Courtesy of Dana Bull
Dana Bull started building her real-estate portfolio in 2012 when she bought her first property.
Over the next decade, she expanded to more than 20 units in her Massachusetts market and hit financial independence by sticking to the same general strategy: buying quality properties with upside and filling them with long-term tenants.
Bull, who is also a real-estate agent and consultant, told Business Insider that she "swore off investing a couple of years ago." Managing properties is time-intensive, noted the mother of four.
But when a charming single-family in Marblehead came on the market in the fall of 2023, she broke her promise.
"This little place in my town caught my eye, and I really wanted somebody else to buy it," said Bull. "It was when the interest rates were the highest that they've ever been, like 7.75%, so nobody wanted to buy anything. And I was like, 'You know what, I'll do it.'"
Higher interest rates mean a higher monthly payment. For an investor, that can make it more challenging to generate positive cash flow.
To make the numbers work on her latest acquisition, Bull decided to experiment with a "mid-term rental," which targets people looking to stay for one month or more, but less than a year.
"It's my first experience with something other than a long-term rental. I'm kind of in uncharted waters, but it's been great," said Bull, who plans to test out the mid-term rental strategy for at least 18 months. It's more work than managing a long-term tenant, but she said she's bringing in more revenue doing shorter leases.
She could earn even more if she had more time and could lease the unit herself, rather than working with an agent.
"I have a leasing agent who I pay a lot of money because it's a lot of work to continue to keep it leased," she said. "It's a great strategy for anybody that has the availability to do the leasing on their own."
The leasing aspect of the mid-term rental strategy is the most challenging because it's less mainstream than the short- and long-term strategy.
"If you want a long-term rental, you know you're going to be on Zillow or work with a real-estate agent. If you want a short-term rental, you also have set channels: You have Airbnb, Vrbo," Bull explained. "There's a website called Furnished Finder geared toward mid-term rentals, but it's not very well known, and it's not nearly as big as something like Airbnb."
She advertises her place on Furnished Finder, takes it on and off Zillow depending on when it's available, and sends neighborhood mailers.
It helps that she's starting to understand her typical tenant, she added: "The trend is that grandparents want to come and help out with the kids, but the parents don't have room in their home, or the grandparents want their own space, so that has been my target audience."
Bull doesn't expect mortgage rates to drop in 2025. She also doesn't advise letting rates or other factors outside your control dictate when you buy real estate.
"I wouldn't base my whole plan around, 'Well, I keep hearing rates are supposed to drop,'" she said, noting that current rates are in line with the historical average. "This is kind of where rates sit. So, if they were to drop, that would be great, but I wouldn't be banking on it."
If you're financially prepared to invest in real estate in 2025, rather than waiting, run the numbers to see if a short- or mid-term rental could make sense in your market.
"Look at some alternative leasing approaches. Usually, they're more lucrative if they're shorter," said Bull. "One idea would be to start with something like an Airbnb, with the goal of transitioning after two or three years into something more passive, like a long-term rental."
Real estate is a long-term game, she added: "You have to look beyond year one — the numbers are always going to be tight year one, no matter what the market conditions are — so, what are your projections going to be by year five?
"And then, what can you do in the interim to maybe make this property work? That would be focusing on neighborhoods and communities where you can balance both of these plays: It's going to attract a short-term rental tenant but, down the road, you can pivot into a longer-term tenant."
That's likely what she's going to do, especially if she can refinance again.
Bull has already refinanced once, which shaved about $250 off her mortgage, she said: "I'd love it if they dropped again and I could save another 250. At that point, I probably would transition it to a long-term rental because it would be lucrative enough and less of a headache, but right now I'm just experimenting for my own curiosity and I want to understand more about this niche."
