Are you considering Airbnb investing, but you’re scared that you don’t know what you’re doing? Do you want to find a new income stream to change your life or lifestyle? Do you wish you had a real-life example of other new investors succeeding on their very first investment?
If so, you need to listen to this Episode 91 of the Host Coach Airbnb Investing Podcast where Gaby and Ricky Hoover share how they turned a rundown house into an Airbnb in three months, AND made $50,000+ in their first year - as newlyweds!
Read on to learn how little time is needed to run a successful Airbnb once you launch it, along with the Hoovers advice on what to do, and not to do, from their first investment experience!
Topics discussed in this episode:
- How to make more money without sacrificing all of your free time
- Why Airbnbs are an ideal investment for setting yourself up financially
- How to get over the fears blocking you from taking the leap into Airbnb investing
- How to build your internal filter to select the right property to purchase.
- How to gross over $50,000 by working 2-4 hours a week
Host Coach Airbnb Podcast Episode 91 Show Notes:
Great to meet you, Rick and Gabby. Everybody has a startup story. Nobody starts into real estate with a clear path. How did you get into Airbnb investing?
We got married a year before we started doing this, and we were trying to think of our financial goals. I'm a worship director at a church and I love my job, but I'm probably not gonna be supporting a full family and lifestyle we want to live with that job. We were trying to think of different ways we could make some money or make some investments and set our family up for the future. I came across your Airbnb investing book on Audible, and I listened to it and I was like, "Gabby, I really think we could do this. I feel so prepared." And Gabby was like, "okay, I trust you. Let's do it!" And that for me was like, "charge let's go!"
That's awesome. Real estate partners are great, but married real estate partners are even better! It's so much more exciting and fun and occasionally stressful to be investing with the person you love because it's 24/7 and you truly trust that person.
How to Make More Money Without Spending All Your Time
Specifically, what were your goals with this first Airbnb property?
We wanted to make more money, and we wanted to find a way to do it without trading our time. It was a lot of time upfront but now I feel like we're living in that mode. What do you think? I definitely think we wanted to have more money, but not spend more time. So what was the best way to do that? I feel like that's exactly how it's working out for us. At my job I don't get a retirement right now, and so we're trying to think of different ways to invest and save up for that. For my brain, housing and real estate made a little more sense than the stock market. We still put some into that, but it just made a little bit more sense to invest in an Airbnb.
I like to say that too. While I do understand conceptually the stock market. Real estate is a whole lot easier to wrap your brain around. I can wrap my brain around hospitality and making an okay place amazing - having guests and making sure they have a good time. That's something that I'm like, "Yes, I feel very confident that I can do that as opposed to picking the correct stocks and hoping it works out." Yes, absolutely right. Not everybody makes that jump. A lot of people probably listening to this, have considered Airbnb and real estate investing.
What were your initial fears about Airbnb investing?
There was a lot of fears. I think the biggest overarching fear was that it just wouldn't be successful and that we would just go into all this debt for nothing. And was it the right thing? Was it the right time? Can we even handle this? Do we even know what we're doing? Were we forcing something? Is it too good to be true?
Selecting the Perfect Airbnb Market
How did you go about selecting the market that you made this initial investment in?
So when we first started dating, used to travel to Geneva. It is where we ended up buying the property. We would always go for day trips and then his parents would vacation there. We got married down there. So I feel like it really just became a place that we loved so much and it was a little gem that we wanted to share with other people. So we were like, "why not there?" Everything aligned with all the amazing things you guys laid out in your book and picking the right place, we were like, "Why not?"
Geneva is small town wine country, so it's quaint and they have little mom and pop amazing restaurants, and little walkable main streets right on the lake. And it's just amazing. There's tons of hiking trails too near the lake. And there's I think a hundred wineries in that area. It's a lot of great wine and a lot of people in this area do travel there for little day trips and weekend things.
It's also on the main highway that connects from Buffalo going into Rochester, and then you could actually go from there to New York City. So there's just a lot of travel points too, and it's about 15 minutes off the highway then after we followed everything that was in your book and we used AirDNA and we got the PriceLabs report and we saw that it was in that market that you laid out. It seemed like there was enough Airbnbs for their to be a market for travelors, but it wasn't where we would get lost in the crowd. There wasn't over a thousand exiting Airbnbs. And the average occupancy rate of the town, I think is about 60%. So using the techniques you laid out, we've been able to hit that 90 to 95% occupancy rate.
The Hardest Part of Becoming an Airbnb Investor
Congratulations. That makes me so happy! So what was the hardest part of your process was it renovation, decor, finding a housekeeper?
I feel like the initial big one was definitely finding the right place. This might sound silly. I am big on "does it feel right?" I feel like the second I walk into a place I'm very in tune with, "this is not it" Thank you so much, I'm good. It's beautiful, but not for us. And I feel like when we walked into the Airbnb we have now. It was like, "I feel like I can see exactly how it would work" and we just knew in the moment. But that took a little while. We looked for probably two or three months for the right place. Our next big hurdle was construction beause we did have to do a total flip. It was hard just finding the right people to trust. Probably the hardest part.
I love what you said at the beginning, the part that's probably left out of that is you also looked at online or in person at dozens, maybe hundreds of properties to build that kind of internal filter to then see a place and go this the right price, this is the bones. And I must say you did a beautiful job. I saw your Zillow before and your listing after. I was like, "Oh, they have the accent door and the basket chair on the back porch. And they took the dark wallpapered interior and made it light, but kept the historical elements." It's just stunning.
How long did you spend on the renovation from finding the place to actually getting it listed? We closed on the property in March of 2024. And we launched it in June. So we did all the work in the month of March, April, and May. Travel season really picks up there in June, so we tried to follow your recommendation about launching in a high traffic season.
$55,000 Their First Year
How has this year been financially for your Airbnb?
It's been incredible! It's been amazing! Especially, seeing the cash flow profit of it after all expenses, the cleaning fees, the maintenance. I think we brought in a more than half of what my full-time job brings in profit which is amazing and yeah, it's a blessing. Your Airbnb systems work.
Do you feel comfortable sharing that number? I think the gross number was around $55,000 or$60,000.
Wow! An extra half income is not a bad thing.... and it's not quite passive. There is work involved. How much time do you think you spend a week?
I'd say total two to four hours. Yeah. And we gotta be careful because I think we made it look because of your help. Easy now because it is two hours a week. It was a lot of work upfront. And now, we get to live in that sweet spot of only working on our Airbnb business two to three hours a week.
The Unexpected Joy of Hosting
So aside from the extra income, which is always a great thing, are there any other benefits that you've reaped being short-term rental investors?
I feel like it's brought out in me personally, a different creative side. And I feel like you're handyman side a little more. Yeah, I've been loving it. I think sometimes with the day-to-day job, I don't always get to see instant results. So getting to see a space come alive is so fun. Watching you do interior design and your creative abilities is so cool. And then seeing people celebrate in our property we own is just so fulfilling. Seeing different weddings or bridal parties and college reunions.
That the soft side. There's so many hard benefits but the soft like someone just got engaged at our place, we just had a honeymoon. Those things are just special and it's wonderful to be a part of people's stories and big memories.
Getting Ready for a Second Airbnb Investment
So you went from complete novices to knocking this first one out of the park. Are you thinking about a second?
We are, we actually did find a potential Airbnb, two streets down from ours currently. So that's pending right now. We'll see where that goes. The offer got accepted. So now we're working through the process of closing and we are feeling similar things. We're feeling confident too, because we've already gone through it once and this house is a little less crispy. Which helpful and it's exciting.
I will tell you that feeling is probably a good feeling to have and it doesn't really go away. At 14 Airbnbs in our portfolio, I still feel those sensations! It means that you really care about the product, your finances, your future guests. We still list a new one and we're like, "oh my gosh, what if no one likes it?" So that is a real thing.
What has surprised you the most about being Airbnb investors?
Truly when it's up and running, how minimal time is needed to be successful. Yeah. And I don't wanna say easy 'cause it's not easy, but I feel like it's that initial leap of faith that's super hard and that you need to put a lot of trust in and do all the work. But your hard work does pay off.
I like to say that it's the most amount of money I've ever made for the least amount of. Yes, there's that initial push to do whatever you're doing in a three month window to get it on market and there is day to day, but it's not a nine to five job, it's not the sales career I used to have driving 1300 miles a week for. It's a pretty awesome way to live.
Yes. We just celebrated our second anniversary and we got to go to Paris!! And to know that we were able to operate in Airbnb Yand make income while we were on vacation celebrating our anniversary. That's amazing. That's the way we preach it.
Airbnb Investing Mistakes to Avoid
Along the way in this first year, did you make any mistakes that you would point out to others? What should they avoid?
I feel like we made a lot of mistakes. Some of them were great because we got to learn and tighten things up. One thing that we should have done was check in with the city about the short-term regulations before we bought the property. That was something after the renovations that we didn't do. And I was like we need to figure out if we're allowed to do this. And we were already invested and thank God it all worked out. But, I definitely lost a couple nights of sleep over that. And I don't know. I feel like I followed everything in your book and I missed that part because I know you recommended that before buying. And then, at first for some of the construction stuff we hired the cheapest option and that's not always the best move because it just added a little more stress. And I think it's okay to pay and hire professionals to do professional work. There's a delicate balance. Yeah. You don't want the lowest of the low, you get what you pay for.
The Best Decision They Made as Airbnb Investors
What is the best thing you think you did as you jumped into short-term rental investing?
The best thing, probably just trusting each other and trusting you guys. Seeing that it clearly works and you're on number 14 in your portfolio. Just trusting the process and that it will all work out.
For our listeners who are out there, who are in the position you were in a year and a half ago: just consuming information, thinking about getting started, what advice would you give those people?
Just do it! Honestly I feel like each stage has its own scary part. It's just never going to feel a hundred percent safe. I think just diving in and taking the leap is the best thing you can do. I definitely echo that. Do it! I think like you mentioned, it's good to maybe feel a little bit of care and concern, but it's worth it in the end. Your Airbnb will be profitable, it will work. Trust the process and have fun. I feel like it's brought us so much closer, as a couple, being able to do it together.
You heard it here folks. Airbnb investing is a marriage bonding experience! Do you guys have a goal in mind? Is somebody looking to retire early? Is there a certain number of properties you have in mind?
We want to have a family And Gabby is a nurse - she works 12 hour shifts at the hospital. It would be amazing for us to have more time when we, Lord-willing have kids to be able to have time and to spend that with them and to not feel like we need to be trading our time for money. So we want to keep this track going, to keep building and hopefully, if we could do one every year or every two years, who knows... maybe we'll have 14 one day.
Congratulations on your second anniversary, on your first property being so successful, and your second in the works. I am excited to stay in touch about you growing your portfolio, your future family. I think our listeners can benefit from how candid you were, how young you are, how honest you are. It doesn't matter how old you are, what's in your bank account, or how much you work or don't work - Airbnb investing is a vehicle to live a life that you want!!
Building Financial Freedom for the Future
Thank you guys for all of your help and your wisdom. I've told four or five people about your book and I'm not trying to just shamelessly plug your book. It's such a good blueprint. I felt so confident after reading it to the point I'm like, "I know what sheets we need to buy off Amazon." You read some books that challenge you to go forward and it's great, but they're like big grandeur vision ideas and you're able to set the why and the vision and then get into the details of knowing exactly what to do and removing all those fears of what about this? Or what about that? We were just laughing today we have a couple books on our bookshelf right now. We went to Italy a couple years ago and that's littered with sticky notes. And then under that was your Bible which was littered with sticky notes and then Host Coach Book littered with sticky notes. We've heard that before. That's good company to keep!!
So there you have it. You now know that the risk of Airbnb investing is well worth the rewards you reap financially and emotionally. You also learn how little time is needed to run a successful Airbnb once you've launched along with the Hoover's advice on what to do and not to do from their first investment experience.
Should you need an Airbnb coach to help you find the right market, property, and help you set yourself up for success - feel free to book a free 30 minute coaching call with us. We LOVE helping new investors avoid pitfalls and find financial freedom through Airbnb investing!
