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The Short Term Show with Mediratta Pavan
Mediratta Pavan shares his journey of transitioning from long-term rentals to managing a successful short-term rental business, which allowed him to retire early. He and his wife started by purchasing a condo in Florida, gradually scaled their business, and now have multiple properties in top vacation destinations like Siesta Key and the Smoky Mountains.
Avery: Hey everybody! I would like to welcome Pavan Mediratta to the show. He retired early on short-term rental income, and today, he is going to tell us how he did it. How are you doing, Mediratta?
Mediratta: Hey, Avery! I’m great. Great to be here.
Avery: Thanks for coming! So, tell me how you got started. Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got the idea to invest in short-term rentals, because you were a bit of an early adopter in this type of investment.
Mediratta: So, we started—my wife and I started—long-term rentals back in the early 2000s, and in 2011, we decided we wanted to buy a condo on the beach. We were going to eventually retire there. It took us about two years to find a spot, so 2011 was when we closed our first condo. We went with the on-site rental management company, thinking we’d live there forever. It’s 900 square feet—it’s perfect, you know?
Avery: Sounds like a dream!
Mediratta: Yeah, except we soon realized it wasn’t perfect at all! But we started making money in the short-term rental business with a property manager and realized we could do it much better ourselves. The returns were unbelievable, so by the end of 2011, we took control of the management.
Avery: Wow, so you just jumped in! What happened next?
Mediratta: We gradually started scaling up. In 2014, we added more units, and in 2017, we expanded again. That’s when we realized, “Hey, this is actually a viable business!” So, we 1031-exchanged all of our long-term rentals into short-term rentals. We left our corporate jobs, and today we have 15 units. We’re all in on short-term rentals because the numbers—you just can’t beat them.
Avery: That’s true! Tell us which markets you’re in for your short-term rentals right now.
Mediratta: We started in Siesta Key, Florida, which is the number one beach in the world. We’re thrilled to be here, we actually live 15 minutes from our properties. We have four units on the beach—beachfront rentals. We’ve got 11 units, and we’re closing on our 12th in March, up in the Smoky Mountains, which is another one of the top tourist destinations in the U.S. and the world. We’re strong believers in vacation markets like this.
Avery: Wow, sounds like a great strategy!
Mediratta: Yeah, short-term rentals in true vacation markets work for us. We’ve been through hurricanes, wildfires, and the pandemic. Last year was actually one of our best years.
