Big Profits with Short Term Rentals with Avery Carl

In this episode, I have the opportunity to interview Avery Carl, who bought her first rental property at age 26 on a $37,000 salary. Through strategically investing in short-term rental properties in mature vacation rental markets, she was a millionaire by the age of 31. She now owns a portfolio of 28 properties and is the CEO and founder of The Short Term Shop, a real estate team that helps investors acquire short-term rental properties in the most recession-resistant markets, and trains them on the same methods that led her out of the corporate rat race and into financial freedom.

Avery begins by telling us about her background in which she worked as a marketing manager in the music industry. Completely uneducated in real estate investing, she and her husband decided to purchase a home for a long-term rental in the hopes of selling it to pay for college for their future kids. Quickly, they realized that they should do more investing and came across the idea of short-term rentals. They have now grown their portfolio into 28 properties, split between short and long-term rentals. Avery’s business, The Short Term Shop, grew from the necessity of having to become an expert in this type of investing as so few people are and she found very little support.

Avery talks about how her focus has been regional, driveable, vacation-rental markets because they are more recession-proof. Very applicable currently, as we are still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, these types of rentals are very attractive when people are unable to or cannot afford to get on a plane, but still want to get away from home. She said that an easy way to think of areas that might be attractive to have short-term rentals are places you may have visited as a child when you rented a house rather than stayed in a hotel. Avery also said that metro markets can be undesirable because of regulations imposed stemming from the competition of nearby hotel markets.

I asked Avery to talk about what I perceived is the downside of short-term rentals, primarily having to deal with people and answer questions very frequently. She said that many different software platforms have risen out of this fairly new type of investing called channel managers that automate a lot of this process. Avery also said that providing as much information as possible in your Airbnb or VRBO listing to try to answer as many questions ahead of time as possible. She also explained all of the technology they have in place for monitoring their rentals.

I wanted Avery to explain the finances involved for the different markets that she is in. She went through the numbers she has seen in her experience and some of the possible expenses, such as property management, which she does herself. Avery said that more bedrooms make for a higher return on investment, so we talked about this and other details a bit.

I wanted Avery to talk about some of the mistakes she had experienced herself or seen with her clients that new investors should be aware of. Evaluating properties to buy is different in that you want to look at asking price versus what you can make in rentals, instead of what you would make when you sell it. As far as management, she said you have to be aware that because the renters are on vacation, they may not be on their best behavior, but that doesn’t mean they are trashing your place and you have to be careful about calling them out on it. Avery also talked about some of the software tools available to short-term rental investors for management.

I then asked Avery to explain to our listeners the service that The Short Term Shop provides. She said that she is a realtor and has teams in three different markets in Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama. They help investors make sure that the properties they are evaluating would make profitable short-term rentals and walk them through the whole process to run a vacation rental.

Even though Avery owns and runs a business to help people get started in this kind of investing, she was completely transparent and gave us all the tips and tools she uses for her own properties! Don’t miss this fast-paced interview, chock-full of great information with Avery Carl!