Navigating Regulations: Ken Burrows on Thriving in Vacation Rentals

Kristen Knapp (01:31)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m Kristen Knapp and I’m here with Ken Burroughs, the founder and CEO of Kinlux, which is a really unique model. I’m so excited to get into it. Thank you for being here, Ken.

Ken Burrows (01:42)
Thanks for having me.

Kristen Knapp (01:43)
Yeah, so Kinlux is very unique and I’d love just for you to tell people what it is just to start out.

Ken Burrows (01:52)
Well, we’re taking it to the next level. We’ve been involved in residential vacation rentals since 2016. We’ve been very successful at it, primarily me and my wife and a few other workers.

We’ve decided because of different city ordinances, municipality ordinances, homeowners associations, all across the nation really are trying to shut down residential vacation levels in the residential areas, whether they’re condos to homes to anything. They’re making it so difficult you can’t even make any money at it. we’ve kind of been forced to merge into the actual commercial market. So we’re trying to look for properties that can come in and

create that family environment like we have with the residential. Anywhere from five to seven bedrooms, pool table, shuffle boards, foosball tables, full entertainment, full cooking atmospheres with rice cookers, all kinds of different things to cook for the family. We found that’s been the secret spot is anywhere from 20 to 30 people, they’d like to bring their kids’ kids, their cousins’ kids. They don’t want to go rent five hotel rooms. So they’re looking for that fun family environment.

We’re actually taking we’re going to take it to the next level even create entertainment destinations like a hobbit village You know eight to ten units all look like you’re in a hobbit village with fire pits and maybe miniature golf things like that that gonna be more Entertainment aspect where people leave and they’re like we had a really good time here ⁓ So that’s what we’re creating and we’re also taking to the next level. We’re gonna tokenize the shares of the business so basically we’re merging crypto in with the real-world assets because we

feel that’s the wave of the future. We don’t necessarily agree with digital currency, I’ve been involved in it for last 10 years and done okay with it. I see everything merging into that, with governments coming in, doing reserves with crypto rather than gold. That’s where we’re taking to the whole next level, merging the two together. We’re not a standard crypto company. We won’t be like a mean coin like Dogecoin or PayPay coins or things like that. We actually have a full business

model created around it. So it’s a lot more secure investment. ⁓ You won’t have the fluctuations like you do with a standard meme coin. It’ll be more based on shares of the business as we grow, ⁓ net profits, dividends, profit sharing based on investors, know, investment that they invest into the company. And we’re creating more like a club where investors have an option to get discounted at our rentals. They’ll have voting rights on where the company goes, you know, certain

properties we purchase or even what we want to add to the properties for entertainment. So we’ll be doing different specials and voting rights. If we select one of someone’s ideas or part of the club, then maybe we’ll throw some bonus shares to them. we’re creating more like a family environment. That’s the whole name, Kin, Lux. Kin meaning family, Lux is luxury. So that’s pretty much the whole concept of our entire business structure.

Kristen Knapp (04:59)
I mean, it’s incredible. You’re merging two super unique concepts together. So there’s a lot going on here. So with the properties, it’s kind of like someone’s personal hotel. Is that right?

Ken Burrows (06:00)
Basically, it’d be similar to a bed and breakfast, but without, you know, obviously a host being in the home itself or the property. You know, of course we have people on call, you know, if they ever need anything, but it’d be just like renting their own five to seven bedroom hotel room, basically, or a little area like a miniature campground. be, you know, their private property set off from everything. So, you know, we possibly might get some celebrities coming in. So we have been discussing with some celebrities on investing.

So, you know, because they’re all private areas in a way.

Kristen Knapp (06:35)
Yeah, that’s wonderful. so like you said that residential Airbnbs and rental properties are kind of getting suppressed at this time, but is it’s easier to zone a hotel or AirB, or bed and breakfast, stuff like that. Is that kind of the concept with that?

Ken Burrows (06:52)
It’s much easier

to pick up a distressed commercial property, you know, maybe have…

8 to 10 office rooms in it. So we come in, redevelop it, get it rezoned to a hotel,

motel ⁓ system or bed and breakfast kind of system. ⁓ And then

the municipalities, we’re under that motel taxing system. So it’s not like they’re ever going to get rid of motels in that particular area. ⁓ And usually some of these properties we’re looking at are, you know, like I said, fairly distressed. They’ve been on the market for many years. ⁓ You know, the city wants something done.

with them, bring more tourism into the area, more taxes. everyone we’ve talked to is very open to actually listening to us rezoning certain properties. yeah, we feel it’s definitely a model that will work.

Kristen Knapp (07:47)
Yeah, that’s so cool. And then as far as the tokenization, can you walk me through exactly how that works?

Ken Burrows (07:55)
Yeah, currently we’re calling it when you invest you get one token for dollar which equals a share of the business. ⁓

So you’re actually coming in as an owner of the business in a sense, similar to a stock. ⁓ But there you have no voting rights. can’t really, I mean, you just kind of watch the market and go in and out. With us, we’re creating a whole different model. So we’re not tokenized yet. ⁓ Once we go through our first round of funding, then we’ll start looking at, we’re talking to DigiShares. They have their own Ethereum blockchain system that…

turning it into a blockchain and then within a year or year and a half we’re going to file for our Reg A which is a mini IPO in a sense and that’s when really the shares of the company are going to start rising and as we bring in more and more properties more profits it’ll be more of a slow process like I said it won’t be like a meme coin where you’re going to shoot up but you know a nice five to ten year plan

I we feel our shares will probably be right around the 20, 30 dollar mark within five to 10 years, which is a substantial growth. And all while getting profit sharing and dividends quarterly. So once we turn into the token aspect, ⁓ then we file the Reg A, we do plan five to 10 years possibly filing for a full IPO with NASDAQ. And that’s really when the company’s gonna shoot off.

Kristen Knapp (09:19)
That’s really cool. this is kind of like you’re creating your own. It’s like going public without going public essentially. Right. That’s cool.

Ken Burrows (09:26)
Correct. Yeah, kind of

within a club.

Kristen Knapp (09:32)
and tell me about how you came to that model.

Ken Burrows (09:37)
Well, I’ve been dabbling in crypto the last 10 years and done fairly well with it. So I’ve been watching the markets, different administrations, different government agencies discussing now of ⁓ getting… ⁓

Reserves for their own local economy or the American, you know government rather than gold and things like that And it’s just natural progression. There’s big banks starting to discuss Offering their own crypto and merging everything together. There’s a lot of different companies coming up merging Different types of like artwork and things like that with real-world assets But with us, we’re creating a full business plan around it. It’s not just a Fly-by-night meme coin. That’s not following SEC rules, you know, we filed our

of Reg CF or Reg D and we’ll be filing our Reg A. So we’re following the rules, ⁓ doing it correctly. It’s not a get rich quick scheme. It’s a nice solid company that you’re gonna be a part of and that we’re gonna watch us grow and help us grow.

Kristen Knapp (11:11)
So cool. And then as far as people wanting to rent the properties, do they go to your website? Is that how that works? Or do you kind of outsource it to third party sites?

Ken Burrows (11:20)
Yeah.

Well, currently we’re not

renting the residential units that we own. We’ve only identified a couple commercial properties that we’re looking at. Once we sell some of the residential ones, then we’ll be able to start purchasing others or as more more investors come in. We really just started this about a month ago for investors to come in. So we’re fairly new on that. ⁓ Yeah, we’ve actually, we just started getting appointments for investors here last week. it’s fairly new concept. got a few meetings today booked.

Kristen Knapp (11:38)
that’s awesome.

Ken Burrows (11:51)
already for investors. it’s definitely climbing and but you know the more they get into the ground floor you know the better off it’s going to be. But then once we have the properties up and running and as we grow and grow then yes the investors will have access to getting discounted rentals you through our rentals.

Kristen Knapp (12:12)
That’s so exciting. So what were you doing before this?

Ken Burrows (12:17)
Well, I’ve actually been in the mortgage business for about 30 years, so I still own a mortgage company. I also ⁓ part owner of a whiskey company, so we do that as well. So it’s kind of fun. yeah, me and my wife got into the vacation rental business. Started back really in 2012. We took a six month trip around the nation with our three month old before he got into school on our fifth wheel and rented our house out in Lake Tahoe.

Kristen Knapp (12:26)
Okay, cool.

Ken Burrows (12:45)
started doing pretty well with it. So we looked at each other and well, honey, I think we lost our house. So from there, we’d been buying more and more properties and converting them into entertainment type of properties and fun around the Lake Tahoe area.

Kristen Knapp (12:50)
Yeah.

Ken Burrows (13:00)
But being in the mortgage and real estate business pretty much my whole life. know the ins and outs all across the nation, licensing to municipalities. I do a lot of work for clients and friends for vacation rentals, show them how to build it up as well. ⁓

Kristen Knapp (13:16)
Right.

Yeah, and are you seeing this kind of nationwide where these residential ⁓ vacation properties are kind of being suppressed?

Ken Burrows (13:26)
Yeah, I’ve had lot of clients in Fort Lauderdale, Dallas, even in Ohio. Yeah, some of my clients, it’s getting to where it’s full outright ban, ⁓ or they just make the regulations so difficult that you just can’t make any money at it. I mean, you drop 70%.

Kristen Knapp (13:41)
Yeah.

Ken Burrows (13:47)
you know, of what you could make if they weren’t regulating it. So it almost makes it not worth it, especially in this high rate market. That’s another reason we wanted to open up the investor side without getting mortgages on these properties because right now the rates are anywhere from 7 to 10 percent, you know, based on what you’re trying to do. And it doesn’t make sense. It takes so much profit away to the business. So that’s where we’re trying to get more investors in to come help us purchase these properties, 60, 70 cents of the dollar, revamp them. And most of our properties

bring in $350,000 a year. So that’s really our goal for each property.

Kristen Knapp (14:24)
Yeah, I love that and I’ve definitely seen that. I’m in Southern California and I’ve seen that kind of around me in Palm Springs and Santa Barbara that you just can’t get, which is a shame because I tourism really fuels, I mean Palm Springs for sure. Lots of people wanna go there, so there’s definitely a need for this.

Ken Burrows (14:28)
Yeah. Yeah.

Right. Yeah.

Kristen Knapp (14:42)
And so tell me about some of these interesting properties, like the Hobbit Homes and I saw like a castle on your website, all of that. Like tell me more about the design process of this and you know what those are gonna look like.

Ken Burrows (14:56)
Yeah, right now it’s beginning stages of course, ⁓ but we’ve defined one property in Markleville, California, which is 20-25 minutes outside of Lake Tahoe. We’re looking at, it’s an old ranch. We’re looking at converting that into maybe two different properties, basically, ⁓ kind like a miniature campground with a hobbit village. You either have…

you know, a little miniature golf, fire pits, things like that. And then we also want to do something like a redneck water park. like split it off to where it’ll have cabins and they have a big pond with all kinds of different entertainment things they can have fun on the pond with. So things like that we’re identifying.

We got another property identified down in Stockton, California. It’s about 130 acres. Actually, it’s a friend of ours. He actually owns it.

and he’s him and i’ve been talking about creating the castle environment so we’re be like an entertainment complex but also be probably ten different separate bedrooms ⁓ you know maybe with a lazy river moat around it ⁓ and also be able to maybe do festivals you people can bring you know certain bands and all the band members of the family stay in the castle it’s other things we’ve been discussing it’s all in development of course at this point but

The first property we’re looking at, it’s a smaller property in Lake Tahoe, 960,000 what they’re asking. We’ve already been in discussion with them. So, and it’s been sitting on the market for three years. So that’s what’s good about this concept. lot of these commercial properties, they’re not selling. Because people are working out of their homes more ever since COVID. there’s a lot of commercial properties sitting around on the market right now just people want to unload them.

Kristen Knapp (17:27)
I mean, it’s such a good idea. You’re solving two problems at once. You’re helping the…

vacation rental as well. you know, yeah, these neglected commercial properties that are just sitting there. I think it’s also really cool because, you know, you’re leaning into a lot of modern things right now with like the crypto and all that, but all of these properties, not all of them, but the specialized properties are very like viral. Like I can see that going viral online on TikTok. Yeah, that’s really cool. You’re like building stuff. Yeah, building stuff for the current age.

And so as you’re doing all of this, what’s maybe a big learning lesson you’ve learned that’s really helped you as you’re, I know you’re just kind of starting out with this.

Ken Burrows (18:13)
Well, I mean, I’ve had to dive in and really learn the raising crowdfunding aspect and getting investors. You know, there’s a lot of people that wanted to charge us, you know, a lot of money to do this for us. And I had to dive in and really learn and find the companies that are on each stage of it, whether it’s filing the paperwork, the attorney to the marketing company to the our software, we’re using core connects. So our broker dealer, you know, we’ve had so many steps to

crowdfunding if you want to do it legally to the SEC, which we are and do. And that’s been my biggest challenge is learning this new concept of ⁓ investors and keeping everything legal. that’s what I do. I get in to figure things out, get things done, and make stuff happen.

Kristen Knapp (19:02)
And what kind of investor are you thinking would be interested in a property like this? Who would be the type?

Ken Burrows (19:10)
Well, we’re doing two different sides of it. The REX CF is non-accredited investors, so they can invest up to $350 or ⁓ minimum, as much as they want, actually. So that’s more the minute investor to, hey, here, let’s have some fun. Let’s get involved with this fun company. Maybe invest $2,000 or $3,000 and ⁓ be involved with us. And then the other step is the actual accredited investors, they have to be worth so much money. ⁓

or have so much in the account or make so much per year, that minimum is $50,000 for the accredited investors. So we’re trying to hit two steps. Or actually almost three, because now we’re also doing the crypto. We offer up to 15 different crypto companies. can invest with us if they have a bunch of Bitcoin or Dogecoin. They can throw 15, 20,000 of that into our company with a more secure atmosphere.

It’s actually a three steps. So I feel that’s going to help us as we grow here.

Kristen Knapp (20:15)
Definitely, and you know as you grow, like looking you know maybe five years into the future, where do you see kin-lux?

Ken Burrows (20:24)
I see Kinlux probably with about 20 properties at that point. Probably worth about 5 to 10 million as the company itself. Shares I believe will be above anywhere from 5 to 10 dollars after the 5 year mark. Hopefully 10 years we’re full IPO and that’s when it will shoot up I believe 20 to 30 dollars per share or per token basically.

Kristen Knapp (20:53)
That’s so cool. So where can people learn more about Kinlux and follow your guys’ progress?

Ken Burrows (20:59)
Yeah, well right now we have a good landing page, investkinlux.com, and that’ll kind of start taking you through the process to schedule a meeting with me or one of my associates, and then we can start discussing through that. But you’re also going look us up with SEC, with the Reg CF and Reg D. That’ll show a separate website that actually has some more information as well. the biggest thing is schedule an appointment with one of us if you’re really interested.

I know it’s a new concept, going to be having to a lot of education based on merging crypto with real world assets. Not a lot of people completely get it. So that’s where I think some of the education is going to be. We’re in the process of making a lot of educational videos that we’re going to be posting on YouTube and Rumble and things like that that people can also start viewing.

Kristen Knapp (21:52)
Sounds awesome. So everybody please check out Kinlux and it’s very, I mean, it’s so cool what you’re doing and I’m so excited to see the progress of it. So, yeah. So thank you so much for coming on. It’s been wonderful having you and everybody subscribe to this podcast if you love it and please check out Kinlux. Yeah. So thank you so much. Have a good one.

Ken Burrows (22:01)
Thank you very much.

Thank

you. You too.