The Rentish Podcast

Latest Trend For Mid-term Rentals and The RE Magic of Hogwarts

• Zach and Patrick • Season 1 • Episode 19

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In Episode 19 of The Rent-ish Pod, Zach breaks down a trending Business Insider article revealing why mid-term rentals are becoming the 'sweet spot' for real estate investors seeking higher cash flow compared to traditional long-term rentals. Curious about maximizing your rental income? This episode is a must-listen! Then, in a special RE Reel segment, Patrick whisks us away to the enchanting world of Harry Potter with an in-depth look at the legendary Hogwarts Building. Together, Patrick and Zach explore the fascinating property valuation of Hogwarts, discussing what makes it so magical—and what it might be worth in the real estate market. Don’t miss this blend of real-world investing tips and whimsical property insights! Got questions, hot takes, or thoughts? Tune in and join the conversation.

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SPEAKER_03:

What's going on everybody? My name is Zach and I'm here with my co-host Patrick. What up? And we're your hosts for the Rentish podcast, which is a podcast that's kind of about rental properties and hosted by two guys that work in the real estate industry and sort of know what they're talking about.

SPEAKER_02:

But mostly don't.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, Patrick, mostly we don't, which is why you're going to have fun hearing us talk to experts, learning along with us or just laughing at how little we know. Patrick, your Mostly We Don't this week is emblematic of exactly how I'm feeling right now. Energy, a bit low, but we're going to talk about some fun stuff, and I'm going to pump that right up and just get right back into the zone. I

SPEAKER_02:

think you misunderstood my butt, because my butt was very high. It was a high-energy butt.

SPEAKER_03:

No, it was like, buh, and that's how I feel like the world is right now. It's like, uh. It's just like humming at this consistent frequency. It was supposed to be a

SPEAKER_02:

buzz. like a like a they're great you know tony the tiger

SPEAKER_03:

like the thx sound oh man all right uh yeah rentish podcast follow us on this on the things you got you know where it is if you go to the podcast feeds apple spotify wherever you get your podcast you can find the rentish um subscribe to us the rentish uh at the rentish pod on instagram email questions at therentishpod.com if you have questions that you'd like to ask the show uh we appreciate each and every one of you for For coming out and listening to the show. It's been a lot of fun being able to record. We've got some fun stuff coming up, right? I think we've got some interviews and things that we're going to be doing. No, not today. Just teasing future episodes. We might bring back some smart people, some smarties other than us. But yeah, today we're going to have a good time. We're going to talk about a lot of fun stuff. But Pat, before we get into everything, how are you doing? How's your day?

SPEAKER_02:

I'm okay. Yeah. I thought it was... I thought it was Thursday today my sheets in the closet, my comforter, and then twice on, like, just the hardwood floor. And so, yeah, that's been a disaster. And so then I ended up putting the dog back at, like, 1 a.m. I put the dog back in my neighbor's apartment, and I get there this morning, and then she pooped in my neighbor's kitchen. So I had to deal with that this morning. But, yeah, anyways, I'm dealing with that. I feel, I mean, it's kind of a mix of, like, feeling bad for the dog. Like, the dog's clearly sick. And also wondering, like, what I do. Like, I'm doxing for, like, what, four days? And, like... the dog.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, that's normal. You put a dog out of its normal habitat or whatever, it's like it's in a different space. It doesn't know what's going on. That happens. Yeah. Or maybe it ate a Cheeto you dropped or something. That's what I'm wondering. It ate something else. But no, you said that you were like, well, this was all I'm going to do my best, Pat. You're like, I have to clean up this dog poop. They've ruined my favorite rock, but at least you It's only, at least it's Thursday or whatever. You're like, nope, it's Tuesday. You're great at impressions. Thank you. Thank you. I'm working on it. I'm working on it. Eventually, if I nail your impression, I'll be able to do this whole show without you. Yeah, I was about to say, you pretty much did. My Patrick impression. You know what, Zach? I've really come around on Wes Anderson. That's not something I would say. He's a great director, and all of his stuff is great. You're putting words into my mouth. I know. All right. Well, today we've got a really fun episode because we're going to talk about midterm rentals. Doesn't that sound fun? Yeah. Yeah? Sounds great. And then we're also going to talk about Hogwarts. So we're going to do a little Harry Potter section to have a nice palate cleanser. After the really fun discussion that we're going to have about midterm rentals. No, no, no. It's a cool news article. We're going to learn a lot and have a good time. Yeah. Do you want to jump right in?

SPEAKER_02:

The article? Okay. For the record, I I tried to read the article this time. I tried. Oh, you did? I clicked the article, and then it said I had to pay a subscription, which obviously I'm not doing.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_02:

So, that one's not on me. Okay, not on you. I'm not leading the segment, right?

SPEAKER_03:

No, no, no, I'm leading the segment. I was just seeing how far we dip in the water before you were like, wait, wait, wait, what are we doing? No, I'm

SPEAKER_02:

on

SPEAKER_03:

it today, dude. Okay. Investors are ditching short-term headaches and long-term limits for something in between. midterm rentals. Patrick, before we dive into the article, do you have a guess what a midterm rental is? Do you know what a midterm rental

SPEAKER_02:

is? So I'm guessing a midterm rental is longer than like an Airbnb. But shorter than like a year long lease agreement. I'm guessing it's somewhere in the vein of like one to one month to like less than a year.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's basically exactly the way it sounds. These one to 12 month leases are becoming the new go to for boosting cash flow while avoiding the Airbnb burnout and red tape. And basically a midterm rental is just a lease agreement for a property that typically lasts between one and six months. Could go up to like typically a year long lease, but it's like you could stretch that up until the very end, maybe a little bit before. I think it's, you know, designed to be a flexible thing for both property, you know, property owners, as well as the tenants that are going to be occupying short term rentals for a variety of life reasons.

SPEAKER_02:

I was about to ask, like, because I feel like more often than not, people want like a like a longer term lease or like an Airbnb, like in what situations are people like, I guess, like travel nurses, for example, or if that was one that came to

SPEAKER_03:

my mind immediately. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. But like how much of the population is that? Like maybe a If you're like, if you've got a lease starting in like at the end of summer, but like you just graduated school or something and need like three months or something like I get that too. But like, I mean, how much of a market is there for midterm rentals?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, turns out more than you'd expect. I mean, it's becoming like a popular, I mean, with real estate, it's like these trends will come and go. We may have someone in our very midst that is utilizing somewhat of a midterm rental kind of situation, even though it's not necessarily, I don't know if you to use those words exactly but would you professor I said professor essentially

SPEAKER_00:

it's not just for nurses too it's for people that like if your house burned down and you need like temporary housing sometimes insurance companies will call you and get you set up there, or like P&G or like these big companies. People relocate. As they're relocating for a new home, they need like a place for the months that they're looking for this home. So it's like, it's definitely niche, but there are sites that you can use that will help as well.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, cool. Yeah, from the article, it was a Business Insider article, by the way. I don't know if I cited that at the top of the hour, but real investor stories from the article. Someone named Ziona McIntyre, who's a Colorado investor who switched from Airbnb to midterm rentals during COVID, says she now prefers it. There's fewer headaches, longer stays, more independent tenants. And she used Furnished Finder and focuses on three month long tenants. So she's, I mean, people like this found the niche and they say fewer headaches and longer stays and more independent tenants. I mean, that sounds like a problem with, we've talked in the past before about like, Airbnb must be kind of a scare thing to do as a property owner. You're leasing out this property for a weekend to people that could come in and treat it like garbage and then leave. Or it's like you have to worry about doing updates and cleanings more frequently for the changeover for the next guests. But if you have three month long tenants, you get them in, they're there for a few months, then you do one changeover and then get your next tenants in. It's less of a commitment for you too as a landlord.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_03:

Dana Bull, a Massachusetts investor who adopted midterm rentals to offset rising mortgage rates. says it's more work than long-term, but higher cashflow, which makes it worth it. So I'm guessing that, you know, higher cashflow is, do you think people are charging more than typical rent rates? Yeah. Like a standard year-long

SPEAKER_02:

rent? I would think so. And that makes sense to have

SPEAKER_03:

that

SPEAKER_02:

sort of

SPEAKER_03:

flexibility. Yeah. I'd be curious to know what like a typical, like if there's like a, like a increase rate where it's like, this is the median rent amount in the United States. And if you have a short-term rental like this or a midterm rental, this is how much more you could theoretically make by doing the rental.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. And I also wonder with midterm rentals, I bet you a lot of them are furnished, which is like, you know, would also just organically increase the rent rather than just, you know, on top of like the regular. That's fair.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. You got a TV in there. You got a couch, a bed, all the stuff that you have, like nice amenities and stuff like that. So it's like, yeah, that makes sense. Maybe you'd be paying a little bit higher. I don't know. Were you

SPEAKER_00:

going to say something?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. What's going on with the cross?

SPEAKER_00:

No, I was going to say something, but you answered it because Because like, yeah, usually they're furnished. And then a lot of the times they say like, if you can already have the utilities covered for them. Sometimes you charge higher. Oh, like overcharge

SPEAKER_02:

the utilities as a convenience sort of thing? Yeah, so it's just like an easy in and out. Yeah. Yours is, your unit is furnished, right? Yeah. And do you cover utilities? Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Yeah, it's a lot, honestly. Really? Because also you got to think about people who are like, oh, no, but this place, this shouldn't be this high. And you're like, well, you don't know how much the utilities

SPEAKER_02:

actually are. Oh, so like you're saying, that by covering the utilities like could be more convenient but it could also lead to more like questions from the tenant about the pricing of the

SPEAKER_00:

right okay right but it depends a lot of the times when you do cover their utilities the tenants i think they don't really care about the electricity so they like or water so it's like just taking yeah two hour long showers yeah go ahead i was gonna say but you also want people there so it's like How low do you put it? Do

SPEAKER_03:

you cover the cleaning? When you have changeover for your tenants, do you do the cleaning yourself or do you have somebody else do it for you?

SPEAKER_00:

I do it myself.

SPEAKER_03:

Really?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I got a job for you. You want to come clean my house? I'll pay you a nominal

SPEAKER_00:

fee. Honestly, I just can't. If we have more units and stuff, but I can't see myself for one unit that's upstairs having someone else come in and pay them.

SPEAKER_03:

Hiring a cleaning

SPEAKER_00:

company or something. Yeah, I'd rather just go through it and do it myself. I mean, I got that toilet cleaned, the one I was telling you about. Oh, thank

SPEAKER_03:

God. Everyone knows that story. You made it on the show, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

But I finally knew what to do, but we don't have to get into that. Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm going to call him Professor Mousset for now. Yeah, I like that. The moniker. It rolls off the tongue better than Producer Mousset. Yeah. Professor Mousset. Oh, he's good. We're a podcast. We'll sponsor. We'll buy him a tweed jacket and a tie. Come in and look like a professor. A couple more investor stories. Manny Reyna, a San Antonio host who uses midterm stays to avoid hotel taxes and permit fees required for short-term rentals. So that's another thing. Hotel taxes? I don't even know what that means. Like, is that tax? tax a hotel pays? I don't even know what that means. Yeah, no, yeah. You get charged hotel taxes when you book like an extended stay, even if it's one single night, there's taxes and fees with any hotel purchase.

SPEAKER_02:

But she avoids having, isn't that, is that not something that the- She avoids the tenants having to pay those fees by charging for the short-term rental.

SPEAKER_03:

Gotcha. I'm going to cover the cost of the hotel for you to stay with us. Yeah. No, not how it works. Peter Keen Riviera a Seattle host who mixes short and mid-term depending on the season. The high summer returns from short-term stays, but in winter, switches to mid-term for more stable income. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. We also haven't talked about college housing. Yeah. I guess those would be like smart for mid-term. Yeah. You could do six, I mean, six months, right? You start in the fall, August, September, October, November, December. Yeah. And then maybe it's like, eh, you do a semester here, a semester there. Yeah. Who knows? All sorts of things you could do with these. Aren't they so exciting, Patrick? Yeah, they are. Okay. A couple bullet points from the article. Short-term rental struggles. Many cities are cracking down on short-term rentals with permits, taxes, and regulations. Hotel taxes, for example. For example, there could be a hotel that's working to charge a citywide hotel tax. Oh, no. Constant guest turnover, maintenance, and unpredictability can be exhausting for hosts, but mid-term rentals can charge more than long-term rentals without the churn of air Airbnb-style hosting. So, you know, renters like traveling nurses, remote workers, and divorcees are driving steady demand. That's fascinating. Didn't think about that part at all. That's very interesting. Tenants staying one to six months often treat the place better than weekend guests. Like one investor compared the experience to switching from, quote, a frat party to a responsible adult, end quote. So it's kind of like, you know, you get somebody in there for longer than a weekend. They have just the– the precedent that you set is like, I want to take care of this place. I'm going to be existing in this place. I should not, you know, trash. Yeah. Drink 25 beers and throw up all over the rug. Yeah. Or also dog threw up on your rug. Can't you just get it cleaned? You said he ruined your favorite rug. Well, I don't like, I don't have rug

SPEAKER_02:

cleaner

SPEAKER_03:

at my, like, cause you take it to a, take it to like a laundromat.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, you take it to a,

SPEAKER_03:

or you can take it to it. Yeah. There's

SPEAKER_02:

places that

SPEAKER_03:

are like clean, clean fabric.

SPEAKER_02:

I put a bunch of the, like, you know, like the tide power spray thing. I like, sprayed it with that, and I ran it under hot water and scrubbed it, and I'm hoping that did the trick. But it's kind of like a material, a different material. It's like tweed maybe or something.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. I don't know. I'm hoping for the best. I'll take a look at it tonight. We'll keep you rugging our thoughts. Thank you. Platforms like Furnished Finder, Facebook groups, or even word-of-mouth help fill midterm rentals. I'm unfamiliar with Furnished Finder, Moussey, Producer Moussey, Professor Moussey. Professor. Have you heard any... Do you know what Furnish Finder is? Have any experience with it?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, I actually use that. Really? Yeah. It's pretty decent. Honestly, it's hard to get tenants on there because these are more like situational. So some people are nurses, some people are like traveling to complete their course or whatever. So... Yeah, I use it. It gets a good amount of leads. You just got to make sure you nail them down.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. And you avoid the fees and restrictions that Airbnb imposes as well. So yeah. So it sounds like a lot of people have a lot of different methods of finding their midterm tenants. By any means, you got to nail it down. And yeah. So midterm works best in urban areas or cities with medical centers, business hubs, or universities. I imagine that rural areas, midterm rental, probably non-existent. Next to non-existent in the country. But if you're in the city,

SPEAKER_02:

you know. I just thought about this. I want to add. My cousin from Arkansas, Lincoln, he just moved to Montana to be a firefighter, like a forest firefighter. And I guess what they do is they station them out. That's where he's based, but he's going to New Mexico or something for a while and stationed out there. I wonder if he does midterm rentals. I should ask him.

SPEAKER_03:

You should ask him to write in the answer to the question to questions at therentishpod.com. I will absolutely

SPEAKER_02:

ask him that. Lincoln, if you're listening right now, which I know you definitely aren't because you I do

SPEAKER_03:

this podcast. Someone named Lincoln, if you're listening, write in to questions at the register. Anyone. Anybody, please.

UNKNOWN:

Please.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, furnished units are a must, the article says, but the returns often justify the extra setup. So, you know, you spend a little bit more up front getting a nice furnishings and like, you know. Yeah. Do you supply plates? Do you supply eatery, too? Eatery? What do I call it? Dishery? Dishery?

SPEAKER_00:

Cutlery? What is it? Kitchen essentials? What is it called?

SPEAKER_03:

Utensils? Eating utensils? Forks, knives, spoons. There's another word

SPEAKER_00:

for it. It's silverware? Mugs.

SPEAKER_03:

Potential discussion questions. So, Patrick, would you consider doing a midterm rental over a long Like in terms of like... I think it's you as the renter. Renter. Would you consider... Yeah, I mean... Would this ever fit

SPEAKER_02:

a situation for

SPEAKER_03:

you?

SPEAKER_02:

Like not... Not now. I'm trying to think. There's been a situation. Obviously, I was in college, and I lived with a buddy for two months as, I guess, a renter. So I guess that was kind of a midterm rental. So I've done that. That's true. I rented a room in this house that he bought. Yeah. I mean, if the situation arose, but I think the next property I'll live in, I would like to buy. Sure. So I don't know. What about you?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I don't know. I'm kind of in the same boat. It's like I'm in a place now. hour it's like well i'll probably look to buy as my next as my next move like not moving to another place to rent the only exception this is this is like pie in the sky would be if i chose to like travel abroad like a midterm rental for like if what if i wanted to you know spend some time in norwegia norwegia and uh i had to get a midterm rental out there you know and be able to you know not have to lock myself down to a 12 month lease. I could stay somewhere for five to six months, get some experience, work abroad, study. Are you planning on doing that? No, I'm not. I was just hypothetically, I'm like, well, that would be a situation I could see. Talk about a hypothetical.

SPEAKER_02:

The far lands of Norwegia. Norwegia.

SPEAKER_03:

What types of tenants would you feel most comfortable hosting?

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know. I mean, like, I just feel like a tenant that would respect the property. So, for example, if I was going to do a short-term or I'm sorry, mid-term rental, I I would probably not want to do a frat house personally. I

SPEAKER_03:

would probably say it's probably a little scary for people renting out midterm rentals to college kids, just knowing the propensity of what college kids can do to a property. I would imagine that a thorough application process would probably be part of a midterm rental. Would you say so? I

SPEAKER_00:

think so. I think if you use Furnace Finder, people on there... I think they got to go through the verification. And then on top of that, if you're like a nurse or whatever, you're also vetted anyway by that company. So they go through like a lot of like vetting processes. I feel like if you use midterm, that's one of the perks also. But I mean, you could just, you know, have somebody that you know that wants to do three to six months and you just got to do what we always say. Yeah. For the tenant screening.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Nice drop. That's about it. I mean, midterm rentals, they don't seem to be just a trend. They're becoming strategic moves for investors looking to increase returns with fewer headaches. As housing markets shift and travel habits evolve, they offer a practical middle ground between stability and profitability. So it's interesting to hear. It's cool to hear some perspective from our producer, Moussey. But yeah, if anybody has any thoughts or opinions on short-term, midterm rentals, feel free to reach out. Questions at therentishpod.com. I couldn't remember the email for a second. Oh, boy. All right. Well, we made it through the news. That was fun, informative. Now it's time to get into the good stuff.

SPEAKER_02:

The good stuff. By the good stuff, you mean Hogwarts, the Wizarding World's most iconic property? Then yes.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we're going to talk about Harry Potter. What was that? That was the lightning that happens at the opening. Opening title sequence.

SPEAKER_02:

I had no idea what that was. By the way, whichever producer wrote this one, which I think was Charlene... Was it? Yeah, she got really into it. So I'm going to read some of this stuff word to word. Oh, my

SPEAKER_03:

God. There are five pages of Harry

SPEAKER_02:

Potter stuff. I know. Usually this is a little bit more bulleted. But, yeah, I think Charlene was getting excited.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, this is real. So introduce the segment. Real Estate Real, right? Real Estate

SPEAKER_02:

Real. Welcome

SPEAKER_03:

to Real Estate

SPEAKER_02:

Real. Like R-E-E-L. But, like, the first one's R-E-A-L. I feel like we cover that every time. I feel like I don't need to start covering that. Well, we

SPEAKER_03:

just got to make sure that everybody really understands exactly what we're going for here. It's a pun. It's fun. Everyone has a good time.

SPEAKER_02:

It is funny because it's real estate, but it's also like movies and TV, like a film reel. That's why it's funny. Yeah, basically we talk about iconic properties from TV and movies and explore their real world locations as well as the quirks and the property value and all that. Yeah, and today we're going to talk about Harry Potter's Hogwarts Castle, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as it's formally called. Yep. One of the most, I think, legendary fictional properties of all time, certainly of the 21st century. Oh,

SPEAKER_03:

definitely. If you've been living under a rock for the last 20 years, the silhouette of the castle of Hogwarts is just one of the most iconic fictional things, I think, that have been created in the last few decades. For sure. And yeah, the building itself, beautiful. I mean, how would you describe the castle?

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, it looks... I mean, I don't know. It's like cone, cone. They kind of look like cones, right? The castles. I would say

SPEAKER_03:

very, very purposefully, like kind of like medieval architecture. I mean, it's got like, yeah, like the, yeah, like a spires. There's like multiple different spires that jet up. So it kind of has like a jaggedy sort of look. Right. It's

SPEAKER_02:

really, really cool. Medieval, magical, mystical, wizarding.

SPEAKER_03:

All of the magical adjectives. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I hadn't seen Harry Potter. I haven't read the books, but I hadn't seen it until like COVID hit basically. Yeah. Well, like my sister, I always got annoyed with the Harry Potter like super fans because my sister was one of them. And it was just kind of like one of those things like I was in this English class and everybody like when they found out I had never read Harry Potter or seen the movies, they made me take like the sorting hat quiz test thing. Let me

SPEAKER_03:

guess. Let me guess. Let me guess. They put you– I bet you they put you in– In Ravenclaw. No, I was Hufflepuff. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That actually checks out too.

SPEAKER_02:

See, that's the thing. Literally the professor stopped the class so I could take the quiz test and I got a Hufflepuff not knowing what that meant. And they're like, oh, you would be a Hufflepuff. And I'm like, it's just so, I was getting so annoyed. Until COVID hit, I didn't have any excuses. My sister, I watched the whole thing in like 48 hours, my sister. And I get it. I love them. I thought it's great. I totally get the appeal. I totally get the fandom. I think the story is great. The characters are great. The world building is awesome. I haven't read the books. Have you read the books? You should, yeah. Okay. I've heard they're even better.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I actually was reading the books at the same time the movies were coming out and seeing them as well. So it was really, really cool to be in that world and have the books be going concurrently and then going to see the movies and going to see the midnight. This was still at the time of midnight movie releases, but seeing the last Harry Potter movie at midnight with a big group of friends in my hometown. was like a quintessential high school memory for me, which is crazy because it's like now we're coming up on however many years that this, that Harry Potter has been a franchise. And it's just so, so many iconic things have come from the wizarding world and from all of that stuff. Yeah. But yeah, specifically the Hogwarts castle. I mean like tattooed on millions, I must assume that people have gotten the silhouette tattoo. You can actually visit it. I've, I've been to Hogwarts, Pat. Oh, Twice. Universal Studios. Okay, gotcha. is really really impressive because of the way that they're able to manipulate scale you actually think that you're looking at this gigantic castle that's far away and it makes you feel like you're in another world yeah and then you get closer to it and you realize that it's really just the perspective of their it's a it's still a big structure but they make it seem like this gigantic castle so you can really put yourself in the place of like being in hot in the world really right but yeah you mentioned we mentioned the the spires of the castle and the jagged look of it. Also, we should probably mention the lake. I'm going to get burned by my

SPEAKER_02:

Harry Potter trivia. Black

SPEAKER_03:

Lake. So the Black Lake surrounding it. So it's kind of like in a little inlet on the lake. It kind of sits in the middle of the water, which I've always thought was a really cool design. But yeah. With the mountains and

SPEAKER_02:

the Forbidden Forest, I think is what it's called. Yeah, so like Hogwarts has all those things. It's a hidden castle in the Scottish Highlands. But in real life, much of the exterior of Hogwarts was filmed at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland. I don't know if that's how I... Northumberland. Northumberland. You've got to pronounce

SPEAKER_03:

everything with

SPEAKER_02:

just a wee British accent. I'm not good at... Northumberland, England. Yeah, that

SPEAKER_03:

was rough. Northumberland, England. There we go. That's better. That's my Dolores Umbridge. Northumberland, England. Not a thumb. Northumberland, England. That

SPEAKER_02:

was good. That was good. Or was I? Oh, yeah. And a lot of the interior shots were at locations like. Give this one a shot. Oh, God. Gloucester Cathedral. I'm going to guess it's Gloucester.

SPEAKER_03:

Gloucester. Gloucester. Gloucester. Because I think I don't think you pronounce the O-U in Scott in those kind. So it's like Gloucester Cathedral.

SPEAKER_02:

I got this one in lockdown, though. Durham Cathedral. Durham, not Durham.

SPEAKER_03:

Durham.

SPEAKER_02:

No, Durham.

SPEAKER_03:

The Durham

SPEAKER_02:

Cathedral. Durham Cathedral and then various sets at Levisden Studios near London.

SPEAKER_03:

I love that was like two sentences written on the page that took you so that took so much effort for you to pronounce all of those words.

SPEAKER_02:

But anyways, Alnwick Castle. It's a real lived in castle. That's the one where the first one we talked about with a bunch of the experience. shots. It's a real lived-in castle and has been home to the Duke of Northumberland's family for over 700 years. Wow. Yeah. That's older than America. It now serves as both a private residence and a tourist attraction. See,

SPEAKER_03:

that is interesting. I didn't actually know that the castle, like, the castle's a tourist. It doesn't look, by the way, anything like Harry Potter. So, like, this is Alnwick Castle. Right. And it kind of, I could see, like, maybe some of the ground shots doing there or, like, that interior like this yeah like this almost looks like in the first movie where they do like the learn how to play Quidditch scene right is like kind of in like a castle area like that but it's like it's not really like Hogwartsy I mean they can actually go tour this place

SPEAKER_02:

a lot of it was like CGI I'm sure but yeah I mean they filmed you know they filmed shots on

SPEAKER_03:

the yeah

SPEAKER_01:

but they

SPEAKER_03:

did they pride themselves on doing a lot of the stuff in Harry Potter practically like using like actual environments there's not a whole lot of shots I think in that series where they're on green screens yeah Oh, okay. Gotcha. Until you get to the more fantastical stuff. But, yeah. I mean, Pat, I got good news. If we want to book a tour for tomorrow, it would just be a mere 21 quid. I have no idea how much that is. I always get tripped. I don't know what the conversion rate is between a euro and a pound. What's a quid versus a pound? I don't know. I just said quid because I love it when British people say quid. It's like, oh, I've just got 100 quid in it. Hand that

SPEAKER_02:

to the cashier. That was good. Cool. For tomorrow, you said I'm down to book. Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

we just need to book flights. So three thousand dollars later, we'll be able to tour Fenwick Castle or whatever. But

SPEAKER_02:

yeah, as far as the filming of Harry Potter, these historical landmarks like all the way can glooster require special permissions often come with the condition that the production won't alter the original structures. So Yeah. Yeah, which also makes sense. I mean, a building that's over 700 years old. I mean, you don't want like a movie studio coming and making all sorts of demo. We need to

SPEAKER_03:

blow out all these walls. Oh, mercy. Lord have mercy. God save the queen. do you think they're going to film at the same do you think they're going to use either of these castles for the new HBO series the Harry Potter HBO series or do you think they're going to

SPEAKER_02:

that's probably going to be green screen

SPEAKER_03:

I think they are filming in the UK

SPEAKER_02:

I think so I mean they can still film with green screens in

SPEAKER_03:

the UK I know but if they're closer to these sorts of landmarks maybe it would behoove them to go and shoot there

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know yeah I'm actually not sure about that we can ask Charlene I'm sure who you know did the whole article we'll see yeah I don't know What else you got for me? As far as how much Hogwarts would cost, castles in the UK often don't go up for sale, believe it or not. He's

SPEAKER_03:

scrolling on Zillow. We found this home that you might be interested in. It's an$800 billion castle.

SPEAKER_02:

According to this stat, I don't know where this was found, but if Hogwarts were real, the

SPEAKER_03:

castle... Our real estate professionals found this stat.

SPEAKER_02:

If Hogwarts were real, the castle alone could be valued at two to 300 million US dollars, not including magical enhancements.

SPEAKER_03:

You know, I've never really thought about it. Who owns, who owns Hogwarts? Like, there's always a headmaster. No, but he's the headmaster, not the owner. Like, he's not the property owner. Who's the leasing agency for Hogwarts? Some landlord in Southern California.

SPEAKER_02:

He just wanted to invest in this magical castle.

SPEAKER_03:

Dumbledore. Dumbledore. Dumbledore. It's like his office toilet has a leak and he's got to call this guy. It's like Bob from Sacramento. Like, I seem to have a leak in the enchanted castle. All right. Just go ahead and submit a maintenance ticket. We'll get to you as soon as we can. Oh,

SPEAKER_02:

man. That's funny. All right. So as far as some of the features of Hogwarts, Hogwarts is apparently seven floors with hundreds of rooms. Hogwarts, as we know, has four distinct house dormitories and common rooms.

SPEAKER_03:

We can't. So Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff. You're what? I didn't even ask. What do you think I am?

SPEAKER_02:

You're Gryffindor. I was Hufflepuff. Really? Yeah. Okay, I guess that also doesn't surprise me too much.

SPEAKER_03:

Hufflepuff.

SPEAKER_02:

Puff out. Puff it out. You're too far away. What

SPEAKER_03:

were you, Producer Moussey?

SPEAKER_00:

You don't know? I didn't take it. I just didn't like Malfoy, so anything that doesn't have Malfoy in

SPEAKER_03:

it. So you don't want to be Slytherin? Yeah. Okay. So I feel like the Sorting Hat right now, you're like, not Slytherin, not Slytherin. Oh, not Slytherin, eh? We'll sort you once we get back. Or sort yourself now.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I'm

SPEAKER_03:

sorted. Go sort yourself. Are you sorted? You sort yourself, I'm going to say. Seriously. Yeah, do it. By the time we're done with this segment, you'll have sorted yourself.

SPEAKER_02:

All right. Let's get to the other features here. Great hall that seats hundreds with enchanted ceilings, a vast underground dungeon system.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Love the

SPEAKER_03:

great hall, by the way. I think that that's such a cool design. I love the fact that, like, the ceiling can change depending on the weather, depending on the event. It's just such a beautiful, like... such a it's such a beautiful image to to see and the moving staircases too yeah the moving staircases great concept i love the idea that it's like the castle's always changing and it's like i would be dude as i'm an anxious person imagine being anxious in college and not being able to get to your class on time and then you're like freaking stare and it's like it changed direction you got to wait for it to swing on back to the other side or whatever it's like god

SPEAKER_02:

well actually hogwarts apparently has 142 staircases all Although that number may fluctuate due to magic. But yeah, it's a lot of staircases. Okay. And as far as the Great Hall, it was inspired by the Christ Church College at Oxford, one of the most architecturally famous dining halls in the UK. I did

SPEAKER_03:

not know that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Interesting. So Oxford.

SPEAKER_02:

Like the university.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Wow. Okay. That's cool. You missed the Quidditch pitch.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, I did miss the Quidditch pitch. I'm running around here. Yeah, the Quidditch. I still don't really fully understand the rules. of Quidditch, but...

SPEAKER_03:

It's flying soccer.

SPEAKER_02:

Is that all it is? It's

SPEAKER_03:

flying soccer with a bit of baseball. So basically, you've got the two teams of people. I'm not going to go through all the positions, but you're basically trying to get the balls, hit the balls, or throw the balls into the different nets to get different values of points. But you can also defend by hitting the balls in the other direction. And people are doing the whole thing in air on broomsticks. And you can actually play Quidditch in real life There are leagues all across the United States where they do, like, field hockey, basically, is what it is. Hockey is probably a better example. It's hockey on broomsticks.

SPEAKER_02:

But then Harry Potter was, like, a special position where he was chasing this little thing, right? He was the seeker. What does that mean?

SPEAKER_03:

So the seeker is the Quidditch, like, weird, like, there's one person on each team that their sole purpose, their only job is to fly around looking for this tiny little metal ball with wings called the Golden Snitch. Mm-hmm. And if they catch the snitch, the game is over because they get the maximum amount of points. They get 100 points and it ends. That's like a really valuable. Yes. Okay. That's why Harry Potter was the best seeker since his own father, wasn't it? Oh, is that a quote? Yeah, let's talk about that. Yeah. They talk about it in the first movie that Harry's dad was a seeker and that's why. It's fate that he ends up getting recruited to be the same position as his dad on the team. There's a shot in the first movie where he looks at a trophy case of like his dad behind the trophy case. Okay. I'm not remembering. I got it. Got to rewatch these. It's been

SPEAKER_02:

a bunch of years. Cool. So if built today, a structure of Hogwarts size and complexity could exceed 500,000 square feet, making it larger than the Buckingham Palace, believe it or not.

SPEAKER_03:

Buckingham Palace. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Pretty big. Pretty big. Pretty big.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep.

SPEAKER_02:

So as far as like building Hogwarts, if a non-magical developer tried to recreate Hogwarts with modern materials, historical detailing, and special effects, it could cost upwards of a billion US dollars Someone should do it. I dare you.

SPEAKER_03:

Some billionaire. For all billionaires listening to this podcast, go recreate Hogwarts.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I mean, I bet you they can make a ton of money off of people going to

SPEAKER_03:

business. Checking Airbnb. How much? All right, so if the property costs$1 billion to make and I wanted to rent out the castle of Hogwarts for a weekend. That, oh, do that math and say. 15K for a weekend, maybe 20.

SPEAKER_02:

It costs a billion dollars and you want to rent it out for three days. Well, it costs a billion

SPEAKER_03:

dollars to make. I don't know if we can do that. we can mathematically get to the monthly, to how much it would cost

SPEAKER_02:

to rent out. Well, how much would a million dollar home cost to rent out for a weekend? And then we could just multiply that by a thousand. I'm doing Chad to BT, so tell me what I need to put in there. All right,$1 billion is the cost. How much can you rent that home out for a weekend? Wait,

SPEAKER_03:

okay. If a property costs$1 billion, like as the property cost, What would it cost to rent it for a weekend?

SPEAKER_00:

He's going to

SPEAKER_02:

ask me square feet. What? That has nothing to do with square feet. It's$500,000, though. All right, I'm not going to put the square feet. And so it's thinking. We're

SPEAKER_03:

doing live

SPEAKER_00:

AI. It says around$10 million a year, so it could be$27,000 for seven days. For two days, it could be$60,000.$60,000 or$16,000? Oh, wait a minute. Estimated weekend cost is$55,000.

SPEAKER_03:

$55,000 for a weekend.

SPEAKER_02:

That's actually insane. That is a salary.

SPEAKER_03:

Worth it. Why not? Okay. What else you got for me?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So I also found out what I am.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh,

SPEAKER_02:

did you test it? Let me guess. Let me guess. Let me guess. Let me say it's pure of heart. I bet he's Gryffindor. I bet he's Gryffindor.

SPEAKER_00:

Gryffindor. Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

It'd be funny if you got Slytherin.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it's the one I didn't want to get. It's like, no, it's Gryffindor. Oh, yes. It says I have mascot line, colors red and gold, ghost, nearly headless Nick. I don't know what that means.

SPEAKER_03:

What about the upkeep on this backboard? I wanted you to read that.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, we'll go ahead and take a step back. So a billion dollars for the cost. Now, as far as how that breaks down, stonework, stained glass, gothic detailing alone. racks up tens of millions of dollars. The infrastructure for secret passageways, elevators in place of magic, and massive dining halls require complex engineering. But the upkeep cost for heating, maintenance, and staffing a building of that size, easily in the millions annually. So like on top of the billion dollars, millions annually. Now as far as owning Hogwarts. Unless

SPEAKER_03:

you're able to hire house elves. That's a really good point. Or not technically hire them, but we don't talk about that anymore. Dobby's a free elf, all right? We're all good now. We're all

SPEAKER_02:

good. So, yeah, even if you had a billionaire want to do that, it comes with complications. So... Listed historical buildings in the U.K. come with strict preservation laws.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. The Scottish Highlands would impose planning restrictions to maintain the local landscape. So, obviously, this giant structure might not fly. And, of course, you need the Ministry of Magic's approval, assuming you're a wizard. So that's another complication.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Related real estate fun facts. The average castle in the U.K. sells for$5 to$10 million. Obviously, Hogwarts is in a different league.

UNKNOWN:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

And some developers, since the book and movies, have tried creating the Hogwarts style of homes, including fancy castles in the U.S. priced at$10 million. Can

SPEAKER_03:

you imagine being such a Harry Potter fan that you commission a castle to be built, like a small-scale castle to be built in the United States? That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_02:

Speaking of which, some private schools are modeled after Hogwarts.

SPEAKER_03:

Now that is cool. I would love to go to. So you read the books during, or you watched the movies during COVID, so you were an adult by the time you first. I was 20, yeah. So I don't think you realize when I was a kid reading these books, I legitimately, there was still a time in my life where I was like, I was still an imaginative kid that didn't realize that the world was just gonna tear me down and keep beating me down. And I was like, one day I'm gonna get my owl from Hogwarts. And I was like, one of these days it's gonna happen. I'm gonna get the owl it's gonna come in I'm gonna get my letter and I'm gonna go to Hogwarts I legitimately thought and that was like while these books were coming out and then I realized I was like oh magic

SPEAKER_02:

did you wait did you like read each one as it came out

SPEAKER_03:

yeah well I think I think the first three had been out because I remember reading those back to back to back to back and then the rest of them I remember going like my mom picking up a copy and bringing it home for me like from the bookstore when they came out well hold on huge I mean, like, Patrick and I have a bit of an age gap between the two of us. I'm a millennial through and through. We're going to talk about it. But, like, Harry Potter is probably the biggest millennial franchise that there is for, like, my generation. New IP, like, for my generation. Harry Potter is, like, probably the biggest thing. Similar to what, like, Star Wars was like for adults.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, I'm a Gen Z-er. I'd say the exact same for my generation.

SPEAKER_03:

So you think it spilled over to

SPEAKER_02:

Gen Z-ers as well? Oh, totally. I was in the minority of people in terms of, like, not reading Harry Potter and, like, L.A. my dream middle school

SPEAKER_03:

it's cool because like yeah it's like I remember existing in a time when that stuff was still happening like the end hadn't come out yet so it's like it's cool to hear that like it passed on to the next generation

SPEAKER_02:

so I pretty much I had just finished kindergarten when the last book came out It was July 2007. Disgusting.

SPEAKER_03:

I want you to know that my headache just got ten times

SPEAKER_02:

worse. Maybe it was first grade. Hold on. What year were you in kindergarten? You were

SPEAKER_03:

not in kindergarten when the last book

SPEAKER_02:

came out. When are you seven years old? What grade are you in? I

SPEAKER_03:

can't do that calculation

SPEAKER_02:

for you right now. That's not second grade. You were in second when you were seven? You were in second grade when the last book came out? Okay, so I had just finished first grade. Never mind. Sorry, go

SPEAKER_03:

ahead. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, it's an impactful franchise for a lot of people. I think we can all agree on that. You got anything else for me? What do we got? We got time. We got time. We got

SPEAKER_02:

time.

SPEAKER_03:

We got nothing but time.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, I got a few things. I'm just going to read these word for word because I know Charlene had a fun time writing them. Most rooms at Harry Potter appear to lack basic plumbing or heating, although magic presumably solves these problems. And security would be another issue between trolls, death eaters, and moving staircases. You'd need serious insurance.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I would imagine that you would. So, yeah, you would need to insure the property, as we've covered. There are specific, like, preservation laws. So, yeah, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02:

After the success of the films, the Alnwick Castle that we previously talked about saw a 300% increase in tourism. Huh. So good for the Duke whelming.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, good for the 700-year-old family. Yeah. They're fine. Before America. Yeah, yeah. Who'd have thought? Yeah, I mean, the tourism must be absolutely insane there. I mean, they literally had to build the Wizarding World in Orlando to make it so that people could stay within the continental United States and enjoy the environments and the magicalness of the world and stuff. And I don't know. It's cool. Again, like we have. We have it on here, the Wizarding World in Orlando. Yeah. If you go, you can actually get a wand and go through the whole Ollivander thing. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_02:

It's very cool. I went even before I was a Harry Potter fan. I loved the whole world there. Yeah. Very cool. All right. Last thing. Hogwarts was named the number one fictional property people would want to visit in multiple poles worldwide.

SPEAKER_03:

That makes sense. Number one fictional property. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe one of these days we'll start listing all the fictional properties we talk about in terms of which ones we would want to live in from most to least and have a running list for all the episodes. It's going to be like this versus the Seinfeld apartment. I'd rather live in the Seinfeld apartment than Hogwarts Castle. I want to exist in 1994. Cool. I

SPEAKER_02:

mean, that's pretty much it. Thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I've got Harry Potter questions, so we can't end without talking about the movies for just a little bit. A couple minutes. I want to know, and feel free to chime in, Professor Moussey. I want to know favorite movie, favorite book, least favorite movie, least favorite book. You got that? Favorite movie, favorite book, least favorite movie, least favorite book.

SPEAKER_02:

I feel

SPEAKER_03:

like everyone's got one of each.

SPEAKER_02:

Considering I haven't read the books, the movies kind of all blended together for me. It's because I watched them back to back. I literally watched them within 48 hours. My least favorite movie was The Goblet of Fire. What? Yeah. Besides the last 30 minutes, which was great. Most of it just kind of– it seemed like the one movie that was just kind of like filler, like the whole like games thing. What? Just kind of like from my– as somebody who hadn't read the books, it just kind of seemed– it was just like they're just doing this. But it was a complete sidetrack from the first three movies and then like what was then to come. So it was my least favorite movie. That's crazy. What a take. I loved the first three movies and then I loved– I think the first three I really loved. The last one I loved– Yeah, I really liked them all. Snape was my favorite character. I know that's not a hot take at all. Mr. Potter. I thought he was just a great character. Turn to page 194. That

SPEAKER_03:

was

SPEAKER_02:

a good

SPEAKER_03:

thing. Thank you. All right, what about you guys? Go ahead. Do you have one? Do you have it at the top of your head?

SPEAKER_00:

The favorite book, because I think I only read the first one, was Sorcerer's Stone. I think the favorite movie was Prisoner of Azkaban, because that's the one with the bird, right? Oh, that's a good one. The one with the bird is like...

SPEAKER_03:

Fox the Phoenix?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, the Phoenix shows up in multiple things. Or are you talking about the Hippogriff?

SPEAKER_00:

The Hippogriff, yeah. Then,

SPEAKER_03:

yes, you're talking about Azkaban.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So I think that one. And then, honestly, I didn't watch the other ones. I have to catch up and watch these other ones. They're

SPEAKER_03:

good. Yeah. Buckbeak's the homie. Shout out, Buckbeak. Love you, buddy. Almost named my, I was thinking, that was a name that got tossed around when we were naming my dog. I was like, what about Buckbeak? That'd be funny. I was like, that'd be a nightmare to say. Favorite movie, Azkaban, undoubtable. I think it's the best in that series. Least favorite movie is Half-Blood Prince. Just because of all the Voldemort stuff that they cut out of it, I think that Half-Blood Prince is a really well done movie, but they butchered it compared to what the book is. Favorite book is, Half-Blood Prince. Least favorite book was probably Chamber of Secrets or something. Chamber of Secrets is kind of just pretty straightforward and not really that crazy, but everything else is awesome. Great series. Really, really fun. The movies are awesome. Very curious to see what they're going to do with this HBO reboot. This is like... This is going to be a big deal. It's the first big property to come out since the 2000s that's getting a reboot already. Batman. I see what you're saying. A property that was original and was a big deal for kids growing up in the 2000s is now getting a remake. So it's like how people felt when they remade Jurassic Park or whatever. It's like this is the first thing that hasn't been touched that's been a big popular thing in our life. Right. That's getting retouched. Yeah. So it's going to be very divisive. We'll see how. People are going to be very reactionary to how this thing's going to go. And I'm very curious to see how it does. But I wish them the best. All right. Thank you guys for listening to this episode of The Rentish Pod. It's been a fun one. I've got to talk nerdy wizard stuff. And we also got to talk about, let me check my notes, midterm rentals. We'll be back next time with more fun property management and real estate. Remember, follow The Rentish at TheRentishPod on Insta. You can go to TheRentishPod on Spotify, Apple Podcasts. Listen, subscribe, give us a rating, give us a review. Email questions at TheRentishPod.com. I've been Zach. That's been Patrick. That's been Professor Moussey. And we'll see you guys next time.