Short term rental via Event Venues.

[Demetrius Harrell]

Investment Info:

Retail other investment.

Cash invested: $3,600

I run my event venue/ event space like an Airbnb.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I have been interested in commercial deals and short term rentals for long time. As a new real estate investor searching for my first deal and knowing what my long term goal is for commercial real estate I joined an Event space investor group and found a lot of similarities between short term rentals (such as Airbnb) and Event Spaces.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I looked at 200 locations prior then a member of the event space group I am a part of asked if anyone had an event space in the area. I thought to myself that most of the people that have their event space are in a specific part of Georgia and this city is 45 minutes from me so I will look to see what I can find. On my lunch break I check on Loop Net and found this building and drove to go see it after work. I saw the building in person and got the property leased under contract the same week.

How did you finance this deal?

Some personal cash and lines of credit.

What was the outcome?

I have been in business for a year and 2 months and business continues to pick up. My weekends are completely booked until January 2023.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Lessons learned:
- How to start up with less capital
- How to create partnerships
- How to focus my marketing so my Event space is primarily know for a specific type of event
- How to negotiate
- Systems are your best friend
- Create an event space environment that has a unique selling point

Challenges:
- Competition, 2 new venues are attempting to copy by business model
- Positioning the business for long term growth
- Developing better systems