HOOKED ON STARTUPS with Johnny Wolff

THE REAL ESTATE EXPERIMENT

Room Hacking & Tech: Optimizing for more Tenants Under One Roof with Johnny Wolff

Today Johnny Wolff joins us in the lab. A real estate entrepreneur, Founder and CEO of HomeRoom Coliving shares with Experiment Nation how you can turn the challenges you face in your real estate journey into business opportunities, using data analysis to figure out your next move, and solving the problem of getting your investment properties rented with technology. Homeroom Coliving was born out of Johnny’s problem of finding roommates for his rent hacking strategy — where he maximizes renting by the room in his investment properties. After a few years, he turned this issue into a business that simplifies remote investing and streamlines affordable renting.

Johnny started investing in real estate after college and bought a single house in 2018, since then, he has worked on 140 homes across 30 cities with 1,000 tenants. With the founding of HomeRoom Coliving, Johnny and his team has successfully connected countless rental property investors seeking a turnkey experience with renters seeking quality and affordable coliving housing.

If you’re interested in room hacking, investing in roommate housing, and how tech may play a big role in enhancing your coverage and building a community for your business then do not miss this episode. Join us in the lab as we learn from Johnny Wolff’s experience and strategies on how to earn more with roommate housing.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EPISODE:

03:52 - Guest introduction
05:16 - Turning a problem into a business
07:44 - Johnny's first investment

KEEPING IT REAL:

08:36 - Kind of property Johnny bought for starters
13:03 - Why self directed Individual Retirement Account is beneficial
16:15 - How Johnny was able to get bigger returns by having multiple people under one roof.
19:43 - Tools for data analysis
20:56 - The kind of property to look for when room hacking
24:06 - Why Johnny started self managing his roommate houses
27:21 - How Homeroom Coliving started
31:53 - What’s booming right now based on analysis
35:29 - Why roommate housing earns more than a standard single family option
38:23 - What investors can expect when working with Homeroom Coliving
39:22 - Why the Homeroom app is better than craigslist
42:18 - How the Homeroom community grows
44:41 - The Homeroom app, its utility, and possible direction
47:33 - The people and books that inspire Johnny
51:16 - Best habit that serves on a day to day basis
51:44 - The biggest misconception that needs to be hurdled over

NOTABLE QUOTES (KEY LESSONS):

“Building sideways is good and it's hard but it has enabled us to offer a really unique experience for investors and tenants” - Johnny Wolff

“It you can figure out any way to trick yourself to just jump off the cliff and into the water, then when you get into the water you learn how to swim" - Johnny Wolff

CONNECTING WITH THE GUEST

Websites: https://www.livehomeroom.com https://johnnywolff.com/
Email: johnny@livehomeroom.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnnywolff
Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnnystryker
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/livehomeroom/

Johnny Wolff
REI Expert
CEO/Founder of HomeRoom Coliving

Johnny Wolff is the CEO and Founder of HomeRoom Coliving – one of the fastest-growing coliving companies in the United States. After starting his career as a financial analyst in Silicon Valley (EA, SanDisk, Guidespark), he relocated to Austin, Texas to pursue real estate investing full-time. His love for real estate investing and living with roommates motivated him to start HomeRoom in 2017, after an unusually terrible Craigslist roommate experience. In 2020, HomeRoom boasted 99% on-time rent payments, full occupancy, and zero evictions. Sales velocity for HomeRoom is up 300% in 2021 with hundreds of happy residents across 23 cities in 3 states.

Powered by investor funds, HomeRoom recently expanded to Dallas and Austin, Texas. Johnny still lives in one of HomeRoom’s first coliving houses in Kansas City and enjoys hanging out and surviving the pandemic with his awesome roommates - especially on chicken wing Thursdays.

https://johnnywolff.com/
Previous
Previous

How Coliving Makes Great Business - Johnny Wolff | Creative Real Estate Podcast

Next
Next

4th EST8 Meets HomeRoom