211: Turning Their Basement Into a $4,500/Month Money Making Machine w/Simon Murillo & Kristina Vaio

While constantly hearing success stories can be encouraging, it can also start to seem unattainable when you don’t know where to start. How did all these successful investors get to where they wanted to be? And if they can do it, why can’t you? Today’s guests, Simon Murillo and Kristina Vaio adjusted their mindset from “why them?” to “why not us?,” which resulted in some serious short-term rental success. 

It took a while for Simon and Kristina to become cohesive in their real estate partnership. Simon has been interested in house hacking since 2018, but Kristina couldn’t envision sharing her home with strangers. For his first investment, Simon wanted to invest long-distance in his hometown, but Kristina had reservations about investing in a property she couldn’t physically manage. Despite their opposing views on what their first investment would look like, through a lot of communication, education, trust, and compromise, they found an investment they agreed on—their basement.

With the help of a rockstar real estate agent, they were able to close on a house in December of 2021. It took a few months of blood, sweat, and tears to set up their basement rental, but within just thirty minutes of posting their short-term rental listing, they got their first booking! Now, they’re averaging about $4,500 each month and are looking for their next home to house hack. They plan on doing this at least two or three times until they’re financially free in their forever home—and you can do it too!

In This Episode We Cover

Convincing a skeptical partner and how to find compromise through mutual goals

How to ease into investing through small steps and self-education

Building a team that can help you with your vision—from investor-friendly real estate agents to reliable contractors

The benefits of going to investor meetups and being surrounded by similar people with similar goals

Managing your short-term rental while balancing your full-time W-2

Increasing the value of your property through unique upgrades and renovations

And So Much More!

Links from the Show

Ashley's Instagram

Tony's Instagram

BiggerPockets

Real Estate Rookie Podcast

BiggerPockets Forums

Alpha Geek Capital

Real Estate Rookie Bootcamp

Airbnb

Sarah Robinson's Instagram

Redfin

Zillow

Facebook Groups

Nextdoor

MLS

BiggerPockets Agents Finder

Hospitable

Real Estate Rookie Facebook Group

Connect with Simon and Kristina:

Simon's Instagram

Simon's BiggerPockets Profile

Kristina's Instagram

Check out the full show notes here: https://biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-211

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