Episode 70: How to grow your real estate portfolio using Airbnb in South Africa

In this week's podcast episode we talk to Willy Kalala, a real estate investor who runs Mount Zion Tours & Travel, a tourism company, and uses a rent to rent strategy to make money from real estate.

 

In this podcast, Willy shares that he got into real estate when he lived in the DRC (that’s where he was born but he later immigrated to South Africa); growing up his father would always emphasize the need for his children to own their own properties.

 

When his father passed away, a pastor approached them and asked to use their land to build a church and use it for a set number of years, in return the church paid them monthly rent and gave them the building at the end of the contract.

 

At the end of that contract, Willy and his siblings turned the church building into storage facilities and built more rooms for rent on the property. All the siblings used the rental income to empower themselves and pursue their dreams.

 

When he moved to South Africa, Willy got a job and because he already understood the power of real estate, he soon acquired investment property.

 

And when he was fired from his job, he started a tourism company focused on providing tours to French-speaking people and as part of his business model, he decided to offer accommodation to clients so he moved onto a rent to rent strategy.

 

This is a no money down strategy, where he rents apartments from landlords, renovates or decorates them and then puts them up on Airbnb.

 

We were pleasantly surprised to learn that Airbnb in South Africa has been thriving during the pandemic and Willy shares how he generates a consistent profit from using this strategy. He also shares how he makes money during the off-seasons on Airbnb.

 

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did.

 

Books that inspired Willy: 

“It’s more than just money” by Witness Mdaka

‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki

 

Click play and leave us a comment in the comments section below.

 

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