Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacinda Neustel
Hi Jacinda, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
When I was fresh out of high school I traveled to Austria for 3 months to visit my foreign exchange sister. It was the trip of a lifetime getting to see the world like that. I got to experience their way of life rather than just be a tourist. I fell in love with traveling and experiencing other cultures BUT how was I going to be able to do that once I got a job? No boss would let me go travel for 3 months at a time. It dawned on me that this is the type of traveling people wait until retirement to do, and that was another 47 years away for me. Not quite the American Dream I had.
So I came back and searched remote work jobs. This was pre-Covid so it was less common but still a thing. I settled on a program that I’d need certified for and then I could travel the world and work remote! I worked part time and studied part time but I quickly learned that bills still come in at full time. I was worried how I was going to cover my rent for my townhouse the following month. A friend made a ridiculous suggestion – “Why don’t you rent out your extra bedroom on Airbnb?” My reply – “Hell no. I’m not having strangers come stay in my home with me. I’m not trying to get murdered in my sleep.” But when you need money, you’ll try new things you maybe wouldn’t otherwise so I gave it a try, Got twin beds from a local church, put my Grandma’s quilts she made on them and took the worst photos on my outdated Galaxy S6 phone. Took me two days to indecisively complete my first Airbnb listing. Soon I got my first booking and it went well! Then came more and soon it helped pay my entire rent payment!
It helped me get back on my feet, I eventually decided to buy a house and in 2019 I closed on a fixer upper! I spent a year fixing it up and when I was finally finished – Covid hit. I was so disappointed thinking I’d never be able to get travelers through Airbnb to rent out the rooms in my house now BUT then came all the travel nurses! Soon I had all 3 of my extra bedrooms filled with travel nurses and even more asking! I then learned about rental arbitrage (renting a property from a landlord with the understanding that I’d furnish it and sublease it out) and quickly added 10 more bedrooms to Airbnb for the travels nurses. Not long after that my real estate investor friends took notice and asked me to help them do the same with some of their properties. In 2021 I went from the 3 spare bedrooms in my home to 30 listings through arbitrage and cohosting.
Things were taking off and I was quickly realizing I needed help. Delegating is a pivotal point in growing a business and I had a such a difficult time disciplining myself to stop going to do everything myself. I decided what better way to learn to do that than to remove myself from the area! So I moved to Arizona and hoped to find a mentor out there to learn more from. Within a month I had found just that!
My mentor, Fouad Bazzi, had these beautiful luxury Airbnb’s in Scottsdale and I was so impressed by how he ran his team. He poured into me by teaching me how to treat your team, how to analyze properties, and would even let me tour properties with him to hear his thought process! I was so immensely grateful to have found a mentor like him. In 2023 an opportunity came up for us to partner up to host a few properties together in Greenville SC. An investor friend of his had a luxurious modern home that was unlike any other Airbnb listings on the market and he wanted us to cohost it for him. What a dream! He also had more new build projects coming up that we’re in the process of finalizing as Airbnbs as well.
Greenville has been such a beautiful city to step into, with the downtown thriving and new developments popping up constantly. Our guests enjoy the attractions and we get to make sure the place they call home during that time makes the trip even more memorable. Immensely grateful for the path of events that brought me to Greenville!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road has been many different things along the way. Getting started, I had more travel nurses asking for housing than I had room available. My first full year in business was super smooth in that regard, but then post-Covid it died out. Then I had to pay out of pocket for some of the properties I was arbitraging. Other investors I was cohosting for also weren’t making enough off those properties so they had to turn them back into long term rentals. In order to cover all my bills I moonlighted as a house painter simultaneously while still running my own business.
When I moved to Arizona to finally force myself to delegate, within the first month we had a property have a bedbug infestation as well as a break in! All at the same property too! It was so painful to just sit there and coordinate the situation, everything in me wanted to hop in my truck and drive back to Indiana to take care of it!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I started cohosting because I couldn’t find someone I trusted to run my own Airbnb listings when I searched around. So I took note of all the things I didn’t like about cohosts/property managers and created the solution myself! I don’t upcharge maintenance, there’s no hidden monthly minimums or yearly charges, and I only count my cut off of the rental income after the cleaning has been taken out. No double dipping. No stupid charges for work I’m already technically getting paid to do. I only want to make money off of these properties when the owner is. It’s all about creating win/wins for our owners.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I love to travel and experience new things. That’s kind of what sparked this all to begin with – my love for travel. Now with our boots on the ground team in every city we have properties, I can run them all remotely from wherever I’m at.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thequeensbnbs.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.airbnb.queen/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jacinda.neustel/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@The.Airbnb.Queen.
