Sarah Larbi: REITE club nation, it's Sarah Larbi here. I am back for another great podcast, but the tables are a little bit turned. Today I'm actually gonna be in the hot seat with Aisha Govani, and we are by the one and only Francois. Welcome and happy to be co-hosting with you.
Francois Lanthier: Thank you. It's actually an honor. I remember before the pandemic, listening to your podcast and thinking, wow I need to interview this person. And then we got to meet and now we get to work together and I get to interview you. And Aisha, I'm getting to know you as well, so it's amazing and we have an awesome topic in this interview.
It's gonna be really exciting. Everybody pay attention. Grab your pen if you're driving, stop and write things down cuz this is gonna change your life. I'm serious. I'm learning lots about midterm rentals, but I'm gonna learn lots tonight. So welcome everybody.
Sarah Larbi: Thank you so much. And guys, if you do want these podcasts, keep in mind they're on like Apple iTunes or Apple Podcasts or whatever you call it now.
I think they changed their names and all the other places that you get your podcast from. And also check out our events at thereiteclub.com. We've got a lot of virtual events, we have some in-person events and lots of stuff in between. Super excited to be here. Fran, what? Thank you so much. Yes, midterm rentals is definitely, One of my favorite topics right now, probably with commercial conversions.
Again, it's about pivoting. It's about what makes sense in today's market, and it probably is not the same thing that made sense two years ago. So I'm excited to talk about it. I know Aisha is too. Put us on the hot seat, ask whatever you want. And I think you also, selfishly. In a good way. Wanna ask some questions about your midterm as well.
Francois Lanthier: I totally do. It's gonna be a case study. I guess you guys can point me and correct me cuz I'm sure I've made quite a few mistakes. But anyway, it is what it is. . Great. Let's start with Aisha. So why would somebody. Want to do a mid-term rental.
We know about short-term rentals, Airbnb, VRBO, all those . And now a lot of cities are cracking down on that. So it's getting complicated. Long-term rentals in Ontario can be challenging and in many provinces and states. So what's with midterm? It sounds like an exam.
Aisha Govani: Yeah. There's a few reasons, and I think you touched upon a couple of those. A lot of municipalities are no longer allowing short-term rental. So there are the bylaws that are giving you the restriction. And then b, anyone who has a long-term unit, especially one that's not rent, rent controlled, you know that a. Your rent prices are not keeping up with the inflation, it's not keeping up with the mortgage.
The interest rising of the interest rates. The L T B is not on your side. You are having to deal with issues and long waits for trials, even if you are on the right side of the law in that situation. So I guess those are two reasons why people were looking for a pivot. Now, to answer your question, why midterm rentals?
I personally feel that midterm rentals are not. As the short-term rental market is affected by seasonality by recreation, and also by economy. You'll see a shift in the, in your Airbnb short-term rentals with the, when the economy changes, when the seasons change, and when people's reasons for going into your area recreationally change, as will your bookings In a midterm market, you have a lot more control over the guest population that you target.
So we would target. Corporate guests hospital staff film and TV staff who are, recording in your area. For example, Hamilton has a huge film and TV industry. Yes. So that's a target market that we know, no matter the economy, they, okay. So maybe they might make less film or tv, but inevitably that, that the sector will always continue to film and record, even if it's at a slower pace.
And they'll always want to be in your city or in your area if it was already a. So these are industries that will continue to send their employees out for training. They will relocate their employees. People, need a midterm rental between renovations. So an average homeowner, if they're doing renovations, they want a place to stay that's not being.
Renovated that's one thing in between moves. If your house does not sell at the same time that you bought a, if your house does, if you sell your house and you still weren't able to buy one or vice versa, if there's that gap in the middle, that's another time when people need midterm.
So midterm needs don't change throughout the year. People will always need those type of stays, and I think that's a large part of the reason. Midterm is now a big hot topic for strategy pivot.
Francois Lanthier: I love it. And I'll correct you as well, sorry. The economy, let's say the movie theater, movie filming recording. The budgets are down. They will come more to Hamilton cuz it's cheaper to film in Canada. Sorry, just . Yeah, that's great. That's something I watched. I love that news. That's good news. . Oh yeah. Cuz right now let's say you're American and you want to come film to Canada, everything is like 40% off. It's like going to I don't know, Dollarramma instead. Anyway, Canada's a great country.
Sarah Larbi: A lot of stuff. How you compared us to Dollar Ramma. You know what I do agree. I think it's just about gaining back control. And then being able to pivot and gain back the cash flow. Or mitigate the loss. Cuz if you think about it, you've got a long-term tenant in a unit with a, the rate increases and you can't, if they're in the rent controlled unit what are you gonna do? You're probably in the red at this point.
Think about as you're placing new tenants, if it's a rent controlled unit, not rent controlled unit, do you want a long-term tenant? Do you want, would you rather have a mid-term? Short term, again, could still possibly work and you could do a combo. Again, talk to your account about it.
But a lot of municipalities are starting to ban anything less than 28 days. And it's like Ottawa, Toronto, London just came out with it. You, your licensing. And if you're like, if you're not, if it's not your primary residence, there might be some rules and regulations around it. So it's becoming harder and municipalities are cracking down on it because they think that we are going to make it more vulnerable by putting them the units back on the market long term.
Hey, We are in this business to make money. We are entrepreneurs, , and I'm not saying that like it's the be all and end. But we are not a charity and we have to pivot and we have to find ways to still make money along the way. That's just how it's going to be, or we're gonna get out of the market altogether.
But I think the midterm rental is that sweet spot where we can still do it in the majority of the markets, if not all the markets. We just have to be in properties that make sense to do it right. The properties that people are gonna wanna move to temporarily, and usually the guests are. Already homeowners, and they're not necessarily tenants.
And so I'm not saying that you'll always avoid the rules and the regulations, there are ways that you can mitigate as much as possible so that you can have that control. Especially if you're in a, tenant friendly province.
Francois Lanthier: And speaking of which, you mentioned location. You mentioned hospitals, Aisha, earlier Sarah, you mentioned a few things as well. What would be a good property because , I know I have a suburban house that I just turned into a Midterm rental. There's no hospital, there's nothing nearby, no cinema. I hope they're not filming around here cuz it's very boring,
Sarah Larbi: But you know what, that may not be a deal breaker because yeah, if you are in an area that has good school zones or like in an, A area or a b plus area, and there's a lot of current homeowners, I have a lot of people like, again, I'm have a, a few in, in Burlington, Hamilton et cetera.
Even though there maybe there's maybe no hospital close by to some of them, if they're in an area where a lot of people are renovating their houses and their homeowners are gonna wanna stay in that area and, stay in your units for two, three months during the renovations, or they might be moving and they wanna stay in the area still before they move to somewhere else and they wanna stay in that location as an example so their kids can finish school or whatnot.
There might be some businesses in the area or you might be close to head. And the head office might be, needing a place for their new hires or their staff or people that you know, are in transition. So it doesn't mean that just because there's no industries that it can't do well could be a little easier if you had the hospitals nearby.
Yes. And the head office, of course it will. But I also think that if you. Are only relying right now on platforms such as Airbnb and V R B O, you're gonna be disappointed because it's oversaturated. Everybody is on there. There's so much supply versus two years ago, and there's not really a whole lot more demand.
So here's the thing is if you wanna set yourself apart, Pick up the phone, talk to your network, talk to your realtors. Present at your a realtor meeting, present at your, figure out when your, all your contractors are gonna be around. Reach out to them. Have a quick coffee with them. Explain what they do, because they could almost even put it in their quotes as a free option for their staff.
Build it into the quote, not for the staff, but for their, clients. And now all of a sudden, that contractor is also. A k a, again, that's built in the quote, but these are little strategies building in the cost of two months of free stays for their clients. Who do you think is gonna get that, contract?
If things are all equal and all of a sudden there's one contractor willing to offer a free place to live for the family while they're in renovations? And for the contractor? They don't have to be like hearing and talking to that ga like client all the time. Living in construction is not good. You have to clean you have to clean it in a different way in between, and you get the people in your, in your space. So, yes or vice versa. Anyways, like for lots of reasons, just because you have something in the suburbs, as long as it's in a good area you can still do okay.
Francois Lanthier: There's a few homes that are a mil over a million dollars. For Ottawa it's a nicer area, so I do see the potential.
I would also like to add, maybe you guys haven't explored that, but I would also look at midterm in other countries. So in Costa Rica, where I'm investing , there's a town or a city they're expanding the airport. They need workers to build that airport. They're building a private hospital.
So same concept, same idea. anywhere in the world where it's allowed. I think that's a great service to offer and there is a demand and there's a huge gap. No one's doing it in many other countries and in Canada there's still quite a few few possibilities. There're not that many people offering midterms
Sarah Larbi: No, and I do agree. And just to add to this, and again, the possibilities are endless. You gotta get in. Yeah. If you've got, like in your area of Ottawa, if there's a lot of construction and it's like a big company that's doing a lot of the pre like, the, I don't know, the condos or the townhouses, as we know we were in this business, there's always delays.
Yes. And so for that homeowner that's moving, that person may sell and not have that place ready for X amount of time. So have that conversation with whoever those builders are in the area, the bigger companies, and figure out if there's potentially a need and could they offer that as well to their clients that bought and all of a sudden they're gonna be stuck because they have nowhere to go and they have to extend another two months before occupancy as an example.
Aisha Govani: And also another good avenue is lawyers. So there, there's a lot to say about immigration lawyers whose clients are needing to come and settle in a place and they're not able to get a lease when they arrive, or they need some time to do, the shopping for their properties. Also people go through divorces, lawyers who are dealing with divorces.
There's always a one family member that needs to get out. Before the house liquidates and before they sell. So these are all the type of guests we're coming across. So even though your property is not near or a major hospital or a major corporation or a satellite office, there are other elements like we've mentioned, just for the local homeowner to need that service.
And to want, not a hotel room, like to want a whole house with the kitchen with that feel for the duration of that, whatever.
Sarah Larbi: Yeah. In the backyard space and potentially with pets.
Francois Lanthier: Yes. That's a big one. Cause if you're moving out of your house while it's being heavily renovated or you're divorcing or something's going on, if you have pets, you're not gonna give them up. For moving in a lot of, by Ontario, you can't say no to pets in long term. Short term you can midterm, I guess if you're accommodating and people. Makes sense with their pet.
Sarah Larbi: Pets, midterm rules and regulations are gonna be similar to your short term. You have to set them up that way. But I've never had issues with pets. I think it's the people and the kids that kids are probably worse in terms of wear and tear than pets, , pets. I do have that saying, again I'm, some of my properties, most of my properties are kid friendly. But, the pet will, the pet piece will set you apart from everybody else in the short term or on Airbnb right now.
That's just saying no. And a lot of people that want that midterm, they're gonna search and they're gonna add that, that they have a pet. So only the ones that are pet friendly will show up. So if you want, charge a little bit more or something like that, pet.
Francois Lanthier: That's a hot, like in Alberta, if you have rentals you can charge. So do the same in Ontario and now you're allowed, cuz it's not reg legislated as, as heavily. .
Sarah Larbi: Yeah. Lots of opportunities. The other thing is, I was thinking, just thinking of this the other day, is even those hotels that have the kitchen net or whatever it is, and that's like for long, they don't have laundry.
I don't wanna do my laundry in a laundromat. I'm not saying that , it's bad. It's okay to do it. I just have like different, like I've, I have different ways that I live now, or probably forever. I don't think I've ever been, not that there's an issue with a laundromat, people don't kill me, but at the end of the day, there's a comfort of not having to like, take your, like dirty clothes into a place and then have to sit there. Like a lot of homeowners are used to having laundry in their houses. So the laundry thing is a huge thing. And the hotel doesn't, not gonna have they might have servicing, but you might have to. Send your clothes out and they pick it up and then it's got, it's expensive.
Aisha Govani: You're essentially going towards a different demographic of guests that isn't the same type of guest on that short-term market. You're looking for someone who wants the comfort of the home away from home, that amenities the comfort of the backyard, the parking, the laundry, so that they can have that, because these are people who are looking for a one month plus.
When you get to one. That's really the point when you need those comforts of home to continue. Yes. Whatever it is you're doing. And a lot of these people aren't looking to get away from their daily life. They're still continuing to work, they're still continuing to have a day-to-day life.
It's just between incidences or maybe traveling for work, but they're da. It's not that they're escaping to go on a vacation. So the whole. Construct of your home and the way you market and the type of guests you're looking for is a completely different niche. And so when you think in that direction, you realize A, you can target market your guests, because as we talked about before, they're not influenced by.
The economy and seasonality, but they're there and they have that need and they will always have that need. You just need to have that, those resources to like structure that way to find them and make those connections. Because when I make a connection with the company, he's not just that, like the other day I made a connection with the president.
He's not just gonna use us for one stay. No. Every time his staff goes into that area, he will continue to call me. And so it's almost like a trickle down effect and it's, the short-term are like a one stay here, one off here, one off there. These create committed and consistent guests, whether it's the same guest or from a major company that allows that a higher occupancy to actually eventually happen.
Sarah Larbi: Oh, go ahead. There's work to be done, right? It's not like just putting your listing on the platform and thinking that you're gonna get the midterm. You might get a few, and if it was two years ago, you would've gotten a lot. But times are changing, so now it's actually, it actually is work to get, your occupancies levels up and making sure that your cash flow.
Francois Lanthier: Aisha, could you describe the property? So what are the amenities? What, cuz this is not a vacation rental. So as you mentioned, what do you put in, how do you decorate the place? Do you go crazy and put granite, heated floors and rain rainhead shower and everything like that? Or how far you go?
Aisha Govani: There's two things you wanna ensure. It's durable because it's still tenant or it's still a guest. It's still not your, you are not the homeowner. So you and people are coming in and out. You wanna ensure there's durability, but you also wanna ensure that the finishes and the accessories that you renovate with if you're doing renovation are nice.
You want people to feel comfortable, these are going to be homeowners corporate executive level guest, you. So you have to think whatever product you're providing, you're gonna get them the get in return, which you put out. So if you design a beautiful home, don't do marble countertops, maybe not real hardwood floors, but you want every, everything to be durable material.
But also look really nice. And then you can charge top dollar. And then people who are coming to your home, once you get into that target market and they're paying that top dollar, then you know that, you've you, they're gonna take care of your home because they're paying so much to stay there.
And essentially the money you put in comes back to anyways, when people complain about having to. , take that extra step, make that paint job look nice or do that extra. Some people will just throw in whatever furniture they have, try to willynilly match it. Then you're gonna get a certain type of guess.
I'm not gonna be able to rent your place out to the CEO. They're not gonna want it. So if you want that you are gonna attract what you put out. So I would say, durable materials I would do nice finishings again, durable. A few things that we mentioned was in-house laundry parking, either.
Parking on the driveway or parking on the street, A fenced backyard. Particularly if you are allowing guests now. Sorry. Pets. Pets, yes. Now, yeah. I was like, guests are allowed. Yes. That's what we want. Pets. It's, if you want , but, and then we're looking at the type of f the type of decor and the type of furniture.
So we have standardly. What we're putting in a one bedroom, a two bedroom, a three bedroom. How many, like what type of beds? We usually go for queens. If there's space for a pullout in the living room, we'll put the pullout in the living room. Certain amount of art and decor throughout the house, and then kitchen fully stocked.
So what do people need in a fully stocked kitchen to stay for three months? Baking pan, like frying pants, pots, utensils, the right number of glasses, cups and plates. You wanna ensure if there's a six person house, enough or six plus, or two sets section.
Francois Lanthier: A dozen at least?
Aisha Govani: Yeah, exactly best particularly, wine glasses are destined to break. So yes, you wanna make sure you have enough so that if someone's staying there for three months, you're also not going constantly to try to, fill in the gas all the time. Exactly. So you wanna make sure for what you're offering in terms of replenishments, that all of that is stocked there and stocked enough again for the amount of people you are allowing in that home to be comfortable for that first few weeks of their stay.
So we suggested to have certain elements per property to ensure that it accommodates the guests, the number of guests that you have. A few other things is you wanna ensure you have outdoor facing cameras, something to watch your property. on the outside. Only if it's inside. You have to tell the guests.
Sarah Larbi: And I think that no inside. Never inside. It's so vulnerable. Yeah. That's no inside cameras period. Outside. Only if you had a common like space where there's like a multi-family common air. But yeah. No guys, I know. Never, ever you will charged and you will get sent to jail. You can not do any inside cameras unless it's like a communal space in a multi-family property. But I would say not even that, just put it outside.
Aisha Govani: That's. Outside facing your driveway. Yeah, keep an eye on it. And I would do a smart lock a smart lock that you can change from your phone. And that way if anything happens and you need to l that person decides to stay and not leave and they leave, then you can change the code and , lock them out essentially.
Sarah Larbi: And keep in mind, like a lot of these people are corporate clients no business clients. They need a desk space. Yes. Ideally not the kitchen table where they're, or the living room area. Yes. But they need somewhere where they can go and make Zoom calls or private calls if they have their family with them.
So think about what that looks like in terms of a, a desk area, good wifi speed, wifi unlimited, make sure that it's good for those conference calls. And then just. A fully stocked kitchen, like people are gonna be cooking from home, they're gonna be there for a lot longer, right?
So it's not like they're there for two, three days and they're exploring a cool like little area. They're gonna need, the toaster, they're gonna need the pots and pans, the serving bowls, the, you know all the things that you would have at home.
You are gonna wanna make sure that you also supply that and yes, it's probably gonna cost you a couple grand per unit. To just stock it up, furniture aside with all those little things cuz it does add up. But ultimately it will make for good experience and you don't wanna have just the plates and the knives and all of a sudden someone wants to cook, but there's no pots and pans, there's no serving bowls, there's nothing. You have to be, somewhat stocked and it's gonna be worth it. It'll pay you back tenfold at the end. Ultimately. But you don't wanna. Sparse on the basic necessity.
Aisha Govani: And I think also when you're looking to design the place you wanna look at, when we talked about durability in the finishings as well as get bedsheets that are a good color, right? You wanna go with a gray or a navy blue, something that won't stain. You wanna make sure you have mattress protector pillow protectors, because it's gonna cost you way more to replace a pillow that gets stained or replace a mattress that gets stained. Then by simply putting the protector and then having multiple sheets that the cleaner can take if need be, and bring back.
Sarah Larbi: There's a big debate. Okay. So there's this big debate, sorry. I know Fran, the white sheet. We're hogging so, so white sheets or colored sheets. Because white is like the hotel standard. You bleach it and you can bleach it. But are your cleaners really a hundred percent the same like level of cleaning as hotel standards?
And my, so my thing is I've been to Airbnbs with colored sheets and I've been to air and I, I do colored for. And I've done white, like I've seen people with white sheets. There's always freaking people's hair on the white sheet, even though they're like clean, there's hair on it, and it's disgusting.
And so I would prefer not to see people's hair on the sheets, even though they're clean. There's or like pet hair or whatever. There's still some specs and on white it shows up so much more and then you wonder what else is dirty. So I, for that reason, I don't do. Could you do white? Sure. You'll have to make sure that your cleaners bleach them and they look in they, roll the roller over the sheets to pick up any extra spare little hairs. Anyways, that's just my 2 cents on it.
Francois Lanthier: And you need a commercial washer and dry room. My parents had a hotel when I was a child and I did the laundry and it boils. They boil, like they boil the sheets and the towels, so you can't really get that at home. You'd spend $5,000 just for the washer and probably the same for the dryer. And then you have to iron the sheets. Yeah.
Sarah Larbi: And then they look yellow before you know it.
Francois Lanthier: That's it. And yeah, you're constantly replacing them and yeah, so I agree. I would go, and that's what I do as well. Always a pattern. Even not just color, but a little bit of a pattern. It hides flaws. Yes. And sometimes you get an extra stay or two extra months and then you check them when they're bad.
Don't keep stained sheets. Don't be cheap. Go to Costco if you need to. Like 40 bucks for a nice set of queen sheets. I've seen. They're really nice cotton don't cheap out and makes a big difference. And my And our recommendation is at least three sets. Three sets. At least two sets.
Sarah Larbi: Three sets is ideal. Cuz there's always gonna be something that goes wrong with one of them, or they're gonna rip at some point and you'll have the extra. But if you're gonna have a cleaner that's gonna take the laundry away as an example, they're not gonna stay there. You do wanna have that extra set.
Francois Lanthier: A question for Aisha. Do you offer extra services? Let's say I'm thinking about myself. Let's say I'm going somewhere for three months and my wife's not around. I do a lot of cleaning, but let's say I'm on a, I'm on a business trip. I don't want to clean the house. Can I call your company and say, Hey, I want housekeeping once a week or once every two weeks? Do you have other add-on services as well that can bring in.
Aisha Govani: You're talking our language now.
Francois Lanthier: Yeah. The chef. What's going on? Somebody shoveled a driveway. I don't know.
Aisha Govani: All lawn care is taken care of. Your, your driver will be shoveled, your lawn will be mowed. If you want a cleaner to come in during your stay, you can arrange that with us. We can have the cleaner come in. . We are working one of our, the trajectory of, one of the things we're going to be doing is working with local vendors to have them offer discounted services to the people staying in our units and then offering those guests a preferred vendor list so that they don't have to search around and figure out what's good, what's referred.
Because even now for myself, if I want someone, like I had to replace my daughter's zipper, the first thing I did was go. Group, community group and say, who can recommend someone to replace a zipper? Because I wanna go to someone that's someone I know already knows and trusts and has used them before.
So we wanna provide that comfort that you're coming there, we're giving you a list of preferred people in the neighborhood, and guess what? You tell them you're staying at our place and you get a discount. .
Sarah Larbi: And I will say this is probably gonna be phase two or three as we're building out, I've had a conversation with one of my nutritionist slash chefs and, for certain areas, not Ottawa she would be open to doing meal deliveries or like meal prepping and getting everything either or even just. Like ready to serve. And I've been, like talking to her again, it's not gonna be for every single, area, but little by little it's about those like busy professionals.
What do they need? They probably need, food brought to us. Ready to make or ready to serve. They probably want some kind of dry cleaning service maybe. And so we're looking at that. It's not gonna be all ready for every single region, cuz we do want to go across the country at some point.
But we are building it and we are in talks and I think it is for me, I'm used to having a chef. I'm not used to cooking. And there are certain things that I like. Same thing with cleaning. So we wanna offer similar. One thing, one thing at a time. Like we need like 20 people tomorrow, which isn't gonna happen. Cause it's actually hard to find staff.
Francois Lanthier: Yes, that's great though, cuz I can imagine. Now if I can really picture it, a corporation, let's say you're sending your staff, your ex, your c e o as you mentioned, the person arrives at the beautiful place everything's nice and clean.
All the food's in the fridge ready for the week, and then the person has nothing else to do. Do their work, enjoy life, and then close the door and that's it. So it sounds amazing. When can I move in?
Aisha Govani: very personable. Stay you go on Airbnb, you might hear from the from the owner once in a while. This is very white glove service. Yes. We check the guest in, we don't hand them over to the homeowner. We are the concierge. We check you in. We let you know where everything is. We communicate with you during your stay. If you have any issues, we help you with. If, let's say like the hot water heater bursts and you can't stain that home anymore, you're not on your own to go and find another property, we will help you find another property.
We will set that up. We will take care of you every step of the way. So it's really a no-brainer because you know the quality is there, you know the support is there. You don't have to worry like, Think about the amount of times you've booked an Airbnb and went and it wasn't what you thought it was going to be.
And at that point, it's like you've lost that day. That's happened to me before I lost that day, I had to find another place. And it was just, and so you don't wanna be dealing with that when you're not on a vacation, when you don't have all this extra time when you're just trying to get onto the next work week and then deal with either the renovation or the, the traveling or moving between homes. We really wanna make this an easy experience.
Sarah Larbi: Franco is, just to add to that, you're like, when can I move in? These would actually be investor properties. Yes. That we would help you set up and make sure that it's the quality assurances there, give you the tools but essentially it's still your property.
You would still manage it. We don't wanna manage a property in Ottawa, like there's a handful that we'll take on nearby, but what we wanna be is the platform to be able to connect investors with guests, to do the sales and the outreach to the guests, to build the network and then provide the guests with investor properties that we've basically stamped that said, okay, this meets all of our criteria. And this investor, has agreed to work with us and let's piece it together and see, make sure that everyone's happy.
Francois Lanthier: Sounds amazing. So maybe my next Costa Rica property could be an executive.
Sarah Larbi: I don't think we're doing Costa Rica, but if you want us to help you with auto we will.
Francois Lanthier: Yes. I'm just teasing. And I also heard something about some sort of course on how to do this yourself. , I think it's still available online. I saw so. Which is great cuz a lot of people, let's say I'm in Calgary, which I am sometimes. , and I want to do this while you guys can't be everywhere yet soon, but not right now. But let's say I wanna learn. So what's is there a course that's available to learn this?
Aisha Govani: So we have our five week course, which we bonus to seven, and I think you squeezed something in my calendar, but there's seven, seven classes that we offered, and all of them cover very important topics to learn and understand.
How to set up your midterm rental B, what is very crucial to understand so that you don't cross a line over and end up in the long-term tenant. Yeah. Long-term strategy area, because that can get very sticky very fast. We had an entire core class just with our paralegal and their team to answer all burning questions and then they gave resources because it's very important as we move forward because it's a new strategy.
A lot of our power team is also growing and learning with us. We've been fortunate to pair with experts who are forefronting this, in insurance within accounting. within the legal industry. So we offered those resources to our students. We talked about the renovations the important parts of the setup, like the security camera and the key lock, how to allocate guests.
What are the type of guests to target, because like you said, we, because we're not property managing to the degree we had. Previously planned, our focus is guest allocation. We wanna ensure that the properties that we do bring on the platform have this knowledge. Because in order to be on our platform, you have to be quality assured.
In order to be quality assured, you have to meet the certain criteria that we withhold within our midterm rental properties. And this course gives you a play by play detailed way on how to set up the property and how to manage the back end of it from, Where to get insurance, like I mentioned, and what kind of cleaner to what kind of cleaner you should get.
What should your cleaner know when setting up your, your unit, when they're checking out in your unit, how to look for certain things, how to set that up as well. So there's a large, part behind. How to run a midterm property, and we wanted to ensure before we brought other investors on, they also have to understand that so hand in hand, we can assure our guests, you're checking into a property where this owner knows the quality and the standard of our properties.
Francois Lanthier: That sounds amazing. So it's time for our lightning round. Now I have to, maybe I'll have fun with the questions and change them up a bit because I think go for it. Some of them might not be relevant, but let's see. So question number one and I'll get the two of you to answer short answers. So what is the best advice you've ever received from another investor regarding a midterm rental?
Sarah Larbi: A midterm rental r two years. I would probably say the best advice I've got from and I don't think it was like one specific thing, but it was a half an hour conversation with my paralegal Andrew Choubeta, just about what I need to do, and even just like little tiny things like putting a plaque out front outside.
It doesn't have to say there's some Airbnb PL you can get from Amazon, but you can also have your plaque. So if you make it look corporate, if you make it look like a commercial property, if you do ever get stuck with somebody that doesn't wanna leave you can, you know it, it'll help things like o an occupancy agreement.
Like you have to have like certain clauses, especially if you're not, you're in Ontario. The reason for their stay specifically, you wanna have a clause in there that like talks about like section five A of the RTA that it's traveling public, so you wanna have certain things. So that whole conversation was very interesting.
I think we could probably talk about it for for a whole hour. But talk to paralegal. Again, this is not foolproof, but okay, so here's another thing is, I know this was 20 seconds or less. The key like keypad. Make a key, obviously keyless, don't give him a key, but make it so that you can change the code on your phone whenever you want.
Anyways, so those little small things, again, every strategy has its learning curve. Every strategy has its pros and cons. Definitely understand the paralegal side of things and what you can do to make it as midterm as possible.
Francois Lanthier: Great. And Aisha, I need tip, something you've found that's really game changer?
Aisha Govani: Yeah, I think the big thing for me was Sarah took my answer. The big thing for me was when I realized, The difference between the type of guests required for the midterm strategy and the short term strategy. That's when my brain was like, aha, this is why you are, this is what the difference is between the two.
That will really differentiate. How you can take, because people, people are asking me like, what difference does it make whether I'm sitting on Airbnb or whether I sign up with you. Like why should I? What's the difference? And I was like the difference is the type of guests we're targeting.
And so once I realized that and wrap my head around that is, is one of the most important things I realized that how the midterm strategy can pivot.
Francois Lanthier: Yeah. Very different market for sure. So what, let's start with Sarah. What's your favorite resource? . For real estate investing. There you go.
Sarah Larbi: I love the podcasts. I think likely the best resources for real estate investing is networking and networking events.
Francois Lanthier: Yes. Aisha, what's your best resource?
Aisha Govani: I was gonna say the people really and cuz I have my own podcast too. It's been such a blessing to just pick the brains of so many people who are investing. So many different locations and using different strategies and understanding why they pivoted to those strategies and pivoted to those regions is just been fascinating for me.
And I see how, everyone's got their own reasons and what works for them and what doesn't. And yeah, I, I. It's really like the investors themselves and the networking for sure. A as well as listening to other people on YouTube and on podcasts. Just sharing their knowledge because I find the investor circle is very good with sharing and helping each other out.
Francois Lanthier: There you go. Some great tips. And then let's start with Aisha. That way she doesn't, Sarah's not stealing her answers. So Aisha, what is the attribute that has made you successful, I guess maybe starting before Sarah speaks.
Aisha Govani: Oh gosh. I think it's, I don't worry, I don't worry too much about whether something's gonna work out or what the result of it will be. I think about the. and about the opportunity. And I've I'm not afraid to fail. So for me, it's just the excitement of the journey itself is enough. The end goal is like a bonus. If we reach that goal that's a bonus. That's amazing. But I'm along for the journey no matter what happens.
I think that attribute has allowed me to say yes. To a lot of things and not be worried about if I say yes, what might happen? I don't worry about that. I worry about what the journey is in front of me, what that alone will bring, even if the end, I don't reach that specific end goal. And I think that's been helpful and growing in a lot of ways.
Francois Lanthier: Sounds amazing. You should have worked in it. That's the goal in it, is you fa fail fast and then you move on and you move the project along. While if you're afraid of failing, you don't do anything and you, you're stuck. Sarah, what's your, what made you successful? I guess the chef has helped and a few other things. Yeah, the delegation.
Sarah Larbi: That's funny. If I have to look at. I don't know, maybe let's just call it the last 10 years. I think it is the burning passion and burning desire that has never gone away throughout. , from the time I really remember, if my mind is set on something, I will just keep going and making it happen and taking action and then repivoting, and then it's ready, fire, aim, and then I keep going. But it goes back to the burning desire to grow, to be better, to give back, to do more to, I didn't have that, I some days are so insane in Ayesha and
I will are like, oh my God, I don't understand. Today we do so much, but it doesn't feel like work because I just love it. And if you're doing something that you absolutely love, you're not gonna work a day in your life.
But I realize that after I left my corporate job that I can't just sit there and do nothing. I can do it for a week, for on vacation with friends, but I just gravitate. Okay, what more can I create? What more can I do? And I just enjoy, I enjoy that so much that it was, originally it was, I just wanna create wealth and be able to leave my 95 and then that, I got there, that's done.
Then it's the next goal. And, but if you have the true passion and the true desire and you just think about it, it's, you don't let the other like small things get in the way, in the ups and downs cuz there's lots of up and downs. At some point you will see the success.
Francois Lanthier: Yeah, perseverance is the key. Wow. The secret sauce, we have it here live.
Sarah Larbi: The secret sauce, but I'm sure there's, it's lots of different answers.
Francois Lanthier: I find it is. So let's start with Aisha again. I'm gonna give you a headstart. What do you typically do on a Sunday morning? I hope you relax once in a while, but what do you do?
Aisha Govani: What did I do this Sunday? Mor I take my kids swimming, so I have to be out the house by ninth.
Francois Lanthier: Not very relaxing.
Aisha Govani: It's probably relaxing. My kids are three and five, so weekends I are like, there's no such thing sleeping in when they're awake at seven. I'm awake. But I like to take Sunday mornings slow and I like to get outside.
Summers will go for hikes. Now that winter's here, I'll take them skating. Like for me that's, that Sunday day is about like getting in nature and just slowing down a little bit and trying family time. Yeah. Trying to check my email as much as I usually do. So I try to Yeah, connect. Yeah, for sure.
Francois Lanthier: Sounds amazing. And Sarah what's up on Sunday mornings?
Sarah Larbi: I usually split up my year with like cottage made to September time and then the rest of the year and then I'm actually leaving for a month as well. Cottage made a September time. Definitely going to the gym and then it's just hanging out at the cottage and likely we have guests and friends up and it's good times all around.
So other than that, so other than I would say, may 24 weekend to, to Labor Day Sundays, I, if I'm, down here I go to the gym, it's at 7 45. I do the F 45, like the Sunday workout is all is awesome cuz it's like more strength and I like that. And then I'll probably just slowly get ready.
I'll have two, three coffees answer some emails, do a little reading, maybe listen to podcasts or something along those lines. But right now so my crazy life is I take made of September pretty much off, and then I go really hard from September to. I would say about now and then I likely will take a month-ish of like more relaxation, but I'd like to plan.
So the Sunday I was, we were planning 2023 goals visions, that kind of stuff. I don't do that every Sunday, but. I don't know. I went to see my dad the other day, family for coffee. There's not like a set routine. Like I'm not gonna sit there and tell you guys that I do this meditation and I like, I definitely go to the gym a hundred percent.
It's every day. I think ultimately I just am always doing what I love. So Sunday is another day, just like the rest. I might have a little bit less meetings, I might do a little bit more family stuff. It's depends on the time of year. If it's winter or summer.
Francois Lanthier: That's it. There you go, sounds amazing. If our listeners want to get ahold of you, learn about your platform or the course to get on the platform, what's the best way to get ahold of you?
Aisha Govani: So you can get a hold of us for the midterm rental properties at midtermrentalproperties.com. And there you can find information on our course as well as how you could be a guest in one of our rentals.
And how as an investor if you would like us to help you with guest allocation. We are servicing across Canada. So if you have a house in Alberta, if you have a house in Vancouver, in BC, if you have a house in Ontario, contact us. Let us know what kind of property you have. And we will, start helping you find guests in your area.
We have the team set up, we have the systems and processes set up. We know how to target these sectors. We know what their guests are looking for. and we really wanna help investors out there during this tough time and allowing them to pivot if they need the support to do and you can email us at info midterm rental properties.com.
Francois Lanthier: Amazing. So there you have it, Reite club Nation, like Sarah says, normally I stole her line. It's my turn. So if you want to pivot, you've had trouble with long-term rentals, short-term rentals go to mid-term, and it sounds like this is a perfect recipe for success. Don't forget to give us a rating.
Review us on Apple Podcast, Spotify. Wherever you're listening to your podcast, and if you're hitting the gym, do put in the the Reite Club podcast. I think it's amazing value. It has transformed my life completely and while Sarah and Aisha as well are being very successful through podcasting and networking. So it's another way to continue. Until the next time, what do we say? Customize your life at the REITE club. Cheers.
Sarah Larbi: Bye guys. Thank you.
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