On the show today, Anna & Josiah and I chat about their wild first-time bathroom renovation journey. From completely rearranging the entire layout (without any prior knowledge of plumbing) to “using the bathroom” in the sink and a Home Depot bucket for a month (it was their only bathroom), it was a WILD ride. From the get go it’s obvious that Anna & Josiah are go-getters and have little to no fear of jumping into huge projects that would scare just about every single one of us. As they build their AirBNB empire one DIY home at a time, they continue to give their followers a ton of valuable content of how they pull it off. Check them out on Instagram (@renorowhome) and check out their AirBNB below!
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/49596006
On the show today, Anna & Josiah and I chat about their wild first-time bathroom renovation journey. From completely rearranging the entire layout (without any prior knowledge of plumbing) to “using the bathroom” in the sink and a Home Depot bucket for a month (it was their only bathroom), it was a WILD ride. From the get go it’s obvious that Anna & Josiah are go-getters and have little to no fear of jumping into huge projects that would scare just about every single one of us. As they build their AirBNB empire one DIY home at a time, they continue to give their followers a ton of valuable content of how they pull it off. Check them out on Instagram (@renorowhome) and check out their AirBNB below!
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/49596006
Yo what's up. I am your host, Alex Dalessio and welcome to the real life innovation podcast. If you're looking to get your hands dirty and DIY your home renovation, or even just a small project, then this is a community. Do you want us to like chat with your favorite creators to discuss how their DIY journey started their renovation projects that they've accomplished and even learn tips and advice on how you can achieve similar results in your home. If you have zero experience like I do when I started, and 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. So let's pick up that hammer, have some fun and nail your home renovations together. welcome to the real life renovation podcast. This is episode 11 and today I'm with Anna and Josiah and from our lovely city of Baltimore. You can find them at rental row home on Instagram, and they are savvy self-taught DIY ears that have successfully DIY, not just an entire home renovation, which is now the Airbnb property, but they're also just pop purchase two new properties. And they're living in one right now. And their kitchen from their first ever renovation was featured in apartment therapy, which is insane. Like that's like goals and they absolutely killed it. And the first. And they're currently tackling their kitchen in their current home. So they're just a really exciting follow check them out. Um, if you're interested in anything from investing to just DIY and going for it, they are so fun to follow. And with that, our opening question as always. So Anna and Josiah, imagine you're sitting down right now with HGTV producers to pitch them to do a show on you. What's your story. And what would you tell them that sets you guys apart from other.
Josiah:If I was to put your show, I can have an, a touch on this story a little bit, but I would say the show that the part of DIY and, um, just home stuff. I love the best. They just demo. I love demo day. So I would have a show where it's pretty like, um, it's a reflection of our life. We have so many products every day. Demos, always free. So it's the easiest thing to do, but actually finishing up those projects is something that doesn't always happen in a timely
Alex:manner. Yeah. I don't know
Anna:if people would actually want to watch the Dow because they wouldn't see any projects finished.
Alex:Well, we'll just get them to participate. It'll be like that, uh, at business where you can just like smash stuff. Yeah, exactly. I love that. Yeah. You guys, I feel like are always tag every time I pop in, I'm watching. Like, there's always in a good way. Like always something torn apart and you're like, oh, guess what I did today. And then there'll be like panning over. And you're like, living room is just like, wall is just like completely shredded. And it's amazing that you guys just go for it. We do. Yeah.
Anna:We, I think we're a little too ambitious sometimes and we're like, let's just do all the demo on the whole house. And then we don't realize we have to live in it for like two years and it's just torn apart. Always.
Alex:I know. That's what I tell people. It's like, once you demo it, you have to do. So it's almost like, alright, well I tore it apart. So I guess I got to figure this out now.
Anna:Yeah. We're S we're still working on
Alex:that. Yeah. I mean, it's gotten you this far, so tell us a little bit, uh, like about your, your journey when your first house, um, in Baltimore and kind of what your thought process was going in, whether you were like, Hey, I'm going to renovate this 100% and make it an Airbnb, or did it just kind of evolve that way? Or how did this whole journey.
Anna:Yeah. So I guess I'll start. Um, I've always been interested in like DIY and my parents would let me like, do little projects around the house, which bless them because I did a lot of weird things. I like painted my room, zebra stripes and red, and like, let me build a pond, but they still have to deal with, so they're very kind, but, um, I always wanted to buy a house. So a year after college, I bought the first house in Baltimore and it was a fixer-upper. And yeah, I just, I mean, I needed a ton of work, so I just kind of jumped in and, um, the first project was a bathroom, which is a little bit crazy, but yeah, I just jumped in and learned, um, from Google, from YouTube, from people at home Depot, they helped me out and I, yeah, it was a mess, honestly,
Josiah:and for my journey, I kind of. I always was very like helpful around the house growing up. And my parents would like, I'd pay and do like small things. But I feel like I did a lot of stuff outside that was kind of like my domain, like lawn care and landscaping and gardening. Um, but I'd say my DIY and journey kind of like exploded when I married and on 2019. And it kinda got like in my, in my veins as
Alex:well. Yeah. You're, you're like pushed into it. So did you guys buy the house together or did you already own it for.
Anna:Yeah. So I already owned it first and I think we were dating at that point. He like, he didn't have a lot of input into it. I was just kind of like, yeah, I want to do this. I'm going to do it. And when we get married, you
Alex:can join me. You're like you have no say until it's official. Yeah.
Anna:He was a good sport.
Alex:I love that. So your first project you did was your bathroom. I, if I remember correctly, is this the one where you just completely like toward the Shrek and you add one bathroom in the whole house, right? So like when you're demoing your bathroom to like true gut, like how, first of all, how did you even the whole logistics situation? Like how did that even. Yeah, I
Anna:have an app. The story about that. Um, yeah, so it was a one bathroom house, which was mistake. And I think like I thought I could just take out the toilet and then like put it in a week later. So I was like, oh, I'll just go to the bathroom, like at home Depot or whenever I'm out. Um, but I mean, I never done anything serious. Like this is my first big project. So like the existing bath. You could sit on the toilet and wash your hands at the same time. So the lamp was horrible. So I was like, I just have to take everything out. I have to like move the plumbing around. I have to do the electrical. I have to move like an HVAC vent. So it was like a whole big deal that like I never done before. Um, so yeah, one day I just demoed it all and then the bathroom situation. So this is gross, but I peed in the thing for a month and I looped in a home Depot bucket for them.
Josiah:I'm sorry. You had to hear that.
Alex:It's can I clip this and make this like the soundbite? Cause that is, that is so awesome
Josiah:during that time. So I fully knew this was happening. Yeah.
Alex:Wow. I mean, I guess you already know what you're getting into. Like, it can't get much worse, like if I've already seen the law, but honestly that I like such kudos to you for that. Cause that's impressive that so. So did you going into that? Were you like, okay, I'm going to bang this out, like in a week. No problem. And then it just snowballed into like, oh, okay. This is a little bit more intensive than I thought. Yes. Most
Anna:definitely. Like, I had no idea what I was doing because I felt like you could put the floor down a little bit in the, like reset the toilet and use the toilet. But then I was like, I don't even know how to like put in a new. So it was like, okay, I'm just going to finish the floor and like put the van at the end and then I'll put the toilet in. I just had no idea what I was doing and I didn't know what I got into. And then it ended up being like a month later where I got the toilet and I cried when I put it in.
Alex:Yeah. It's the little things that like, you don't realize it till they're gone. That's honestly so impressive. And so you completely rerouted all the, like, did you have any help from other than like any physical help or other than like asking contractors at home Depot?
Josiah:Yeah, I do remember that I did help actually demoed some of the bathroom and I, we did get some of the supplies for the bathroom together. But other than that, like with the project there, wasn't like a ton of stuff that was like lined up and ready to go to have this like come back together and a really quick time. And with the plumbing and stuff. I know you told me that somebody from home Depot, like kind of basically laid out everything on a floor of like, this is how things should be laid and put together. Um, and he was just really doing you a favor when you went there, you told me that
Anna:story. Yeah. It was like a professional plumber in the plumbing aisle. And he could tell that I was totally lost and he was like, here's how you do it. These are the parts you buy. And I forgot. Um, when I was putting the parts together, I only use the. For like one of the parts that I was like, okay, that's good. Like, I didn't use the glue and then found out later, like you got to do both parts. And I was like, oh my gosh, that would have been a disaster, but I fixed it. So
Alex:it's all good. Yeah. That would have been terrible. And then you like put all the flooring in, you're like, okay, this has been leaking for weeks. That's honestly one of the. Outrageously courageous things I've ever heard. And it's so impressive that you pulled it off without it like quite literally turning into a shit show. Like literally, so honestly, so impressive. And so from there, what was your next project where you just like on top of the world, like, look at me, go, and then you were just like, what was it, the kitchen next that was eventually featured in an apartment that interview.
Anna:Yeah, I think it was the kitchen next, like in between there, we got married. So I think before we got married, I demo the kitchen and then we got married, just, I moved into like a kitchen, less home, which of course I felt bad about it then. Yeah. We worked on the kitchen together from there.
Alex:I love it. And then, so it used to have, I don't think I've seen pictures previously, but I remember you saying something like it used to have like tiles. And then you just expose like the w like the natural wood beams and stuff. Cause now it's just like stunning and like, I don't think I've seen the before picture. I've obviously seen your current one. Um, but I don't think I've seen them before a bit, but the one, like your kitchen that you did is, I mean, it speaks for itself that it was featured in apartment therapy. Like it looks like it was like a true, like mock-up that you would go to some studio in New York and someone. This is a kitchen by this French interior designer. That's a millionaire. You know what I mean? Like it's impressive. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. So how did that, how did that come? Because I remember you guys were like washing dishes in your bathroom and stuff upstairs, by the way. Not like around the hallway. Yeah.
Josiah:They were really just shut to make our kitchen more functional. I know like the entryway to the kitchen, we kind of like cut the actual opening wider. So when you like walk through the house, if you've ever been a Baltimore Romans, very, just straight and we wanted it to be like, you could see from the front to the back all the way through. Um, so we did that. We added an island, um, and I guess one of the biggest things that we really love about that kitchen is the concrete counters that we like made. And we bought a form and we mixed it and it turned out so good.
Anna:Yeah. That was, it was like a, we were definitely on a budget. So I was trying to think of like waste to save. So we did the conflict countertops is it's like way cheaper than getting less stone. Um, we did no uppers. We just did floating shelves because that was going to be too expensive. Oh, we got all our appliances from like a scratch and debt place, which I recommend that there's like a ton of places in Baltimore. Um, yeah, they really are. And we've done all our appliances for the other houses from scratch and dent too. That's been awesome. Um, but yeah, the design kind of just like, I don't know, came together how pads, thirdly, like I never really like sat down and like drew it out and said, I want to do this and this and this. It was like, we would do one. And then buy something else and like put that together and it just kind of came together really nicely, but I was pretty
Alex:lucky. Yeah. You guys killed it. And is, is the, I can't try to think. Is the, uh, sink in the island or does it on the counter didn't cure you? Well, any of the plumbing to get this? Yeah.
Anna:Yeah. We did the plumbing for that one too, which I like now we've had the house for. I don't know, three years. Um, and we have at other Airbnbs, we have guests coming through and there's already like some problems that I can see, like in the bathroom. The tile floor is kind of failing a little bit because I didn't tile it correctly in the kitchen. The like think is it plumbed perfectly? So it kind of does this weird gerbil because I didn't do the venting correctly. It's just little things that are popping up. Well, it was my first time and I made mistakes. Then we'll
Alex:just go fix it. Honestly, that's like the best way to learn, because that's how for me, my first project was our laundry room, um, which had like disgusting linoleum flooring. And like, so we decided to tile it and use the 12 by 24 large format. And I remember being in home Depot or Lowe's where everywhere, and me and Kylie were like walking through the aisles, just kind of like Googling stuff. Like what, what products we need, like really had no idea what we were really getting into. And I saw like the self leveling clips or whatever. And I was like, I don't need those. This is a small laundry room. I came about out really quick that for a large format tile, even honestly like, just about any tile, if you're a rookie, like you should be using them. And luckily it's just our laundry room. So honestly you're not really stepping into it much at all anyways. And can't really tell, but if it was like a bathroom, like I'd be stepping my foot on tiles cough.
Anna:Yep. Is your laundry room failing or is it okay?
Alex:Well, knock on wood at night. Not yet. And I'm honestly surprised because, uh, it's a laundry room, so, you know, the washer will like wobble like a little bit and stuff. So it's not like, you know, it's not getting the wear and tear from like something like jiggling on it. So luckily we use porcelain. So I don't know if you use ceramic because I know pore sends a little bit stronger, but so maybe that's why. But yeah, it was definitely a learning curve, but so when I did my bathroom, I used self leveling clips and it came out amazing. And I wouldn't have had a nice bathroom floor if it wasn't me messing up in my little old laundry.
Anna:Yeah. It's true. You just learn from your
Alex:mistakes. I agreed. Yeah. So how did you do the waterlines and for, cause I can, the plumbing, like the wayside, I feel like not easy, but I could totally tackle that. So did you just like reroute copper waterline. So we use hex. Okay. In a minute under the floor or how did it get there?
Anna:Yeah, so the basement is not finished, but we have access to it. So we just brand new water with PEX up into the island. So it actually, wasn't too hard. I have more problems with the draining and the venting for some reason, my brain just like has a hard time, I don't know, understanding it. Um, so I'm still working on that and just like trying to understand the whole process.
Alex:Yeah. There's so many things. You don't really realize, like, for me, when I did our bathroom, like we full gutted it, but not to the point where, where we were rerouting stuff. Like if it was a bad layout, I would have, could it have been a better layout? Yeah. But I was like, not enough for me to take the time to be around stuff. And so basically, um, I ripped out the old shower pan and stuff and did a tile floor, but to do that, I had to connect the, uh, new plumbing and I totally forgot to. Screw it first. And when I ripped up the shower pan, it just completely snapped off the plumbing, like a foot foot and a half down underneath. I feel like I kind of got lucky cause I was like, it totally could have snapped away deeper, or it could have like, you know, now I'm busting up like a bunch of flooring. So I got lucky with that. Um, but so when I put it back together and I put like a tick tock on it and it went like, oh, got like a million views and almost all of the comments, it got so many views because. Plumbers were like, you made an S trap instead of a P trap or something like that. And I was like, what the hell is an S trap? So I lifted it up and I was like, I guess it doesn't like vent as well. And they were like, it's never going to drain or this or that. And it's been probably like eight months and it drains five. So I don't know. Yeah. I mean maybe down the road, but like, I was like, I would have never have known like all these little codes and sometimes it can really bite you in the ass and they were there for a reason. Um, so I don't want to say like, you can just get around codes, but as definitely, like, sometimes you just learn when you just fail. Maybe not even fail. Just don't do it. Yeah, I agree. We had
Anna:an engineer come out or our current house. Um, cause like the back addition was basically there was like a four inch difference of like, uh, the slope, I guess. So it needs to be fixed and we need to level everything. And like there was termite damage and all of that, we had an engineer come out and after he came out and told us. It's basically fine. Like, it's been like this for a hundred years. Like yeah. Just like leave it or like fix it, fix it a little bit here. Like I just gave me confidence. How has this really stayed together and they're a little bit stronger than we actually think, and things don't have to be
Alex:perfect for it to function, but was this an, a new house for the old house? This is the new house. Yeah. Yeah. And that
Josiah:was coming from like an independent engineer. You was kind of like, I guess he instilled some confidence. Oh, if you want to address this problem, you can fix yourself. But like all the contractors, we had to look at it, um, they basically were like, okay, this has to be taken care of right away. Of course, they're going to say that they want you to know
Alex:that's the difference is because they make the money off of the labor and Stouffer's engineers. Like, this is my professional opinion. Like, I don't care what you do with it, but this is what, this is what I think
Josiah:it's true. He just drift like the blueprints for us. And he's like, follow this by an Ivy, like sister, the joists this way. Um, and we basically did that. We'd done. Um, I know. We put some jacks, which we've never used those before. Um, and we went down like into a white marsh. We bought like a, a piece of steel and we basically fixed it all up. Exactly how you said it. It was like, we didn't come up with this ourselves.
Alex:Did you have to get that like permitted at all or anything?
Anna:We did not get a permanent, if we would have hired it, they, that they would have gotten a permit. And we're still figuring that out because we know that we need to get permits like a little bit. Um, so yeah, we definitely did get permits and we're adding a bathroom upstairs, so we'll get a permit for that. Um, and do it right?
Alex:Yeah. That's uh, we're actually, I haven't even told people yet, but one of my, probably in a couple of months projects, I want to add a bathroom. Um, in our guest bedroom and like backs up to the laundry room, but it has a guest like walk-in closet. That's like the size of a five lives, seven bathroom. And it backs up to the laundry room. So there's already water there. So I bought, I brought in a contractor, um, like a year ago for something else, like looking at mold or whatever. Um, he was like a family friend and I was like, how much would it cost to? Like, just have somebody. Do everything where like, I can just then do all the tile. Like, all I want is someone to route the plumbing, do the water lines, um, and get it permitted so that this is a bathroom. Um, and then like, let me take it from there. And he was like, uh, probably a cost. Like he was like, if you want me to demo the closet and stuff like five grand and it feels like you take everything. If you take care of everything for me and clean it up, and all I have to do is just reroute plumbing and throw some electrical in there because I could be much cheaper. And I was like, oh, Yeah, that's
Anna:the way to do it, honestly. Yeah. That's what we would do, because I think we're at the point now we've learned this with our new house. Like we've been hiring more stuff out. Cause it's just not worth our time to like sit down for hours and try to figure out like, how do you do this? How do you do this? Like, we just are learning more to value our time,
Alex:I think. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's no joke. I mean, a lot of people, I guess see, like even me watching you, like, obviously, like I know what it is on the other side of the screen. Do similar stuff, especially in a Baltimore home where nothing is treat or level, um, ever. And, uh, you guys make it look so easy and you're like, oh look, I just like tiled half of my shower today. And I was like, what? So it's honestly press it. But I feel like people don't realize how much goes behind the camera, where you're like, oh, I just messed up and you spend an hour Googling something. That the answer probably doesn't exist. And you have to kind of like think on your feet and figure something out or tear it down and then restart. Yeah. And they give me demoralizing.
Josiah:Yeah. There's a lot of days where we've gone to home Depot multiple times in one day and it just like, we spend half the day just driving. Cause it's not like there's not one right in Baltimore. So you're like driving like 15, 20 minutes out of the way coming back. And then it's like, half your day is eating up from just driving there.
Alex:Yeah, it's fresh. You guys are in Canton, right? So we're in fed hill. So I don't know if you go to the one in Glen Burnie or do you go somewhere in north of the
Josiah:city? There's one, uh, home Depot in Ganda.
Alex:Oh, that's yeah. That's not
Josiah:bad at all Mrs. Technical on Eastern avenue, but it's kind of way
Alex:further out. Yeah. It takes me like a good 20 minutes each way for them Depot, but at least mine is like right next to the Lowe's too. So it's kind of clutch. So like, I can just kind of like, oh, they don't have it. I'll just pop over. Um, but yeah, it's definitely eats up your time quick and you don't really realize it. You kind of like drive there. You're like, I'm just going to get this one thing and then you spend an hour walking around. Cause you don't really know what you need or where it is. And then your whole days is gone all the time you allotted and all you did was go to home Depot. Yeah.
Anna:Those days are the worst. And honestly, I think we went to home Depot, like four different type times, Jessica, this one Flemmi part. And it's still not working like in our new bathroom that we did. It's like the water connector piece. And like it's still leaking. And I bought like four different pieces and I'm like, oh, I cannot pick out which pizza to buy.
Alex:It's so frustrating. Fresh. And at least it's not as bad when you can see the leak. And you're like, like the scariest thing for me is like, what is happening behind the whole true. I just need to think about it. I'm just
Anna:gonna block it out.
Alex:Um, but okay, so you, so you completely renovated your whole home and I'll actually put, um, there, air B, do you mind if I put your Airbnb link in the show notes so people can check it out if they want? Um, so you can see like all the. Um, that they did the kitchen, we're talking about the bathroom or go visit, like come visit Baltimore. Um, yeah. And, um, so you're renting it out now. So what was that process like? Just learning to be an Airbnb host and everything, like, has it been stressful? Has it been pretty smooth? Like, obviously you're doing it again. Um, and we'll get into your third home, but, um, so how has that process.
Josiah:So we have a really good story for the very first time we rented it out. This was about a year ago, and this is when the house was still in the, in the process of getting renovated. So we had like the one bedroom that was like super set. It was like Christie. And we decided to just rent out one bedroom and we were still living in the other side. And this is only like a 960 square, but also it's really small. And the first guest that we ever had was absolute worst experience we've ever like, could even imagine what happened was it was somebody who was relatively in town. There may be like 15, 20 minutes away. They were really just kind of looking for a, like a romantic getaway for her boyfriend. Um, but I feel like the new people in. And she was also preparing to have like a party in the house why we were still in the house. Like we didn't, we weren't away. We were still in the house. And so that I can, there's like, there was so many red flags like going into it. It was just a real weird experience when they showed up, because we didn't know, like, how do you greet somebody? You know, if you've ever stayed with Airbnb, we've stayed at shared places before, like the host, you're not meet the host. Um, but we like introduced ourselves. We kind of give them a little tour around. They were just asking us a lot of questions about like Hardy living, that kind of stuff. And I was like, Hmm, not really about it that much. We're just trying to like start this business. Like we had no idea what we were giving it to. Um, but later in the night she brought home just a massive load of groceries and mixers and all this kind of stuff. And she was only a two night reservation. So we were like, okay, something's kind of up here. Um, Uh, her boyfriend had went, went away with one of his buddies later in the night. She was like cooking Jude super late at night
Anna:chicken, which is the 10 30 at night. Yeah.
Josiah:And then she dumped all the oil down the city, like a whole like liter of oil. Um, and then, so when she went downstairs, like we were like, we're, we basically kind of felt like trapped into one row. You didn't want to like, kind of, we didn't know how to react and how to be normal with that situation. But she went downstairs. She started like, she uses super loud, obnoxious too, but her, she left the one bedroom open and I like looked in and it was like, like a hundred tea lights that were lit. And I was like, she is going to burn down our house. And like, I didn't know, like know how to like approach her. And I basically just, I remember being so uncomfortable coming downstairs and be like, okay, remember, like in our guests rules, there was no artists here. And she's like, okay. Yeah. It was just so uncomfortable, but I'm kind of out fast forward a little bit, but later in the night, the boyfriend comes back, but he was out with his buddy. She was expecting to have a night in with him. So she was kind of pretty mad. She kept calling him. It was like really loud speaker. So he comes back. She's just so frustrated at him. He wasn't getting a message and they just start fighting and they're like running back and forth in the house, slamming the doors. And this was in the winter time they were running outside, they're running in the streets. Our neighbors are like coming out. Um, and then eventually they kind of calmed down. It's like, we're in bed. This is probably like close to midnight. They kind of mellow out, but then they start going out of
the game and like 3:00 AM and I never thought this would happen. It just became a point of like too much where I went downstairs, they were like fighting and I just kicked them out in the middle of the night. I was like, you're not staying tomorrow night in his house. And I packed up all their stuff and just read it on the floor. It was like, it's your problem. Now, figure out how to get home.
Alex:That is nightmare show. I'm assuming from that you guys never rented like a room again, or did you do it. We
Anna:did it one other time. And the next girl, like we learned, like, don't have someone local also, like we charged, like he was either like 20 or $40. So it was way
Alex:too cheap. Yeah. That's insane
Anna:mistakes. So we learn a little bit. And then the next girl, she, she was like super sweet. She was really chill. Students got like, did her own thing. And then I think we've had like, like, all right, we need to take a break. And then we finished working on the house. Um, cause we were getting ready to move. So then we really got like gear it out to like, read to it full time when we were
Alex:gone. Nice. And where, what was the reasoning between not doing long-term rent and like a year lease between Airbnb? Yeah,
Josiah:I think the, what we figured out with every and B was if we didn't have any idea of how, um, three people would be stay, but we just knew, like we could make more money if it all works out. And compared to like what, uh, the, like the same footprint house, like right next to her, with Aaron renting for, cause we had relatives that were next door. So he got like a pretty good idea of like how much they paid him and kind of the condition of their house.
Anna:I mean, it just came down to like cashflow, like we would make more with
Alex:short-term rental and it's nice because like, you can always like get back into your house and like, you know, if you want to do a project or fix like your sink one day, you can just block off day. Or whenever you had family coming to town, you could block off dates. Like that's what I think Kylie and I try and want to get into, but I'm curious, like on the, for Baltimore, cause I know a bunch of cities, like I come down is Baltimore cracking down on it or no? Yeah, no,
Anna:there's already a law. I think it came out in maybe 2019 that you can't do stays under 90 days. Um, so we got like our license because it was our primary residence. So we were allowed to get the license while we live in. But it'll be up in like October, November. So we actually have just switched our Airbnb to like a medium term rental. So anything above 90 days, but there'll be like a, a nurse, a traveling nurse. Oh, wow. Yeah. So unfortunately we can't do a short-term rental anymore.
Josiah:Yeah. So basically when he re moved out, so we got the license and it was our primary residence. So whatever was left of the conduct two years was so we been probably going out for about a year and some change now. So we have about until December to kind of finish up that. And we're just like, we're just going to hand out it right now. Just trying to get as many people in this.
Alex:I love it. And then, so you guys pull the trigger on a third home. That is what I know. It's in Virginia. What's the town. Luray
Anna:caverns.
Alex:Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And so you guys got like a true, I wouldn't call it like a farmhouse, but it's like in the country, like, I don't know how to, I don't know. What would you say that, you know, cause it's not a row home, it's a normal suburb house. Like it's very much. Out there. Yeah.
Anna:I would say it's out there. It's in the country with the cows and I think it technically is a
Alex:farmhouse.
Josiah:I love it.
Anna:He loves it. He's like, let's move there. I'm like, no way that's too far out
Josiah:there. But we only buy homes that are like super old. Like this house was built in 1920. All of our other houses were like 19 29, 0 4. So this is like an older house too, but it has like a, it's not a wraparound porch, but it has a nice light overboard. So I'd say. I would call it a
Alex:farmhouse. And so the plan is to make that an Airbnb as well. And so what are the laws like different in Virginia or that part?
Anna:Yeah, so that's kind of why we like bought out there versus buying again in Baltimore because we wanted to do another short term rental. And originally we wanted to do like a campground. Um, so we started looking into that originally, but that was just going to be like really tricky, but like permitting. There's so many different laws in different counties. Um, so we just went with buying the farmhouse and we're going to add a camp site to it, I think next year. Um, so that's when.
Josiah:Yeah, they were definitely, this area is already really established for like vacationers. Like it's really close to Chandon national choir. Um, we're about like 15 minutes from one entrances. Um, we're ready to caverns is one of the most visited Cavin caverns on the east coast area. So there's a lot of like RD short-term rentals that are in there, which is almost kind of good because you already have that vacation demand is really high to help you out. And they've already kind of formed the laws to kind of cover those different businesses.
Alex:Nice. Yeah. I feel like it's always helpful finding a spot that's like positioned for vacation. Cause then they're obviously like short-term rentals is how we get people here to spend the money. Yeah. But, so what are the, what's the game plan for that house? Cause it's, it's much bigger. I would say in terms of a project then what you guys have dealt with before and not to mention, you're also, it's like you have two projects at once. It's not like your main focus is there and it's also not like it's that close? Not like you're living in. And you can pop up or you can pop over in 10 minutes. Like it's like very much a, like, I need to commit a day to go out there type of deal. So what's the game plan for the house.
Josiah:So we already like the very first weekend we closed on it. We were doing work. We stayed there for a few days. Um, we're going there in over Memorial day weekend. Uh, I took a little time away from work and to sustain that for like three and a half days. And then I'm a teacher, so I have some resolve. So as soon as school gets out, um, we're kind of shifting focus from the Baltimore home. We're going to like move to the, for like about two months. And we're going to try to like, it's this house doesn't need anything huge. Like, um, we, the biggest thing was we basically got in one of the bathrooms and we've already put it back together, relatively speaking. Um, the, one of the floors is it was kind of rotted. Um, but we like already tiled the floor and like. Um, so that was kind of one of the biggest things. Um, but we don't think the house is going to take a huge amount of time. At least that's our hope. We've never really done it ever kind of just like, I feel like we feel the pressure because we put this like deadline of we were finished by the end of summer. Cause that's kind of all the time that we have. So we're just going to be hustling to get it done.
Anna:Yeah. It's also like a learning thing with the, like having it furnished at all is the other one. We just left all our furniture there and then we just kind of started over it. But this one, like, there's no furnitures that we're like, oh my gosh, how do we buy all this furniture? We have to buy like five mattresses and like get outside tapes. Just all the little stuff that you wouldn't think about. Um, and we're trying to do on a budget. Of course. So it's been a lot like lots of spreadsheets. Like here's the budget for the renovation. Here's the budget for furnishing. Just how we go about that. Doing so it's been a huge learning process.
Alex:It's so impressive. I remember you put on your Instagram story one time. At least I caught it one time. I don't know if you've done it a couple of times. Well, like the spreadsheet of, I don't know if it was that, that house or like a specific product or what, and I was like, this is like very much like fine, detailed, like, and it was really impressive. And I think that's why you guys have been able to juggle basically three houses at this point. So successfully, um, especially with teaching yourselves, how to do it. Um, it's impressive. And like Kylie is a teacher as well, um, in and around the county. So she'll have off the summer. So she'll. Uh, cause normally she'll she'll babysit. Um, but this summer, like we have our wedding and like three weeks and then we're doing like a honeymoon in Mexico once she, uh, finished the school, which is getting out insanely late this year. But she gets out like a week before July 4th. I'm
Josiah:here late
Alex:middle of June. Yeah. It, which is just nuts. Um, but so she was like, by the time, like we come back, like I'm not really going to be able to babysit that much and get like a long-term. Um, so she was like, do you need any help on the projects? And then I was like, I mean, if you want to, like, I'm down, but it's so funny. Cause um, she used to help me obviously all the time. Uh, but she has very much a love hate with projects. Like when she's very much like into it with the start, but when like it gets real and stressful, she just is like, get me away from here. I don't ever want to see this project again. So I'm just like, are you sure you want to be a fighter?
Josiah:I feel like I did really resonate with Kylie as well. Like with the very first house I was, I was not like super into doing projects in all my free time. Like after school, I was like, I don't want to spend time tiling your bathroom or. Um, doing a kitchen and all this stuff. Um, but then like we only want our second house. This was like a joint project I would say. And I feel like I kind of fell in love with him more because it's like something I get to create too. Instead of me just stepping into a project that NRD started.
Anna:Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I've like saw a huge shift in him with our second house. Cause it's just like, he never got to like go through the process of buying a first house, but it was just like we came together there and then I think we came together. Just on our future goals of like wanting to go into real estate par, like we listened, he listened to like bigger pockets, a lot more. And we got our first house of praise and we saw like, oh, we can make money with it. I think he was like, all right, I'm
Alex:down. Yeah. I feel like you can get like a much more ownership like of it then. Cause you're like, okay, this is like our project and we're going into it. Um, and yeah, it is funny because I. Always looked forward. Like when I'm come on for work, I'd be like, I can't wait. Like the first project was our laundry room, like I said, and I'll come home from work. Like I can't wait to like, be able to like attack this laundry room. Like I'm excited to spend three hours of my Monday doing it where she was like, I'm done. I just want to watch like the Kardashians or something or the bachelor, like leave me alone. And so I'd just be up there by myself, like figuring. Because, I mean, it's just funny how different, like our mindsets were with it. Um, cause she'll definitely hit a breaking point and be like, I don't want to say more.
Anna:I feel like we, we go through seasons even now of like, okay, we're really excited about this project. We'll like work on it after work. And then some seeds with were just like, oh. I just wanted to sit on the couch. Like I don't want to do this thing, Lauren. So yeah, we definitely
Alex:do things up at two. Yeah. And it's been funny too, cause I really didn't post anything. Social media wise, like I was watching you guys way before I even, I think started my social media. I don't remember, but it was definitely like way before I really got serious about it. And I'm now like, it's really cool because I'll have a bunch of contractors and stuff that'll follow. Um, and I don't know if you watch like home renovation, DIY on YouTube. Uh he's like the best Jeff I'll plug him any time. Like, he was like something like over 2 million, uh, YouTube followers or subscribers. And so he's like when I go to YouTube, something, I almost don't even YouTube, like generic I'll type in his channel and then YouTube it, um, and that, but, um, he started like following me and then he'll like comment on my stuff and like give me tips and stuff. I'm like, this is. My Michael Jordan right now. And he's like helping me along and would, so it used to be like, I used to have like a lot of contractors be like assholes about stuff. Um, but now, like I've seen the switch at least on Instagram where Alex, so many people are have like, Hey, you should do this. Or you're holding your router the wrong way. It's actually, you're supposed to hold it where the bids spinning into the word, something I would've never even thought about. Um, and I was like, why is this chipping off the plane? Yeah. Like, isn't this supposed to make really a smooth cuts. I'm like, is it my bit? And they're like, no, you're holding it the wrong way. I'm like, oh, okay. But like, things like that. And it's just been like so helpful, um, to have like that insight to it, because I mean, at the end of the day, like you guys know, like you very. Laron along the way. And there's some things that you're just going to be ignorant to. Like, there's another way in how I was ever going to know how to hold around her the right way. Like I just assumed you just hold it. And it just, no matter which orientation it's gonna like do its thing, you know? Yeah.
Anna:How did you get like, interest to that? Like what made you want to
Alex:start. Start social media to start projects. So for me, it was, I always, people will ask me all the time, like, did you have any experience? Did you this? And I was like, no, like me and Kylie bought her house, uh, August of 2020. So like the most perfect timing ever, because our interest rate was like 2 99, but the market had an adjusted for it yet. So we just got like this insane. Um, and our house, I wouldn't say it was like a, a fixer upper fixer upper like gut, but it definitely needed a lot of love. Like had been rented for like a decade, I think, like just not taken care of very well. Um, so we were just like, we don't have like the actual cash to hire a contractor. Um, and so we just like, kind of started doing little things. Like the first thing I think I did actually is our kitchen floor tile. The grout was so disgusting because it had never been cleaned and I couldn't get it clean. So it took like a grout pen and just like made it white. And I was just like, oh my God. And then, you know, little things like that. And then I kind of like fell in love with the outcome of it and being like, wow, like my house is like, that's so much better. Like, I feel like I did something in this house, which is mine. And I feel like I powered by it and. I had never been taught anything. I'd never, always told people. I, the only time I ever held a drill before it was to like, hang a picture frame and just bought like your cheapest combo kit from home Depot and just started winging it. And then here we are
Anna:both of them, but that's how a lot of people get started. It's just like, you get like addicted to the after and you get addicted to the process too, but project, but. When you see the after and it turns out really good. You're like, wow, I did that with my own hands that I like figured it out. Like
Alex:it's so cool. Yeah. And that's how our social media journey started is because going into the laundry room, everyone was like, what are you doing? Like, you guys don't know what you're doing. And I was like, ah, you're right. We don't, we're just going to tear this laundry room apart. And we were taking like funny Snapchats of ourselves. You know, just like we wanted to take a couple before pictures, but we were just like casually posting it on our personal stuff. Like, I'm making fun of it. I'm like we had this one Snapchat, we sent to like our friend group of like us drinking, like a Starbucks, like about to go pick up a self leveling summit, probably going to like, like drill a hole through our floor. Like, and then someone's going to be seeping, like wish us luck. And so everyone was like really tuned in. They were like asking me. You know, send us updates and stuff. And we, you know, started to do that. And then they were like, oh, you should just like start a separate Instagram or whatever. Like not to like, actually do anything with it, but just to document the process. Um, so we can like follow along and it'll just be like separate and I was like a bed. And then that's kind of like how it snowballed.
Josiah:Yeah. I feel like we have a similar experience. Like every, if anybody knows it, you know, like you're working on house projects, like they want to always ask for pictures, but if you already have like a separate account, that's like, you can just show
Alex:them this it's like your portfolio. Yeah, exactly.
Josiah:And we kind of love that. Like our friends can follow it and they just kinda know, like, I don't have to like text them or call them and they just kinda know what's happening with our house projects.
Alex:It's true. Yeah. Yeah. And it's always so cool to have it, to like, look back on. You have the posts and the, and the like highlights and stuff. Um, and you can just like, kind of show people like this. Like, it was really as a portfolio, like look at my, what my laundry room used to look like back in September of 20, 20, and liquid, it looks like a month after that. Like, and that was like the first thing I did. And then it snowballs into like, have that forever. I mean, assuming it's around, but like, it's almost like it just lives wrong forever. I love it, but I did want to ask you, um, some quickfire questions, which I don't think I've sent you. Um, unless I did by mistake, but just like quick off the dome, you can go into detail or not. Um, both of you can answer one or you can answer whenever you guys want. Um, so the first question I have for you guys is why.
Josiah:I'd say Baltimore because we both went to Towson university and, um, Anna just already had like a inkling. They want to live in the city and I'm just kind of following her. And I was like, oh, I'm going to get married here. So I guess I'll just live where she lives.
Alex:Oh God, you guys from around the area,
Anna:like he's from Emmitsburg. I'm from Frederick county, Western, Maryland. And we both wanted to stay like in Maryland. Oh, I didn't want to stay in town. I was like, eh, this is where I went to college. Like I want to go like a little bit further away. So Baltimore just kind of made sense. I was like Baltimore
Alex:city school. I love it. Yeah. Kylie actually went to towel sand for a semester and then transferred to Maryland with me. What year did you guys go? She was, we graduated high school, 2014. That's when I graduated, I was 2013. Okay. So she would have been at his house. And when you guys were. She stayed in Scarborough, Scarborough
Josiah:in the corner. Yeah. I went to junior college for two years, so I didn't actually get the towels until 2016.
Alex:Okay. I would bet that I was in rest hour. Nice. Yeah. I used to go visit like three, I think it's visually like three or four times a semester. And she was like, I hate this long distance. I was like, it's. Cause we've been high school sweethearts. I'm like, it's like 45 minutes away, but we didn't really have cars like that. Cause like you're freshmen and. So, um, then she ended up transferring, but we definitely have like a soft spot in my heart for towels and we love it. Cool. Yeah. Okay. Um, let's see. Favorite paint brand.
Anna:I think we use bear the most. Yeah. They have like our living room. We just painted. It's kind of like a green it's bare. I think it's the scuffed at. And it just goes off really well. Yeah, it goes on really well, like one coat. So I just did like one coat in there and
Alex:it's also, that's what I tell people. I always go with bear. Um, and I did a poll recently where I had a bunch of people. Like I was like Behr, Sherwin-Williams Benjamin Moore other. And I was like, very surprised at that bear was just going to run away with it. I think Baron Sherwin-Williams ended up tying and then Benjamin Moore, like might've had like 20% of. But I didn't realize that, I guess Benjamin Moore is the highest quality. Yeah. I never, I never knew that I had so many people blow up my phone, like Benjamin. Moore's the highest quality because I know it's sold in ACE hardware, like exclusively. Well, they also have their separate stores, but so I put that in my mind of ACE hardware. It's like the convenience, like home Depot, kind of like off-brand type now. So I just assumed it. Wasn't a good quality paint, but I guess it's the highest quality
Josiah:if we've never used it. We've all used bear just out of convenience. And one time we, Sharon Williams to a match a cabinet and it was really good paint, but also, I don't know if we got like the highest tier paint, but it was just
Alex:expensive. Yeah. Well, that's, that's the thing they're like bear is the least expensive out of all of them. Ben remorse the most expensive, but they are like, it kind of goes in. Barry is the least expensive, but it's also technically, I guess not the highest compared to share in there in terms of quality, which I didn't know. So I always thought was just like, okay. Um, scariest tasks. You've done on a project so far.
Anna:I mean, I still don't really like using, like there is creating saw and just. Some of the tools in general, like they do scare me cause I've had like a few close calls. So then those always stick in my brain of like, oh my gosh, what if that happens again? Like on the table saw like a piece of wood, like shot back and all this hit me in the face. So I am like a little worried about those, but I do remember we had to cut this like metal pipe in, um, our bathroom, I guess it was iron. Yeah, because it had like this huge leak in it. It was like army.
Alex:Yeah. It was like Italy.
Anna:Yeah. So we had to cut that and I made him put it, so you just cut the whole thing, but I just, I was like, Nope, can't do
Josiah:it too scary. Yeah. The thing was like with the actual reciprocate in salt lake, you could only buy, like, I think either like six or nine inches, get it. And we got like the sturdiest one that's met to cut like steel, but because of the area, you couldn't put a huge long one in it. And also like the pipe, we pretty much not attached at the bottom. And it was like, heavy is dang. I weighed over a hundred pounds. So when you're covering it, you don't want to like fall and have to bleed, like kick back at it. It's pretty scary. That was actually a thing you
Anna:got supported as well. Oh, that was the worst. And it was stressful because we wanted to get our all maybe like up and running again. It was like for like, Aw, I'm going to take a shower. That was just the worst.
Alex:And you recently like, almost like set a fire or something. It'll do receptacle. Let's just not scared
Josiah:anymore.
Anna:If I did. That was, yeah, that was not great. It did make me kind of fearful to do electrical, like in the future, but I think I'm already over it because I didn't go to Melbourne about that story.
Alex:Yeah. Everyone always. Electrical so scary. Like what did you Google to do it? I was like, it really, like if you break it down, it really is simple. It's just getting over that hump. And I don't want to like, make it seem like anyone can just like go wire an outlet without like really putting in the research. But like once you like break it down to like actually physically how it works and stuff like, it's honestly pretty simple. The one thing that. I was like baffled by this. So like, when I'm doing my basement, I installed, um, new outlets that weren't like, it didn't have any outlets down there. Um, and people were like, just run it from running a new circuit breaker or whatever installed like a new circuit. Um, just ha they're like sending me YouTube things, like just tap into your circuit breaker. And you're just going to do this can take five minutes. I'm like you guys are maniacs. Like I am not putting a new circuit in my circuit. Right. I don't know, you're smiling. Did you guys do that?
Anna:Or we didn't do it the same way. We're like, we don't want to touch the breaker box. It seems too like shirts. If we mess
Alex:that up. So we, this could literally burn down my house. I was like, I like my, one of my brother's best friend was like a light electrician and I was like, just tap it in and then put it in a home run box and like, I'll do the rest. But just like, actually it took him like four minutes and he was explaining, he was like very easy and it looked easy, but I was like, I still never in a million years. Yeah,
Josiah:I guess there's some things you just, you just hire out and you put the burden off of you on,
Anna:sorry. I'm like, I don't want to burn our house.
Alex:Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Okay. So my last question I always ask, this is the number one excuse, and I'll ask both of you this number one, excuse people tell themselves on why they can't start DIY.
Josiah:I think a lot of people will probably say they are just intimidated by projects. That's probably the biggest excuse. I felt that way. Like Mariana, just honestly, like I just was more to me with certain things. Like only thing I've never touched anything me, like growing up, like that was stuff that was like intimidating. It's still is like to this day, like when we go to home Depot, um, we're in the aisle, like. Putting all this stuff together and cooking things together and I'm more or less just kind of watching her. And I guess we kind of make a joke cause I'm kind of like your security guard in home Depot, because like, she doesn't like to be like approached by all these guys that they want to be too helpful. Um, so that's kind of like my role, but like, I feel like intimidation is like, what can really stop people from starting in the first place?
Anna:Yeah. I feel like. Being fearful, they're going to mess up or like get to a point where they just don't know what to do. And like we've all been there. We kinda get to a spot of like panic, like, all right, what do I do next? But I mean, you always get through it. I mean, you can always hire someone to come help you, you can ask a bread, like you always get through it. But I feel like that stops a lot of people. Just like the fear of failure and
Alex:getting stuck. I agree. Am I thinking, I always tell people is like, as long as you. Mildly decent at problem solving. And you can handle stress in a positive way. Like it's not like it shuts you down and you can't, you feel mobilized and you can't move forward. Like as long as you can, like step away. And even if it's like weeks down the road and you're like, I'm just not going to touch this product for a week or two. Um, and you're able to come clear, like with a clear head to address a solution. Like there's been so many times where I probably haven't done it a conventional way. Um, But like, I just was like, oh, I think this will work. Or this tool work. And you just kind of figured out, you don't always need the most expensive set of tools or like the craziest workshop or set up. Um, and you can get like a lot of stuff done with what you have. I think that to me is like, so spot on. Oh, well that was all I had. So before we jump off here, did you guys, uh, want to bring up anything or have any questions or anything?
Anna:Well, I've enjoyed watching just your stories and like your whole basement redo is awesome. I'd like your door right now. I'm
Alex:obsessed with the door. It's awesome. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, I've just been, uh, a lot of this stuff has been first time and I everyone's like, why are you lying, doing part of your basement? Like, why aren't you doing the whole thing? And I was like, well, eventually I'm going to do the whole thing. But I think so many parts of this project I've never done before that I just was like, I just, the reason I started was like, I need a at home office. I think I'm currently doing this podcast in my bedroom, on my dresser standing up. So just so you know where we were like, what, here it is. Um, I was like, I just need an office where I can like, you know, just get stuff done. And that's what kind of started it. And I was just like, if I try to do this whole basement at once, I'm going to get so paralyzed by. Like the like mass massive amount of like framing. Like if I would have been framing for like weeks, just like trying to figure it out and like all this stuff. Um, so I was like, I'll just do this whole part and I'll just figure it out and then eventually I'll come back.
Anna:That's a great way to look at it. Cause I think we would get paralyzed to by. Just too much at once you got to just start at one project and then build on it.
Alex:Exactly. And I've learned so much from it. Like my dry skills. I've gotten so much better just cause I was like, and I was actually excited for that. I knew I sucked going in, like my patches are really terrible, but I was like, this is going to force me to like actually be decent at drywalling. Cause I'm going to have to do a bunch of drywall over here. And Kylie came down to the basement a couple of weeks ago. This corner outside corner looks professional. It's like better than the rest of our house. And I was like, I felt so good. That's
Anna:awesome. Yeah. Drywall is so hard. I hate
Alex:drive off. Yeah, that's the one thing that I thought was the easiest thing in the world before I actually did it. And I have such, I say, I probably said it five times in this podcast, like throughout a couple episodes, but I have such a respect for drywall was like, it is an art form. It really is not. No,
Anna:it's not, it just takes, it takes us hours. They used to do it.
Josiah:Yeah. Because like, anytime you, like, you want to change a piece of drywall. There's usually a problem in that spot. So it's like the walls and level. It's not square. And you try to like end up shaming it to try to like, make it look like a normal, like it's place, like the secret behind the wall. So like, but you just have this, hopefully a finished nice
Alex:product. Yeah. And the mudding skills don't even get me started on that. But have some, did you guys have anything else before we jumped?
Anna:I think so we just appreciate you having us on. We really excited for
Alex:this. It's been fun. Yeah. I was really excited to have this one, just a fellow Baltimore in, um, just wrap in. So if everyone listening, if you guys have watched my stuff and me complaining about a super old house in Belleview, Like, and it just, I have done it twice, so they are amazing follow they're awesome. Super down to earth. And you will literally learn how to just like start tackling things and, and be methodical in like your budgeting and everything. So I just love your guys' whole style and how you guys approach it. So there's been enough. Cool. Well, I appreciate you guys being on this has been episode 11, um, an amazing episode. So again, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Um, and yeah, until next time I gotta be honest. I was overly excited to have Anna Josiah on here because as a fellow Baltimore in, I know you guys probably think I'm crazy when I say how much I love this. I know a bunch of you probably have prior judgements about it, but it really is amazing. And they understand what it's like to deal with a super old home. I know theirs was built in like 1920. Mine was built in 1895. So they understand the pain that comes with it. And it's just so exciting because I've been following them actually, before I even started my social media journey, Anna and Josiah were like my idols, you know, just with like, they were like local heroes to me. Um, kind of, I haven't even reached out to them. They just kind of gave me the confidence that I could do this without knowing what I was getting into, um, following Anna's journey as she was literally like tearing apart her bathroom, uh, to the studs and teaching herself at a plum. Like that's what gave me the confidence to be like, okay, like someone without experience is doing this in my city, like a mile or two away, I can do those two. So just having them on here was just like full circle was just amazing. Honestly. If you're interested in following them and checking out their Airbnb, you can follow them at rent a row home. They're amazing. Just in terms, they talk about the Airbnb stuff. They're really budget savvy. If you're like someone that is like they said, I'm going to look for a scratch and dent appliance. I'm going to look for how to find furniture, um, cheaply and refurbish it or whatever the case may be there. So. Um, and they're just so great to follow so seriously. Thank you, Anna and Josiah. And if you're still here and you're able to give me a review on apple podcast, Spotify, wherever you're listening, it would mean the world. It really helps me just. Get a better ranking in this podcast and just reach more DIY buyers that, you know, hopefully I can inspire, um, and bringing them into this community. So this is a wrap on episode 11 and until next time, I appreciate you guys.