Hello from Adelaide! You'll also see us in Melb and QLD ;)

Hi Everyone!

I've been a follower of PropertyChat for a few years, on and off.

My husband (Keith) and I have owned property since 2007 and love doing reno's...there's something so satisfying about looking at a property before and after. We only really started taking property investing seriously in 2016, but since then, have bought, reno'd, and sold a few properties (and still hold some)...It's been one crazy ride so far.

We were only doing property deals part time, but in the last couple of years, have both left our health professional backgrounds and have decided to make the move to full time property related work. We're currently on the look out for our next reno deal and have also started our own little family run business in short term accommodation called Celestia Homes (www.celestiahomes.com).

With Celestia Homes we look to help landlords and property managers with open minds like us, by becoming their long term corporate tenant. It's a win-win situation as we then don't have to tie up our reno capital in owning and holding these properties to produce cash flow. And the landlord and property manager have a headache-free long term tenant that keeps the property in "show home" condition, saves them vacancy periods and re-advertising efforts, and pays the rent and water bills on time, every time. We also use our reno skills and contacts to take care of any minor property maintenance issues that pop up.

Keith and I also like to give back to the community where we can, eg. with our children's school and we're currently trying to work out something with Ronald McDonald House here in Adelaide. Family is very important to us and we feel it would be a great way to link our business back to one of our core values, while giving back to the community and helping other families out.

We are big believers in a growth mindset and are always striving to learn more and be better. I recently discovered Darren Daily (google it). His free daily success mentoring has been awesome! I highly recommend it.

We have property and investing mentors based in Melbourne and QLD. So we travel to these states often. We have a strong network of investing friends/colleagues in Melbourne, but not so much in Adelaide. Hoping to get to know more of you. The more we progress on this journey, the more we love to connect with others who are open minded and love property and investing as much as we do.

-Linda

 

Hi Linda

Would be curious to hear more about how this works

 

Is that like running HMOs or Air BnB in leased properties? There are quite a few companies here doing it.

 

Hi D.T.

Thanks for the reply. I see you are in Adelaide as well and are an avid property investor/manager yourself. I'd be keen to hear more about what you do too...just having a squizz at your website now.

What would you like to know?

Not sure if this is against any rules...but I'd be open to a discussion over coffee/lunch if you are interested?

 

Welcome Linda,
Just curious, is this a kind of sub-letting arrangement?
As in, you pay the owner a set amount of rent per week/month and you sub-let the property out for short term rental and that short term rental minus the rent you agree to pay the owner is your profit?

 

Hi Westminster,

Essentially yes, with some of the properties I don't own. But I do it with property I own too, so I have some skin in the game.

Depending on the specific landlord and property, I can also do more of a property management model, where I charge a percentage of the income. But this is obviously not possible where there is a property manager involved -I prefer not to step on anyone's toes. From an admin perspective, I also prefer the leasing model, as it's less paperwork for me. It's also been rewarding to help property managers and landlords that have had a property sitting vacant for a long time because it needs repairs or improvements that the landlord can't do for one reason or another using our reno experience. That's part of the beauty of what we do, we can be as flexible and creative as the situation allows.

I don't like to describe what we do as just AirBnBing, because there is so much more to it.

While I do use the AirBnB platform, I also take private bookings from trusted business contacts outside of AirBnB. I specifically cater to the needs of families first and then professionals travelling for work. I don't rent to just anyone and I'm certainly not one to host parties, etc.

I'm also very honest and upfront, and the landlords and property managers I work with are fully aware of what I'm doing. I've spent most of my working life in healthcare, so I have a strong sense of responsibility and I care about the people I work with. I treat others the way I'd like to be treated and look after other people's property the way I'd like my own to be looked after. I understand an investment property represents a lot more than just bricks and sticks and needs to be valued as such.

And as previously mentioned, my husband and I like to find a way to bring other meaning and value to what we do. It's never just about numbers. We want to help make a difference in the world. For example, because of the location of some of the properties we have, we can provide affordable accommodation for families with chronically ill children travelling for medical treatment at the local hospital. It's things like this that sets us apart from others who are just AirBnBing.

 

Thanks Lindsay

Technically with the properties we lease, what we are doing is not sub-letting. This is because our company "Celestia Homes" is taking out the lease. And because a company is not an individual that can occupy the premises, it's not the same as an individual taking out a lease and then sub-letting it to other individuals. It might be easier to understand if you think of a traditional business lease. -The business or company rents a premises and then uses that premises to conduct its business.

Our clients or guests are also not governed by the local Residential Tenancies Act. So we can avoid all the SACAT headache that some long term residential tenants like to take advantage of. This has been one of the main reasons we, as landlords ourselves, prefer short term leasing over long term. It just gives us much better control over the property and allows us to keep it in much better condition. For example, we typically have the property professionally cleaned every 1-2 weeks and at a maximum, maybe once a month. Compare that to a long term tenant, how often would they have it thoroughly cleaned?

As landlords, we've had more than our fair share of long term tenant issues, so are keen to avoid it and help others avoid it where possible too!

To answer your question about profit, yes that's essentially it, with a few other costs like utilities, maintenance, professional cleaning, insurance, etc.

 

Thanks for your response, I have a much clearer understanding of how it works now. Sounds like a win-win!