a lot of people think it's men doing this to women. A lot of the time it's women doing this to women.

And it's just, it's, it's, it's shocking. It's shocking what. People do to each other. But it's also been shocking to me of the people that just sit by watching this happen. At the time this was happening to me, there was this maternal fetal medicine doctor that, you know, we. You know, we were professionally, um, colleagues.

Like I went, you know, hard cases. I got his advice and when this was happening to me and I told him what they were upset with me about or said that I, I supposedly did. He's like, you did everything right. Like, I will go and I will tell them, and this is insane. And how are they saying? And he never did. And I followed up with him and I, you know, I, I asked him, have you done this yet?

Because this is really taking effect. They're talking about terminating me. All this stuff is happening. And he, he just basically said he wasn't willing to risk his career to help me even though that was the right thing to do. Um. And just the amount of people that you know saw this happening. And I remember being like, isn't there anything you could say?

Isn't there anything you could do? Like please help me? Anything? And it was just like, no, sorry. And that was just. Really, really shocking to me. Um, part of this, being put on proctoring, I was, I was assigned to these two doctors, and they, you know, came into this like, this is bs. I can't believe you have to do this.

We heard what happened, like, we're gonna, you know, you'll do the cases with us, we'll sign off, like everything will be okay. Like you're a great doctor. And at the end, one of them would not sign me off. And. You know, it, it, it was very shocking and surprising and, you know, the reasoning for not, you know, it came down to the last hysterectomy we did together, um, which was one of the hardest ones that I've ever done in my life.

And he, you know, he just wasn't sure that I could do it on my own. And I said, I said, well, how would that be different than if I called in for help? Just like I've seen you do a hundred times. Why is it okay for you to call in the urologist? Why is it okay for you to call in the colorectal surgeon? But I can't.

And so, yeah, and so I just, I think that it shocked me what doctors we do to each other and, um, and you know, how important it is to, you know, I don't want people losing their jobs, but there has to be something where you stand up for what's right. And so, yeah, so that's really, you know, what that taught me.

And, um. Listen, I think this is a real estate podcast, but I just want everyone listening to know that like I want, I'd be more than happy to be that person for somebody that if something is very unfair, they feel like their life is falling apart. Like, I'll just be there to listen and give whatever advice I can, but just, I mean, I would've paid anything to have that kind of support when I was going through this because I just, I felt alone.

I felt like not only was I not gonna practice medicine again, but like, could I afford my house? Could I afford everything that I sacrificed? Um. You know, years and years and years, to have a type of life that I envisioned. And, and, and that was all, you know, at that time going away. So what ended up happening was, yeah, so I, uh, a hospital outside of Cincinnati in a very little farm town.

They, gave me a chance and I will thank God every day for that chance. I was able to move there. I was able to. Uh, collect my board cases so that I can become board certified. And I will always, you know, thank them for giving me that chance. And also the hospital system that I'm with now, they, you know, gave me a chance.

I, I am indebted to them for allowing me and my family to move back to our hometown, but, you know, I will tell you as happy as I am to be able to practice medicine again. It. It has never been the same. It, it, it is something that, um, I don't have passion for. I don't love it. I, I, I am still scared. I'm scared every day going into work, and that's not how I wanna live my life.

I am scared that if I didn't even do anything wrong the first time, what happens if something goes wrong? Because it will, it happens to us all. You know, you know, if someone doesn't smile at me, I think, oh my gosh, are they. Are they mad? Did they do something wrong? It's like, oh, you know, constantly I'm overanalyzing every medical decision I made during a shift.

And so yeah, so the love of medicine really, was taken away from me from that experience. And so, that's really when I. Decided that like I needed to start something that, um, I could do so that if, God forbid I lost this job, I could still help pay the mortgage. I could still put braces on my kids' teeth.

I could still, you know, do you know everything that we planned? Because I mean, I think, you know, we go to school for so long, but besides being a physician, like there's really not that much within. Medicine, you know, or even outside that, that, you know, that we can do, especially for, you know, the, the salary range that, you know, we wanna have.

So, I was on call one night and I, you know, was waiting for a delivery and I just, I, I saw an Instagram ad about this thing called rental arbitrage. And, um. I had no idea what that meant. But basically, I clicked on the ad and it was a program developed by Brian Page who, he, you know, he was one of the founding guys of rental arbitrage.

And what that means is that you are leasing a property with the owner's permission, furnishing it and running it as your own Airbnb. And so after you pay the lease, the utilities, the cleaning fee, the expenses, whatever your leftover is, your profit. So, um, I thought that was interesting. You know, I hear on the commercial, the ad that you can add $10,000 a month to, you know, whatever you're doing and it's, you know, part-time stuff and I just, I don't know.

I just was like, this is it. I have to do it. And, um, I remember my husband when I told him that I wanted to do this, and he was just like, what are you talking about? Why would you, why would you do this? Like, that doesn't, you know, it doesn't make sense. Even watching me for the last couple years, like what I went through and like, what I was just, he still was just like, I don't know.

It doesn't really, doesn't really make a lot of sense. But if, you know, if you really wanna do it, then you know, go ahead. So I bought the course, I watched it. I did every single thing that it said. And so, I got 77 nos from owners pitching this idea of doing this before I got my first Yes. And I just like was not gonna give up.

I was gonna make this work. And so, um, I started off in Cleveland, you know where I'm from and, found, you know, found someone that, had been using a property management company to, um, to Airbnb. It was on Zillow because he was sick of it. He just wanted like constant rent and he didn't wanna rely on this property management team.

So, you know, I convinced him to, um, to allow me to do this. And so he wanted me to take both sides of his duplex. So it's getting four bedrooms on this side, four bedrooms on that side. You know, half the stuff was already there. I just added my decorative take on it and added some stuff and then, you know, that, that went live.

Learned a ton. Opening an Airbnb in January in Cleveland is not, uh, time season to do that. You know, but by the summer months we were, we, you know, and I say we, Jordan is, you know, stepping up and, and helping me, you know, with stuff too. Yeah, we start seeing the money come in, it's like, wow, um, this actually can work.

And so then we got another duplex, a few streets away. We started then using those profits to then buy our first property. So we bought a six bedroom cabin in rural Ohio on 52 acres with fishing and swimming ponds and trails, and turned it, you know, into this experience with a sauna and a hot tub and a coal plunge and a game room.

And it's, and it's just awesome. And then after that we kept going. Um, I learned about 0% credit cards, and that's really when the arbitrage business took off. I used a company called Fund and Grow. Um, sure there's a lot out there, but that's the one I used at the time and it helped us get like over $200,000 of 0% credit cards.

And so then that's how I was able to furnish 10 apartment units in Jacksonville, Florida. At that time I was getting really good at analyzing to know exactly how much revenue I should anticipate. And whether that deal was good or not. So I felt really good going in the deal. Um, and you know, I have not been wrong on an analysis.

I just, I really, have honed in on that skill, whether it's to buy, whether it's a co-hosting deal or an arbitrage deal. It's all the same analysis. And so those 10 went so well. They offered us five more. I went into Naples and got five. Let's see. So then there's 20 in Florida. Um, another five in Jacksonville.

So we have 25 units in Florida. And then, I got, uh, two houses in Pittsburgh to arbitrage, a four bedroom and a five bedroom. And then again, just using, so within seven months, I think the credit cards were all paid down. So then it's just profits. And then we used a, mainly all of the profits to buy our, newest property, which is a, uh, six bedroom, seven, six to seven bedroom beach house in St.

Augustine, Florida. And this is really the deal. Thank you. This is really the deal that I think is going to, set us up for all of our future investing. It really is a home run deal in terms of, um. It the, the tax loophole, you know, using the tax loophole, we are gonna be able to get $300,000 of taxes back, which is, you know, insane amounts to get back.

We're expecting, after we did the renovations and, um, everything that we did on the house, we're gonna. We've talked to a few lenders and just going on the market research, we're gonna be able to pull between 750,000 to a million dollars, and a cash out refi if we wanna pull everything up. And then we're gonna be cash flowing 80 to $125,000, you know, after paying for everything, on this house.

And so it's just a dream come true that, you know, I can do this. In the meantime also, we have partnered with seven owners. To co-host their properties, um, for a variety of reasons. Some of them is just they wanna invest without doing it themselves. Others that they were not successful doing it themselves.

And we, um, you know, pride ourselves in. In every market we're in, we're we're at the top of, um, of, of listings in terms of revenue. And so we're doing something right. And so people, you know, want to use our, excuse me, wanna use our knowledge in, um, in those things and just run it better than they could.

And also a few other people have, decided to allow us to co-host because they just weren't really happy with their current property management company. They're just, you know, treated as one in a hundred in a market. Not marketing and not, you know, doing the, the revenue management, the optimization.

And so, yeah. And so we have built in three years a 40 unit portfolio

Dr. Alex Schloe: That is.

Dr. Jessica Katz: Yeah. That we, uh, have built from scratch. So it's, it's been an insane journey and really cool. And, um, yeah, when I think about where I was six years ago, it's just, um, it's a dream come true. Really is.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That is amazing. Wow. What an incredible journey and story and, you know, I can't, uh, I can't imagine. Going from that traumatic experience that you had in medicine to now building this, this 40 unit portfolio in such a, a short period of time. But it just really shows like if you are willing to commit and take action, you know, you're probably one of the few people who've actually completely finished that course, uh, that that Brian Page had then to actually took action on it and then really, really, um, scaled, which is amazing.

I want to step back. Real quick for a minute. That first duplex, that first property that you guys arbitraged, what was it like when you first received that distribution or that cashflow from that property and you realize like, Hey, I, I made this outside of the hospital. What was that like for you? What did that feel like when you first got that distribu?

Dr. Jessica Katz: I just felt so proud. I was so proud to actually show people that, that this was going to work. Jordan, although wasn't that supportive at the beginning when he saw how dedicated I was to this, he, you know, was on board and really, you know, was, was, you know, wanting this to work. Um, but both of our parents were like, what are you guys doing?

This, you know, really doesn't make any sense. Like, are you sure you don't wanna just, you know, take extra shifts at the hospital or. You know, why not, you know, do something that you already know how to do. Um, and so just being able to, you know, see that positive balance in our account for the business, it just, it just showed that, you know, all the hard work was worth it.

And, um, more than that, it allowed me to sleep better at night. Right. So when you're always worried that you could lose your job and then what, and you have no nothing else, you know, it's, it's hard to sleep. And I know that's probably not just for me, it's for. It is for a lot of people, it's for the person I know that, you know, was terminated because they wanted to fill her spot with a nurse practitioner.

It's, you know, for those that work so, so, so hard and never see their kids and, you know, the thought of dropping down to see them more means, you know, not being able to pay for the things they want. I mean, that's, that's hard. It's hard to sleep at night when you feel like that. And so once I started seeing the positive.

Cash flow in our account and seeing this actually works. Um, that's when I was able to sleep better at night and it, it just put this load off of my chest in terms of I'm gonna be okay.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Absolutely. It, it can be, you know, it's freedom, right? It's, it's, uh, freedom in some capacity. And I think that everyone, every physician, everyone listening to this should, should strongly think about how can I have some degree of passive income to come in and give me some freedom? And, and, you know, and essentially that starts to with like.

Partial financial freedom, then financial freedom, then time freedom. Then mental freedom is kind of how I look at it. And then, you know, ultimately it's like giving freedom. Like you're making so much profit you can just give and donate to anything you could ever want. And, um, that's the ultimate goal, I think.

And, um. I want to talk about kind of the three entry paths to short-term rentals or maybe like an on-ramp for busy physicians. And so you mentioned rental arbitrage. I think there's kind of multiple entry points in the short-term rentals. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we have like rental arbitrage, we have co-hosting.

So rental arbitrage. You, you lease that, that property from someone typically as a long-term rental. And then you, go ahead and operate that as a short term rental. And then you make the, the profit in the middle, you make the delta and that's your cash flow that you get from that pro. Property. Then there's buying a property as a short-term rental or converting an existing property from a long-term rental to a short-term rental.

And then of course, co-hosting would be, you take over the kind of property management of that short-term rental. Um, who do you think each one of those is best for? Or who do you think arbitrage may be best for and who should not do it?

Dr. Jessica Katz: Good question, and I think you summarized those perfectly. Um, I think that rental arbitrage has changed a lot in the three and a half years since I started, five years ago to three and a half years ago. It was amazing. You could put a bed in a room, you could put a painting above that bed, and it would just, it would just sell out every night.

Right. The amount of change that has happened in the Airbnb, and even, I shouldn't say Airbnb, the short term rental space over the last, you know, two, three years, um, is crazy in a lot of markets. You have to be the best. You have to be so competitive. You have to bring amenities that nobody offers or at least match them in order to succeed.

And so it's a really different market, but there is still a lot of money to be made in the rental arbitrage space. I would say that the best thing to do, in my opinion, is to own properties, right? Because you are building equity, it is your decision, um, you know, if you are renting it out or not. With arbitrage it's a little.

Stressful in the way that the owner could decide, eh, next year I don't wanna a lease to you, or I'm gonna sell, or you know, the neighbors complained a little bit too much about the noise. So like, we're not gonna release. And so I have a hard time basing financial decisions on what I made the previous year because I have no idea how it's gonna be next year.

Um, you know, my. 10 units at this one apartment complex in Jacksonville. I profit on average 1800 a month per unit there.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Wow, that's

Dr. Jessica Katz: That's that. I mean, that's someone's salary really. Um, you know, and, but that could be all gone next year. So how do I, you know, plan for the future based off of that? You know, and so I think everybody's goal in short-term rentals should be owning, but how do you get there?

Not everyone has 200 to $500,000 to use towards a down payment and design and amenities, you know, and so I think arbitrage or co-hosting is a really great way to save some money to do that. Um, you know, what I have done, is I'm very excited, um, to offer this because I think this is an amazing group of people that, would really do amazing in the arbitrage way high school and college students because, you know, if their parents help them get these 0% credit cards and, and these deals are analyzed in such a way, knowing that you are paying this back within the 12 months.

Um, you're just gonna be cash flowing after that. And so I'm not saying get 40 units, but if I'm in high school, you can build a six figure business doing this with five apartments Right. And with just a couple hours of time. And so I, have a few people signed up already, but like I am so excited to teach high schoolers how to do this, so that by the time school starts in the fall, they will have, you know.

Two to five listings set up, ready to go, automated it, automated enough to be able to, you know, do this for really a couple hours a week. Um, and you know, I, I feel like when I was in high school, I'd rather be doing this than working other jobs, you know, taking up more time and, and making less money.

But I mean, you could really be making with just three to five units 5,000 a month. I mean, not many high school or even college students can do that. And so, I really like arbitrage for that type of person. Um, you know, someone who probably wouldn't be able to get access to 0% cars themselves, but with family help, that's an option.

And what does, I mean, I don't think. A lot of things look better than starting a six figure business, you know, for resumes, you know, as well. And so I think that's awesome. I think it's for people that can have access to 0% cards. I mean, I really don't think arbitrage is good using your own money. I think your own money can be better served elsewhere, such as just, you know, saving it towards a down payment if you really wanna go the real estate route.

But leveraging these 0% credit cards, I think, arbitrage, um, can win pretty big that way. Co-hosting is also really great because you're not starting with any of your own money. It's just your time, your sweat equity, right? But I don't know too many people that wanna hand off their property to someone without experience.

And I think there's a lot of programs out there, groups you can be in to teach you how to do it. So I'm not saying it's impossible to do it, I just think when you have had, experience managing your own properties before, whether through arbitrage or you know, owning, then you have the credibility and people you know, come to you and, and, you know, see your success and, um, want you to replicate that for them.

So co-hosting is a great way to, increase the revenue of your business. People, um, ask for 15 to 20% of total revenue in terms of the payment for that service. And so, yeah, again, bringing your sweat equity, your time into that, but not any of your own money. So that's a very good way to scale.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's amazing. That was such a good answer, and I really wish I learned about that in high school. I can't imagine, uh, how that would've changed my life and my trajectory having, having known about arbitrage and, and some of these really cool strategies for getting started and investing. In high school. I mean, it, it, it should be a class like we should really be learning in high school how to do our taxes and how to save money on taxes and how to invest in real estate and how to start a business.

And all these really, really, uh, tangible and tactical things that can set you up for success. So I love that you are doing that and sharing that. I wanted to ask you about deal analysis. So you, you mentioned that, deal analysis is, is really kinda your jam and, and crushing it from a deal analysis perspective.

What are some things that you look for in a deal, and then what are some of the biggest deal killers when evaluating a potential short-term rental?

Dr. Jessica Katz: So I'm trying to think of the best answer for this because, because we could talk about this for two hours or more. Um, you know, I'm not gonna pretend that I came up with this, you know, super new deal analysis technique. I'm going off, you know, the experts in the field, the Kenny Bedwell, the John Bianchi, I.

Analyze the exact same way, you know, as they do. I have my spreadsheet that I put in everything that I'm looking for, and I'm really spending up to 10 hours sometimes. Um, just, you know, you know, getting this data and analyzing it and, when I make a decision, whether it's for should I try to get this co-hosting deal or should I do this arbitrage or even, you know, the houses that I, that I own, it's analyzed the same way.

Right. I am trying to see. Realistically how much revenue this certain property will make. And, when I go through a deal, I like, feel good about it because I'm not like, oh, I hope, I hope it'll get a hundred thousand dollars in revenue. It should. 'cause it's so cool and I love it. I go based off of the numbers of the competitors and so, you know, I'm comparing like houses or apartments, um, you know, I'm, I'm finding the properties in a specific area.

That my house that I might wanna buy or arbitrage or co-host, how they, uh, how their competitors perform. And so, you know, I, I end up with three different numbers. The lowest is like, okay, no problem. Getting this middle is like, yeah, I think we can get that. The highest is like, well if we, you know, do everything amazing and perfectly, then it can reach this.

And so if I'm happy with that lowest number, then I go with the deal. And so, yeah. So hours are spent on going through each property. So if I'm looking, you know, for that, for that beach house that I decided this was like. A home run deal, in terms of like, I can't pass this up. Um, I'm looking for all the other six bedroom beach houses in, you know, maybe 15 miles.

Right? And so, the house that's for sale, I'm comparing is, is my kitchen as new as this? Do I have as many bathrooms? Do I have the pool? And so I'm looking at, okay, the top five listings, what do they have? Oh, they have the pool. They're modern. Oh, they have a game room. So it's like I know what I have to do and what I have to add to compete at that level.

And so if I'm like, well, I really don't have the budget to put in a pool, you know, what are houses that I can compete with making? And if I'm okay with those numbers, then that's still a good deal. But yeah. So, um, when I look, you know, for the cabin for. Beach house. For the properties I've found for clients, I'm looking the, I'm looking for a lot of things, but one thing that I really want to look for is something that nobody can copy from me.

So this house in St. Augustine, it had a 1700 square foot roof that no one was utilizing then. But I'm like, oh my gosh, what happens if I put a bar up here? What happens if I put mini golf up here? What happens if I put these like canopies that are overlooking the ocean because we're second row, but we're higher than the house in front.

So the third and third floor on the rooftop have unobstructed views of the ocean. Like someone can copy my game room, someone can copy, you know, my, um, my decor, I guess. But like, no one can copy this rooftop, right? And so. I really like to find properties that are special that, you know, guarantee that you'll be in the top.

And

Dr. Alex Schloe: I, I was, oh, sorry, I, I don't mean to interrupt there, but I was, I was really hoping that you would say that. 'cause I think that, um, we're, we're no longer in the days where, like you mentioned, you could just, you know, have a, have a bedroom, put a bed in there, put the painting of like the, the musk ox that everybody seems to have in their Airbnb.

Uh, and, and, and cash flow. And cash flow. Well, you have to really have those unique things that stand out. And you also need to, to do that analysis of the other homes in your area. At secret shopping, if you will, and see, hey, what is everybody else offering and how can I exceed that? That is the best way that you're gonna be able to feel comfortable from a due diligence perspective on is this house gonna be able to cash flow to the numbers that I need it too?

And I think that it's really important to have that unique kind of Instagramable. Perspective where folks are gonna be, you know, sharing this home, uh, with other people and posting on their social media. And then you're gonna get more and more bookings that way as well. So I'm really, really glad that you said that.

Sorry to interrupt you. Is there anything else that you wanna add from that perspective?

Dr. Jessica Katz: Not at all. I mean, that's 100% right. Um, I don't want people thinking that like, don't get the house if they, you know, if, if they don't have any, you know, if they don't have one special, special thing you can make, you can make the property special as well. I found a house in Bradenton, Florida for a client.

They're like, I have money. I wanna invest, I wanna use the tax loophole. But like, I don't wanna buy the wrong property. So that's where, you know, I came in and I found this. And does every deal in Bradenton work? No, but. There will be properties in every market that most likely will. Um, and so at that house, there was no special view.

There was nothing that nobody, you know, people could copy the whole thing. But, bringing all the amenities together is special as well. And just the, the, the, when people look at like what your, um, cash on cash return will be because of the house. Like, it just, sometimes the numbers work, even if, you know, you don't bring anything.

Insanely special. You know, that the neighbor down the street can't do. Um, but when I was analyzing that, the house just seemed like such a great price. And that, so when I started analyzing, I thought, okay, every single house making over $200,000 has a pickleball court. So if this house makes sense, we have to have room for the pickleball court or else it just, it's not gonna work.

And so that is one of the things that we added. What I suggested adding on top of that was an outdoor movie theater, because no one else in that area had that, and that's a very inexpensive thing, less than $2,000, you know, to add something like that. And, uh, an outside bar that's, you know, painted a coral and has the logo on it.

And it just is something, you know, fun that not everything, not everyone has. And so, um. So that deal, is, is gonna pencil out really great for that investor. And then he was able to buy it in Q4. And spend enough time in the house where he was the, you know, he could say, use the tax loophole that he was the one, you know, doing the most work on that.

But, um, starting in January, we started co-hosting for him because he just really, you know, didn't want to be involved in that. So, yeah. So that's going well. We're on track to make $250,000 on a $900,000 house. And, uh, yeah, and he's gonna get a bunch of tax benefits and it's going to appraise for three to 5% a year and there's debt pay down, so I would call that a home run deal as well.

And then the last thing I wanna say about that is, um, my apartments are not special. I have 25 apartments that I are at arbitrage in different areas and, you know what makes it special is just going all out in design, right? So I'm on top because I am for that two bedroom apartment. I am making it as good as the other two bedroom apartments on the market.

I chose an apartment complex with an awesome pool that's new with the gym. So I can offer these amenities without having to pay for them myself, myself. And so, um. So I think there's a lot of things that you can do with, you know, two bedroom apartments, three bedroom apartments, houses, that don't necessarily have to break the bake, break the bank either.

We're talking about adding peel and like wallpaper to living room walls behind the bedrooms. Um, you know, putting benches or chairs in front of beds, adding an air fryer to the kitchen, just like, you know, making things modern and new with a cool design, does the trick really well. And so, as I've said, I mean.

For arbitrage. They teach you that you should look for a profit of a thousand dollars per unit. You know, that you have to make it worth it. And so we're, you know, at 1800 for, you know, 20 units, that's, um, that's, uh, that's pretty good. And that's just based off of, you know, wanting to elevate the design.

And you can either hire a designer to do that for you, if you don't feel comfortable doing that or, you know, just trying to look at for that market. At the top two, three, bedroom, whatever unit is, how are they designed? And then kind of just trying to match that level so it doesn't have to be, we're adding pickleball courts to be successful.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That is great. So yeah, my wife is gonna listen to this podcast. She loves design, she loves short-term rentals. We had, uh, a few short-term rentals. She's gonna listen to this. She's gonna be ready to get back into the game.

Dr. Jessica Katz: I love it. I love it. I mean, it's so interesting using my brain for this because in medicine it's, sure there's creativity but not that much. We're following guidelines, we're following protocols We're, we're not really, you know, able to be creative like this, but like this just has my creative. Juice is flowing.

I love design. I love figuring things out. When something happens with a guest, it's like fun for me to figure out a solution. So it really is, nice having this, uh, this outlet as well.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That is great. I love that. Well, let's, uh, let's move forward to talk a little bit about systems. 'cause I, I think some docs listening to this are probably like, man, you, you mentioned a couple hours a week and that sounds awesome. How can I do that? So do you mind kind of walking us through your systems?

What do you automate, delegate? What do you personally kind of own, uh, as the host? What does that look like for you?

Dr. Jessica Katz: Sure. So, okay, everyone listening, I do not spend two hours a week when I have 40 units. I would say, you know, I would say that, um, I, I did not feel like I needed help until I had more than 10, right? But someone just getting into this wants to make, you know, an extra 5,000 ish, you know, a month. five units.

You could do this for a couple hours. You, you know, you really can. And so we try to automate whatever we can. And again, this isn't new. This is what a lot of people do. But, um, you know, we automate a bunch of messages that go out when the guest books a couple days before check in to know what to expect, get the check-in instructions, all of that stuff, a reminder a few hours before they check in.

We added a message like the next day, like so day two of their stay, just to give them an opportunity to bring up any issues that they might be having so that we could fix it. Then instead of finding out that they weren't really having a good experience because you know the disposal wasn't working or you know, a blind fell out, like, let us fix it while you're there so that we can get that five star review.

And so that's really helped us do that. And then, um, checkout instructions and then a day later asking them for a review reminding how vital, vital it is for our business. And so that helps a lot. You know, we have the locks, we have the cameras, that are automated. We have price labs, um, to do the revenue, but we have moved a little bit more than that now.

So, I had to create a team. Again, like I am not here to say I have found the perfect solution. I am still working two hours a week. That is still a work in progress, but we are moving towards, towards being able to do that. So on my team now is I have a head cleaner and she is finding the teams wherever we are.

And so, um, she is, is interviewing, hiring, giving them the checklists, you know, she is the contact person so that I don't have to be. So that person, she ended up, she was my cleaner in Cleveland and you know, I said, oh, like I'm expanding to Florida, like, will you help me find a team there? And that just kind of was so successful that that's, that's all I do now is so I have a head cleaner that, helps me find the teams.

And we, um, have the same checklist in Jacksonville that we have in Naples, so we have in Pittsburgh, so that every clean should be the same. And so, we have, you know, we want pictures. We want videos after every clean to ensure that it was done correctly, but also have proof that it was clean. Because sometimes there are guests that will try to say things to get money back.

And, you know, we have, we need proof against that. price Labs is awesome. It really helps. But at this rate, we wanted a revenue manager or someone on our team. And so, um, we have a revenue manager that will use Price Labs, but tweaks it all the time. And Jordan on Sundays will go in himself and like, tweak it for any remaining days in the next two weeks to, you know, decrease it by 3% every hour until it books, you know, to, to, you know, 'cause we, we think that that increases our views on the algorithm.

Who knows? On these VRBO and Airbnb sites. But, yeah, so that's what we do for pricing. We have virtual assistants, so they really are, who answers guest messages. Um, I will look at some of these messages from time to time to make sure that the right thing is, being said. Sometimes not. And so that is when we decided, a couple months ago to hire an operational manager.

And so this person is US based. He has been amazing. He lives in Seattle, so he is not even from Cleveland. And he is really going to be in charge of, uh, letting us step away even more, interacting with the virtual assistants every, you know, even more so that I don't have to come in and, and, you know, correct anything.

But really from your, you know. 10 or less units, you can be okay with just the automation tools, the ring camera, the Schlage locks, you know, you find a cleaner by yourself or on Turno. Um, you use Price Labs and then, you know, maybe do a little bit learning yourself on how to make sure that you know the right.

Pricing is going out there. But that's, that's really it. The other thing that we do is we have a handyman. And what's perfect is when the cleaner and the handyman are married. That is the perfect, but yeah, I have, you know, I have three cleaners, three handymen, like on my list of people because people are busy.

They go on vacation, they have lives. And so having these people on your team beforehand really decrease the stress of what is going to happen because. I used to, I used to just get so upset when things would happen. Oh my God, a guest said this. Oh my God, this got dirty. We have to replace this. Like that is going to happen.

It's a part of business, like it's gonna happen. It's okay. It's expected, but then knowing how to deal with those things, makes a huge difference. And so, yeah. So I have a team now, but I think as you're getting started, um, you know, and especially when you're, when you're buying your own, like you, you can handle three properties yourself.

You really can with the automation tools and just having a little knowledge on, you know, how short term rentals work,

Dr. Alex Schloe: That was such a value add, uh, segment for folks who are listening to this. Go back and listen to that 'cause you dropped so many great tools to use so many ways that you can set this up, to be, you know, much more automated, to kind of buy back your time regardless of, of how you're doing this and how many units you have.

That was awesome Jessica. Thanks for that. Uh, well, let's go ahead and kind of get, get started wrapping things up here. But I wanted to ask, just a couple. Closing questions. I guess one would be, what is the most underrated amenity that you've seen that tends to either boost bookings or increase revenue?

Dr. Jessica Katz: I would just say a a, a nice design, really. I mean, I have, I have helped people, you know, turn, um, you know, an Airbnb around with, again, the peel and stick wallpaper and some accent pillows. Also a really good photographer. You cannot take pictures of your, of your short-term rental with your iPhone. You just can't.

You know, I, um, I, I really value these professional photographers for sure. They have a very special, way of shooting that I could never do on a phone. And I don't even think real estate, photographers could do you really need, you know, great photography. Um, but the number one amenity, no matter what the market is, is, is a good design.

Dr. Alex Schloe: It's a great answer. I love that. Well, Jessica, if a physician feels stuck right now, what's the one move that you would want them to make this week to get started in real estate?

Dr. Jessica Katz: I think a good first thing to do is to write it down, write down what your goals are, and write down what it's going to take to get there. And, um, you know, I think there are just so many avenues of real estate, right? Like on all your podcasts you have people from all over doing different types of things.

And so it's finding like what you wanna start with, and not that you can't change later, but you can't, you know, when I hear about your residential homes, it's like, oh, maybe I'll do that too. But it's like you can't do everything at once. Get good at one thing. You know, um, you can stick with that. You can, you know, get really good at that and then go, you know, do something else.

But just don't try to do too many things at once. And so, whatever you decide, um, is the niche you wanna start with, how are you gonna get there? And, you know, if you have, you know, some money saved, then you know, you go that route if you have zero. You know, I started out with really close to zero. I had a hundred thousand dollars plus of lawyer fees trying to figure this out for me.

I really, you know, didn't have anything to start. Um. But I, you know, you just, you figure out a way you are, so you, you, you, you do extra shifts at the hospital. I mean, I know someone that was, you know, doing, doing Instacart or DoorDash or, you know, trying to flip things, from TJ Maxx. I mean, like, I just don't think you're miserable enough or you don't want it enough unless you're gonna do uncomfortable things.

You know, calling 77 people and being hung up on and being yelled at and telling me I was wasting their time, like that is not something that I wanted to do, but I just, I wanted out of my current situation so badly. And so I think the first step is like, what are you willing to do and what can you do now?

And so, um, you know, with the 0% cards, you know, different ways now compared to even five years ago of ways to make extra money. I just think that there are no excuses, you know, anymore to get started.

Dr. Alex Schloe: I agree. Yeah, you have to. Be comfortable being uncomfortable if you're trying to design like the life of your dreams and the career of your dreams. And so you, you certainly embody that. Uh, Jessica, how can folks reach out to you if they want to know more, if they want to potentially work with you, how can they reach out?

Dr. Jessica Katz: So I'm on Instagram as Dr. Jess Airbnb, right? Even though it's not just Airbnb as short term rentals, but that's the, uh, the Instagram handle there. And, and message me. , I also, um, we can be reached at our company's website, JK two properties. Com. You know, we list our services that we offer, so we really help a lot of people with different things.

If you, you know, from the full on, like, find me a property, tell me how to design it, work with the design team for me, find a team for me, like. For everything you want. I have clients that just want us to analyze if they can turn their already long-term rental into a short-term rental, what that revenue would look like.

I have people that want help understanding the revenue part, how we, you know, how, how we even set numbers and how to even work price labs. And then I, um, I've had, a few boot camps of arbitrage, people wanting, you know, to learn arbitrage. So whatever. You think that you, you know, want to learn about?

I'm, I'm happy to, uh, discuss that talk, help you, and, and again, like I said at the beginning, like, reach out to me if you just like, wanna talk about what's happening at work. Like, it just, I, I, I, this happens way more than we realize. It really does. As I started being more comfortable talking about my experience and what happened.

There's a lot of people that don't believe it, right? They, they're like, how could that happen? You must have done something. I mean, even my family members were like, what did you do? This doesn't make sense. But there are so many people out there where unfair things have happened to them, and they have, um, lost people's respects.

They've, they've lost their jobs. They've had to move. They haven't been able to find another job. I mean, this happens all the time. And so, yeah, if you're listening to this. Understand what that feels like. I am, I'm more than happy just to be someone that you talk that through with also.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's great. That is super valuable and we'll be sure to include those links in the show notes as well for folks who wanna reach out to you. Uh, with that we'll go ahead and wrap things up. It's been Dr. Jessica Katz and Dr. Alex Schloe with another episode of the Physicians and Properties Podcast signing off.

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