Abi Horton on Smarter Rentals: Midterm Over Short-Term

Abi Horton (00:00)
Yeah, so I

predominantly work in midterm rentals and we work with companies who need housing, say for their employees or their clients, relocation companies, insurance relocation companies. And so I’ve subsequently built a platform that goes alongside with that. the companies that need the housing can create a housing request and then they get matched to the landlords that have the relevant properties on the platform, mostly based on location and bedroom count.

Michelle Kesil (02:03)
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. And today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Abi Horton, who is a midterm rental landlord as well as creator of the platform where she matches rentals with businesses, allowing midterm rentals to

get matched to the right people. So very excited to have you here today, Abi.

Abi Horton (02:37)
Yeah, thanks for having me.

Michelle Kesil (02:40)
Awesome, so let’s dive in. For those not familiar with you and your work yet, can you share what you’re focusing on these days?

Abi Horton (02:48)
Yeah, so I

predominantly work in midterm rentals and we work with companies who need housing, say for their employees or their clients, relocation companies, insurance relocation companies. And so I’ve subsequently built a platform that goes alongside with that. the companies that need the housing can create a housing request and then they get matched to the landlords that have the relevant properties on the platform, mostly based on location and bedroom count.

And so then the landlords will receive the notification that there’s a hot lead, there’s a match to their property. And if they have availability, they’re able to submit to that request and be considered.

Michelle Kesil (03:33)
Awesome. And so what made you want to create this?

Abi Horton (03:39)
Yeah, so I started getting into midterm rentals in 2023, so a few years ago and…

I just love this niche. I think most landlords, when they first get into real estate investing, the obvious choices are long-term rentals or short-term rentals. And most people think either you leave it unfurnished, you rent it out for 12 months at a time, and you have long-term tenants in there, or you furnish it and stick it maybe on Airbnb and short-term rent it. And I think that the less obvious choice is mid-term rentals.

a bit more about it, I really wanted to go all in. And even within midterm rentals, which I also think has been around for decades, you know, when you think about corporate housing and monthly rentals, but I think that the word midterm rentals has really become a bit of a buzzword. ⁓

But I really just loved understanding the difference there and realizing that actually you could get really great quality tenants when you’ve got professionals coming or people that are waiting to go home either because their home is damaged and needs repair or maybe they’re on an assignment for a project in another state. the quality of the people and the people that are coming, the reason they’re coming is very different from long-term tenants or short-term tenants.

often get a really good price too, know, when you’ve got furnished or actually unfurnished but with furnished properties, know, especially when they’re designed nicely. ⁓

it’s a nice place for somebody to stay that you can get a really good rental rate and minimal turnover. So the effort that goes into having to manage that is also way less. So I manage my rentals out of state. So that’s also really appealing for me because I don’t get drawn over there every time there’s a turnover or every week when there’s new people going in and you know, they don’t know how to work with coffee machine or you know, whatever the question is. There’s so few of that. And so

I loved this midterm rental niche. So once I started understanding how to get more of those, I started building the relationships with the people that need the housing. So the companies that are looking for the housing for their employees or for their business. And so when I started building those relationships, I realized I don’t have enough properties. Like I only have properties in Ohio and…

they were saying, Abi, we need something in Austin, Texas. And so I would go to my networks, my real estate connections who I’ve met through different conferences or groups or meetups and say, hey, like anyone got something in Austin, Texas? And it really just kind of snowballed into this business where I was able to make these connections. And so that’s what led to me then creating the platform because I didn’t want to be in the middle of this transaction. I just wanted to connect

two people and I felt like there really wasn’t a good place that was done well, ⁓ know, tech-wise, that did that. You know, a midterm rental platform that could connect these people and landlords could know they could get good quality leads and relocation companies knew that they could come and get good quality tenants. And so, yeah, that was how the platform came about.

Michelle Kesil (07:55)
Yeah, amazing. And so are you still like just networking to find the people for this app or is there another system that you use to get the users?

Abi Horton (08:09)
Yeah, it’s a good question. So we built a really big network before we even launched the platform, but now really it’s just kind of been connecting word of mouth, networking. We’re exploring doing ads just to raise awareness for the brand and for the platform. But we really also want to make sure that

You know, because working with these companies, often the things that make you the most appealing is being able to work with them, being easy to work with them, understanding the process. And so I really want to help landlords to understand that these are really great opportunities if we just work with them in the way that they want to work and make it easy for them. so, yes, in answer to your question, it’s predominantly mostly networking, but we’re also open to anybody that wants to sign up. And my hope is to help kind of…

educate everybody to understand how to get these great leads.

Michelle Kesil (09:12)
Yeah, amazing. And so how would like an investor use this platform?

Abi Horton (09:19)
Yeah, so anybody that’s got like a buy and hold property, a residential rental can sign up to the platform. It’s free to register and list your property and you can start receiving matches. So any housing request that comes in based on the location and the radius that they’re looking for around what they need. If your property comes into that radius and meets the size requirements in terms of bedrooms, you would get notified by email that there’s somebody looking. So ⁓

If you have a rental property, you can list it and receive those opportunities. Does that answer your question?

Michelle Kesil (09:58)
Yeah,

sure. Just wanted the investors listening to know how they can use this.

Abi Horton (10:04)
Yeah, so

they can go to the AROUS platform. ⁓ It’s www.stayaros.com and it’s very straightforward to use. I try to make it as user friendly as possible. you create a profile and you can go ahead and create a listing and you just enter the basics like bedrooms, amenities that might be included, things like that. Just takes a couple of minutes, put some photos on there and you’re registered. You’re good to go.

Michelle Kesil (11:06)
Awesome. And so what has been the biggest challenge in this creation?

Abi Horton (11:15)
would say… ⁓

Understanding how tech works has been quite a challenge. I don’t pretend to be a tech bro or understand how the insides of all of this stuff works. I am at the core of it just a landlord, a host myself, but also having built this relocation company, I really understand both sides of this transaction. So I understand how these relocation companies work and how they want to work with landlords.

and

how we can make it easy to work with them. And then also as a landlord, I understand what it is that landlords want, right? We want good tenants and we want people that pay on time and we want, you know, people that stay longer. So we have less work to do, but good tenants to stay longer, you know? it, having that knowledge between the two is, where my strengths are. so, ⁓ yeah, I would say understanding the tech part is, is, has been a learning curve, but I have a development team that does

all that so no need to worry the tech is great I didn’t make it

Michelle Kesil (12:27)
Yeah, absolutely amazing. And so what is something that you’ve really like learned as being an investor yourself? Like did you just happen to fall into real estate or how did that journey look for you?

Abi Horton (12:44)
Yeah, I think I actually worked as a realtor. It was my first job when I was 18 years old. When I was fresh out of school, I worked as a realtor. This was when I was in England. So it’s a little bit different over there, but I think I’ve always had such an interest in real estate, but it took me a really long time to actually come back around. I think for very long time, I thought…

you needed to have more money and so I thought oh I can’t get into that because I don’t have enough money and so yeah there was something that just clicked for me I think I actually saw a Bigger Pockets interview with Brandon and I think I was like wait it was like a light bulb moment for me like hang on a minute maybe I can do this and so yeah just open my eyes in a different light

And that’s kind of the first taste I got to get started and just kind of kept taking the steps. And I think I have sometimes I can feel a little bit overwhelmed, like, gosh, it’s just too much. It’s too big. And just constantly reminding myself to just.

one step at a time, you know, just let’s break this down into bite-sized chunks. What’s the next thing I need to do that could get me closer to where I wanna go? And that’s been really helpful for me. So just each step, learning a little bit more and trying to put it into action and keep moving forward.

Michelle Kesil (14:15)
Absolutely. And what are you most excited about when it comes to what’s next for you or what you’re looking to grow and scale into?

Abi Horton (14:26)
Yeah, I’m super excited about the platform. You know, I think it’s such a great.

way for us to share more opportunities for more people. And I’ve really loved being in this position for the last few years of bringing these opportunities to other landlords. Because like I said, as a landlord myself, I know what we want. You know, we want good quality tenants for the most amount of money and with the least amount of work, right? I think, you know, that’s what we all want. you know, being able to bring opportunities to landlords that have vacancy.

and with good quality leads. That’s so great. And I also get to help the relocation company that’s looking for somewhere to put their employee or their traveler or the family. And the displaced families, you know, working with insurance relocations was a real eye-opener for me. And understanding…

what they’re going through, possibly the worst thing they’ve ever experienced in their life and being able to offer them a safe and comfortable place to stay while their home’s being repaired was huge because then it creates not just a win for the relocation company, it’s not just a win for the landlord having ⁓ a six month lease at a good rate, but also this family is at the core of it and that makes it really human when you’re understanding what they’re going

through and their real life story really kind of changed the perspective for me.

Michelle Kesil (16:43)
Yeah, definitely. That’s amazing that you’re able to help people.

Abi Horton (16:47)
Yeah.

Michelle Kesil (16:50)
So what would you suggest to maybe newer investors specifically about the midterm rental market?

Abi Horton (16:57)
about the midterm.

Yeah, I would say definitely just explore all your options. I mean, I feel like maybe I’m biased, but like I love midterm rentals. I feel like they’re just such a great way to, like I said, get more for your money and not have the constant turnover of short term rentals. And you’ve got less risk because of regulations and city laws that are changing with permits and things like that. There’s a lot less restrictions.

there with midterm rentals too so I feel like

Maybe I’m just biased, but I feel like they’re the best option by far, especially when you get some of these stays are up close to a year anyway, sometimes over a year. And so why would I not wanna do that and get the most amount of money? So I would say just keep your options open. Explore all the opportunities and obviously you can go on to Aros, it’s stayarros.com and you can register your property there to receive the opportunities.

you can submit. ⁓ What I really want to do with this is just share more information, share more opportunities, share more of what I know about working with these companies to make it easier for them, but also for the landlords to get these leads too.

Michelle Kesil (18:24)
Yeah, absolutely. And what is like the subscription or the way that people join look like?

Abi Horton (18:32)
Yeah, so it’s free to sign up and it’s free to list your property. We do have a platform fee, but that’s only when you accept a booking. ⁓

less than some of the other short term rental platforms out there. It functions very much the same. It’s a full booking platform, but it’s just a 5 % fee when you do accept a booking. So you can receive the leads and sign up at no charge. And it’s just when you accept the booking. And when you go on to create your listing, it’s very clear what the rent is, what you’ll receive and the platform fee. So you can set your pricing accordingly. And I wanted to be very transparent about that too, you know, not trying

to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes. But it’s just so we can keep making the platform better. We can keep getting better opportunities from better relocation companies.

Michelle Kesil (19:23)
Yeah, amazing. And is it nationwide?

Abi Horton (19:28)
Yeah, so we do work all over the US. We’re actually just not taking properties in DC right now. And that’s only because of weird tax regulations. But all over the US.

Michelle Kesil (19:45)
Okay, amazing, thank you for sharing all of that.

Abi Horton (19:48)
Yeah, my pleasure.

Michelle Kesil (19:51)
Well, before we begin to wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out, connect and learn more, where can people find you and find your platform?

Abi Horton (20:01)
Yeah, so you can find us on Instagram. ⁓ So I am @theAbiHorton is my personal Instagram. Or you can find us @stay.aros. That’s a…

our business page. And actually, if you follow me on Instagram, at the Abi Horton, and send me a DM with the word Michelle, I’ll send you a free setting up an MTR checklist to make sure you’ve got all the things that you need for your MTR.

Michelle Kesil (20:36)
Amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that with our listeners.

Abi Horton (20:40)
My pleasure.

Michelle Kesil (20:42)
Awesome. Appreciate you being here as well.

Abi Horton (20:46)
Yeah, thank you Michelle.

Michelle Kesil (20:48)
Yeah. And for those that are tuning into our show, if you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Abi who are building real businesses, and we will see you all on our next episode.