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Dan Templin’s Journey From Restaurant Owners to Short Term Rental Investors
Dan Templin shares his journey from restaurant ownership to becoming a short-term rental investor. He discusses how he and his wife adapted their bar and pizza shop during the pandemic and expanded into Airbnb rentals, overcoming challenges and growing through innovative strategies.
Avery: Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Short Term Show. Today, we have Dan Templin, a super cool guest. Dan is a short-term rental investor, and I’ll let him take it from here to introduce himself. How’s it going, Dan?
Dan: Great! Thank you for having me on. I appreciate it.
Avery: Yeah, thanks so much for coming! Tell us a little bit about what you do and your background, and how you got here.
Dan: Sure. So, my wife and I started our careers by buying a restaurant and working for ourselves. That was the first thing we did, and after doing that for a couple of years, we actually got into rental arbitrage for Airbnb and started our first Airbnb through that. After a short amount of time, we made enough money doing that, and we were actually able to purchase that property, which was a duplex. Now we have seven short-term rentals that my wife and I own, and a couple of those we also own with a business partner.
Avery: That’s awesome! What kind of restaurant was it?
Dan: We still own it. It’s a craft beer bar and pizza shop.
Avery: Oh, awesome! Whereabouts is that?
Dan: It’s in Centerville, Michigan. It’s a population of like 2,000.
Avery: Oh, wow. I’ve never been in the actual restaurant business, but I’ve been in the bar business, and that’s a tough one. You’re either going to be in it for a really long time, or you’re done in like the first six months. There’s no in-between, right?
Dan: Exactly. It’s an interesting industry, especially going through COVID. We faced a lot of challenges but pivoted, and we actually grew through it.
Avery: That’s definitely an exception. How did you manage that?
Dan: It involved a lot of strategy and hard work. I don’t want to take any of that away from us, but I mean, it’s lucky to make it through owning a restaurant. I remember the day like it was yesterday when the governor announced that restaurants would be closing. The next phase was only allowing pickup or delivery, so we adapted. We focused on pizza delivery within a 15-mile radius, which allowed us to double our sales.
Avery: That’s amazing. It seems like people got more used to delivery during COVID.
Dan: Absolutely, and it’s become more of a habit now. We did the same with our short-term rentals. Airbnb canceled everyone’s bookings, but we pivoted, and now, here we are.
