Blurbs for the Brain

I often come across a link or post that isn’t worthy of a dedicated post on my blog. It’s really best for me to tweet these things, but then a lot of people who read my blog don’t necessarily subscribe to Twitter so then they’d be missing out. So I figured I’d just compile some of these little tiny topics into a series called Blurbs for the Brain.

Here’s a 3 and a half minute enlightening video on How the Internet Works. Fantabulous!

One of the blogs I follow is Jason Shen’s The Art of Ass-Kicking. As an entrepreneur, he doles out a bunch of insight that’s particularly useful for people who want to start up their own business, but I still find interesting even though I’m a total corporette. He wrote a post titled Startup Founders: Don’t Forget to Sell the Dream. Read the example pitch he gives for Airbnb and some parting thoughts below. But click on the link above for the full post.

“Airbnb enables people to live richer lives, where their extra space allows them to be with their children, take more vacations and save for retirement. We transform travel accommodations from cold, sterile rooms to amazing experiences with locals in unique spaces. How will we become a billion dollar company? Airbnb will host more travelers than the entire Hilton hotel chain with 5,200 locations around the world, without having to manage a single piece of property. We will be the future of travel.”

It’s a little different right? It’s much more than just making money. An investor, like a founder, wants to be a part of something that is really going to change the world. Something to be proud of. Something that they can say “Yeah, I invested to those guys/gals when they were just getting started because I saw the potential in what they could create and the impact they could have on the world”

Now again, I want to emphasize that 90% of your pitch should be about the nitty gritty of your business. But don’t fail to include that 10% of a dream.

Surefire Way to Save on Hotel or Rental Accommodations

This strategy isn’t for the faint of heart. This is for all you OCD types who are willing to take risks and take great pride in stretching your hard-earned dollars.

I have been itching to go on vacation ever since we flew back home from spending Christmas and New Year’s in the UK. As fun as that was, I have been dying for some R&R in the sun!

We bounced around Palm Springs and Los Angeles as options, but decided it was best to stay local and opted for an easy jaunt to wine country. Securing a luxe hotel reservation during spring time in Napa or Sonoma is like trying to score a same day reservation at French Laundry. It ain’t gonna happen, especially if you’re looking to book only a week or two in advance.

This is where renting a place online has really alleviated a lot of stress when it comes to finding a place to stay. There are so many beautiful, well-maintained properties on Vrbo.com, Airbnb.com or HomeAway.com. You’ll always find a handful that are available. In fact, there were a couple places I was really interested in that showed no availability, but I emailed the owners and they said it had either recently become available or they had another property available. Here are photos (credit Vrbo.com) of places I was negotiating with.

This is the best time to negotiate, when you know they’re hoping to rent their property, it’s just a couple days out, and their property is still available. BAM! Hit them with your terms. You want a free night, you don’t want to pay tax or the cleaning fee, and you’re ready to submit payment in full immediately. Not a single no. All 3 property owners I emailed agreed to my terms.

Now even though these were all gorgeous properties, I consulted with my hubby (the true decision maker, ahem, cough). And he insisted that to make this feel like a true vacation, we needed to be spoiled and sitting pool-side. Hence, a discounted last minute booking opened up at the Lodge at Sonoma—at a price similar to what I was looking at for rental properties—and I pounced on it.

Here is our home (photo credit Marriott.com) for the next few days. Heaven!

Airbnb Awesomeness

airbnb logoI got our tax statement from Airbnb. We earned approximately $4,000 for 2012. That’s practically 20% of our total 2012 rental cost. How F*ing crazy is that?

The hosts we are staying with in the Mission are seriously the nicest people in the world. They invited us over after work tonight to have drinks in their home. Their high school teenager was just as cool; he chatted with us about how he prefers the guitar over the drums.

Anywho, the woman said we seemed totally responsible and asked us if we’d be interested in staying in their home (their actual home, not their rental units) while they are on vacation – for free!

Hello, how cool is that?!

I am loving Airbnb. How can I invest?

Livin La Vida Loca

We are keeping it real, living in the Mission this week on our quest to try out different neighborhoods before we buy. We rented our apartment in Nob Hill to a nice British gentleman who is in SF for work. Last time we tried the Potrero neighborhood, which we loved. This time, we opted for the Mission. We are a block away from the hospital on the corner of Hampshire and 23rd. I have to admit, I didn’t have very high expectations, but I am really loving it here. Sure this ‘hood is a bit grittier, but it’s got character. I haven’t felt unsafe. Lots of people always on the bus and walking around. I feel like I’m living in Mexico City!

The 9L bus whisks me to and from work so quickly, I’ve been shocked. This is my first experience dealing with a timely Muni bus! Can’t beat that!!

The apartment we’re staying in is small, but lovely and fine for us which makes me think we really don’t need a lot of space. Dean and I are so low maintenance. If the 2 of us can live in this treehouse for a week, then a reasonably-priced, minimalist home should be enough. We always joke that people buy big homes purely to put more shit in it.

What’s great about the couple renting to us is that they are doing exactly what I aspire to do. They own a 2-unit building, live upstairs, and rent the downstairs unit. The rent for the downstairs unit covers their mortgage. Score! In addition to the 2-unit building, they pounced on this tiny loft next door which they had used for family and friends visiting from out of town. Now that Airbnb has blown up, they’ve been renting it out to RAVE reviews. The rental is inexpensive. It’s nice and clean. And they’re the nicest hosts ever. So they’ve got a great little side business going.

 

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San Francisco Apartment Tour

I wanted to follow-up my San Francisco Home Tour post with a similar post on apartments.

Buying a home in SF is unbelievably stressful. You should be cashing in those stock options. Your granny hopefully wrote you into her will. Money better be growing on trees in your backyard. If anyone has saved $100,000 – 250,000 and is within my reader age range of 30-50 years old, email me. I want to know how you amassed that money so I can share your story on my blog. I am particularly drawn to people who are self-made, who paid their own way through college and graduate school.

Personally, the reason Dean and I have been able to sock away money is because of Dean’s apartment. Our saving grace is a 1-bedroom with parking in Lower Nob Hill with a reduced rent of $1,700. It is easily rented on Airbnb which helps offset vacation costs.

When you start to calculate the cost of renting in SF, home prices don’t even seem that ridiculous anymore. Like I said, a mortgage on $1,000,000 home in SF will be cheaper than some of the rents below.

Here are 2-bedroom apartments I would consider living in and their price tag. I would never feel comfortable paying these rents and would probably fight and research to find that under-priced gem in an unknown alley of the city.

$3800 / 2br – NEW Apt #1 in 4-Unit Victorian in the Heart of the Mission (mission district)

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$4695 / 2br – 1300ft² – 2BR/1BA REDUCED! FURNISHED Very Spacious Victorian Flat *Pet Friendly* (hayes valley)

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$2850 / 2br – 2 BR Flat- New HW Floors Near BART & Rainbow Grocery! (mission district)

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$3775 / 2br – Charming 2×2 Apt w/ Polished Concrete Flooring & 9’6″ Ceilings! (potrero hill)

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$3775 / 2br – 884ft² – OPEN HOUSE Tonight, 1/29, from 6pm – 7pm. (potrero hill)

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$2995 / 2br – Bright, Large unit w/ SF Character & New Hardwood Floors (mission district)

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$3795 / 3br – Mission District 3 Bedroom/2 Bath. Fully Remodeled with garage! (mission district)

Money Monday: Vacation Grand Total $

We’re going on vacation! Does it seem like we’re always going on vacation or is it that I talk about it incessantly? Our vacation schedule looks standard to me.

2012
February – LA
March – Austin
May – NYC
July – Yosemite
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2011
March – NYC
April/May – Italy honeymoon
July – Jasper Canada
August – Burning Man
September – LA
September – NYC
November – Arizona
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As you can see, we haven’t gotten our international fix this year which is why we’re going to Roatan, Honduras in a couple weeks! For those of you who know me, I LOVE Central America. I’ve been to Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Excluding Honduras, that leaves El Salvador and Panama. You’d think I speak Spanish considering all the times I’ve been, but no; I don’t have a mind for mastering languages. Probably because I’ve never lived abroad which is how you pick it up. C’est la vie.
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We’ve had our hearts set on going to Greece, but the $1500 flight per person to Athens plus additional flights to get to the coast. Nah, we’ll save that for another time.
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I booked round-trip flights from SFO to San Salvador which is 5.5 hours, with an hour layover, then 1.5 hours to Roatan. Easy!
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After non-stop research and perusing a multitude of reviews, I settled on Barefoot Cay, a luxury resort with a 5 star dive center. Every meal is cooked to order which makes me fear we’ll never leave the resort. However there is plenty to do in Roatan. We’ll probably rent a car for a day to swim with dolphins at Anthony’s Keys and hang out at the zoo. I went to Barefoot Cay’s site and they were running a special for $99 per person per day for accommodations, 3 meals a day, airport transfers, kayaks, and snorkeling gear during Labor Day weekend!
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Photos below from http://www.barefootcay.com
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Aerial view of Barefoot Cay resort - On the left, the PADI dive center and lofts on the shore; in the center, the private cay with beach accommodations fabulous swimming pool Barefoot Cay resort beach, Roatan Lunch at Barefoot Cay includes your choice of many fresh items The 'crow's nest' with 360-degree view is a popular spot for dining and may be reserved for meetins and special events such as weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and more One of the dive boats at Barefoot Divers in Roatan
Here’s the cost breakdown
Flights for me and Dean $1,530
Resort for 7 nights and all meals inclusive of tax and service charges  = $1,608
But wait, there is a New Yorker in SF for work, renting our apartment during this time for 6 nights through Airbnb for $946.
Grand Total $2,192

Oh Photos!

AirBnB offers free professional photography of your listing. I thought I’d take advantage of the service since the pictures I had up weren’t very good. Not good at all.

Check out the difference between amateur and professional.

Pictures taken by me:

Pictures taken by the AirBnB photographer:

Money Monday: AirBnB

I feel like I write about AirBnB a lot. Another reminder that it’s pretty friggin awesome. To me AirBnB is easier than Vrbo.com because you can transact everything online versus Vrbo.com where you have to contact the owner, talk or email back and forth, then typically sign a contract. Vrbo is like the eHarmony of rental sites.

We’re going to Yosemite in a week for 4 nights and someone is renting our place for those exact nights and pretty much offsetting the cost of our lodging in the valley. Vacation for free.

Belated Birthday Pictures

For my birthday, we rented a cabin in sunny Marin County. Simultaneously, we rented out our place to a very nice international gay couple who were probably hanging out for Pride Weekend. Zero cost weekend get-away. I constantly want to pat myself on the back for being so smart with our money.

Fairfax, what a cute little town. Friday night, we walked around, ate ice-cream, and listened to live music. But the place we rented was beautiful: clean, bright, perfect for entertaining. Because everyone who walked in asked how we found the place, I said I was going to put a sign out front to answer everyone’s question: I found it on AirBnB.

Friends from all walks of life came by to celebrate. Loved all the good food and presents, but mainly happy that people came out to the woods!

Money Monday: Airbnb Booking

I’m fanatical about Airbnb. With hotels gouging customers with service charges and resort fees, I’d rather stay some place and know exactly what the total cost will be up front.

We will be in NYC next month and I’ve been searching for a place when I’m done with work and Dean flies in. I honed in on this cute apartment in the Meatpacking for $199/night. I emailed the owner and it was already scooped up for the Memorial Day weekend.

So instead I’ve locked in this studio in the village. Kinda reminds me of our place here in SF. $165/night. Great place, great rate.

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