WIIRE 006: LTR to MTR with Ashley Gallacher

Hi everyone! Welcome to episode six of the Women Invest In Real Estate Podcast. Today we are welcoming guest Ashley Gallacher to the podcast. Ashley is a full-time real estate investor in the Seattle, Washington area. Ashley left her W-2 in corporate finance at the end of 2020 and now has both short and mid-term rental properties throughout Tacoma, near Mount Rainier National Park, and also in Milwaukee.

Ashley got her start in mid-term rentals after learning about Kendra and also Sarah Weaver on Instagram. They both have amazing resources on their Instagram pages and she came across them when she was looking for inspiration on how to pivot and switch her long-term rental to something different. Right now, Ashley only has one mid-term rental but it is on her list to turn more of her existing rentals into mid-term rentals and also find new properties to turn into mid-term rentals to add to her portfolios as well.

Ashley purchased her now mid-term rental in early 2020 (pre-pandemic) for $270,000. When they closed in March 2020 things quickly began to shut down and were lucky enough to find a long-term tenant very quickly for $1,700 per month, a bit lower than initially planned but she was also happy to have it occupied going into the COVID pandemic. Despite her initial fear that her market was oversaturated with mid-term rentals Ashley made the leap and has had great success with her mid-term rental.

 When Ashley made the switch to mid-term rentals, she increased the rent from $1,700 to $2,500 per month (now up to $2,700 per month) and gauged interest on a local Facebook group. With a lot of inquiries, she quickly locked in tenants before she had even finished furnishing the unit!

Being in real estate is all about being creative. Just getting started, taking action, and learning as you go; making necessary adjustments along the way. For the rookies tuning in, none of us knew 100% what we were doing when we first started, but we started anyway. We’re continuously changing our processes to make them better.

 Ashley is in agreement that the mid-term rental market is strong and will continue to grow and has plans to continue growing her real estate portfolio basing whether they are long or mid-term on the demand in the market. For the most part, Ashley finds her tenants on FurnishedFinder and local Facebook groups but would be open to using sites like Airbnb to keep her units rented.

If you want to connect with Ashley, head on over and follow her on Instagram.

Thanks for tuning in friends to another WIIRE episode, catch you in the next episode!

Resources:

• Follow Ashley on Instagram
• List your MTR’s on FurnishedFinder or Airbnb