RG 228 – Investing in Airbnb vs Short Term Rentals w/ Avery Carl
Avery is the CEO and founder of the Short Term Shop. 
She got his first rental at 26 when he was on a $37k salary while she strategically invested in short term rental properties in mature holiday rental markets. This made her a millionaire by 31. She owns a portfolio of 24 properties and her business helps real estate teams acquire short term rentals in recession resistant markets. Her first dollar was made as a cocktail waitress at university.
Avery got into rental by accident, she moved to Nashville from NYC and went to buy her first house and saw that there was an appreciating area in Nashville and bought a rental there as income for future kids college funds. She knew nothing at the time and was very lucky. Then her and her husband got into books and podcasts on the rental market and went to buy their second place in the Smoky Mountains. They bought up to 5 in a year and were really successful. She quit her job and got her realtor license – her original strategy was to just buy enough short term rentals to fund a long term rental portfolio but ended up with a short term empire.
For her customers they act like a normal investment management team and they train them to self manage from a distance. She has customers who manage their properties from overseas and technology is the answer. She sets them up with a list of better vendors and uses booking platforms like Airbnb etc. As Airbnb has grown so has the management technology, for example Hostfully, which helps you automate the whole process. When looking at marketing look for national park data etc which shows tourism figures.
The gross annual income number is more important than the occupancy number on short term lets and calculating income is harder than with normal long term rents. For example, a Saturday in summer will cost more than a Wednesday in January. This means that you will need to do some triangulation based on location and occupancy but you should be able to net 35% of the gross annual income after mortgage and expenses – in your first year with self management and furnished.
Top tips
Most important habit – running
Most influential person – husband Luke Carl
Most important tool – Calendly
