Burning the boats has been my internal mantra the last few months. Burn the boats has to do with leaving the realm of comfort of going all in for something big. I was tired of making small bets with small rewards. I wanted to make a big bet with the potential for big rewards. Lately I’ve been feeling like something has to give. I’ve been doing all the right things that “they” say entrpenuers need to do in order to become wildly successful. I wake up between 4:30-5 am everyday, workout daily, don’t touch alcohol, eat a clean diet, and consume self development books YouTube videos and podcasts at every opportunity. And while making and practicing these committements, my wealth has increased and I’ve made some moves.

I am up to 3 rental properties and 3 businesses. So far, these rental properties and 2 out of 3 od the businesses have been solid base hits, but not homeruns. I am craving the homerun that puts me over the edge and on the fast track to cash flow and wealth. Hitting base hits and learning has been fun, but one person can only have so many things comsuming their mental bandwidth. My desire now is to go big on one idea, burn the boats and go all in for wild success.

Having been in the entrprunirial game for a few years now,  I’ve realized that my true interest and best shot at making it big is in real estate.  But I also knew that accumuating rental properties and cash flowing a couple of hundred bucks from each one that this approach was going to take a loooooooong time to get rich. So somethings got to give. That’s when I ran into some friends and the idea of short term rentals was planted. I knew it was nearly impossible to do in Virginia Beach. However I learned t was possible to do in Norfolk and Norfolk has a beach front community known as Ocean View. I learned at a birthday party that a mutual friend was not only doing short term rentals in Ocean View and making a killing, but that this mutual friend was also a real estate agent. We met for coffee and Mandy and I hired her to help us in our search for our next property. I knew it then as I know it now, this is my burn the boats moment and time. I was going to go all in a short term rental property. 

I immideitaly did a deep dive into the topic. The best books I read on the subject were “Short Term rental, Long Term Wealth” and “Host Coach”. I also started to closely follow Robuilt on YouTube and Bigger Pockets. I joined a few online communities and heard and read about the pains and obstacles other owners and operators were feeling inside htis space. Within a few weeks, I felt confident about this startegy and was ready to take my shot.

Fast forward a few weeks and we are under contract for a 3/2 SFR in West Ocean View. We were albe to secure a beautiful property .8 miles from the sand for under 300K; which is almost impossible to do in our hometown of Virginia Beach. In order to secure this property we had to sell our retirement accounts in order to come up with the cash to close on this property. Up to age of 40 years old, I held my retirement account as a coveted asset which was always off limits to touch. Yet here I am at the age of 41 liquidating the account to go all in. It’s scary as fuck but also feels invigorating. It feels bold and inspiring to make such a bet on yourself. In actuality, my hold view on stock market investing has changed in recent years. More and more, I couldnt stand the idea of giving up control of my money and putting in the faith of stock market. I hated not having control over the money and hated more than I couldnt use it or touch it until i was 59.5 years old. Yes, I want to be wealthy when I am older, but I also want to be rich right now. Afterall, buying real estate would more than likely make me wealthy when I am older but it also has the advantages now of cash flow and tax sheltering. I feel like real estate is a superior investing tool than the stock market.

During our search for this property, I learned alot of the laws and regulations regarding short term rentals. Unfortunately, the property we fell in love with was prohibited from operating short term rentals becuase of the APZ1 overlay. APZ1 means accident prone zone and this area was zoned that way due to its proximity to the Airport and the direction of airline traffic. While I was disocuraged to learn this, I started to hear more about medium term rentals.

Medium term rentals are similar to the short term rental model except the stays are at least 30 days. I knew nothing about this approach and it sounded like I would be trying to force something to work rather than a proven track record into the short term rental model. After going down a rabbit hole of content, I discovered there is a niche in the medium term space. It’s the goldilocks zone of real estate buy and hold investing. There are no regulations or laws against this type of tenancy, yet you can still double and sometimes triple the rental rates which would supercharge my cash flow. 

You are probably wondering the same question I was, “Who the hell rents a place for 30 days or more?” Well, the answer is actually quite a lot of people. Traveling healthcare professionals, insurance claims, hmeoweners undergoing big renovation projects, workers on a long term assignment, and people who are inbetween homes are some examples of the gorups of people looking for housing in this space.

I am actually so encouraged by this business model that if I experience a high demand for this type of property, I am going to start converting at least 1 of our VB long term rentals into a furnshed medium term rental.