My Grandfather's People (Dedemin İnsanları)

On this episode, we're off to Austin, Texas,

to help the owner of this struggling pool property.

I had to move so quickly, I didn't really have time to optimize it.

The location is perfect, but it's not living up to its potential.

And we've got what look to be devices that you smoke pot in.

To turn this around, we'll make some Texas-sized transformations.

-How much does it weigh? -A thousand pounds.

And teach this headstrong owner...

I'm worried about what you guys are gonna do.

You should be.

...how to succeed at short-term rental.

Oh, my god!

Right now, we are on one of the main arteries of Austin.

This is South Congress.

I think the locals call it... SoCo.

The style is definitely separate from the rest of Texas,

a culture unto itself.

-You can just feel the vibrance here. -Yeah.

Austin is just loaded with incredibly good food,

of course, including barbecue.

Incredible live music scene, and this giant tech hub as well.

Austin's a top destination

for some of the world's biggest conventions and festivals.

Things like South by Southwest and Austin City Limits

make it a huge location for vacation rentals.

There are lots of hotels being built right now because the demand is so high.

There are approximately 6,200 vacation rental properties in Austin.

Last year, they brought in about $250 million in revenue for owners.

South Congress is one of the most desirable neighborhoods in the city,

and this house is two blocks away, and it's really exceptional.

Let's talk about the rental that needs our help.

Bret, our homeowner, landed a great job in Colorado.

He's back and forth between Colorado and Austin.

He does have a property management company.

They're handling the property while he's away.

This is his property management website.

From the pictures, it looks cute from the street.

I feel like there's no style or personality. It's just very disjointed.

There is no design.

He's marketing it as a two-bedroom, two-bathroom right now.

-Yeah. -It looks like there's a bedroom

that's being used as an office, which, for me, is a big no-no.

The last thing I'm going to do when I'm on vacation

is go sit in someone else's half-imagined office.

It has a pool.

-A pool's a big deal in Texas. - Yeah!

He is one of three in the neighborhood.

Three vacation rentals that have a pool.

-That's it. -That's crazy.

He's not attracting the guests 'cause it's not dialed-in.

He is leaving so much money on the table.

His potential for profit, I don't think he's even seeing it.

You've got a management company, so good job there.

But the biggest problem is Bret is not complying with what they want him to do.

The management company is considering dropping him.

-Is that's what's happening? -Yeah!

He's in trouble, huh?

He's going to be really in trouble. I've invited them to the property,

so we can all meet and let's hash this out.

-Cute street. -It's super cute.

And beautiful little picket fence, and yellow cottage. Definitely inviting.

I don't even mind the yellow, I quite like it.

I'm happy to see that, on the front exterior, we don't have to do any work

because we have to do a lot in the interior and the backyard.

She's pretty.

-Hi, Bret. -Hey, y'all.

-How you doing? -What a cute house!

Thank you, guys, so much.

My name is Bret Caddison.

I live in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, part of the year,

and I've been dividing my time between Colorado and Austin.

You're from here, right?

I grew up in Austin. I always wanted to live in this neighborhood.

I bought it about two years ago, and I had planned to do a renovation,

but, ultimately, got a job offer in Colorado that I couldn't pass up.

-Got it. -So I immediately started renting it out.

I wanted to be completely hands off, so I hired a property management firm.

What's the problem? Why are we here?

I'm bringing in about $250 a night, on average, at 60 percent occupancy.

I'd love to make money on this house,

but I'm losing a little bit of money every month

when you factor in the money I have to pay the property management company.

My goal is increase the occupancy to run 80 percent.

It's really a function of, can I double or triple what I'm getting?

Triple? Easy, tiger.

I like to set ambitious goals.

My property could definitely be designed to be a lot more appealing.

So you really just need a serious design and look to market.

I think that's exactly what it needs. It needs more of a hook.

Guess what? I'm a designer. Let's go do this.

The truth is, managing a hospitality business

isn't really in my DNA.

So having Peter and Genevieve's help will be invaluable to me.

This is kind of the dining area,

which I use occasionally for small dinner parties and whatnot.

I'm sorry. I'm barely steps into the place,

and we've got what look to be like devices that you smoke pot in.

So what if a family is checking in and the first thing their kids see...

-"What are those, Mommy?" -Hookah!

I've collected these from all over the world.

The depersonalization of this home is something that we have to work on

because this isn't just for you anymore.

Maybe this is more of a game room or something fun.

I actually have a tabletop Ms. Pac-Man game

that's about yea high, like from pizza parlors.

I have it at at a friend's house 'cause I had no room.

Here's the spot! I would die if that were in a house that I rented.

I challenge you to a game.

-I will kill you. -All right!

What I'm really loving, visually, is this hallway.

-What's in this room? -That's actually an office.

I also use it for storage and lock it off when guests are here.

It's a nice size.

So the thing that jumps out to me.

Heads in beds is how you fluff up the numbers.

You want to make more money, increase your occupancy,

yet you're sealing off one of the rooms that can be occupied.

I need a place to do work. I'm here a lot.

When was the last time you worked in this room?

The sigh says a lot.

Judging by the mouse and the monitor, it was the '80s you were last in here!

Damn, kitty has claws!

Okay, kitchen time.

All right, the kitchen's been renovated.

-Lots of space. -Yeah, it works great.

We have glass cabinetry, which is great for guest rentals 'cause...

You can see everything, you don't need to go digging through drawers.

-I wouldn't spend the money here. -Terrific.

This area, though, needs a lot of love. Take me to your living room lair.

-Sure. -Okay.

Tell me about your furniture picks in here.

I have to admit, I had always wanted a recliner couch

and my ex told me it was too trashy, and he was absolutely right.

-Can we talk about the arrangement? -Okay.

So Peter's over there. I'm going to sit over here. Hey, Peter!

Hey, Gen! Hi!

I can't hear you.

-It's really uncomfortably far away. -Okay, guys, you've made your point.

This room needs a little bit of work, I get it.

Biggest project is your backyard.

-Ready? -Yeah.

Let's go.

Okay. Oh, my gosh!

You have a pool, a hot tub, patio area, cabana, pool house,

and then this little litter box!

Yes, so... the people before me bought used Putt-Putt turf.

-Putt-Putt gone wrong, right? -Yes, an abomination.

Let's look at the real abomination,

this huge exposed pipe situation.

This is all for the pool.

We'll cover this so we don't have to look at it full-time but can access it.

Just like when you enter the house,

the exit to the backyard needs to be just as impressive.

Let's talk about this space right here.

A grilling situation would be good. You gotta represent.

Absolutely.

This is where we chill by the pool.

This is something we see all over the country.

A really easy way to combat this is to use furniture covers.

'Cause you're not here, they should be on the furniture every time a guest leaves.

Okay.

The shade detail is a huge feature of any backyard.

People overlook it way too often.

This is just dirt. We can clean this off easily, which saves you a lot of money.

You know, at a hotel, the cabana is always the most expensive poolside seat.

We want this to feel like that destination as well. However, it costs you nothing.

Now, let's talk about this pool shed. What's in here?

TV boxes...

snowmen...

- Snowmen? -Some killer pumpkins.

The thing I like about this: this could be your storage, for sure.

You could put a little desk in here and work in here!

And you're completely private from the house.

We put money in your pocket by turning that into a bedroom, which is key.

Bret, I want to know if I have full permission to use this

-as a big ornament in your backyard. -Yeah.

Now, we're going to get down to business.

We've brought your property management company as well.

All be on the same page to make sure we're doing everything for this property.

Great.

I realized I wasn't going to have time to focus on the property.

And so I hired a property management company.

They take care of the maintenance, handle the guests.

-Hi, guys! -Hi!

What I like about them is our economic interests are aligned.

If they see an opportunity to improve revenue on my property,

they're going to do it.

Our job, here at Turnkey, is to help homeowners

maximize the potential for income through their property.

Raul, you know the property well. What do you,

and your company, recommend that Bret does immediately?

Couple recommendations when he first joined our program,

which was to convert the office to a third bedroom

to increase the occupancy rate.

Turnkey told me to convert my office into the third bedroom,

which I should have done before I left.

He has this amazing pool area in the backyard.

But it's not hitting its potential in terms of the landscaping.

It's Austin. You have to have a barbecue. It's the center--

It's like sacrilegious, yeah.