First Careers and House
First Careers and House
The first house was a split level with three bedrooms and one and a half baths (the half bath was just a shower in the basement). Little did they know this house would not become their forever home.
Jason was working as a High School Science Teacher in a local school district and Julie was working as Marketing Assistant at a local IT Services Company.
Upon completion of her Master's, Julie landed a job at 3E Company (A Verisk Analytics Company) as a Sales Support Coordinator. Over the next ten years, she climbed the Corporate Ladder and eventually became the Senior Sales Support Manager overseeing many sales operations tasks as well as a team of five individuals.
After several years of teaching, Jason determined that his career in the National Guard was taking away from his students and vice versa, so one summer he decided to take a step back from teaching. It was that summer that they purchased their second house for $20,000.
Real Estate Adventures
First Flip
Jason had some experience with adding a full bath to the bottom level of the first house as well as a wet bar, but after coming across this project house, determined that a full flip would be a great way to learn. Julie was in full agreement, having had woken up one to many times in their current house to no water or electric to Jason tinkering. So they took on a full flip. It took approximately one full year for the interior and another year to complete the exterior.
First Rental
Once the flip was complete, or rather done enough for them to live in, they now had a conundrum: what to do with two houses. The real estate market hadn't recovered from the housing market crash quite yet, so selling wasn't very lucrative. Thus came to being their first rental house. They hosted an open house and came upon a fantastic tenant, who proceeded to live there for three years. However, when the tenant expressed interest in moving out of state, Jason and Julie came across the same problem again: what to do with two houses.
Sell Two; Buy Four
After a lengthy discussion with Everstar Investments Owner Michelle Helgrel, Jason and Julie decided to leverage the equity built from their first house / current rental to try their hand at Property Ownership and breaking into the Massillon AirBnB market. Once they realized the fun of hosting, they decided to leverage the "sweat equity" they built in the Flipped house by selling that as well and using the funds to start their next AirBnBs.
Ending an Era
With the demands of the AirBnBs as well as the deployment of Jason and caring for two little ones, Julie had to resign from her position at Verisk 3E at the beginng of 2021 to focus full time on their family as well as Property Ownership.
Partnering with others
With closing on our fifth investment property, it was clear that our funds had been taken to the limit, and it was time to branch out and work with not only our existing properties but also with others interested in being hosts.
Alan Roth, of Creative Construction, wanted to turn one of his rentals into an airbnb space, and is using Julie as the Co-Host to run the airbnb through the website, handle guest communication and ensure that every I is dotted and T is crossed.
The first booking brought Alan a one month long stay after being listed for 2 days! There is so much more on the horizon, including another unit, and we are excited to continue this partnership.
Future Plans
Future AirBnBs
Today, Jason and Julie are working hard to get as many AirBnB spaces up and running as humanly possible. Jason is the muscle, plumber, electrician, carpenter and financial manager. Julie is the Super Host, finisher, painter, decorator and expert as it pertains to spatial concepts. Also, Julie is working towards her Real Estate Sales License.
Julie has her sights set on an old Library nearby, but cashflow is king, and so they are working on getting these houses up and running and more importantly, safe. They want to make an impact on the community, attracting visitors near and far and encouraging the preservation and safety of the community.
In their spare time, Jason and Julie love spending time with their two daughters, underwear-eating Dog (Rutherford) and mouse-killing cat (Rockefeller). They have a lot of passion for their community and business as well as travelling. For extra cash, Julie works as a Bartender at a local staple - Bender's Food and Spirits in Massillon.
