Transitioning from Nursing to Real Estate: An Insightful Journey with STR Host Stephanie Figueros

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Transcript from the Episode

Intro

[00:00:00] Liam: Hey, hey. Welcome to another episode of the Boostly Podcast. This podcast gives hosts the tools, the tac, the training, and the confidence to get more direct bookings. So my name is Liam Carolan. And I'm Mark Simpson's co-host. Todawillgoing tonne be behind the host, the miniseries where look dive into a successful and interesting short-term rental host and their business.

[00:00:24] We'rgoing tona be asking some. Questioneally extra the, the juicy information you can then take within your business and implement and hear about general success st and, and things which are interesting to other hosts. So today, going behind the host with Stephanie Fi, gs uh, from Laura hosting.

[00:00:44] Uh, welcome al,ong Stephanie. How are you doing today?

[00:00:47] Stephanie: Good. Good. Thank you for having me, Liam. Happy to be here.

[00:00:50] Liam: I'm, I'm happy to, happy to have you here. I know we'vspokenkbeforest about the websites. I know e just, um, as we recorded, you've had your speaking gig at SDR Nations, which is amazing.

[00:01:00] excited to dive into your business, and I will spoil anything for the people listening in and going to let you introduce yourself. The o first question is, who is Stephanie? Where are you in wor  the ld, and what do you love most about hosting?

Stephanie Intro

[00:01:14] Stephanie: Yep. So, um, I'm StepFigueroa, guiros um, I am from Southern California specifically, um, banning or the Inland Empire.

[00:01:21] It's about two hours east; if you're going to Joshua Tree or Palm Springs, I am the last piece of civilization before the desert, so that's usually how. Um, peoplcanto, find out where exactly I am. Um, and the best part, um, about hosting for me, um, it's, uh, I'm a registered nurse turned real estate investor, entrepreneur, and the satisfaction I get from hosting guests is pretty much the same as what I used to get from.

[00:01:48] Taking care of patients and seeing them go home, except this time they're going on the vac, action, and it's so much nicer because we're starting at usually around a ten instead of a two. And, um, we've got Liotta do is maintain those expectations and go above and beyond. So that's something that y love about hosting.

[00:02:04] Liam: How many, uh, the properties are you looking after? And, uh, what kind of model do you

[00:02:07] Stephanie: use? So right now, um, as far as running or managing, I'm at eight, um, California, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida. Um, I have a mix of houses that I use that I partner on and uses that I co-host for. The ones that I co-host are currently out here in California.

[00:02:28] Um, and the ones that I own and partner on are the ones that are in Texas, Tennessee, and Florida—um, looking to expand into other areas or markets as well. Um, but um, the cool thing is doing it once with one state or one market, um, you can easily apply that to a different so market. So I think of a little bit, um, special, especially being.

[00:02:50] On the West Coast when most of my properties are on the East Coast.

Why did you decide to use two different models?

[00:02:53] Liam: When it comes down to the model you use there, you mentioned that you've got a couple of things going on there. There are properties you're partnered on, but you also do co-Roswell. Why have you decided to go into those two different models?

[00:03Araree, why have you decided to go in those two different models? And, um, how did you get started in which one came first?

[00:03:13] Stephanie: I honestly think a lot of it was just the natural progression. I started with mn properties. I began with arbitrage initially, um, accidentally, while I was looking to purchase.

[00:03:23] Um, so I don't have that arbitrage anymore, but that was kind of, um, my proof of concept of being able to, to host and, and to do this before I dove in and just started putting money back into a down payment. Um, but then, I started often running my dIt I or my, um, for, yeah, debt service ratio, um, or debt income ratio.

[00:03:48] It was getting maxed out. For me to continue to acquire, um, I, it started to be where was I. People noticed what I was doing with their properties and wanted to participate, but they wanted Tonna to do all the work and tried to do it with me. So that led to joint ventures; tually, I had other people who wanted me to run their properties for them.

[00:04:07] Um, and at the t, time, I didn't have tcapacitydth to be able to. To do it successfully and to do it well. Um, but now that I've built that bandwidth in that system, we're into co-hosting while continuing to acquirsonal deals. So, um, but we pretty must treat everybody's properties as if it's ours.

[00:04:26] Um, and that's, I guess, that's the cool part of it too. They o, um, pretty much hands-offends off part of it. Um, and whatever we use for our operations, we apply it to their properties.

What was the moment you decided to switch?

[00:04:36] Lia,m: So take meck to before you enter hospitality. You mentioned you were a nurse, but h you? What, what was the moment ou went? Hey, do you know who will switch from nursing to hospitality?

[00:04:48] Take us up to that moment. And was it st just by yourself, or was there, uh, you rt of other people involved?

[00:04:54] Stephanie: Sure. Um, so for me, um, I left the hospital during the pandemic. I think I hit a light bulb moment in the hospital. That would go to going to be what my looked like.  I have looked for a nurse for about eight years now.

[00:05:08] I think just hitting that pandemic lally just put the, let the fir. Um, I decided I wanted to create a life y own. desI didn't'tidn't knowwouldgoing going to do it; I found that, ethereally, the best vehicle to have that flex ability and time freedom that I truly wanted.

[00:05:26] So, um, I worked, I took a position to work from home while I learned how to do real estate investing as a nurse. And then at that point, uh, my boyfriend and I, we do this together. We learned everything we could through podcasts, YouTube videos, reading, and short-term rentals. Jut, I, for whatever reason, just felt like it; I liked the travel aspect of it.

[00:05:52] It fit into the lifestyle I wanted to live. So I that's, I just was like, this has to be it. Um, but funny enough, my first in-person meetup, um, in California, everyone told me. To not do short-term rentals. And it was because nobody was doing it, at least where I lived. And so it wasn't until of expanded my horizons, um, and I came full circle after diving into other different strategies and re and real estate, um, mobile home flipping wholesaling, none of them, tally panned out.

[00:06:22] Cuz f, or me, it was just like, going to make it work with short-term rental investing. I don't know how, but I'll figure it out. And eventually, ly it led to, Why I do long distance real estate investing and now I'm, I, it was the one thing I was so scared of doing, um, just because of that you're not next to your property, but now I feel like it is one of the best things to do is to get outside of youneighbourhoodod.

[00:06:46] Um, because now it's like everything is possible, and I think that's kind of what that taught me.

What's your day-to-day role in the business?

[00:06:52] Lia,m: What is your day-to-day role in your basement? Is there anybody else, uh, you know, partnerebody else on your team who helps you as well?

[00:07:02] Stephanie: Sure. So, um, we've evolved a little bit.

[00:07:04] I to be the every kind of; Iry, I wore engle hat for the most part. I did more of the operations acquisitions between my boyfriend and myselftions. Umd of help on the backend with maintaining our bookkeeping financial aspect and keeping attention to that. But, Now, with the lower hosting, um, I've partnered with two of oexcellentood friends.

[00:07:28] Um, one that's an excellent marketer, um, actually for Google. Um, and then another, um, you've met him, Omar, that's, um, he's a C p A for commercial, um, commercial assets. So, um, partnering with them on. Um, growing this, my role has evolved into, uh, I've taught what I know about the operations aspect; because I've worn all the hats, I know pretty much every part of what we do on the marketing side, the operations, hiring, maintaining, and so on.

[00:08:01] Um, but nd of do more on the acquisition, ns end and I oversee, um, like all of our virtual assistants, um, and make sure that everything is. Moving forward in eac, each lane. They all have, every,ody has the departments. Um, I'm kind of like that backdrop of it to make sure that it's going smoothly.

[00:08:21] Um, and then when it comes to ques, um, on all aspects of the business, I'm usually that go-to person just because I have worn that hat for a while with multiple properties while still working. So, um, yep, that's kind of where I'm at this point.

Outro

[00:08:36] Liam: Thank you so much, Stephanie. So, um, Is there anythiat I've missed or any questions or final thoughts before we close things off?

[00:08:44] StephaNoh, no, not that I can think of. This was super fun, Liam. Thank you again for having

[00:08:47] Liam: me. Awesome. It's been much o fun. Thank you so much for spending your time with us, And of course, if you're listening to this on the podcast or watching it live, thank you so much for putting your attention to Bouchie.

[00:08:57] I ere are there career's so many places you focus on and. You know, see, really thank you for putting it with; hopefully,  you've got some good, uh, sort of nuggets of information from th, is and I've certainly learned more about Stephanie, uh, Laura hosting and, uh, I'm excited to see what you guys do in the future.

[00:09:12] So I'm sure we'll speak again. Stephanie, thank you so much for coming on uh; bye for now. Bye. Thank you. I am having a blast doing tona get-it on the Bruce Lee podcast.

[00:09:21] Stephanie: Bruce Lee. Let Bruce Lee, because it's so hard on the tee, is loose leaf .picking

[00:09:25] Liam: up those rhymes. Don't write it, do it loosely.

Before you leave

Please rate, review and subscribe on iTunes, Sp, Spotify, Google Play or Anchor or visit Boostly Hospitality Podcast for the full list of episodes!

Transcript from the Episode

Intro

[00:00:00] Liam: Hey, hey. Welcome to another episode of the Boostly Podcast. This podcast gives hosts the tools, the tac, the training, and the confidence to get more direct bookings. So my name is Liam Carolan. And I'm Mark Simpson's co-host. Todawillgoing tonne be behind the host, the miniseries where look dive into a successful and interesting short-term rental host and their business.

[00:00:24] We'rgoing tona be asking some. Questioneally extra the, the juicy information you can then take within your business and implement and hear about general success st and, and things which are interesting to other hosts. So today, going behind the host with Stephanie Fi, gs uh, from Laura hosting.

[00:00:44] Uh, welcome al,ong Stephanie. How are you doing today?

[00:00:47] Stephanie: Good. Good. Thank you for having me, Liam. Happy to be here.

[00:00:50] Liam: I'm, I'm happy to, happy to have you here. I know we'vspokenkbeforest about the websites. I know e just, um, as we recorded, you've had your speaking gig at SDR Nations, which is amazing.

[00:01:00] excited to dive into your business, and I will spoil anything for the people listening in and going to let you introduce yourself. The o first question is, who is Stephanie? Where are you in wor  the ld, and what do you love most about hosting?

Stephanie Intro

[00:01:14] Stephanie: Yep. So, um, I'm StepFigueroa, guiros um, I am from Southern California specifically, um, banning or the Inland Empire.

[00:01:21] It's about two hours east; if you're going to Joshua Tree or Palm Springs, I am the last piece of civilization before the desert, so that's usually how. Um, peoplcanto, find out where exactly I am. Um, and the best part, um, about hosting for me, um, it's, uh, I'm a registered nurse turned real estate investor, entrepreneur, and the satisfaction I get from hosting guests is pretty much the same as what I used to get from.

[00:01:48] Taking care of patients and seeing them go home, except this time they're going on the vac, action, and it's so much nicer because we're starting at usually around a ten instead of a two. And, um, we've got Liotta do is maintain those expectations and go above and beyond. So that's something that y love about hosting.

[00:02:04] Liam: How many, uh, the properties are you looking after? And, uh, what kind of model do you

[00:02:07] Stephanie: use? So right now, um, as far as running or managing, I'm at eight, um, California, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida. Um, I have a mix of houses that I use that I partner on and uses that I co-host for. The ones that I co-host are currently out here in California.

[00:02:28] Um, and the ones that I own and partner on are the ones that are in Texas, Tennessee, and Florida—um, looking to expand into other areas or markets as well. Um, but um, the cool thing is doing it once with one state or one market, um, you can easily apply that to a different so market. So I think of a little bit, um, special, especially being.

[00:02:50] On the West Coast when most of my properties are on the East Coast.

Why did you decide to use two different models?

[00:02:53] Liam: When it comes down to the model you use there, you mentioned that you've got a couple of things going on there. There are properties you're partnered on, but you also do co-Roswell. Why have you decided to go into those two different models?

[00:03Araree, why have you decided to go in those two different models? And, um, how did you get started in which one came first?

[00:03:13] Stephanie: I honestly think a lot of it was just the natural progression. I started with mn properties. I began with arbitrage initially, um, accidentally, while I was looking to purchase.

[00:03:23] Um, so I don't have that arbitrage anymore, but that was kind of, um, my proof of concept of being able to, to host and, and to do this before I dove in and just started putting money back into a down payment. Um, but then, I started often running my dIt I or my, um, for, yeah, debt service ratio, um, or debt income ratio.

[00:03:48] It was getting maxed out. For me to continue to acquire, um, I, it started to be where was I. People noticed what I was doing with their properties and wanted to participate, but they wanted Tonna to do all the work and tried to do it with me. So that led to joint ventures; tually, I had other people who wanted me to run their properties for them.

[00:04:07] Um, and at the t, time, I didn't have tcapacitydth to be able to. To do it successfully and to do it well. Um, but now that I've built that bandwidth in that system, we're into co-hosting while continuing to acquirsonal deals. So, um, but we pretty must treat everybody's properties as if it's ours.

[00:04:26] Um, and that's, I guess, that's the cool part of it too. They o, um, pretty much hands-offends off part of it. Um, and whatever we use for our operations, we apply it to their properties.

What was the moment you decided to switch?

[00:04:36] Lia,m: So take meck to before you enter hospitality. You mentioned you were a nurse, but h you? What, what was the moment ou went? Hey, do you know who will switch from nursing to hospitality?

[00:04:48] Take us up to that moment. And was it st just by yourself, or was there, uh, you rt of other people involved?

[00:04:54] Stephanie: Sure. Um, so for me, um, I left the hospital during the pandemic. I think I hit a light bulb moment in the hospital. That would go to going to be what my looked like.  I have looked for a nurse for about eight years now.

[00:05:08] I think just hitting that pandemic lally just put the, let the fir. Um, I decided I wanted to create a life y own. desI didn't'tidn't knowwouldgoing going to do it; I found that, ethereally, the best vehicle to have that flex ability and time freedom that I truly wanted.

[00:05:26] So, um, I worked, I took a position to work from home while I learned how to do real estate investing as a nurse. And then at that point, uh, my boyfriend and I, we do this together. We learned everything we could through podcasts, YouTube videos, reading, and short-term rentals. Jut, I, for whatever reason, just felt like it; I liked the travel aspect of it.

[00:05:52] It fit into the lifestyle I wanted to live. So I that's, I just was like, this has to be it. Um, but funny enough, my first in-person meetup, um, in California, everyone told me. To not do short-term rentals. And it was because nobody was doing it, at least where I lived. And so it wasn't until of expanded my horizons, um, and I came full circle after diving into other different strategies and re and real estate, um, mobile home flipping wholesaling, none of them, tally panned out.

[00:06:22] Cuz f, or me, it was just like, going to make it work with short-term rental investing. I don't know how, but I'll figure it out. And eventually, ly it led to, Why I do long distance real estate investing and now I'm, I, it was the one thing I was so scared of doing, um, just because of that you're not next to your property, but now I feel like it is one of the best things to do is to get outside of youneighbourhoodod.

[00:06:46] Um, because now it's like everything is possible, and I think that's kind of what that taught me.

What's your day-to-day role in the business?

[00:06:52] Lia,m: What is your day-to-day role in your basement? Is there anybody else, uh, you know, partnerebody else on your team who helps you as well?

[00:07:02] Stephanie: Sure. So, um, we've evolved a little bit.

[00:07:04] I to be the every kind of; Iry, I wore engle hat for the most part. I did more of the operations acquisitions between my boyfriend and myselftions. Umd of help on the backend with maintaining our bookkeeping financial aspect and keeping attention to that. But, Now, with the lower hosting, um, I've partnered with two of oexcellentood friends.

[00:07:28] Um, one that's an excellent marketer, um, actually for Google. Um, and then another, um, you've met him, Omar, that's, um, he's a C p A for commercial, um, commercial assets. So, um, partnering with them on. Um, growing this, my role has evolved into, uh, I've taught what I know about the operations aspect; because I've worn all the hats, I know pretty much every part of what we do on the marketing side, the operations, hiring, maintaining, and so on.

[00:08:01] Um, but nd of do more on the acquisition, ns end and I oversee, um, like all of our virtual assistants, um, and make sure that everything is. Moving forward in eac, each lane. They all have, every,ody has the departments. Um, I'm kind of like that backdrop of it to make sure that it's going smoothly.

[00:08:21] Um, and then when it comes to ques, um, on all aspects of the business, I'm usually that go-to person just because I have worn that hat for a while with multiple properties while still working. So, um, yep, that's kind of where I'm at this point.

Outro

[00:08:36] Liam: Thank you so much, Stephanie. So, um, Is there anythiat I've missed or any questions or final thoughts before we close things off?

[00:08:44] StephaNoh, no, not that I can think of. This was super fun, Liam. Thank you again for having

[00:08:47] Liam: me. Awesome. It's been much o fun. Thank you so much for spending your time with us, And of course, if you're listening to this on the podcast or watching it live, thank you so much for putting your attention to Bouchie.

[00:08:57] I ere are there career's so many places you focus on and. You know, see, really thank you for putting it with; hopefully,  you've got some good, uh, sort of nuggets of information from th, is and I've certainly learned more about Stephanie, uh, Laura hosting and, uh, I'm excited to see what you guys do in the future.

[00:09:12] So I'm sure we'll speak again. Stephanie, thank you so much for coming on uh; bye for now. Bye. Thank you. I am having a blast doing tona get-it on the Bruce Lee podcast.

[00:09:21] Stephanie: Bruce Lee. Let Bruce Lee, because it's so hard on the tee, is loose leaf .picking

[00:09:25] Liam: up those rhymes. Don't write it, do it loosely.

Before you leave

Please rate, review and subscribe on iTunes, Sp, Spotify, Google Play or Anchor or visit Boostly Hospitality Podcast for the full list of episodes!