7 Short-Term Rental Units Earning $7,000/mo Cash Flow in Her First 9 Months

0:00I would say the driver was knowing that I had had I had this quadplex in in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where now I had all four units that I was doing rental arbitrage in. And my monthly rents still are 5,300 a month for that one property. And I'm like, let's do the math here. If I own this building, — Yeah. — my mortgage would be half of this. What am I doing? What am I You know, why What am I doing?

0:31I need to get — Like what what do you generally make as a short-term rental on on those — Yeah, on that property? — Yeah. — so in the summertime, which is which is the high season in Grand Rapids, I was profiting probably a thousand per unit. — Okay. — so it was it was a decent return, but on my property that I now own, my quadplex in Michigan City, I I'm doubling, sometimes tripling that. — Yeah. — So it it just it's a no-brainer.

1:02It's just a no-brainer. And I I think just just being able to see that comparison in real time, like I every single month I have to pay this $5,300 in rent for one property, as opposed to here's this other quadplex that I own in Michigan City, paying my $2,300 mortgage, and I, you know, and my private money lender, and so, you know, we're we're done with that, that loan, which we'll get into, I'm sure, later in the conversation. But this this is just a no-brainer, making this transition. It just make It just made sense for me to do.

1:35And honestly, it was just a matter of me finding somebody who I trusted enough to to kind of lead me into that into that mindset shift, and to to kind of transition from the rental arbitrage into purchasing short-term rental properties. — That's awesome. Yeah, and I think it's a a natural transition for you. I mean, it makes so much sense, and and that's what I kind of share with people too when they ask me like, what do you think about rental arbitrage? Should Should I go that route or should I, you know, stay with or should I, you know, invest in my own properties?

2:07And And to your point, like if if you're with rental arbitrage, it's a great way you can get a deal right away, get it set up, start cash flowing, but you're capped at that spread between the the long-term rent and the short-term rent that you can, you know, ask for. And so, that's the only benefit. But with Now, like you said, with Michigan City, like the the four unit you have, you got a much bigger spread between your mortgage cuz that that landlord was still making good money with you renting as a long-term tenant. So, now you're making the entire spread and you get the appreciation benefit.

2:43So, you know, next year it's worth more in 20 years from now it's worth, you know, double or triple maybe. And then also your your tenants are paying off or your guests are paying off your mortgage. So, every month that gets lower and lower. And you get the tax benefit. So, it's like you get like five different benefits as opposed to one much smaller benefit with the arbitrage. So, if you're going to do it and you're going to commit as much as you have, I always try to point people toward the fact that you can own properties and even do it without using your own money, which we're going to get into.

3:15So, So, that's amazing. — Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, you know, in the same vein, just talking getting back to that fear that I was feeling, you know, I I if I start purchasing, I'm going to be that landlord that gets called, "Hey, the the hot water heater is not We know some whatever goes out because my responsibility to get it fixed as opposed to calling my landlords and saying, 'Hey, you know, this needs to get repaired or this is going on.'" So, getting into the blueprint program, you know, going through all the modules that you have in the program gave me the information that I needed to really quell that fear and to really get over those fears.

3:56The more information and that's just, I think, human nature. The more that we educate ourselves, around things that we don't really understand, we can really lessen the fear that we have around whatever whatever idea that we're we're having fear with. And I think getting the all of that information and things that you just went over really helped to subside a lot of the fears that I was having about about making that switch from rental arbitrage into purchasing. — Yeah, that's awesome. So, so yeah, so we started working together last year and then you pretty quickly you had a four-unit under contract.

4:28Can you share a little bit about that deal and, you know, what it was that that kind of drew you toward that that property? — Yeah. Yeah, sure. So, it was August of 2025 that I closed on that that quadplex in Michigan City. And I want to say I joined your program in June of last year, possibly May, May or June, something like that. — Mhm. — So, maybe about 3 months, 3 to 4 months before I put in my first offer. It was my first offer that I that I put in and I ended up closing on the property.

5:03— It's amazing. — so it was it was quite exciting. The whole it was a natural rush and a a natural adrenaline that I had that I'm now still constantly chasing that first rush that I had from my first property. It's an amazing feeling. It's it truly is and you know all about it when you when you get a property under contract and going through the inspection period and, you know, just just doing your due diligence on making sure the numbers work and all of that. It's just it's it's an adrenaline rush and it's the first time was just so exciting for me.

5:34I just could not wait to do it again and again and again. But so I put my offer in on this on this four-unit property. There were a lot of offers that got submitted on this on this property and mine was I guess entered you know was selected first and I did have an amazing realtor that I had established a really really good rapport with so we put together a really good offer we had an you know escalation clause that we submitted in there just wanting to really try to make my offer stand out more than others.

6:06— Can you explain that? What an escalation clause is a lot of people don't know haven't heard that before. — Absolutely. So if my offer that my my purchase price offer that I submitted happened to be lower than maybe another another investor another person's offer that that was submitted escalation clause is you say that I'm willing to go so much so much over any other offer that you received like by a thousand or two thousand however much you want to make it. So that you can kind of beat out your competitors and that was the whole new thing that I had learned to didn't know anything about offers or escalation clauses or you know anything about that so it's I've learned a lot from realtors that I've gotten a lot of good relationships with which is something that you really preach about in

6:55The in the modules making sure that you're building rapport and relationships with realtors who can get you access to properties that might not even come on the market yet just and that happens to me quite frequently now I'll get I'll get text messages or calls say hey this is going on the market tomorrow I already saw the property what do you know if you're interested we can put an offer in first thing in the morning or however it goes. So I got my offer accepted on the four unit property in Michigan City and I'm like holy crap my first off my first offer it's been accepted now what now I actually have to move forward with everything that I've learned in Kirby's program and oh my goodness all of these you know anxieties maybe I'll use that

7:43Word started to kind of come to the surface, but it wasn't a fear anymore because I had learned all that I did with the modules and being a part of your weekly calls and getting a lot of my questions answered that I needed to be to have answered in your in your weekly meetings and so they were more anxieties than fears at that point. So, I knew I knew that I needed to find a private money lender to come up with the 25% down payments and any minor renovations that this property might need plus the furnishings.

8:19So, I'm like, okay, this is the part that I'm going to need to really get out of my my my comfort zone and start marketing to to private money lenders. — A- And to just to just to jump in real quick, too, like so I if people are listening this, like understand how the the chain of events here because first off, a lot of people will assume, well, if I don't have the money for a deal, then I can't do a deal. And that's just not the case. If you have an awesome deal, there's so many more people out there who want to put their money and make a great return on an awesome deal.

8:53So, you're you have a great opportunity for people. So, you know, waiting until you have all the money can hold you back a lot of times. So, So, Stephanie went out and got a great deal under contract knowing that it's possible, even though you'd never done it before, but it's possible to to raise private money to cover the the the difference between, you know, the loan that you're getting and and what you need to close and and just went into it with the confidence that I'm going to figure this out because I have a great deal and trusted your numbers, which I love.

9:27So, sorry, continue with the with what happened next. — Yeah, I know, that's exactly right. That's exactly right. It's like, okay, I got this amazing deal. Now, how am I going to pay for it? And in theory, I knew, right? I knew in theory, but now it was time to actually do it. So, I start sending out my emails from the list of people that I already kind of generated on who I would be reaching out to, my friends and family members, yeah, friends of friends, Facebook friends, all of the above, who I would be sending these emails to, trying to get interest to to get private money lenders.

10:06So, it was a huge huge learning curve for me and a huge mindset shift going from I have to ask people to give me money. I have to ask people to do me this huge favor to I have this amazing opportunity that I can offer someone who wants to earn some passive income and maybe just doesn't know how, or maybe they're investing in stocks or mutual funds or real estate already and they're not seeing the return that they want to see, and I have something incredible to offer them and they're going to be jumping all over this.

10:42That was a huge learning curve for me and that mindset shift was one of the probably the most profound things that that I have learned since starting your program that has made all of the difference in the world for me and I know will continue out cuz I cuz it's it's a continual we never stop learning. We should never stop learning anyway. So, that's going to be something that I have to, you know, continually remind myself of is like you're not you're not begging people for money out here. You're offering amazing opportunities. So, — And that's such a great point.

11:16Like you you because if you think about what other people who don't have any real estate background or knowledge, but would love to be involved in real estate, what their options are, it's it's primarily like, you know, mutual funds, you know, it's like crypto maybe, you know, it's there's not a lot of opportunity in to invest in a secured asset with, you know, potentially double-digit returns that are fixed and and secured and you know, relatively lower risk.

11:47you know, and so you're to be able to provide that to people, it's people like, "Yeah, that that's I want to do that, you know?" And so it's not like you're like standing there with a tin cup and you're like, "Can you can you spare some change here?" It's like — of course what I felt like in the beginning. — Yeah, no, everyone does and I felt the same way, but once you realize people are like, "Wait a second, you're you're going to give me like a a fixed 10% 12% return? Like what Wait, what? Like that's that's incredible. Yeah, I'll I'll sign up for that and it's on this amazing deal that's going to cash flow well based off data, you know, it's not just guessing.

12:24So, yeah, it's it's it's such a huge mindset shift for people. — Yeah. Yeah, and I will never forget that first private money lender for that property. She was she was a colleague of mine from the VA years prior. She had we had worked together for maybe just about 6 months. She was a consultant. She came to the mental health department at RBA as a consultant. Amazing amazing woman and she was one on my list that I sent my emails to on a regular basis. And in the course of trying to perfect how you market some private lenders because it's a it's a it's a constant growth process where you're making different iterations of emails that you send, different iterations of Facebook posts that you that you make.

13:12I tried and one email with her. It was very a little bit different than what I had been sending out. I kind of was saying, "Hey, here's what This is me, here's what I've been doing, here's what I've been up to. I currently have a property under contract. This is the property. Here are the numbers. This is what this deal is projected to make. Here is what I'm offering for any private money lender that wants this opportunity. I'm offering a 12% annualized interest on on your loan. And then I happen to end this particular email with, "If you know anybody who would be interested in an opportunity like this, please feel free to forward on this email." I didn't ask her directly because again, I was still so so stuck in that mind I cannot ask my this she was a consultant

14:01Of mine. I can't ask her for money. I just I was in that mind frame still. And so within 24 hours, I get a text from her asking if we can and set up a call. I was like, "Heck yeah, absolutely." So, we were on the phone within 24-48 hours. And she goes, "Hey, Stephanie." So, we caught up. We did the small talk for a while. It'd been maybe 2 years since I've spoken to her. And she said, "This is incredible. Me and my husband have been investing in stocks for several years and we are absolutely frustrated about the little returns that we're seeing.

14:38And are you seriously doing 12% annualized interest? Is this like a real Is this a example or is this like an actual thing that you're doing?" And I said, "No, it's just it's this is an actual deal that I have currently under contract that I'm looking for a private money lender to come in on and help me out with the down payments, with the the furnishings, and possibly any minor renovations that might be needed." And she said, "Well, okay, but you you said in your email that I could forward this on to any of my friends or family or colleagues." I said, she goes, "But can I do this?

15:11I Would you Can I invest on this deal with you?" And I was like, "yeah." I was like, "Yeah, of course you can." she was like, "Because this is incredible. If this is if this is a real life deal that you have under contract, me and my husband are all in. Like and it was it was then that I learned that trust and rapport has to almost precede the the you know the credibility that you have almost has to come before the capital.

15:42And it's just about and and word of mouth is is huge. I've gotten so many different private money lender opportunities from this person who went to me on my first deal because they know her and they trust her. And if she's saying, "Hey, I trust this person and I've already invested X thousands of dollars with her and I'm getting my 12% annualized return my my my passive income every single month, they're going to then trust me because she's credible to them and she's giving their you know her word that I'm a a solid person who are who's doing these amazing deals and I'm credible and I'm honest and I'm transparent.

16:24So that's kind of how it got started with you know getting my first private money lender and then getting a lot more referrals to have these these these meetings and these calls with other potential private money lenders that has gotten my list of private money lenders up to about I'm up to about 15 right now of people that I've met with whether in person or on the phone or on Zoom and talking to them about what I'm doing with my short-term rental business, how long I've been doing it, the types of deals I try to get under contract, the type of returns they can expect to see.

17:00I've got about I've got about right about 15 people who are ready to go or almost ready to go on on on the next deal or so that I have that I get under contract. So it's just been an amazing ride in that in that piece of it alone. Finding private money lenders and learning how to actually market appropriately, how to market yourself and what you're doing appropriately so that you feel confident about how you're going to close on this deal because I didn't have my own capital to come up with 25% down and to come up with all the furnishings.

17:32I didn't have that type of capital to do that. So I knew I had to figure out this whole private money lending thing. — Wow. — Oh.