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Mixing Strategies with Michael and Elizabeth Chang
Michael and Elizabeth Chang, a couple based in New York City, share their experience of building a 26-unit Airbnb portfolio, combining rental arbitrage and owned properties. They discuss managing properties remotely, scaling operations, and their success in both urban and vacation rental markets.
Avery: Hey guys, welcome back to the show. I want to apologize in advance because I’m getting over a cold and I sound a bit out of breath when I talk. Sometimes my sentences run long, so I’m going to apologize for that too. But today we’ve got a really cool set of guests, Michael and Elizabeth Chang, who I’ve known for about six years. It’s been a long time—maybe not six years, but it feels like five. I remember talking to them the first time when I was pregnant with my first kid, and that was five years ago. Anyway, they are really cool because they’ve mixed several different short-term rental strategies, and I’m excited to dive into that with them.
Avery: How’s it going, Michael and Elizabeth?
Michael: We’re doing well. Thank you for having us on the show. We’re super excited to be here.
Avery: Awesome! Why don’t y’all start off by telling us a little bit about yourselves?
Michael: Sure. I’m Michael Chang. We’ve built a 26-unit Airbnb portfolio together, and my wife, Elizabeth, and I have been doing this since 2017. We live in New York City, and we’ve known Avery for about six years. It’s been a great experience working on buying properties in the Smoky Mountains. It’s allowed us to combine our rental arbitrage portfolio with our owned properties, and it’s been a really powerful combination for us. We’re really excited to share our journey and story.
Elizabeth: I’m Elizabeth. Like Mike mentioned, we are real estate investors and entrepreneurs. We have a property management company specializing in short-term rentals with a mix of rental arbitrage and self-managed properties. This has enabled us to continue growing our portfolio year after year. I primarily lead our property acquisition, design, build-out, and guest experience strategy.
Avery: That’s awesome. Where do you own your properties, and where do you do your arbitrage?
Michael: We live in New York City, so we manage everything remotely. I come from a finance background, and Elizabeth comes from a fashion background. Combining our skills, we built this portfolio of six vacation rental cabins in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, and we also have 20 apartments. We use rental arbitrage for the apartments, which we operate as Airbnbs.
Avery: Got it! Do you prefer arbitrage or owning properties?
Michael: For us, rental arbitrage in urban areas is a great way to scale quickly. In multi-family buildings with 100 units, it allows us to scale and sharpen our team-building and operational skills. Living in New York City, we had to grow this business remotely, which gave us the confidence to buy. We started with three properties in rental arbitrage in 2017 and saw the potential to expand.