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Show Summary
In this conversation, Jean Jeansonne discusses the exciting aspects of vacation rental management, the challenges faced by property owners, the evolving role of technology in the industry, and the future plans for Lavish Keys. He emphasizes the importance of creative solutions in property enhancement and the need for proper investment strategies to ensure success in the vacation rental market.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Jean Jeansonne (00:00)
What investment are you going to have to make post purchase to really make that property successful? Especially in the vacation rental world because it’s not just having, hey, I’ve got a house on the beach. mean, you’ve got to have the view, you’ve got to have the theming, you’ve got to have the decor, you’re having the little things that are going to make a huge difference in whether or not you’re going to get bookings is having those extra amenities, especially here in the Orlando market. There’s houses everywhere, but if anyone’s looked just on Airbnb or booking.com or Vrbo here,It’s all these homes are like fun houses. I mean, they have game rooms and theme rooms and there’s a lot of things that, know, having the house is step one, but you really have to have the right things to make it successful.
Erika (02:11)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host Erika and today I’m excited to be chatting with Jean Jeansonne He’s been making serious moves with his company Lavish Keys. Jean , I’m glad to have you here.Jean Jeansonne (02:27)
Thank you Erika I’m just glad to be here.Erika (02:29)
I think our listeners are really going to be fascinated with how you’re approaching your business. So let’s just jump on it. First off, can you share about more about how you got in the real estate world and what inspired you to form Lavish Keys?Jean Jeansonne (02:45)
Yeah, so I kind of got into the real estate world by half a stance. In another life, I used to work for hotel groups and work with companies that were buying and hotel acquisitions and kind of going through that whole transition process and did that for a number of years and then ended up taking a job as a national director for a startup vacation rental resort company based in California. over the course of about a decade, we kind ofwent from one little location in Northern California to very quickly got into several other states and multiple locations. And then we went to regional and then we consolidated brands. it went from one location to I think about 13 states. We had from Colorado to Hawaii around the time I formed Lavish Keys and so a few thousand properties. So could tell you the good, the bad, the ugly with the vacation rural industry. And ⁓ I decided to start my own company about a year before
for COVID, ⁓ set up the Orlando location as our flagship kind of operation. ⁓ It’s a great market for vacation rentals and tourism. ⁓ that being said, what I’ve kind of seen over the years, and especially with vacation rental investors, a lot of the times, our core is primarily a management company, but.
By the times owners would come to us or people that bought a vacation house and kind of give us a complaint to the struggles that they were dealing with either managing on their own with a previous vacation rental company.
We just kind of would see time and time again that most of the time they made the wrong investment and it’s really it’s a tough conversation to have. But each market’s different, each location has different property types that perform better. then ⁓ on top of that, the homes have to have their own kind of.
you know, set up and kind of really set themselves away from the pack. And so we started coaching investors beforehand, you know, really kind of getting ahead of, before you buy something, let’s sit down, let’s go over your budget. Let’s go over, you know, what you’re trying to accomplish here. And our team can kind of help guide you with, you know, both the right property types, the right location, and then the right things that property is going to need. So it can be a good vacation rental investment.
And we don’t do any real estate by any means, know, it’s really just to kind help coach people and make sure that, you know, by our investors making the right investment into the right vacation home, we found that our retention on these properties is much, much higher because they tend to own them longer because the revenue is doing better and they’re doing better financially and it just sends out.
Erika (06:13)
Yeah. Yeah. Wow. It’s a, you know, we’ve had a lot of different people on the show talk about things related to property management, but your approach is so unique and you know, it ends up being win-win. Can you share more about what that process is like? Do you have like a system that you go through that, you know, helps crunch the numbers with investors?Jean Jeansonne (06:36)
Oh, 100%. So yeah, it starts at really just kind of an introduction call with the investors and really just kind of like a very high level, you know, hey, you know, what are you looking to gain? Is this more of a, what we kind of call like a lifestyle play or an investment play? Because sometimes a lot of real estate deals don’t make sense, but it could be more of a lifestyle play. Like, hey, you you might like to vacation to certain destination and you’re just trying to have some of that revenue offset that investment.The majority of people that we do with, they’re strictly just investing. They’re looking at the business aspect side of it. So what we really do on that first call is really just try to identify, you know, no pressure. Again, we don’t do real estate at all, but just get an idea of, ⁓ what are you looking to invest and what kind of property types we feel would fit that investment and also what locations. And then I think what a lot of people don’t discuss, and you’re not going to hear from your realtors or anyone else in the game is,
What investment are you going to have to make post purchase to really make that property successful? Especially in the vacation rental world because it’s not just having, hey, I’ve got a house on the beach. mean, you’ve got to have the view, you’ve got to have the theming, you’ve got to have the decor, you’re having the little things that are going to make a huge difference in whether or not you’re going to get bookings is having those extra amenities, especially here in the Orlando market. There’s houses everywhere, but if anyone’s looked just on Airbnb or booking.com or Vrbo here,
It’s all these homes are like fun houses. I mean, they have game rooms and theme rooms and there’s a lot of things that, know, having the house is step one, but you really have to have the right things to make it successful.
And so I think a lot of people aren’t kind of wrapping their heads around that before they buy something. And so that way, before they go into talking with whatever realtor, they have a really good firm foundation on, hey, you know, this is my budget to buy something. This is kind of the price type or need, you know, the location we need.
And then whether it’s going to be something that’s ready to go and it’s a turnkey property that has all those things, great. Or if it’s not, you know, this is the kind of investment that you’re not going to be able to make, you know, roll up in your loan necessarily, but you’re going to need to make in the property post purchase to make it be successful. And then also that run up time on, you know, from the day you close on it to like when you’re going to actually see cash flow. So that first kind of call is really just kind of on a high level going over all of those things.
Outside of that, we do is we also explain we do have our own way of breaking down a property or investment to get an idea of like, this is the purchase price. This is kind of what your loan terms are roughly going to look like. Or run it through our analysis and give you a really good idea on what, this is what we expect the revenue to be over year one, year two, year three. And not just on a high level, but also monthly so you can kind of get an idea of what your cash flow is going to be. But then we also try to throw in all of those.
you costs that are, I think, unknown to a lot of investors initially that they don’t really understand is, you know, at least in this business, you are running a hotel. you’re going to have electrical, you’re going to have to buy linens, you’re going to get photos, you have to buy plates and, you know, pay for the cable bill and HOA and landscaping and pool maintenance and all of the things that I think they don’t necessarily kind of really recognize that you’re not going to hear from your realtor before you go in and make that investment. So that way,
They have a good idea of, this is how we break down a property to let you know, hey, this is going to be a good cash flow or not, or what’s this going to look like over the next five or 10 years. And then we’ll go over what we can do as far as enhancements, whether it’s through our company or any company, as far as taking that property up to the next level, ⁓ as far as making it be a top performer in the area. So we go over that analysis. And then from there, it’s really just we do an introduction or ask for an introduction between them and their
whatever realtor they choose and then any property that they’re considering, we’ll turn around and do our own analysis on. So that way before they make an offer, before they kind of go to the table with, you know, any kind of ink on paper, we have a really good idea of, you know, what that investment’s going to look like, you know, as far as their return on the vacation run award.
Erika (11:05)
Yeah, wow, that’s a, that’s really cool. And it’s, it’s helpful that you are, you know, part of your process is talking about what kind of enhancements that could, could be done to the property. Have you noticed any, any trends when it comes to the kind of enhancements that investors should look for when they’re looking at a vacation property?Jean Jeansonne (11:29)
Yeah, mean, it’s to me, this is like, think the funnest side of my business, you know, in a sense is kind of making these properties fun and kind of really appeal and each market’s completely different. For example, you know, our flagships in Orlando and it’s all about kind of driving the large properties with the, you know, making the home the destination with the game rooms, these themed rooms where they have, you know, eitherdifferent Disney characters or movie characters and these fun game rooms and theater rooms and really kind of helps the listing stand out online. You know, if we’re talking about our location in Austin, it’s a much different crowd. It’s more of the young professional, more social crowd, groups of about, you know, four to eight young adults that are there to kind of, you know, enjoy the nightlife and the scene and the festivals. And so the enhancements are more of like these outdoor kind of cool areas with like the string lights and the hot tubs and the grill pits and
These kind of things that make the photos pop, but each destination is different. And what I think you’re not going to hear from a lot of people is, know, vacation rental investments have gotten more and more popular over the past decade for sure. It’s really just kind of skyrocketed. ⁓ And with that, markets are getting more and more saturated. ⁓ And so the fun thing, at least for me, is yes, you can still be successful.
But you have to kind of do those extra things to make the property stand out. These, you what we call these social media walls, these Instagrammable walls, these kind of photo-esque moments that are really going to make ⁓ both your property stand out online with the bright colors and the photos, but make it the destination. so each location is different. And so when we’re talking about any owner, you know, with whatever their investment category is, we’ll recommend locations based off of that, you know, in their budget because
You know, for example, the Orlando market, know, there’s probably five, six thousand townhomes or, you know, two or three bedroom condos here that you could easily buy, but they’re just not successful. It really appeals to the large groups. And once you get one of these larger homes at work, you have to have all the things in it, like the game rooms and the theme rooms and, you know, the kind of cool stuff that’s going to make it pop. so but that five hundred thousand dollar investment really gets you kind of far in like a place like Austin or Nashville.
where you could have a cool little townhouse that’s gonna sleep six people and have kind of like the rooftop terrace with something cool that overlooks the downtown or a cool outdoor area that’s got bocce ball and the string lights and something that’s fun that’s really gonna make the property stand out. so to me, that’s the biggest part, at least the funnest part of working with these owners is kind of helping them be like, look, this is what you need to do to kind of make it stand out post purchase.
Erika (14:50)
Yeah, yeah, that’s yeah, there’s so many fun aspects to that. You know, let’s talk about the flip side, the, you know, the harder parts of ⁓ property management. Can you share a moment on your your journey? You know, the more difficult part, maybe you had to completely pivot for a client. Maybe you had to be creative when it came to problem solving. Can you share one of those moments and what you learned from it?Jean Jeansonne (15:18)
Yeah, we’ve had a few. A lot of it, you know, lot of it kind of that post purchase, you know, what we call like the enhancement to that upkeep thing, you know, I think we have to get the most problem solving is when you get into hey, you know, congrats on the owner, we’ve gotten this house, like, let’s make it fun. Let’s get it geared up. Let’s get it set up.⁓ type thing and you run into just different challenges with either budgets or kind of the unknowns, know, an unexpected repair or something happens and that kind of eats into ⁓ the budget and kind of either enhancing the property or kind of making it fun. And so we’ve had a few chances to get really kind of creative and, you know, kind of ⁓ really kind of with the team work with, okay, how do we get, how do we make this look awesome with this kind of a budget, you know, and I think we’ve been really successful with it and we have.
⁓ some different packages we do, you know, with some of these rooms that can start reasonably really, really affordable to kind of make it fun. But I’d say the biggest challenges we’ve kind of faced is kind of two things really is one is working with owners that, you know, we didn’t work with necessarily on the investment side that we either got a referral to us or one way the other, they’re in front of us and they’ve already bought the home and they kind of just made, you know, a really bad
Deal on the property is kind of running into you know where they’re either over leveraged or over financed or you know a lot of times realtors Vacation rental companies, you know that everyone will kind of promise the moon and so they’ll buy something and then when it gets down to the you know the the nitty-gritty it’s it’s hey, know, the revenue doesn’t quite offset the expenses and ⁓ You know, we’re seeing more and more especially in the last couple years a lot of people that just really over leverage They just over finance didn’t put enough down
You know, you do have swings in cash flow in the industry. It’s like any other industry. We have highs and lows and peaks and valleys. you know, we are in a little bit of, you know, a downturn in the economy, whether you call it a tear or a recession, you know, whatever you want to call it, it is down. And so it’s not unmanageable, but, everywhere is taking a little bit of a haircut. But where I really see a lot of owners struggling right now and the ones that kind of over leveraged and they’ve got a really high.
and things to float. So when you do have that month or two of just kind of down revenue, know, having enough cash flow to kind of float that over the downturn is something we really run into as a challenge with the industry. Now we do everything we can with working with them, you know, and kind of taking it up to the next level. I think that’s where we’re kind of creative with, you know, having a conversation with someone that, hey, you know, overpaid.
Are you overfinanced? And you know, the house doesn’t really have anything that fun and we can help get you up to this kind of revenue level, but we need to do X, Y, and Z is usually a tough conversation. And I think this is our team has been really well on being creative on like, how do we enhance a property with, you know, get the most bang for their buck with a little bit of a budget as possible. At least kind of get things kind of turned back around. The next is going to be, I have to say tech. mean, it’s changing every day in the industry with every single booking channel.
platform, whatever you want to call it, whether it’s booking.com or HomeAway or VRBO. And I think it’s great how it’s evolving. I think, you know, five years ago, even today still, but everyone talks about as I am going to Airbnb my home, like it’s a verb, you know, type thing. But ⁓ you’re seeing more and more channels really get involved in the industry from hotels.com, booking.com, Expedia, VRBO. And ⁓ so all of these
different booking platforms now that they are involved. They’ll have different tech challenges and things to kind of automate and your average traveler nowadays is much younger than when I first got started in the hotel business, you know, years ago. And so with that, their communication preferences are way different. And a lot of times they don’t want to call. They don’t want to send an email. They want to text or communicate through an app or send some kind of photo or, you know, send me a pin to this or, you know, could you just, you know, drop me a pin to the door’s location and things like that. And so
Having all these channels integrate with our software to be able to these kind of things is probably one of our other challenges I would say in the industry today.
Erika (19:20)
Yeah, yeah, that that technology ⁓ changes fast. Well, what you’ve built with lavish keys is so, so exciting. What would you say is next on the horizon?Jean Jeansonne (19:32)
So what’s next for us? I we’ve had so much success with working with investors prior to purchase. It’s really kind of created a nice niche little setup for us and really just some great relationships with our property investors because kind of getting in with them on the ground floor on day one both really helps build that relationship but also set the expectations on, they really kind of know what to expect going into it and how the cash flow and the investments gonna work.That being said, I’d first open a couple of locations because they were just great areas and great markets. And the more I’ve dealt with investors, the more I’m kind of seeing that, there’s really investors at every scale. ⁓ And so ⁓ we have a couple of locations now. But I think in the next year, what we really like to do is help have probably three new markets that are kind of fit every asset class of investment that people are wanting to invest in. So that way we kind of can.
you know, the people are looking to purchase something that’s in like the $500,000 or less, you know, we have a market or two that would kind of fit that budget. Not that we still can’t coach and help and educate people and odds are I know someone in the area that I could at least, you know, point them in the right direction. But ⁓ I think having the ability for us to when we’re dealing with an investor and it’s been such a beneficial part for us by having that relationship so early on that.
Also being able to operate in some of the locations that we’re helping them, you know, or coaching them to invest their money into, it would be a huge help for us. So that’s kind of what’s next for us is to have something in each market, both a high, mid and a low level investment category for vacation rentals.
Erika (21:02)
That’s exciting. Well, Jean is someone listening here wants to connect, reach out, you know, maybe they’re looking at a vacation property. What’s the best way for them to reach you?Jean Jeansonne (21:14)
Yeah, you can reach us anytime online. Our website is lavishkeys.com or you can always email me. It’s jean J-E-A-N, at lavishkeys.com and our team would be happy to help assist you. again, there’s no fee, there’s no upfront costs. It’s just our investment kind of coaching is a free service. We just want to help make sure we get people in the right homes, front of the gate. And it usually ends up being a much better investment. So yeah, you can reach me anytime. Our team would love to help you.Erika (21:40)
Excellent. Well, Jean, I appreciate your time story perspective. you know, we need more people in the real estate world who want to do things the right way and create win-win situations.Jean Jeansonne (21:53)
Perfect, yep, thank you so much, appreciate Well, thank you for having me and look forward to speaking with you guys again soon.Erika (21:57)
Yeah. And for our listeners today, if you enjoyed this episode, make sure that you’re subscribed to the real estate pros podcast. We’ve got more conversations lined up with pros like Jean who are out there building fantastic real estate businesses. We’ll see you on the next episode.
