2 Biggest Hurdles to Your First Rental (& How to Get Past Them) (Rookie Reply)

Summary

Episode Summary: "2 Biggest Hurdles to Your First Rental (& How to Get Past Them)"

Podcast: Real Estate Rookie
Hosts: Ashley Kehr & Tony J. Robinson
Release Date: April 25, 2025

In this episode of the Real Estate Rookie podcast, hosts Ashley Kehr and Tony J. Robinson delve into the primary challenges that novice real estate investors encounter when embarking on their first rental property journey. The discussion is enriched with practical advice, real-world scenarios, and expert insights aimed at helping newcomers navigate the complexities of real estate investing.

1. Understanding Neighborhood Classifications and House Hacking

Timestamp: [00:00 - 04:17]

The episode kicks off with a listener question from the BiggerPockets forums: "Should I start off with a house hack in a D or C class neighborhood, or should I save more and go with a B class neighborhood right out of the gate?"

Tony J. Robinson provides a comprehensive breakdown of neighborhood classifications:

• A Class: Luxury rentals with premium features and higher rents.
• D Class: More affordable rentals with potential challenges like higher tenant turnover and delinquency rates.

Quote:

Tony J. Robinson [02:23]: "That's an A class and they're obviously charging premium rents. And on the opposite end of that spectrum, a D class neighborhood would be kind of the opposite of that."

Ashley Kehr emphasizes the importance of personal comfort and practical considerations:

• Location Proximity: How far the property is from your job.
• Emotional Comfort: Since house hacking involves living on the property, personal comfort with the neighborhood is crucial.

Quote:

Ashley Kehr [03:15]: "If you're going to be house hacking and you're going to be living there, there is some kind of emotional... where do you feel comfortable living."

2. Financing Options: Refinancing vs. HELOC

Timestamp: [06:16 - 24:52]

A listener from the Real Estate Rookie YouTube channel poses a question about leveraging equity from an existing duplex to purchase a second rental property. The discussion revolves around two primary financing options:

a. Refinancing the Existing Mortgage

• Pros: Locking in a potentially lower interest rate and accessing a lump sum of cash.
• Cons: Involves closing costs and extends the loan term.

Ashley Kehr suggests evaluating current interest rates and considering extending the fixed-rate period to secure better terms.

Quote:

Ashley Kehr [17:08]: "Find out what current rates are to either get refinanced for another five-year fix because you're most likely going to get a lower interest rate."

b. Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)

• Pros: Flexibility in borrowing, often with lower upfront costs.
• Cons: Interest rates can be variable, and there's a risk of higher payments if rates increase.

Tony J. Robinson highlights the importance of understanding the actual equity accessible, noting that not all of the $100,000 equity might be available for borrowing.

Quote:

Tony J. Robinson [22:30]: "Even for the rookies that are listening, just because you have $100,000 in equity doesn't mean you're going to get all of that $100,000."

Key Considerations Discussed:

• Loan-to-Value (LTV) Ratios: Typically up to 80-90% of the property's value can be accessed.
• Purpose of Funds: Whether for a down payment, full purchase, or a specific investment strategy.
• Loan Terms and Conditions: Understanding repayment structures and potential fees.

3. Managing Neighbor Relations in Short-Term Rentals

Timestamp: [29:09 - 34:53]

The final listener question addresses a common issue faced by short-term rental hosts: dealing with an overzealous neighbor who obstructs access to a property's key features.

Scenario:
A neighbor has erected a temporary construction-like barrier near a short-term rental's fire pit area, negatively impacting the rental's aesthetic and guest experience.

Tony J. Robinson advises proactive neighbor engagement:

• Building Relationships Early: Reaching out to neighbors upon launching the property to establish open communication channels.
• Addressing Concerns Directly: Understanding the neighbor's grievances and finding mutually agreeable solutions.

Quote:

Tony J. Robinson [31:18]: "I think that would be my first step... calm, level-headed approach to see if we can come to a solution that works for both of us."

Ashley Kehr adds the importance of setting clear boundaries:

• Guidebooks: Providing guests with clear instructions about property lines and acceptable areas.
• Aesthetic Solutions: Suggesting more visually appealing barriers if necessary, such as hedges or tasteful fencing.

Quote:

Ashley Kehr [34:03]: "We provide... an aerial view and kind of, like, an outline of this is the property you have access to, these are the property lines where you can go."

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Throughout the episode, Ashley and Tony emphasize the importance of thorough research, financial prudence, and proactive communication in overcoming the initial hurdles of real estate investing. Whether it's selecting the right neighborhood, choosing the optimal financing method, or maintaining harmonious neighbor relations, the hosts provide actionable strategies tailored for rookie investors.

Final Thoughts:

• Run the Numbers: Always compare potential cash flows between different property classes.
• Explore Financing Options: Understand the pros and cons of refinancing versus HELOCs.
• Build Neighbor Relations: Establish positive relationships from day one to mitigate future conflicts.

By addressing these challenges head-on, new investors can set a solid foundation for their real estate portfolios and work towards long-term financial freedom.

Transcript

[Ashley Kerr]

If you're struggling with how to decipher all of your financing options, or maybe you're just wondering what is the best kind of market to invest in. This episode is for you. Today we're going to tackle the biggest roadblocks rookie investors face, from accessing capital to making smart neighborhood decisions that will set you up for long term success.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Now, whether you're trying to figure out if you should house hack in a C class neighborhood or wait to save up for something more premium, we've got you covered with some advice in today's episode. Plus, we're breaking down exactly how HELOC loans work so you can feel confident leveraging that equity for your next investment. Now, what I love about today's questions is that they're coming from people at different stages, some with equity already built up and others trying to make that crucial first investment decision. So no matter where you are in your journey, today's episode has something valuable just for you.

[Ashley Kerr]

I'm Ashley Kerr and.

[Tony J. Robinson]

And I'm Tony J. Robinson, and welcome.

[Ashley Kerr]

To the Real Estate Rookie Podcast. Okay, let's start off with our first question today. This is from the BiggerPockets forums and it is, should I start off with a house hack and a D or C class neighborhood, or should I save more and go with a B class neighborhood right out of the gate? Any advice would be appreciated and please explain why. Okay, so first, Tony, we should probably like break down what actually A class neighborhood means between A, B, C, D, maybe an E. Is there an E class neighborhood?

[Tony J. Robinson]

So when you think about an A class neighborhood, those are going to be like your, your, like your luxury rentals, right? Those are going to be the ones that have like the nice flooring, the nice countertops, the premium fixtures, you know, maybe all the crazy amenities like that. That's an A class and they're obviously charging premium rents. And on the opposite end of that spectrum, a D class neighborhood would be kind of the opposite of that. Right. Where the rentals themselves probably aren't as nice. Maybe the demographics of that neighborhood in terms of income, in terms of employment might be a little bit lower. You know, the, the, the turnover of your tenant base, maybe it's a little bit higher. The delinquency rates when it comes to the rent and paying on time might be a little bit higher. So just slightly different property types and slightly different demographic of people filling those types of properties.

[Ashley Kerr]

Yeah. So back to the question. And the question is asking, should I house hack in a D or C class or should I save More and go with a B class neighborhood. So I think since you're going to be house hacking and you're going to be living there, there is some kind of emotional, you know, usually we say leave the emotion out of your deals, but if it is going to be your primary residence, I think should weigh into part as to where do you feel comfortable living, where do you want to leave or where do you want to live? So let's say not even with the classes of neighborhood, but like how far away is this property from your job? So in one neighborhood it's going to be an hour commute, where another neighborhood it's going to be a 10 minute commute. Like does that play a factor? So when you're thinking of yourself living in these properties, look at all the factors. What that would affect you earlier personally too.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think the, the idea of like, hey, what I feel comfortable living here is an important one to answer for yourself. But you know, I, I think even maybe just before C or D class, it's like how much of a difference in cost is it actually in your specific neighborhood to go from a, you know, a D class neighborhood to a B class neighborhood? Because if you're using, you know, FHA, 3.5% down going from A, you know, I don't know, whatever the price difference is, like how much more out of pocket is actually going to be for and have you crunch those numbers and even more. So are there maybe other loan products out there where maybe you don't have any cash out of pocket? You know, there's first time home buyer assistance grants, there's things like the VA loan if you're a veteran, there's things like NACA if you're not a veteran. You know, Ashley talks about the USDA loan. So have you really explored even all of the financing opportunities that are available to you that maybe would allow you to get into that B class neighborhood with the CA with the cash you have on hand currently?

[Ashley Kerr]

Yeah, and I think run the numbers. So take a property that's a B class property and then take a property that's in a C or D class neighborhood and what is the difference in the cash flow of the properties? How do they perform against each other? And like we had mentioned in the beginning that basically to summarize, you know, to explain a D class neighborhood, it's more of a headache. There can be different issues, different problems than you'd have. I mean there still can be the same problems that you'd have, but for example, a D class neighborhood, it's not going to make sense for, you know, rental income or for resale value. If you make this property really, really nice. You put in the granite countertops, you put in hardwood floors. Nobody is going to pay a premium to have those finishes because it's just not affordable in that area where maybe that's what, that's the kind of comfort you want to live in. Then when you go and resell it, nobody's going to pay the premium for those high end finishes in that neighborhood because they don't want to live there. Though you have to remember that too. When you're looking at the property as to what extent of any rehab remodel these properties would need to get it to a suitable living condition condition for you and your tenants. What is that going to cost? You're looking at things that are already turnkey. Let's look at the maintenance and the cap X on the two different properties. So is there more maintenance and capex that needs to be performed? On one though maybe, you know, the class C property is actually better that you found because it actually has been updated. So you got to look at all the numbers, run the numbers and see where the differences are. Compare and contrast. Literally go on to Zillow right now. Find a property that is in each of one of those neighborhoods you're considering and just run the numbers on each of them to give you an idea of what that comparison looks like.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Yeah, I think one other thing to add to is say you do decide to move forward with the C or the D class neighborhood. I would, I would really encourage you to spend even more time than you typically would screening all of your tenants. Right. Because if you're, if you're house hacking in maybe a part of town where it's known to have tenants that can potentially cause problems. Like, you want to make sure that whoever you're sharing walls with is someone that you're going to enjoy sharing walls with. So, you know, even if you have a long line of people banging down your door to get into your place, I would be very, very, you know, within the reason or within the confines of what's, what's legal. As a landlord, I would be very, very picky about who I allow in and I might even give myself, you know, more vacancy on the front end to make sure that on the back end of actually living in this place for the next 12 months or however long it is that you actually enjoy it. So just, you know, taking your time leasing up this property and you do.

[Ashley Kerr]

Have a benefit as house hacking. Like some of the fair housing laws don't apply to you because you will be living on the property. So you do have more of a say as to who can actually live with you.

[Tony J. Robinson]

That's cool. So like there are certain things that apply to landlords that don't apply to landlords who are house hacking.

[Ashley Kerr]

Yeah. So like okay, I am a, a female and I'm renting out one of my rooms. It is okay for me to say like I only want a female in that room and to like pick based off of personality. Really. Like you know we just had Miller McSween on and he's writing the co living thing. You know, if you're living in the property you can inter like you most, most of the times you are interviewing the person as to like what I like living with them.

[Tony J. Robinson]

I only want Lakers fans living with.

[Ashley Kerr]

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[Ashley Kerr]

Okay, welcome back. So this second question, I love this. We actually pulled this from the real estate rookie YouTube channel. This was a comment on one of our videos and I love that we're getting so much engagement on YouTube. If you guys aren't watching on YouTube or if you are, make sure you leave a comment below, ask your questions or engage with the others here that are commenting. Okay, so this question says hi guys, I just recently learned about this podcast. Welcome and this is by far my favorite. I've been listening to a lot of the success stories and the fun journeys of the investors you have in your show. And thank you. We love that they take the time to come on in and talk with us too. Okay, so his question is, I am just wondering if anyone in this community can give me any advice on what to do. Me and my wife own a half duplex. We bought it for 305,000 a couple years ago at 5.4%. It's five years fixed on 25 years amortization. Okay, so before I go on real quick, let's just break that down. So their interest rate is 5.4% and it's only fixed for five years, but their payments are amortized over 25 years. So after that five year mark, they can go and refinance or it will usually go into a variable rate for the remaining 20 years. So the question continues on. We are now left with $264,000 mortgage balance. The house has a 345,000 city appraisal. However, the same house was sold in my neighborhood for 365,000. We are thinking of buying a second property to use as a rental using the equity that is available to us. Any advice on what should be the best course of action to take in this situation? Okay, so, Tony, I actually have a question for you. What, what is a city appraisal?

[Tony J. Robinson]

I was going to say the same thing. I didn't know that cities appraise properties. You know, there's like a tax assessed value, but that typically doesn't accurately reflect like the real world value of a property. And we typically see that to be a lot lower than what a property would typically sell for. So I actually haven't heard of like a quote unquote, city appraisal.

[Ashley Kerr]

And I wonder if there's some confusion there because I've spoken to a lot of people that have, you know, mistaken those terms. You know, the city assessment for your taxes with appraisal, like getting that reversed as to the language. So maybe for this sake we could just take it both ways. As far as they actually got an appraisal done and it's 345,000. But if this was, you know, the wrong word was mistaken, and it's actually the assessment on the property taxes, like Tony said, that's usually not an accurate value of the property. So on your property taxes, you'll have the market value, which is actually closer to what the property is probably valued, and then the assessed value is a percentage of that and it's lower and that's what they base your taxes off of. But even the market value, I look at some of my property taxes, that is definitely not what the value is. But I'm not going to complain because I don't want my taxes to increase by saying, hey, my, my property is actually worth this. And that's why, you know, and this changes by state and county as to, you know, when you sell the property, if the town does a reassessment, that is where they go and say, okay, you know, you, we see you've got these permits, you added another bedroom, you did all this stuff on the exterior. Your property is now actually assessed at this value and your property taxes have increased. So the first thing and I say is if this is the assessed value, it is like a Zillow estimate. It is not reliable as the actual home's value.

[Tony J. Robinson]

So I guess let's get into like their options here then, right? I mean, because they've assuming that the 365 of the house that sold around the corner is maybe a more reasonable target. They've got about a hundred thousand dollars in equity right now. They can't tap into all of that. You know, different ways of tapping into your equity are going to maybe limit you up to 90% somewhere in that ballpark. But I guess there's kind of two options here. You've got, or I guess technically there's three options, right? Option one is you sell the property, but it sounds like you want to keep it, so maybe we take that one off the table. So your two remaining options are you can refinance the property where you replace the initial mortgage that you know, 5.4% on a 25 year AM you replace that with new debt. And then the second option is maybe a heloc, right, A home equity line of credit where you're getting a line of credit using that equity. Now between those two options, pros and cons to each, right. A HELOC is going to play more like a, like a credit card, right, where you, you get charged for what you draw against that line of credit. Whereas to refinance is like, hey, you're getting all that money on day one and regardless of whether or not you actually use it, you're going to start paying on it, right? So there's pros and cons to each, but I don't know, I mean I think in their position actually, right, like if They've got this 5.4 rate currently, if it was fixed for the entirety of the loan, I might lean more so towards the HELOC, just kind of keep that 5% in place because it's better than what we're getting today. But if it's gonna, if it's gonna, you know, adjust based on some, you know, prime plus whatever, they maybe end up paying like 9%, you know, who knows what, what that new rate is going to be. So to me, if, if the, if that flex on that rate gets you above and beyond what the prevailing rates are today, I'm probably just gonna go with the refinance because it's cheaper. But if that, if that floating rate ends up being lower than 7, which probably isn't going to happen, then I might go with the heloc. That's my initial thoughts. Ash. I know. What do you think on that?

[Ashley Kerr]

I think with it says they've owned the house for a couple of years. So let's say they're two years, they got three years left on the fix. I definitely would go and find out what current rates are to either get refinanced for another five year fix because you're most likely going to get a lower interest rate. I did just talk to a couple banks and there actually was one bank which really surprised me. The rate was higher for a 5 year fixed or a 7 year fixed compared to the 30 year fixed which really surprised me. Everybody else though, the less period of time you were guaranteeing to fix it, the lower the interest rate was lower.

[Tony J. Robinson]

And I wonder, I wonder why that is. Right. Because like if they're giving you better rates for the long term fixed, are they, are they assuming that? Yeah, I wonder what their, what the thought process like do they think rates are going to.

[Ashley Kerr]

Right. And it was just this one bank and I was like shocked because I've always experienced that they, it's lower interest rate when you're only fixing. So my only thought is, is that you know, they have more of a guarantee that you'll stay with them for a longer period of time and they'll end up making more interest if you do sign the 30 year one compared to you refinancing at 5 years in the risk, you go and refinance at another bank. That's literally the only thing I can think of. But that is super hypothetical.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Yeah. And I was, I was thinking of thinking of it from a slightly different angle where if they're going to charge you call it 10% for, you know, a five year note. My thought process was that maybe they think that rates are actually going to increase in the next five years. So like if they lock you in for a lower rate, they're actually going to end up losing money in that five year term. Right. So that's them kind of trying to hedge their bet. So maybe this bank knows something we don't know about where, where rates are going.

[Ashley Kerr]

Yeah, I think figure that out as to what rate you could actually get on refinancing your property. Also too, it's on a 25 year amortization. So if you did a 30 year amortization, you know, that might actually even with a little bit higher rate that could kind of, you know, make your payment closer to what it is now by increasing that amortization. I would then also look at what are you, how long do you actually plan to stay in that property? So if you plan to move in a year or two years, then okay, maybe you don't refinance and pay those extra closing costs and you stay in the property and then you're going to sell it anyways. But if you plan to stay there for a long time, consider refinancing and looking the comparison of rates and terms and amortization period. Also the next thing to look at is what are you going to use the funds for? So is it going to be for a down payment? Is it going to be for the full purchase price of the property? Are you going to do some kind of brrrr strategy where you're going to purchase property, then you're actually going to go and refinance anyways. Because if you do the line of credit, you at some point have to pay that money back. You're just paying interest only. There are lines of credit where after a certain period of time if you do not pay it back, it automatically converts into some kind of amortization. So say you get a line of credit, whatever your balance is due and after two years that will automatically turn into a loan and you can have the option to like buy a fixed rate at that time. And there's different intricacies of this but then they'll put it into payments amortized over 25 years or something. Okay, so then it does turn in turn into a long term loan loan. So you'd want to find out what that interest rates are, what those terms are. If you don't pay off the line of credit during the X amount of time. But if it's something like you just want to use it for the down payment and you want to, you're going to pay it off quickly if you have the cash flow from that property. If you have money from your W2 where you just want to, you know, you don't want to delay purchasing something. So you're going to borrow from the line of credit for your down payment and then you're going to rapidly pay back that line of credit, then I think that's a good decision. But if you have no idea, no, you know, course of action, or plan to actually go and pay that off immediately, that line of credit, like just remember on top of your mortgage payment from that second rental, you're going to have those interest payments to the line of credit. So I think that's a really important piece to look at as to which way you go as to how you're going to use the funds too.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Yeah. And I think the last thing to call out here is just how much, how much cash you're actually going to be able to get because you've only, you only, and I say only. Right. But you've got $100,000 in equity. And let's say that you're right. Maybe the house actually does appraise for 365, say that you're able to get up to 80% of that value. 80% of 365 is 292. You owe 264. So you're not even getting 292 minus 264 is $28,000. Right. Is what you'd be getting if you were to access 80%. It goes up a little bit if you can tap into 90. But trying to make sure that there's some context here on how much of that equity you'll actually be able to tap into with some of these refinance options. We're exploring HELOC right now, and I think we were quoted right at about 80%. What's the, what's the highest, like, loan to value that you've seen on a, on a line of credit, Ash?

[Ashley Kerr]

95%. But that was, God, nine years ago. My first ever partner. That's how we funded our second deal was he stepped into his equity and got a HELOC on his primary residence and it was up to 95% he was able to take take for the HELOC.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Yeah, that's true. It might be higher if you're doing it on a primary. Like we're pulling a line on a, like an investment home. So it's maybe it's a little bit different there. But yeah, if you can get up to 90, that changes things a little bit. I think you'll probably go from like 30,000 to 60,000 somewhere in that ballpark. But just, I just want to make sure Even for the rookies that are listening, like, just because you have $100,000 in equity doesn't mean you're going to get all of that $100,000. Right. There's always a little bit of limitation there.

[Ashley Kerr]

And one thing too, and let me know if this is different for your commercial line of credit, like it being an investment property, because I can't remember on mine, it's been a long time since I've actually opened one. But there's usually when you do a heloc, there's usually no closing cost and a lot of times the bank will even pay for the appraisal or like figure.com they actually do a in the house appraisal too and can actually like get you approved in five minutes and you can actually get funded in five days. But with doing a refinance, there can be closing costs attached to that. There are refinances where you can do no closing cost loans, but your interest rate is going to be a little bit higher. So you have to compare like what's my, how much am I paying extra every year compared to what the closing costs were? So that's something else to take in comparison to, as to the money you would need up front to pay for closing costs or that would come out. So say you can borrow 80,000. You would have to, you know, take 8,000 of that and pay the bank for the closing costs and the fees for that, that property. Do you know, are you paying closing costs for your line of credit on your investment property?

[Tony J. Robinson]

We definitely didn't pay for an appraisal. I know that the lender we're working with is like charging some points. I don't, I don't know, might be a point or two that they're charging us on the, on the line of credit to get established for us. But we're not even paying for that upfront. It's just getting rolled into the line of credit itself. Right. So out of pocket expense for us is basically zero. But yeah, there, there are some, some fees going back to the lender that's in the he like for us.

[Ashley Kerr]

We're going to take a quick break before our last question, but while we're gone, be sure to subscribe to the real estate rookie YouTube channel at Real Estate's Rookie. We'll be right back with more after this.

[C]

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[Tony J. Robinson]

All right guys, let's jump back in with our last question. So this one comes from a short term rental host and it's definitely an issue that I've dealt with in various forms before as well. But this question says our neighbor has 100 acres and freaks out when anyone walks on his property. So you know their property lines right next to each other. Beside our fire pit is the top of a mountain that substantially drops off. He just put up this temporary barrier and if you're watching on YouTube you can see the photo of it. But if you're on the podcast, go over to the YouTube channel so you can see this photo. But it's literally like a think about like construction zone type barrier that he's put up right in front of this person's fire pit for their short term rental. The question goes on to say, I'll probably get the survey to get the exact location for the property line. I've got one idea, to maybe plant some evergreen trees that don't grow too high. But the basic gist of this question is how should this property owner maybe respond or deal with this very, I guess, overzealous neighbor kind of making the. Making an eyesore at what should be a focal point for a short term rental.

[Ashley Kerr]

Tony, I have to say that I honestly would probably be this neighbor. I don't, I wouldn't want people like continuously walking on my property either. I feel like there's definitely a way better way to handle it than putting up a construction barrier fence for sure. But I guess you are the short term rental expert here. And if you guys are watching on YouTube, you can see the, the picture here of this or you saw it and you're not on the podcast, you're just listening on the podcast. So right now, this is a beautiful outdoor setting. They have a really nice cabana with. It looks like a fire pit, all this beautiful stonework. And then right behind it you see this ugly orange and yellow construction fence basically blocking the view. So I guess, Tony, what would, if this was your property, what would be the first reaction, your first course of action on this?

[Tony J. Robinson]

I think before even getting to this point, we, we always try and reach out to neighbors when we, when we launch a new property. And you know, because, you know, a lot of times when you're, when you're setting up, you'll see them kind of outside poking their heads out and we'll just walk over and say, hey, most of the time, sometimes you get neighbors who can just tell, like, don't want you to be there. And we're just like, all right, cool. There's not much we can do, but typically we want to start building those neighbor relations when we launch and just go over there and shake hands, say, hey, my name's Tony, this is my wife Sarah. You know, we own this property next door. Hey, it is a short term rental. But hey, we do our best to be really responsible hosts and our guests are typically pretty awesome people. But hey, look, if there's ever an issue, here's our number. Give us a call, we'll make sure to get an address for you. Right? So I think just extending that olive branch on, on day one is important. And then if they ever do call, just making sure that you're actually following up on those issues and kind of keeping them abreast. We've had quite a few, like, neighbor Issues with different properties that, that we own. We almost the inverse of this. We had to build a fence because we had a neighbor who was just like causing a nuisance for, for our guests. So I, I think in this situation I would reach out to the neighbor first and I'd say hey look, I, I noticed you put a. Hey, I, I, I get it. But, but hey, what I guess were you seeing or what were you experiencing that made you feel that this was necessary and just let them vent, you know, and they're just going to go on, they're going to complain about your guests were stepping on my property line and blah, blah, blah and you know, whatever it may be, be understanding, said, hey, I get it, you know, definitely not our intention and I think there's probably a way that we can make sure that our guests respect your property line a little bit better. But hey, is there a way that we could maybe do it without the kind of eyesore of this construction tape that you've put up up, you know how cover the cost. But just let me know if there's something we can do to get you to take it down on your side. So I think that would be my first step is, is you know, calm, level headed, approaching the neighbor and seeing if we can come to a solution that works for both of us.

[Ashley Kerr]

I mean even barbed wire fencing would look better like, oh, nice and rustic Yellowstone feature of the barbed wire fence. The yellow, the orange and yellow construction fence. Yeah, I, I think that's a great.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Recommendation because I mean, you know, you can't keep, keep every neighbor happy and unfortunately, if that is the case, like, like that is the case. But yeah, I, I probably would. If the neighbor's not going to want to play ball, I would put up something on my side of the, of the, the property line that's a little bit more aesthetically, you know, in line with what we would want for that space. So yeah, privacy, hedges, whatever it may be. If you put up your own fence, it sucks because you're missing that, that view. You've got a beautiful view and you probably marketed that a little bit, you know, with your Airbnb. But better that than what we see here.

[Ashley Kerr]

Yeah, we actually one of our, the a frame cabin. It's just on like three acres, but it's kind of out in the middle of nowhere or most of the surrounding properties have more land and the one neighbor they like, once they heard that it was going to be an Airbnb, they went and put posted signs. Actually it saved us work from like having to put up any signs to like make sure nobody goes across that. But we also provide like in our guidebook, an aerial view and kind of, you know, an outline of like, like this is the property you have access to, these are the property lines where you can go and enjoy and stuff like that. But they went and did so far, knock on wood. We haven't had any issues at all with our neighbors.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Neighbor neighbors can make things tough for everybody. So neighbor relations, day one, always super important.

[Ashley Kerr]

Well, are you guys enjoying our podcast? Because your support would mean the world to us and it just takes 30 seconds. If you could please leave us review on Apple podcast, it would make a huge difference. Your feedback not only motivates us, but also our team and we really, truly appreciate it. So Tony, I saw that you have a shout out.

[Tony J. Robinson]

We do. Someone Left a glowing 5 star review on Apple Podcasts. So again, if you're enjoying the podcast, be sure to leave your honest reading and review. But this one comes from AJ1800 and it says I love listening to this podcast. Listen each time driving to and from my hospital rotation with three exclamation marks. So we appreciate you AJ1800 and thank you for supporting the podcast.

[Ashley Kerr]

Yes, thank you AJ. Well, I'm Ashley and he's Tony. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Real Estate Rookie. We will be back with another episode.

[D]

Your home isn't just a place to live. It's your biggest investment. You spend time, money and effort making it valuable, comfortable and safe. Maybe you've upgraded the shower head, added some new curtains, and finally figured out which light switch actually controls the porch light. But the best upgrade you can make is peace of mind, knowing your home is protected day and night. That's why I use Simplisafe. Unlike traditional security systems that only react after a break in, Simplisafe helps prevent them before they happen. Their active guard outdoor protection uses AI powered cameras and live monitoring agents who can actually see if someone's lurking, talk to them, activate spotlights, and they can even call the police if needed. It's proactive security that works in real time. And the best part is there's no long term contracts, there's no hidden fees, just award winning home security for about a dollar a day. And it's why over 4 million homeowners trust Simplisafe to protect their property and keep their home secure. Right now you can actually get 50% off a new SimpliSafe system with professional monitoring and your first month [e-mail] pockets. That's SimpliSafe.com pockets. There's no safe like Simplisafe.