How James Rubino Built a Luxury Short-Term Rental Empire by 26

James Rubino (00:00)
I mean, would say it’s certainly when you look at it from a long-term rental aspect, that’s always the way I look at it is, if a property is rented as a long-term, what could it make as a short-term? And I’ve said, as you know, it’s in certain areas, can make double, if not triple the cost of a normal long-term tenant. At least in New York, I know there’s some regulations going in place with new cause eviction and other sort of long-term tenant regulations that is making it pretty difficult to…

just stay consistent with a long-term rental. And so at, you know, for the time short-term rentals were this kind of redheaded stepchild as far as you never know what you’re going to get. But in the same sense, it’s becoming more more common in various areas. And the nice part too is everyone thinks short-term rentals as a vacation rental destination, ideally think of short-term rentals, you think of vacation towns, which obviously has its place.

But in the same sense, I’ve had properties that I rent at short-term rentals and manage that are in suburban areas or urban areas where the reasons for people coming aren’t necessarily for vacation, but it’s more practical reasons. So I rent to a lot of traveling nurses, traveling professionals, people just come into the area for family. So there definitely are markets for that, where you could certainly see a positive ROI as well.

Kristen Knapp (02:56)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m Kristen and I’m here with James Rubino, the owner of Rubino Home Ventures and the co-founder of Lake George Vacay. Thank you for being here, James. Yeah, so let’s talk about your start into real estate. You know, you’re only 26 years old and you’ve built such impressive, you have such impressive companies under your belt already. So how did you get into this industry?

James Rubino (03:06)
Thank you for having me, Kristen.

Great question. So I ended up graduating from Marist College in 2021. And I had started working for an entrepreneur right out of college. He owns a few local businesses in the upstate New York area. And at the time, he wanted to start a real estate brokerage. Hadn’t been in the industry, but he was like, hey, I’m looking to start a real estate brokerage. You’re going to be coming on as my director of marketing. We’d like you to get your license and kind of add this the conglomerate, if you will. So ended up studying for my test senior year of college.

got my real estate license and ultimately kind of fell in love with the industry. My grandfather was in real estate, but never really had any sort of interest prior to that. And just taking the test and learning the industry was somewhere where I thought I could definitely excel a very lucrative industry. it’s more of a, you know, work hard, play hard. If you put the time in and work in, you can do very well. So ultimately ended up getting my license, passing the test and then

Fast forward to when I started working full time for the entrepreneur he you know with so many different things going on that the real estate Brokerage kind of took a backseat for the time being so as far as being an agent So it gave me the opportunity to look in the other areas of real estate so more like the investing side so buying wholesaling fix and flips all of that and then ultimately kind of went down the rabbit hole and and ultimately found the short-term rental space and did ⁓

quite a bit of research on it and learning the industry and the processes and everything. ultimately started Rubina Home Ventures at the age, I believe of 23. And started that while I was working full time and did that for

two and a half years or so while doing both, if you will. And then I got approached by another gentleman who has a larger vacation rental management company locally here.

and wanted me to head his whole operation essentially. that kind of what’s got my head going as far as okay, well, maybe I could do this full time and as a career, obviously, and branch off into the next step. And ⁓ ultimately went to a few mentors of mine who had known what I’ve done for some time and ultimately had homes in Lake George and Bolton Landing area and just came to them for advice. Like, what do you think I should do? Here are some options on the table.

They’re like, these are our thoughts for that. But what if you had a third option on the table and, we started our own vacation rental management company, more focused on the concierge resort style feel luxury homes up in Lake George. So I ultimately decided to start that. And that’s where Lake George vacay.com was born. And between the two companies was able to quit the full-time job and do this full-time. So that was about a year ago and haven’t looked back since.

Kristen Knapp (07:01)
That’s amazing and transferring from, you know, juggling a side hustle and a full-time job and now this being your main thing, what has been the mindset or the biggest mindset shift as you’ve been doing that?

James Rubino (07:13)
Yeah, I would say the main thing is just time, right? I mean, it’s, it’s, you know, I’ve seen you doing it part time. You know, I would always say like 4pm on is when I would, you know, do the second part of the business where I have different meetings, go to Panera, you know, meet with certain people, ⁓ you know, kind of work on the business versus full time. It’s like, you have all this extra time you think. And then when you start doing it full time, all these things start to, ⁓ grasp at it and, know, fill up your calendar. So it’s really trying to, ⁓ segment.

each of your days to making sure you’re most efficient as possible and you put the correct processes in place to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Kristen Knapp (07:49)
Totally, and it seems like your networking skills and your ability to kind of make connections in the space is what’s really helped you propel quickly.

James Rubino (07:58)
Yeah, it’s everything. know, I mean, with with the prior company that I worked at, we were big into the local Chamber of Commerce. So I was tasked with going to the weekly mixers, meetups, things along those lines. We were part of a like a BNI networking company. you know, definitely that gave me the ability to learn how to kind of talk about my business, talk about myself, network with people, show value to them, help them out without any sort of return needed, if you will, just trying to do it.

purely to try and help others out and hopefully at some point it comes back to you. ⁓ So that’s definitely helped me with transitioning to my own company and networking and building those.

Kristen Knapp (08:38)
Yeah, and what about the short-term rental space in general? What attracts you to that?

James Rubino (08:44)
I’m always, I have a love for travel. It’s been something that I haven’t had the opportunity to do too, too much growing up as far as, you know, domestically and internationally, but I’ve always had a love for it. And, and, you know, my, my want and desire to travel and there’s so much out there, right. So, you know, trying, trying to take that in and, know, kind of transition into the hospitality space and, you know, learning and, and, and trying to take care of people and, and making sure that their stay is as, amazing as possible. And, you know, it’s

It’s afforded me to be able to travel, travel the country and slowly traveling the world as we get older. But yeah, ultimately just the hospitality aspect and the ability to travel and experience new cultures.

Kristen Knapp (09:27)
Yeah, and talk about kind of the opportunity there, like what makes it a great investment.

James Rubino (09:33)
I mean, would say it’s certainly when you look at it from a long-term rental aspect, that’s always the way I look at it is, if a property is rented as a long-term, what could it make as a short-term? And I’ve said, as you know, it’s in certain areas, can make double, if not triple the cost of a normal long-term tenant. At least in New York, I know there’s some regulations going in place with new cause eviction and other sort of long-term tenant regulations that is making it pretty difficult to…

just stay consistent with a long-term rental. And so at, you know, for the time short-term rentals were this kind of redheaded stepchild as far as you never know what you’re going to get. But in the same sense, it’s becoming more more common in various areas. And the nice part too is everyone thinks short-term rentals as a vacation rental destination, ideally think of short-term rentals, you think of vacation towns, which obviously has its place.

But in the same sense, I’ve had properties that I rent at short-term rentals and manage that are in suburban areas or urban areas where the reasons for people coming aren’t necessarily for vacation, but it’s more practical reasons. So I rent to a lot of traveling nurses, traveling professionals, people just come into the area for family. So there definitely are markets for that, where you could certainly see a positive ROI as well.

Kristen Knapp (11:32)
Amazing, and tell us more about Rubina Home Ventures. How do you differentiate yourself?

James Rubino (11:40)
Yes, definitely. I would say Rubino Home Ventures is mainly in the Saratoga County. So Saratoga Track Rentals we have locally here. The Belmont Stakes was just here up in June. So as far as that goes, mean, you trying to make it as efficient as possible. So we have a digital house guide and an area guide. So it’s the first time in the area being able to give them a lowdown of all the best restaurants, activities, places to shop.

They’re trying to make it as seamless as possible. So hey, you look through this digital guide beforehand, you already know where everything is. You can just go and you know, have your trip planned out essentially, if you’d like beforehand. And then having the home guide, so Wi-Fi passwords, know, directions to wherever ⁓ smart lock codes, everything is digitalized. So you’re able to see the things prior and, you know, make your trip as much efficient as possible.

Kristen Knapp (12:32)
Yeah, and then over on the other side with Lake George Lake George vacay, you guys do kind of like white glove concierge service, right?

James Rubino (12:40)
Yes, definitely. So with Lake George vacates more on the luxury concierge side, our goal and vision with that is, is there is a need in the, or there’s a lack of a like resort style feel in the vacation rental space. So when I said that as far as the amenities, you know, all of our homes have hot tubs, all of our homes have access to the lake, which is becoming more more hard, at least in on Lake George. So your own personal docks if you want to run a boat or if you have a boat.

So access to the lake, have concierge services, like I mentioned, so we have a private chef, we have even a private fireworks show you guys can book during your stay. ⁓ Mobile hibachi is a guest favorite, so they’ll come to the home, have a whole hibachi dinner on our back deck. So very unique things that again, these are things that ⁓ just make your stay that much more enjoyable. Everyone has bedrooms, everyone has, you know, the basics, but we try and go above and beyond to provide those experiences for that.

The one I’d like to point out in particular, so we have we have wow experiences as well. So wow experiences are things that we do in house here at Lake George VK that you can add to your stay. For instance, we have a s’mores with Sasquatch. So it’s actually a add on where it’s mainly for kids and family. But if they want to have a s’mores night, we bring a whole platter of s’mores, a big to do with everything. And then we’ll have someone dress up in a Sasquatch costume and hang out with them, roast marshmallows, take photos. So again, very, very unique things that that ultimately

make Thursday and then also help them want to come back and stay with us year after year.

Kristen Knapp (14:17)
It’s amazing, how do you think of these activities to add on?

James Rubino (14:21)
Yeah,

I would say that’s probably more of my business partner, Johnny’s more like the visionary of things. So, you know, he’ll be sending me all these different things and, you know, these different ideas and we’ll start to add them slowly. But also, honestly, it’s just from from guests, you know, as we’re running out to more guests, things that they do on their own that like, ⁓ you know, that makes sense. We could do this in house. Right. So, you know, slowly building the list and, ⁓ you know, ideally trying to cater to every sort of clientele that that we ⁓ service.

Kristen Knapp (14:50)
Amazing. And I would love for you to talk about the Lake George and just because I know that you’re in other areas as well with your other venture. What is the opportunity of those areas and what makes them so special?

James Rubino (15:45)
I mean, would say Lake George in particular, believe it was voted the cleanest lake in America in 2023 or 2024. it’s a huge, a vacation, family vacation destination for a lot of the New York metro area. So a of our clientele is from New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Westchester County, kind of in that realm. Even Montreal, Canada is about two and a half to three hours north of us as well. So I would say the lake is the main draw.

We’re also in the Adirondack Mountains, so there’s a ton of hiking spots, beautiful views, it’s absolutely breathtaking. And then obviously we do have the ski resorts too. So we have the ski mountains that people come in the wintertime and ice fishing. So yes, it’s more of a seasonal market, if you will, but we do get year-round clientele and again, those traveling for work and more practical reasons too.

Kristen Knapp (16:39)
Yeah, I feel like that’s probably an important part when you’re choosing a short-term rental, the fact that you can do it year-round and have clients coming in more often than just once, like if it’s just summer.

James Rubino (16:52)
Yeah, and then you know the nice part too with we’re being a home ventures I’m in a few different markets so I can see some that are more year-round more seasonal and kind of what the or you know ROI is and what have you ⁓ You know with with the year-round rentals I would say it’s it’s more urban areas right more more urban areas where it’s it’s a year-round market people have to come for hospitals colleges work, it’s the year-round thing unfortunately, right ⁓ but you know as far as the

ROI, you may not be able to get as much on a per night basis, but it’s again, it’s higher occupancy versus a vacation rental. may be able to to charge a premium price from May to October, but again, October to May on the other side is lower side. So it really depends. Some owners use it as a vacation rental or only rent it out four or five months out of the year. every client that we work with is a little different.

So we try and just kind of frame that picture and make it the most doable for them and their situation.

Kristen Knapp (17:56)
What would you say to somebody who is interested in getting into short-term rentals on the investing side, but is maybe concerned about the growing regulations around specifically like Airbnb? I’m not quite familiar about New York, but I know in California, that’s a huge thing over here.

James Rubino (18:14)
Yeah, I I would say in particular with short-term rentals, on my end for regulations, I honestly welcome regulation just for the pure sense of as of now in certain areas, it’s very gray as far as just they’re not really sure what the regulations are. There’s things looming, but once things are in place, it makes everything a lot easier because if I’m onboarding a client, I can tell them these are the regulations, is it the permit, does it how much I have to pay.

It’s very black and white versus in some areas it’s rather gray. So my thought is even the areas that are threatening regulation, if you will, I think they’re always going to come to some sort of middle ground and it’s never going to be banned, if you will, for a long period of time. Even if it is currently, they realize the growth or some areas locally here that currently don’t allow them that are in talks of allowing them again with some regulations. I think ⁓ long-term, every

Most places I would say will allow short-term rentals just on a regulation basis because obviously it brings income in for the government and the municipalities and things like that with occupancy taxes, sales taxes. you know, it keeps the tourists in their city too, because some cities there may not be as many hotels and there’s over, you know, there’s about supply and demand, if you will. And if the supply isn’t there, then they’re going to go out other places to eat, to drink, to shop. So we want to keep them those.

certain areas.

Kristen Knapp (19:40)
Yeah, no, that’s a really good breakdown of it. I agree. So your career has been, it seems like very serendipitous. It seems like things have kind of really fallen into place very quickly. Can you talk about a time where maybe everything went wrong and you learned something from it?

James Rubino (19:57)
Yes, unfortunately I have. It was my first ever property ⁓ that I managed. was a home in a rather, I guess, suburban area. And when I looked into the regulations, there were talks about allowing a certain amount of permits, but no real imminent talks yet. And that’s obviously the main thing getting into the business is I’m going to get a property that gets shut down due to regulations. And that’s just my worst nightmare, right?

So six months into my first home, only managing one home, you, at the same time. And I get a call while I was working on my full-time job still from the building inspector of the town saying, you know, is this a short-term rental? Yes, it is. Well, I don’t know if you knew, but we don’t allow short-term rentals in this town anymore. have to shut down, you know, two weeks notice, something like that. So this is all my fear is just coming to do the head of it, if you will, my first property.

So ultimately having to shut down, thankfully, VRBO and Airbnb, I’ve given regulations, they understand that they were able to work with me to get the, you know, guests re-homed, you will, re-booked. But yeah, that was my worst nightmare coming to fruition upfront. that, you know, from there it was a little more, you know, hands on with the regulations and just making sure things are kind of kosher in that regard. from there, it, you know, it went up and we’re here today. But yeah, definitely at the time it was, was, ⁓

the worst nightmare, but I’m grateful for it now.

Kristen Knapp (21:27)
And so how do you now, how do you keep up with, you know, changing regulations? And I’m sure it varies from county to county. How do you keep up with that?

James Rubino (21:36)
Yeah, so the nice thing too is I try and stay a little more hyper focused, especially with my team right now as far as scaling. you know, being only in a few markets so we can kind of keep control on the regulations and things along those lines. But any new market that I go into or the potential of a new market, you know, one of the first things I do is check the regulations as it relates to just going online, quick Google search, you know, typically if you if you search the town and the regulations, if there is something in place, it should come up pretty, you know, quickly.

⁓ And then just to make sure I always call the town and just confirm to see what their stance is on and short-term metals and as long as you’re upfront transparent with them, they’re transparent with you and again makes it easier so you don’t go down the wrong hole and you know, it ends up biting you the butt down the road and you have to shut down. So it’s be more proactive about it.

Kristen Knapp (22:28)
Yeah, definitely. can see how that, especially on your first deal, that’s a hard way to start. And then what would be kind of to wrap this up, what would be something you wish you knew at the beginning of your journey that you could give people some advice who are starting out?

James Rubino (22:46)
Yeah, I mean, I think I would just kind of bring it back to that as far as ⁓ just being open to things not going your way, right? I mean, these things are supposed to happen the way they are. It’s not going to be always sunshine and rainbows, but knowing that ahead of time when it ends up happening, when it ends up happening, you’re able to take that more in stride and say, hey, this is all part of the process. You’re to look back on this and be grateful for it. So I think the more and more I can

kind of reiterate and still today, know, with things that come up, it may not be easy, but knowing the long-term vision and where I want to be, helps me kind of move forward in the day-to-day things when it may not be as, as plentiful.

Kristen Knapp (23:30)
Well, that’s awesome. We’ll tell people where to find you.

James Rubino (23:34)
Yes, so our businesses around Instagram and Facebook, ⁓ Robino Home Ventures and Lake George VK and both. Then my Instagram is JamesRobino24 and JamesRobino on Facebook and we’re also on LinkedIn too.

Kristen Knapp (23:48)
Amazing. Well, I encourage everyone to check that out and thank you, James, so much for being here.

James Rubino (23:53)
Thank you so much. Thank you, Kristen.

Kristen Knapp (23:55)
Yeah, and thank you everyone for listening and we’ll see you back next time. Bye.