How to Set Up a Short Term Rental in Broken Bow: The Complete Airbnb Hosting Guide

Avery Carl [00:00:02]:
Hey guys, it’s your host Avery Carle with the Short term Shop. And I’m really excited to dive into the Broken Bow market with you guys. We’ve got 10 episodes on everything you need to know about investing in short term rentals in Broken Bow. A couple notes that I want to give you guys before we get started. Any up to date purchase prices or income numbers on this market you can find on our website theshortermshop.com and if you’re ready to buy with us in any of the 20 markets that we work in, not just Broken Bow, if you want to work with one of our agents in any of those markets, you can email us at agents the shorttermshop.com be sure to follow us on YouTube and Instagram and Facebook at the Short Term Shop. And of course join our Facebook group. It’s called short term rental Long term Wealth. It’s just me and 60,000 of my closest friends in there talking about short term rentals all day, every day.

Avery Carl [00:00:50]:
Again, if you need anything from us, you can email us@agentshorttermshop.com let’s dive into Broken Bow. Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the short term show special episode series on Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Today we’re talking about the setup process. So you’ve already closed on your property. You got to set it up, get it ready for rental. And we have a few familiar faces yet again. We’ve got Kathy, the short term shop agent in Broken Bow. Say hello, Kathy.

Cathy Craig [00:01:30]:
Hey everybody. Behind me today is a picture of the new casino. So that’s a little taste behind me of what the new casino area in the back will look like.

Avery Carl [00:01:40]:
Awesome. That is very exciting. And we also have Becky Kelly. Becky, you want to introduce yourself to the audience really quick.

Becky Kelly [00:01:48]:
Yes, I’m Becky Kelly and we, we have a family owned and run furniture store that we’ve had in the local area for about 30 years. And so we have provided a lot of furniture to a lot of these nightly rental cabins and of course our local people for four years. So we know a lot about getting the cabin set up. And so I also have a decorating setup company that we work with our furniture store and the client and go in and get these cabins set up to be rental ready so they’re ready for a renter when they open the door.

Avery Carl [00:02:24]:
Awesome. So you’ve got a lot of experience with cabin setup?

Becky Kelly [00:02:27]:
Yes. Yeah, I’m finishing one up today actually. That’s about ready for photos at 1:00 today, so. And starting on A new one yesterday. So.

Avery Carl [00:02:37]:
All right, well, let’s get started. So let’s say I have clothes on a cabin and Becky, I’m giving this to you to set up. So let’s talk about tech first because that’s like one of the main things that people worry about is. And one of the main things that I see people making mistakes on right out of the gate is not changing their. The lock when they buy a property. I’ve had people stand outside of a property that they own for two days yelling at me about I need the key to this or that from the seller. When there isn’t a key, there’s a code and they, you know, you own the house, get. Get the locks changed.

Avery Carl [00:03:16]:
So what kind of locks do you guys put in? Because I imagine there’s some kind of a smart lock.

Becky Kelly [00:03:20]:
Right? Well, so most cabins will have the sledge or the. What’s another one of those that seems to be the most popular one right now.

Avery Carl [00:03:29]:
Yeah, yeah.

Becky Kelly [00:03:30]:
Some of them do the WI fi so that they can change stuff from remote, remotely from wherever they are. And some people who can change those locks for you and I can make that happen for you in the process of the setup. So there’s some local guys that are pretty good at it. I just have them and recommend them.

Cathy Craig [00:03:52]:
So mainly we’re using sledge encode, shocking as it may seem, because this is way big time against the rules. But there are lots of property management companies that never change the code. So they actually have a manual code and they say that the cleaners change them. You know, the cleaners are supposed to change them or whatever, but you know, sometimes they’ll. They’ll use like the last four digits of your phone number and they’ll change it to that. A lot of people do that, but some just don’t ever get changed. So yeah, it’s very interesting.

Becky Kelly [00:04:36]:
It’s very important. Like Avery said, I sold you the property, need to take care of changing that. So really, whatever it was, like the builder puts a lock code on there so they can go in and out. Well, so if you don’t change that or change the whole thing out and there’s is in there. There’s one builder, he uses the same code for all of his cabins because he’s just going in and out and his people. So if you don’t replace that that’s in there, it’s. It’s real important.

Avery Carl [00:05:03]:
Yeah, yeah. And if there are hard copy keys and it’s been a short term rental before and you’re Getting them. Like, you have no idea how many maintenance people or cleaner or whoever have copies of those keys. You absolutely have to change the locks when you buy something. And we recommend schlage on code or encode or however you say that word.

Cathy Craig [00:05:23]:
Everybody needs to remember that, you know, we as agents, when we’re showing the property, we’re using that code. We’re using the code that somebody gives us, whether that’s management or the owner or whoever. We don’t know how many people have had that code or been given that code or whatever. As unlikely as it is that somebody would pop in on you, it’s just a safety thing. You have to. You have to change those codes.

Avery Carl [00:05:50]:
Yeah, right. 100. And while we’re on the subject of safety, let’s talk about ring cams. You guys install ring cams? We typically do on our properties. Just on the front, just to see, you know, who’s coming and going.

Becky Kelly [00:06:03]:
Well, you know, I know some do and some don’t.

Cathy Craig [00:06:06]:
Yeah. You know, it’s not as prevalent in Birkin Bow as you might think. A lot of people, I would say. I would say 70% or 70, 75% of the 80 or some odd cabins that we’ve done this last year and a couple of months, four months, five months, I would say 80% have no cameras at all. None. So you have some people coming in to this market, especially if they’re in other markets, that they’re adding cameras and ring doorbells and stuff like that. But it is not typical for our staff in this market to come with it. They may have them on there, but they’re typically not monitored or used.

Cathy Craig [00:06:52]:
Don’t you think, Becky? That’s mostly the case.

Becky Kelly [00:06:55]:
Well, being on the insurance side as well, a lot of our clients have them, so. But more than ring, they have surveillance cameras, security cameras that are monitored, that will. They can monitor them or one of our local security companies, and that seems to be the most chosen over the ring. Now, I know some have them, but what I see from more people are surveillance, security cameras and alarm system combo, and I. I feel like more have them now than they ever have. They’re. They’re really starting to make sure they can see their property, and I think they mainly like to use that when they don’t have a renter to make sure someone’s not coming up there that. That don’t need to be there, you know, on the property.

Becky Kelly [00:07:39]:
Yeah, yeah.

Avery Carl [00:07:40]:
And I think with any camera, you want to make sure we use ring cameras. It’s just the. The Easiest thing to do. But you want to make sure that you’re not just sitting there staring at your cameras all day like a soap opera. They’re really just there to be able to refer back to if there’s an incident and you’re not like staring at them all day. So that’s kind of my thing on, on the cameras. So next piece of hardware that a lot of people who are managing remotely want to install is a smart thermostat. So we use the Honeywell T9s in all of ours.

Avery Carl [00:08:11]:
But do you guys use anything, anything different?

Becky Kelly [00:08:14]:
Becky and Kathy, I recommend that you have that on there. Or otherwise instead of having a $200 electric bill, you may have a four or $500 one on a one or two bed cabin, which is ridiculous because if it’s 80 or 95 degrees outside, they’re going to keep it set on 60 and, you know, and same thing. Or they’ll crank up the heat. I mean, they’ll turn on the air conditioner so that they can run the propane fireplace and such and then freeze it up and then call, you have to call maintenance. So I think it’s better to have that where the owner or someone can control that at a certain point. You know, absolutely.

Cathy Craig [00:08:49]:
It’s probably that. That and the SLEDGE encode are the two things that most buyers replace when they first buy. Because, you know, depending on whether it has it or not, most, a lot of them don’t have the Honeywell or the, the WI FI thermostat. Some do, but you know, most of the time that’s the one thing that’s the first thing they do is put in the WI FI thermostat.

Becky Kelly [00:09:12]:
Right? I recommend it.

Avery Carl [00:09:14]:
Yeah, totally. All right, so now let’s move to TV. So my sorry recommendation with TVs is to get all Roku TVs that all have the same remotes that can be used with, you know, remotes with Roku’s are interchangeable. That way if remotes get switched around in different rooms, they’re not having to try and figure it out. So that’s my recommendation. And I recommend also having a TV not only in the living room and you know, hangout areas, but in every bedroom. I know that’s a point of contention with some hosts. They’re like, TVs don’t belong in the bedroom.

Avery Carl [00:09:48]:
But be that as it may, a lot of people sleep, want to be able to, to watch TV or a movie or something while they’re going to bed. And that should be Their choice as the guest. So it’s 300 bucks for Roku TV. I think they need to go in every room. But do you guys have any differing opinions on that?

Becky Kelly [00:10:03]:
I agree.

Cathy Craig [00:10:04]:
Yeah, I do too. I mean, I. I think whatever TV you get, they should all be the same. I prefer the Roku as well, but. And I put a TV in every bedroom because there are people that cannot sleep without a television. And so if you get one of those people, let’s say it’s one in five, that person is not going to have the same good experience because that’s just how they’re set up. So for 300 bucks and maybe it’s 10 people or 15 people a year, I’d rather have that in there for them so that they’re happy, you know, just because I don’t think a TV belongs in the bedroom, which have one in my room. But just because I don’t think that doesn’t mean that, you know, I’m not choosing for them.

Cathy Craig [00:10:48]:
I’m their host. I want them to be as comfortable and happy as they can possibly be.

Becky Kelly [00:10:53]:
And they will click around and they’ll choose a cabin that does. So that puts you out for that person. And they may need it to help get their kid to sleep. Whatever. Exactly. And, and also, if it’s a cabin that’s hosting, you know, 12, 14 people and you’re with those people all day, you may want to, when you go to bed, unwind and watch tv, you know, and maybe know you weren’t wanting to watch football because all the guys had it on on the main tv. You can go on another ring.

Avery Carl [00:11:20]:
Yeah, totally agree with all that. Yes, I think we’re on the same page there. So let’s move on to stocking things. So let’s talk about sheets and towels. How many towels do you guys put out per bathroom?

Cathy Craig [00:11:36]:
Per bathroom or per person?

Avery Carl [00:11:38]:
Well, I guess. How do you calculate how many towels you need in each bathroom? Do you calculate it by bathroom? Do you calculate it by. By number of people staying? How do you figure that out?

Becky Kelly [00:11:46]:
Calculate it per bathroom and usually four or five. Four or five per bathroom. It’s here. Here’s what we found. And how long they’re going to stay too. If they’re going to stay. If two, three night stay, a typical four, four or five. But if they’re having extended, say or week or two weeks, you know, you may want, you want to leave more.

Becky Kelly [00:12:05]:
But there’s also. Most cabins have a washer and dryer for that purpose too, because you don’t get hotel motel service daily clean towels. That’s why there’s a washer and dryer at night, the rentals, so you can do that yourself. These people are going to the lake, going outside and playing in a creek. You know, if they want to wash and dry their clothes and towels, they can. Here’s what I found. It doesn’t matter if you have a one bedroom cabin or six bedroom cabin. If you put 14 towels in a one bedroom cabin, they’re going to use all 14.

Becky Kelly [00:12:33]:
14 in a four or six bedroom, they’re going to use all those. If you put 20 or 30 because of the size, they’re going to use all of them. How many ever you put out, they’re going to use what’s out. So I think you need to pick a number that your cleaning staff is good with handling and that that’s kind of customary for the area because the people will talk and say, yeah, we put out this many, we put out this. So it’s kind of a standard a little bit too. Some, a lot of people do talk between groups of how many towels are you putting out? Because if I put out 20, they’ll use 20. So I know one number and why I say 14. There’s some people that say don’t put out more than 14.

Becky Kelly [00:13:10]:
I don’t care how big the cabin is. So but as when I decorate, that’s different because I want them to be stocked properly. So I typically do like five towels per bathroom. And then I do what’s called a backup set of everything. And we’ll do five to 10 backups of soiled, you know, someone takes one off in their suitcase accidentally, they have backups.

Cathy Craig [00:13:31]:
Okay, I do it, I do two, I do two per person. Unless it’s like, I don’t do more than like 14, but I typically do two per person. So the girls that work for me, they’ll take a look at the reservation and they’ll put out two per person. If there’s a bunch of kids, the kids get one unless they’re staying a really long time. So one of my lake houses, it’s pretty big and, and the lake is right there. So I have a separate set of beach towels, one per person. And then yeah, and that’s it. So and if, you know there have been times when they’ve just been taken or whatever and then I just change my thing and say if you guys need beach towels, bring them yourself.

Cathy Craig [00:14:18]:
Well, you’ll have bath towels but bring your own beach towels. So that’s what I do.

Avery Carl [00:14:23]:
All right, so we’ve got the numbers down. How many sets of each do you keep? So like for example, we keep three to four. So we’ve got one set out, one set in the owner’s closet in case of emergencies and one set is with the cleaner being washed. Or maybe we’ll have two sets in the owner’s closet. So how many sets of things do you think you need to buy to get set up?

Becky Kelly [00:14:45]:
I think what you just said, if you’re going to leave out three to four and I do, I tell them, you know, once I decorate it, it’s their cabin. So they may leave out 3 to 4, 4 to 5 and, but then I tell them what I recommend for each bathroom is what I’m going to give you for backups, you know, in their, in their owner’s closet. Like just like what you said to, to replace if something gets ruined or soiled. And like I said, then the cleaners got to sit washing them. So that’s, that’s how I, and, and typically if I’m, if I’m doing any, I decorate larger cabins, usually three, four, five, six bedroom. They’re, they’re going to have at least when I decorate I will leave, I will make sure they have 20 to 25 towels. Now how many their cleaner puts out for the guests, that’ that’s up to them. So but in leaves in the owner’s closet.

Becky Kelly [00:15:31]:
But I have so much I’m going to give them in a package when I’m decorating. So what I’m doing decorating versus what I would do once I’m actually renting or you know, a little bit different.

Cathy Craig [00:15:39]:
And I have the same, I have typically two, I have typically have two sets for backup and then what I do for like comforters and quilts and stuff like that is this time of the year. And then right after Christmas I will go, you know, whatever. The Macy’s or Macy’s is really good with sales. I’ll, if I’m replacing comforters or buying new stuff, I’ll buy two of each. So I will buy an one comforter and a backup comforter or quilt. So if it’s, you know, that way I have, you know, just say it’s a, a king and it’s a four piece set or whatever. I have two four piece sets. So if the comforter gets destroyed then there’s another comforter or if one of the pillow shams gets destroyed then there’s one to replace it with.

Cathy Craig [00:16:31]:
So I’m not constantly, you know, Replacing that stuff.

Avery Carl [00:16:35]:
And so same with sheets. Three to four sets you like to keep around. What color sheets do you guys do? Because I know some people say white all the way because you can bleach them and they just look really nice like a hotel. Some people say never white, because even if you bleach them, they can still be kind of dingy. What do you guys do?

Cathy Craig [00:16:53]:
I do white. I went through I don’t know how many thousands of dollars going through what color I was gonna pick or a print or this or that. I went through every color variation and inevitably I’ve always come back to white.

Becky Kelly [00:17:09]:
Me too. And it seems to be, I try to do what’s the industry standard in the short term rental market at the time. And trends come and go. And when we first started in the early 2000s, everybody wanted color towels, you know, red or blue, whatever color you’re decorating. But that’s where, you know, you mix the red towels with the white sheets or the tan sheets and then they turn pink. So you, you live and learn and. But pretty much we use white because that’s we. I also, you gotta think when I’m decorating, I have to do what my client wants as well.

Becky Kelly [00:17:43]:
I can recommend something and let them know, but what they want to, they can, they get. And then they live and learn and they may change to something. But I choose white like you. It’s easier. And I definitely. Some people say, well, let’s put white in this bathroom and blue in this one. And no, that gets. Becomes a nightmare and a nightmare with the cleaners.

Becky Kelly [00:18:04]:
It’s easier for them to wash and dry and just put the stuff up and not have to sort through. I know some people who like to use tan and gray and that’d probably be my second preference besides white.

Avery Carl [00:18:14]:
Yeah, I agree with that. Our cleaners in some of ours are okay with white and some they’re like, please get tan or light gray so we can avoid the dinginess. So I just kind of do whatever my cleaners tell me to do.

Becky Kelly [00:18:25]:
Yeah. On at the time. What’s easier for your cleaners? Because there’s ones that have to deal with it. And what’s going on with the laundry situation? For sure.

Cathy Craig [00:18:33]:
Yeah.

Avery Carl [00:18:33]:
Okay, so let’s talk about the kitchen now. So in terms of what we’re stocking, in terms of just cookware, we’ll talk about spices and other stuff in a minute. How, like, how far do we go? How luxury do we go and what do we make sure we have and what doesn’t matter so much, Becky.

Becky Kelly [00:18:50]:
Well, so I prefer as much break resistant things as you can get, whether it’s your drinking glasses, your plates, bowls, cups. However, I always put one, what I call real, like plates, dishes, cups. But I’ve also put a nice set. I usually spend more on the break resistant than the actual real plates because I get really good quality break resistant that you actually have to touch to know that’s not glass, it’s plastic, but it just makes more sense. A lot of cabins have concrete floors that are stained. Hardwood floors things still can break. The kids take these things outside to play with and dig in the dirt and, you know, so you don’t want broken glass out in your rock, gravel driveway, somebody step on it. So I like to use as much break resistant, even like perennial.

Becky Kelly [00:19:39]:
It’s, it’s real dishware, but, you know, it’s, it doesn’t break as easy. And so, and I think good mid range to higher end, because you’re just gonna, you’re gonna replace these things. They’re gonna go by the wayside, quartz plate dishes. Things are gonna happen. They’re gonna take these things outside to eat with or to play in the dirt with, or go down to the creek and gather some worms and whatnot, crawdads, and put them in your pots and pans. So. But I like to use good cookware. I think people actually take good care, better care of good cookware because they know it’s a little better quality and seems like it lasts longer.

Becky Kelly [00:20:18]:
So. But I don’t ever think you ought to buy top of the line, way expensive stuff because you’re going to replace it.

Cathy Craig [00:20:24]:
Yeah, yeah.

Becky Kelly [00:20:26]:
So.

Cathy Craig [00:20:27]:
And our cabins are, you know, the standard in broken bows. They’re very well stocked. So they have everything, you know, even crop, you know, from crock pots to toasters to wine openers, you know, s’ mores, you know, sticks or whatever. Everything’s really well stocked because, you know, this is a market where we’re really catering to a lot of very high end Dallas clients. So, you know, no, they’re not gonna rough it.

Becky Kelly [00:20:58]:
They’re not gonna. Yeah, Gotcha.

Avery Carl [00:21:00]:
All right, so let’s talk about the other stuff in the kitchen. Like, I always try to make sure we have a crock pot back to the, the cookware stuff. But other than that, just, you know, your basic stuff. Let’s talk about what your coffee setup is and what you provide. Are we doing Keurig? Are we doing drip? Are we providing coffee? Are we not? What does that look like here?

Becky Kelly [00:21:19]:
I usually Do a Keurig duo where they have the coffee pot, also the Keurig. So now some people say, well, if one part of it goes out, you got to replace the whole thing. But I’ve had some last. I mean, year. I mean, a couple of years, that’s the most, because that’s as long as I’ve been buying them, but they’re still fine. So to me, if you’ve got coffee pot that long, you’re doing pretty good. You’re more apt to have somebody break the carafe, the glass pot, than anything and have to replace it anyway. So I kind of like the Keurig coffee pot duo.

Becky Kelly [00:21:47]:
And it looks nice and neat. It looks neater than a coffee pot and a Keurig to me. But a lot of people are into the coffee bar, and I really like those. And setting those up on a separate, you know, console table somewhere right near the kitchen living area that looks really good. People are into it. It’s a good renting feature. When people are clicking around and they see a coffee wine bar, they like that. So.

Becky Kelly [00:22:07]:
And as far as providing to me any, like you said, the coffee, sweet, sweeteners, creamers, I like everything in a package. I don’t like things that just pour out and open because anybody can, of course, do anything, run their dirty hand down it, and then who knows, you know?

Avery Carl [00:22:23]:
So, yeah, I like if you’re gonna provide any, like, sugar or creamer or anything, just doing individual packets. So it’s one single use and throw it away. What do you think, Kathy?

Cathy Craig [00:22:33]:
I do the same. I do the single use packet for that stuff. I do provide. I do do the Keurig Duo the same thing. I’ve had both. I’ve had it where I had drip and Keurig, but takes up too much space on the counter. So I just do the duo and then I will provide coffee. I provide enough for people to have one cup a day, depending on, you know, what they’re doing.

Cathy Craig [00:23:00]:
Now, I also say in there in my instructions, you know, this is what, you know, it’s the standard instructions. But I say if you prefer a certain kind of coffee or you want to bring your own coffee, this is what we have, and this is what you should bring. Because again, people are super specific. You know, if you don’t want, I have a sweet and low, and you want, you know, Splenda, don’t get irritated with me about it. Just, you know, this is what we have. And if you. And how I say it is, you know, if you’re, you know, super specific about your coffee. Please bring what you like, you know, so you can enjoy it.

Becky Kelly [00:23:36]:
It’s always good about anything. We you always have your amenities, what’s going to be there, what standard, you know, if you have other preferences, you know, please bring them. Yeah.

Avery Carl [00:23:47]:
Do you guys provide coffee grounds or Keurig cups or anything like that or is it all byo I do do.

Cathy Craig [00:23:54]:
I don’t do grounds. So there is a box of Keurig cups in there. So I, I get the multi pack and the, there’s some that’s left out every time and when it runs out we’ll restock it. So but it, there’s not like, you know, I don’t have one of those big carousel things that’s full of different choices because just like a towel, if there’s 15 of them out, they will drink all 15 cups. If they’ve never drank 15 cups of coffee in their life, they’ll do it.

Becky Kelly [00:24:22]:
They’ll do it right. And we, and so what a lot of people do that, that I know they’ll have the cured caps also like the coffee singles like you would get at a hotel to put in a coffee pot and just, and just have like Kathy said as many singles for the coffee pot rather than loose grounds. And then some people just do the cured cups and you bring your own coffee for the coffee pot. So a little bit of both.

Avery Carl [00:24:44]:
Okay. I, you know, I haven’t thought about the individual like single use. You drop it in the coffee pot like the drip maker. I’ve used those before myself, but it’s never occurred to me to actually put them out in a short term rental. So that makes a lot of sense.

Becky Kelly [00:24:57]:
And people love those. And there’s old school people who I call myself old school where I like a pot of coffee, you know. And so if I go to a place that has have the singles or some of those singles will make there you can get them a little bit bigger. That’ll do a couple of cups that. Because I like pot of coffee. My husband and I, we, we take pot coffee. So I do the singles and the cured cups in mine.

Cathy Craig [00:25:21]:
Yeah, I need to. Becky, let’s talk for a second about spices. What do you, what do you put in there? Do you. What kind of stuff do you leave for people?

Becky Kelly [00:25:29]:
Well, I don’t and unless there’s just small individual salt and pepper. But I don’t recommend anything left in these cap. Well then this comes from the insurance part of me. You know, I don’t, I don’t liability Issues of someone open a spice and putting something in it. Crazy. You know, dumping it out, scooping it back into the container, you know, oh, I dumped it all on the counter. Let’s scoop it all back in there and get a little shot that in there. So I.

Becky Kelly [00:25:55]:
As much as. When I go to a place and they have spices left for your courtesy, I’ve used those before, but I just don’t recommend it. It’s not in my.

Cathy Craig [00:26:04]:
You know what? That’s really. That’s interesting. I’ve never thought of that before. That’s a very interesting point, because I. I haven’t thought of that. I leave. So there’s one you can buy, and I bought it on Amazon. It’s just a little circle, and it’s got like.

Cathy Craig [00:26:20]:
Like there’s two different kinds. There’s one that’s got, like, general spices in it, and there’s another one that’s got, like, exotic spices in it. So I buy those and. And there’s one of each in the cabin. They last a long time. But to Becky’s point, that is really a good point. If. If you have spices there and somebody spills it on the counter and just sticks it back in there, that is a little gross.

Cathy Craig [00:26:44]:
So I get why you don’t leave them in there. But I leave those little. I don’t know if you guys have.

Becky Kelly [00:26:49]:
Seen them, little bitty small, like, for one use. And the cleaners put them out. Like, if you add more than salt and pepper and you want to put some garlic or a couple things you can get, and they’re not that expensive and they’re small, they throw them away after. Yeah, I’m just weird about people. And my mom and dad were always like, check your Halloween candy. Why does somebody put something in? You know, so it’s. That stuck in my head at a very young age. So I’m just like, what if some weirdo put some of their cocaine or meth in that salt and pepper? Like, and then I.

Avery Carl [00:27:19]:
You never know.

Becky Kelly [00:27:20]:
This could happen.

Cathy Craig [00:27:21]:
You never know. Oh, my God, that’s funny.

Avery Carl [00:27:24]:
I’m gonna think about that now every time I use public salt and pepper. Like, what if somebody put drugs in this?

Becky Kelly [00:27:31]:
Yeah, yeah. People use drugs. Inform me, no, we won’t do that. We use the drugs. We’re not going to put them and waste it in your salt and pepper shaker. So I hear you.

Avery Carl [00:27:40]:
I hear that. Okay, so that’s that on spices. So. And let’s talk about decor now. So a lot of the cabins in Broken Bow, I Feel like the average cabin in Broken Bow is like a luxury cabin in other markets. So we’re doing decor. What do we focus on? Like what are we, what level of luxury do we have to go with in terms of aesthetics? I’m not saying we have to buy like Chanel couches and stuff, but you know, what does it need to look like? We probably can’t be decorating with like bears and mooses and things or whatever the plural of moose is.

Becky Kelly [00:28:15]:
Right. Well. And you know, people are still doing what I call traditional, using the large look with some bears or moose. I just did one that looks really good. That’s what they preferred. They said we only like traditional. We want to keep it large looking, but we want it modern, large looking. So I actually found some really good pieces that look good.

Becky Kelly [00:28:35]:
That moose didn’t look like 1992 Moose, you know, so. So as a decorator you have to keep that in mind and find things that are current right now that, but, but with that looker theme. But more, I think more cabins right now are a little bit more modern. Modern farmhouse, modern, rustic. People say I want a modern look, but I still want things to have a little bit of a cabin look like this vase. I want it more rustic looking to, to bring, to have the cabin feel, you know. So that’s a, that’s what I’ve probably done more than anything is modern, but with a little bit of a rustic flair. And when I say rustic, I don’t mean country and I don’t mean western.

Becky Kelly [00:29:17]:
Just a little bit more of an aged look or something to it.

Avery Carl [00:29:20]:
Gotcha.

Cathy Craig [00:29:20]:
Like shabby, like shabby chic, kind of a shabby chic, kind of, you know, weathered, worn, weathered white kind of, you know, that stuff.

Becky Kelly [00:29:30]:
Interesting.

Cathy Craig [00:29:30]:
It’s interesting. In Broken Bow we have such a wide range of people that come that there are people that want the cabin looking, lodge looking cabins and there’s people that want the more minimal, minimalistic, more modern cabins. So it’s really one of those things where you can do what you like. But for the longest time it was everybody wanted the modern and now it’s kind of gone back a little bit.

Becky Kelly [00:29:54]:
They’re going back more traditional. The cabins themselves are a little more modern looking, not as traditional. And so those people want to decorate them as such. Then people are saying, no, I want a more traditional cabin. So this one that I just did in August, it was just the, the log, it was, you know, stone, had the big, you know, honking post outside and cedar post and it looked Great. And they wanted it to have a little bit of a Yellowstone flare to it. And so we did that a little. And that was fun and looked really good.

Becky Kelly [00:30:28]:
It didn’t look like dragging up some 2001 deer and moose and stuff.

Avery Carl [00:30:35]:
So if you’re buying an older cabin, and by older I mean like early 2000s, because I know, you know, there hasn’t been a lot of building in this area up until like the 2000 area. So you’re telling me like we probably, if there’s carpet, we probably need to get rid of that. If it doesn’t have granite countertops, we need to put them in that kind of thing.

Becky Kelly [00:30:54]:
Yes, that. Because you want to do what other people are doing to rent their cabins and people that are clicking to rent, they’re going to rent a cabin that has those amenities. So absolutely no carpet. You know, wood floors are fine. Engineered wood floors, which those scratch up and are harder to maintain. But there’s tile floors, polished concrete. That’s a big thing right now. But yeah, no carpet.

Avery Carl [00:31:21]:
Gotcha. And you mentioned amenities, so let’s talk about that. What are some amenities that you really do need to have in this market? So Kathy has mentioned in previous episodes, you have to have a hot tub, you have to have a fire pit. Is there anything else amenity wise that you just, just need to have here?

Becky Kelly [00:31:36]:
That, that’s the big thing. Hot tub and a fire pit. They, most of them do prefer to you to have some kind of fireplace, whether it’s wood burning or propane or even electric. They just like the ambiance, the feel. So those are things though people look for or they’ll click over to another cabin because there’s enough to choose from to get those amenities they want.

Cathy Craig [00:31:58]:
Yeah, yeah. So. And, and pools are not a big thing here yet. Although I’ve seen, you know, the last, I don’t know, six or seven months, four or five pools go in. I, I don’t know. And, and I don’t know how hard far that’s gonna go, Becky, because it’s, I mean, we’re sitting on a, it’s a, a full grant. The place is all on a big bed of granite, so in courts. So I don’t know how far pools are gonna go because I don’t know how many can actually do.

Cathy Craig [00:32:25]:
I think it’s going to be cost prohibitive when you’re digging through all that stuff. But, you know, people put lights outside and people will do the swings around their fire pit versus an Adirondack chair. A lot of places have a jungle gym for kids or something like that. Now Becky and insurance might say, I don’t know about the jungle gym, but people do have it and they got to post a sign, you know, use at your own risk, all that stuff. But you know, there’s, there are people that do that kind of thing. There’s a lot of room for adding amenities that are pretty cool. There’s one guy that has a pirate ship jungle gym. There’s, you know, people that have.

Cathy Craig [00:33:09]:
One guy has an adult tree house. So it’s kind of lower to the ground, but it’s more geared towards adults. So it’s in the backyard. And you know, so I mean there’s a lot of really, there’s some cool stuff you can do.

Becky Kelly [00:33:22]:
Yeah, Pickleball courts if they have a flat enough, you know, play ball court. And some of them are doing mini golf, like setting up just a few mini golf things so they go out there and I’ve seen that and I know some people are really liking that. So things to attract somebody to rent your cabin versus my cabin or your cabin is what it’s about.

Cathy Craig [00:33:41]:
Yeah, I think we have like four or five cabins now that have a pickleball court. Right. So yeah.

Becky Kelly [00:33:47]:
And I’ll have you know we have a lot of insurance clients that we get to know as friends and acquaintances and they’ll email or message me, hey, I know you know a cabin that has a pickleball court. Set me up or let me know, send me a link of somebody you know, because they know I know. And so that, that kind of is a thing for some people. Not it’s not huge, it’s not like a demand. But they will reach out to me. They know I’m from here, I live here. Obviously they think I know. So I have gotten that in the last year.

Becky Kelly [00:34:16]:
People asking which ones have a pickleball court. So.

Avery Carl [00:34:19]:
Okay, so one thing we missed earlier, well, I mean I guess we didn’t miss it, but the stocking of like paper. Actually one other thing before we get to the stocking of paper products, etc. Bed bug mattress encasements. Guys, when you are buying your sheets and stuff, you absolutely have to get the zippered mattress encasements. It won’t keep bedbugs away totally, but it gives them less places to go. And by the way, you are probably, if you own short term rentals long enough, you will get bedbugs at some point and it is not going to be your cleaner’s fault. It’s not because the place isn’t clean, it’s because they come in with people. So, I mean, you can get bedbugs from.

Avery Carl [00:34:59]:
They can jump onto people’s suitcases at the airport from other people’s suitcases and come in. So it’s not necessarily that, oh, your cleaner’s doing a bad job. So don’t go blaming your cleaner if that happens. It probably. Some guests brought them in and it can happen to the best of us. It’s happened to me. So just a note on that. But now moving on to the stocking of, like toilet paper, paper towels.

Avery Carl [00:35:22]:
So in some markets your cleaners will take care of this for you for an extra fee. And some markets, maybe you want to Amazon them and just have them let you know when stuff gets low. What does it look like here?

Becky Kelly [00:35:32]:
So there’s paper towels, but I don’t. I don’t know a lot of cabins that provide paper cups, paper plates, paper. I mean, plastic forks. They may. I’m not aware of it. I think they feel like we have you stocked with a set of good plastic. Wear a full set of real dishes. If you want to bring paper, pick them up on your way.

Becky Kelly [00:35:54]:
But that’s just my experience. I don’t. I don’t know a lot that stock with the. With that much paper. Except for the paper towel. Yeah.

Cathy Craig [00:36:02]:
Paper towels, toilet paper. I Amazon send. I send cases. And then they just. Just use it as they need it. So it’s the easiest thing for me to do that. Right. For my girls.

Cathy Craig [00:36:16]:
And then they just use it when they need it and move on down the road. And I just do paper towels and toilet paper and I do the individually packaged toilet papers.

Becky Kelly [00:36:23]:
Yes, yes. Yeah.

Avery Carl [00:36:25]:
So you provide like a starter pack of toilet, like, you know, a few toilet papers and one paper towel. And then they go to the, you know, they get more from the store if they’re there long enough to go through all that.

Becky Kelly [00:36:38]:
And sometimes I’ll put one paper towel and put one under the sink because if they have a big deal, I’d prefer them to clean it up. And so if they have to use, you know, that could take several paper. I usually just leave one under the sink, so. Right, yeah.

Avery Carl [00:36:52]:
Do you provide toiletries, like individual soaps or anything? Are they on their own for that stuff?

Cathy Craig [00:36:58]:
I have the. I have the things on the walls that, you know, that have the soap dispensers on there, the shower, the conditioner, the shower gel, the conditioner and shampoo. And then I just buy the jugs and the girls fill it.

Becky Kelly [00:37:12]:
Right. And that seems to be trending now because it used to really be a little bar, so in a couple of the bathrooms. And then if people bring what they want to bring. So then I noticed, so that was how everything started, was a little bar soap in the bathrooms. Then it. In the last 10 years, maybe a little, maybe a little shampoo, not even a conditioner. But now people are getting the big bottles that are refillable. So then people say, well, how do you feel about that? Do you people.

Becky Kelly [00:37:41]:
Are you worried about someone messing with those and putting things in it other than shampoo? Well, they could, but if you get the locking kind, they really can’t. Just your cleaner can. So that’s the one I really recommend. But if you don’t have that, if you’re scared of what kind of shampoo, if you’re going to be allergic or break out, don’t use it. Bring your own anyway. And most people do, if they’re sensitive or can only use certain soaps, they’re not going to use whatever soaps in that, they’re not going to use it. So it’s there for their convenience. But.

Becky Kelly [00:38:09]:
But they don’t have to use it if they’re worried about that.

Cathy Craig [00:38:12]:
So I notice mine don’t get, don’t get used a whole lot. It’s just there for somebody that forgets their stuff. So it’s not like they use a whole bunch. It’s just, you know, kind of there just in case. I think the men use it much more than the women.

Becky Kelly [00:38:29]:
Yeah, they do because they, they really don’t care. They just need a little bit. So that’s what I’ve noticed.

Avery Carl [00:38:35]:
How about coffee filters? If you get. Since you guys have the Duo Makers.

Becky Kelly [00:38:39]:
Coffee filters. Yes. Unless you’re using, unless you have just the singles, you know. But if they bring their own coffee, they would need a filter. So I usually just buy a little container. That’s cute. That says filters and they put them in it. Okay.

Avery Carl [00:38:51]:
How about dishwasher pods and laundry pods?

Cathy Craig [00:38:55]:
So I, the girls leave if it’s a, if it’s just a few night stay, they’ll leave like two dishwasher pods. Right. And you know, one or two laundry pods. If it’s a longer stay, we’ll leave three or four of the dishwasher pods and probably no more than two or three of the laundry pods.

Becky Kelly [00:39:17]:
That’s exactly. Because if you leave it just your big thing you bought at the discount store, I mean, where you buy it in quantity, they’ll use every one of those. So yeah, you Only you leave out, you know, a few form to use.

Avery Carl [00:39:31]:
Okay. So you just kind of leave them with the starter pack of everything and anything else they need they can go to the store, you know, when they go to get groceries. So is there anything else that we haven’t talked about in regards to setup that you think the listeners would benefit from hearing that maybe we haven’t talked.

Becky Kelly [00:39:47]:
About one thing that I’m pretty big on and talk to my clients about because they may not realize that if they haven’t been in short term rental. But a lot of bodies and people are in and out of these cabins obviously and they’re all over things and lounging, lounging and having a good time. So when it goes to decorating and how you furnish things, I like things to be a more wipable surface. So leather pleather. It doesn’t have to be real leather, but something or even there’s that micro suede that, that wipes down real well. Something that can be cleaned easily. Not something that’s going to absorb things as many germs, bodily fluids. So you know, you know, things happen in a cabin.

Becky Kelly [00:40:32]:
So I would. As many things as you can get to wipe down furniture wise. So instead of an upholstered chair, a wooden chair or put some cushions in it that you might wash the cushion covers if you want it to be some upholster stuff. And I definitely recommend as much leather ish furniture first for sitting purposes. Beds, the more metal you can use. Actually bedbugs aren’t attracted to metal. Bedbugs are more attracted to wood. Now in saying that wood beds are fine, but bed bugs are more attracted to cedar.

Becky Kelly [00:41:06]:
So I don’t recommend a cedar bed. I’ve had a cedar bed. But if you’re trying to prevent bedbugs as much as possible. Metal, wood, try to avoid cedar. No wicker for bedding, for beds because they like to get in and weave their way in the wicker. I’ve seen it not at my cabin, but at one of my clients, she had the bed about two years. So.

Avery Carl [00:41:28]:
Oh yeah, they do like wood beds.

Becky Kelly [00:41:33]:
And, and if your furniture is sealed and everything, you know, most, most wood furniture has a sealer on it. But you don’t want any raw wood, natural wood for a bed. They, they really like that. So.

Avery Carl [00:41:46]:
All right. Anything else that we didn’t cover that you think the listeners need to hear about setup here?

Cathy Craig [00:41:52]:
Becky does an amazing job with setup. She, she knows a lot about it. I’ve done some setup just you know, put in what people are looking for, you know, people.

Becky Kelly [00:42:05]:
Know the market, what, what the market wants at that time.

Cathy Craig [00:42:09]:
Yeah. And it needs to be what other people will want, not just what you want. I see people making the mistake of just putting stuff in that they want. I mean, don’t forget the wine opener, don’t forget the bottle opener. Don’t forget things that you may not use. I mean, if you’re not a beer drinker and, and you, you think they’re all twist off. They’re not all twist off. So, you know, you know, think of things because you don’t want them using your countertop and that’s exactly what they’re going to use.

Cathy Craig [00:42:36]:
Or one of your drawers. Right.

Becky Kelly [00:42:39]:
Claim and leave a bad review that you didn’t have a wine opener or.

Cathy Craig [00:42:43]:
That’S so get, get things that people are going to need. You know, you need regular knives and you need steak knives, you need, you know, spoons, you need spatulas, you need all of those things so that people aren’t, you know, finishing cooking and they don’t have tongs or they don’t have a soup. You know, you just, you want them to be your hosting so you want them to have what they need, right?

Becky Kelly [00:43:06]:
Yep. Yeah, I agree.

Avery Carl [00:43:08]:
You have to make it. They need to feel comfortable, like they have everything they need for the week or weekend or however long they’re going to be there and never feel like they’re missing something. Right?

Becky Kelly [00:43:17]:
Right. All right, I agree.

Avery Carl [00:43:20]:
Thank you guys so much for being on here. Listeners, if you guys are ready to buy with Kathy and Broken Bow, email us at agents the shorttermshop.com and we will get you connected. Or you just want to learn more about short term rental investing, you can join our public Facebook group. Got about 65,000 people in there. It’s same title as my book behind me, Short term Rental, Long term Wealth. Or you can join. Every Thursday we have a live group call where we answer all of your questions about general short term rental investing. So you can join that@www.strange.

Avery Carl [00:43:53]:
thanks guys.