Yacksmith Properties

Renting water heaters is such a rip off! I think we all used to be blind to it because the price of rental was included in our gas bills. But this spring that partnership ended and now we all pay separately.

Usually if you buy a new water heater you’ll pay it off within a couple years. Which means you’re paying like 5x the amount you should over 10 years by renting! And you can often get 0% interest payment plans too spread over a year or two, so there’s no reason not to do this.

You can buy out your water heater but depending on how old it is, it’s often more $ than it’s worth. I’m on the phone with them right now and one of our properties has a veryyyyy old one so we just bought it out for $100 😂 I should have done this a long time ago! (Over 20 yrs old so I definitely need to replace that one soon though … 😬)

The other 2 water heater rentals at other properties are not worth buying out from Enercare (they just told me it would be $1000 for a 2016 one and $500 for a 2014 one). So I will be looking into purchasing new ones and ending my Enercare contracts soon. 💪

I know I’ve talked about this many times before but is a MESS. 😂 But we have been using it for about 1.5 years, so these are some of the pros and cons if you’re interested!

CONS:
- I have way more issues with them than Airbnb
- my VRBO bookings take probably 5x more work to manage than my Airbnb bookings - the platform is pretty clunky and inefficient
- there are so many features lacking (like scheduled/automated messages!)
- to change someone’s reservation you need to manually do it (the guest can’t do anything on their end) and there are no automatic refunds with changes, just ‘recommended’ refunds (which are super ambiguous, delayed, and often wrong so guests get mad).
- There are often problems with their calendars and syncing and they have double booked me a few times.
- I’ve had many guests get so frustrated with them that they said they will never use VRBO again!
- VRBO often calls me at night with requests or changes guests have called them about, which could easily be done online
- they don’t allow me to list units in Ottawa (probably bc of STR regulations) which means I can’t list my Orleans medium term rentals
- and unfortunately there are more cons… 😅

PROS:
- I DO get regular bookings with them 🤷‍♀️
- they automatically list my properties on Expedia and Booking.com which is useful, so for now I’m still using it! (Not sure for how long I will continue though)

But they better get their s**t together or their company’s future is not going to be so bright 😅

Do you have experience with VRBO? Any other pros and cons you can think of? Any horror stories you want to share? 😂 Comment below!

Cozy little corner in one of our medium term rentals brought to you by Ikea, Structube, Kijiji, and Facebook Marketplace! ☕️🛋️ 🖼️

We always have books at every short and medium term rental. Mau and I both love reading and we love having a bookshelf stocked with different types of books for guests to enjoy 📚

I never knew money was such a big issue for couples to talk about. Mau and I have always been so open about our money/financial situation. We really don’t have secrets about money and we talk about it in some way every single day.

But I’ve talked to multiple friends lately who say they can’t talk to their partners about money, and they don’t know their partner’s financial situation. 🤯

We also just found out that someone who was close with us (who often talked about having money troubles with their partner) said some unkind comments to someone else about how I secretly waste money on stuff without Mau knowing… or something like that. (Mau admits that if anything, likely the opposite would be true actually 😂) It’s completely untrue and just mean gossip, but what a weird thing to gossip about.

These instances, and now this show “Design Your Rich Life” that I’m watching, are making me realize it’s a huge problem in most relationships! I just never knew. Do you talk to your partner about money? If not, why not? If you don’t talk regularly and openly to your partner about money, I urge you to start making conversations about money the norm. I just can’t imagine having a healthy and trusting relationship any other way. Money is a huge part of our lives - a source of stress and also of joy! We should be sharing this with our partners.

What do you think?! Tell me your thoughts / experiences! 💰❤️

Little kitchen breakfast nook in our newest Airbnb! 😍

I had a ✨vision✨ for this property. It’s a renovated century-home so I wanted to go for antique-meets-modern vibes.

I wanted a lot of beautiful black furniture, but it’s so pricy and/or hard to find (because everyone wants it too right now!).

So… I decided to DIY (except I don’t DIY so we hired a handyman to do the DIY part 😂)

We got this table for $30 from FB marketplace, got some black paint, and our handyman painted it. It turned out perfectly!!

We did this for some other furniture too! Want to see? 👀

➡️Swipe to see some inspiration for this table that was wayyyy out of our budget.

Our annual bubbly + goal setting NYE date! 🥂 For the past few years we haven’t gone out to party on NYE like we used to (things change with little babies!) - instead we spend the time together having a little goal setting date. We reflect on last year’s goals and whether or not we achieved them.

Sometimes we didn’t achieve a goal and we don’t care about that goal anymore!

Sometimes we improved in a certain area but didn’t quite hit our goal.

And sometimes we smash the goal right out of the park.

It doesn’t really matter. 🤷‍♀️ Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s all just a way to reflect and practice gratitude and set intentions. Also it’s so fun to look at past years’ goals!

Happy New Years everyone. ❤️ I hope you all have a year filled with love, happiness, and rest.

#2023

What is your ONE MAIN focus or goal this year? ☝️

Mine is to build a super strong foundation! In my business and my health (mental and physical).

This past year I definitely progressed in my 2022 goal of growth 🎉, but my sanity definitely suffered 😝 (I’m sure many of you can relate)

So, this coming year I need to take a step back to stabilize and focus on perfecting the properties and businesses I have, and taking better care of my mind and body.

Shoutout to these amazing ladies in the photo!
We did a great goal setting session about a week ago and it was so helpful and just what I needed. No intense hustle mentality. Just kindness, compassion, support, health, happiness, and wealth. ❤️

Let me know in the comments what your main focus or goal is for 2023! You could inspire someone who is feeling stuck. ❤️

(Ps your goal could be to simply rest more!🧘‍♀️ or it could be to buy 20 properties! Whatever it is that you need in your life right now.)

#2023