How W2 Employees Use Short-Term Rentals for Tax Deductions | Zeona McIntyre

Zeona McIntyre (00:00)
Yeah, so I help W2 employees save a lot on taxes by buying short-term rentals. So I sell those nationwide and it’s really because I live in Colorado, which is not a very short-term rental friendly market.

Michelle Kesil (01:44)
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, Zeona McIntyre, who is working on selling short-term rental properties as well as midterm rental properties, focusing on creative financing. And she is also a author on creative solutions in the real estate world. So excited to have you here today, Zeona.

Zeona McIntyre (02:13)
Thanks so

Michelle Kesil (02:14)
Awesome, so let’s dive in. First off, for those who are not familiar with you and your work yet, can you share what your main focus is?

Zeona McIntyre (02:22)
Yeah, so I help W2 employees save a lot on taxes by buying short-term rentals. So I sell those nationwide and it’s really because I live in Colorado, which is not a very short-term rental friendly market.

And there are a lot of other markets that work better. So I help my clients all over the country.

Michelle Kesil (02:39)
Awesome. And are your clients focusing on specific markets or what does that look like?

Zeona McIntyre (02:48)
necessarily, but there are markets where there are more short-term rentals. So I sell a lot in Texas. I sell a lot in Tennessee, in the Smoky Mountains, a lot in the Poconos. So there’s just certain places where a lot of vacation rentals exist. And so we sell more in those markets.

Michelle Kesil (03:03)
Yeah. And how did you get started in the real estate space?

Zeona McIntyre (03:08)
Well, got started through Airbnb in 2012, and it was really just something that was going to be a little side hustle for me. I heard about it from a friend who was living in New York and decided to rent his apartment on Airbnb and go travel for a while. And then he kept extending and kept extending his travels because he was renting so well.

And after the end of a year, he said, wow, I made $50,000 on this apartment and I didn’t even own it. So I was like, wow, I could rent a spare bedroom in my apartment. Like, maybe I should try that. And so it started as a very small thing and it snowballed into getting more places than buying places, buying out of state. And it’s really taken over. So I’ve been doing that now 15 years or so.

Michelle Kesil (03:57)
Amazing. What has been, yeah, what has been some of the main keys that you feel have made the biggest difference in allowing your business to grow and run successfully.

Zeona McIntyre (03:59)
Yeah.

Hmm, that’s interesting. mean, I guess offline we talked a little bit about creativity. I think just in real estate, you really need to be able to pivot because real estate has just cycles. So we’re in a cycle right this moment where ⁓ people are not as excited about real estate investing. And as someone who sells real estate, that could be like, wow, maybe I should get out of the game. Maybe I need to rethink everything. But I was just like,

No, I’m just going to find where the buyers are still and who really still needs to buy. And people will always need tax deductions. So that’s been a great pivot in my business.

Michelle Kesil (05:34)
Yeah, so are you more supporting people in buying real estate versus growing your own portfolio now?

Zeona McIntyre (05:40)
At the moment, yes, because I used owned rentals to build my wealth. And I definitely am a huge believer in that and a huge believer in house hacking. That was kind of like how I got myself going. And even now, we just bought a five bedroom house. My husband and I are still planning to rent it part time while we travel. So that house hacking thing just doesn’t go away. But

I’m not in a space where I want to keep buying too many rentals. I think that I’ve moved to a horizon and like my kind of arc as an investor that I want to be doing things more passive at this point. And I think I just realized that my zone of genius is not necessarily operations and managing property. So I find people that do that better. ⁓ and I invest in syndications. So still in the real estate space, but it allows me to diversify into more.

arenas of real estate.

Michelle Kesil (06:36)
Yeah, amazing. What have been some of the biggest challenges that you’ve found in your investing journey?

Zeona McIntyre (06:43)
Hmm. Gosh. mean, managing properties is pretty challenging, and it’s definitely not my favorite thing. I think it’s hard when you pour your heart and soul into putting together a property. So whether that’s something that you’ve renovated, or on my case, it’s usually an Airbnb, so it’s like all the furniture. You could slave over building furniture and setting things up and doing all the shopping and pouring all of your heart, soul, and cash into something.

and then have someone leave you a bad review day one, or just be so ⁓ just unappreciative. So I think management can be really tough and dealing with guests that are very entitled can be very tough. So yeah, that’s gotten harder over the years as people expect more from Airbnbs.

Michelle Kesil (07:31)
Yeah, absolutely. And speaking of the creativity piece, how does that turn over with how you’re coaching people? Like, are you teaching them creative solutions as well? Can you maybe share some examples?

Zeona McIntyre (07:47)
Yeah, so I have a book out right now. ⁓ We’ve been releasing it one chapter a week on Substack, and then it’ll be officially for sale on Amazon and everywhere else in June. But it’s called The Creative Closer. And I talk about eight different strategies to do creative financing. So that’s financing without using a bank. ⁓ So I think the most known would be seller financing, but there’s many different ways to be creative with your financing. ⁓

I have a book that talks about that and the first half talks about the eight strategies. The second half really walks people through like who they need on their team, how to go contract to close, like just all the steps so that they really feel confident they can do it. So that feels really important to me because you know, when I was learning creative financing, there was no real resources. I was really piecing it together and made a lot of mistakes because of it. So I’d love to get people like just a easy button.

So that’s kind of the thing about creative financing is everything is negotiable. And so it can be a little more confusing. But I guess a snapshot that I can just tell people is that when you’re looking at buying on the market with a loan, really your only parameter is price. know, people talk about credits, but that’s just lowering the price. And when you’re doing creative financing,

Michelle Kesil (08:44)
Sure. Sure.

Zeona McIntyre (09:06)
It’s the price, but it’s also the down payment, the interest rate, and your term, so how long they’re going to allow that loan to go on. So that can be taking over someone’s existing mortgage, which could be 2 and 1 percent if they got it back in COVID times. And that would make your payment so much less than if you were getting it at today’s rates that are around 7. So yeah, just finding ways to help people make

a deal happen these days when it’s gotten a lot tougher with rents being lower and ⁓ yeah, everything’s compressed in real estate. So yeah, that would be one little snapshot, but it’s definitely a little more detailed and I think the book helps explain it all.

Michelle Kesil (10:24)
Yeah, of course, I’m sure that your book brings people into much more depth and nuance, but thank you for sharing that little tip.

And what are you most focused on solving or scaling to next in your business?

Zeona McIntyre (10:43)
Yeah, I think for me it’s more about finding balance personally because I am in a state right now where I’m doing like too much. I’ve just realized like we’re renovating a house. We’re going to be like moving into that house, renting out our current house. ⁓ I’m launching this book. There’s just like a lot that’s happening in my world at the same time. So I think just kind of realizing like, I’ve tipped the scales too far and I need to come back into balance. I think people are always hyper focused on growth, growth and more growth.

But I think sometimes it’s also about how do we enjoy our day-to-day lives? And if you’re not enjoying it, then what’s the point? And I’m financially independent, so a lot of what I do is really in service. It’s serving others, it’s teaching others, it’s not always about me. And so I think I need to also kind of recharge myself, because I don’t need to be doing any of this.

Michelle Kesil (11:39)
Yeah, amazing. What is your favorite part about this real estate investing journey? Like what is the thing that maybe has given you the most growth and knowledge that you’re excited about?

Zeona McIntyre (11:53)
Well, I think being an entrepreneur is just a journey of growth, no matter what. There’s just really no way around it, because ⁓ you have to wear so many hats, and so much falls on your plate. If someone’s not happy, it’s really on you. So there has been growth in so many areas, even just learning about boundaries and balance, like I’m saying. ⁓ And even though I’ve been doing it 15 years, I still am always learning. ⁓

Michelle Kesil (11:56)
sure.

Zeona McIntyre (12:21)
I like that. I like to be in a space of growing all the time personally. So I think that would probably be my favorite thing, but it also just allows a lot of flexibility. I’m a big traveler too, so being able to find ways that still be an agent and an investor, but get to travel and not feel like I have to be tied to a location, that freedom is really important to me.

Michelle Kesil (12:45)
Yeah, that’s amazing that you get to experience that level of freedom. I’m sure that’s part of the reason ⁓ you got into this business in the first place.

Zeona McIntyre (12:58)
Yeah.

Michelle Kesil (12:59)
Awesome. And so what does it look like when you’re working with people and helping them get started?

Zeona McIntyre (13:06)
Yeah, so I mean, most of the time when I’m working with clients is to help them purchase something that’s kind of like their goal where they’re moving towards. So it could be a focus of wanting to house hack and ⁓ just like building a portfolio, building some wealth over time. It could also be that they want to buy something for a big tax deduction. So I do work with a lot of doctors, lawyers, dentists, so high W-2 earners that are just looking for tax deductions. So

Mostly it’s a one-on-one experience, but it’s been great to have a few books where I have a lot of leverage in that. Like, you my first book, we’ve sold over 25,000 copies, and it’s just nice that there are people out there who could read my words and go and do it, and they don’t even need me to walk alongside them. So it’s just a really incredible experience to have people.

come back and say like, wow, they’re doing so much more than I ever did even in that space. So I love the leverage of that.

Michelle Kesil (14:09)
Yeah, what is your first book called?

Zeona McIntyre (14:12)
My first book is 30 Day Stay, and it’s all about midterm rentals. So that is furnished rentals that are like month to month, longer term than short term rentals that are usually three days to seven days, something like that.

Michelle Kesil (15:08)
Amazing. And what would you say is the benefit of the midterm rental space for people?

Zeona McIntyre (15:15)
Yeah, a lot of times people like it because there’s just less turnover. So when you have a lot of turnover, there’s a lot of moving parts. With short-term rentals, there’s a lot more expenses. You’ve got cleanings happening more often. You have generally more damage. People are not really living there. It’s more like a hotel. So it’s just a different ⁓ attitude that you get. So I like the way that a midterm rental is. The clientele that you have is usually

traveling nurses, so they may not even be in the property that much. We get a lot of ⁓ students, teachers, people that are just kind of in a place for maybe three to six months, and ⁓ they really land in that space and they become more independent. So I find that it’s just maybe an easier tenant to manage.

Michelle Kesil (16:02)
Absolutely. And when you’re working with these W2 people, is that process helping them find the best investment property and going from start to finish and getting it set up for that rental space?

Zeona McIntyre (16:19)
Yeah, so I generally find properties nationwide that I think are good option. So I have two different deal lists. I have conventional properties that don’t have creative financing. ⁓ And those are ones where they have really high income, but I think they’ll still work with today’s rates. And then I have creative financing where those, it kind of varies a lot. They could have higher income, some don’t, ⁓ but they have great terms. And so.

It really just depends on what someone’s wanting. If they can get a really low down payment, then they may even be able to get a property, quote unquote, for free. So maybe their deduction from the IRS is going to be more than what they even put down to get into the property. So it’s really a no brainer for them to pick those up. ⁓ So it’s not necessarily that I’m meeting with a person and then saying, where do you want a property? Let me go find you one. It’s more that.

I’ve sourced all these deals and then people are scouring my list and then they tell me like, hey, I’m interested in this deal or maybe a couple, let’s talk about it. And that’s kind of how my strategy goes. And then from there, I do help them through the whole transaction that they decide to buy a property.

Michelle Kesil (17:31)
Awesome. And where do you find your leads?

Zeona McIntyre (17:33)
Hmm

so it’s kind of an interesting thing because I have sort of three sources, right? So I have like property leads, like I need to go out and scour properties. So I have an assistant who helps me with that. We use a lot of social media, Facebook groups to find properties.

I also find sellers that way. Sometimes I’m direct to seller, sometimes I’m not, sometimes it’s listed on the MLS. I have a lot of ⁓ realtor partners in different states that I work with. So sometimes they bring me properties that are a good deal. And then I also have to find buyers. So ⁓ it is really like this trifecta of like having enough properties, having enough sellers, having enough buyers and keeping like all the inventory and people that want it balanced.

And buyers, I’m finding a lot come through referrals. People have worked with me in the past. People have heard about me through social media, read one of my books. ⁓ Yeah, but a lot of networking happens through social media for me.

Michelle Kesil (18:35)
Amazing. And does this then snowball into the clients that you work with becoming more in the investor role or they still like hold their W2 role and just have maybe like one or two passive properties?

Zeona McIntyre (18:52)
Yeah, I find that a lot of these people are not necessarily wanting to leave their jobs. Maybe that’s a future thought. And so they’re starting this path of, well, if I get enough properties. But the reality is you usually need quite a few properties if you’re going to replace an income, especially if you have a high income. So that might take a while. ⁓ So it’s usually that this is just supplemental for people, and it’s a tax strategy.

Michelle Kesil (19:17)
Yeah, that’s awesome too. Help people in that way.

So what does it look like if someone wants to work with you?

Zeona McIntyre (19:24)
Yeah, well, I mean, they can definitely reach out. I am really active on Instagram. So my handle is zeonamcintyre, which is just my name. but generally people are looking at my deal sheet, which is in my link tree on Instagram. ⁓ but they can reach out and I can send them that if they find a property through there, that’s sort of a, the way we go.

But I do one-on-one calls too, so sometimes people just wanna like learn more about finding properties themselves and I help them do that as well. Yeah.

Michelle Kesil (19:54)
Amazing and where can people find your books and hear about everything else that you are up to right now?

Zeona McIntyre (20:02)
Yeah, so you can check out my website zeonamcintyre.com which again, is just like my first and last name. I have a book 30 days stay that midterm rental book is off. It’s from bigger pockets, but you can find it anywhere that books are sold. So they can check that out. The creative closer. My second book is coming out soon, but if they want to read it on sub stack, they can reach out to me. I can get them hooked up on that.

Michelle Kesil (20:26)
Okay, perfect. I really appreciate your time and your story. Thank you so much for being here.

Zeona McIntyre (20:31)
Great.

No problem. Thanks so much.

Michelle Kesil (20:34)
Of course. And for the listeners that are tuning into the show, if you got value, make sure you have subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Zeona who are building real businesses, and we’ll catch you all on our next episode.