Episode Transcript
[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.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: And here's your host, Avery Carle.
[00:00:29] Speaker C: Hey y'. All. Welcome back to the Short Term show brought to you by the Short Term Shop. Guys, I want to make sure that I'm mentioning this at the beginning of every show. We are real estate agents and we operate in about 20 markets and we want to help you buy a short term rental. So if you're listening to this and you're thinking about buying a short term rental, give us a call. Just go to our website, theshortermshop.com and you can get us really easy there. We want to help you on your real estate investing journey. Now we are going to hear from from Luke and Lara Hintermeister. They are Midwestern investors that bought their first short term rental on or near Lake Superior sometime in the last year. And we're going to hear about how their journey as new short term rental investors is going. How are you, Laura and Luke?
[00:01:13] Speaker D: Great, great, thank you.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: Excited to be here.
[00:01:16] Speaker C: Well, very happy to have you.
So first off, just tell me a little bit about yourselves, who you were before real estate investing and how you kind of got into it.
[00:01:26] Speaker D: Great. Well, we met at umd. It's University of Minnesota Duluth in college.
[00:01:32] Speaker C: Sounds cold.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: It is, yeah.
[00:01:34] Speaker D: That's where we fell in love in Duluth. It's a beautiful city and we lived there for, well, just during that time. We've moved around quite a bit.
We had, we got married in 2000.
We've had four kids.
We've done a lot of early on renovations on homes. Probably about eight, eight or nine homes that we've either renovated or built.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: Yeah, we met in college.
I got married right after college. I ended up going to medical school in the same city.
Laura, we've had four kids since then and so she's been someone who homeschooled her kids initially and it was the actor and director of all of our renovations since then.
[00:02:27] Speaker C: All right, homeschool.
[00:02:29] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: Interesting decision.
[00:02:31] Speaker D: Yeah, not for everyone.
[00:02:34] Speaker C: How many kids do you have?
[00:02:35] Speaker D: Four.
[00:02:36] Speaker C: Four. Oh my.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:38] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:02:38] Speaker C: That's a lot of work.
[00:02:40] Speaker D: About 10 years and thought we were done. Everybody was off to school and then later on in life, Covid hit and everybody was around again. And it was kind of a crazy time. But, but it's been, it was a good journey.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:56] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:02:57] Speaker C: Love that.
So tell me a little bit about how you chose the market that you were going to invest in. Obviously, it's nearby.
[00:03:05] Speaker D: Ish.
[00:03:06] Speaker C: Somewhere you're familiar with.
[00:03:08] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So in college, obviously, in Duluth, that's about an hour and a half from where we have our current place.
And so it's a hiking, biking destination all up and down that hour and a half. And so we spent a lot of time in college, and then after college, you know, hiking and biking. So we knew the area really well. Just from personal experience, I think it was, you know, we, we travel a lot with our kids in snowboarding. They're pursuing that. So we started staying in a lot of Airbnbs. And, you know, we've always enjoyed design and renovations and sort of started thinking about it probably 2018 and 19.
And so that's kind of what led us to find our market. Just from personal experience.
[00:03:53] Speaker C: And what's the name of it again?
[00:03:54] Speaker A: Yeah, so it's, it's on the north shore of Minnesota. It's between Tofte and Lutzen, two towns up that way.
[00:04:02] Speaker C: Okay. So is this like a lake house? Is it on the water, is it out in the woods, or what type of property is it?
[00:04:08] Speaker A: Yeah, so there's, there's a primary highway called 61 that goes from Duluth all the way to Canada.
And so there's lake homes on one side and there's basically bluff homes on the other side. So we're, we're on the bluff side with expansive lake views.
[00:04:24] Speaker C: So what's a bluff home? Is that like on a cliff? I'm picturing being on a cliff.
[00:04:28] Speaker D: Mountain is the mountain that it's on. It's one of the many beautiful hiking mountains in the area.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: And these, these are Minnesota mountains.
[00:04:36] Speaker D: Yeah, they're not.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: They're like maybe, maybe 5, 600ft in elevation.
And so it's heavily wooded. There's the Superior National Forest is our backyard, and in the front is facing Lake Superior.
[00:04:49] Speaker C: So you have a view of Lake Superior?
[00:04:51] Speaker A: Yeah, we had to create that. The home we bought was owned by an elderly couple, so it was sort of run down as far as the landscape goes. And so there was a lot of steps to make sure that we could clear invasive species and certain trees to open up the view. So my son's helped us with that.
So we got rid of about 100 plus trees and made a beautiful view.
[00:05:17] Speaker C: Okay, and so what are people coming to this part of Minnesota to do? Are they doing cold weather activities? Are they doing lake activities in the summer? What. What does that look like, tourism wise?
[00:05:28] Speaker A: Yeah, it's something we obviously know from experience, but also just looking at air DNA. I did that for at least three years before we ever pulled the trigger. Sort of identify where people go. And from experience we know it's families, it's generational families, it's friend groups, and it's all about hiking, biking and skiing. So this market really has two high seasons because there's a Lutzen ski resort right there.
And then the summer season and then it's really busy still with fall colors. So there's only about two and a half months of the year that are actually sitting around 50, 60% occupancy.
[00:06:04] Speaker D: There are countless hikes and so many rivers and just beauty everywhere up there. It would take you so long to be able to explore all of it. So I think that's what draws a lot of people up there is just all of the beauty, just all of the Lake Superior hiking trail is one of many offshoots from it. And so it's just endless. We haven't explored all of it yet and we've done a lot of exploring.
[00:06:32] Speaker C: So what I'm hearing is this is a place that you love, that you know that you've been your guest avatar as a vacationer. And so you bought what you know, which I think is so important. And I can't tell you how many people come through the doors of the short term shop every single day and say, I don't care where I buy. Where's the best place to buy? Well, there are multiple best places to buy.
And you cannot say that categorically one market is always a better investment than any other market or worse investment than any other market. It all depends on what your. What deals are available to buy at the time. So I have a hard time when people come in and they're like, well, I don't care where it is. I don't. I. And I'm like, well, we. Let's buy where you have a competitive edge. And they're like, well, what's that? Well, your competitive edge is your knowledge. Have you been a vacationer there? If so, then you already know what people are coming to do when they're coming, what they want to be close to, the things they want to do with their families. So that this is all very smart investing. So great job, guys.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:07:35] Speaker C: So tell me about the property itself. How many bedrooms is it, amenities, things like that?
[00:07:42] Speaker A: Yeah, so it's, you know, so this property we identified, it had been sitting on the market for six months, which is highly unusual up there.
And it was, it's about it was listed at 2,000 square feet, two bed, two bath.
And it had a really strange layout.
And so, you know, we've been looking in this area. This was at a reduced price compared to everything in that area. So we immediately targeted that once we saw it on the market.
[00:08:13] Speaker C: And were you able to get a pretty good discount because it had been sitting for a while or was the seller non negotiable? How did that work?
[00:08:18] Speaker A: Yeah, so, you know, for example, the week we closed the house next door sold for 715.
We bought this at 5:15.
Yeah. So it was a good deal for that area.
[00:08:30] Speaker D: It was not in bad condition at all. It was in great condition. Just not this. Not the looks that we were going for, not the quality that we're going for on some of the fixtures and the finishes. So that's what we changed on it.
[00:08:46] Speaker C: I love an ugly house that other investors overlook.
Like, oh, I don't like.
I will never forget in 2017. So almost 10 years ago, I was driving an investor around back then in my purple Jeep, which I still have a purple Jeep, just not that purple Jeep. So I've driven a purple Jeep for the last 10 years. And we were looking at properties and one of them was like an amazing deal. It had a view, had all these things, was a little bit older, needed some things, had some mammoth fixtures. And then we looked at another property that did not have a view. It was still a really nice property. It would have done fine, but the view property was a great price for what. What the view was.
And the, the one down low. Again, not a bad investment at all. But we're trying to decide between the two. And I'm like, you got to go with the view one, you can fix those.
The, you can change the fixtures, you can change the finishes, but you cannot put a view where there isn't one. And he goes, yeah, but the other one had soft close cabinets.
And I remember being like, what, not
[00:09:52] Speaker D: very expensive to upgrade to.
[00:09:55] Speaker C: Yeah. And then he did end up offering on the one with the soft close cabinets. We didn't. I think somebody else offered higher than us. So I can't remember if we ended up with the view property or not, but I remember that sticking out of my brain as like a panoramic view of the Smoky Mountains that you cannot replicate and you're hung up on soft close cabinets.
I love an ugly property. You can change ugliness, but you can't put things there that, that like views or proximity location. So I love an ugly property with A view or in a great location.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: The real estate market is always changing.
Covid is long gone, prices are down and properties are sitting on the market.
The Short Term Shop sells houses in all of the best vacation markets and we'd love to help you purchase your next vacation home.
Join us at theshorttermshop.com theshortermshop.com let's find you a deal.
This program has been brought to you by the Short Term Shop.
The Short Term Shop is the premier residential vacation home agency.
We have a large following and we work hard to ensure our clients happiness.
If this sounds like a good fit for you, we are happy hiring real estate agents.
We are currently hiring in Outer Banks, Shenandoah, Virginia, Galveston, Crystal Beach, Texas and the East Tennessee Smoky mountains.
Email us careershortermshop.com that's careershortermshop.com.
[00:11:49] Speaker A: yeah, I think that's one of our strengths with, with all the homes that we've purchased and renovated within 30 seconds of being on a property we know if it's even possible, you know, to be desirable.
[00:12:00] Speaker D: We've bought homes people probably shouldn't buy and try and fix them because of the view or the location. And that's. You can fix everything else, but you can't fix that.
[00:12:11] Speaker C: Yeah, that's true. So how. So you paid 5, 18 for this property. How much does this make for? And I know you maybe not, maybe have not owned it for quite a year yet, but how's it looking?
[00:12:25] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So I think it's important to note that we, you know, Laura's amazing with the redesign and decorating. So we took a two bed, two bath and made it into a three bed, three bath ensuite.
We put down all new hardwood floors, new kitchen, built the kitchen in the game room as an attached garage. So there's some major renovations that were done. And so currently I think in late April we have about 100,000 in gross bookings so far.
[00:12:58] Speaker C: Wow. So 100,000 in gross bookings for what month? To what month?
[00:13:02] Speaker A: Sorry, yeah, so our. So we're basically really booked through August. We still have openings in August and fall season and winter. So. So we're about, I think 38% occupied and have 100k in gross bookings.
[00:13:17] Speaker C: Wow. So you are already almost at 20% income versus purchase price ratio.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:25] Speaker C: And you're not even to the high season. It's not even time for part of the high season to get booked yet.
[00:13:29] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:13:30] Speaker C: Wow, that's so great.
[00:13:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:33] Speaker C: Good job guys.
[00:13:35] Speaker D: We had a ton of Help from our kids.
Our two sons stayed there the entire renovation and did the renovation with us, and it was. We couldn't have done it without them. They.
Well, they're really good at it. They're really good at building, so that. That helped a lot. And we just trust them with all these projects. And we've been working with them or hiring them to do renovating for. Since 2000 and 20, I think it was.
[00:14:04] Speaker C: How old are they?
[00:14:06] Speaker A: 19 and 23. So they. They snowboard six months of the year, and so their summers are open, so we use them when they're not.
[00:14:14] Speaker D: Yeah, it's a good fit for their schedule.
[00:14:16] Speaker C: So are they.
How do they make money?
[00:14:20] Speaker A: Primarily through us. They have their sponsors and all that kind of stuff.
[00:14:24] Speaker C: Oh, so they're like professional snowboarders?
[00:14:26] Speaker A: Yeah, give or take.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: What?
[00:14:28] Speaker C: That's so cool. I love that they're following their dream and they can build stuff.
[00:14:33] Speaker A: They can. Yeah, they're very artistic. So, like, the oldest son, he did a big, huge mural. Mural in the game room. And. Yeah, so they're useful in many ways.
[00:14:42] Speaker D: Yeah. Talented.
[00:14:44] Speaker C: Good for them. I.
We're raising a son. He's just five right now, so he can't build stuff yet. But I. I hope to instill in him, or I hope my husband instills in him, because I can't teach it how to be handy and fix things. My husband can fix anything at any. He will break it worse first. But anything that happens around the house, I'm like, hey, can you fix that? And he fixes it. So hoping our son will be able to do the same. We'll learn to do the same cars, anything.
[00:15:13] Speaker D: That's great.
[00:15:14] Speaker A: The funny part about relationship is Laura does it all. I don't do anything.
[00:15:17] Speaker D: Yeah, it's good to have. It's good to have the. The mix of. Of talents in the relationship.
[00:15:24] Speaker C: Yeah, that's not my talent. That says talent.
And I do have to hear, you know, some hollering and cursing from the other room.
It's gone eventually.
All right, so how did you guys finance this property?
[00:15:40] Speaker A: Yeah, so we bought this really before we were ready financially to do this. We just thought the deal was too good, so I ended up doing a vacation home loan, so I only had to put 10% down.
And then we. We built a lot of contingencies into this in case it didn't work. So I have a HELOC on a home that we own in cash just in case we need that money. And that's why we did the renovations. We Knew we could sell this very quickly for a higher price if we had to get out of it. So started with the vacation.
[00:16:11] Speaker C: Okay, so you put let's say like roughly 55,000 down.
You've already booked a hundred thousand, so twice what you're down paying, I'm sure. Do you have any idea what your renovation costs were?
[00:16:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it was roughly 120 to 130 as far as the renovation. And of course, there's probably 40 on furniture and all that kind of stuff.
[00:16:39] Speaker C: Okay, so you've got like 175, let's call it 200,000 in.
You will make that back in less than five years.
[00:16:50] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:16:51] Speaker C: Everything you have in it, that, and that's in cash flow. So if you needed to sell it tomorrow, what. How much equity do you think you have in it now?
[00:17:01] Speaker A: Just this last week, a house, you know, two lots from us is a two bed, two bath with a view. It just.
No, it's two. Yeah. And so that sold for 920. So. So I don't know where our place is sitting at the moment.
[00:17:16] Speaker D: It's probably somewhere between the house right next door that was a 7:15 and the 920. Somewhere in between those two, I would guess.
[00:17:25] Speaker C: Okay. So let's just split the difference, like we're never supposed to do according to.
And put like 8:15.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:32] Speaker C: So.
[00:17:33] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:17:34] Speaker C: Wow. Man, this was. Y'. All. Y' all did great on this one.
Are you. So are you planning to buy more?
Oh, sorry.
[00:17:43] Speaker D: Go ahead.
Oh. I said we took the advice of. Of people like you who remind people it's helpful to do value ads, and we've done a lot, so.
[00:17:54] Speaker C: It is, it is. I. I love a value add property too. I just.
Sometimes people get a little.
When they're doing big renos about what actually is value adding and what is not.
[00:18:07] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:18:07] Speaker C: So, yeah. Yeah. It sounds like you guys figured it. So it was a bedroom, something, and it had a weird layout. And you fixed that and added a bedroom, a bedroom and a bathroom.
[00:18:17] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. There's a big space.
The primary suite is way too big. And so we added a bathroom there and then turned the study office that had a bathroom into a separate bedroom. So it was a relatively easy thing to do.
[00:18:32] Speaker D: Yeah, it was a matter of moving some doors around, purchasing some new doors to make sure that we could have framing. Yeah, a lot of framing and Sheetrock. And then it wasn't that big of a deal. The framing was very difficult. But because there's. There were two different kinds of slants in the ceiling.
And I think that's maybe why nobody really wanted to take on that job.
[00:18:55] Speaker C: So.
So what would you say this is your first year? What would you say has been the hardest part of being a new short term rental investor?
[00:19:09] Speaker A: You know, I think the hardest part was initially just making that, that first step of purchasing and getting in. Into this.
That was a very, you know. You know, it was a certain amount of risk that was scared us frankly.
So I think that was hard. I think, you know, I think we're naturally, we love hospitality and so, you know, the operations has been really fun for.
I do think that some of the other things I'm doing like building my own website and all of that is been more challenging than I thought.
[00:19:44] Speaker D: And it's it.
[00:19:45] Speaker C: The Renault was easy. The website building was hard.
[00:19:48] Speaker A: We're kind of used. I mean the rental was difficult, but it was, it was satisfying. We had a absolute blast working with our boys. Like we actually had a lot of fun with it. We worked long hours. We hired an electrician and plumber, but did everything else ourselves. So we're kind of used to that. So that was hard for sure.
But it's not a new heart for us. The other things are.
[00:20:09] Speaker C: Gotcha. The hard that. You know.
[00:20:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:13] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:20:14] Speaker C: Sorry I interrupted you. So it's been the building website was difficult. Anything about dealing with guests, has that been difficult or have you enjoyed that part?
[00:20:23] Speaker A: Really enjoyed it. Yeah. I mean we've not had any bad experiences yet. I'm sure it'll come but it's, it's been really enjoyable.
[00:20:30] Speaker D: I think it helps too that our, our expectations are realistic. When you're having a group of people, sometimes 12 people, it's a lot of people and they're having fun and they're relaxed and we expect that sometimes things are going to get broken. Sometimes things are going to get messed up and. But I've been surprised at how few things have broken and how few things have been easy.
[00:20:54] Speaker C: I think that surprises a lot of people because people only hear people's horror stories. Nobody gets on the Internet and says I've owned a short term rental for 10 years and nobody's ever messed it up. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a surprise to a lot of people.
[00:21:08] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:21:10] Speaker C: So. Or either. So Luke, you're a doctor? Yep. What kind of doctor?
[00:21:14] Speaker A: I work in family medicine and do a lot of addiction medicine.
[00:21:18] Speaker C: Okay, okay, so that tracks. Have either of you ever waited tables or bartended?
[00:21:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Yes.
[00:21:25] Speaker C: Okay. See that it both of those things you deal with patients, you've dealt with customers.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: Crazy.
[00:21:30] Speaker C: That is why you're good at, at this.
It's just, it's just hospitality on a different level. And, you know, being a physician, you obviously have to go to a lot of school, you have to learn a lot of things. But at the end of the day, whether you keep patients in family medicine or not is more about dealing with them than actually, you know, treating them. If they like you, they will come back.
[00:21:51] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:21:53] Speaker D: And we have four very active kids who, if you're realistic about your guests, they probably have active kids too. And sometimes things get broken and that's okay. It's just, it's why you have insurance.
[00:22:07] Speaker C: Yeah, we've. I'm not going to say that out loud. That's asking for a problem.
We've. You know, I, I posted a video recently walking through one of our properties after a spring break guest. And there were some things like, we've got a curved staircase. And so it's very easy if you're dragging a suitcase when you're going around the cor to accidentally hit the wall and make a little nick. And like they left a piece of paper or a flyer or something that might have been wet on the, on the wood. Not wood. It's like it was cheap, like rooms ago or something. On the c. On. Not the countertop. Coffee table. Why can I think of the word coffee table? And it kind of transferred the paper. You know how that happens? Or you peel it off and it leaves some paper there. And I said, okay, you know, no big deal. No big deal. These people weren't that bad. They left. There was a little remnants of puke in one of the toilets. And I said they weren't that bad. And the entire Internet rose up against me. For all the short term rental hosts were like, you're encouraging people to treat our properties with disrespect. I'm like, guys, it really wasn't that bad. This is a $8,000 booking. And they're like, well, this what you get. You should learn not to rent to spring breakers. And I'm like, bro, I'm renting to spring breakers.
[00:23:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:18] Speaker C: Yeah, we got five of these. And this is a spring breaker town. And this is the worst it's ever been. Literally the worst it's ever been has been a little nick and this paper transfer thing. And they did rip the, rip the door off the gate, which sucked. But, you know, like, I'm okay with that. Cost of doing business. It happens, right?
[00:23:37] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:23:38] Speaker C: And you have to be that way.
Oh, yeah.
[00:23:41] Speaker D: I find that because we have redone all of the finishes in the home, if something gets messed up, we have the paint color already that blends with the paint that's on the wall. We have, you know, I have the hardwood floor, extra pieces.
Yeah. So it helps that we do have the parts if we need them.
[00:24:02] Speaker C: Yeah.
So what would you say has been your pricing strategy? You're obviously doing it right because you're making great money. So what advice would you have for a new investor who's getting started, who's like, man, I don't know. Because they get really hung up on average daily rate. Average daily rate. And what would be your advice for them?
[00:24:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I think everything I've done with pricing or guest communication, I've just learned from people that know more. There's plenty of information. Your books, podcasts, other people like Jasper, who does dynamic pricing.
And so I really sort of copied all of that. Actually just recently took a course on dynamic pricing. And so I just self learned and copied people that know a lot more.
[00:24:51] Speaker D: Luke is unusually able to learn unusually fast, and he's obsessive and a nerd about pricing. So he's constantly, I really love it, looking at it and fixing things and tweaking his systems.
[00:25:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:10] Speaker C: Well, good, good.
So what else do you feel like our listeners need to hear about. About your story?
Before we move on to the final three questions of the show? I'm sure there's something.
[00:25:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I think. I don't know about our story. I mean, I think our family is super tight and they're all smart kids and they work really hard and. And so I think the big part of our story, this is sort of the beginning of a family business that just brings us all so much, you know, fun and joy. And so that's really why we're doing this is. Is to work together. And we all love hospitality, so I think that's a big, big thing.
[00:25:46] Speaker C: Yeah, I love, love the tight family. Also, back to the pro snowboarders. How do you go down that path? How do you end up being a pro snowboarder?
[00:25:55] Speaker A: Well, it starts with being crazy.
They've always been very athletic kids and, and they take really good calculated risks. And the snowboarding industry is really confusing, but they've slowly navigated that.
[00:26:09] Speaker D: All of us snowboard, everybody in the family, and we just love doing it.
[00:26:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:14] Speaker D: So it's more family. Yeah, a lot of fun.
[00:26:18] Speaker C: So they just started doing it as kids and then entered comp. So I'm I'm learning the, the single single child sport world right now because my daughter's super into tennis and you have to just sign them up for tournaments on your own and figure it out. It's not like you go joint trial for a soccer team and then it's done for you. They just tell you where to show up. Right. So do you just.
They say, hey, I want to do a race or a, like freestyle. And you find a competition and sign them up.
[00:26:48] Speaker A: Yeah. So both the boys do competitions that are local. The oldest boy done up with other places as well, but they're more on the creative side of filming like movies and filming in parks and all that kind of stuff. And so they, they're more the fun side of snowboarding, which is hard to really classify.
[00:27:08] Speaker C: So they're snowboarding influencers, give or take.
I'm looking them up after this.
[00:27:15] Speaker A: Yeah,
[00:27:19] Speaker C: Cool. Well guys, we're coming to the end of the show. We have three questions that we ask every single person that comes on the show. Are you ready? Bit of like a lightning round.
[00:27:27] Speaker A: You bet.
[00:27:29] Speaker C: All right, so question number one.
What advice would you give 20 year old Luke and Laura if they knew then what y' all know now?
[00:27:38] Speaker A: For me, you know, 20 years old, it was all about medical school in this job.
I think I would have told myself that the industry is going to change immensely in the next 10 years and that it's going to lead to lots of burnout. So maybe not much. 401k and more real estate.
[00:27:55] Speaker D: Yeah, I wouldn't have gotten my four year degree in teaching. I would have gone into architectural drafting design.
[00:28:03] Speaker C: Oh, that's quite a departure.
[00:28:05] Speaker D: Yeah. It wasn't as good of a fit for me as design is, but that's okay.
I've used both.
[00:28:12] Speaker A: I guess it's worked out.
[00:28:13] Speaker D: It's worked out and I would, I, I would tell myself to not be so fearless. Just jump in, you'll learn from your mistakes and, and experience life, you know, don't be afraid of, of failing.
[00:28:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:27] Speaker C: Good advice. Number two, as semi new short term rental investors, what advice would you give a new, brand new short term rental investor who's looking to get started today?
[00:28:38] Speaker A: You know, just from my experience, I think it's super important to do a lot of learning how the industry works and what's important now, and there's plenty of resources to do that. So spend. You know, I have. Podcasts have been my thing, you know, every time I drive, whatever. That's just been super helpful. Read some books and start there.
[00:29:01] Speaker C: Lara Is yours the same or do you have different?
[00:29:02] Speaker D: Yeah, I would say yeah. Read a lot.
Listen, I mean, when you're mowing the lawn, when you're driving the kids around, whatever. Well, maybe not while they're with you in the car. That's a good time to talk to them.
[00:29:14] Speaker C: But I love that. I think that is such a good point back to, you know, kids and you guys are obviously very family oriented and somebody, my father in law made a comment to us yesterday about how our kids are too busy. You got them in too many things and like they're asking to do these things and we the driving them around and hauling them all over the place is fun. We hang out. Like we have the kids have their little Nintendo switches that they're only allowed to have in the car and then we have a parent one. So you know, the whole time we're driving they're like, mom, play us in Mario Kart. And I'd get to whoop them in Mario Kart. My daughter's getting pretty good to where I'm not going to win anymore.
So, you know, we're hanging out in the car on the way to tennis tournaments or soccer tournaments or whatever it is that they have. And there really is nothing more fun than just kind of sitting and watching your kid doing something that they're enjoying doing and being successful at and building their confidence. Like, I love that. I love. That was a good, a good little nugget that when you're in the car with your kids, that's a really good time to have conversations with them and spend time with them because people act like, oh, that doesn't count because you're not all sitting around the dinner table. But it does 100 does. A lot of times it's, it's even better and less awkward and they, they might say things that they wouldn't say if you're sitting face to face because you're not facing each other because they're in the back.
[00:30:37] Speaker D: So, so such a good point. I found that teaching our kids to drive was one of my favorite times in life. We are, we. Our 14 year old is almost 15 and she's our last one to teach to drive to get her 50 hours in. And I, I just treasure those times because we, I'd find out what their favorite, you know, rap artist was or whatever it is and I listen to it in there and hear the story and I just, it built the relationship so much to have those times together in the car.
[00:31:05] Speaker C: Yeah, that's good tip. Very good tip. And Last question.
What is your favorite book that's impacted your mindset?
[00:31:16] Speaker D: You go for it.
[00:31:16] Speaker A: Okay.
So. So for me, it's awareness by Anthony DeMello.
I've obviously my whole life has been looking to the future. I think the reminder that we experience life in, in the moment, I think I need constant reminders. That's really helped me to enjoy more of life progressively.
[00:31:38] Speaker D: Yeah, for sure. That's a good one.
I loved, I read a book when I, when my kids were really small called the Strong Family by Charles Swindoll.
It was really a good book just to remind me that those relationships start when they're young. That mutual respect that, that close family is. It's. It happens out of being intentional and it, it has shaped a lot of how we've done things.
[00:32:04] Speaker C: So I, I can tell you guys really have been intentional about that. Just on this 30 minute podcast that's not even about family. And I love that. I love that about you guys.
So thank you so much for coming on. And if our listeners want to find you or follow you online or your properties, how can they do that? And it's totally acceptable to say, I don't want to be found, by the way, so don't feel pressured.
[00:32:29] Speaker A: We don't really have social media that we do much with yet. It'll come eventually, you know, with the business, but I don't know what.
[00:32:36] Speaker C: Whoopsie.
[00:32:38] Speaker D: Our business name is Lam Escapes. L A G O M. So that
[00:32:42] Speaker A: website will be up here shortly. They can email.
[00:32:46] Speaker C: Yeah, I've never been to that part of Minnesota or maybe I haven't been to Minnesota at all. So I'm definitely gonna go look at what it looks like after this because I'm like, I've, I. I don't like to be cold. So. My husband's from Nebraska. That's about as far. Unless it's New York or skiing in, like, Colorado. I don't typically venture too far from the Gulf of Mexico.
[00:33:08] Speaker D: It really is four seasons here, so there's times where it's sweltering hot, too, but that's where, like, doing a dip in Lake Superior helps.
[00:33:21] Speaker C: All right, guys, well, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story and listeners, we will catch you next week.
[00:33:29] Speaker D: Thank you.
