RENT Magazine Q3 '22

Case Study: Zona Capital

Conduct Due Diligence

Is the Time Right for Home Sharing? Before pressing “go” on a home sharing program, multifamily owners and property managers should do their research. The short-term rental market is a complex market with a wide range of regulations varying from city to city and state to state. Not only is it important to comply with local rules and regulations, but it can be costly if you don’t. Non-compliance can result in penalties, fines and even prohibition of using your property as flex living space. As remote work continues to grow, more and more people who were once tied to an office are now taking advantage of flexible-living arrangements. Home sharing benefits these digital nomads as well as multifamily owners and residents. Guests enjoy accommodations beyond what a hotel may offer, like more space, kitchens and laundries. On the owner side, home sharing addresses pain points like vacancy and seasonality, consequently mitigating risk and increasing property value. And residents win, too, by generating a little extra income. Technological innovations have arrived that not only make home sharing possible, but also safe and convenient. With the right choice of software, multifamily owners and residents can easily manage as much or as little of the home-sharing processes as they want, while still generating valuable income.

Zona Capital, founded by Sergey Shukhat, comprises 10 multifamily buildings and former hotels with over 1,000 units. About 50 percent of the units are traditional multifamily

with residents signing year-long leases. The other half of the portfolio is what Shukhat refers to as “condotels” that house short-term residents who stay anywhere from one week to one month. For the flexible-living portion of his portfolio, Shukhat relies on a fully integrated platform of access control software from RemoteLock and his property management software, Guesty. The two work seamlessly together, allowing Shukhat to forgo the overhead of front desk staff. Instead, his platform automatically generates access codes for guests once reservations are made, creating smooth self-check-ins. He also depends on the platform for auto generation of email replies to guests and customized access schedules for cleaning crews. Zona’s portfolio spans from northern Phoenix all the way down to the Mexican border. Yet, Shukhat maintains complete control of every door from his laptop, even when he’s hours away from a property. His bottom line benefits significantly as he also saves the labor cost of employing an on-site manager for each property.

BRAD MUSHOVIC Chief Marketing Officer RemoteLock

Brad Mushovic is the Chief Marketing Officer at RemoteLock, where he is responsible for leading the marketing team, building the RemoteLock brand, and overseeing corporate communications. Before joining RemoteLock, Brad was managing director of marketing and communications for Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a global clean energy non-profit, vice president of marketing, sales, and customer service for Outward Bound USA, and led marketing and product management at Registry-SafeRent—a SaaS company selling risk management services to the multifamily housing industry. Brad holds a 2nd-degree black belt in Shaolin Kempo karate, builds custom wood canoes, and enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife, son, and two dogs.

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