Sarah:

Hello, everyone.

Sarah:

Welcome back for another great episode.

Sarah:

My name is Sarah Karakaian.

Annette:

I'm Annette Grant, and together we are--

Both Annette & Sarah:

Thanks for Visiting.

Sarah:

And this is the--

Both Annette & Sarah:

Hosting Hotline.

Sarah:

And today we have Alonna with a parent-child listing question.

Questions:

Hey, Annette and Sarah.

Questions:

This is Alonna Diamond from Blu Sky Villa.

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As you know, I'm your biggest fan.

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So we are about to launch our first rental property right near Delray Beach,

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Florida, technically in Boynton Beach.

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And our next door neighbor who has the exact same layout and amenities as we do

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is thinking about Airbnb-ing his property too, and would like me to manage it.

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So I know that I could set up a parent-child listing and

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market it as a six bedroom.

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Each of our houses have three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

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But I'm wondering what you think about that as a marketing strategy.

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I looked up on my pricing software and it looks like there's only two

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other comps that have six bedrooms.

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Um, one of them is in right on the Intercoastal, so

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it's in a better location.

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But I'm wondering what you think about as marketing the two homes as six

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bedrooms for the larger groups coming in.

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And without many comps, how do I price myself for that?

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Thanks.

Sarah:

Alonna, solid question

Annette:

Alonna joined us at one of our Q&As, and I wish we

Annette:

had the exact quote, Alonna.

Annette:

Maybe you can leave a review on our podcast.

Annette:

I think you already have though.

Annette:

She said she was inhaling our podcast like pizza or--

Sarah:

Oh, I remember that.

Annette:

She said something like it was nourishing her or she was

Annette:

binging it more than she binges pizza.

Annette:

Something about pizza.

Annette:

And I love pizza.

Annette:

And I loved everything that Alonna said about that.

Annette:

So you can compare us to food in any way, shape, or form.

Annette:

This is interesting though.

Annette:

Sounds like a great opportunity for you, number one.

Annette:

Congrats on that.

Annette:

And let's get into it, Sarah.

Sarah:

First of all, if you are new to the podcast, or new to Annette

Sarah:

and myself, or new to parent-child listing, we do have content around that.

Sarah:

You could look at podcast episode number 232, and we'll also link our

Sarah:

YouTube video that's different from the podcast episode on this content as well.

Sarah:

So we're not going to go too far into all the different things that

Sarah:

would go into making this a success.

Sarah:

But in theory, all it is is you are taking one listing and you are either breaking

Sarah:

it down into maybe a smaller listing.

Sarah:

So if you have a large home, you sell it as a four-bed, two bath, or you

Sarah:

could sell it as a two-bed, one bath.

Sarah:

And then you can do lots of different creative things with that.

Sarah:

And it's okay to do this because you are offering different

Sarah:

products to potential guests.

Sarah:

And what you do is you connect the calendars on it.

Sarah:

So if it books as one, it would automatically block it down

Sarah:

your calendar as the other one.

Sarah:

This is interesting because as Alonna is taking-- I'm assuming they're attached.

Sarah:

Are they town homes, do you think, Annette?

Annette:

Yes.

Annette:

I'm thinking they're connected.

Sarah:

Let's make some assumptions here since we don't have all the details.

Sarah:

But what Alonna wants to do, she wants to take two town homes, it

Sarah:

sounds like, and offer them as one.

Sarah:

Annette, you brought up a good point of making sure the whole

Sarah:

lock situation irons out.

Sarah:

What you could do, Alonna, if you have a software like Point Central

Sarah:

or-- I don't use remote lock, but that might work too, where you can

Sarah:

create the same code for both homes.

Annette:

And you'll just have to make sure you're extremely clear with the guests

Annette:

that it's not like an adjoining room at a hotel where you could have a pass through.

Annette:

It sounds like-- I'm sure you don't share any doors with your neighbor,

Annette:

um, but maybe you're super close.

Annette:

But that is one thing you're just going to have to be really clear on.

Annette:

However, I could see this being super desirable for people to be next door.

Annette:

Let's say it's two families traveling together, or the same family, but it's

Annette:

the parents and the kids or the in-laws.

Annette:

It would just be really nice, I think, for everyone to have their own space.

Annette:

I think the key for you is just you're going to have to be very

Annette:

clear in the parent listing that, um, they're not connected at.

Annette:

all.

Sarah:

As far as pricing goes, and you not having any competitors,

Sarah:

that could be a good thing.

Sarah:

And you are going to have to do some AB testing.

Sarah:

What you can do is keep your eye on that listing that includes both town homes

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and whether you're using an OTA or a property management software, you could

Sarah:

keep your eye on those click rates.

Sarah:

See how potential guests are viewing this space.

Sarah:

Are they bouncing off of it very quickly?

Sarah:

Are you getting inquiries?

Sarah:

And then you can assess that.

Sarah:

Look, maybe the pricing's too high if they're looking and not booking.

Sarah:

You can also reach out to guests and ask them, hey, you reached out.

Sarah:

You didn't end up booking with us.

Sarah:

There's nothing wrong with asking a guest why they chose something different.

Sarah:

And just making sure that you make copious notes.

Sarah:

It sounds like you have a pricing software, which most of them have a

Sarah:

place for you to leave notes about different things that you're testing.

Sarah:

And so you can make those notes and understand why you've either

Sarah:

lowered it or made it higher.

Sarah:

And you want to be strategic too.

Sarah:

Annette, you brought up a good point of, Alonna, maybe even creating

Sarah:

some competition for herself.

Sarah:

That may or may not be the case depending on seasonality, and

Sarah:

maybe this is just available on the weekends versus during the weekdays.

Sarah:

It's just the two town homes.

Sarah:

Maybe she makes the two listings so juicy that people do book the

Sarah:

whole thing and makes it worth your while to do it that way.

Sarah:

But any other thoughts on that front, Annette?

Annette:

Yeah.

Annette:

Back to the Intercoastal property.

Annette:

If you said that one is more desirable, then maybe that is your hedge.

Sarah:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah:

That's a good point.

Annette:

You had your bets there of like, maybe I can have

Annette:

really competitive pricing.

Annette:

It might not be the Intercoastal, but, um, you could service the guests

Annette:

that still want to be near the beach and beat them out on the price.

Sarah:

And then I guess I have lots of other questions for you

Sarah:

too, Alonna, of your neighbor.

Sarah:

What are his goals?

Sarah:

If you've already figured all that?

Sarah:

Is it only dependent on you being able to list it with your property?

Sarah:

You want to iron out some of the details there, but we've had great success with

Sarah:

getting creative with property packaging.

Sarah:

We'll call it parent-child listing, but clarity and tracking.

Annette:

Alonna, if this is your first one, I would just say

Annette:

slow and steady wins the race.

Annette:

I would most likely get your listing up and running.

Annette:

Get that 30, 60, 90 days under your belt first before bringing on the next

Annette:

pro-- again, how aggressive you are.

Annette:

I don't know how much time you have.

Annette:

There's a lot of variables, but I want to make sure that you're really

Annette:

taking care of your first property and getting it off on a good foot there.

Sarah:

If you want us to answer your question here on the show, you

Sarah:

can head to thanksforvisiting.me.

Sarah:

In the upper right-hand corner is a red button, says, "Ask TFV".

Sarah:

If it's short-term rental business related in any way, shape, or form,

Sarah:

and we think the rest of our listeners and viewers will like it, we'll go

Sarah:

ahead and answer it on the show.

Sarah:

But with that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

Annette:

I am Annette Grant, and together we are--

Both Annette & Sarah:

Thanks for Visiting.