How Corporate Attorney is Using Room Rentals to Build a Lasting Legacy

In Episode 15 of the Coliving Investing Podcast, host Ashley Jeffers sits down with Donnise Webb to discuss her inspiring journey from corporate America into real estate investing and how she built a profitable portfolio using the co-living and room rental model.

Donnise shares how attending a tax lien conference completely changed the trajectory of her financial future, leading her to purchase and renovate her first co-living property. She explains why co-living generates significantly more cash flow than traditional rentals and how creating a strong sense of community has helped reduce tenant turnover while providing affordable housing for people who need it most.

The conversation also explores the realities of self-managing rental properties, transitioning from shared rooms to private room rentals, and building systems that allow a real estate business to grow. Donnise discusses her long-term vision of creating generational wealth, preparing her family to continue the business, and why education and mentorship are essential before entering the room rental investing industry.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why co-living can outperform traditional rental strategies
• How community building improves tenant retention
• The pros and cons of self-managing room rental properties
• Why organization and systems are critical for scaling
• How to build long-term wealth and a family legacy through real estate
• Advice every new room rental operator should hear before buying their first property

If you're passionate about co-living investing, room rentals, affordable housing, and building financial freedom through real estate, be sure to subscribe to the Coliving Investing Podcast for weekly conversations with successful investors from around the country.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

All right, everyone, welcome to the latest episode of the Co-Living Investing Podcast. I am your host, Ashley Jeffers, and for this episode, we have a special guest. Uh Dynice Webb is with us. Thanks for joining in, Denise. Appreciate you being here.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Thanks for inviting me. I really appreciate it too.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Yeah, we got a little history. So we go back a couple years to meeting in Miami. I can't remember the year. Um, but we were at a women's uh investing conference. Um what was it called? Oh my goodness. Live live wired. Live wired. She nigga's gonna hurt me. Live. Shout out to the good sis, Miss Janika, who put on the Live Wired Conference, a real estate investing conference for women only. Um, she does an excellent job every time every time she puts that conference. That's where you and I met. So I definitely wanted to have you on because when we met, um, and you told me you work for Carnival Cruise Lines, never heard of anyone working for Carnival at all. Really? That's why it piqued my interest. Like you work for what company now? So um, so you you you still work for Carnival today, cruise line today.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Okay. 25 years. This is my 25th year with Carnival.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Congratulations. That is that is impressive in our economy in this day and age, right? Like um my generation is accustomed to um working a job for two years and knowing that we stay. Uh, that raise is only gonna be like one to three percent, not to even keep pace pace with inflation. So we gotta go. We gotta head out after the two-year mark and go find something else to do. Uh, so for people uh such as yourself who is able to um stay with the same company for you know over 20 years, that's impressive. So congratulations on that. I know you're close to retirement though, so you're about to you're about to hang it up. Uh that's the goal. One more year, you think? One to two years.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Yeah, we'll we'll see how it goes, but it's one to two years. That's the that's the goal.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

So, what came first, carnival or real estate investing? Tell me about that journey into uh W-2 from W-2 to real estate investing.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Okay, so I'm an attorney by trade and uh practicing law for probably 30 plus years now, and um with Carnival for 25 of those years. Started off just with the W-2 because no one ever really talked to me about owning a business or investing in real estate or anything like that. It was always go to college, get a great job, retire, blah, blah, blah. Right. Um, my first uh encounter with real estate was actually when I bought my first primary residence with my mother uh back in 1987. So it's a single-family house that we actually still own till today. And after that, I bought my own primary residence uh after I graduated from law school when I was pregnant with my son. Still have that property today. And in 2016, when my dad retired from New York and moved down to Miami, we bought a townhouse for him to use as his primary residence. And we still have I still have that property today. So those three properties are now all rental properties. Um, and that's really how I started off my journey with real estate investing. So you buy it as your primary residence, and then eventually it becomes a rental property.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

That's awesome. So I'm guessing these three properties are paid for outright at this point.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

No, they still have mortgages, so we've been leveraging uh with mortgages to buy other properties and to do other things. So they all have they don't have huge mortgages, but you know, they do have small mortgages on it and also kind of protects the property from creditors when you have a little bit of a mortgage on it. You know what I mean? So um, but they're all being paid for by my tenants, or you know, one of them is a co-living property, so which I know what we're gonna talk a little bit about. But yeah, so all the bills are covered by the income that comes in from the tenants in those properties, and it's all good. And I'm, you know, they're appreciating assets, they're all in Miami, Florida, which is a very, you know, expensive market and with lots of appreciation. So it's been good.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

So basically, you're using those properties to leverage them to buy more property, correct? And also maintaining ownership on uh on those, mortgages on those to take advantage of the tax benefits, um the mortgage, uh, mortgage benefit, you know, the benefits that you get from having a mortgage on the property. So that that's awesome. Um so once you kind of got like to property number three or four, um, what at that point was your um your path, right? Because I know that as real estate investors, all of us enter the game differently, right? Some of us came through wholesaling. I was one of those that came through wholesaling because I was told that's the that's the quickest way to get into real estate investing with no cash or no credit. So I had the credit. Credit's good. I just didn't have the cash. Um, and so that was my route in. But I know some people, they don't, they don't, they've never done a wholesale deal in their life. Like you kind of have to I've never done one. Um, and so they came into the game in a in a different way by leveraging um 401k to buy their first um room, uh first buy and hold property, like a traditional rental. So what was your what was your thought? Like, you know what, at this point, we want to rev up, we want to keep going with this real estate investing thing. This is what our strategy is gonna be and why.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Correct. So for me, like I said, those three properties were purchased with the intention of being primary residents, either for myself, my mom, or my dad. So that wasn't an intentional step into real estate investing. What really sparked my interest in becoming a real estate investor was attending a conference with my husband about tax lien and tax deed investing. And that was that was in 2017. We attended this big conference. They, you know, they talked about all the properties you can buy for little money, et cetera, et cetera. And that's what really sparked for me real estate investing as a strategy for wealth building, retirement planning. And um, and it went from there. So it sparked the interest. I learned about tax lien, tax deed investing. We bought a couple of properties through that vehicle, and then um with that as a background, I just started to look at other avenues of real estate investing because, as you know, there are so many different ways that you can invest in in real estate, right? Um, I learned about wholesaling. I knew I did not want to be a wholesaler, you know. I learned about node investing, I learned about, you know, self-storage and mobile homes and all of these different ways that you can invest in real estate. And for me, what really struck me and really set me off was uh co-living. And when I was learning about co-living, the course called it group home. So instead of co-living, the strategy was called group home. Same strategy where you have a single-family property and you rent it by the bedroom, but it was just called something different. And um, with that strategy, I learned that you could take that same single-family house and instead of renting it traditionally to a family for you know $2,000 in Miami, you could take that same house, rent it by the bedroom, and make double or more than double the income from the property. So that made a lot of sense, especially in Miami, Florida, because we have, like I'm sure throughout the entire country, an affordability crisis here. Yeah. Um, you know, single family, I mean, sorry, single, you know, apartments for one person. They're very expensive. And we have people that are, you know, making minimum wage or low income and can't even afford, you know, a one-bedroom or a two-bedroom apartment, let alone a house.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Right. Yeah, it's super expensive. Yes, it is a nationwide issue. Um, I do not believe that um the solution is coming anytime soon. So it's important for um me to do this podcast because this is like my way of trying to um add value in this space uh to educate people on hey, when you get into room rental investing, it's not only because the money is better than just then than traditional rental uh investing, but you're actually like making a difference. Um and so it's it's really sad that people work 40 and 50 hours a week, like legit full-time jobs, doing legal things, um, but still have been priced out of the rental and um house buying market, is the craziest thing.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

So it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

There's there's you know, come down to options like it's either sleeping in my car or or paying for like um Econo Lodge or Micro Tell, uh, these kind of motel off the side of the highway setups. Like people are actually living in those and they're actually paying like an outrageous amount of money every single week uh to to rent a room at these motels that are kind of sketchy. Um in most situations, like you don't want to be caught in the parking lot of one of these like motels at night. So um I know I kind of like went on a tangent, but just trying to.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

No, you're absolutely you're absolutely correct. Yeah, and I was very fortunate to come across this strategy because it is something that I'm passionate about. And I think one of the one of the things that I do want to stress um with regard to my story, which was very important for me, is learning about the different ways that you can invest in real estate, right? Um, I was part of a couple of masterminds, women's groups and whatnot. I was very careful with the mentors that I followed. You know, you can follow people on social media and there's a lot of YouTube university stuff, but you know, you have to be careful with the information and who you're getting it from. So I've had some really good mentors that were able to give knowledge and information on the different ways of investing in real estate. And so from there I was able to decide, okay, I don't want to do this, this doesn't interest me. But you know, this co-living um really did interest me because you know I have a passion for helping people, and it's been very, very rewarding. I've been uh a co-living operator for over five years now.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

My first co-living property was five years ago.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

That's awesome. So take me back five years ago to that first one. How did you find the lead? What was appealing to you about the property? What was your your target audience? Because we know that there's a lot of groups that we can serve. We got the traveling nurses, we got the corporate professionals, the construction workers, just the blue, you know, our blue-collar workers that we see every single day working hard. Um, that's mainly who who I serve. Um, so give me a little bit of uh insight into how that first property, what what were your thoughts and your strategy around that first property?

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Yeah, absolutely. So I actually purchased the property from my nephew and his siblings. His their mother had bought this uh property. It's a it's a small house on a very large lot in Miami. It's like a rarity to have a lot this large. And um, unfortunately, sadly, their their mom had passed away and left them the house. So it was four siblings and their husband. And the house was in a horrible state of disrepair and needed a roof, there was mold, there was termites, it was fallen down, you know. And they were all adults at that point, and and they didn't have the money to fix it. They didn't want the house, they wanted to go and and live their life. So um it was really fortuitous because a uh random real estate investor sent them a letter and said, Hey, we buy property. And and yeah, it probably. And um they called me because I'm a lawyer and they said, Hey, this this uh person sent me a letter and they want to buy the house for $250,000. What do you think about that? And I said, Well, if you're gonna sell the house for $250,000 to anyone, you're gonna sell it to me. And so they did, they sold it to me, and you know, I was able to let them stay. My nephew stayed there during the renovation, part of the renovation process. So to help them with the transition. So it was a win-win for them and and for me. So five years ago we did a a complete rehab. It was a major rehab, it was my first one. Um, and as I'm I'm sure you've probably experienced dealing with contractors.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

It started that's a whole nother, that's a whole nother conversation. Just all dealing with contractors.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Yeah, it started off, it started off great, and then towards the end, it started, it got slow, it got complicated, it got, you know, give me, give me money, but wait, you didn't meet this milestone, but give me money. And he basically stopped working, and I had to find someone else to to finish the job. But we got it done. And um my target market at it was initially I I wanted to target young people that were aging out of foster care. So um in that course that I was telling you about that introduced me to co-living, uh, it talked about, you know, how do you market to the different agencies, you know, with emails and going with flyers and going and talking to people. And I did all that, but I was not getting the response that I needed from them. So I decided to open it up to general population because I needed to get that house built. And um, so I did that and I started marketing on different channels, like you know, roomies.com and Facebook and different groups, and I was able to fill the home pretty quickly uh with ordinary people, um, primarily women. I've had a couple of men that have have been there, but we have primarily women, and it's been great because I've had very little turnover um over the years, and I have the the the three uh young ladies that live there now have been there for at least three years. So, which is you know, that's one of the issues with you know with with co-living is that you have the potential for for turn turnover, but it's how, and you talked about it initially, it's how you treat people, how you are as a property owner and property manager, um, that really, you know, gives you that longevity. So it's been it's been a really good journey.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

So three years, that is phenomenal. So I had one, the longest that I've had a tenant stay was two years, and I thought that was a very long time to live in a room. But it's not about me. It's not about you know, uh too long to stay in a room or you know, very long time staying in a room. That's what that tenant needed. She needed all of that time to work on her credit, to increase her savings, to uh work on a certification that would help her in the job market to find a higher paying job. That's what her two years was for. And so, really, that's what how I look at these room rentals is just stepping stones for folks between their their now and where they're trying to go. And exactly, you know, on average, my tenants are staying four to six months. So if it takes the four to six months, that's great. But if it takes two years like mine, or three, four, five years, it sounds like with your tenants, they might be there uh, you know, indefinitely if that's what they need.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

And that's what they need, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

That's what they need. If they're not causing any problems in the home and they are paying on time, yeah, I bet stay as long as you want.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

And what's beautiful about the the ladies in that particular home is they have formed their own little community. So they were strangers at first, and now they're friends, you know. They now they don't hang out together and whatnot, but they work together as far as you know, keeping the house clean and and doing everything that they need to do, and they're friendly and they're cordial. And that has been a great blessing to see that as well. And I think part of the reason why they're so comfortable there is number one, you know, I I try to foster that community vibe um for them. And I try to honestly pick people that I think would mesh, where like some pad uh some platforms like Pad Split, which we may talk about, um, they just put people in your house, right? Um, or or send you people. But I I've tried to look for similar personalities, and it's kind of hard to always tell that with interviews and whatnot, but it I've been pretty successful with it. Yeah, I think I've just had like one person where you know I said yes and within a day I had to say no.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

We thought it was gonna work out. No, never mind. Um, yeah, so that that's the beautiful part of um the room rental business model when you do um kind of hand select, try to hand pick, hand pick individuals that are going to um be a good fit for one another. Um because we don't live in these houses with them.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

So we can only do what we can in terms of looking at how they look on paper, having a conversation with them, whether it's you know, in person or a Zoom call, have a conversation, through conversation, you should get some idea, right, um, if they're gonna be a good fit for the house. And so that really does help. I've never had a um, I've never had a situation where I had tenants that once they were placed in the house, it was just so much friction that they just could not get along. Like from what I've seen to your point, they figure out a way or they find a way to work together as like a community, right? Like, you know, we're not expecting them to act like family, right? Right, but they do work out the who's taking out the trash schedule. They do work out the who's going to get the mail this week schedule. Um, um, and just look out for one another if there's concerns about security. Hey, I think I saw somebody last night. We should reach out to Ashley and ask her to check, you know, the exterior camera, you know. So people do find their way of communing uh with one another in these homes. And I think that's a really cool part about what we provide in the marketplace and network.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Yeah, yeah, I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

So you get the first one up and running. How many um beds and baths did it have?

SPEAKER_00 20:25

So that was an interesting property because I I mentioned it was a small house, right? Initially, it was well, the one, two, three, so it was three bedrooms and then a garage conversion was already there, and they only had one bathroom. So I wanted to try to get a second bathroom in the house, but because it was so small, I couldn't get another full bathroom in there. So what I did was I took a closet from the bedroom that was next to the bathroom, and we made that a half bathroom. So there's one and a half bathrooms. Uh, initially, when I started, I had two private bedrooms. The smaller rooms were private, and then the two larger rooms were shared. So I had six people. I had, you know, two people, two people sharing a room, and then two private rooms. So I had six people in total.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Like twin beds.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Twin beds, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Really?

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Yeah. And so back back then it was the twin beds. Now I only do full-size beds. Okay. But but back then the model that they taught us, you know, was like twin beds. So, but yeah, and um, it worked out. So the initially it worked out, um, where I had two sisters in one room, and then I had two young ladies who had gone to college, graduated from college together. So they were used to living in dorms. So they worked together and they stayed a very long time. Um, but then after they left, it was very hard for me to find. Someone who would share a room with a stranger. So what I did was I changed it from two, you know, shared rooms. Now I only have four private rooms. Okay. And I, you know, charge a little more for the bigger rooms. And um, and the the thing with that property, and you know, about buying property subject to the mortgage. That's what I did with that property. So there the uh my nephew's mom had a small mortgage. I think at the time it was maybe $50,000 left on the mortgage at a 2% interest rate. Oh, sweet. Yeah. So, you know, and she had passed away, so the mortgage was there. So I'm just, you know, making the mortgage payment. So the mortgage is low, the bills are low, so I kind of could afford to like make it a four, four people instead of six. Um, so my profit is a little bit less, but the headache is also less trying to find people who would share a bedroom. And I do know there's some people that do that in their co-living properties, but for me it was um because I'm self-managing and doing everything myself, it was it was too much. It was just easier to fill private rooms.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Yeah, so I would find that hard too. So uh I think that would be a challenge. Um I think of twin beds, I think of sober living, I think of yeah, uh re-entry, and I think of veterans. Yeah. Um because those groups come out of situations like if you're coming, if you're re-entry for sure, coming from behind the wall to sharing a room with just one other person in a very nice house, that's a that's like a improvement. That's like that's a step up in life. And so um I have to have to keep that kind of like perspective um when it comes to two beds in a room, but it's like there, Ashley. This, you know, this is for people who you know have a past that ain't so pretty. And so this is actually something that's going to help them um uh establish stability in in their lives and improve their lives, and so that's the most important part. Exactly. So you mentioned self-management, that's interesting. Um how's how's that going? Y'all right? Because I self-manage as well right now. Um, but as soon as I hit like that magic number I have in my head or the number of rooms um that I need to hit, I'm turning all this stuff over to property management. So how has self-management gone for you thus far?

SPEAKER_00 24:45

It was it was good, it was manageable until like my last property. So I just I added a co-living property um last year. Okay. And that one was going great. Right now I just I just have two empty rooms currently that just became vacant that I have to flip. But um with that property, and then I have another property that I just finished rehabbing that's gonna be my next co-living property in Miami. So I'll have I'll have three co-living properties here in Miami, and it's a lot because I'm managing construction in addition to everything else. Um, my first property is not on any platform. I'm you know doing all the marketing and stuff myself. My second property is in an area called Miami Garden, so it's a nice area. It's a it this was the house that I bought with my mother. We did a complete major rehab, like digging out the floor and doing all new plumbing and it adding, you know, another bedroom, adding a uh one and a half bathrooms. So we've got, yeah. So we did a major, major rehab. Yeah. And um, and it turned out beautifully. And uh, so that one will have five bedrooms and it'll have what and it has three and a half bathrooms. Okay. So two of the rooms have private bathrooms, and then the other three rooms share one and a half bathrooms. Okay, gotcha. So you can, you know, charge more for that. So um with the addition of that property, and then I just finished, like I said, a rehab, another major rehab of another property, I'm like vacations. Yeah, it's a lot. So to be honest with you, as far as you know, self-managing, uh talking with my husband and my son. So I have a son who's who's an adult um who lives in uh Georgia, and he's very entrepreneurial, he's very bright, and um this is all you know part of his legacy. You know, this is gonna be his. So my goal is by the end of this year, at the latest, to bring him into the property management aspect of the business. So right now, I'm I'm honestly organizing each of my properties as far as documentation so that I can just, you know, hand it over to him, you know, in an orderly fashion, but it's just getting everything organized so I can turn it over. So that's my desire rather than hiring some a property manager, and you know, because what happens when this legacy becomes his? He's not gonna know what to do with it. Right. So by you know, introducing him to the property management now, it will give me peace of mind that, you know, he'll know what to do when he's in charge. So and he's looking forward to that as well.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Yeah, I think that's amazing. And I'm so glad he's looking forward to it and not and not a situation, not to say that you would like, you know, set him up in this way. Um, but I'm glad it's not a situation where he's being forced into the family business.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Um, because we know in those situations, the kids usually don't last long if they're forced to situation as well.

SPEAKER_00 28:13

He's excited.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

So I'm so glad he's excited. That's awesome because he will be able to carry the business generation after generation after generation. Like if that's if he has, you know, he's gotta have a kid that's excited as he is, and then he's as excited as you know the previous kid was. But um just giving just giving your family a shot at having, you know, this portfolio that you're building, um, something that you know is uh a viable option to continue to create wealth, yeah, being able to pass that to the next generation is amazing. Um because we've just seen so many times that parents they start businesses and the kids could care less. Like they don't they don't want your business, they don't want your restaurant, they don't want your accounting firm, they don't want law firm, like none of that stuff because it's like I have other desires I want to pursue. Yeah. Um but I guess we're biased because I feel like this is a pretty good route for him to pursue. Like absolutely it doesn't matter what you're doing in business, all roads read all roads lead to real estate. We know that. You may start in real estate making money, or you may start making money in other businesses, other business, other industries, and you ended up buying real estate later on. So tell me about what your um goals are for I guess the remainder of the year. We got what five and a half months left? Yeah, like are you buying another one? Are you just wanting to like just create more stability and and and create a more uh firm foundation for what you got going on now?

SPEAKER_00 29:51

Like what are your thoughts of what you're trying, what you're gonna build between now and year in? Right. So the the goal is to get the foundation done, get everything organized. You know, I I I thrive on organization, you know, and I want to make it easy for someone to pick it up and be able to run with it. So, you know, getting all the operating procedures in place and you know, these are the this is the information for this property, that property, you know, so that everything is organized. So that's my goal for the the rest of this year. We did just buy a property in Georgia, in Atlanta, um, which is minutes away from the airport. It's in a great location, and part that's part of my retirement planning because my son and my grandchildren, I have three grandchildren, live in Georgia. And so I frequently go to Georgia to to see them. And um, so you know, we said, well, why not buy a house? So my son lives there. Uh his children will come every other weekend for his visitation, and then so they have their rooms. I have a room where my husband and I can go and we can stay as often as we like. And we were intentional in buying a house that had a fully finished basement that has two bedrooms, a bathroom, a little kitchenette, and a private entrance. So we're gonna Airbnb that out so that it'll help to you know cover the mortgage and the expenses. So that we we just we just closed on on that. So we're in the process of getting the Airbnb part of it uh set up so that we can start making some money with that. So as far as buying more property before the end of the year, unless something drops in my lap, I'm not out there looking for it. Yeah, I need to you know get a handle and and manage everything that I have, get it organized so I can sleep well at night.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Because that to-do list will keep you up. That to-do list will be like well, I gotta let me go do it right now before I go to sleep.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, one of the things that I do have to do um is the the property that I bought last year um that we just finished the rehab, that one I need to do a cash-out refinance. So you talk about you know different ways of financing properties. That one I also bought subject to the mortgage. I bought it from um a family friend who needed to sell the house. I tried to convince them to keep it and rent it, but they were like, no, we just want to sell it. I said, okay, I'll buy it. And I bought it, and the mortgage is still in her name. Um, and what I what I agreed to do is I gave her a promissory note for her part of the money. So I'm giving her a little at a time to kind of stretch out the payments, and then I took over the mortgage. So I'm paying her mortgage, and so at the now that the house is rehabbed and we're about to start renting it, I'm at the point where now I can do the cash out refinance, I can pay her off, um, you know, pay off the the old mortgage and then pay myself back for not all, but most of the rehab costs, so that I'll have very little money in in the deal. So that's something else that has to be done this year.

unknown 33:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

Very good. Very good. Part of the tying up of the loose ends.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Yeah, yeah. Each one of these houses we buy, they represent little banks, like a whole little bank. And at some point in the future, after stabilizing the asset, you can reach back and say, I'm gonna do a cash out refile so I can get a cat some cash out of there. Um, use that cash towards the next purchase, or do the cash out refund like you you mentioned in this scenario, is paying off the uh existing mortgage that has someone else's name on it. Yeah, which is nothing wrong with keeping her name on it. I mean, people buy subject to all the time, and they keep that person's name on the mortgage and everything in place with it for years. And as long as that mortgage gets paid on time by somebody, no one cares. Nobody cares. They don't care. Um, so last question. Um over your five years of experience, thinking back to the good, the bad, and the ugly, what advice would you give a first-time room rental business operator?

SPEAKER_00 34:16

So my advice would be to educate yourself, um, not to just jump in without, you know, education. There are reputable people that have courses, like Ashley. You have a great course. Um you have to you you know, absolutely, it's absolutely true. Um, listening to your content, I've been listening to your podcast, I've learned a few things, which has been great, you know. So finding someone who's reputable, who can who's doing the work, already doing it, so that you can follow them and learn from them. Because doing it blind, I think, is probably the worst thing that you could possibly do. And it doesn't mean that you have, you know, what is it called? Analysis paralysis, where you're just learning and you don't take any action. You learn and then you you have to take action. And you can do it scared, just you know, just do it scared, but do it.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

I love that. Um, I have been um I I've lost I've lost count of the number of investors that have brought me either their own deal or a wholesaler has brought me a deal where it's an investor that just jumped off the porch and was like, gonna buy this property because I heard room rentals, you get two to three times more cash flow on a room rental property versus a traditional rental, and that's all they heard. Yeah that's that's their that was their research. Um, and just buy the house, throw some people in there, and think that it's just gonna like stabilize itself and it's just gonna cash flow every month and everything's gonna be fine. No, it's like it's like you don't need to a little more into it than that. Well, it's a little more into it than that. It's like you need to think about you're gonna be managing multiple personalities under this one roof you bought. It's not about it's not just about the property anymore. That's traditional rentals. Room rentals is coordinating of uh maintenance requests. Um, it's understanding what to do if one of your tenants like has like a mental breakdown. Like, what do you do in that situation? I had one of those. I haven't had one full-fledged, like I haven't had one like like just like have a total display of a meltdown, but I'm definitely I'm definitely dealing with someone right now who I think is is is is suffering a little bit just because of how they interact with me via messenger. And so, yeah, these are things that I can go on for for days about the the the considerations that you should be making. Um I mean it's a whole just like people were just like people needed to learn how Airbnb worked. It wasn't just a matter of putting a house on their platform and just expecting people to just start bringing you money, just start paying you to stay in your unit because you it's more to it than that. So that's the best advice is to get educated. Get educated. I would love if it's me, but if it's not me, let it be somebody, like you mentioned, that that shows that they have experience in this game, that they are actively in this game, not someone who did it 20 years ago and is teaching from a vantage point of 20 years ago, right? Absolutely, yeah. So, Danice, thank you so much for being here. Oh, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 37:44

This is Engraves. Great conversation.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

Yeah, this this was uh this is I I love having these conversations. I always get gems, I'm always learning. So I've learned some things from you. Um, and I think it's amazing. Uh that legacy piece, that's my that's my favorite part of this conversation. Your son is gonna pick this thing up and keep running with it. And so that's all hopefully soon. Yeah, yeah, it's he's on the way. He's on the way. It'll work out as soon as it's as soon as it's supposed to work out. Hang on in here. I'm feeling you. That's self-made, you know, like where are you at? There's no joke.

SPEAKER_00 38:16

But we make it look easy.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

You we still we still look like you know, we just came back from vacation, um, in spite of all the things. Absolutely. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your time, and thank you for sharing your story. I appreciate you. Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

I really appreciate you too.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

All right, guys. Listen, thank you for joining this episode. Make sure you like this episode, make sure you subscribe to the Co Co Living Investing um podcast so that you can get more knowledge, so you can hear more stories that are inspirational, like Dionysus. Um, and so until next time, we'll see. Thanks everybody for joining. Peace.