Samantha Kish will be sharing her experience and insight on short-term rentals in Summit County, Colorado.
Welcome to Mountain Real Estate. Today is an exciting version because we have an interview with Samantha Kish, a local master at mountain real estate. I’m met Sam when she was staying in Frisco last summer with her husband and kids. We got introduced through a mutual friend and had our first blind date biking Vail Pass. She is definitely someone you meet and it is hard not to enjoy being around her.
Sam: I have been in real estate since 2014; that’s when we bought our first investment. We’ve only invested in Frisco, Colorado, outside of our primary residence. We started relatively small with a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom home. Then we’ve been able to go from there. I’m sure we can get into all the details but it’s been a really fun and exciting chapter for me, both personally to enjoy it and bike, and also professionally for rental income and learning how to manage an Airbnb.
Candice: What inspired you to purchase your first mountain home in Colorado?
Sam: My husband Mark and I were living in San Francisco at the time. We knew that San Francisco wasn’t a place where we wanted to really establish roots and buy a house. We were starting to build some money. We had some cash and were thinking about the right investment for us to make. We love Colorado and we knew we wanted to eventually move here and to buy in Frisco. We’ve always loved Frisco, just because of the accessibility to I-70, and all the resorts, and the iconic Main Street. Those are some of the reasons that drove us into Frisco.
Even at that time, the prices were high. At least we thought they were high, for us, and wondered if we could afford a house there. Then our house came on the market, our awesome realtor called and facetimed us, and we put an offer in on the same day.
Candice: Was it as competitive back then than it is now?
Sam: Definitely no. It has been so much more competitive. At the time for us, it seemed like so much money, but now in hindsight, that was nothing. We spent around $250,000 and it felt like a big investment, but as you’ve seen with properties in Summit County now, you can’t find anything at that kind of price point.
Candice: I remember spending about that much on my first house and it felt like I was selling my soul. And now, you can’t even buy land for that anywhere. So, you got into Frisco with your investment property, then you mentioned that you kind of upgraded, can you tell us about that progression?
Sam: It’s interesting that we’ve had 3 properties and, you know I guess 8 years now. And it just happened. We had that first place and were walking on Main Street and saw something going for sale. It was comparable in size and way more outdated. We saw the price point that it was selling for and we were just shocked. We were shocked how quickly the market appreciated, like within two years of when we bought that first place. The market appreciated quickly so we were able to do the 1031 exchange and buy a bigger place.
Also from a personal standpoint at that time, our family was expanding, I had my daughter Taylor when we had the first place. Then as you start to realize that the walls are getting closer and closer and you need more space.
The other problem that we ran into is we always wanted to invite our friends and family, so when you have a two-bedroom place with kids, it starts to get really cramped. That’s one of the other reasons we wanted to host. We ended up with a 2-bedroom 2-bath but it was still a more spacious place. Now, our final property is 3 bedrooms 2 ½ baths. It’s a beautiful place and great for hosting. I’ve had to experience it and I mean you’re also on Main Street in Frisco. It’s super fun. I think it’s really important for our renters to be within walking distance to Main Street or downtown.
Candice: That’s awesome. Sounds like you guys have made some good investments along the way, even if you didn’t really know what you’re getting into back in the day.
Shifting gears a little bit, you mentioned that you use it as an investment and you do short-term rentals, can you talk to us about how you manage those rentals? Do you have a property manager or if you do it yourself? What’s your experience with that?
Sam: That’s been a journey for us also. When we started, we had a fabulous property manager. It was a really small company and we had a personal relationship with the owner. He was incredibly responsive and everything was working pretty seamlessly.
Also at that time, we were living in California so if something went wrong it would be really difficult for us to get up there. Over the past 10 years, I feel like Airbnb, and the tools to manage properties on your own, have gotten so much better. In the beginning, we started out with a property manager and things were going along pretty seamlessly. We would just get checks and were very uninvolved; which is great but he ended up selling his company.
At that point, we looked around at other companies and property managers, but they are expensive. We ended up switching to a really large property manager in the area and unfortunately had a pretty bad experience. It started becoming a lot of work to manage the property manager. So at that point, my husband Mark and I decided that we would take it over ourselves; starting last January. We’re almost coming up on a full year of managing it on our own but prior to that, we’ve always had a property manager.
Candice: Now that you have a year under your belt, what has been, I assume, the biggest benefit is the finances. But what has been the biggest drawback and if there are other benefits?
Sam: The other big benefit, that I didn’t really anticipate, is that I love the direct communication with our guests. Before, I don’t want to say black hole because you would still see if they left a review of you and stuff, but you don’t really know who was staying at your house.
“I like having the connections, seeing the people who stay, posting about their experiences, and sharing memories with their family. It makes me feel happy that we’re doing it so that’s one big benefit. In addition to the finances.”
I think that’s the biggest con is just the time. Correspondence does take time. If there are issues, you have to be available anytime because questions can come up. Overall I’m really happy that we are taking it on and I don’t think we’ll go back to the property manager.
Candice: Sam you sold some good perks of being your own property manager but has there ever been a time that you have been like I really want to go back to the property manager?
Sam: In general, it’s been really easy. Honestly, easier than I was expecting to take over. But there have been two specific situations when I was thought this might not be for me. I’ll share one, so of course, when it rains it pours right. My husband was out of town on a guys trip, and me and the kids were flying for our first time since covid. I already had a lot of anxiety about traveling with two young kids by myself. And that is the day that the cleaners contacted me and told me the sink and faucet fell off of the counter, like it came disattached in the kitchen. This was a massive problem because we had a renter checking in the following day. So you panic ensues.
“Another good tip is to have a list of people that you have relationships with that you can contact like a handyman or plumber.”
I love our cleaners. To have that kind of infrastructure on play when something goes wrong so it’s not your first time working on Google for hours. That’s where I was. I was very panicky, and because it was like in the evening, I had to get this fixed by the next day.
One other thing that I learned from that was there’s a fabulous Facebook page for Summit County, which I know you also know and use. That’s a great resource and you can post on there at 8 p.m. like I need a plumber tonight! You will actually get responses. Then you call and people are available, reliable, and showed up. There were a few hours in there that I was like, how am I going to explain to our renters that we don’t have a kitchen sink? You have to be resourceful. And like I said, I think I now have a little bit better grasp on who I can call in those situations.
Candice: I have a similar story from our long-term rental and the basement flooded. I was pregnant. It was 8 p.m. on a Sunday night, and of course, Narendra was out of town. And it does not happen at a convenient time. You don’t get those calls when it when it’s convenient. It’s definitely a good thing to remember. I remember my grandma always saying, never be a property manager you’ll get phone calls at 3 a.m. and you’ll have to go deal with a leaky faucet.
Sam: She’s right, and like I said, it’s not often. But it’s never a good time.
Candice: Having that network of people to reach out to really makes a big difference when you get those phone calls.
Speaking of your connection with your people, I think one of the things that I have enjoyed just being your friend, is kind of watching you promote it and Frisco in general. You are really truly a social media queen. My husband and I both really admire your content. What do you feel has been the best way to engage your clients? Either ones that are staying there currently or reconnecting with ones who have been there in the past or finding new clients. I guess it’s kind of all three phases.
Sam: Yeah I exclusively use Instagram to promote our house, and also like you said, to promote Frisco. Frisco has so much to offer. I think people living their lives, even in Denver; you’re busy and you may not know all the exciting things that are happening in the mountains. Such as a new restaurant opening or if there’s a Fourth of July parade. I just try to let people know either whatever I find out that I think would be cool to go or try to share with my guests or people who are interested in the area. I just try to be consistent.
“That’s the biggest thing that I try to do with Instagram is consistently sharing updates or thinking of things that might be of interest to any of my guests.”
I think I’ve received some pretty positive feedback. It’s hard to know though how it translates to booking. I wish I had a little bit better or more quantifiable data to be like okay, I promoted this, and now this much in revenue. I get messages and DMs from people so it seems like a lot of the content is resonating.
Candice: I think Frisco should give you a little kickback because you do a great job promoting the town. Speaking of that though, do you have people that come back each year?
Yeah, I have a lot of good feedback. That’s also something I have insight on now, knowing who the guests are. We haven’t had any repeat bookings through Airbnb yet but we’ve had a lot of people that are requesting to stay over the past year. I think it’ll be interesting because to see, as I continue to manage this myself, all I think is that we’ll get those guests to come back every year. It hasn’t been a common thing. Also transitioning from our property manager to Airbnb. If anyone has found our house again then I don’t have a record that they stayed.
Candice: Well it sounds like you’re doing things right because you’re getting great feedback. That social proof is really important in the short-term rental game.
Let’s look a little bit moving forward. What do you think would be your next real estate move? You said this one was the final, but any other prospects for real estate?
Sam: No, I think this is our final in Frisco, but maybe not our final ever. We love mountain towns and we’d love to do more of this. If Crested Butte was more affordable we would definitely have a house there. I think it’s just a matter of finding the right investment, where it’s has a great location, a great property, and priced reasonably. I don’t know. TBD. Maybe we’ll get in some kind of partnership. You never know.
Candice: Yes, if we find something, call me. One more. Where is your favorite place to visit in Frisco?
Sam: There’s so many. It’s such a tough question. I think my favorite specific place is Rainbow Lake. That’s mostly because I’ve been there a million times. It is walkable from our house. You can go in winter or summer, all seasons. My kids can go and I feel like I just have a lot of happy memories hiking to Rainbow Lake. That’s my answer but Main Street, the bike path, like I could give you a long list. Especially with kids; when you see your kids enjoying something you love to do.
You can find Samantha Kish and her vacation rental on Instagram @FriscoMountainHouse and Airbnb.
You can watch or listen to the podcast episode below. You can also find it on YouTube or Apple Podcasts.
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