205: Puerto Rican Paradise, Arctic Abodes, and Building "Dream" Vacation Rentals

Sometimes in real estate, less is more, and as the saying goes—quality over quantity. You don’t need a portfolio with 100+ properties if you have a strong cash flow from five. This approach allows less to fall through the cracks and a more personalized experience for the tenant while still building wealth like never before. Today’s guest, Kelly Cronin, explains how she has created Cronin Castles, a variety of unique experiences in various locations, and is now profiting off people’s desire to experience more life. Her current portfolio includes a sea house in Puerto Rico, an off-the-grid dome in Alaska, a tiny home in Utah, and eighty acres in Wisconsin. While Kelly was merely setting her price on listing sites and looking for interesting places, she stumbled on the next big thing. Currently, short-term rental sites are looking for more properties with unique experiences, like Kelly’s, to feature and further differentiate themselves from the competition. Kelly was able to start investing because she saved half of her income. She was able to save an astonishing $110,000 not because of a high salary—in fact, she never hit the six-figure mark—but because she gamified her life. Kelly did this by finding ways to lower her mortgage, save on childcare expenses and use credit card points to cover her travel expenses. Now Kelly can give people the traveling experiences she would want while simultaneously building wealth and changing her financial future. In This Episode We Cover How to research and invest in different markets  Cultivating unique experiences and how to market your rentals Managing your rental property remotely and the importance of building a network in the market you choose to invest in Saving fifty percent of your income and how to gamify your life and stretch your money  Self-managing your properties and how to stay on top of your rental portfolio And So Much More! Links from the Show Ashley's Instagram Tony's Instagram Real Estate Rookie Facebook Group BiggerPockets Forums Brandon Turner's Instagram Nate Robbins' Instagram Brian Murray's Instagram Airbnb Vrbo Realtor.com AirDNA Zillow Derek Diedricksen's Instagram Boostly Godaddy Hostfully Meta Business Suite 96 Units in 5 Years By Combining Long & Short-Term Rentals Connect with Kelly: Kelly's Website Kelly's Facebook Page Kelly's Instagram Check out the full show notes here: https://biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-205 Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Check out our sponsor page! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices