[00:00:05] Speaker A: Welcome to the short term show. The show about short term rentals and long term wealth with real property owners hosting real properties who are crushing it in the vacation and short term rental space.
And here's your host, Avery Carle.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Hey y'.
[00:00:29] Speaker C: All.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Welcome to another episode of the short term show. I apologize for my voice today. I have the back to school kids coming home with everything and I caught it from them. But we've got a really cool guest today so we are going to push through it. Christian Walston. How are you doing? We got, he's an investor in Orlando, which I really love that market. Everybody likes to crap on Orlando or Kissimmee. But to me, and we'll hear more about it from Christian to me, the over saturation and the overpriced and things like that.
That market was very affected by that in 2021, I would say. And now the tide has kind of gone out on that. A lot of those Covid buyers have already sold out.
Prices have come down significantly and income has stabilized. And I think that there's a lot of opportunity in the Orlando market just because everybody, you know, they don't even look at anything. They just heard somebody say, oh, it's oversaturated and so they don't bother with it. But those 54 million tourists a year to Disney World are not going away. And as somebody who goes and stays on Disney property four to five times a year, there's only four resorts that can sleep more than four people in a room.
So anybody who has three kids instead of two or wants their grandparents to come or go with friends, if y' all want to stay together, you're probably going to need a vacation rental. So let's talk about first. Well, we're going to talk about Orlando, but let's talk about Christian. Christian, how's it going? Tell us a little bit about yourself.
[00:02:01] Speaker C: Doing well. Happy to be here, Avery. So name is Christian Walston.
My day job, I'm an engineer. Work in the aerospace field, so. So that's usually pretty exciting. Keeps me busy.
My wife is a teacher. She just went back to school this week so. So she's unable to join me. But she does help.
You know, we're a partner in this, in this venture.
But yeah, I got into real estate several years ago and just recently got a short term, short term world.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: Awesome. So what got you into real estate initially? Sounds like you got into long term first.
[00:02:35] Speaker C: Yeah, so really my dad got me into real estate as a kid. So he's self employed. He would be A great podcast guest somewhere. He's not in the short term world, but he came from, you know, very poor upbringing. And then, you know, he's an entrepreneur. He owned, I think at the most he had like six long term rentals. And you know, in high school and middle school, my job was to mow the grass, you know, so I was around it.
And then in college, like I would go, you know, for my dad to the courthouse steps and, you know, be there for auctions and things like that.
So I was really at a young age, you know, getting exposed to real estate. And then that's all thanks to my parents.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: That's amazing. And I hope my kids will one day say that about us and not just say my parents, you know, they're, they're boomers or whatever, whatever the equivalent.
Millennial will be a slur at that point and they'll be like a bunch of real estate. Maybe they'll what you just said and say my parents really exposed me to something helpful and cool that's allowed me to build some wealth. So that's really cool. So your dad kind of exposed you to that and you bought how many long term rentals?
[00:03:49] Speaker C: So at 23, I bought my first long term rental. I had graduated from college. I was an engineer. And you're going to think, you know, people listening this are going to think, you know, this was like 50 years ago, but, but I'm in my 30s now and I bought a home for $33,000.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: What?
[00:04:05] Speaker C: Yeah, so.
So I live on a, on a small coastal community. It's called Crisfield. Maryland used to be like the second largest city in Maryland, like 100 years ago, and it's been in decline ever since then.
But it's so, it's right on the Chesapeake Bay, but it was just a home nearby, like a, not even a half mile from where I grew up.
It had been foreclosed like a year or two beforehand.
And then, you know, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, whoever owned it, they went in and they fixed it up a little bit. But, and they tried to sell it. It didn't sell. You can see from the photos, there was a sagging floor. And I think that scared a lot of people away.
And then finally they put up for auction and I put a bid on. It was online, nobody else bid, didn't meet the reserve. And like two weeks later they reached out and said, hey, would you still be interested in buying it? And I said sure. And so that they took my, they took my bid of 30,000 and then I had about 10%, you know, auction fees.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:05:06] Speaker C: And. And it was literally, I mean, it was a small home. It was a 2:1.
And this is an area that is very, you know, real estate is still on the cheaper side where I live.
But yeah, it was very much a, you know, make the money when you buy type scenario.
I later sold that and bought a triplex, which I still hold today.
And then I kind of got into the short term world by accident. I had purchased a home near where I was working at the time. And it was, it was very nice. It was a. It was a three bedroom home right on the water near the ocean.
And Covid happened and I went, you know, the world went remote.
I went with. Staying with my parents. I'm very close to my parents. And my neighbor was like, why don't you think about renting it out since you're not here? And I did. And I guess the rest is history.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: This program has been brought to you by the Short Term Shop.
The Short Term Shop is the premier vacation rental real estate agency. And we are hiring real estate agents in the following markets.
Outer Banks, Shenandoah, Virginia, Galveston, Texas, and the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee.
If you are a real estate agent in one of these markets or want to move to one of these areas, Please contact us careershortermshop.com thank you for joining us. Here at the Short Term Shop, we help real estate investors like you buy and sell vacation homes.
We operate in over 20 true vacation markets across the United States.
If you have more questions about buying and selling, join us every week for a live Q and
[email protected].
that's str questions.com.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: okay, so you bought a single family, had that for a while, traded that up to a triplex, and then got into short term rentals during COVID because you moved into your parents to hang out.
[00:07:25] Speaker C: Yeah, kind of. I mean, so basically, I mean, I bought this home, it's in a town called Chincoteague, Virginia, which if you're into horses, you've probably heard of the town. It's. It's famous for having wild ponies on the beach and they swim them every year. But next door to it is a NASA facility, which is where I was working at the time.
And so I bought the home. I was living there. I bought it in 2019. Covid hit in 2020. And, you know, I'm working remotely. I was single at the time, and my parents, you know, they were in their 60s. And I was like, you know, I don't really want them going to the store and things, you know, Covid was new. You didn't know what was going on.
So I was staying with them, just, you know, like quarantined together. And my neighbor Chincoteague is, you know, a tourist destination.
And so my neighbor was telling me he was running his and gave me a contact info to a local rental agency and so I listed it with them. So I wasn't self managing at the time, but yeah.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: All right, well that's cool. That's a nice foray into it. And then you did buy a vacation rental in the Disney area with us. So how did, what made you decide to do that?
[00:08:37] Speaker C: Well, so, I mean, I had been renting out my home for, you know, I guess a little over a year or so, a year and a half. And you know, I wasn't, I mean, I love the, the vacation rental company that we use. The people were great, but I wasn't a huge fan of some of the things they were doing.
We, my, my, my mother was a teacher, so spring break, we would go to, you know, Orlando most years type deal.
And so I was familiar with the Orlando market.
We went down as a family and stayed at a vacation rental, you know, that we found on Airbnb. It was myself, my wife, my, my parents and my sister and her husband and kids. So it was a very big group and we rented a home. And you know, I was just sitting there, you know, at the house one day and looking up, you know, what this house cost type deal. You know, I'm in, I'm in the real estate. Whenever I'm on vacation, I'm always looking at the local market be like, hey, can we move here?
And so, you know, I started looking at it and then I looked at like what we had paid and I was like, this makes way more sense than the market that I'm currently in.
And so then I did some searching. I found, I found, you know, the short term shop. I read your book. A lot of the stuff you mentioned in your book were things like, oh yeah, this is what my manager does.
So learn a lot from that.
And then at the time I got reached out and had a couple meetings with Wade. He was still in the Orlando market at the time.
And that's when we really started seriously looking into it at the time. You know, by then I'd gotten married, My wife and I had moved elsewhere together and we're just having that other home as a, as a vacation rental.
And so at that point we ended up Deciding to list that home and buying in Orlando.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: All right, so I would like to hear because typically, and I don't mean to profile you here as an engineer, but I'm going to typically, and this is 5,000 clients worth of experience engineers and sometimes doctors have the hardest time with analysis of any other type of buyer because they just want there to be that. Right. And only exact number that a property can do or should do.
And that's just not short term rental.
Rental is very much a range. It's very subjective. It's very qualitative and you know, it ends up quantitative, but it's qualitative things that put those numbers on the spreadsheets. So it's, it's a little bit hard to wrap your head around if you're a strict numbers brain person. So I would love to hear, well first, before we talk about the analysis, what size property did you end up buying? And then I want to hear about the analysis phase.
[00:11:25] Speaker C: So. So we purchased in Windsor Hills.
For those who are familiar with the market. It was one of the first vacation rental communities that was built in the Disney area.
I think there's 999 units and you know, there's very similar floor plans between all of them. The largest is six bedrooms, four bathroom. So we bought that floor plan, you know, the largest in the community. But the previous owners had actually closed off one of the living spaces and made a seventh bedroom.
So, so it's, you know, has an extra queen bed compared to other, you know, neighbors.
So it looks a little bit larger, but it's really that six floor layout, same, same, you know, footprint.
[00:12:06] Speaker B: So you have the only seven bedroom in that thousand units.
[00:12:12] Speaker C: I think there might be three or four others, but it's very, it's a very rare, you know, to see the seven, which, you know, when you hear oh, four baths, that, you know that, that number sounds off, you know, compared to seven bedrooms. But it works out there. There's two ensuites and then there's like children's rooms and they share a bathroom. It's not Jack and Jill, but it's essentially Jack and Jill.
And then there's another shared, shared bathroom. But, but yeah, it's a good, good size home. I think it's 2800 square feet.
[00:12:42] Speaker B: All right, so what did you project that to be able to do and what has it done?
[00:12:48] Speaker C: Yeah, so for the first year we were projecting based on, you know, air, DNA, price labs. Wade at the, you know, in the past had sent me tons of links and I guess short Term clients and like, here's what they're doing, you know, trying to try to convince me the numbers are real, essentially.
But we were projecting around, you know, we were, you know, you plan for the low case. We were projecting around 100,000 is what we were thinking in a year.
So we closed last November of 2025 for those who may be listening in the future.
And our first guests were Christmas Eve after doing, you know, some rehab and cleaning. Yeah. And it's a two day pressure.
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
And so today we've done after, you know, OTA fees, 88,000. And this is mid August, so a little over 11,000amonth.
We still have a bunch left to book through the rest of this year, but currently we have the 118,000 on the books for this year. Okay, so we've performed better than our low case.
[00:14:00] Speaker B: Yeah. So guys, this is August, if you're listening later. So they've still got the rest of August, September, October, November and December to, to even get more bookings. So you're already 18,000 ahead of projections and you've got plenty of time to pad that even more.
[00:14:15] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. And of that 118, that does include some bookings we have for, you know, the rest of the year. But we still have Thanksgiving week is open, Christmas is still open, which those will be, you know, increasing those numbers.
[00:14:28] Speaker B: Oh yeah. And Christmas and Thanksgiving are prime time at Disney World. That's some of the most expensive times to go into the park. So I would imagine those are going to be a pretty nice payday.
[00:14:42] Speaker C: Yes. So, so I think for Christmas we. It's currently like $800,000 a night is what Price Lab is projecting out. So that could be, you know, another $5,000 or so if somebody, you know, books at that price.
[00:14:55] Speaker B: Nice.
Awesome. So what did you pay for this property? I don't think we've talked about that yet.
[00:15:02] Speaker C: So we paid.
Prices have gone down a little bit since we bought, but we paid 729.
And then we also, we also had, I believe it was 3% seller credit. So it really brought us down to right around 700,000.
And we kind of did that because for those who are familiar with the Disney market, there's a lot in theming. And so we wanted to kind of preserve capital for that theming. We didn't want to take out a loan for that. We just wanted it to be, you know, in our mortgage this conceptually.
[00:15:31] Speaker B: And what did you do for theming? Because I want to preface this too. If somebody's listening, that's new Kissimmee and Orlando. That's like the only market that I agree with with everybody who says you have to do these crazy themes. That is a market where you do have to do some heavy immersive theming or just make sure it's really updated. Because a lot of the properties there were built in like 2000, early 2000s. So it's still that whole early 2000s Tuscan vibe. Everything's tan, looks like, you know, Olive Garden vibe, Olive Garden chic carpet. So you either at the very least need to be super updated, but it's best if you're very themed. So what did you do for theming and what did you spend on that?
[00:16:16] Speaker C: So we ended up theming two of the bedrooms.
We did one for you know, stereotypically boys, one stereotypically girls. We did Toy Story theme. You know, that's everybody loves Toy Story. We wanted to do something that isn't going to be outdated in two years, you know, that people are going to want. So we did Toy story for the one which was great with Toy Story 5 just coming out.
And then for the girls bedroom we did a princess theme.
And so with both of those, they've got like in room slides, you know, custom built beds, muraling on the walls.
For the.
We took out the closet doors, we left the closets in so in case, you know, if you ever needed it. We didn't tear out the wall but we took out the doors. And in the princess room we made that into a dress up area. We added a pedestal that they can stand on with a mirror and we've got like 10 or 12 dresses and you know, things of that and like lights, spotlights shining down.
And then on the boys room we put in a ball pit in the closet. Just.
But you know, I don't have any kids and my wife and I don't have kids but we have five nieces and nephews and you know, they were our, they were our, hey, what do you think of this? You know.
And then so we did those two rooms and then we also completely converted the garage. The garage was just a standard garage.
We took out, well the garage door is still there, but we took out the tracks, built the wall and insulation, put in H vac and made it into a full arcade, like professional like air hockey, skeeball, side by side racing games and then the basketball like Papa Shot.
So all in that was about 75,000 including you know, a lot of it was converting the garage.
If we were to purchase Again, I think I'd be interested in seeing if we just did the bedrooms and maybe did the garage into instead of like an arcade, maybe like a stage standard game room, you know, like with foosball and things like that.
Just because the arcade machines were a significant portion, it was like 20 some thousand dollars.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: Oh yeah.
[00:18:25] Speaker C: But theming wise, the company we went with it was $15,000 for a bedroom. And that included all the, you know, the muraling, the built in building, you know, custom built slides and, and beds and all that stuff. Like, like the Toy Story room I think is really neat. Like to get up to the top bunk, it looks like blocks, you know, like, you know, as if you're boy.
So they're climbing up the blocks to get to the bed. And then like the post, you know, they've made it looks like books, you know, like, like it's like a giant book. But you know, you're the size of a toy is what it's, you know, trying to.
[00:19:01] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:19:02] Speaker C: Yeah, so. So it's really neat. So. So I think, I think they, they sell really well. I think the game room photo really pops. Probably helps us, you know, maybe get some interest and stuff. But I think it would probably, you could probably do just, just as well, maybe a little bit less as well with you know, a big 85 inch TV and some Xboxes or PlayStations or something.
[00:19:26] Speaker B: Yeah, we learned.
[00:19:29] Speaker C: But yeah, so, so it took about a month to rehab from time we closed to tearing out things that were there and building the new and the muraling that takes. That took a bit.
[00:19:40] Speaker B: Okay, that seems Fairly reasonably priced. 15,000 a bedroom for all that.
[00:19:45] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, I think the bedroom was really good. I mean converting the, the garage was a big thing. So I mean if we were in the market looking, you know, for another home that we're thinking about buying in Orlando and it's like, okay, let's look for a garage that's already converted.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:02] Speaker C: Because you know, then you don't have to add the H vac. We had to add a wall to close off, you know, where the water heater was because you don't want kids, you know, playing in the, you know, wire or something.
So.
So all that stuff adds up and if it's already done, then perfect.
[00:20:22] Speaker B: Yeah. And speaking of Toy Story, before we move on to the next subject, pro tip, if you're going to the parks, my family's favorite place to eat in all of Disney World, all the parks is in Hollywood studios at the back in Toy Story World. It's called Woody's Roundup Barbecue. And you, you have to make a reservation. It's not a walk up. It is so fun. And it's actually really good.
Like, I lived in Texas for a long time, used to Memphis barbecue growing up, and it's really good. And you're, you're the size of a toy and it's like an immersive theme of Andy's house. And it's cool. So highly recommend if you're going to Disney World to schedule that in for lunch because it's awesome.
[00:21:03] Speaker C: Yeah. Love Hollywood Studios.
[00:21:06] Speaker B: I think that's my favorite park.
[00:21:08] Speaker C: Yeah, we went, we went as a family just beginning of the summer and, and I say that as a family, like my sister. Her and her husband now have five kids.
So it's a. Wow. Big, big group. And we went. That's where they wanted to go. Hollywood Studios.
[00:21:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, Hollywood's awesome. My kids, Magic Kingdom's their favorite. And that's partially my favorite because it's their favorite. But Hollywood, I think, is my favorite. But anyway, so you had, this is a really interesting situation that you had that I wanted everybody to hear about is you had a situation where you were accused of having a camera in your property. Is that right? To have that? Right?
[00:21:45] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. So it was a Sunday evening and I was out with actually my parents, my dad. We were, we were doing something together and I got a call and I had never gotten a call from. I guess I don't provide guests with my personal cell phone, but I now know the Airbnb does.
And so I, I got a call and, you know, we were out together and, you know, it was unknown number and I'm like, oh, this is just a spam call or something. So I just let it go to voicemail. They didn't leave a voicemail. So I said, okay, whatever just went on with my evening.
Well, about 11 o' clock that night, and mind you, these guests have been there for about a week.
I get a message on Airbnb from the guests saying that they wanted, that they tried calling me earlier in the day and they wanted to talk to me about the camera I have at the unit.
And I'm like, you know, I, I looked at my wife, I was like, are they talking about the ring camera? We have a ring camera. We have it disclosed. You know, it's at the front door. We don't really check it. It's mainly just to make sure, like, hey, did the cleaner go through or did something get delivered? You know, because we're we're in Maryland. We're 12 hours away.
And so I get on chat with Airbnb, and I was like, how would you like me to respond? I don't have any cameras except for the Ring.
And so they give me a response. And so I send it to the guests.
Well, then the guest responds later and said, no, I'm. I'm talking about this camera in the kid's bedroom and the. In the.
[00:23:09] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness.
[00:23:11] Speaker C: And we're like, what. What are you. We have no cameras inside. Like, we're completely confused about what the guest is talking about. And, you know, she keeps pushing, oh, I want to talk to you about it. And I was like, I'm keeping this on platform, because who knows? You know, at this point, I think they're probably trying to scan.
So then she sends a photo, and it is a.
We couldn't tell what it was. It was. It was a square thing that was, like, pushed into the blinds.
Oh, my God. And we're like, we have no idea what this photo is. Like, my wife's, like, on AI trying to figure out what it is.
And so then finally she, like, pulls it down, and it's a wyze, like, baby monitor camera with, like, a wire that isn't hooked up to anything. And it was, like, pushed into the blinds.
[00:24:04] Speaker B: Previous guests left it.
[00:24:06] Speaker C: So we don't know if the previous guests left it or if they were trying to maybe get a refund.
We never really got to the bottom of it. It wasn't connected. It wasn't plugged into anything. It wasn't connected to our WI fi. So our community, the hoa, provides WI fi, and you can see any devices that are connected to your WI fi, and there's nothing, you know, that was like a WYZE camera that was connected.
So we really don't know what they were after.
I think they were trying to get a refund. And, you know, I spoke with Airbnb, like, several times, and they were like, tell them to contact us.
And so that's what I did. And then she just dropped it. I didn't hear from her again.
And, like, our cleaners send photos.
So we were like, okay, let's look to see if it's in the photo. Did they stage it? And of course, how the wet. How the. It was in the very right corner of the window. And as they took the photo, that corner is, like, not in the image. It's blocked by.
So it's like, okay, we can't see this.
I reached out to the Previous guest. And I was like, hey, did you by chance leave? You know, we found an electronic device. Did you? Or we found a personal electronic, I think is what I said. So we didn't want to concern them. And we were like, did you happen to forget anything? And they said, no, we've got everything.
So I don't think they. And the guest before, in the photo, you could see that corner, and it wasn't there. So it was like it was either that guest or the guest who previously checked out.
And we never really got to the bottom of it.
And I was like, calling Airbnb, like, the whole, whole time.
And then like a day, you know, Airbnb is like, oh, you're fine. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. No issues. Then like, three days later, we get an email that says, your listing has been suspended while we investigate.
[00:26:00] Speaker B: Oh, no. They told you to send it to them?
[00:26:04] Speaker C: Yeah, so. So. So they sent it. Like, they told us everything was fine. And so I'm like, putting that in the chat, and I'm like, look, I have this chat from this other host where I had been on the phone, and he sent a message afterwards, like a follow up and was saying, hey, thanks for the call, blah, blah, everything is fine. You've broken no rules. And I was like, I have this guy, you know, with Airbus, saying everything was fine. We didn't break any rules. And the safety team is like, yeah, well, we're above everyone.
We'll let you know.
[00:26:33] Speaker B: Oh, man.
[00:26:33] Speaker C: And so when they checked out, my cleaner went in and like, as she walked in the door, she. She took a video and, like, walked up the steps and walked to the room and it was like, stuffed in the window. Like they, they had left it. So I don't know, you know, if it was theirs or not, but they left it in that window. But it's just really weird because to me, if, like, if I was concerned about it, why would I put it back up?
Yeah. And like, the first image that they sent, it was pointing out the window, and then they sent a second image and it's pointing back inside, and then they put it back up. So it was just really fishy all around. But after about a week, Airbnb just said, okay, you're good to go, and reopened our listing.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Did they refund that guest?
[00:27:21] Speaker C: No, they didn't refund that guest. They didn't do they let guests who were already booked continue to come in and stay? I just couldn't get new bookings. Oh, you're like four or five days yeah, so, like, we were. It was weird.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: Did you have to provide any additional documentation or you just sent them everything that you had with all the conversations and pictures and everything?
[00:27:44] Speaker C: Yes, so I sent them all that. I sent them the video from the.
You know, I was just kind of sending them anything that I thought they would want, trying to expedite the review.
So I sent them the video from the cleaner.
I sent them, like, a screenshot from the Internet app where it was showing that, you know, there wasn't anything like that connected to the WI fi.
We showed them how there was no power cable to the camera, so there was no way. It doesn't run on batteries. Like, it was just. Literally just a camera stuck up there.
So it was really weird. I don't know if somebody pulled the cable out and left it, you know, and they wanted to have a baby monitor for their kid.
And, you know, it's. It's a big home, so it could have been grouped. So the person I messaged saying, hey, did you guys forget anything? Might have been like, oh, no, me and my family didn't forget anything. But, you know, brother and sister and their kids who were with them, they have forgot. I don't know, but it was just. It was just very odd. And.
And when that guest checked in, you know, there's some guests who you can tell maybe need more hand holding than others. I'm sure you've done it, you know, with all the thousands of guests. And that guest, like, five minutes after checking in, they said they sent a message. And we're like, one of the stairs, one of the risers has, like, a crack in it from, like, somebody's suitcase hitting it. And they were like, we wanted to let you know the stairs are broken.
And we'll let you know. They're like, we'll let you know of any more issues we find. And so it was like, okay, like, five minutes into getting to Disney, you're. You're looking for issues.
[00:29:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
And, you know, the stairs are broken, to me means there's, like, a major. Something has caved in. Not. Yeah, there's a little crack in the, you know, facade where somebody hit it with a.
[00:29:34] Speaker C: With a suitcase. Yeah. Yeah. And so, like, from that beginning, and then after they started sending the messages, like, I.
I started, like, searching the guest's name, and it's like, okay, like, she had been sued, like, that month for defaulting on her credit cards. Like, she had been to prison. And it's like, why did Airbnb let this guest, like, on their on their plat. Like I thought they did like a background check but.
But perhaps that was my misunderstanding.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: Well, I'm glad that you were able to get it worked out and they didn't shut you down because for, I mean, at least only temporarily.
[00:30:12] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. And so that guest did leave us a three star review and in the review it was four words, slept well and comfortable.
Three stars.
[00:30:26] Speaker B: That could have been worse.
[00:30:27] Speaker C: Yeah, it could have been worse. But it was like, okay, like I did leave her a somewhat negative review personally.
[00:30:37] Speaker B: Yeah. Shut you down.
[00:30:40] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, so. And I did block her so she can't, can't book again.
But it was, it was interesting, very, very interesting week. I did not sleep very well that week.
[00:30:53] Speaker B: Well, I'm glad you got it, got it figured out.
[00:30:56] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, thanks. Thanks to you know, I guess a plug for you guys to sts. Plus, you know, I posted in there and like Luke called me like 6:30 in the morning and was like, so it was, it was great.
[00:31:11] Speaker B: He will do that. He'll go at four, he's up at four. If you, if text you and you write back, he will call you at 4 o'.
[00:31:18] Speaker C: Clock.
I don't remember if he texted me first or if he commented and said, you know, call me as soon as you see this. And it was like 6, 6, 6:30 in the morning. And so we were like chatting and my wife, you know, she's, she's a school teacher so she was like getting ready. She's like, who are you on the phone with this early?
But, but yeah, so that was a big help. It's, it's nice to have a, have a village.
[00:31:42] Speaker B: Yeah, it really is. It really is.
Well, hopefully you don't have any more crazy stories like that, at least for a little while.
And we're to the final three questions of the show that we ask every single guest. Are you ready for those?
[00:31:57] Speaker C: Of course.
[00:31:58] Speaker B: All right, first question. What advice would you give 20 year old Christian if you knew then what you know now? Which I mean you were already basically investing in real estate by then. You were only a few years away.
[00:32:10] Speaker C: Yeah. Yes.
So I mean 20 year old me was probably on the courthouse steps, but I probably taught myself to, you know, just focus more on real estate and not spread myself across a whole bunch of ventures. Like at that age, you know, it's like, oh, I need capital.
And so I tried a lot of things.
Some of them not so great, some of them better.
Like, you know, I'm working full time and I like I started a food truck Type deal. Oh, wow.
And so you like, I learned from all of it. But, you know, real estate is ultimately where, you know, I found a lot of success and able to build some wealth. So I just tell myself to identify what was working and then just double down on it and let time and, you know, compounding do its job.
[00:32:52] Speaker B: Awesome. Great advice. Number two, what advice would you give a new short term rental investor who's looking to get started today, particularly in if they're considering Orlando?
[00:33:04] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, well, firstly, you know, it's, don't get stuck in analysis paralysis, you know, do your homework, but you're never going to know, feel like you know everything. A lot of it you're going to have to learn, you know, as you go.
And you know, everyone says Orlando is, you know, oversaturated this or that. You know, you hear it all the time.
You know, there are a lot of, lot of vacation rentals, but there's a lot of tourists and visitors as well.
So the main thing is, you know, one is location, you know, make sure you buy as close to Disney as possible. And then two is just making sure you have, you know, good systems in place, you know, some, some theming and you'll be successful.
[00:33:49] Speaker B: Great advice. And last, what's your favorite book that's impacted your mindset?
[00:33:54] Speaker C: So my favorite book, I'm sure this has been mentioned a lot. I haven't listened to every podcast. I apologize, but how dare you.
But, but definitely the Millionaire next door.
Yeah, so I read that in, in high school, believe it or not. And you know, for those who aren't familiar with it, it basically is saying that, you know, your neighbor next door is, you know, a millionaire by chance, you know, by, you know, saving, investing in businesses or real estate or, you know, the stock market or what have you. But you know, living within their means, not trying to have the flashiest, you know, new, new item.
So that was a really good book. It helps set, set your mindset from, you know, having your money work for you.
[00:34:42] Speaker B: Yeah, that is a good one. I've, I had forgotten about that one. I read that was one of the first kind of business books I read at like 24, 25 and I'd completely forgotten about it until you just said, I don't think anybody's done that. I mean, obviously we've had a lot of rich dad, poor dad.
[00:34:57] Speaker C: Yeah, I've heard that Probably e myth, probably four hour work week. You know, like all I've read them all. But you know, one of the first ones was millionaire next door. And a few years ago, they came out with an updated version with. With new numbers, so it's not.
So for those who may be reading
[00:35:13] Speaker B: it today, adjusted for inflation.
[00:35:16] Speaker C: Yeah, Just probably going up just a bit.
[00:35:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
Awesome. Well, Christian, you've been such a wonderful guest. Thank you so much for coming on. Do you have any social media or anything that people can follow? And if you don't want to be followed, that's totally cool. We have guests that are like, no, no, I'm just.
I'm just cruising. You guys Listen this podcast and that's it.
[00:35:38] Speaker C: So I'm not really trying to be an influencer, but I am on all the platforms. I don't post often, hardly at all, but it's just my first initial, C, last name Walston, and then 108. So that's pretty much every platform.
If you want to see our home, it's. If you Google Walston, Windsor Hills, that'll come up there. You can see our home.
[00:36:01] Speaker B: We'll put it in the show notes too, so people can click on it.
[00:36:04] Speaker C: Okay, perfect. Yeah. Yeah, but I don't. I post, like, on Instagram twice a year for my wife's birthday and our anniversary, so. But if you reach out, I'll see the message.
[00:36:14] Speaker B: Awesome. Well, Christian, thank you again so much for coming on. And listeners, we will see you next week.
[00:36:19] Speaker C: Yep. Thanks, Avery. Enjoy the rest of your day.
