How Kiana left a 10 year finance career with two Scottsdale Airbnbs

0:00 Kiana spent 10 years in finance working at firms like JP Morgan and Bank of New York Melon. But she didn't want to spend the next 30 years stuck in the same cycle. Then she found something that changed everything. Six months later, she had her first Airbnb up and running. Now she has two properties in Scottsdale, which let her walk away from her finance career. In this deep dive, she's going to break down how she left her job and replace her income, the exact steps that she took to land her first property, and what she's doing now to grow even faster. If you're new here, my name is Preston. I built a $15 million real estate portfolio and make over $400,000 per year in net profit from my short-term rentals. This interview used to be part of my paid membership, but I'm sharing here for free because these lessons are just too valuable to keep private. So, that being said, let's jump right into it. All right, we have Kiana here. Uh, she's been able to quit her job, 10 year finance career, and I'm sure we'll get into that, but she's been absolutely crushing it with her properties. So, wanted to dig in a little bit more on this. So, Kiana, thanks for hopping on. If you want to just give the audience who you are and a little bit about your background and we'll take it from there.

0:50 Awesome. Thank you, Preston. So, as you know, I'm Kiana. I was born and raised in Seattle and I worked in finance. I quit my job actually one year ago and in that time I acquired two Airbnb properties that helped funded my traveling. So I was able to go to eight different countries last year and now I'm settling down in Austin, Texas which has been a really fun um part of the journey as well. Cool. So um let's talk a little bit more about your career. So I know you were there for a while. So maybe talk about like what you liked about it, what you didn't like, and if you had any maybe career aspirations to becoming an entrepreneur. That's a great question. So I absolutely loved my job. So I worked in private banking and I really loved it because it has a lot to do about relationship building, coaching people in the finance world and I was very passionate about it. But always in the back of my mind I wanted to be an entrepreneur which the finance job kind of gave but you're still under the corporate umbrella which kind of is restrictive. And I've always been into real estate. So I have about over eight years of experience in real estate and more in like the single family investment home um strategies. And I wanted to expand that cuz I think there is a lot of value in that and helps you create that financial freedom that everyone talks about. And so learning about the Airbnb arbitrage has been a great strategy for me and has opened all these doors to this financial freedom for me to travel to focus on like my

2:07 passion projects. So in the back of my mind, I always knew that I wanted to leave corporate America. I just didn't know how. And finally one day I stumbled upon this and it's kind of been a journey from there. Awesome. So, let's talk about your first very first property. So, I know you said you were, you know, interested in real estate. So, let's talk about your first deal that you did with real estate. Like, how did you find it? What, you know, what kind of property was it? And then, you know, what are some of the numbers that it looks like um from that end? Yeah, of course. So, one of the first properties I found was in Scottsdale, Arizona. And while I was going through that market research and how I found Scottsdale, I didn't think I was actually going to end up there. So, as I was doing the micro research, I wanted to of course stay somewhere close to home because as you know, everyone's more comfortable with the first thing. It's something brand new. But then I ventured out and I realized just um I just touched as many different markets that I knew someone lived there in that state at least. So that helped break down that one comfort level. And then secondly, it just started going through the numbers and and so as I was trying to search for markets, I was on this Facebook group and I kept seeing Arizona. I found this um property management group and then they actually presented this property to me and as I ran through the numbers it just made sense and so I've kind of had an unconventional route in the sense of I didn't do the landlord outreach but I did do the market research and understanding the calculator and

3:23 everything else into that and so it's been really beautiful and I'm happy to show what the property looks like and kind of how I decided to move forward with it. Why Scottsdale and everyone talks about it's such a saturated market. How do you kind of handle that? and then also the numbers that come with it. So, let me share my screen. Yeah, K, before we dive into that, um, let's kind of back up a little bit. So, I want to talk a little bit, but So, do you have did you have rental properties before you got into, you know, the Airbnb arbitrage? Yes, I have rental properties in Seattle. Got it. Okay. So, for that very first property in Seattle, like your first rental property, um, can you break down some of the numbers on that end? I just want to kind of understand like those numbers and then why you decided to make that pivot to the short-term rental side? That's a great question. So when I went into I got my first property in 2016, um that was just kind of the traditional way that everyone tells you how to get into real estate. And so the numbers when it was more so not for cash flow, it was for the equity and the appreciation in the property. And then it took probably about 2 years before I actually started to have positive cash flow in it. But in the intentions of when I bid did buy it, it was to at least break even onto my expenses and then to just have that appreciation. And so now it's cash flowing over $600 a month and the property value has doubled. Wow. Yeah. I mean that's the benefit of being in a market like Seattle, right? You know,

4:40 you buy at a good time and then you just let the appreciation ride. And I always say, you know, the ultimate goal is to eventually own these assets. But I think, you know, people that when they're start first starting off wanting to get into entrepreneurship or get into all these side hustles, they first need cash flow. I made I mean it wasn't a mistake cuz you know now the properties are worth millions of dollars uh at this point but I think I gotten to the point of getting into rentals too early long-term rentals just because you know you kind of you know hear about you know keep the hold on to the rentals as long as possible but I think what a lot of newbies when they're first starting off they need cash flow and that's why you know I really like this model um and it sounds like that's kind of where you made the pivot because obviously you gained a lot of great appreciation from your the long-term rentals but you wanted more cash flow is that am I on the right track there? Yes, definitely. And it's a lower capital um startup capital cost. Yeah, for sure. Cool. So, yeah, if you wanted to share your screen and you know go into you know some of the numbers as to you know why you wanted to go into this market that you know seem saturated upfront I mean how you know your property is doing now.

5:35 Yeah of course. So I will go on and show the numbers. So for the first property I call and you have two properties now correct? Correct. Got it. And so something that I stumbled upon while going through this journey as well and deciding to move forward with this is that it was a furnished property. And so as you can see my startup cost was a lot less. And the reason why I went with the startup uh or with the furnish property is because the rent would be higher but the initial investment is lower. And so as you can see I started mid August. So this is why the number the revenue is lower. But as it gradually went, I actually found a long-term tenant and then something happened in January, so we had to do some negotiation, but we can talk about that later. And then we put it back into the short-term strategy, but it's been pretty um very flexible in that sense.

6:25 And then, as you can see, my average monthly profits, so this is about 7 months worth because I launched it in August. It's averaging out to 2,500, which is essentially the goal and the um estimate that we had before I made the decision. Awesome. So, you know, that's one thing to, you know, project numbers. It's one thing to actually, you know, execute and get these numbers. So, why do you feel like your property is being able to perform to what your projections were at? I think it's because of the intentions that I have in the style of the property and the clientele I was going for. So, I'm going to share what the property looks like and what I mean by that. And so, as you can see, most of the properties that you see in Scottsdale are usually tailored to like bachelors, bachelors, and they have beautiful sightings uh or painting outdoor paintings and art and things like that.

7:14 And so, this is the furnished property. And because of the clientele I was going for is more luxury, more toileting. I think that is what separates me as well that I'm pet friendly. And so, as you can see, this is kind of how I set it up. A lot of the furniture was there, but the theme I started I just pulled all the pieces together with um little small interior designs. But mainly, I think what separates me a lot from the Scottsdale market is that I'm more tailored towards the luxury than I am towards like the parties and the big No. Yeah. I mean, it's really smart that you you kind of understand that because like most people, you know, let's, you know, use Scottell as an example. Like you said, I think a lot of people want to cater towards those bachelorette, you know, and the bachelor parties. A couple things there. One, you develop a really crappy relationship with uh neighbors.

8:02 They're always going to be mad at you. They're always going to want to try to kick you out. And then two, you you notice that there's a little gap in the marketplace where, you know, not a lot of people are catering towards, you know, luxury families. So, those people are always going to treat your properties better and that you can also, you know, charge a bit more for the for that. So, it's, you know, really cool that you were able to, you know, kind of find that segment in the marketplace. And then did how like how long did you did it take you before you kind of discover that or you know what made you kind of come to that realization you wanted to cater towards that clientele versus a different one? I discovered it I think based off of my financial background and the different clientele that I would work with. So I kind of used my previous knowledge into that and then I kind of went with the also approach of if this is somewhere I would stay because it's what I would stay and also what my friends and family always look for since everyone has families and kids and and whatnot. I've always heard that it's very difficult for them to find a place for them. So generally they go to hotels that accommodates them. So I was like oh well what if I kind of create that same kind of environment with them providing that crib providing those like play areas and things like that and if they have dogs and a lot of families that travel also travel with dogs with kids so it's like how do you kind of create a hybrid of that um so I use a lot of my previous experience and then just what my family and friends always talk about and look for and what their challenges were and so I was just trying to fit that um fit that niche.

9:15 Yeah. Very smart. So it sounds like you uh out have you outsourced the management side then? Okay, cool. So what made you want to you know go that route versus maybe managing yourself uh from the start? I would always love to manage it from um from the start but because I was traveling for the last year and I didn't know where I was going to be and because of the time zone differences, I just wanted to outsource it for the year and see how things would play out and then also to learn from them and their process and whatnot since I was still new to it. So, I didn't I factored in the property management cost into my calculations as well, knowing that I'll have a lower um profit, but it's peace of mind that I was paying for. Yeah, I think that's you said something really important as well. You know, you're learning from them because, you know, a lot of times people want to outsource too quickly and they don't really understand what goes on, you know, behind the scenes to see like, you know, what levers you can pull to maybe increase revenue, increase customer satisfaction. There's a lot of there's a lot of bad property management companies out there from my experience that will completely just tank a awesome property.

10:13 So, what kind of steps and due diligence steps did you take to find this property management company? And it sounds like they're doing a good job for you. They are doing a great job for me. How did I find them? Um, actually it was from a Facebook group and I was just monitoring them for like 3 months and then finally I reached out to the guy and I was like, "Hey, can we go on a Facebook call and he was you want to see if I'm real?" I was like, "Yes." And then I did like another three months of just like seeing how they communicate, what their style was, understanding what their strategies were. Um, looking at their previous properties or their existing properties and how they've managed and how they're doing. And then I think it's just taken about six months to really build that trust with them and then just moving forward. Um, but it was really about the communication style. Yeah, that's super important. I mean, obviously not a lot of people have the luxury to, you know, kind of look after them for six months in a public Facebook group, but there are ways you can condense that. you know, asking the right questions, making sure you get client referrals, and then yeah, like the best indicator is just going on Airbnb, seeing the properties they manage and go and looking at the reviews from, you know, people that are staying there. Those are some ways they can expedite that. But no, really important if you're going to outsource to make sure that you have, you know, really good due diligence because again, property management companies can make or break your property no matter how good your actual property is. completely agree and I think you bring up a great point about how to asking the right questions and I think that also tailor

11:31 into like when you're talking to the landlord and if you want to partner with them because you learn about their communication styles how they um how you will work with them and so it's a very similar process I think from when I picked the property management asking those right questions to also to the landlord. Cool. So, I know you said you have another property. So, if you want to, you know, do a little deep dive on that property as well, and then we can kind of go into your thought process as to how you picked it and what made you decide to go with this next property. Yeah, of course. So, we will go through the numbers first. And so, for the second property, ironically enough, it was 10 minutes away from my first property, so I didn't really have to do any due diligence in knowing what AirDNA and what the market says. Uh, this it also was furnished. This one had a little bit more um of a startup cost because it needed a little bit more love. It wasn't as turnkey in that sense, but it has done really well. As you can see, October I it was a really slow month cuz I was still getting everything up and running. We also started in the middle of October and then from there we got a long-term or midterm lease. I would say it was 4 months and then this one is averaging right now 2,200 for me over the last 6 months since starting it. Awesome. So, uh, for this property, maybe we can, you know, share the the listing. So, what was your, you know, your target clientele that you're after on this one?

12:47 Like, did you want to like were you kind of scared of the cannibalization of, you know, your other property being 10 minutes away? And so, let's kind of talk about your strategy for this one. I actually was, it's the same exact strategy. And because it was 10 minutes away, I wasn't worried about it because I saw how the um the demand was from my first property. And then this one, the what separated it was that it has a putting green from there. It has a different feeling to it, but it's was still very family oriented. And so, as you can see, I had to add wallpaper because I wanted to bring more color into it. Um, this one I had the furniture, added a couple other things like accent chairs and whatnot, but it was really about building a a different type of theme here, which was more colors and wallpaper cuz otherwise it felt very bland. So, as you can see, there was some hesitancy because of the kitchen. And something that I always look at is the kitchen style, cuz I think that is a very good starting point of understanding kind of the quality of the entire rest of the home. But this is something that we built out was completely white and it was very just dry looking. Um, and so adding all these different colors and patterns and stuff has really helped it and actually got us a lot of good feedback on reviews from it. But essentially, it was kind of the same approach in the sense of going after the family and whatnot. So, I didn't really have any hesitancy. If anything, it made it easier to make that decision. Got it. And then how did you

14:05 find this property? The same property manager. They just reached out to me and was like, "Hey, we have this. What do you think?" And I was like, "Let's do it. Why not?" Yeah. And I mean, that's that's like, you know, real estate is such a huge relationship game. Um, you know, once you develop a good relationship with someone, you know, property managers, real estate agents, lenders, like they will come to you and if they know that you'll be able to close on a deal, they'll present you deals that, you know, you might have overlooked or might have just completely missed in in the first place. And so, just being able to develop that relationship with the, you know, this property management company you you were able to pick up a second property, cash flowing $2,200 a month, which is awesome. And so, is your plan now to continue to, you know, build more properties here in this market, or are you now looking elsewhere for your next property? Let's talk about your future goals here. So, my future goal is um moving to Austin was with the intention to understand the market and the real estate market. So, I am actually looking to um acquire another one or two properties in Texas. It's funny enough that my property management is located here too. I didn't even know that. So, so you're you're you're just going to make them, you know, go on the hunt to find the properties and then you'll just Yeah. Awesome.

15:11 Yeah. All right. So let's talk about um you know maybe some of your you know we got you know it's April right now in 2024. So like what are your goals for the rest of this year in terms of you know number of properties you want and you know maybe cash flow numbers you want to get to as well. I would say cash flow I am very comfortable with just $5,000 a month with the two properties that I have. And if I want to extend that then I would look for one or two more properties and of course I want to double it. So 10,000 how that I think one of the goals that I have is to really focus on like my passion project spending time with my family and friends and really enjoying it. And so although I really want to scale, I think it is important. It's not as much pressure as it was last year when I quit my job. It's more so of like if it happens, it's great. So it's more about spending more time with my family and friends, which is the reason why you quit your job and find passive income is to just enjoy life. So yeah, 100%. So, you know, I think we kind of glossed on this, but I wanted to dive a little bit deeper cuz I know there's a lot of people that are in a, you know, WT job that want to quit.

16:09 So, what made you, you know, get the courage and like where were you at cash flow-wise before you took the leap to actually quit your job? Cash flow-wise, I definitely had to build a couple different other passive incomes on top of the arbitrage. And so it was understanding what my budget would look like and when I would travel and kind of um building that plan out for that 12 months and then knowing that I will have another stream of income which was this Airbnb arbitrage I think is what helped me really um move forward with quitting my job. So it was like getting comfortable with what I already have and then also knowing that I was going to create opportunities to create more. That is how I decided to move forward is kind of building like a one-year plan and understanding what it looks like, what my expenses would look like, and then how to find essentially a passive income stream to cover one of the each of those big expenses. Yeah, that's really really important. So, I think there's so many people and again there's different risk tolerance tolerances you can take depending on what phase of life you're in, right? Like I always tell people you use the six rule. So, you need at least 6 months of living expenses, you know, kind of set aside and then 6 months of your side hustle, like being able to have that track record to show that, okay, this actually works. And then I have this plan, like you said, of, you know, where I'm going to be at here in the next maybe 6 12 months. And you can play around with those numbers depending on, you know, how many, you know, what expenses you have, what your risk tolerance is, you know, all that stuff. But it's really

17:27 important that you know you don't just go and just drastically just quit your job because that is one of the most dangerous things that you can do especially if you have a family and other people that you have to provide for. So it sounds like you kind of took some similar approach where you had like everything mapped out before you took the leap. Yes. And I think that's what helped me um move forward with it is just having everything mapped out, having a strategy, understanding that you can create more passive income, what that looks like, getting more comfortable with um so I learned about your program in January. I quit my job in April. So that was three months for me to really build a foundation and feel comfortable with the strategy. And then it was like, okay, now I need to give my time to it. But let me build all these other passive income streams before I do that or just maximize what I have. And so that is and actually that six-month will was perfect because after 6 months of your program, that's when I got my first property. I mean, what what's your kind of aspirations now moving forward?

18:14 Like I know you want, you know, continue to be in this entrepreneurship. It's kind of like almost like a digital nomad lifestyle. Like what's your kind of goals like maybe like the next 5 years? is like, do you want to continue kind of building what you have? And I would imagine you probably don't want to go back to a W2 job. Absolutely not going back to a W2 job. Um, I don't think there's anything that could really pull me back. Uh, I want to focus on my passion projects. And so that's a lot with doing with coaching people, helping people understand finances and real estate. I want to expand my real estate portfolio and continue to learn different strategies. And I think that's all dependent on so many different factors, but it's to kind of scale in real estate, but also with the coaching side because that is something that does bring me joy as well. Yeah. And I think that's really important finding kind of that purpose. If you can find something that fulfills you and also pays the bills, like that's kind of the win-win.

19:00 And you know, I'm I'm kind of the similar way like when I, you know, quit my job and like, you know, had my first taste of entrepreneurship, like yeah, there there's days where it absolutely sucks and you know, you you realize like did I make the wrong decision? But, you know, kind of thinking back to that WT lifestyle, like you, you know, people that kind of taste that freedom will never want to go back. And so, like, you have to make sure and again, worst case scenario, you know, crap at the fan, like I'm sure we could, you know, we would go back and, you know, make things work. But, you know, just just fair warning for those people that are looking to quit their jobs, like you're not going to want to go back. So you have to, you know, make sure that you, you know, go all in and have a plan mapped out before you, you know, take that leap because, you know, it is a very dangerous game to play, you know, if you're just going to recklessly quit your job and, you know, try to make your way into entrepreneurship. I completely agree, having that appetite for it and understanding what that looks like. And then also what you mentioned, like you can always go back, you just don't want to. So it's like that's kind of your driver to keep going forward and keep learning and growing in that sense. All right. Um, so Kiana, thanks for the time. Thanks for diving into everything.

20:02 So, you know, before we hop off here, what are, you know, last any words of advice that you would give to someone that's, you know, looking to, you know, make their leap into quitting their job or kind of following the same path that you've you've gone down cuz I think a lot of people are interested in what you've done. I think it's really important to keep an open mind and educate yourself as much as possible from all the different resources that are out there for us. I know there are a lot of different Instagram influencers, YouTube, but it's just really important to just build a good foundation where you understand before you move forward in any kind of investments or big decisions like that. So, understanding real estate and the different terminologies outside of Airbnb arbitrage, understanding how the market is, I think it's very helpful and important to have as much knowledge as you can before you make a decision and not just to look at projections, it's to understand what those projections mean. Awesome. Well, again, appreciate the time, Kum. Um, I'm sure this going to help a lot of people.