How I Built a 13-Property Airbnb Empire in 1 Year | Brandon Meyer DSH #1088

Summary

Digital Social Hour: How I Built a 13-Property Airbnb Empire in 1 Year | Brandon Meyer DSH #1088

Release Date: January 11, 2025

Host: Sean Kelly

In this compelling episode of Digital Social Hour, host Sean Kelly welcomes Brandon Meyer, a trailblazing entrepreneur who transformed his financial landscape by building a 13-property Airbnb empire within a single year. Their candid conversation delves deep into Brandon's strategies, challenges, and insights into the dynamic world of short-term rentals and real estate investment.

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1. Introduction to Airbnb Arbitrage

Brandon Meyer begins by sharing his journey into the Airbnb market, emphasizing the lucrative potential of rental arbitrage. He explains how his portfolio thrives amidst market fears of an Airbnb bust by maintaining high-quality properties and effective marketing strategies.

Brandon (01:06): "It's good. My portfolio is good. There's a lot of fear in the market with the Airbnb bust. But if you do Airbnb, right. I found it to be very lucrative."

2. Navigating an Oversaturated Market

The conversation shifts to the current state of the Airbnb market, highlighting the challenges posed by oversaturation. Brandon criticizes hosts who invest minimally, opting for cheap furniture and poor advertising, which undermines the overall quality and competitiveness of listings.

Brandon (01:21): "It's an oversaturated market right now. You have a lot of people jumping in the game and they are just throwing furniture in. They're not spending enough money to invest in a good home and advertise it well."

3. Distinguishing Through Quality and Marketing

Brandon emphasizes the importance of differentiating one's listings through quality investments and sophisticated marketing. He discusses the use of accent walls, professional photography, and optimized listings to enhance visibility and attract higher bookings.

Brandon (02:04): "With our properties, I found that you put in enough capital and market it well. This is like accent walls, you know, doing wallpaper, paint, just making it a scroll-stopping design. It kills it. It does really well."

4. Mastering Airbnb’s Interest-Based Algorithm

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around Airbnb's interest-based algorithm. Brandon explains how optimizing listings for this algorithm—through strategic photo selection and listing arrangements—can boost a property's ranking, leading to increased impressions, clicks, and bookings.

Brandon (02:41): "Airbnb's algorithm picks that up and you know, get impressions, you get clicks and conversions and that helps boost your ranking. Put you on first page search on Airbnb."

5. The Role of Dynamic Pricing

Dynamic pricing software, such as Price Labs, plays a crucial role in Brandon's strategy. He illustrates how automated pricing adjustments based on local events and market demand can maximize revenue and keep listings competitive against fluctuating hotel prices.

Brandon (04:28): "Dynamic pricing is how it competitively prices amongst the competitors. It takes into consideration things like events coming to town similar to airline tickets and hotels and makes you competitive in the market."

6. Addressing Common Airbnb Challenges

Brandon shares his experiences dealing with problematic guests, including parties and scammers. He details the implementation of noise detection hardware, security cameras, and proactive communication strategies to enforce house rules and mitigate issues before they escalate.

Brandon (07:44): "We implement noise detection hardware in the houses. It just measures the decibel levels. If it goes over that threshold, I get a notification... We have security cameras... So we can check the cameras and see what's happening."

7. Handling Scammers and Protecting Assets

One of the standout moments is Brandon's recounting of his viral video capturing scammers attempting to exploit his properties. He discusses the importance of fraud detection, collaboration with law enforcement, and maintaining vigilance to protect his investments.

Brandon (11:11): "We caught it ahead of time. They just completely trash it, and then they leave, and then we have to pay for it. Right. We miss out on the revenue, and then we get the charge back from the credit card companies."

8. Scaling the Business Through Strategic Locations

Brandon explains his strategic choice of Pittsburgh as the primary location for his Airbnb properties. He highlights the benefits of operating in a less saturated market with room for quality investment, allowing his listings to stand out and perform exceptionally well.

Brandon (14:49): "Pittsburgh was a great opportunity for a couple of reasons... it's a B size upcoming city... I wanted to get into a place where there was less competition."

9. Financial Strategies: Leveraging OPM and Creative Financing

Transitioning to financial strategies, Brandon discusses the concept of "Other People's Money" (OPM) and how he utilized business loans and creative financing to launch his Airbnb venture without substantial personal capital. He shares insights into rental arbitrage and negotiating with landlords to facilitate property listings.

Brandon (18:30): "I went and I opened an LLC, I opened a business, I got a business loan and that funded my start to my Airbnb... We put it in the lease and I put that $25,000. There were part of that was some of the rent and deposits and then the rest was furniture."

10. Diversification and Future Investments in Crypto

Brandon also touches upon his investment diversification into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. He believes in the long-term potential of crypto, viewing it as a form of digital gold and highlights the integration of smart contracts in real estate transactions.

Brandon (23:27): "I look at that as like the digital real estate and I've heard that term used in the past. So I'm just going to continue to invest in that right now."

11. Preparing for Market Fluctuations and AI Integration

Anticipating future market adjustments, Brandon discusses the inevitability of economic fluctuations and the role of artificial intelligence (AI) as a potential solution to mitigate market pain. He underscores the importance of staying informed, having liquidity, and being prepared to seize opportunities during downturns.

Brandon (25:53): "Everything's moving over to this digital world and the AI revolution that's coming up. I think it's going to be the next industrial revolution with AI."

12. Building a Supportive Network and Continuous Learning

Brandon credits his success to being part of mastermind groups and learning from mentors. He encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to surround themselves with knowledgeable individuals and engage in communities focused on real estate and creative financing.

Brandon (28:15): "You're the average of who you hang out with the most. I just got a good network overall. I feel like I'm in a couple masterminds."

13. Overcoming Obstacles and Embracing Creativity in Real Estate

The dialogue concludes with Brandon sharing humorous and challenging anecdotes, such as dealing with scared cleaners and unexpected incidents. He reinforces the importance of creativity and adaptability in managing properties and overcoming obstacles in the real estate market.

Brandon (32:08): "We had a cleaner that got freaked out... She heard somebody say something really freaky... They ran out of the house screaming."

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Key Takeaways

• Quality Over Quantity: Investing in high-quality properties and effective marketing differentiates successful Airbnb hosts in an oversaturated market.

• Technological Integration: Utilizing dynamic pricing software and security systems enhances profitability and safeguards investments.

• Financial Savvy: Leveraging OPM and creative financing enables rapid scaling without significant personal capital.

• Diversification: Investing in cryptocurrencies alongside real estate can offer additional financial security and growth potential.

• Adaptability: Being prepared to switch rental strategies (short-term, mid-term, long-term) ensures resilience against market fluctuations and tenant issues.

• Community and Learning: Engaging with mastermind groups and mentors accelerates knowledge acquisition and business growth.

Brandon’s Resources

For listeners inspired by Brandon’s journey and seeking to emulate his success in Airbnb arbitrage, he offers mentorship and coaching programs. Interested individuals can explore his offerings through the following channels:

• Website: strscience.com
• YouTube: STR Science
• Instagram: @strscience

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Conclusion

Brandon Meyer's story is a testament to the transformative power of strategic investment, technological integration, and relentless pursuit of financial freedom. His insights provide invaluable guidance for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to navigate the complexities of the Airbnb market and beyond. Sean Kelly’s Digital Social Hour episode with Brandon serves as an inspiring blueprint for success in the ever-evolving landscape of digital entrepreneurship.

Transcript

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[Host (possibly Brandon)]

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[Brandon]

Yep.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

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[Brandon]

Life changing.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

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[Brandon]

I hope so.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

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[Brandon]

Yeah, yeah, we see it. We saw the boost there. Kicking up like 20k. Jumped up.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah, it's at Bitcoin's up 10% to the 10%. It's at almost $90,000 as we. All right, guys, we got Brandon here today. We're going to talk Airbnb real estate and we'll see what else we talk about. Thanks for coming on, man.

[Brandon]

Thanks for having me.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah. How's the Airbnb stuff doing?

[Brandon]

It's good. My portfolio is good. There's a lot of fear in the market with the Airbnb bust. But if you do Airbnb, right. I found it to be very lucrative.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

So that bust, did it wipe out a lot of sellers?

[Brandon]

It's an oversaturated market right now. You have a lot of people jumping in the game and they are just throwing furniture in. They're not spending enough money to invest in a good home and advertise it well. So they'll do. They'll buy a lot of stuff off Facebook Marketplace. They'll do Ikea furniture, just really cheap. But with our properties, I found that you. You put in enough capital and market it well. And this, this is like accent walls, you know, doing wallpaper, paint, just making it a scroll, stopping design. It. It kills it. It does. It does really well. So, yeah, we, we do. We do really good. So.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah. Cause you got to separate yourself from everyone else.

[Brandon]

Exactly. Yeah. There's a lot of competition out there and you need to stand out. And a lot of it too is Airbnb's an interest based algorithm. So if we try to optimize for that, we're setting up the listings and we're picking certain photos. You can add a little bit of mystery. Get people as they're scrolling through Airbnb to want to know more. See, see more your photos. Click into it, play with the listing and Airbnb, the algorithm picks that up and you know, get impressions, you get clicks and conversions and that helps boost your ranking. Put you on first page search. I Airbnb.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Nice. When did the algorithm start getting incorporated?

[Brandon]

The interest based algorithm? Yeah, I'm not sure of the year. I know it's. I think it's always been based on interest based algorithm to kind of gauge people's interest in wanting to go stay at a place. And the more a listing gets played with, the more it appears on top of search. Airbnb wants to list the best listings first. They want people when they're coming to their platform to see that. I mean, you can imagine if you were going there and you just saw a bunch of dumpy houses, you probably wouldn't book anything. So in this case, they're putting some of the best inventory first and they mix it in. I mean, if part of the algorithm, if you have a new listing, they push you to the top for 30 days. And that's something with my portfolio, we do property management as well for other people, we take advantage of that 30 day window. That's when the algorithm is going to be kind of gauging the success of the listing.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

The first 30 days.

[Brandon]

Yeah, it's crucial. And that's not to say that down the line you can't make some changes and bring it back, that's totally fine. But those 30 days are crucial for really driving up those bookings.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

That's good to know for people just getting started.

[Brandon]

Absolutely.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

So maybe they should lower their price the first 30 days.

[Brandon]

No. So that's a misconception. So I don't tend to do that. So with, with us, I want to. Because you get that 30 day boost, you're likely to get more bookings to come in. So we keep our prices competitive. We use a dynamic pricing software, something like price Labs and we, we, we, we use price labs to. Sorry, I lost my train of thought there.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

No, I didn't even know there was a software that. So it changes the prices of the listing for you?

[Brandon]

Yeah, it changes the price of listings. So dynamic pricing is how it competitively prices amongst the competitors. So it takes into consideration things like events coming to town similar like airline tickets and hotels and makes you competitive in the market. For example, we have properties in Pittsburgh. Taylor Swift came to town in Pittsburgh and everything was like sold out. All the prices went up that weekend. If you don't have dynamic pricing software, I mean that does it automatically, right? Using software. A lot of people do it manually. They just kind of set the same price for the same night and they're, they're missing out on the chance of maximizing their revenue on Airbnb.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

That's good to know, man. Because yeah, they probably get booked right away and they could have made an extra couple hundred bucks, right?

[Brandon]

Absolutely.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Wow. I did not know there was AI doing that with flights too.

[Brandon]

Yeah, I mean there. It makes sense in the hotel industry. I mean concert tickets, right. We're all trying to buy concert tickets and you have a bunch of bots that come in and they buy stuff up and jack the price up as you get closer to an event like.

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[Brandon]

You pay off devices early, shout out.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

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[Brandon]

Prices are going to drop to try to sell those tickets. And that's kind of the same thing with Airbnb inventory. As you get closer to something, if it doesn't sell, you want to drop the price. And. And you gotta be careful with that too with Airbnb, though, because you can also invite parties in. So what we tend to do with our pricing strategy is try to get it booked in advance. There are certain zones or tiers, and if we can get booked in advance, the more bookings we can secure, we can actually raise prices as those dates come closer. And that's a good party prevention tool. Which parties are, unfortunately, a thing with Airbnb and a lot of hosts that people come in, trash the home. And you've seen Airbnb in the news for shootings and parties and stuff?

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah, in Philly.

[Brandon]

It's a bad rap in Philly. Exactly.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

So how common is parties? Like, has that happened to you?

[Brandon]

Yeah, quite a bit.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

I love the honesty.

[Brandon]

Yeah. So we implement noise detection hardware in the houses. It just measures the decimal levels.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Oh, in the home. Smart.

[Brandon]

So we. I set like a threshold around maybe 80dB. If it goes over that threshold, I get a notification maybe around 8pm that that happens. Then we have security cameras. One at the front door, one one in the back door. Don't have any inside. Right. Just monitoring the outside of the building. So we get those notifications. I check the cameras and you can always tell a lot by. You read a listing. I'll check to see who checked in. I'll see what the registered guest count is. They'll put down like, hey, I got two guests that are coming to stay. And then all of a sudden you look at the front doorbell camera and there's like six, seven people, you know, piling in the front door. So at that point, they're breaking our house rules. They're breaking Airbnb policy where you're only allowed to have registered guests at the home. That's, that's actually one misconception a lot of people think is that you, you have to register for every single person.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Oh, wow. I didn't know that.

[Brandon]

Yep. And you. Yeah, you have to have those registered. And if not, you're in violation of Airbnb policy. And at that point, the host can kick you out if they want because you're breaking.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Interesting.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah, I never knew that because I've definitely stayed and not. Is that a newer thing where you have to register all the guests?

[Brandon]

As far as I know, it's been around. I think it's a liability thing. Right. You don't want, like, all these people coming to your house that aren't registered. And so Airbnb, you know, wants to keep track of everybody that's coming. And so no lawsuits and things like that, right?

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah, that makes total sense. So what happened when you found out there was a party at one of your spots?

[Brandon]

I mean, we've had a few. Having that system in place, we're able to stop things before they get out of control.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Got it.

[Brandon]

When that happens, get that notification to the phone, check the camera, see that there's some funny business. Try to reach out to the guest. If they don't respond, which a lot of times they don't, music is really loud. Depending on where they are, if they're in the backyard, some of the cameras that I have actually have a two way talk feature or they have really fun. They have a siren. So we've had a property in Florida where they're blasting music. Well, we have this really cool siren that just blasts and they all get freaked out. They're looking up at the camera and then they turn the music down. I'm like, hey, I need to speak to so and so. Whoever's the host, talk to him on the phone. Say, hey, like, you guys, you know, can't be partying. Got to get everybody out. It really depends if they're being respectful, they're being friendly. If they're, you know, hey, we're so sorry. We didn't know, like, all these people are going to leave. We'll monitor the situation, but of course, if we can't get ahold of them through the camera or from the phone, we'll send a Boots on the Ground person over. And I manage multiple properties in multiple states, so we have teams of people where just reach out to Boots on the Ground. They'll go knock on the door, hey, guys, like, you can't be partying. You're breaking house rules. We're going to have to ask you to leave.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Wow, you've had to do that all the time. Damn.

[Brandon]

Yeah, I got some interesting stories on my social media or some of the crazy things that have happened.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

I think I saw one of your viral videos. Right?

[Brandon]

Yep, yep. So up there, we have the. More. The one that went viral that was really huge was the scammer video. So that one, we've been hit a few times by a couple scammers that they book the reservation with a fake credit card, and then they come to the property and, you know, stay obviously free, and then we get a charge back later on down.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Oh, like a stolen card.

[Brandon]

Stolen card, yeah. So this is off Airbnb. Let me just say Airbnb has a great fraud detection. We haven't had any issues with fraud. These are more for, like, direct bookings through our website. So the Airbnb platform is. Does their due diligence with really checking that out, or if they don't and there's a problem, Airbnb still pays you.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Oh, wow.

[Brandon]

As a host. So that. That's really nice. So in this case with. With that viral video, we had a couple scammers that. That came. They tried to. I. I caught it ahead of time. Luckily, I had the person that had the stolen credit card, they saw that our company name was on the credit card bill. They reached out to us, say, hey, this. This wasn't me. I. I didn't book this. We think it's fake. And so I was like, perfect. And these people had hit us before they come into the home. They just completely trash it, and then they leave, and then we have to pay for it. Right. We missing out on the revenue, and then we get the charge back from the credit card companies. So these. We caught it ahead of time. And I was like, it's perfect opportunity. I want to, you know, catch them in the act. We have that doorbell camera. So when they. They came to check in, just caught them on the doorbell camera. Just. Just play with them, really, and try. Try to get them to one of the things that, like. Cause I called the police ahead of time, I wanted to obviously get them arrested, you know, come in and pull in the scam multiple times and in the same city. We obviously don't want that to continue to happen. So when they came, one of the things that the officer recommended was if you try to get them to admit that they're the person that booked the home, then they can be held accountable. Unfortunately, they're more. They've done this multiple times. They know not to admit that they're the person on the reservation. So, you know, when I ask, hey, are You. The name that they use was Montana. So are you, Montana. There was two people. The girl almost admitted it, which at that point we could potentially call the police and then have them try to pursue something, but there was a gentleman that she was with and he cut her off, didn't allow her to speak. And he, he was obviously a skilled and probably the leader in, in the whole scam, but he basically said, oh, Montana's now down the road. She's not here yet. She'll be here in about 10, 15 minutes. He ended up actually, like, I didn't allow him in the house. He went around the back, try to break in the window. We caught him on camera. It's on, on the social media there. And they just ended up leaving. Funny enough though, I actually got a couple messages recently with, with people that knew who they were.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Really?

[Brandon]

Yeah. It was like, that's my cousin. I don't say his name, but he's like, that's my cousin, so. And so he's a, he's a real bad guy. Just, just not a good person. If you, if you want to pursue anything, like, here's his name.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

His own family ratted him out.

[Brandon]

Yeah. Wow. So obviously he's not doing something right. Right.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah. Your own family's telling on you. Damn. So it was the same guy that scammed you before, though.

[Brandon]

How'd you know that it wasn't the same guy? I think it was the same girl. So we had a follow up video on there where it was like six months prior. The. This girl shows up in a ski mask and she looks like she had a similar body type to the girl that had showed up in the room. Recent viral video and she showed up in a ski mask. She got out of the taxi in a ski mask, went in the house. Every time she left the house, she had a ski mask on, so.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Whoa.

[Brandon]

Yeah, she was, she knew what she was doing and yeah, there was no, no guy with her at that point in time. But yeah, she just looked very similar. We can't for sure say it was her, but it seems like the same people kind of know and they just keep hitting. Yeah, I doubt it's multiple people knowing how to go about, about doing that in that area.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

That's crazy. And that's in Pittsburgh.

[Brandon]

Pittsburgh, Damn.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Is that where most of your stuff is?

[Brandon]

Yeah, the largest part of our portfolio is in Pittsburgh.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Why'd you choose that spot specifically?

[Brandon]

Pittsburgh was a great opportunity for a couple of reasons when I got into Airbnb a few years back. So it's a B size upcoming city. And at the time I didn't. So I live in Denver and it was very expensive to try to start an Airbnb Denver. I had family in Pittsburgh, so I wanted to, you know, get into a place where there was less competition. And at the time, it's gotten more competitive now. But at the time, you know, people were, and this is something. If you want to find a profitable Airbnb in a profitable airbnb market, you can look around at your competition. That's where we start. Right. We want to take comps, we want to look to see what we're going to be competing with. How much money do we need to invest in the home to be competitive in that market?

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Right.

[Brandon]

And in this case, the people in Pittsburgh, the host in Pittsburgh didn't invest a lot into the properties like we were talking about before. They had put in some, some Ikea furniture, some kind of hand me downs. The walls were empty and they took photos with their iPhone. And here, you know, I know that if I'm going to come in, I'm going to put more investment to beat them out. I'm going to take professional listing photos using, you know, professional photography. I'm going to list it very well. And we can be really competitive in that market. So when we came in, we, and still to this day, we've done really well. We've invested in quality listings and quality photos and, you know, market ourselves well and that type of market.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

So yeah, sometimes it's not best to take the cheap route. Right?

[Brandon]

Exactly.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Like buy the cheapest things.

[Brandon]

Not with Airbnb. I wouldn't recommend it just because it's oversaturated. That was something you could potentially do maybe 2017 or earlier because there wasn't a whole lot of inventory in the market. Yeah, but now it takes that extra level.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Absolutely. How capital intensive is it now? Because I'm assuming every year it gets harder and harder. Right?

[Brandon]

Yeah. So it's, it's not too bad. I mean, single family. So I'm in single family homes. A lot of people do apartments and I'd like single family homes. I think they're more profitable. I think you can be competitive, more competitive with single family homes because let's say if you get a larger bedroom count, which Airbnb right now is pushing for larger bedroom counts like this, their properties, they want to push larger.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

How tall?

[Brandon]

That's a good question. I don't know. I would imagine because you're going to get bigger homes like hosting bigger groups. Airbnb what makes Airbnb competitive is the fact that like against hotels is that they can host larger groups, larger parties. You're going to get more property. And there's just this common misconception with pricing is that we've had a few guests that come in and they're like, your prices are crazy. I'm going to go stay at a hotel. And it's like, say, dude, you paid $300 for like two nights for a single family home. That's like a five bedroom single family home. And you could, you know, I mean hotel costs like 300 a night.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah.

[Brandon]

Right. So why would you not go with the home? So there's that misconception with price. And yeah, we, with, with the five bedroom homes, you can be more competitive because you can compete with everything below it. Right. So you have 5 bedroom, 4, 3, 2, 1. You can compete with apartments and beat them out.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah. In a group setting, it's hard to compete on price.

[Brandon]

Absolutely.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

When you compare to hotels.

[Brandon]

Absolutely.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah. There's very few cities where I think the Airbnb is actually more than the hotels. Vegas is hard to be just because they make their money off gambling. So the hotels are super cheap here. But I feel like in most places Airbnb is probably cheaper.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

You know, are you seeing that?

[Brandon]

Yeah, yeah. I mean we're with using the dynamic pricing software. We're competitive with hotel pricing because they take that neighborhood data into consideration. So our homes are, you know, know, price competitively with that and then other hosts.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

That makes sense. Wow. Yeah, I guess, I guess there's a lot that goes into it. Right. It's not like you could just start up and make money right away. You need the right mentorship and leadership.

[Brandon]

So yeah, let, let's, let's real quick talk about the, the pricing because you had, you had mentioned that. How much capital does it take to get into. Yeah, so I didn't have a ton of capital when I got started. I didn't have a huge like savings account to just go and divide dump in. And I actually, through YouTube and learning about real estate podcasts, just learned about OPM, which stands for other people's money. It's how the wealthy get wealthier. Right. Is you go out and you borrow money to start your business. In this case it was Airbnb. So I went and I opened a llc, I opened a business, I got a business loan and that funded my start to my Airbnb. And for a single family home at the time, I think we, when we started was a three bedroom home and we put in about 25,000, I think it was. And that was like with. So I do. Rental arbitrage is where you convince a landlord to Airbnb their property. So it doesn't. We're not talking about going and buying out a house and have a crazy down payment. It's a low cost of entry to get into a home. I approached a couple of landlords, I got their permission to Airbnb the property. We put it in the lease and I put that $25,000. There were part of that was some of the rent and deposits and then the rest was furniture. And then when we launched $1,000 bookings, rolling in, covered the rent and making profit each month.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Wow.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

So not that much.

[Brandon]

Not that much.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

That's interesting because usually when you think of Airbnb, you got to put down all the money for the house and everything.

[Brandon]

So it's absolutely. Yeah. And in today's market with a high real estate prices, it really makes it hard for anybody to get into Airbnb. Airbnb. So when I started, I mean, I did all of this working a W2 job full time, and I was able to scale a portfolio of 10 properties in less than a year.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Damn. So you've got 10 properties right now I have 13. Holy crap. In just a year.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

That's impressive. Yep, 13 in one year. So if you can maintain that, you're going to be well off.

[Brandon]

Yeah, it's, you know, doing rental arbitrage. Each unit, it's, it's probably, you know, couple thousand bucks. It depends on the area where you're investing. But it easily took over my W2 job income and provided me an opportunity for reaching financial freedom. And that's ultimately, you know, what I'm seeking to do. There's a lot of cash that comes in and you really like, you'll be rich, but you won't be wealthy. And that's one of the advantages when you're buying a home, first renting. So I take that cash and then I invest into long term real estate or, you know, starting new businesses or going that route, try to grow that portfolio.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

What was your W2 job?

[Brandon]

Software engineer.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Oh, sounds fun.

[Brandon]

Yeah, it was brutal. I worked for Lockheed Martin and I just hated it, man. Just commuting to work, sitting in a cube. I worked in the classified space. So I work in a skiff, no windows, just my body hurting.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yikes.

[Brandon]

And you know, do you just. All this time, man, you just sit there and you know, people there, there's so much more that, that you can be doing to, to maximize your time, and then you're just waiting for work. And so there's a lot of side conversations, stuff like that. I just, I wanted to, to utilize that time to, to grow my knowledge and grow my skills. And I didn't feel like I could really do that with, with the W2 job. Um, so I ended up getting an unclass job remote and that's really where I started kind of transitioning over, reached a turning point and just, I flew out of state, flew to Pittsburgh and just. Let's, let's do this.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Let's go.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Sounds like you're a lot happier now.

[Brandon]

Absolutely.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

A lot more fulfilled, right?

[Brandon]

More fulfilled. More freedom, like working towards that goal of financial freedom. And it's really crazy, man. So I, like, I've seen a bunch of people on, on podcasts, on your podcast recently. I just saw somebody the other day, it scaled a huge portfolio of properties, like over 200 properties. And that's amazing, man, when people can do that. I mean, just the fact that, that we did, you know, 10 to 13 in less than a year there was, was special to me. But I think it goes to show you that even if you're working at W2, you're working full time, you can still go out and do this. You can still acquire these properties and you can go and reach financial freedom.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah. I think your story's so, like, relatable. It's so realistic. Right?

[Brandon]

Yeah. I'm out of God. I didn't like, go secure 200 properties and, you know, a couple years. And that's, that's another level of doing it. But, you know, anybody can go out and they can make, you know, passive income extra few thousand dollars a month doing this.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah. If you could get 5 to 10, you know, that's probably 50 to 100k a year. Passive, right?

[Brandon]

Yep.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Which is great for most people. That could be life changing.

[Brandon]

Life changing. Yeah.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

That's cool. And with Trump in office now, I'm assuming the real estate market's going to be better, right?

[Brandon]

I hope so.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

I mean, crypto's already feeling it. God damn.

[Brandon]

Yeah, yeah, we see it. We saw the boost there. Kicking up like 20k jumped up.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah, it's at Bitcoin's up 10% to the 10%. It's at almost $90,000 as we're filming this.

[Brandon]

That's amazing.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

So it's going to hit 100k. I remember when, I know we talked before, like, people thought you were crazy. If you Said bitcoin would hit 100k.

[Brandon]

Absolutely.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

When you were mining in 17.

[Brandon]

Yeah. You know, people look down on it and I'm fine with that because I know the potential of crypto and I'm buying into it. I'm diversifying my portfolio. I don't even look at it, man. I'm just going to buy and hold and just invest that money in it. Like, like it's digital gold.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

What do you buy? Just one coin or spread it out?

[Brandon]

I've spread it out over the years. I bought multiple. But right now, just investing in bitcoin. Yeah, I look at that as like the digital real estate and I've heard that that term used in the past. So I'm just going to continue to invest in that right now.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

I love it. I think Michael Saylor might go down as one of the greatest investors of all time.

[Brandon]

Yeah, man.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

If this pans out and it hits 400k like you said.

[Brandon]

Yep. Yeah. He's been in the game a long time. I remember him 2017. I mean, he, he went all in. Everybody thought he was crazy. Obviously he lost a lot of money, but that's what happens with bitcoin.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Well, he didn't sell though.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

So he didn't technically lose.

[Brandon]

Yeah, but. So I mean, I mean in terms of, you know, that's one thing with investing is so many people. Like, I just. How I got here was I wrote it, I took a taxi from the hotel, I talked to the taxi driver and he's like, he's focusing on the ups and downs of crypto and the same thing with the stock market. But you got to think long term.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah.

[Brandon]

What's the long term potential of this? And. And a lot of people don't think about that. So long, long term. So like short term. I think a lot of people looked at Michael and they're like, yeah, he lost a bunch of money, but it's like he hung onto it. Long term, the guy's going to be super wealthy.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Even last year he was buying the whole way down. People like, this guy's an idiot. Like he was buying bitcoin at like 20, 30, 40k, 50k and now it's. Yeah, look at him.

[Brandon]

He knows what he's doing.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

He does. I think it's hard to go wrong with bitcoin. And I like ethereum too, but some people don't like that one. But I think if you stick with the top couple, you're good.

[Brandon]

I think so too. Yeah. There are more proven use cases with smart contracts. For example, With Ethereum, when I learned what smart contracts were and how they could be applied, like actual use cases, that really turned me more onto crypto. So the fact that in real estate, for example, you can use those smart contracts to get somebody assigned and it basically passes back and forth to one another, so waiting for the other party and it's all handled through technology, that to me is amazing. And none of it can be tampered with.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah, I thought it was going to change the real estate game. It hasn't seemed to embrace it fully yet, but I bought my house without meeting the seller. So that's the first step, right?

[Brandon]

Amazing.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah. So that's the first step and I feel like smart contracts is the next step where you'll be able to buy just online.

[Brandon]

Online, right? Yep.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

That could be crazy.

[Brandon]

Everything's moving over to this digital world and the. I really believe in this AI revolution that's coming up. I think it's going to be the next industrial revolution with AI. It's going to take off and we might see some market pain coming up. There's a lot of bad predictions about the market and financially and obviously the real estate prices are crazy, inflation, everything like that. And we're overdue for an adjustment and there could be a lot of pain. But what could pull us out of that pain potentially, or maybe not even make it as painful, is an AI revolution solution. Right. This technology that takes off and a lot of people are making money and things can continue.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

But yeah, I've been hearing that we're due for such for years now. I'm just waiting on them.

[Brandon]

You're ready, right? You got some cash on the sidelines?

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

I got some cash, but yeah, I've been hearing that for six years straight.

[Brandon]

I know, right? Crazy, all the fear. Yeah.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

I feel like it's supposed to happen every X amount of years and we're overdue. So I don't know what's going on.

[Brandon]

But I don't think it can, it can continue. Something, something's got to give.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

It seems like they're artificially keeping it up, right?

[Brandon]

I, I think so. I think with the election and even if something bad was to happen, I wouldn't blame Trump. I wouldn't, you know, look at like politics and blame that. It's, it's been, you know, a long time where we've needed an adjustment and it's honestly, it's a good thing, it's a healthy thing for that to happen with the market. So it's, it's needed, it's the the next move.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah, yeah. I hope it comes, like, not in a negative way, but I just feel like it. That's the opportunity where you can really run it up.

[Brandon]

Yep.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

I've never experienced that as an adult because the only recession I've been in, I was a kid, I didn't have any capital play with.

[Brandon]

Yeah, I, I, I kind of watch what big money's doing. I think we've seen Warren Buffett. He sold a lot of stuff. He's got a lot of cash on the sidelines.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

He's been dumping.

[Brandon]

Yeah, yeah.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

I see him every week dumping stock.

[Brandon]

Yep. I, I heard about that, you know, about 2016, 2017, where I really started getting my financial bearings on how these guys are moving their money around and making a lot of money. And, you know, just like the quote goes with Warren Buffett, it's sell when people are greedy, buy when people are fearful.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yep.

[Brandon]

That opportunity for real wealth and growing and making a lot of money is coming up. So have that cash ready and whatever, whatever. You know, look at what you're going to invest in. Is it going to be stocks? Like, do your research now. Just be ready, have that money on the sideline and be ready to go.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah. You need the right connections to the right people to listen to.

[Brandon]

Absolutely.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Whether it's stocks, crypto, real estate, Surround.

[Brandon]

Yourself with the right people. You're the average of who you hang out with the most.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Absolutely. You got a good network out there in Pittsburgh?

[Brandon]

I just got a good network overall. I feel like I'm in a couple masterminds.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Which ones?

[Brandon]

I'm in a Airbnb group called Robuilt, and that's really nice, man. It's a focus a lot. It's Airbnb in general, but it's creative financing. And if you're familiar with creative financing.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

I love creative financing. Pace Morbi stuff.

[Brandon]

Pace Moreby.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah.

[Brandon]

Yeah. It is super smart if you can do it right. There's a lot of opportunity right now with the high real estate prices to, to capitalize on that.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yep. I like seller financing, too.

[Brandon]

Seller financing.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

I was trying to do that for my house, but the guy wanted cash, so.

[Brandon]

So you try to talk him into it.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah, but I, I started with sub or sub 2. That didn't work. That's hard to pull off it.

[Brandon]

It is. There's got to be a lot of pain. And that's when Pace Morby talks about. It's got a lot of motivation. So with your, your, the house that you bought, was it. The guy owned it 100 equity.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

She. Yeah, he owned 100. So I was trying to do sub two. He didn't want to do that. Then I tried to do seller, but then all my money's in crypto, actually, so it didn't work out.

[Brandon]

So in order for sub 2, there has to be a balance on the mortgage still. So he would have mortgage payments, but if he owned it 100%, then he would be doing. You'd be doing seller financing. He would have that interest rate. You would just negotiate the terms on that.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

That's probably why he didn't. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Brandon]

There's a lot of people, though, that are in that position where they just. Just own. They own the homes and you could potentially, as you're trying to do with seller financing, just have them act as the bank. With sub 2, though, there's got to be pain. There's got to be a reason, like.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

A late payment or something.

[Brandon]

Yeah, arrears, they got to get caught up on arrears. Just late, late mortgage payments. They. They just, they. They want out. And a lot of times, you know, as people that own the houses outright, it's. It's harder to convince them to say, hey, you know, take. Take a risk and loan the property to me. But yeah, if you watch basis stuff, man, I mean, he's. He's a smooth talker, man.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

He's a beast. I get his ads every day and I just study the ads, honestly. Usually I skip the ads on YouTube, but no, I study his stuff.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah, him and Jamil, both of them.

[Brandon]

Yeah, Jamil. I've seen his stuff too.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Jamil's great. Yeah, they got a show too. I had a guy do. Have you heard of real estate deeds? Tax deeds? No, dude, he goes to auction buys these deeds. It's crazy.

[Brandon]

Yeah, I've. I've been interested in auctions. I haven't gotten into it. Yeah, it's. You have to have cash. From, from my understanding, you need a.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Good amount of cash.

[Brandon]

A good amount of cash. Yeah.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah. Because you're taking on the liability, so.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

But if they miss a payment on their mortgage, it goes to auction. Isn't that crazy?

[Brandon]

It is. Yeah. And hey, I mean, if pain happens in the market coming up, we might see more of those situations.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Oh, you will.

[Brandon]

Good opportunities for people.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

These bought houses for 5, 10, 20k.

[Brandon]

Really?

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Isn't that nuts?

[Brandon]

Dude, that. That's crazy.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

I mean, even though it's not like the full equity, it's still crazy.

[Brandon]

Yep.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Getting a huge discount. Yeah, there's all sorts of ways to make money in real estate. Section 8. I see those ads.

[Brandon]

Yep. You got to be creative with it. You know, going out and finding deals and. Or if you're doing rental arbitrage and you're trying to convince a landlord to Airbnb the property. It's. It's. These are all creative ways to try to make money in real estate. You don't have to have this huge down payment to go in and do anything. You just got to, you know, find the right. The right knowledge. Education may. Maybe mentors and groups and get support.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Absolutely. I did see one funny thing on your Instagram. Did one of your cleaners run away? Airbnb cleaners?

[Brandon]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. So we had a cleaner that got freaked out, and she went into the home to clean. It was her and two other cleaners, and she. She went into the back room, like, the laundry room. She went to open the door, and she said that there was something behind the door. So she leaned in a little harder, she pushed a little harder, and she heard somebody, like, basically say, really, really freaky. Right? And so she screamed. She freaked out. I got it on camera.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Oh, my God.

[Brandon]

They ran out of the house screaming. And, you know, they called me. They're like, hey, we quit. We're not coming back to clean for you. I'm like, what? I was like, we had a guest coming to check in that day. I was like, hang on a second. You know, it's like, we'll get the police out there. We'll figure out what's going on. I wasn't sure who it was. I know we had an AC tag that was supposed to be working on the ac. I wasn't sure if he was just playing a joke or what the deal was, so we ended up calling the police. But before they showed up, the cleaner's husband came back. And this dude's big guy.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Yeah.

[Brandon]

He's, like, ready to confront whoever was behind the door. I don't blame him, man. He's like, who scared my wife?

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

She was spooked.

[Brandon]

Yeah. So he went in before the police were there, and he. Of course, when the police came, and what they found was when they opened the door, it was a metal chair. No, she. She just got freaked out. She. She heard, like, a growling kind of, with the metal chair just scraping across the floor. Yeah, they had a good sense of humor about it. You know, I. I felt bad. It happens. But, yeah, it made for an interesting story.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Have you had any squatters or people try to just stay there randomly?

[Brandon]

No. Thank God, there. We keep our listings under 30 days. So for a lot of legality purposes, if they're more than 30 days, they get tenant rights. So we, we try to mitigate that ahead of time.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Oh, I didn't know that.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

So if you rent out a house to someone for over 30 days, they get rights.

[Brandon]

Yeah, you got to look at the laws depending on where you are. But yeah, over 30 days is switched to tenant rights. Otherwise it's like considered a short term rental because you have the short term rentals over. Over there. It's like midterm rentals and then you have long term rentals for long term tenants.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Got it. So tenant rights, they can start requesting repairs and everything, right?

[Brandon]

Yep, yep.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

And you gotta comply.

[Brandon]

Yeah. And there. And there's some horror stories out there for sure about that. Uh, you know, tenants obviously, squatting and stuff. But we keep our stay short. We're most profitable with the short term stay.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

So shorter the better for you.

[Brandon]

Yeah, it's more of an exit strategy. Like if that's, that's something that's like, oh, man, I want to get an Airbnb. It's too scary. Like, you know, lose money. Well, there's always an exit out of these things. You know, if you rent the property from the landlord and you're like, how can I get out of this? If short term doesn't work, switch to midterm in Pittsburgh. There's a lot of hospitals there. I think it's like over 38 hospitals. Traveling nurses are a thing. So you can rent out to traveling nurses coming around and staying at the home as a midterm rental, that could be profitable. Or it could get you through difficult times and then switch back to short term. Or worst case scenario, you switch to long term, you rent it out to a long term tenant. Maybe you make some cash flow on that. Or another strategy, just sell the furniture or you move it to another list. Sting. So just being creative once again, kind of going back. So it kind of. That was one thing that I had to go through before I got started. It was that you have all these kind of fears and excuses why you shouldn't get in. I did my research and I was like, yeah, like, you know, if it doesn't work out, it's like, I got these options I can turn to and, you know, work either way.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Love it.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Brandon, where can people find you, man, and learn from you?

[Brandon]

My website is strscience.com I actually have a mentorship and coaching program for Airbnb Arbitrage and basically doing everything we talked about here. Also you can check out my YouTube channels at STR Science and a lot of my other handles Instagram @str science.

[Host (possibly Brandon)]

Awesome. We'll link below. Thanks for coming on man. Appreciate it Y thanks for watching guys. Check out the links. Peace.

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