Sarah Karakaian:
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Welcome back.
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My name is Sarah Karakaian.
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Annette Grant: I'm Annette
Grant, and together we are…
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Annette and Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.
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Sarah Karakaian: Growing your
short-term rental portfolio means
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finding properties, and the hosts
who grow the fastest are not finding
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them the same way everyone else is.
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Annette Grant: The best short-term
rental properties we know of
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never even hit the market.
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Sarah Karakaian: Mm.
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Annette Grant: They went to a host who
already had a relationship with the owner.
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No competition, no bidding war,
no hours scrolling on Zillow.
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Sarah Karakaian: And it's not luck.
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It is a strategy, and it is
one you can build right now
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with what you're already doing.
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Annette Grant: We've been hosting for over
a decade, built a multi-million dollar
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portfolio, and work with hundreds of
hosts who collectively generate over $2
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million in monthly bookings through our
private coaching program, Strategic Host.
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One of the properties in our own
portfolio actually came to us this way.
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Sarah Karakaian: Today, we're walking
through four ways to find properties
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no one else knows about, starting
with the one that got us our most
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profitable property yet . All right,
so method number one is co-hosting
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as your acquisition strategy.
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Co-hosting means managing someone else's
short-term rental on their behalf, okay?
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So the, the listing, the pricing, the
guests, the operations, all of it.
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One of the properties in our own
portfolio came to us through this method.
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Actually, a few of them, but we'll
talk about this one specifically.
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Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
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The Audrey, as we have named her,
is a property that Sarah and I own
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together in Columbus, and before we
bought it, Sarah was co-hosting it for
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the owner, who we'll call Betty here.
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Sarah Karakaian: I love how
you named, named her Betty.
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Annette Grant: I know.
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Betty had bought this property
originally to live in, and she started
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having kids, and she cared about
this property, but she outgrew it.
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Uh, she wanted to keep it in her
portfolio, and she actually hired a
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co-host before Sarah, but that previous
co-host, they had been coasting.
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So Sarah came in, she found
major improvements that she…
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could make, and, um, she did the thing.
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So she got rid of that terrible furniture.
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There might or might not have been
a little bit of a rodent issue.
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Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
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Annette Grant: Cleaners leaving old trash
liners around in bins next to the house.
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She could have simply walked away.
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Instead, she saw that
diamond in the rough.
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She saw the bones of the property,
the neighborhood, the location.
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And she wasn't scared, and she took it on.
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Sarah Karakaian: So I wasn't
afraid to take it on, but I
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did have some stipulations.
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I required Betty to reinvest in a deep
clean, bring in an exterminator on
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retainer, and refresh the furniture.
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And those weren't optional.
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They were my conditions for
taking on the property because
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my name was gonna go on it.
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And once we got it to where it
needed to be, the numbers went way
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up and stayed up, and I was very
confident that was gonna happen.
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Betty saw what the property was
capable of when it was run correctly.
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That built the trust between us.
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When she was ready to sell,
she wasn't calling a stranger.
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She was calling me.
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Annette Grant: Sara asked her to pause and
said, "Wait, before you do anything else
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and list it, would you consider selling
to me before this goes on the market?"
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And Betty said, of course,
she would love nothing more.
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Sarah Karakaian: She actually
wanted to ask me, and she didn't
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'cause she was nervous about it.
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Yeah.
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Annette Grant: That is
the co-hosting advantage.
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When you co-host a property well, you
get to know that property inside and out.
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You know the revenue,
the ADR, the occupancy.
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You know all of the expenses.
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You know what guests love.
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You know what needs work,
and you know the owner.
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You also know all of the
neighbors and how they operate
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around your short-term rental.
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When that owner is ready to sell, you
are not a stranger making an offer.
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You are the obvious buyer.
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And this is an obvious
win-win for all parties.
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Look, the property is already up
and running as a short-term rental.
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There's no need to cancel reservations,
do showings in between guests.
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You're saving on marketing fees, on
agent fees, that time of uncertainty.
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It's just an easier transaction.
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You can hire an attorney, a flat
fee, pain-free, and just transfer
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it over, done, easy peasy.
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Sarah Karakaian: And that is
the part that most hosts miss.
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You don't wait for the
owner to come to you.
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When you sense an owner might be
moving on, and I could see the
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writing on the wall, having more
kids, like wanting to spend more time.
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She wouldn't answer my emails or
I'd send her her owner statements
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and she like didn't respond.
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And I mean, I could just see it happening.
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Annette Grant: Interest was declining.
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Sarah Karakaian: The interest in
the short-term rental business…
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Annette Grant: Not that it wasn't
profitable, that was awesome,
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but her life had changed.
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Sarah Karakaian: Yeah, and she trusted me
and which is great, you know, and pl- but
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yeah, sure, her interest was changing.
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So and that's why, um, I, I asked,
and this became a practice of
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Annette and me, uh, after that too.
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Like when we, you know, Annette
would always ask, "Well, are
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they interested in selling?"
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Or like, "Hey, this is…
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I can see that this property isn't,
um, being managed right and we
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should co-host it and let them
know that if they want to sell, we
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should be first right of refusal."
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Like it just became a part of our habit.
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And that's why we got the deal
though, is because we put ourselves
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out there and just asks, asked.
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The hosts who are too hesitant
to have that conversation lose
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properties to people who aren't.
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Annette Grant: Method
two, be visible and vocal.
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This method, um, it's about the
fact that you are always looking.
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Betty found Sarah on Instagram
before they ever met in person.
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Sarah was using the geotag feature to
show up in local Columbus feeds, posting
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about short-term rentals, showing her
properties, talking about hosting.
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Betty saw it, reached out, and eventually
that relationship became The Audrey.
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That deal came to Sarah because
she had made herself findable.
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Being vocal goes beyond posting online.
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Show up in real estate networking events.
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Do, um, make sure that you're there and
letting people know you're in the market.
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Make sure brokerages in your target
market, they know your name and
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they know what you are looking for.
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Tell people at those industry events,
at community gatherings, at your family
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gatherings , anywhere and everywhere.
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The more people who know what you're
looking for and that specific type
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of property in a specific area,
the more likely someone in their
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network surfaces something before
it ever hits the listing site
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Sarah Karakaian: And when we say be
visible on social media, we mean be
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specific and do it with intention.
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I wasn't just posting pretty photos
of the properties that I was managing.
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I was showing the work behind the scenes.
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I was showing the turnovers, the
inspections, talking through hosting
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decisions, the kind of content that
signals to a property owner, this
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person knows what they're doing, and
that I wouldn't trust them, um, and
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that I would trust them with my home
because they could see me caring
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about the decisions I was making.
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They could see my brand standards
being upheld behind the scenes.
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That's what made Betty reach out.
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That's actually, Annette, your
biggest client who brought
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you, what, four plus units?
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Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
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Sarah Karakaian: That's what, that's why
he reached out because he knew that you
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were going to take it seriously, okay?
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Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
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Sarah Karakaian: So it's not
about a follower account.
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Don't worry about how,
quote-unquote, "big your account is."
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The demonstration of competence
in the feed is what's going
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to get you your next property.
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Annette Grant: Yeah, and if nobody in your
market knows you're looking, nobody is
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going to call you when something comes up.
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Be specific about what you want and
consistent about showing what you do.
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The deal finds the person who's
already known for doing this well.
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Sarah Karakaian: By the way, finding
the right property is only part of it.
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Making sure it performs once
you have it is the other half.
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Actually, I would arguably say people,
you know, yes, you make your money when
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you buy, but it's running it like a
business that keeps that money coming.
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This is the exact work we do with our
private clients inside of Strategic Host.
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Join us live and see if it's the
right next step for your business.
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The link is in the description.
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Method three is Facebook
groups and online communities.
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Join the neighborhood groups in
the areas where you want to buy,
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and then I want you to participate.
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Annette Grant: Yeah, you
can't just be a lurker.
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Sarah Karakaian: No.
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Annette Grant: That's what I do.
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But you gotta…
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I'm not a lurker in live,
I'm a lurker online.
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Sarah Karakaian: She is.
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It's okay.
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Actually, online I'm
better at participating.
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Yeah.
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So it works out.
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Annette Grant: That's why we're a match.
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Sarah Karakaian: Yes.
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When the time is right, let
people know you're an investor
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looking for property there.
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Homeowners who are thinking
about selling will often float
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the idea around a neighborhood
group before they call a realtor.
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Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
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Also, join local short-term
rental specific groups.
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So you have your real estate generalist.
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Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
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Annette Grant: And then your
short-term rental specific groups.
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There might be hosts there that are
burning out, they're relocating, they're
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ready to exit that business completely.
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They're ready to just sell
and buy another property.
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They're gonna post in those
groups before they list.
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And if you are active in those
communities, you're gonna see those
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posts the moment they go up, ahead
of every buyer who's sitting there
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being passive, just waiting on Zillow.
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Conversations happen in these groups
that don't happen anywhere else.
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Someone mentions a neighbor
who's talking about selling.
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Someone knows an owner who's been
struggling with their current co-host.
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That information is only
accessible to people who are
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already in those communities.
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Method four: hire an expert.
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Work with people who know the business.
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This is likely one of the
largest investments that you'll
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make, but it will pay off.
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A generalist real estate agent, yes, they
can find you a house, but an agent who
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understands short-term rental investing
can find you a property that performs.
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Those are two very different things,
and it's worth taking the time to
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find someone who knows the difference.
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What you want from an investment-focused
agent is someone who can look at
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a property and tell you whether it
makes sense as a short-term rental
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before you fall in love with it.
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Things like, what is the local
short-term rental regulation
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situation, and is it stable?
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What does the comp set look
like in the neighborhood?
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Is this a market where guests
are booking because of proximity
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to something specific, and does
this property deliver on that?
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Can it be permitted?
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Those are the questions a generalist
agent, they just don't know to ask.
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Beyond your short-term rental
specific agent, there are tools
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like STR Insights, AirDNA.
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They are built specifically
for investors in this space.
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They help you identify which markets
are performing, what amenities are
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driving revenue in a specific area, and
what the actual demand picture looks
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like before you financially commit.
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You're not guessing
based on a gut feeling.
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You're looking at what guests
in that market are booking and
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what they're paying for it.
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A cheap deal in a weak market,
it's not an opportunity, and a
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well-priced property in a strong
market with the right amenities is.
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The right data and the right
agent help you tell the difference
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before you close, not after.
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And I want to share another
story about property that we own.
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We worked with a gentleman in
where our glamping site is.
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Sarah and I, with Mark Partners,
actually bought 134 acres.
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That is a big undertaking, right?
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Well, at first, I have to admit, I was
general- I was just going online and, not
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Zillow, I was going to landforsale.com,
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true story, finding so many
large plots of land with many,
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many, many acres, while our other
partner was going to the experts.
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He was going to the locals.
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He was networking.
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He was finding the people that knew
the land, knew the area, knew what
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was going on, while I was happy
just looking online, being, you
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know, just thinking I knew best.
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My partner, Mike, he literally,
Sarah and I, he was in, in those
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groups out there networking and found
an amazing property that had been
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owned for someone else for decades.
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It had been taken care of pristinely.
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It had electric, it had
sewer, it had buildings on it.
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The stuff that I was looking at
that I thought was a good deal
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had none of that infrastructure.
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It would have taken years, and
maybe never because we might have
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not ever been zoned to be able to
do the stuff that we're now doing.
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That was finding someone local in
the market, an expert, and truly
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out there networking, letting
people know what we were looking for
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and building those relationships.
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And actually, this particular expert that
we found, we're still working with him
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today on more projects, and we started
working with him over four years ago.
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Sarah Karakaian: So There you have it.
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The properties that no one else
knows about are almost always the
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ones sitting inside a relationship
that's already been built.
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Annette Grant: Not on
Zillow or landforsale.com.
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Sarah Karakaian: I mean, who knows?
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You know, it just might take you longer.
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Annette Grant: Yeah.
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Sarah Karakaian: Start co-hosting.
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Make yourself visible.
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Show up in the right communities,
and work with people who understand
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what you're trying to do.
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The deal comes to the person who
is already in the right place.
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Annette Grant: Yeah.
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You don't have to wait for
somebody to list on Zillow
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to tell you what's available.
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Build the relationship,
and the deal finds you.
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Sarah Karakaian: Inside Strategic Host,
we help hosts get more nights booked,
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charge what their property is worth,
and stop leaving money on the table.
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This is the exact work we do with
our private clients, so join us
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live and see if it's the right
next step for your business.
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The link with more information
is in the show notes.
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And with that, I am Sara Karakaian.
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Annette Grant: I'm Annette
Grant, and together we are…
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Annette and Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.