Keynotes by Casago

Speaker: Welcome to Keynotes, a
podcast just for Casago homeowners.

This is where we explore how to get
the most out of your relationship with

Casago, learn tips and tricks on how
to make more income with your property,

and learn a little bit about the short
term rental industry along the way.

I've been a vacation rental nerd since
my 20s, and the team has finally let

me have this podcast so I can share
everything I've learned with you.

I'm your host, Steve Schwab,
and this is Keynotes.

Hey, welcome to Keynotes.

I'm your host, Steve Schwab.

Today, we're with Jeff and
Marci Harris from Kasago Hebrew.

Welcome to the show, guys.

Thank you, Steve.

Good to be here.

You guys have been with
Kasago now for two years?

Just shy of two years.

Just shy of two years.

And since then, you've grown a lot.

Speaker 2: We have.

We have.

We've grown not only in size
and number of units, but

Speaker: professionally.

. Tell me a little bit about your journey
as you've come through Casago from

beginning where you started to where you
are now, that professional portion of

Speaker 2: it.

Marcy and I started our own property
management company called Key in Memory,

a small STR management company with
properties in Utah and California.

Marcy is also the founder and CFO
of a company called Organized Gains,

which is a bookkeeping firm that
specializes in supporting real

estate investors and STR operators.

So we had kind of a good head start on
a lot of other folks because we had a

lot of best practices we learned from
others even before we joined Casago.

Speaker: Yeah.

And so you guys, as a family, decided
to get into STRs and then join Casago.

Tell me a little bit
about your family before.

Did you have children?

Speaker 3: Uh, yeah, we have four adult
children, two of which are married,

and one graduated college and moved to
Florida, and one is serving a mission

for our church in Peru right now.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, and our two married kids, one
lives close by in Utah with a master's

in microbiology, and And our daughter's
serving in the Peace Corps in Morocco.

Speaker: With her husband.

Speaker 3: With her husband.

So we're spread out
across the world, I'd say.

Speaker: Yeah, quite the
adventurous family, huh?

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 3: And

Speaker 2: did you raise them in Heber?

We lived the first 50 years of
our lives in Southern California.

Born and raised there.

All of our kids were born there.

It wasn't until COVID in 2020 that
we moved up to Utah full time.

We spent a lot of time in Utah before
that, but we didn't live there.

And then when all the schools shut down
in California, we moved everybody up

to, the two kids we still had in school,
up to Utah, and they finished school up

Speaker: there.

That's fantastic.

And so, how did you guys
end up getting into CASAGO?

What was your decision to change over?

Speaker 3: We needed help.

Yeah, we needed help.

We knew we needed to upgrade, so.

Yeah.

Speaker 2: Yeah, we had set a target
in terms of number of properties we

wanted to get to, and we realized at
the stage we were at at that point

that we needed help to get there.

And so we actually traveled to VRMA
in Las Vegas a couple years ago.

I signed up for everything I could find
that I thought would help me out, and

the very last booth I went to was Casago.

And I learned that I could
have just signed up for a

franchise and got all of that.

And got better tech than
what I had signed up for.

Because I didn't qualify for half
the stuff that I really wanted.

I was able to get what I
wanted by going with Casago.

And I should save money
and have all the support.

It's been a fantastic experience.

Speaker: Oh, that's great.

I'm so glad you guys came on.

It's been such a fun
experience with you guys.

Watching you grow and all the
good interactions we have.

I personally have really enjoyed it.

Tell me a little bit about
Your personal approach to

Speaker 2: hospitality.

Marcy actually kind of coined this,
but we've always strived for it.

What we would call a six star experience.

So beyond five stars, right?

Five stars is the most you're
generally allowed to, to give.

We want our guests to wish
there was a sixth star.

When they raided us, and so we take that
approach with everything we want them to

think back on the trip that they took.

And if they came to Heber city or whatever
other properties, and they come to Heber

city originally for a specific purpose
we want them to look back at six months

or a year later and remember that trip
and remember more about the home and

amazing stay they had, as opposed to.

The fact that they were in Heber City,
you know, they want them to think,

I remember that really great home we
stayed in and how well we were treated.

Let's, let's go back there or let's, let's
run another one from, from those guys.

Cause those guys were pros.

Yeah.

So

Speaker 3: I think kind of striving
for six stars, things are inevitably

going to go wrong and people are more
forgiving when you have good processes

and you're really striving to be, you
know, the best and you feel like, okay,

if, if the air conditioning goes out,
things are a little out of your control.

It gives you a little bit of room there.

Yeah.

Speaker: I've been thinking a lot
about earning the right to fail with,

you know, a guest or a homeowner.

Putting goodwill into it, earning
and striving for that sixth star

when there's something that's
out of your control that happens.

You've earned the goodwill.

You've earned the right to fail.

They understand that you're giving.

Six star experience, right?

And when something goes wrong,
they're like, we get it, right?

I feel like that's a big part of
what you're talking about here.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker 2: I had a client years ago
in a different industry Mentioned to

someone in my hearing that the reason
why he did business with Jeff Harris was

because Not that things don't go wrong
because things are gonna go wrong in

life It's it's how Jeff handles things
when they do go wrong Yeah, and I've

used that as a mantra for everything
I've done since then that's fantastic

Speaker: So tell me a little
bit about what makes Kosovo

Heber unique in its market.

Well, I

Speaker 2: think it starts with the
approach we've taken of the six star stay.

We also really work hard with
a lot of feet on the street,

attempts to educate ourselves of
what's happening in our market.

I spent a lot of time and Marcy and I
both spent a lot of time in community

events, whether it's chamber of commerce
events or local business networking.

We sponsor local charity events and
street cleanups and other things we do

just to get involved in the community.

Um, we spend a lot of time networking with
others that are adjacent to our field,

but are complimentary to it, such as
realtors, home inspectors, even tradesmen.

Homebuilders and letting them know
who we are, what we do so that when

they come across people that need
what we do, they, they let us know.

I think that's what really separates
us so largely from our competition.

Cause a lot of what we do
is duplicatable, right?

But it's, it's the, why would you
do business with Casago Hebrew

versus one of our competitors?

Well, I think that's, those things

Speaker: are

Speaker 2: part of the big reason.

Speaker: Yeah, I think so too.

I see all the cool things you guys
do when you post on social media

or just through our conversations.

And I've always thought that was
a differentiator for, for you all.

You know, you're the local heroes.

You're those boots on the ground.

You're not just there to use Heber.

You're there to love Heber.

You're making sure that you're
being a good neighbor and that

you're, you're taking care of
the community, your homeowners.

And it really shines through.

And I'm very proud of you guys.

I'm very proud to be associated with you
guys when I see you doing those things.

It makes me feel a lot of pride.

It's a really good thing that you guys do.

It does

Speaker 3: help differentiate us from
national brands as well, because maybe

people might think we're a national
brand, and I think that's what won us a

recent contract, is that we were competing
against a national brand, and they just

loved the Heber ness of us, I think, you
know, because it's in our blood, kind of.

It's been really good for business.

Speaker: You can tell.

You can tell.

So we have something inside of
Kasago called owner centric.

And it's part of a credo that we all talk
about and discuss on a regular basis.

Can you tell us a little bit about
what owner centric means to you?

Speaker 2: Sure, we are clear with our
homeowners right up front as fellow

real estate investors that we know that
they are putting a lot of trust in us.

And when it comes to that investment
they've made and taking care of their

property, we go out of our way to
communicate that and set the expectations

up front with those homeowners.

And then we reinforce that expectation
every time we interact with them.

While we've lost a few
homeowners that were not good

fits with our business model.

We feel confident every one of them
knew we always were in their corner.

First and foremost.

As I said above, it kind of begins with
our setting the clear expectations and

then reinforcing that and renewing those
expectations as often as is required.

Having a foundation that allows
us to demonstrate that we're

meeting those expectations and
then frequently exceeding them.

Without something to measure our success
against, It's easy for a homeowner

to see greener grass somewhere else.

And every time that that has happened,
we've learned from that experience

and had to adjust our approach.

Do you guys have a

Speaker: memorable story about a
homeowner experience that you've

had that just Shines or stands out.

Speaker 2: Yeah, we just
onboarded a brand new property.

It's known as the A Frame.

And A Frame is one of those terms in
a mountain town that, you know, may

describe a lot of homes up there.

There's nothing special
about the word A Frame.

But this home is owned by a A widely
known and well sought after influencer.

That home is famous for, for
being one of the most highly

productive STRs in our area.

They have commercials shot there,
weddings, even fashion shows, and

other events have been filmed there.

She specifically sought us out.

And asked us to manage her property
after doing her own research

and on how Marcy and I operate.

So that's, that meant a lot to us.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker 2: That our reputation kind
of proceeded far enough ahead of us

that when she did her own research,
and her being one of the most powerful

and influential properties in our
area, when she decided she wanted to

step away from the management portion
of it, we were the ones she wanted.

That's amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Speaker 3: And she knew what she was
looking for because she was managing it.

You know, a lot of times our
Homeowners don't have that frame of

reference of running it on their own.

Sure.

So that really felt really good to us
that she was able to see through our

reviews, what people say about us, what
people in the community say about us.

Like it meant a lot that
she trusts us with it.

It's a super fun house to live in.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think even
adding on what Marcy said, that she said

about what other people say about us.

If you do any kind of search on Facebook,
or you post on one of the local Ask

Heber page on Facebook, who's a good
property manager, we get 60 70 percent

of the mentions right off the bat.

So cool.

Yeah, and it's funny we get mentioned
by people we don't even know but

they know people who dealt business
with us And I say these are the guys.

Yeah

Speaker: Speaks volumes literally So
if a homeowner wants to get a hold

of you to find out more about Casago
Hebrew, how would they reach out to you?

Speaker 2: Obviously via phone?

They were gonna hopefully they found
our website number would be area code

nine four nine four five six 4 7, 3 6.

And what email would they
want to reach out to if they

just wanted to do it by email?

Contact me directly at Jeff at Cago Heber.

C-A-S-A-G-O-H-E-B-E r.com.

I I love having direct conversations.

Homeowners have a lot of great questions.

Most of homeowners, this is the
first time they're venturing this.

And there's a lot of fear
and trepidation about it.

Hopefully after our conversation,
they're not only better educated

and but maybe that education
alleviates some of that fear and

we are going to be frank with them.

We spent a lot of time making sure that we
are dialed into what it can and cannot be

done in our community, what the community
will allow, what the city allows.

What regulations you have to
worry about, what permits are

required, all of that stuff.

And we know all of that and I can speak
to it without having to research it.

I live it every day and I'm happy
to share all that knowledge with

the potential homeowner so they
know what they're getting into.

And even to the point where we can
provide pretty solid information.

Estimations of what that home
might generate in terms of revenue.

Yeah.

, Speaker: thanks so much for coming on.

I sure appreciate y'all.

So proud of the work you guys are doing.

And we'll talk to you soon.

Thank you.