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As Featured in West + Main Home Magazine: Building the Brand

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By Julie Robertson

 

In this day and age, short term rentals are becoming a popular way to boost your side hustle and income. However, it must be strategically thought out as to how you market your short term rental on Airbnb. Creating a great marketing scheme for your short term rental will, in the long term, completely benefit you. A property that really looks like a “brand” will build far more brand confidence and trust in the guests that stay there. Branding your property will also create a much more “professional” look for the host. In the points to come, you will be able to figure out how to most effectively brand you short term rental to not only bring in the max amount of income. And have fun doing it!

How to brand your short term rental

1. Choose your name

Think about where your rental is. Is there historical significance? Do you have a personal tie to the area? Could there be a play on words? Try to keep the name 1-4 words.

2. Come up with a logo

In Bethany Buchanan's "Vail Tree House", designer Julie Robertson came up with an all-encompassing logo design signifying what Bethany wanted shown. The logo can be used on notecards throughout the property showing rules + directions on how to operate things in the property. They can also be used on mugs, tote bags, koozies, and wall art.

3. Bring the branding into the website listing

Once you have your name + logo, make sure this branding is consistent on the website listing for the property. Using similar wording, phrasing, and imagery ties the brand to the listing.

4. Use social media to reinforce the brand

Create an Instagram account for your property. Additionally, create a hashtag that guests can use to tag photos of their adventures with. For Bethany's rental, #VailTree- House is the hashtag that the guests use to post with. Not only does this give promotion to the property , but it gives you, the host, content to use for Instagram as time goes on.

Bethany Buchanan’s Vail Tree House

Photos are Everything

Including photos from unique angles and highlighting interesting spaces that your guests check out can show off a unique area of your property and align with your branding. In the case of your short term rental, your listing will be judged by its cover, photos. Investing in professionally taken photos will pay off immensely in the long run. Make sure to include photos that go along with your rental's branding. In the case of W+M OK founder, Jarred D. Smith's Oklahoma City short term rental and Rachel Cardwell’s short term rental, they were able to capture all the fun and playful spaces throughout the properties to invite the guests in and get comfortable in the space. The photos worked together seamlessly.

Info on featured short-term rentals

Rachel Cardwell's Castle Rock Airbnb
Listed as Castle Rock Hideaway $243/night

Bethany Buchanan's Vail Tree House
Listed as Boho Chic Studio in the Village $204/night

Jarred D. Smith's Oklahoma City Airbnbs, Listed as The ACE2 Paseo $82/night

+

Listed as The Uptowns1 on 23rd $103/night

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

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Down Payments Reach a New High

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The national median down payment hit its highest level since at least 2005, ATTOM Data Solutions reports.

The median down payment on a single-family home purchased with financing in the third quarter was $27,500. That is up 41% from $19,502 in the third quarter of 2020.

Overall, the median down payment of $27,500 represented 8% of the national median sales price for homes purchased with financing in the third quarter, up from 6.5% a year earlier.

Down payments are higher likely because home prices are higher. The National Association of REALTORS® reports that existing-home sale prices were 13% higher in October compared to a year earlier.

While borrowers are bringing more money to settlement, they are also financing more of the home purchase than in years past. The median loan amount was $295,954 in the third quarter, up 13% compared to a year earlier, according to ATTOM Data Solutions.

Metro Areas With Highest Down Payments

The following 10 metros had the highest median down payments on single-family homes and condos purchased in the third quarter, according to ATTOM Data Solutions:

  • San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.: $336,700

  • San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif.: $253,000

  • Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif.: $166,500

  • Boulder, Colo.: $151,325

  • Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif.: $145,540

  • San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif.: $134,000

  • Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn.: $110,600

  • Santa Rosa, Calif.: $110,500

  • Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.: $107,000

  • Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-N.H.: $101,125

Source:

ATTOM Data Solutions

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More Joy, Less Waste: How To Reduce Holiday Waste

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American household waste increases more than 23% during the holiday season – but we can change that. Check out some tips below for reducing waste this holiday season and beyond.

Green your gifts. Look for gifts you can buy locally, are gently used, have minimal packaging and are made to last. Better yet, give the gift of a local experience like event tickets, a class or membership.   

Wrap with reused materials. Get creative with recycled and reused gift wrap. 

  • Fabrics are a great way to wrap and re-wrap presents each year. Pick up some fabric at your favorite thrift store or estate sale, wrap your gifts, save the fabric for next year and ditch wrapping paper for good. For ideas on how to wrap using fabrics, check out the Japanese art of furoshiki, which uses a few simple folds and a knot.

  • Put paper bags to use as gift wrap. Add a design or drawing for an extra touch and recycle the paper bags later.

  • Save newspapers, old maps, calendars and magazine pages for gift wrap with some character and recycle afterwards.

  • Skip plastic bows and ribbon and choose natural decorations like small twigs and pinecones to top your gift. Save fabric ribbons or twine to use again.

Rethink your holiday cards. The type of paper a holiday card is printed on will determine if you can recycle it. For example, cards on photography paper or embellished with things like foil, glitter, or bows should not go in your recycle cart, while cards printed on plain paper can. Eliminate the recycling guess work for your loved ones and reduce waste entirely with an e-card instead.   

Entertain with reusables. Many resources go into creating disposable tableware that’s only used once. Skip the paper plates, plastic utensils and napkins by opting for reusable dinnerware. 

Borrow from nature. It’s tempting to buy new holiday decorations, but beautiful holiday décor can be found right outside. Try branches, leaves and twigs to add some cheer. Some tree lots even save trimmed branches and will let you take them for free. Trimmings can be used in all sorts of ways, including wrapping them around a metal hanger or wire to make a wreath.   

Stop junk mail before it starts. Catalogs and unsolicited mail really start to add up during the holidays.  Prevent this waste in the future by calling the 1-800 number listed on catalogs and ask to be removed from their mailing list. Learn how to stop junk mail before it starts. 

Choose glass. When you stock up on holiday baking ingredients, buy them in glass rather than plastic.  For example, look for vanilla, fluff, vegetable oil and sprinkles in glass bottles and jars.  

Shop with waste prevention and recycling in mind.  Follow our Zero Waste Grocery checklist for purchasing your holiday food staples in bulk or without packaging. If that’s not possible, look for packaging that can be recycled, such as cartons, steel cans and empty aluminum pie tins. Familiarize yourself with Denver’s recycling guidelines prior to shopping to know what can be recycled in your purple cart. And always bring your own reusable bags when you shop to reduce waste and avoid Denver’s fee on disposable bags. 

Try the Guestimator tool. Planning meals for large groups can be difficult and costly. Use this Guestimator tool to avoid too much food waste. 

Store food correctly. Don’t let those delicious holiday meal leftovers go bad before they’re eaten. Read up on proper and preferred food storage tips.  

Compost your food waste and napkins. The Denver Composts accepts food, leftovers, bones, dairy, vegetable scraps, paper napkins and paper towels, keeping these items out of the landfill and turning them into a useful soil amendment known as compost. Not a Denver Composts customer? Sign up today.  

Recycle right. Most holiday food packaging - such empty bottles, cans, cartons, and tubs - are recyclable. Plastic bags, wrapping paper, glittery cards, photo paper, bubble wrap, packing peanuts, old toys and tissue paper ARE NOT. These should be avoided, reused or placed in the trash. The holidays can also bring more recyclables to manage. Save room in your recycle cart by breaking down and flattening boxes. 

Participate in Seasonal Programs offered by Denver Recycles. Bring unwanted holiday lights to the Cherry Creek Recycle Drop Off as part of Recycle Your Holiday Lights, and participate in Treecycle after the holidays! 

Commit to make less holiday waste. Take our Holiday Pledge to commit to reducing your waste this holiday season.

Learn more.

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Plastic hippos are out. Colorado playgrounds are getting a more natural makeover.

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Parks departments along the Front Range are working with the land to create spaces that the next generation will actually use.

Before 2016, Grant Frontier Park was touted as a place where prospectors first discovered gold in the South Platte River near Denver. No one seemed to care. 

“I never saw anyone in the park,” Gordon Robertson, director of planning design and construction at Denver Parks and Recreation Department, said of the three-block long park that straddles the river at the edge of the Overland neighborhood. 

Denver set out to change that a decade before, partnering with the Greenway Foundation to create more than 100 miles of hiking and biking trails and more than 20 parks, all of them linked by a restored South Platte River. 

The river has become an example of how cities can use existing landscapes to create natural areas, parks and places for kids to explore. Replacing the plastic slides, turtles and jungle gyms with tree stumps and boulders still feels like a movement, and Colorado, full of adults who use its natural areas to play on the weekends, remains one of its leaders. Now visitors can find those parks near Denver’s poorest neighborhoods as well as its wealthiest, and all along the Front Range, including Fort Collins, Boulder and, more recently, Greeley, which just built a massive natural park in the eastern part of the city. 

But before Denver decided to rehabilitate the South Platte and use its natural wonder to create places for kids to play, it was used mostly as a way to move water from one point to another. Residents of the neighborhood near where the park was built didn’t even know there was a river there, Robertson said.

Robertson, however, thought there was gold in the native surroundings of Grant Frontier. The city constructed a secondary channel by taking out tons of soil and sculpting it to lead to the river and built a concrete jetty that restored access to the water and the park. The work coincided with work to restore the South Platte. 

The project even protected a 200-year-old cottonwood and surrounded it with boulders, a plaza and picnic area, and the city built some bridges to cross narrower sections of the Platte.

Robertson still remembers the day he went to check on the park after it re-opened in 2016. 

“Kids were all playing games along the river,” he said. “Parents were yelling at them to get out of the water. It was being used exactly as we had hoped. I was just overwhelmed. It fulfilled my hopes and dreams.” 

Robertson was already a champion of natural parks: Nearly 20 years ago, he began throwing catalogues for plastic parks equipment in the trash and telling manufacturers to do better. But he considers that day in 2016 a turning point. His vision seemed viable. 

“I can’t say I’d ever believed the river would be used that way,” he said. “But it was. That was an affirmation.”

Searching for places to explore

Adam Bienenstock, one of the leaders of the movement to convert playgrounds into natural areas, is friends with Richard Louv, who suggested kids were suffering from what he called “Nature-Deficit Disorder” in his groundbreaking book, “The Last Child in the Woods.”

Bienenstock operates his company under the same philosophy Louv proposed in his book: That being outdoors is crucial to a child’s development and that playing in the natural environment can ease attention disorders and depression in children. Bienenstock’s goal is to bring nature, and the opportunity it presents for unstructured exploration, back to kids.

Many cities, including Greeley, have used Bienenstock’s expertise to build natural playgrounds: He designed Greeley’s newest park and helped renovate another. 

“We have a lot of problems to solve,” Bienenstock said. “And connection to nature is the solution to a lot of these problems.” 

Read the full article on Colorado Sun.

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How to Protect Your Water Heater Against Winter Weather

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As the weather cools, many of us are grateful for the break in the hot weather.

Depending on where you live, you might even get to enjoy some snow. However, colder weather should also remind you that you need to protect your home against common winter problems that could leave you without hot water. Here are some standard preparations you should make to ensure your water heater is prepared for the cold winter weather:

Insulation

One of the best methods of preserving your hot water heater is to insulate both the hot water tank and the pipes. As you may already know, there is always stand-by hot water in the pipes; however, when it gets frigid, the heat from those pipes dissipates, making your ready access to hot water not so ready. Also, the continued demand for the tank to offset the cold helps to drive up utility costs. You can get a fitted tank cover; newer models are designed with built-in insulation.

Check the Sacrificial Anode Rod

Much the same way the hulls of boats are fitted with the “least noble” metal called the anode to prevent galvanic corrosion, your tank is fitted with a sacrificial anode rod. An essential part of your water tank, it is there to be the metal that rusts away to help preserve the life of your tank. Located at the top of the tank, it should be checked annually. Although it should give you at least five years of service, if you notice that the rod is coated with calcium or has worn down to less than a quarter inch thickness, it must be replaced.

Check the Temperature Pressure Relief Valve

Another handy valve to keep an eye on is the temperature pressure relief valve, which is located either on the side or the top of your tank water heater. It's designed to automatically release water when either temperature or pressure in the tank gets too high. You can check this valve by simply lifting the lever and releasing it. If the valve is functioning properly, you should hear the sound of pressure escaping, as well as visible signs of water. If the valve does not seem to be operating properly, you should call a professional to check it.

Clean the Tank Out

Even when the anode rod is doing its job, there is still the inevitability of calcification occurring inside the tank. Sediment and calcium can coat both the inside of the tank and the element. To prolong the life of your hot water tank, drain it once or twice a year to clear this buildup.

This is a simple process that involves shutting off both the power and water supplies and then connecting a hose to the drain valve to allow everything inside the tank to flow out to an in-ground drain. You will need to open the drain valve, as well as the temperature-pressure regulator valve, to drain the tank. Then, you can flush that tank with water to make sure all the sediment comes out. If you are on a regular maintenance contract with your plumber, this could be one of those chores that are included. Check with your plumber to see if this is offered.

Adjust the Temperature Setting

While there is a handy temperature setting on your tank heating unit, it isn't always the best idea to simply crank it up when the weather gets cold. Yes, it's true that you are working against the cold air conditions that affect the tank, and it makes sense to turn the heat dial to a hotter setting. However, this brings hotter water directly to your taps, which can be scalding if you're not aware of the difference. Simply turn it up by five or 10 degrees; you shouldn’t need to raise it higher than 130 degrees Fahrenheit.

With the effort to clean and insulate your tank, as described above, you can maintain a setting that will neither drastically increase your energy consumption nor scald the home’s occupants. These are some of the routine measures you can take to prepare your tank heater for the winter weather. Your plumber can inspect and advise on other ways you can maintain your much-needed hot water year-round, as well as provide suggestions for any other steps you can take to keep expenses down and prolong the life of your water heater.

Get more tips like this on RISMedia.

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