Ep 9 - What it’s like to DIY an AirBNB renovation, how DIY projects differ with an investment property, and how to build up the courage to just go for it w/ Amanda McGrew (@justdoitamanda)

On the show today, Amanda and I dive into a completely different realm of DIY - investment properties. As a first-time AirBNB host, Amanda bought a home in Phoenix and took on the projects and design by herself without any prior experience (crazy I know). We go into everything from how she got started, how she built up the courage to start, what it’s like to host an AirBNB, and how profitable it is to DIY a short-term investment property. Amanda is a true go-getter and is well worth a follow. It’s only fitting that her new handle is @justdoitamanda (previously known as @cactushousediy).

 You can find Amanda’s AirBNB property in Phoenix, Arizona at http://airbnb.com/h/cactushousephx

Transcript

Alex: 0:00

Yo, yo yo, what's up. I am your host, Alex Dalessio and welcome to the real life renovation podcast. If you're looking to take matters into your own hands and your home, and this is your go-to DIY and home renovation community for you, I invite you to join us each week. As I chat with some amazing DIY creators to discuss all that goes into their DIY journey and the renovation project that they've accomplished and how you can achieve similar results in your home. If you have zero experience like I did, when I started, then there's no better community for you to gain the knowledge, confidence, and inspiration to release your inner bad-ass upon every corner of your home. So let's pick up the hammer, have some fun and nail your home renovations together. Before we get into this, I did want to mention that throughout this episode, we say to go follow them and to at cactus house DIY, but she just changed her Instagram and Tik TOK name to add, just do it, Amanda, uh, for multiple reasons, but actually my suggestion to change it because I think she has so much more to offer than just her very one specific Phoenix Airbnb, which we talk about in depth throughout the interview. And I think that pigeon holder, so you can now find her at, just do it, Amanda again. Great follow-up and without further ado, let's get into it. Welcome to the real life renovation podcast. This is episode nine. Today I am with Amanda McGrew and you can find her at cactus house DIY on Instagram and Tik TOK. And she was actually a teacher and high school basketball coach for a decade, and she decided to quit and follow her passion Autohome and Phoenix, and now has renovated listed on Airbnb and has so much more on her journey. So this is going to be a really exciting interview and podcast to kind of tap into the investment side of DIY. Well that said, Amanda, the first question I have for you is imagine you're sitting down with HDTV producers and they want to pitch, you have to pitch a show on you. What would you tell them sets you apart from other DLI creators?

Amanda: 2:04

Uh, I think, I think what's like some other DIY DIY creators is that I literally have almost no idea what I'm doing, which I think is fun and a little bit terrifying all at the same time. Um, but you know, that I love the kind of mesh that I've created between the Airbnb short term rental side of everything. Um, and real estate investing while also being really kind of now newly obsessed with this kind of home renovation, DIY stuff. I've always been a creative person, but, um, really being able to tap into those skills and learn about new tools and, you know, using all the power tools and, you know, Which are my favorite and trying new things, you know, there's still things I haven't done like tiling and I can't wait to, you know, knock down some of those off my checklist. But I think just the fact that it's, it feels like a little bit of an untapped, uh, community a little bit to, to, to blend those two worlds together.

Alex: 2:55

Yeah. And I've honestly thought about a lot. Cause as I'm doing my DIY projects, Kylie and I, we really want to keep our home as a rental. And by the next one, of course that means saving up for the next down payment without, you know, selling your house and, and getting the, the equity that you built up in it. Um, and I just think that's just like a very smart investment nowadays. I'm a firm believer all my friends were like, Bitcoin, this stocks, this, I just like me. I don't know, like land isn't going anywhere, homes aren't going anywhere. People will always need places to live. And I've just always found or thought found, act like I know everything, but I just always thought that if you make a smart investment on a home. Um, that could literally be your retirement forever.

Amanda: 3:41

I couldn't agree more. And I feel like it's the kind of thing where, I mean, I'm definitely of the same mindset as you, where I feel like owning property will always be valuable. Um, it'll always be something that you can pass down and it's, it's a form of an, it's a form of investment and saving in the sense that mostly investments I've made in. I, so I own two properties. I own the house that I live in currently in Los Angeles, it's a condo. Um, and luckily I was able to buy it like tit. I was bought in 2012. So I bought a 10 years ago. And because of, you know, the LA market, it has appreciated very much in value, which is awesome. But it's the kind of thing. Or when I really think about it, when I think about taking equity out of homes or, you know, using it for the next property or things like. I guess I don't really ever think that certain properties will go so far below what I bought it for or what I owe on it currently that I'm not that worried. I think one of the biggest things for me that it comes down to is how risk averse are you? Like, how, how, how worried are you that, that like the worst case scenario would happen? And I'm just kind of, not that worried. I mean, I think I, I have enough of a calculated risk, you know, in my mind where I know like, okay, I know what the worst case is, but, uh, to think that I, like, I would never assume that would happen. I think there are people in the world who assumed those things will happen. And I just definitely don't walk through life that way.

Alex: 5:04

Yeah. And I think it's such an important mindset because when you're putting money into any investment, you know, there's a kind of like the risk it to get the biscuit thing, like throw stuff where it's just completely risky. Like let's imagine 10 years ago you put 20,000 in Bitcoin, people would have called you crazy. Right. And now you'd be like worth like $80 million, a hundred million dollars, whatever it is. Um, so there's like levels to it. And even when you're putting in your 401k, like technically of course, over the last, like whatever a hundred years it's going to appreciate for the most part, but you never know. Like, I remember putting some in mine and then obviously when COVID hit, I was like, damn they know the graph was supposed to go down that far. And yeah. And of course they're like, just ride it out and I get it. But there's also the same thing. If you look at a home 30, 40 years ago that your grandparents bought, like, they probably bought it for like $10,000,$15,000, which was a lot then, and now it's worth 300, 400,000, whatever the case may

Amanda: 6:07

be. Right. And I think, like you said, it's like, if you look at it through the course of time, I am not. And I guess everybody's different in terms of their, the investments. They want to make it real estate. Some people are like, I want to buy a home today for 400,000. I want to put a hundred into it and flip it and sell it for 700. And like, that's great. And that's obviously a strategy, but there's other people who are like, I want to build generational wealth for my family through real estate, like through properties, to where it is, you know, bringing in passive income every single month, whether it be a thousand bucks a month of passive income or $30,000 a month in passive income, you are kind of building that while having the equity. And while it's kind of like, I'm just taking my big chunk of change that I initially had on this down payment and putting it in the bank of real estate, as opposed to the bank of bank of America, you know, and just letting it, letting it sit there, you know? So it's just a little bit of a different approach. And I think it's, you know, I never even had the mental bandwidth or capacity to think about those things while I was working full time. It would just wasn't even something I could have considered, you know,

Alex: 7:12

Something like, I know me personally, I was looking at homes for over a year before me and Kylie were really serious. This was before COVID was even close to a thing. Um, and I would just research the hell out of my market, which was Baltimore city. And I knew what were good deals and what weren't. And so when the right house came, I was like, Heidi, this is the one that's putting an offer in right away before anyone else can see it. And I knew, and I ended up being right. And that's the thing is like, if you're passionate about it, then if you treat it as an investment and you've done your research, just like, if you do your research on stocks, I'm sure you can do very well as well. But if you do your research and you know, your market and you know, also what you're capable of, like, I was like, Kylie, we can't take on, I never picked up PowerSchool. So I was like, we can't take on this like a complete gut type house, but I also don't want to move in ready, complete house. And so we were looking for that perfect kind of middle ground, and we found it with this. And so I guess the thing I wanted to kind of weave into next is how has it been buying the Airbnb and then DIY buying it. Whereas most people, when it comes to investment property, they're like, you know, pay someone else, get it quickly so I can get on the market or. And then rented out on Airbnb and things like that. So how has your journey

Amanda: 8:29

been with that? Yeah, I think there was, there's a couple kind of key pieces. The first key piece was that I really wanted to spend time outside of LA. Like I have a love, hate relationship with the fact that I was born and raised in Santa Monica. It's I love it. So, so, so much it's beautiful, but it is most certainly not what it used to be. Um, I feel like people only say that when they're like seven years old and then like 35 and saying like, no, it's seriously not like, it's just very, very different. Um, and I feel like once upon a time it used to be a little bit of a small beach community and it's just not that way anymore. Um, so I was excited to get out of LA and, and, and be able to experience something new. So I knew that I wanted to facilitate a little bit of a project. I knew that I was going to be going to be capable of kind of the bare minimum cosmetic stuff I knew I could do. I knew I could do. I, I would, I was ready to paint the whole house if I needed to. And painting to me is like the best way to dive into it. That's so fixable, like you can totally pick it very easily, you know? And so it just is not that intimidating. So I knew that, you know, slapping paint everywhere would be, would be a great refresh, you know, if somebody needed new decor, new mirrors, new this new fixtures, like I was like, okay, I can definitely do that kind of stuff. So I think knowing that the bare minimum was going to be well within my capacity and was also going to let me, uh, allow me to move somewhere for at least a couple months. Um, I'd be able to kind of check those two boxes of like my creative freedom, what would get my juices flowing. And also like I get to be somewhere else and I get to meet new people and, you know, being in a different environment. And then specifically with short-term rental, it was like, I knew I wanted to dive into the, into the short-term rental world. I knew that it was a very, you know, saturated market and in almost any city where there is Airbnb is it's pretty saturated. It's like there aren't many towns where it's like undiscovered yet, you know? Um, so I think that also intimidates people from jumping into new scenarios also because the people who are currently there will very quickly convince you that it's dried up. There's too many Airbnbs out there. There's not enough demand and whatever. And you can, the problem is, is you can listen to all those opinions, but you're going to get people on both sides of the fence, you know, so you're going to have enough opinions in either direction, much like almost anything in life. So it's, it's good to kind of stick to your guns if you really want to do something, but being able to get out there, um, spend a lot of time. There, there were a couple of things I knew I was going to have to hire out. Um, the sub floor of the entire house is concrete. So I knew I wanted to grind the concrete floors and Polish them, um, and leave them as the concrete floors. And I was super pumped about doing that. They're pretty much indestructable, um, they're like super kind of rugged in the sense that they're still like the tax strip nail holes in there. And like, I kinda like it. Um, and it's definitely not for everybody, but I'm like, you know, an Airbnb guest can't possibly screw these up. It just, it just can't go bad. Like there's, it's not going to stay in. It's not going to crack it's like, and if it does crack hell, it's part of the foundation. Oh, well, yeah. You know, it looks great. Builds character. It looks great. So, um, and then the other thing that I was going to attempt to do myself was refinished the kitchen cabinets. Um, and then I quickly realized that it being like a 70 piece kitchen, it's like an enormous kitchen with an Astro astronomical number of cabinets and doors and drawers that I like sanded them all down and like three days and like tack cloth, all of them and did one coat of primer as a, yeah, this is a no, like, this is just like, I feel like I am pretty patient and my work ethic is pretty strong and I was like, you know what? And I actually went to go get a couple of quotes and I thought it was going to be, oh my God, $10,000, 15,000. The, the company charged like 20, 2500. And I ended up only having to pay two grand because it was like a number of things, but Hey, they did a terrible job to start. Um, and they tried to tell me it was finished and it looked awful. So I got them to come back and actually make it look good. So they took, they took 500 bucks off or whatever, but, um, it was a little bit of a process, but to know that it, it, you know, in the big scope of how much it could have been, I was like, that's a reasonable thing for me to hire out in order to save my time or allow my time to be better, spent thrifting for decor, scripting for furniture, figuring out how, what I wanted the layout to be, you know, things like that, um, was really made my time. It really made my time more well-spent um, and the last thing was knowing that like nothing in this house truly can feel valuable to me. Like nothing. I have to be aware that. Everything. And not even just damaged, everything can be broken, completely stolen, just like taken from the house. Like it, you need to be prepared for, to walk into an empty house and be like, all right, well, let's start again. I like, yeah, you'll feel file a claim and whatever, but like, you just need to have that mental preparation of like, this doesn't mean that much to me that all this, all this stuff is just stuff. Right. If somebody takes my sheets, it's like, okay, well, they were like my grandmother's sheets that I was saving for my kid or something, you know? Um, so knowing that nothing in there is too valuable, I think there was, those were the few pieces of like my mindset going into it that I had to kind of maintain the whole time.

Alex: 13:30

Yeah. So I just can't. So how did you even get, so talk about your, your story, right. So I already touched on your high school. Uh, what was it? I don't know if you're a high school teacher, but you were a high school basketball coach, but you were a teacher.

Amanda: 13:43

I, yeah. So I started, I played college basketball, played a little bit of professional basketball in Germany and then came home back home to LA. And when I came home, I just had a couple of, a couple of family, friends who were high school athletics. And they were like, one of them was like, Hey, I know you're home and don't have a lot of money. So you're going to coach for us. And I was like, ah, he actually was making me coach high school softball and I, I played softball, but I was like, I don't want to do that. Like, that doesn't sound very great. And so I started doing that for this, for an after-school stipend and then the following fall was coming and he was like, we don't have any positions open full-time at the high school. But my buddy at a local pre-K through eighth grade private school here in LA, um, is looking for a female PE teacher. Would you want to do that? And I have, I got majors in finance and marketing and had no interest in using either one of those. Like I was like, you won't catch me behind a desk. Like absolutely not. Um, and sitting at a computer all day is like, Nope, that's not it. And so I was like, yeah, I'd love to do that. Like, do you think I'm, do you think I'm like capable? Like I don't have any background in. Yeah, you, you played college basketball and like you've done camps with kids and whatever. He's like, it's not that serious. And I was like, oh, okay. I thought I needed like a different level of education. I needed like a credential, whatever. He's like, no, it's like private school. You can kind of, they can hire whoever they want. So I ended up going over there, teaching lower school PD. Uh pre-K through eight, um, for 10 years. And for six of those six or seven of those years, I was afterschool going directly back to that original high school and coaching there, you know, state championship level basketball program, uh, assistant coaching. And it was an unbelievable experience. Um, I loved it so, so much, but like, like I said, seven years into it, I was like, I got to take a break from this high school basketball. It was like, as you know, it just, it became all encompassing and all consuming. And I was like, no wonder I am single and have no social life. And I am like living and breathing this high school basket. And I was like, this is nuts. Like I love basketball to my core, but there was something that was like, it was like ripping my identity away from me. I was like, and what's funny about that. Is that leaving college basketball as an athlete, I was like, how can I stay attached? Like, how can I, how can I continue this part of my identity? Because it's so important to me. And then it kind of, my life, you know, started to progress. And I was like, wow, I'm 28, 29. And I'm like, I don't need this like that anymore. Like I, listen, I want to win just as much as the next person, but like, this is insane. This is, you know, um, so I took a break from that and that provided me with a lot of kind of creative freedom and time to be able to, I actually ended up starting a dating app, um, that gave me the time to create the dating app. And that's still functioning. It's a dating app for, for athletes and it's gone very well. Um, and that's bringing some income. And it was after a few years of that, that I was finally able to realize like how burnt out I was from teaching. I mean, COVID did a number on every teacher in the world. Um, but realizing that like, you know, I knew this wasn't my be all end all, but the school I was at was a very comfortable and flexible work environment. So it was a very easy place to kind of eventually get stuck at, you know, and not, and not to say it in a negative way, but just, it was very comfortable. It was super comfortable. You, listen, I wasn't getting rich as a teacher, but I definitely wasn't, you know, not knowing where I was going to show up or I could, you know, go take a break and get lunch off campus. And I could, there was a lot of things that I w I obviously have the entire summer off, like no one wants to hear from you from June to September. So that's also very nice. Um, you know, so there was a lot of perks to it, but I finally realized like, this is not what I want to do until I'm 60, you know, so. I finally kind of worked up the courage to say, you know what, we're going to quit. We're going to have the playoff dating app income. And I'm going to have a friend of mine move into my two bedroom condo with me in LA. I hadn't had a roommate in like six years. And I was like, we're going to, we're going to get rent from her. And I'm going to have my dating app income, which is a little bit probably I was probably between 1500 bucks a month and like 2000. So it wasn't making anybody rich. Um, and I was like, and you're just gonna wing it. Like, you're going to see what happens. And I think I told my school that I was not coming back in mid August. And in the third week of August, I took a trip to Phoenix with my mom to look at houses. And the same day that school technically started, which I wasn't at, um, was the same day. I, I, we got our offer accepted on the house in Phoenix, which I, that was pretty erotic. Yeah, it was pretty cool. It was pretty. It's like

Alex: 18:30

the CLO the closing of one chapter immediately.

Amanda: 18:34

That's like poetry. Exactly. I was like, if that's not meant to be, I don't know what it is, you know, it was pretty cool. And

Alex: 18:40

so what led you then? Did you have any skills that, what, like, for me, I got into not having anything, me just being cheap and wanting to just my house, be nicer without paying a bunch of money to do it. But did you have any background in anything before you jumped, made the jump?

Amanda: 18:59

So what's funny is a lot of people also don't know this about me. They, a lot of people don't know about the dating app. And then even before that, they don't know that I actually owned a different Instagram and Etsy shop and it was called the Sandy farmhouse. Um, and that was my own kind of mixture of beach coastal life and like kind of farmhouse decor and. And it started, um, by me either refinishing furniture, um, or what it, what it really kind of boomed into was hand painted wood signs. So I would make signs for like weddings and seating arrangements and, you know, baby showers and graduations and whatever, uh, all kinds of different parties and people could order them, um, you know, custom made on Etsy. And so I got really into that and really into like the killer calligraphy of like painting these hand painted signs. It was really cool. Um, and then I was like, oh, you've got some light, you've got some skills here. And I know you want to like take it to the next level. You don't want to just be painting on wood, you know, the rest of that's not all you want this to be. So that kind of took a back seat when the dating app came about. And I actually, that, I think that Instagram still exists. I just haven't been on it, but you should. It's hilarious. It's like hand painted with scientist. Eventually I got into, um, hand into sewing mud, cloth pillowcases, and like, it was all just like handmade decor. Um, and I loved it. And then being with the dating app and being so heavily into the dating app, like I never saw myself as a tech founder. I literally created this dating app out of need for myself. It was like, oh, like I'm looking for someone who has an athletic background. I'm like, I like I have, there's no dating app like that. Like let's make it, which was really cool. And I'm so glad I did. And it's clear that there's a need for it among other athletes, which is fun. But I also was like, I don't want to be a tech founder. I don't want to sit behind a computer. Like pitch to investors and make phone calls all day. And like, that's not that fun. I, I just, I don't care if you're a billionaire doing it. Like for me in my, in my heart, that's not that enjoyable. Um, and so I knew, like there was something more, so I did have a little bit of a background in, like I had had a table saw already. I had had, you know, uh, an air compressor and a nail gun and things like that, but I had never done any real work in my condo in here. Like I had never really considered like, oh, you could like rip out this tile floor or, oh, you could throw up a backsplash and see how that looks. And so now that I've kind of really started to tippy toe into it. I'm like, oh my God, this fireplace looks so dull. I got to, I got to amp that up and I gotta do this and that, you know, so I think now it's really kind of opened the door wide open. Um, and the Airbnb was the perfect opportunity to find a place. But like I said needed some work, but definitely didn't need like a full construction reconstruction. You know, it was like, this is perfect. You can paint some accent walls, you can throw up a little board and Batten, you can like throw up a little wallpaper and you're literally honing your skills as you go. And it's also adding value to the house, you know, that was like, and you're like

Alex: 22:03

building up to bigger, bigger projects. You started with painting and then you're like, I can do a wallpaper. And then you started seeing the transformations and you're like,

Amanda: 22:11

holy crap, this is kind of cool.

Alex: 22:15

So the timeline for you buying it was August of which your 20,

Amanda: 22:19

20, 20, 21. So this past

Alex: 22:21

August. Okay. And then when did you officially launch it to be available on Airbnb?

Amanda: 22:28

Yeah, so I moved, I moved there. Um, so we closed, we got the offer accepted end of August close end of September. So I think like October one was the first official, like whatever that nearest weekend was my parents and I drove out with. And they drove out in their car and we kind of got as much for, I had that whole month. I had acquired as much furniture as I possibly could on Facebook marketplace. And I was like a crazy person driving around town. My dad's like, oh my God, another bed frame. And I'm like, listen, it's going to be great. Just trust it, trust the process. Um, and so we got it all out there. I lived there from October through, I would say, uh, beginning of January with a couple different trips home. It's like a five-hour drive home for different maybe showers or whatever. Um, and then by, by the first week of January, I had my friend who lives out in Phoenix. Who's a photographer, take all the pictures. And that was the final step of like, it'd probably been done for a couple of weeks, but I couldn't get her out there to take the pictures while I was out there at the same time. So got the pictures taken beginning of January and that's the key piece to obviously putting it up, uh, making the listing go live. Um, and I think I got the listing live byline. January. Uh, probably I don't even know what it was early January and immediately in, on the first or second day I had a guy, um, message me and needing it for the entire month of February. And I was like, holy shit, are you serious? Like, oh my God, like, I, that can't be right. Like this has to be spam. Like I don't buy it. And then I started reading all these Facebook groups of these ho I mean, all of these groups with their short-term rental hosts and they all say Airbnb like shotguns your new listing to the top to get you some action. Um, and really got to get to going. And so I had like 10 bookings right away and I was like, so stoked. And so the guy comes to the whole month of February, um, you know, pay. I think I ended up doubling the mortgage that month and I easily could have probably tripled it. Had I not, I did a couple of things wrong. The nightly rate was a little bit too low, but I was worried. I just wanted to get people in there. And then I gave like a, you can do like a 28 plus night, uh, discount. And my discount was 30%. And most people are doing like 15 to 20%. And so he got a super deal, which good for him. I was just thrilled to have somebody in there. Um, and then, uh, margin, April got fully booked with a bunch more smaller trips and the, and my nightly rate was higher. And so, so those, uh, March and April were much better months. And then I don't know what, what goes on, but right now, so there's a guest in there right now and I'm booked through the first weekend in may. Um, and now it's been like a grind to try to get people, listen, I know the summer, my parents, and I kind of like laugh because we. The summer in Arizona, it's 101 20 damn degrees. Like there's not a lot of people who were like, can't wait to get to Phoenix. You know? So we were prepared for that to be kind of like the slow season. And luckily, you know, February, March and April have, have been done well enough to where that will pay for our mortgage over the summer. Um, but I'm hoping, it just seems like Airbnb has definitely slowed down in promoting my page because I've already gotten like eight or nine, five star reviews that they're kind of like, all right, you're on your own now. Like you can, you can be like, you can figure it out. We don't need to boost you. So now it's about kind of, how do you work the algorithm to like, do I need to change my, the title of the house? Do I need to change the description? Do I need to put a new cover photo and like just kind of shake it up to see, like, I need to get some more views somehow. And it's, it's kind of, it's an interesting algorithm and kind of a grind.

Alex: 25:59

I never even thought. The fact that there's an algorithm to it, but it totally makes sense. Like with the SEO stuff, you probably have to look into what keywords you're putting into your description and your title. And what's that first picture that like snags, you know, the viewer like, oh, that's an amazing kitchen or that pool's crazy. I want to check out

Amanda: 26:18

exactly, exactly. I like the other, the other big thing that I was really excited to be able to do was designed the whole place myself, um, and kind of use this like modern desert Bohemian vibe that, you know, my house. I mean, look, you've got a turquoise wall behind me, like I'm beach I'm beach, coastal to the nines, like. Throw it out, throw some sand on this ground and I'm at home. You know what I mean? Like, and so I knew this would be a fun kind of challenge to go totally boho and like, oh, I love this. Like, but it's not necessarily what is ingrained in me that I was like, oh, this will be really fun. And hearing the way people have commented back, you know, guests have reviewed it or written back to me and been like, oh my God, I don't know who you paid to design this, but it looks so good. And I'm like, girl, thank you. I'm like, damn, I'm doing it. You know? So that's kind of a fun, a fun piece to it too.

Alex: 27:08

That's so cool. I just can't believe I really want, and we, me and Kyle have had serious talks about it. I'm doing it. And maybe a cause she's a teacher as well. She's second grade teacher. So she has the summers

Amanda: 27:20

off. God bless her heart. Bless her sweetheart.

Alex: 27:24

I listened to her. Yeah. I listened to her and sympathize with her. Every time she comes out, I'm like, we joke every other day is a bad day, but the non bad days are just okay. But she really, yeah. She really loves it. And she's awesome with kids. She's just matched to the natural, but so she has all, all the summers. And so we were like, you know what we should think about doing like an Airbnb property somewhere, like where we would want to go vacation or like go to like, not around here and for the whole summer. And we just move out there and we live out there and we fix it up. And then now we have an Airbnb place.

Amanda: 28:00

Exactly. And I will say one, there there's a few things. First of all, I could probably talk until I'm blue in the face about this, but like, there's a few things that I realized are like the keys. It is totally reasonable to be hosting remotely. Like I'm doing like I host from Los Angeles. And so I'm never going to be in Phoenix within an hour half to save somebody. Right. But like, at the end of the day, if something is an emergency, I'm not the one you call to fix it. Anyway, like if there's water shooting out of the wallet, you like, I can't fix that anyway. Like I like somebody who has the specialty needs to come fix that. And so that's kind of the, the rationale is like, as long as you have the systems in place, I've got a handyman that has a short term rental specific handyman. So he's like, you call me at 2:00 AM and we can figure this out. And he knows that like, that's what he does. He's a re he's retired. And like, he that's his specialty. I've got a cleaning lady who runs a crew of like 15 women who are like, we, we may host and manage and co-host and managed for other people like 90 properties. It's just. It's not like no one's ever heard of this before. Right? Like in every, in every city where you could be wanting to be a tourist, that means there's probably other tourists. That means there's probably other short term rentals, which means there are people there running them for the owners. Like it's just not rocket science. And so putting those, those systems in place are what makes people feel safe to be able to do that. And I am like, I feel like I should like put together some sort of like hour long spiel about like, here's what I learned, you know what I mean? And like, you guys should all do it, like, come on. It's so fun.

Alex: 29:36

I think he should really first off. Uh, you should really go check out, um, uh, cactus house DIY, uh, for Instagram, a sick talk. And Amanda's do you have the Airbnb LinkedIn there?

Amanda: 29:50

Just linked to my bio.

Alex: 29:52

Yeah. So go check it out. First of all. And it's like stunning and you can kind of see all the effort that, that Amanda put into it. Um, Are you, so are you looking in, when you say you want to potentially get some more properties, are you looking into spreading out into different cities? Are you like, I know Phoenix now

Amanda: 30:12

let me, right. So there's obviously, like you said, there's the two approaches of like, do you want to become this like real estate mastermind of like, I'm going to dominate the Phoenix market and I'm going to, you know, get 10 properties in Phoenix and whatever. And in my heart of hearts, like I'm not doing this to become a billionaire. I'm doing like, money's great. And obviously money is what you need to be able to sustain in your life. But like, I'm doing this because I want to have properties in places that I like to go. So I would gladly take a little bit of a revenue loss. Along with the ability to say I have a home in Phoenix and that was my first property, my first property outside of my primary. And I also have a home in Wyoming and I have a home in Fredericksburg, Texas, and I have a home in Destin, Florida on the beach or in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and the smoky mountains. I love how you're listing

Alex: 31:03

all these. Like you haven't listed kind of research like the other, like are now it wasn't like you were saying Miami or something.

Amanda: 31:11

Literally this is literally my short list of like, where I'm going to be. So, and so don't be surprised when those next properties pop up. Um, but yeah, it's like that, like, those are places that I know I would like to vacation. I also know other people are vacationing. It's different if you're like, okay, I can't wait to go to, I don't know, some, some kind of small town that no one's ever heard of, and I don't need nobody, but like, but then you really start to think about it and like, if you're going somewhere, like. I would love to go visit Omaha Nebraska. I would imagine there's probably not a people, not a lot of people from Los Angeles, like me who were like, can't wait to go to Omaha. Like, but I think it's kind of cool. And, and I, and I also realized that if you go to a place where there is a major university, where there are events, the other thing I had to really keep in mind was that like, listen, just because people in Southern California, aren't going to vacation, there doesn't mean nobody in America is like, you need to realize Amanda, that you were in a bubble that like a bubble, you actually have proclaim that you don't even really love. Like you don't even like, like it's not. So it's not surprising that I want to go to the middle of America and like potentially live a different life and like live a better life and live a, you know, more relaxing life and whatever, a simpler life. And there's people doing that every single day, like apparently broken bow. Oklahoma is a huge tourist destination. And I'm like, no one in LA is. And no one in LA is a recursive broken bow. But it's probably incredible there's million dollar homes there. So it's just like keeping in mind that like your reality is not everybody else's reality and, and being able to kind of remove yourself from the equation a little bit and realize like, where would I along with other people like to go and where would I like to say that I have a home? And you know, the other thing about short-term rentals is that like you're able to block off dates and go there whenever you want. I've I've also toyed with this idea of like, I can get long-term rentals in places that I don't necessarily need to be. And I can, you know, maybe it's a T maybe it's like a Miami where I don't really feel the need to go visit Miami. But like, if you've got a long-term rental there and that's just producing income every month, like by all means like, make, make money, do your thing. And I, so there's like those two different sides of it. The long-term rent is very sustainable and a lot less actual day-to-day work, as opposed to short-term rental. Like you can block off dates and your family can go whenever you want, and you can, you know, utilize it, you, you and Kylie can be there the entire summer every year, you know? And like, and, and, and your, and your rental income from September to June could sustain so that you don't feel like you're paying a mortgage on that, you know, and

Alex: 33:52

you know what I really think that is cool about the short term part is the fact that it's not always rented. So like, let's say for instance, you're like, Hey, I want to get this home in Phoenix. I don't have the money. Let's say you wanted to do flooring eventually instead of the concrete. And you were like, man, I just want to get this on the market though. And then after three months, I'll be like, I'm going to block off this entire week or the slow season in the summer. And you're like, I'm a block off a week in the summer. I'm going to save up the money while I'm making money over the next few months. And I'm going to buy a bunch of flooring and then go install it. Whereas if you get along. You're not able to touch that house for the next year. Like you like, except for maintenance call it, but you're not like making an incrementally nicer as you make money on it. And

Amanda: 34:35

your, and, and like the value isn't going up the way you'd like it to the way and the way, you know, it can, the other thing you know about long-term rental is like, like you said, like a friend of mine was like, oh yeah, you could just buy a place. There's places on Zillow or on the MLS that are like, Hey, this has got tenants in it. And their lease is up in may of 20, 23. And you're like, oh, so you're buying it and immediately making income, but it's like, you're also renting out a place that you might not be super proud of you and widget, which is fine. You know, if it's making income, that's great, but there's never going to be an opportune time to say, okay, nobody can live here for a month and a half while we do like major renovation. You know what I mean? If you've got income coming in, there's a lot of people who just deal with like, all right, I'm making a thousand bucks a month in profit. I probably could be making 2000 bucks a month, 2000 a month in profit. If it looked any me. But you're never going to want to stop the rental income. You're never, there's never an opportune time to do that, you know? And so I think that's why I wanted to kind of jump in and do the majority of it at the beginning, but you're right. A short term rental is like the easiest way to do that, to make small upgrades in small amounts of time, you know, there's people changing out light fixtures and things like that in between guests like 10:00 AM and a 4:00 PM. Check-in like, they're like, let's get some things switched out. Let's install this outdoor TV. And let's like, and you're boosting things almost immediately, you know, it's pretty

Alex: 35:54

cool. I'm saying, yes, you can just do it incrementally. You might not have all the money to do all the things you want to do. Just buy the house, make it very much livable and to the pictures look good, but then, you know, might want to fill up an accent wall over the weekend when you don't have guests there or something and just keep making it better without the substantial, upfront investment of all this stuff and the time it would take to do it. So I think that that is like the coolest part about. And so now that you're a few months in, have you like being kind of wowed at how much money there is to be made in Airbnb? Cause I've always heard that if, if it's done correctly and you have a decent flow of guests that you'll actually make money more than a longterm, just straight up rent.

Amanda: 36:40

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You'll make significant. The, the profit margin is significantly higher than long-term rent, but you'll have, so, like I said, I'm part of these Facebook groups where it's like short-term rental house and like Phoenix, Airbnb host and whatever. And everybody's constantly like, oh, who has a cleaner, who has a, you know, landscape or whatever. So it's a really cool place for resources, but it's also a little bit of a, a little bit of a scary place for like horror stories. So it's a very easy place to get convinced, not to do things or like, oh my God, I had this horrible guest and now they're trying to Sue me. And now this, and now. There's all of these horror stories that go around, which are obviously very important to take into consideration. And it's, you don't want to go in totally blind, but there also is such a thing as like analysis paralysis. And you're like, oh my God, I, you know, I can't take any of these risks because all these other people have these bad things happen to them. And you just start to analyze everything so much that you don't make the decision, even though you want to. Um, and I think that's a little bit scary, but you know, the profitability in short-term rentals like right now, I think are, I think we've been able to, so also keep in mind in February, March and April, where we've rented out pretty much nonstop. Those in the spring are the highest season in Phoenix. So you got in a regular year without the lockout. You've got baseball spring training last in the entire month of March in February, you've got the waste management open. You've got concerts all spring. You've got the, you know, the Phoenix sounds during the playoffs. Now there's just like a lot. Of action in the city. And there's a lot of things to do for a lot of different types of people. You know, there's always golf going on. There's Scottsdale is always a place for bachelor and bachelorette parties. There's just a lot happening, which is great. Um, but you know, along like, I think our house honestly could probably long-term rent it's, it's a four bedroom house with two bathrooms and a really nice backyard with a pool. Um, and I think based on the market that I've seen up there and it's in north Phoenix, um, could rent probably for around like three grand a month, maybe. Yeah, probably like 3,200. And like, that's not that significant, that much significantly higher than, than like the mortgage with property taxes, insurance and all the monthly expenses. So knowing that you can double triple sometimes even quadruple the rent, uh, or I'm sorry, your expenses. It would there be a B in the high season. I would want, I would wonder actually what the, it, it'll be really interesting to see what a 12 month profit origin is because you're expecting to not have as much in the, in the lower season and the slow season, but then you've got things like next year is the fricking super bowl. So people are, people are blocking out soup the Superbowl week on their Phoenix calendar and like waiting to see what they want to do. And like, in these groups, everyone's like, all right, at least go five or six times your nightly rate and like make it like a six night minimum and see what. And if six months from now, nobody books, it that's okay. You can, you can drop it, but if somebody books it tomorrow, you can't raise it on them, you know? So you might as well kind of swing for the fences a little bit and see what you can get. The other thing that's a little tricky is that like, people can also book it and then realize that the demand has gone down and then cancel it in amount of, in the right amount of time for no, you know, no consequence and then like book it again or, you know, whatever. So there's a million ways around it. But needless to say, the, the, the amount of things happening in a place like Phoenix are enough, you know, widespread and diverse in terms of the, the market that it draws that there's enough of a discrepancy in the short-term versus long-term rental, like margins, you know, um, which is exciting. You know, when the, the first place I wanted to look at was Palm Springs, because that was closer to our house. You know, it's about a two and a half hour drive. And it's like Coachella stagecoach, you know, vacation capital of frickin, California. It feels like. And so I was like, oh, this would be perfect. It's a desert. Also, it gets super hot. What a chill place to like lay by the pool. And I just immediately looked up some of the rent, uh, short term rental ordinances and, and the, like the, the limitations and restrictions to hosts. And it is wild. Like you can't, you can't have music playing after 8:00 PM. You can't have music audible to the neighbor at anytime of the day. Like, and it's because the long-term, uh, the longterm not tenants, the, the homeowners there and the full-time residents, there are so annoyed with the Coachella stagecoach lifestyle that they're like F these long-term are the short term rentals they're so they've gone through hell and back to get the city government to like, to put the restrictions on. So I was like, yeah, no, I'm staying away from Palm Springs, but, but people do it and, and are successful, but it's just getting there, cracking down a lot. I mean that's that people are still doing it because that's how much more lucrative it is, the long-term renting,

Alex: 41:26

honestly. Yeah. And so having learned all that you did, and some of the mistakes that maybe you made with your first property, what would you do in terms of, uh, like a DIY type of feel, or even in an investment, whatever differently on your next one, having learned all that you did?

Amanda: 41:45

So the first thing I would say, and I wouldn't do that, it's all that I would do this differently because it worked out so poorly. I would do this differently because I've already done it. And I, which, and that's to say, I don't need to have a pool again. Like the pool was kind of a lot. Um, it's not, you, you kind of, I bought it. Having never owned a pool in my life before, so I was kind of going in blind didn't know, I thought, okay. You know, weekly maintenance and we're good. I didn't really know that. Maybe the pool wasn't in that great of shape, or maybe like the plaster on the steps it's chipping a little bit, which means that in the next like year or two, you're going to need to pay like probably eight to 10 grand to like re-plaster the pool. So like, those are just like expenses that I knew would eventually come up, but I didn't really know. Okay. It's really not in good shape. You should probably think about doing that next summer. And it's like, no, I don't want to do that. Like somebody I'm like, listen, I'll dive in that thing. It looks fine. Like it's not a big deal. And so I think I'd realize like the next property, whether it's a short-term or long-term no matter where it is, doesn't need to have a pool. So if it's in Phoenix, I probably would do something where it's like a duplex where like nobody would really expect to have a pool. You know, like if you have a, a different type of home, a multi-family home or something like that, um, where it wouldn't have a home, uh, I'm sorry, I wouldn't have a pool. And that would be kind of okay. Or you just go to a location where the weather doesn't require a pool, you know? Um, that, that would probably be the biggest thing for me. Um, outside of that, I would say. Definitely get the systems in place and like test them while you're living there. So I had, I had systems in place and then I was kind of okay with like, all right, I'm going to go home to LA and then I'm going to come back and see the cleaning that you've done. And that's going to be kind of like the cleaners trial run or whatever. And it was fine, but I think there could have been a little bit of a better way to do that. I could have like paid the 200, 200 and twenty-five bucks that she charged for the clean to like, have me see it that day. Like to have it be like, I'm going to, I'm going to get all this squared away. It might be a little bit more money up front for me to kind of be able to test those people while I was there. But it probably would have eased my mind a little bit more than thinking, okay, I'm in LA and like she's coming and going on the ring camera. So like, I think she's doing, I think she's cleaning, but like, I don't really know what's going on. And it's someone that you don't really know well enough to trust in your home yet. Um, and you're kind of giving them the keys to the car. You're like, Here's the, yeah, you're like, here's the way to unlock the garage, which is where all my personal stuff is. Like, that's the guests don't even go on the road, the garage. So here's like, all my I've got tools in there. I've got, you know, whatever, and you're just kind of throwing caution to the wind a little bit, which I've never had that much of a problem doing. So I would say that's a, that's a good mindset to have balance on, but just kind of, uh, maybe spending a little bit more time, you know, focusing on that and thinking, okay, let me get this squared away. Well, within a month or so before anybody checks it, you know?

Alex: 44:41

Yeah. A hundred percent. So when you're doing a lot of these projects, how do you feel? Cause I know you have, you said you haven't really done much in your own condo, but how would you say the mindset is for DIY in kind of an investment property versus your own home? Because that's where me and Kylie kind of toe the line or like we're living in this home, but eventually we want it to appeal to. Renters when we want to go rent it out. So, you know, we might like the idea of, let's just say green cabinets, but we're like not doing that because you know, not everyone likes that. And I could, the simplest thing could be like, I'm not living here. There's green cat fit. Let's look

Amanda: 45:23

somewhere else. Um, I think short-term rental in that sense will be very different from long-term rental in that sense, because I think long-term renting, you get in there and you're trying to like see yourself living there, right? Like if you're a renter you're coming and looking at apartments or you're looking at homes and you're like, oh, this bathroom is so cute. You know, I probably wouldn't have picked that tile, but it's so, so updated and adorable. Right? Short term rental, you're looking at these pictures and you're like trying to be wowed. You're like, and you're also trying to you're vacationing. So you're trying to get out of your normal to go experience something that is. Perfectly fits in with the environment that you're going to. So like for Phoenix, I was like, I really wanted to do like modern desert with some touches of like Western, but not like, I didn't need, like, I didn't need like a Buckhead on the wall. Right. Like I, like, I knew I wanted like a vibe that was cool and chill, um, and definitely kind of Westerny, but I have like, I've got like a few horseshoes sitting on books as like decor. Like that's the extent of like how really rugged it's going to feel. There's not like lot, you know, dead animals on the walls and like, you know, certain things like that. But I also kind of wanted to pay homage to the location in the world. There's a lot of Southwestern vibes. There's like a lot of Aztec things, a lot of Navy native American books and like things that are pertinent to where you are. And so if someone's coming from like Wisconsin, I think they're like, oh, this is so cool. I don't need to rent this place for a year. I don't need to live here forever, but this definitely puts me in the location. It makes me feel. I'm here because I'm living in this house because I'm living in Phoenix for three days, you know? Exactly. So I think I saw someone the other day. Um, I was with someone the other day and they were going to Joshua tree and Joshua tree. I don't know if anybody outside of California is familiar. It is like a vibe. Like people are out there. Camping and hiking on shrooms, they're doing all kinds of like whatever. And so it's like every Airbnb out there has to differentiate itself in its own way that some is like a disco. Dan, another one is like, you know, campers delight where you're like living in a yurt or you're, you know, so you really have to try to make yourself different and it's all, it all comes down to these pictures because nobody's visiting anywhere to like test out, to see where they want to stay. They're going based on these. And like, you really gotta try to wow. People. Um, and I think that, like, I think the pictures is probably one of the most underrated, um, things that, that a host can do to separate themselves. Like this one house in Joshua tree was like, every room had its own color. And like, I think to myself, yeah. Like one of my rooms in the cactus house in Phoenix is like, it's pretty rest orange and reds and neutral, neutral baskets on the wall and things like that. And I look at this disco, Dan, and it's like, no, no, no. I'm talking about neon pink walls, neon pink carpet, neon pink couch. Like, yeah, no, there's no mistaking what that room is. And people look at the pictures and they're like, wouldn't that be cool to sit on that couch for like two days? Like I don't need to live in it, but I, it would be super cool. And also the other thing is that everything needs to be Instagrammable. Everything needs to provide an Instagram backdrop. It's gotta have like, wouldn't you love to take a picture in the pool with like the geometric wallpaper that I put up or, you know, something that is like, It's gotta be like, you, you post that you're on vacation, you know? No one's posting that. They're sitting on their own couch, like with their, with their cream walls behind them. Cause they lived there for two and a half years. You know what I mean? The vacation is

Alex: 48:54

different. Yeah. Or like a painting, like a quote on the wall that we, you know, behind the couch. It's like, no one would want to rent that place with some like inspiring or funny quote on the air. But if you're going on a short-term rental, that'd be so worthy because that would be something like, oh, I can't wait to get into that place. Show off my cocktail while I'm sitting on the couch with this cool ass quote.

Amanda: 49:19

Exactly. And there's so many like, well, I think what's so cool about America just generally speaking is that there are so many different types of places. Like when you think about. Like being in the west, like you could be literally in a mountain town, near park city, Utah, or you could be in west Texas where it's just Greenland for miles and miles and miles. And like both of those two things are considered the west and have such different lifestyles, which means like that the decor could look so different and could really bring this like real somebody in and say, wow, I can't wait to see what it's like to live in west Texas or what it's like to feel like I've got like boots in the ground, on the ground in park city. And you know, it just, I feel like it maybe that's me also tapping into the creative side of like, wouldn't it be so cool to challenge yourself to try that? Like, I don't know anything about, about park city, but like how cool would it be to like, try to like immerse yourself in the vibe enough so that you could decorate a full house to fit it? Like that would be cool

Alex: 50:22

a thousand percent. I just think it's such a cool niche within a new. Like what you're doing between already kind of doing your DIY and stuff is its own thing. But then within that, you know, most people were going on their own homes and stuff like that, but you're also making a business out of it doing short-term rental is I just think that's so bad ass and just find out,

Amanda: 50:45

I mean, it's pretty cool. And I feel like it's one of those things where like, I mean, I was telling you before we got on the air, it's like the assumption for me before this was that like anybody who's buying more than one property in a year is like wildly rich. Like, oh my God, you have so much money. I could never do that on a teacher salary and, you know, whatever. And the more and more I'm realizing about people's comfort levels and like risk aversion to this finance staff, I really starting to get a better handle on like, oh, the reason this person just closed on three properties in two months is because they were willing to leverage what they currently have in a way that other people may not. You know, people may, or they were willing to go out and find partners like, no, one's talking about how, like, they, they own an Airbnb, but they're partnering with seven different people who each put in 30 grand. You know what I mean? Like that's not, that's not a sexy way to talk about it, but like that's what a lot of people are doing. And so exactly. And so their income on that Airbnb might be 400 bucks a month, which yeah, it doesn't feel like it's going to make you rich anytime soon. But if you're able to close on six, seven properties in the, in the course of one calendar year, you're not doing half bad, you know, and all those things start to appreciate. And then, then you started to leverage that equity in those places. And it just, I never really realized how much of a snowball it could be. And then I jumped in these fricking Facebook groups and these people are. I'm like, oh my God, I had no idea. You were like, I'm 27. I'm buying my six property. I'm like, oh my

Alex: 52:18

God. I see so many people on social media where they're like Airbnb gurus. And I just feel like watching them on, like, it just seems like such complete bullshit. I know there's real people out there, but you get the people that are like, take my course. I'll show you how to do Airbnb. I'm 25 years old, no college degree. Look at me. I'm living in a lounge. Yeah. And like, of course there's some people that are really doing it, but I think the general perspective on it is like that I could never do that. They're probably lying and not telling the full truth, um, or whatever, but it's totally possible. And I think you're such a great

Amanda: 52:54

example of it. Thank you. It definitely is. And I feel like if I can, if I can convince anybody who wasn't considering this before to even like open up Zillow and see like. See how much equity you have in your own place, or like, just for the sake of argument, see what a home equity line of credit on your crew in place would, how much you'd be able to get, or like, it might be really interesting to think, like, to think about it in a way that you haven't before. You know, I just, if I can convince anyone to, to have their brains peaked a little bit about it, that would be a job well done.

Alex: 53:29

I understand. And then just, you know, dive into it with the research and stuff. And there's so many things that I feel like people have rebuttals to, even when I went to go buy our home and start projects, it's like, what if this happened? But you don't know how to do this. And that I'm like, if I've said that about everything in life, I would never do it.

Amanda: 53:47

You would never do anything. And, and honestly, like, I'm not trying to get all preachy here, but like one of the, one of the things that I've kind of realized about myself, In the time that I had the PE job started, the Sandy farmhouse wood sign business started the dating app bought, you know, left my job, bought the home in Phoenix. Like the amount of feedback that I get from people that are like, oh shit, I can't believe you really did that. Like, I know you said you were going to, but like, damn, okay. Like, that's so cool. And I'm like, I CA I, at the beginning, I couldn't believe people were surprised. I like, but I said I was going to, what did you think? I meant when I said that, and I really come to this understanding that people saying they're going to do things or people saying they want to do things doesn't always equate to yes, I have that property now. Or yes, I now have that new job or yes, I, whatever, whatever your big life decision is. And I think that's made me take a lot more pride in my work ethic and like my word being my promise, you know, That is something you can hang your hat on. It's just, it's a really, really good feeling. Cause you're right. If you were afraid of every, what if you would absolutely never make a decision?

Alex: 55:01

Yeah. I mean, that's how it was with all my friends, especially being like the first one to get a house and stuff. Um, what was I 25, I guess when we bought it. And then, you know, first thing was a project we wanted to do was to do our laundry room and everyone like caught his best friend at the time was just like, oh, you're never going to be able to do this. You need to hire it out. And I was like, watch me. And then I finished it a month later and she was like, holy shit. I was

Amanda: 55:28

like,

Alex: 55:29

yeah. And then the next thing was like, I'm going to do the half bathroom downstairs before we have our, our holiday Christmas party is our house warming party. And everyone was like, there's no way you're going to finish that in a week. And I was like, all right, all right, here we go. Then me and Kylie banged it out. She did the whole like wainscoting wall by herself. I'm like, I didn't, I was just like, here's what you should do. Here's this YouTube. Do it. And like, she just like cranked it out all by herself. Never used like a table saw or any of that stuff before. And I'm like, and it

Amanda: 56:00

looked bad. That is so cool. It was just like, you can be so proud of, but

Alex: 56:04

I just feel like it goes with yeah. And I just feel like it translates to literally everything. Like, whether you're thinking about, you know, buying that set of tools to like how I want to make a coffee table, or I want to do this. So my math and like, whatever, like you always going to have reasons not to do it, but you're never going to know until you try it.

Amanda: 56:22

Absolutely. And I think we've all faced enough hiccups and bumps in the road to be like, oh, this is what somebody was talking about when they were talking about wanting to quit and like, oh, this is what they were afraid of. And like getting through that and being like, oh no, now I'm even more motivated to like, find a way around this or figure out the answer or whatever. It's like, if that's not only building character, that's building competence, that's building resiliency and grit and the ability to like work through adversity. In my life is like, that's all I want in this life is like the ability to see hard things and be like, come at me, like try,

Alex: 56:58

you know, uh, same way here. Yeah. I always, uh, so I'm a big fan of like shark tank. I don't know if you ever watch it, but, um, I just always thought it was an awesome show. And so many times the sharks will just be like in the pitch, other people are pitching the product or brand. They're like, uh, oh, you're still working a job or whatever you're doing full time. Like you can't, you know, you're not putting your full effort into this, this business. Um, and you'll never know if you're gonna float or you're gonna be able to make it, unless you just jump in like full on, like don't have a backup plan type thing. And that can be scary. But at the same time, like that's what, that's what you did. And that's what I did when I quit my job to do like, do this full-time and create a brand just in the DIY space. I was like, this is what I like to do. I've had some traction on it. I've done my research. Um, and I'm comfortable with, even if I fail, like I'm comfortable with. Trying and I don't succeed. Like, I'll be happier than if I didn't.

Amanda: 57:53

Right. And I have no doubt that there is some PE job waiting for me on the other end of this. If I absolutely fail and fall on my ass, which for me, there's no doubt in my mind that I would absolutely never go back to doing that. And that's because at the end of the day, it's a 100% bet on yourself. And there's people who are afraid to do that. Like, and not because they don't think they're worthy or capable, they just, for whatever reason you could fit, you could, you could make them a million reasons as to why you're too afraid to do that. But it could be outside factors. It could be something about yourself. It could be what, it could be. Something about your partner, whatever life is really hard and to bet on yourself is not that popular of an opinion. And I, and you know, it's just not.

Alex: 58:38

And if you don't bet on yourself, And also

Amanda: 58:41

who's gotten on you if you don't, if you don't bet on you, like shit, nobody else's like nobody else will.

Alex: 58:49

Yeah. I couldn't agree more. I feel like, and we had started messaging way back in January and it was very obvious that we had very similar, uh, mindsets on life and just almost like our journey in general, this basketball and everything. So I definitely resonate with that. And I have, uh, I quickfire, I have one question that I'd really want to ask you, especially cause, um, you're in the Airbnb space. So my question to you is what is your favorite Airbnb that you've ever been to? Not your own?

Amanda: 59:21

Oh, that's a good question. You know, what's so this literally just came to my mind right now. So my friends and I, two friends of mine and I went on a road trip from California through Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, back down through Wyoming and all the way back. This was last, the summer of 2018. I planned the whole thing. And I purposely wanted to say in a really, really small towns, we didn't stay anywhere big. So there's two Airbnbs that I'm thinking of. But the one that I'm gonna tell you about was so freaking awesome. It was a full log cabin in Dillon Montana. And it had, uh, in a dead animals everywhere. Like I'm talking about everywhere. I feel like I need to find this picture for you to like give you the context. It was a, um, and now I'm going to screw it up. It was a mountain goat. It was a mountain goat. And it was in this I'm telling you, it had to have been six feet tall by like eight feet wide and like six feet away from the wall, this big glass enclosure. It wasn't like head off the wall. It was like the full animal sitting in the living room. And I was like, oh shit, this is wild. And it's just something that was so far out, right. And, and honestly, that's so cool because that's how somebody else lives like that is appealing to a lot of people and it wasn't unappealing to me, it was just so foreign that I was like, whoa, like this is somebody's freaking house. Like, this is crazy. It had a sauna on the inside. So like, you'd enter the, it was like right off the freaking dining room and the kitchen sauna and like full indoor jacuzzi in like built into the ground. It was just the weirdest coolest. Like, and honestly, when looking at the pictures I had did not see the mountain goat and the pictures shockingly, but saw that sauna and the jacuzzi. And I was like, like, they have a whole big outdoor deck and patio that looks out into like the mountains of Montana is like beautiful. But there's also a lot of places with a beautiful view and, you know, on Airbnb in Montana. But this was like, oh, this is where we gotta be. They had like wild little, they had like goats coming up to their fencing. They had wild horses in the back. They had sheep and goats that you're just kind of allowed to pet and hang out with and whatever. And I was like, once I looked at those pictures, I was like, we need to be in that jacuzzi. And then I got to the house and I was like, I'm kicking it with this mountain goat right now. Like, this is so wild. So that was a really cool experience. I love that one.

Alex: 1:01:44

I love that. That is wild. Super cool. Super cool. Okay. So my next quick fire is, was the biggest, uh, DIY failure in your cactus.

Amanda: 1:01:56

Oh, the biggest DIY failure would be probably starting to try to paint those fricking cabinets and realizing it feels like a failure when you have to hire out. I, you know, like when you, when you say you're going to start something, um, and attempt to do it, I knew in the back of my mind that hiring out was always an option. I love, love, love the influencers and just creators on Instagram, who are honest about the fact that, like I knew starting this project that I could hire out at any point if I needed to. So I liked the people who are trying to make it very clear that that is not a failure, but it most certainly felt like I didn't get the job done. And I was like, oh, what do I do? This kitchen is too big. And like, you know, it just was not the right use of my time. And like, I hadn't refinished cabinetry before. So it was just like, I felt overwhelmed. And now what's so funny is the kitchen here at my LA condo is like literally an eighth of the size. And I can't wait to redo those cabinets because I'm like, now I know so much more, you know, like obviously we know that the failures are like learning experiences and opportunities to kind of gain that, that, that knowledge. But that definitely felt like I kind of wet the bed on that one.

Alex: 1:03:11

There's everyone's had those, those moments, but sometimes the hardest part is, is asking for help and knowing when it's time to like, wave the white

Amanda: 1:03:19

towel. Right. Right. And that's, uh, and that can be, I don't want to say that word shameful. Cause I don't think it's shameful at all, but in our own minds we can kind of tend to feel that way. Yeah.

Alex: 1:03:29

Okay. And then my last quick question for you is in terms of the Airbnb space, what's the task you hate the most, whether it could be messaging, guests, dealing with the cleaning crew, like anything like that?

Amanda: 1:03:41

Um, I would say the task, I hate the most. Is this comes back to the stupid fool because our vacuum isn't working. Would it be cleaning the pool? When I know, like it's already been cleaned a few days ago and it's windy and dirty and I have to like clean it again manually because it's not going to, it's not going to look like it was just cleaned, even though I know it was, you know, maintaining the pool is really hard and that's not even really a task that I have to do very often, but it's, it's more so out of worry of what somebody else is going to think when they see it, it's like I can clean the bathroom because I cleaned the house. I clean my own bathroom, my whole life. But like, there's something about the fact that like, I've never had a pool that was like, oh my God, I want them to like it. I needed to look pretty. And you know, so, so maintaining that just gives you a little bit more worried than the rest of the house. That

Alex: 1:04:32

makes sense. There's so many things I go into Airbnbs. I feel like that I don't even, I

Amanda: 1:04:39

actually particularly enjoy messaging the guests more than I thought I was. Because the feedback of the house has been so positive that like, if they have a concern or something, or they're asking about something, like also, also generally speaking, all of my guests have been super, super kind. So if they have like a question about like, oh, the pool's not being heated, like just curious, like what we should do, nobody's been like rude or like, angry about it. So that's been really nice and I have to be aware that that's not how every guest is going to be, but my interaction with them has been great. And I feel like nine times out of 10 for most guests and hosts, like, no news is good news. If we're not speaking, that means you're doing just fine over there. That means like you are liking your time. There's no problem. At least no problem. Big enough for you to message me about, you know, so I think everybody likes not communicating and it's good, but hearing like positive feedback, like, and responding to people is actually really pretty enjoyable.

Alex: 1:05:33

I

Amanda: 1:05:34

also think it's because I put so much kind of heart and soul into the, the. Production of the house that was like had, I just bought a flipped house and threw some, you know, Wayfair furniture in there and whatever. Like, I wouldn't, I don't think I would feel so like, prideful about it. You know what it is. Yeah.

Alex: 1:05:55

Cool. Well, that's all the questions I had. Did you have anything before we, before we jump off that you wanted to bring up?

Amanda: 1:06:02

Nice. Um, no, no, I think we're good. I think we've touched on everything. I appreciate you having me on.

Alex: 1:06:08

Yeah, absolutely. And I'll link. Uh, I'll get with you and I'll link your Airbnb in Phoenix in the podcast notes. So anyone listening to this right now? Go check it out. Um, go book with Amanda. She will obviously be a very good host and then pull up here as clean as possible. So. Awesome. Seriously, thank you so much. I thought this was just a really cool kind of switch up on still in the DIY. But also more on the investment side of that same doesn't get touched on a lot, especially, I just feel like a lot of people like to safeguard this information, the true experiences. So, um, definitely go check out Amanda at cactus house DIY on Instagram and Tik TOK. She goes into all of her DLI projects, you know, stuff about the Airbnbs and just, you know, it keeps it real. So she's a really fun follow Andy. Trust me, you won't regret it. So thank you again, Amanda. I really appreciate you jumping on.

Amanda: 1:07:04

Thank you for having me.

Alex: 1:07:06

Thank you so much to Amanda. I thought that was such a great interview and a great way to switch it up. Just tapping into the business and the investor side with the Airbnb is, and just how projects differ when you're trying to appeal to a mass audience. This a lot of us, you know, we're not DIY in our forever home usually to start our home. Um, usually it's a home or a situation where you don't have enough money like myself to pay a bunch of contractors to fix things up, or it might be creative outlet. Whenever the case may be. A lot of the times when we're doing these projects, this isn't our forever home and you have to plan your projects to add the most value to your home or whatever the case may be to pot appeal to the future renters or the future buyers when you sell your home, whatever that may be. So, uh, to hear kind of your thought process on it from the short term rental standpoint, I just thought was amazing. Kind of gave me some new ideas and things to think about. Uh, as I do projects, I'm not home. Cause eventually we probably wanna rent, uh, and keep this as a rental. So just in a major amazing switch up, Amanda and I connect on so many things, uh, with basketball and things like that. So, um, she is amazing. I will link her, uh, Airbnb and Phoenix in the show notes. You can go check it out, even if you don't want to not looking to stay there, like go check out what she's done to the place. It really is flawless. And then definitely check her out on Instagram and tick. We actually just talked off air a little bit about her tapping into the whole journey, um, in the Airbnb process. So if you have any questions about, you know, what it's like to be a normal person and make the jump into kind of the investment side, definitely messaged her on Instagram. Uh, she's great. She's answered every one of my questions before. Um, it was just really kindhearted soul. So check her out. Um, I really appreciate it. You being here and if you're able to rate those five stars, I would really appreciate that. It goes a super long way in helping me reach more people than DIY space, uh, and just kinda helping create this awesome community where we can keep it real, uh, show us normal people doing amazing things in our homes. Um, And yeah, so seriously, thank you for being here. I appreciate you guys. And I can't wait for episode 10.