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Episode 159: Operating in a Vacation Rental Market w/ Rebecca Cramer
Description
Rebecca Cramer bought her first vacation rental in Ocean City, Maryland for $269,000 after the seller dropped from $400,000 - a property she'd visited since childhood. Starting with $20,000 in renovations and a mid-century modern theme, she went live in March 2018 and stayed 100% occupied year-round by becoming dog-friendly and offering deep discounts to fill gaps. During COVID, when Disney World closed, she pivoted to essential workers at $75-$100 per night instead of her usual $200-$300, keeping her eight-bedroom Florida property fully booked through the pandemic.
Rebecca runs three properties remotely from 15 hours away, managing Ocean City, a Disney-area home, and a Deep Creek Lake house under construction. She lists her eight-bedroom Florida property as three separate Airbnb listings (eight-bedroom, six-bedroom, and four-bedroom with rooms locked off) to compete across price points and lower cleaning fees for smaller groups. Her direct booking system captures guest emails through a pre-arrival form that triggers a custom guidebook, then retargets them through MailChimp newsletters offering 10% discounts. She texts five-star reviewers asking them to copy-paste their Airbnb review onto her Google Business page, achieving a 50% conversion rate.
Work with us. Interested in professional management or consulting?
Myka — Sharebnb: www.sharebnb.com
Steve — Argest Rentals: www.ArgestRentals.com
Sign up for PadSplit with Steve's link and get a free 1-on-1 PadSplit strategy call with Stevie Stacks: padsplit.com/hosts
Myka's other podcast, Entrepremarriage — building wealth without losing the marriage: youtube.com/@Entrepremarriage
All our links: linktr.ee/liveletthrive
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