Hello. Welcome back to another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

I'm Annette Grant, and together we are. Thanks for Visiting.

And this is the Hosting Hotline. If you wanna get your hosting questions answered here on the hosting hotline, please go to hostinghotline.com. That's hostinghotline.com. Can't make it any more simple. Ask your question and we'll answer it every Tuesday, and we'll help so many hosts by having you. Ask your questions that we can help you answer it and be thought provoking. For other hosts who are listening today, we're gonna help Kelsey.

Hi, Annette and Sarah, this is Kelsey. I am new to the midterm rental business and I've been soaking up all of your advice, which I appreciate so much. My specific question is, what else could I be doing to market my midterm rental? The situation is that I live in Arizona, but my midterm rental home is in Wisconsin. We plan to spend our summers at our home in Wisconsin and then live the rest of the year in Arizona. So I have taken as much of your advice as I can in terms of my. Listing. Um, I have it listed on Furnished Finder and Airbnb so far. I do plan to list it on a couple of other sites. I've got great photographs. I updated my listing title thanks to your recent episode. So trying to do everything there, but I'm just feeling like I wish I could be even more active. Are there people I should be reaching out to locally in Wisconsin to let them know about my rental? Um, I would just love to be doing everything possible to ensure that I have a profitable business. Thank you so much. Bye.

This is like my favorite mindset. Annette from a host who doesn't want, who's like throwing her hands up and like nothing's working. She's like, no, no, I wanna be more active. How can I be in more control of the results that I'm getting? How amazing is Kelsey?

And I'm gonna give everybody a little bit of, uh, truth, like, truth hearts right now being on Airbnb and Furnished Finder is basically doing the barest minimalist, uh, effort.

Yeah.

That is like the, that, that's just like, that's the easy stuff that's like just existing. We're gonna get into it and I love it. Being more active is mandatory. It is a necessity. So again, everyone, I want you to flip the put, like flip the whole mindset.

Yes.

You are a business owner. And what would a business owner be doing daily? They would be doing sales and marketing

daily,

daily to multiple channels. To their entire network. They would be doing it online, they would be doing it in person, they would be doing it with people like that. They referral business. So right there, Kelsey is, my first thing in this action is what would any small business owner doing and, and also just across the board, so they would be doing sales and marketing. So the first thing we want you to do is this needs to be something that you do. Every day. It's a part of your calendar. It's important, and you make the time for it. And before we give you all the ideas, we want you to also. Be tracking your progress. We want you to be intentional about these actions, know when you're doing them, how you're doing them, where you're doing, and we want you to, to, to keep track of them so you know, which, when you, what thing is really moving the needle for you. And we, every person you talk to, every post that you make, we wanna be able to track these. So I, I want it to be intentional. I want it to have space on your calendar and you will see results.

And with everything we're about to share with you, Kelsey and everyone else out there, this is an age old saying in the sales world, but fortune is in the follow up. So many business owners who are just getting started, they're a bit green, don't quite realize they think the initial action is woo. That's the hard work. But no, no, no, no. Mm-hmm. That is laying the foundation and then where you really say payoff is in that follow up.

Mm-hmm. Absolutely.

And the follow up after that follow up and the follow up after that follow up. So, Kelsey, now that we have a little bit of giving you some props for,

yes,

wanting to be more active. I love the way that you're ready to get to work and that need to be intentional, safe space. And to remember the fortune is in the follow up. You are going to be. Top 1% of midterm rental hosts who sees insane results because you're willing to do what we're going to share with you now. The one, the first thing we wanna share with you is to build a referral system for your current. Midterm rental guests. So I don't know if this is your first summer staying at your Wisconsin property and this, you're just getting started. Even better if you are. But if you have one or two guests from last season, reach out to them if they were there for a project for work or something of that nature, and just ask them. If they know of anyone who might love the house as much as they did at their job or their place of work, and then give them an incentive for continuing to think about you, actually that incentive will serve you with these other suggestions we're gonna give as well. But if anyone out, everyone out there who has, uh, midterm, a midterm rental, have a built-in referral system so that people who come and love your home are super eager to share that with other people in their sphere of human beings.

And don't discount that one person that stays. I have a friend actually in Kentucky that the same three months every year, a family that has horses there comes for the summer. And when I say this relationship, like they did initially find them on, um, on an OTA on Airbnb, but when I say this one midterm rental relationship has changed the trajectory of their property and them buying more portfolios, be more properties because this guest has been, uh, top paying. Like they made sure that they had their pricing right. They created an amazing relationship with them. They did anything and everything when they found, like, you know, as a great host, like, oh, they come back every summer for these. To take care of their horses and they just like are woven into the fabric of this guest. Now they're, and it is proven over and over again. So we wanna offer that to you, Kelsey, that depend, since you are a midterm rental, it only takes a few to really change the trajectory. So you can take a lot of action now and you won't need to maybe. Take as much in the future.

Right? 'cause you could have repeat guests. Maybe there's someone coming to Wisconsin every fall to do something every winter or do so something

family.

Yeah.

Right. Exactly.

Right. Okay. This is, this next idea is probably the most popular in the midterm rental space, but I also don't wanna like sugarcoat it that just because it's a great idea and that the contracts from homeowners insurance, uh, relocation agencies, things of that nature, um, are the easy button at all because the contracts can be high. These are still relationships you have to build because there are a lot of homeowners, a lot of landlords, and a lot of properties in this people's database. And so, Kelsey, my offer to you is, um, there are, uh, agencies like ALE, um, there, there are a ton of 'em out there. I'll put 'em in the show notes. Uh. Just to know that yes, you can put your, there's, they've got these forms where you can submit your property. You still should try to build a relationship with one of the agents at these agencies. Have them get to know you, what your property's like, reach out to them and, um, periodically and build a relationship. Let them know that, you know, the house is still available and you recently just had this guest checkout. So if any families come across that are like this, it could be a great fit. Things of that nature. Um. If you can get one though, these contracts tend to be very lucrative.

Mm-hmm. But the timing's gotta be right there.

Yes.

Next is really looking at potential local Facebook groups. And there could be a multitude of them, uh, but we are gonna share maybe a travel nurse Facebook group. You could go in and see what groups are in your area, um, and advertise your space there and also just, you know, kind of comment in there about the area helping people. It's always great to give, uh, before you make that ask, but engage like a human in those Facebook groups, pop around, see what's going on. But that's a great way to, to also share your space.

Yeah. For example, we have one here in Ohio that's Travel Nurses of Ohio. Now this is one where you have to maybe have it be a part of your morning routine. You pop in there, see who's posted recently 'cause the early bird gets the worm, the quickest person Gets the referral too. So you wanna be in there frequently.

Mm-hmm. Uh. Next we want, if you have any, um, universities or hospitals around you, of course, those are great places to create relationships there. Uh, some of those longer stays for sure are happening if people like visiting professors, grad students, researchers, um, again, at the hospitals, maybe someone's coming in to do some rounds for, uh, a while or maybe it is actually a patient coming in for, for a long, a long time. We have someone, um, that we coach where she has a midterm rental in an area where she has patients come and stay with her for quite some time. So you could definitely do that.

Here's a more creative one, Kelsey and anyone out there who likes creating content, you could pitch a local blog, a local influencer, or even a newspaper, and offer a short story angle. You know how I turn my property into a safe haven for traveling nurses or. Local mom turn investor provides furnished housing for Relocators. Uh, you really can't sleep on SEO, especially if you have your own website for, for booking your property or even have it linked back to your Furnished Finder listing, what have you. But that could be journalists are always looking for content and so this could be a really cool way to have the gift that keeps on giving with this story living on, and people clicking that link, uh, from the get go.

Then you also, um, if you could, like any midterm rental, um, folks out there, you can, um, start a, a, a meetup or go to a meetup and, and talk to them about your property. And this is something that, holy smokes, this could open up so many different options for you and opportunities. So see what type of real estate investor groups are in, in your area. Go to them. Don't, don't just. Participate online, go meet people in person because you could get a ton of referrals that way. There's normally agents there, there's normally brokers there. You could actually even speak about short-term rentals. Midterm rentals specifically, uh, would be really advantageous for you.

You can build relationships with local hospitals, so call or email hospital HR departments or relocation departments and ask if they have a housing bulletin board or referral system for traveling professionals, traveling, nurses, doctors, things of that nature as physicians, and offer to be a vetted, ready to book option for clinicians, right? Especially if your unit is near the hospital or has nurse friendly amenities. It could be really great. And this way you're doing the work for the hospital right now. You might reach out once and you get the wrong person. This might be a situation where you maybe go in and they see your face and you bring some goodies for the people at the front desk. They can point you in the right direction, do what it takes to get on their good side and to find out who is that right person you need be, you need to be connected with.

And then you could also just real estate brokerages.

I think that's a great one.

Yeah. Tell them that you have the midterm rental and, uh, meet that office manager who's there. Again, kind of like Sarah said, get in front of them, give them a little something, uh, to make them remember you. But, uh, just really quick. Clean summary of what you have, what you can offer to them, how can they get in contact with you? You've gotta be fast on all of these things. You guys, uh, that's the one thing that I wanna say. If, if you're gonna take the action here, if people do reach out to you, you are gonna have to be quick in responding, like Sarah said, like fortune's in the follow up. But it's also the fastest follow up. Um, and be prepared. To have your midterm rental contract ready, you know, if you do, um, which we highly recommend if you're doing background checks, you know, those things need to be fair and compliant, but have an SOP ready when you get the leads. And Kelsey, I'm just wondering if, are you doing this for both of your properties? It sounded like you were only doing one property, but I heard you had two properties, so I wanna just offer that to you. If you wanna take action on making both of your properties available. Um, that could be a way for you to have higher profits on offering both of your properties when you're not in either area. 'Cause it sounded like maybe you were just offering one property up.

The cool thing with, with brokerages and real estate meetups and realtors, if they're good at their job, their goal is to build relationships, Kelsey, which makes it easy when maybe you could be someone who gets a little nervous about pitching what you have to offer or meeting new people and a cold situation where you're just kind of popping in and showing them what you have. But if they're a good realtor, if they're a good brokerage, they want to build a relationship with you and they'll make that relationship easy. So just remember that. And if they're, if they make it awkward, if they don't fall back, they're probably, they don't probably have a great book of business.

And the last thing we want to share is do the, like, we know you're gonna do the work, Kelsey, but sit down just pen to paper. And we gave you so many ideas, but come up with your own ideas. Like, you know, the local publications, you know that area, you know, the, you know, the coffee shops where you could post, um, your property. There are so many things. I would just take some time in your calendar too and make yourself, like, force yourself to come up with ideas on your own too, because you have got them. I know they're inside your brain. You know, there's things that you could be doing. I heard you even say like, I wanna list on other sites and just knock these things out. But take what Sarah and I have given you today. But please take some time. You know your market, you know your neighborhood, and it could be talking to some of your neighbors. Um. And seeing if, if they would have a, a need for the midterm rental. But I'm, but make sure after you've got our list, your list, literally just go through it and take action on all of them. We're excited for you.

Kelsey, you'll have to follow up with us and let us know how it goes. I think we're getting into you heading back to Arizona and maybe you're getting ready to fill your home. Let us know what idea worked, what challenges you come up against. We'd love to hear. You can reach out to us. hi@thanksforvisiting.com. With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

I'm Annette Grant, and together we are. Thanks for Visiting.