Real Estate Investing on 30A: Tax Hacks, Airbnb Strategy & Athlete Clients

Michelle Kesil (00:01.206)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Investor Fuel Podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. Today I’m joined by someone I’ve been looking forward to chatting with. We have Brooke Kromer, who’s been making serious moves in the real estate space. Brooke, I’m so excited to have you here today. I think our listeners are really going to take something away from how you’re approaching the market in Florida and…

Yeah, just all of the insights that you have with selling to athletes and the world that you’re in. So I’m excited to dive in with you.

Brooke Kromer (00:37.56)
Thank you, thank you for having me. I’m excited as well.

Michelle Kesil (00:41.042)
Awesome, so first off, for people who may not be familiar with you and your world, can you give us the short version? What’s your main focus these days?

Brooke Kromer (00:53.184)
Absolutely. I am basically obsessed with real estate right now. It has consumed my world. Just diving into all of the huge advantages right now with buying on 30A, which is a lovely beach town in Florida. There’s tons of tax advantages that were just released, incredible buyers markets. So my buyers are getting insane deals on properties right now. We deal with a ton

of investments. So people are buying down here to rent it out, have it as an Airbnb, make money off of it, and also buy into the lifestyle and get to enjoy it themselves. So it’s just the perfect blend of beach town, building your real estate portfolio, and making great investment moves.

Michelle Kesil (01:46.367)
Yeah, absolutely. I love that. What caught my attention about you was the way that you’ve been able to really work with athletes because that’s something that you mentioned as we were chatting a bit before. Is that something you can expand on?

Brooke Kromer (01:59.918)
Thank

Absolutely. So I grew up in an NFL family. My dad and brother both coach my dad’s with the Buffalo Bills. My brothers with the Rams. We have moved probably every three years of my life. So real estate was always a big part of my life. And I always thought I was going to be a sports reporter till I was like 50 and then get into real estate once they pushed me off of camera with COVID happening. I just got that extra time to really dive into what I want in my

And that is when I made the switch to real estate. I shadowed a friend down here in 30. I fell in love with real estate. And then I realized that I can actually take all of my background in the NFL and use it in real estate now. So I market to athletes and coaches. It’s pretty organic when I go to my dad’s games or my brother’s games or training camp. I’m just kind of chatting with people about how great the life is down here, how they can make money.

on their beach house during the season when they’re not going to be here anyways. It keeps, you know, the water moving in the house and everything working because you don’t want a house just to sit still anyways. So it’s incredible that these athletes and coaches can find a spot down here for the off season to come enjoy with their families and then rent it out during the season. It’s amazing tax advantages for them because their taxes are high. They have to pay taxes in every state they play in, which

gets to be insane. So when they can any tax advantage or tax break that they can get, I am fully pushing for them. So it’s been really fun to be able to help them not only get them a beach house or get them their dream investment, but to be able to help them for years down the road because it’s such a great time in their lives. They’re so young. If you’re playing in the NFL, I mean, really, you’re like 21 to 30. That’s about the range of age.

Brooke Kromer (04:01.616)
So if you can make such an incredible investment now ten years down the road that asset is going to appreciate Exponentially you’re gonna be getting rental revenue the whole time in the meantime the tax advantage is right off the bat so it’s fun for me because I Get to still help them and it’s actually making a difference in their lives rather than then blowing it on a Vacation or something crazy. It’s their vacationing down here, but they’re making money at the same time. So I

I have really dove into marketing to athletes and coaches and entertainers really just because it helps them.

Michelle Kesil (04:42.292)
love that perspective. That’s so powerful. You mentioned a lot about the tax advantages. Is that something you can expand on for people that aren’t familiar?

Brooke Kromer (04:51.488)
Absolutely. So the big beautiful bill was just passed not too long ago and that made huge changes for Airbnb owners. So now when you purchase the property, purchase it as a business instead of a second home. And that way you’re gonna get 20 % depreciation automatically on that property. Then on top of that, any money you put into it, so any repairs, any furniture,

Anything so if you buy a remodel right now, you can have a hundred percent depreciation of anything You put into that property and go against your taxes. So amazing write-offs It’s saving people a ton of money Especially in a market like this where the rental numbers aren’t always going to offset all of your costs Sometimes you can find a little unicorn and we definitely have them I have one listed right now But most of the properties down here you’re gonna

offset a lot of your costs and then you’re gonna have a vacation home out of it. And then your real money that you’re gonna make is over time, how it appreciates. But it helps a little bit right off the bat to have that tax advantage and that depreciation. So I’m really pushing for my clients to follow all of those steps, talk to a tax advisor because of course I’m a real estate agent and I cannot give tax advice but I can give the knowledge that I know and then say, go figure out what’s

going to work best for you because there’s cost segregation. There’s so many different routes that you can go these days. It’s really helping out investors in our area.

Michelle Kesil (06:31.028)
Yeah, I love that. That is so valuable. And what do you feel has been the key to keeping your business running smoothly?

Brooke Kromer (06:41.69)
I base my entire business off relationships. So everything I do, I’m thinking about really just being authentic and caring about these people, pouring into them, adding value to their lives. If I can just be friends with them. And then you have lifelong clients right there. And we’ve made so many friends. My family has owned a house down here a lot of my life. All of my life during the off season of the NFL, we would come down here and I would get

my summer jobs in high school and in college and this was kind of like our home base. So the relationships that we already had, I never really hung out with kids my age. I always hung out with my parents because we moved so much that I always leaned on them. So that really paid off in the end because I had all of these relationships of their friends that were true relationships and then their friends can tell their friends who are trusting me to purchase down here. And it’s just like an ever revolving snowball effect of

of clients coming in, right when I’m like, all right, things are dying down, then a wave comes of all of their friends’ friends who want to purchase down here and make the best investment of their lives. So it’s all about relationships. It’s all about just caring about people and being authentically you.

Michelle Kesil (07:59.98)
Yeah, absolutely, relationships are everything. Now, every operator I know had a moment where things got real. Maybe you had a deal go sideways or you just had to pivot really fast. Do you mind sharing a moment like that for you?

Brooke Kromer (08:20.002)
Yeah, let me think.

there have been, you know, deals that are tough to get done and sometimes in the real estate world, you have to give in, you know, some of your commission to get the deal done. So are they arguing over a washer and dryer? And I had one that it was a townhome, a $3 million townhome, so nothing small. And they literally, the sellers took the washer and dryer. It was a full argument. The deal was gonna fall through because it

principle for the buyer they were like I’m not doing it and I said okay how about as my closing gift to you I buy you an even better washer and dryer we’re gonna have it installed it’s gonna be perfect you’re not even gonna know a difference other than it’s even better so just putting yourself out there and really just making the deal you know getting it to the closing table putting yourself or your client before yourself because at the end of the day what is the cost of a washer and dryer compared to

to my relationship with that client and them knowing how much I cared for them to have this great investment that I even put forward my own money or my own commission towards it. So I always just try and put my clients first and just see how I can help them, how I can get the deal done. And you just have to pivot sometimes and that’s okay.

Michelle Kesil (09:43.574)
Yeah, absolutely. That’s really what separates the people that are dabbling in this world versus those that are here for that long-term vision. Yeah. So let me ask you this. What are you most focused on solving or scaling next?

Brooke Kromer (09:52.203)
Exactly.

Brooke Kromer (10:02.446)
I am growing a real estate team down here. So my whole life, I’ve watched my dad build teams, build successful NFL teams. And I love that leadership aspect of it. I love being able to help people really tap into their best potential and run with it. So I am building Cromer Collective. We started about a year ago. I have three girls on my team. We are powerhouse women who want to work hard. And I’m very picky about the people I have

team because I’m a go-getter. I work hard. I work seven days a week and I don’t mind it because I love it so much and I don’t feel like it’s work and I only want people in my corner that are going to do that and also I’m building my team with people around me that have different skill sets than me. So I am really good at relationship building, getting out there, meeting new people. I mean I am a chameleon. I can talk to anyone. So I have someone on my team that dives deep into rental investments and

what’s gonna make sense number wise and what areas rent better than others. She works with a rental management company as well. So she has all the inside scoop on what rentals make sense on 30A so we can guide our clients to the best property possible. And then I have another client in Nashville who works with a lot of financial advisors, hockey players, NFL. So she is another form of bringing people down to 30A and down to our area that can make great investments.

as well. And then I have a marketing guru who just got out of college. And so she’s up on all of the trends and marketing and everything that during my life, I do not have time to scroll on Instagram or scroll on TikTok. So she’s handling that for me and making sure that we’re staying current in our marketing. So it’s definitely a balance of just leading people the right way and also building that team the right way to

where you’re gonna be successful and nothing’s gonna slow down no matter what’s happening.

Michelle Kesil (12:07.669)
Yeah, that’s so powerful. sounds like you’re really stepping into a position of greater leadership.

Brooke Kromer (12:13.93)
Yep, I love it. I think I was born for leadership and I’m really enjoying diving into it now.

Michelle Kesil (12:20.405)
Yeah, and how has that journey been of stepping into that new position of leadership?

Brooke Kromer (12:25.87)
Honestly, it has been the best thing I ever did. The first year, we started last May. So the first year was like that transition. It was probably nine months of basically building this new baby and like really figuring out what works and what doesn’t and diving into, you know, the systems and everything that need to be in place for a team. And then now it’s just kind of prospering. It’s like, all right, we’ve laid the seeds.

We’ve gotten everything ready, now everything is blooming and you can see the fruits of your labor, which are so special, especially for the women on my team. We’ve just been having a ball with it. Now it’s just fun. It’s just go time and everything is just falling into place. It’s a good time to be on Chromare Collective.

Michelle Kesil (13:17.271)
What’s that next real goal for you or for your team?

Brooke Kromer (13:24.694)
I would love to scale the team, but smartly and organically, not pressuring it, not forcing things to happen, and then just getting up to that next level. Every time that we finish a year, we finish it higher than the last year. And I’m like, let’s do it better next year. Let’s do more sales, more transactions, more volume. So every year, we’re just looking to do more more and more, build more relationships, have

more friends in our corner that are buying real estate and reaching those people that are on the fence of investing down here and just educating them on how great of a time it is to purchase on 30A because it’s not always that we’re in this buyer’s market and that prices are low or where they should be. Typically it’s, you know, someone buys, someone doesn’t buy this summer and next summer they come and they’re like, man, I wish I would have bought last year because I can’t afford what I wanted now.

So.

This has been such a special time in real estate down here since the COVID craze. Prices are starting to come back to normal and people are getting insane deals on these properties. But as soon as these interest rates go back down, we’re going to have an influx of buyers again and the prices are going to go back up. And I don’t want people to miss the boat. So I’m just trying to educate my buyers that buy now because you’re not going to regret it. You’re going to watch your asset appreciate so quickly. You’re going to have rental revenue.

going to have the tax advantages right off the bat. it’s the perfect storm to purchase in 38 Florida right now.

Michelle Kesil (15:03.541)
Yeah, that sounds like it. So a lot of people that listen to this show are either brand new to this space or they’re looking to potentially level up. And I know you mentioned this a bit before about relationship building. But for those people that are like new and just getting started, when it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what has made the biggest difference for you?

Brooke Kromer (15:34.976)
I have really, I just take advantage of the rooms that I’m in. Growing up in the NFL, just finding that niche of like, these are my people that are gonna buy from me because they already trust me. Or then you reach their friends. I think the biggest thing is just finding your niche. What background do you come from? What background do your friends come from? Figure out anything. Is your family in the tech world? Okay, focus on

on those people. Focus on whatever works for you. Mine just happens to be super glamorous in the NFL world, but the deals aren’t always glamorous like you would expect. it’s just finding that niche that what’s your background? OK, work on that. Find that. Farm that. Reach your sphere, because your sphere of influence is the number one. That’s like your bread and butter for your deals that are going to happen in the next year. Just really focus in.

on where you come from and use that to your ability.

Michelle Kesil (16:39.266)
Yeah, that’s super valuable. And for those people that maybe are wanting to invest in their first properties and maybe, yeah, they’re just hesitating, is there some sort of advice you have for them?

Brooke Kromer (16:57.45)
Absolutely, call me. I will help you. There is a place for everyone. mean, investment properties right now are like the best thing you can do, especially with the tax advantages that we have now that we haven’t had before for Airbnb owners. It’s the best thing in the world, even long term. I mean, if you’re going to rent it out long term, you can still use these tax advantages. So call your tax advisor, figure out what’s going to be best for you and pair with an agent.

Michelle Kesil (16:59.156)
I love that.

Brooke Kromer (17:27.464)
that is truly going to look into the numbers and make sure it makes sense for you. They better be pulling cost to own, insurance quotes, taxes, rental revenue, projections, history, all of that. Make sure that you’re gonna partner with a person that is going to put your needs first above theirs. They’re not just gonna try and push you to that higher price range. It needs to work for you. And that’s how you get repeat customers as well because you really care about what is gonna work for them.

Michelle Kesil (18:01.526)
Yeah, absolutely, that is so valuable. All right, so before we wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out to you, connect, maybe collaborate or just learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to reach you?

Brooke Kromer (18:18.506)
Absolutely reach me on Instagram at
Brooke Kromer.
Kromer is with a K. Cromercollective.com is our website. You can see some of our beautiful properties on there. And please reach out. I’d love to connect whether you’re a fellow agent and we can give referrals to each other, be referral partners, or if you’re looking to invest in a property, this is the spot. It’s a great area. We also sell Panama City Beach and Destin. They’re all amazing.

for everyone down here. So please, please connect.

Michelle Kesil (18:52.504)
Perfect. Well, listen, I really appreciate your time, your story and your perspective. We need more people in this space who are doing things in an innovative way. So thank you so much for being here.

Brooke Kromer (19:05.42)
Absolutely, thank you for having me. It was an honor.

Michelle Kesil (19:08.128)
Yeah, and for those of you tuning in, you got value from this, make sure you’re subscribed. We’ve got more conversations coming with operators just like Brooke, who are out here building real businesses. We’ll see you all in the next episode.