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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pro Show, host Erika interviews Rachael Olivier, the founder of Resting Pearl Properties. Rachael shares her journey into real estate, driven by her passion for hosting and the desire for financial freedom. She discusses the importance of customer experience, the challenges of seasonal markets, and the value of mentorship and community in the real estate industry. Rachael also shares her experiences handling difficult situations with guests and her vision for scaling her business with a focus on quality properties.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Rachael (00:00)
Man, I have one too many. I’ll share one recently that happened. I had a guest check into a property. The guest before had, I don’t know why, but they basically like, I think they’d put like soap in the dishwasher, which I’m like, who does that? And it blew her motor for the dishwasher. So then this guest is checking in. So I had to notify her. I was like, hey, just so you know, we’re working on this, but the dishwasher might not be functional while you get there.So she gets to the home, dishwasher’s not working. Okay, fine, that’s one issue. Then fast forward a couple hours later, she calls us and she’s like, hey, it looks like your AC also is not working. this is in Texas, mind you, like 100 degree, like heat, and it’s like, you don’t want to mess with that.
Erika (02:13)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pro Show. I’m your host, Erika, and today I’m thrilled to be joined by Rachael Olivier. She’s the powerhouse behind Resting Pearl Properties. Rachael’s been carving out a name for herself in the real estate world, and I’m so excited to have her on the show today. Rachael, welcome.Rachael (02:33)
Thank you, Erika. I’m really excited to be here. Thanks for having me.Erika (02:35)
Yeah, and I think our listeners are going to love what you have to share. So let’s get started. Rachael, tell me what your journey was like in real estate. What motivated you to go down this road?Rachael (02:48)
Yeah, so I started this journey about two and a half years ago. And I’ve always just had a passion for hosting and my personal life. And then I’ve always enjoyed real estate from afar, HTTV all the way. Like I’ve always loved their shows on Netflix too. And being able to combine both passions was like something that I never really thought that I was even interested in or I could do. one day I was like casually scrolling the Instagram as one does and I ended upfinding this advertisement for Airbnb rental arbitrage. So was like, OK, yeah, that’d be cool to dive into what that is. And the appeal to it was you can have time freedom, financial freedom, all that stuff. So more like the futurist things were the things that I was really excited about, like who doesn’t want to have time freedom? Who doesn’t want to have financial freedom? So I ended up diving in headfirst, and I started basically hosting a couple years ago as a result of that.
Erika (03:41)
to hosting, know, what do you love about that and you know what makes you different from the rest?Rachael (03:47)
Yeah, I just in general enjoy being part of people’s experiences. I love bringing people together and that’s like one of my strengths I would say. So it’s been really amazing being able to just kind of be part of people’s journeys and part of that is like, you know, it’s small. It’s like you’re, it’s the experience that you provide. It’s the customer service that you provide. So if some guest is experiencing something and they reach out and being able to quickly address whatever the matter is and doing it in aprofessional manner in a way that they feel heard, they feel understood, has really been, in a way, what differentiates, I would say, myself as a host. There have been times where I’ve been in very tricky situations. Something breaks at the house and a guest is really frustrated. that could have been easily a three or two star review. And because of the way that I went about handling it, it was a five star review because they were so grateful that one, it was prompt.
Two, they were heard and it was just, you know, they felt very comfortable and easily, everything was easily handled.
Erika (04:46)
Absolutely. If someone is getting started in this space, Rachael, you know, what kind of advice would you give them?Rachael (05:42)
man, okay, so I would say learn from someone who has already done this and who already has a blueprint. Don’t go reinventing the wheel. Sure, you could add your own spin and flavor to everything, but just learn from someone who’s done this who can provide you with the lessons learned because it’s very easy to be consumed in and have like shiny object syndrome or have analysis paralysis. I can’t tell you how many times I have been myself in that position.where I’m like, well, I don’t know what platform to use for managing all those software, all these online platforms. So that’s the first thing, too. Surround yourself with people and community that are really going to be supportive of you and your journey. And many people are going to understand your desire to jump into something this crazy. like, you want to invest in properties and host people? Like, what? Are you well?
⁓ But just remember also why you’re doing it. What was the reason that brought you to do this at the end of the day? And for me, it took a long time to be able to establish just that community and find the mentorship and all that stuff along the way and people that I really trust and value. But at the end of the day, I just one time get really, really hard doing this because it’s not easy. I just kind of remember part of my why.
Erika (06:54)
So for you, is that why? What’s your motivation when you wake up and do this?Rachael (06:59)
Yeah, so there are multiple facets of that why. The first was just really being able to have financial freedom at the end of the day. The second, in the long run, having the time. You get financial freedom and you’re able to invest your time in different ways. And then really one of the primary motivators was to be able to actually retire my mom. And so that’s a work in progress, but we’re getting there, slowly but surely. So yeah.Being able to have those different motivators for me really pushed me to just keep going and keep just pushing and keep figuring it out even when things get hard.
Erika (07:33)
with the market that you’re working in, Rachael, what kind of opportunities and challenges do you see in that space?Rachael (07:40)
⁓ So some of the markets I operate in are seasonal. So it’s really hard sometimes to be able to plan for the year. Like summers, for example, I operate in Florida and well, the panhandle in Florida. Summers are fantastic there. Spring summer, great. But towards like kind of the fall and winter, it kind of dies down a little bit. So it makes it a little bit challenging to…to kind of like plan, but if you set your pricing accordingly, if you set your marketing accordingly, or like, and then just kind of have a good strategy for how you’re planning to operate in the slower season, then there’s opportunity to overcome those challenges.
Erika (08:17)
Yeah, yeah. For people who are wanting to get into this space, what would you say is a common misconception that they should be aware of?Rachael (08:27)
that it’s gonna be super easy. ⁓ That you’re not gonna have nights where you’re gonna be sleeping soundly. I mean, sure, you’re gonna sleep, you’re gonna be fine, but the beginning of this is really, at least for me, I felt like it was really just, it was exhilarating, but it was also just very challenging and at times very frustrating. For example, I didn’t think that I would really care about, you know.Erika (08:30)
Yeah.Rachael (08:52)
a four-star review on Airbnb, but sometimes you take that thing personally because you’re like, man, I have done so much to be able to accommodate this guest, or I’ve gone above and beyond to do this, you just kind of get in your feels about it. So yeah, I mean, for some people, this might come very easy. Some people are maybe bolder than I am and smarter than I am, and that’s okay. But…I think there are times where, even on Instagram or social media, it just kind of shows you like, yeah, you’re gonna do this and you’re gonna make X amount of money right away. And it’s like, there are times where that’s not the case. There are times where that might be the case and that’s okay and good for them. But there are other times where it’s not the case and you really have to kind of learn the hard way and really find your way and yeah, and just kind of grow from the experiences that are challenging throughout.
Erika (10:13)
Yeah, when it comes to like you finding your way, what has that journey been like? Have you refined your approach or, you know, changed anything since you started?Rachael (10:23)
So many things. One of the things was like finding my niche community and finding light-minded investors and mentors who were just really not about the money, but really about like seeing you succeed. And I’m going to give a quick shout out to one of my mentors, Madeline Rayford-Alland. I joined her program about a year ago, and it’s been a game changer, just the way that she has her…group, like think about just bigger picture vision, not just like really operating in the business, but really working on the business. obviously I call hosting a business because kind of is like you’re operating Airbnb. So thinking about just kind of your mindset and thinking about just different facets that are like, and mindset is really important in that process, right? Like, because your mindset can really prevent you from, it can push you forward if you’re in the right space, or it can really prevent you from.
for making progress. So all that to say, really finding the right mentors. it took me some time. I’ve gone through so many different coaching programs. a lot of them were great. Some of them were decent. It was just kind of finding my niche and finding an authentic community and mentor that I felt like I could connect with and be able to learn and grow from.
Erika (11:36)
Speaking of community, know, that’s something that we really value on the show here. What’s your advice to someone that is looking to level up and build that community and network?Rachael (11:45)
I would say don’t be afraid to invest in ⁓ whether it’s a mastermind or a program. yeah, it’s sometimes those programs are very expensive and it’s easy to feel like I don’t, I don’t know if I can do this or I don’t want to go forward and make an investment. Yes, it is an investment, but it really helps you put yourself in the rooms with the right people who are going to maybe help elevate you.to that next phase of your life. And I will say that every single mentorship program that I’ve been a part of, I have learned something very different. it just, through that, through learning from those programs, I’ve been able to kind of refine just the direction that I want to go and figure out like, okay, what kind of niche do I really want to be a part of? What kind of mentorship do I really want to have? What kind of community do I want to be a part of? So, each phase, each step, each program has kind of led me to refine that.
you know, that vision for myself and roadmap basically to figure out like, all right, what kind of environment do I want to be a part of and who do I want?
Erika (12:44)
So Rachael, as I’m sure you know, every pro in real estate has a story where things didn’t go as planned. know, maybe things went sideways and you had to pivot fast to make, you know, someone happy. Can you share one of those moments?Rachael (12:58)
Yes.Man, I have one too many. I’ll share one recently that happened. I had a guest check into a property. The guest before had, I don’t know why, but they basically like, I think they’d put like soap in the dishwasher, which I’m like, who does that? And it blew her motor for the dishwasher. So then this guest is checking in. So I had to notify her. I was like, hey, just so you know, we’re working on this, but the dishwasher might not be functional while you get there.
So she gets to the home, dishwasher’s not working. Okay, fine, that’s one issue. Then fast forward a couple hours later, she calls us and she’s like, hey, it looks like your AC also is not working. this is in Texas, mind you, like 100 degree, like heat, and it’s like, you don’t want to mess with that.
responded right away, I was like, I’m so sorry to hear this, like reached out to, you know, AC folks. And they came to the property within, I think, a couple hours that day.
I don’t know what it was about the AC system. There were two floors and each floor had its own unit. And literally, they fixed the first unit and then the second one went dead. It just stopped working. I was like, what is going on? And this is within literally a 24-hour span. So guest calls back again. Obviously, at this point, she’s really frustrated. And when the second AC went out, it was kind of towards the evening. So I was like, all right, I got to think quick.
Like, I’m not sure if the tech’s gonna be able to come right away. So I ended up ordering some fans for each of the rooms and I got that shipped over. Thank goodness for Uber Eats actually, you then DoorDash because you can do those things when you’re far away. And they were really appreciative of that because it was like, okay, like you didn’t leave us high and dry, you communicated on, you know, what you were doing and when people were coming and you were really apologetic and all that stuff. And you also like,
went above and beyond to get us fans to make sure we were accommodated despite the situation. yeah, that was an instance that was really brutal and frustrating all around. But we were able to get the AC repaired the next day. then actually, their stay was about, I believe, 10 days, and throughout their stay, we were able to get the dishwasher, a new dishwasher actually delivered. So again, it was a lot of coordination, a lot of
know, frustration, again, what would have been probably a one star at the end ended up being a four star, which I was very grateful for, because I was like, okay, four, we can handle that. So anyway, so that was one of the disaster moments of hosting.
Erika (16:02)
goodness.Through that, was there anything that you changed with your process or anything that you kind of carry with you with how you approach things today?
Rachael (16:13)
I would say one of the things I’m really mindful of or trying to be a little bit better at is like concessions. Sometimes like when you don’t offer concessions or when you do offer concessions, sometimes it might come back and bite you. Because in this instance, and I’ve seen others like too, where something happens and I’m very quick to be like, oh, hey, I’m really sorry. We’ll give you X amount back.for this inconvenience. Matter of fact, I have an example from a while back and I, from that moment, I was like, I need to be very mindful of how I handle concessions moving forward. So I had someone stay at one of our properties and there was, we advertised that we have an EV charger, which was true, but the EV charger was not like the certain voltage that they needed for their latest brand car. But we have it, it’s there, it’s functional, it’s not gonna charge your car in an hour, it’ll do it in three hours.
right? So because of that inconvenience I was like hey you know I it’s it’s not even an inconvenience at this point it’s like I understand like the hour charging situation is an issue for you this is a service that we do offer it just takes a little bit longer here’s what I’m willing to do I’m willing to give you X amount of money back for your for your stay because I understand that was a feature that you were hoping to have and it’s not what you were hoping for
Again, it wasn’t really my fault. It was advertised as it was. anyway, I was like, all right, cool. Well, I offered that. Then they came back, and they were like, actually, we want half of our money back. And I was like, no, we can’t do that. And the crazy thing is that they were surprised when I even offered the amount that I did, because it was pretty generous, I would say, on my end. And then they were like, no, we want half our money back. And I was like, that was hours later.
At this point, they were clearly taking advantage of the situation. And at that point, I had to get Airbnb involved. And I was like, I’ll let them mediate. But I’m not going to do that, because I’ve already gone above and beyond to help address this issue. anyway, that is one moment where I kind of was like, I need to be a little bit less quick to just offer concessions and just kind of let things ride out and see if it’s something that they asked for.
Erika (18:23)
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Rachael, what is next on the horizon with you in resting pearl properties? What vision or goal do you have in mind?Rachael (18:30)
Yeah,vision and goal. Continue scaling, but scaling to quality, higher end ⁓ properties. Like our brand is kind of catered to luxury properties and really the goal is to be able to pivot to that. Obviously you have to start somewhere. So the brand is to be able to continue to grow that way. The goal is to be able to grow that way. And then really, you know, we were
we’re really keen on focusing on quality over quantity. I don’t need to have 40 properties that I’m managing. That’s a lot. But if I can have 12, 10, whatever it is, highly profitable units, and I’ll be very happy with that and be able to do other things as well with that revenue. So yeah.
Erika (19:13)
And then what, you know, are there any challenges that you foresee with scaling like that?Rachael (19:18)
⁓ challenge, ⁓ it’s, a challenge and an opportunity. don’t know, but the challenge would be just finding that right client that really values like more of that elevated experience for guests that really values like setting up the property the right way so that we are, retaining, attracting the right avatar kind of guests. so that, that some, well, it’s a challenge, but it’s also kind of an opportunity for me to market a little better and try to find those people.Erika (19:22)
ThankRachael (19:44)
and be able to work with them closely. I know they’re out there, it’s just a matter of being in the right rooms, being around the right people to make those connections and make that happen.Erika (19:54)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, Rachael, it’s been so awesome having you on. Before we wrap up, if someone wants to reach out, connect, or maybe they have a property, how should they reach you?Rachael (20:06)
Yeah.They can find me on at resting pearl on Instagram or go to resting pearl properties.com and you can fill out the contact, contact us sheet and we’ll be able to respond.
Erika (20:18)
Awesome. Thank you so much for sharing your time and your story. I love how you’re creating a business that’s not just about profits, but creating real value in the industry.Rachael (20:28)
Yes, thank you so much. appreciate the time and yeah, I’m all about just creating that experience and so really grateful to be here. Thank you for thank you for for sharing this time with me.Erika (20:37)
And for our listeners, if you got value from this episode, make sure that you’re subscribed to the Real Estate Pro Show. We’ve got more conversations coming up with pros like Rachael, who are out there building incredible real estate businesses. We’ll see you on the next episode. Bye.Rachael (20:53)
Bye.
