THIS Is Killing Your Real Estate Profits (Do This Instead!)

Ashley:
Whether you’re planning a flip, a bur, an Airbnb, or even a midterm rental, there’s one thing that can make or break how much money your property makes, and that is design.

Tony:
And look, the truth is most of us absolutely suck at designing property. So today we’re bringing on an expert Brianna Amigo, owner of Brianna Michelle Interiors, my personal designer and friend. I’ve worked with her on flips on Airbnb’s, even our hotel. And today she’s breaking down everything a Ricky needs to know about designing profitable properties in 2025.

Ashley:
This is the Real Estate Rookie podcast, and I, I’m Ashley Kehr.

Tony:
And I’m Tony j Robinson. And let’s give a big warm welcome to b Brie Bree, thank you for joining us on the Rookie Podcast today.

Ashley:
Thank you so much for having me, you guys.

Brianna:
I’m so excited.

Ashley:
Brie, what does design mean to you and why is it important for rookie investors?

Brianna:
Yeah, I mean, I think it’s incredibly important. I’m so glad we’re talking about it today, but design, the way I look at it is a little bit differently, I think, than most. It’s beyond the aesthetics in my opinion. So of course it’s about curating a beautiful space and of course creating that experience and that optimal guest experience. But it’s also blending in this aspect of strategy and having a strategy to ensure that you are evoking an emotion with your ideal guest or your ideal buyer, and that you are really trying to resonate with them and create that optimal experience. But in addition to that, I think it’s really the most powerful tool to increase perceived value on a property, to ensure that you stand out amongst your competition and to drive increased revenue. So I think it’s a lot of things, but that’s kind of how I define design.

Ashley:
Before we get into the episode anymore, I want to point out this fact basically is that we get so caught up talking about the numbers. We talk about estimating rehab costs, we talk about budgeting for our materials, finding good contractors, having a good timeline, that these are all things that will make a successful flip. And I don’t think we actually talk about the design and how much the design can actually move the needle in either your daily rate or how well your flip cells. So I think before we go on further, I want everyone to really think about their business right now and what they’ve been learning and focusing on. And I bet a lot of it hasn’t been the design aspect. Maybe scrolling Pinterest or scrolling Instagram, seeing like, oh, that looks really cool in that property, blah, blah, blah, but not being intentional about actually providing that value that can move the needle profit wise in so many ways.

Tony:
And like we said, I mean, design impacts every part of real estate investing, right? If you’re renovating a property, your tile selection, your floor choice, the flow of the property, the fixtures choose, all of those impact your ability to sell that property at the end, if you’re doing a burr, all of those impact your ability to get the appraised value you’re hoping for at the end. If you’re doing short-term and midterm rentals, right? Your ability to charge the nightly rates you want to charge. So yeah, I think it’s an afterthought for a lot of investors. To your point, Ash, they spend a lot of time choosing their market. They spend a lot of time analyzing their deals, they spend a lot of time negotiating, and then they just kind of tack on design or maybe they don’t even tack it on at all and they try and DIY it, which we’ll talk about in a bit here, maybe why that’s not the best thing for Ricketts to do is to try and try and DIY their design. And I guess on that note, Brie, let me ask, a lot of people try and DIY this, what’s maybe the single worst design choice you see rookies still making in 2025, and how much do you really think it costs them when they try and sell their flip, refinance their bird, or try and get those Airbnb bookings?

Brianna:
Yeah, I mean, I think you kind of alluded to that with design as an afterthought. So we really want to encourage every investor, do your research, understand your comparables, what’s going on in your market, and that can relate to any of the different options when it comes to real estate. So from a short-term rental perspective, you want to look at your competition, who’s the top performing properties, and really understand why, what increased value did they add to that property that is helping them drive increased revenue and higher occupancy than the rest of their competition. So I see time and time again that when looking at new deals, the deal analysis for some reason is not capturing everything that they need to focus on when it comes to the investment. Of course, it’s about the acquisition and getting the property, but have you looked at the cost of designing the property? Have you looked at a furnishing budget? Have you looked at the added amenities that you need to the add to the property and what renovations and potential structural changes you’re going to need to make to the property to add those amenities to the property? So including everything in your analysis when you’re looking at your numbers is really key to ensuring that this is not an afterthought. It’s really thought through at the very onset of when looking at the deal.

Tony:
I’m so glad that you brought that up, Bri, because like I said, I think it is an afterthought for a lot of people and they invest so much money into the acquisition, they forget about having enough budget left over to actually execute in a way that’s going to get them to the profit level that they’re looking for. But before we keep going though, Bri, because I mean, you’re also an investor, so maybe just give us a snapshot. I know you have an investment yourself, but how many deals have you invested in yourself? But then even more importantly, how many design projects have you been involved or involved with through Brianna Michelle interiors?

Brianna:
So personally, we have one short-term rental and four long-term rentals, and currently three active flips. And then one flip that we are closing on this week,

Tony:
Excited. Congratulations.

Brianna:
Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, so we’re busy and I think it’s great that we were talking about this. It does translate to every facet of our own personal businesses. And so we just think about it in a little bit of a different lens, but from a short-term rental perspective, and Brandon Michel Interiors, we’ve designed over 200 properties over the last few years. So it’s pretty remarkable what we’ve done from that perspective. And we’ve been able to design all across the US in so many different markets from really saturated markets to emerging markets. And yeah, that’s kind of what our portfolio looks like.

Ashley:
So Brie, when you’re deciding to actually design a property, what is that just right area for a project where you’re not spending too much on design, but also you’re not spending too little? What’s the best way that a rookie could actually figure out their revenue target and how much they should be spending on a property?

Brianna:
I mean, speaking from a short-term rental perspective, we rely on Air DNA all the time when it comes to analyzing the market and the competition. And so we can see what the top comparables are achieving and the upside that’s to be made when you invest in specific amenities, you can kind of dial in if you add this, if you add this design element, this is what the increased revenue potentially could be. So that’s really our first starting point, is looking at the data and the numbers to define what added design elements and amenities you can add to a property that can really move the needle. And when you look at spending too much or too little, you just have to know what the market is calling for. So if you can see what the average a DR is and the average revenue is, that will kind of help you define how much of a furnishing budget or a design budget you should allocate towards the project because you want to make sure you’re not overspending, where you just aren’t going to make that back in revenue when it comes to a DR and revenue. So it’s a fine line of balancing between the opportunity versus the investment and the cost.

Ashley:
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Brianna:
Yeah, so I think drilling down to who are you trying to target as far as your ideal guest or buyer who, and try to create a persona around that buyer or guest, understand what their needs and wants are desires, what are they looking for when traveling or what are they looking for in their next home? And really try to curate a vision and design that speaks and resonates with those likes and dislikes. So looking at the data, looking at the research, taking in all the things that you need on the specs of the home, how big is the property? Is there potential in regards to renovations? Are there a lot of renovations that are potentially needed? Is it turnkey? Was it recently flipped and was it done right? Is there high repair costs involved? So just really taking into account the structure of the home, the age of the home, and the current condition as well. When it comes to design, I try to not go into a space and say, well, that would look really nice over here if we did this over here. I like to kind of intake everything first and then kind of take a step back, do my research, understand the market, look into the personas that I’m trying to target, and then formulate a vision from there. So starting with the research component is really important.

Tony:
So Bri, after you do your initial research, and maybe it might even be helpful to go through the 30,000 foot overview of the design process. So start with the research, what’s the next step that you take on after that?

Brianna:
Yeah, I mean I think once you intake the research, it’s really about putting pen to paper that vision. So I think it’s really important for anyone to really create a mood board just to start, just to help formulate those ideas with actual inspirational images of style and colors and patterns and usage of the design styles that you’re looking to achieve and implement. And then also a color palette and a vision statement, writing down what is your vision? What are you trying to achieve in this space? What story are you trying to tell? And putting that on paper. And so starting with an initial mood board, and usually for us, we’re doing that for our clients and we’re formulating that vision and we share that with them as a way of just getting their buy-in, are you excited about destruction? Are you aligned with it? And if they are, then that’s when that kind of design process will start and we’ll curate that and actually put that into implementation.
So we’ll go through each space and we’ll curate, if there’s renovations involved, we’ll let them know these are all of the finishes and materials that you’re adding to this space. This is what we want you to do as far as orientation of install. So making sure that the tile is installed in this orientation with this color grout down to the very little nitty gritty details so that when they are implementing that design with their contractor, it’s very straightforward what the vision is and how to implement that. And then going beyond finishes and materials, really thinking about the furnishings and having all of your furniture pieces curated and sourced. What are all the styling elements? Textiles, rugs, throw pillows, art accent walls, window treatments, lighting, layered lighting. So I think it’s just really putting that all kind of together and providing a visual for our clients to see, okay, this is what that room and space will look like with all of those pieces working together and then showing them these are all of the elements that you essentially would be able to source and find, and we’ll provide them a full procurement list as well in addition to that.
And then when it goes into procurement and installation, really giving them all of the tools to easily implement that design. So space plans of exactly placement of all of the furniture pieces and where to hang everything, how to hang everything, installation instructions to go along with that.

Tony:
Even just hearing you say this, it just sounds like a lot, and I think that’s why rookies, especially if you’re new to this, I think there’s so many pieces that go into good design, especially if you talk about renovation and furnishing like a short-term midterm rental. But even for just renovating a flip or a burr, there’s so many elements that go into it that a lot of rookies don’t even think about. Like you said, the grout. And I remember the first rehab that we did, the contractor asked us, well, what grout color do you want? We’re like, I don’t know. Isn’t that something that you, or even what type

Ashley:
Of grout, right?

Tony:
There’s so many elements that you don’t know as a rookie. And I think that’s why I leaned on someone who has the right experience to first go around can be super helpful. I think if we just because it sounds like a lot of steps start to finish, how much time do you think Ricky should, and I guess maybe allocate for the design element and let’s just focus on just a general rehab because there are lead times for things to get delivered. But if we’re focusing on rehabbing a property, say someone hires a professional designer, they work with Breonna, Michelle from the day that they first meet you until materials delivered at the site, what’s a typical lead time? Because I think a lot of people are unaware of what that is and they don’t work that into their timelines for the rehab. So what is a good timeline for that?

Brianna:
I mean, I think on average allocating four to six weeks is probably a good healthy timeline to work with. And it really could vary depending on your scope of work, how much of a rehab and renovations involved. But if you just allocate a week of time to formulate that design, that procurement list, you order all of those elements and then allocate maybe an additional week two for those things to arrive on time, you’re already at about three weeks from there. And then during that time, maybe your contractor’s working on gutting the property and demoing the areas that need to be renovated. And so that gives them time to do that. And then implementing that just really depends on their timeline of what exactly is within the scope. But I would say four to six weeks is really a good guesstimate of what I would suggest allocating when it comes to a rehab

Tony:
Sere, we’re talking a lot about the design process and we spoke about comparables and how those are important to help you make your decision on design, but there’s also moments where you want to be bold and you want to try and maybe stand out, but when does a bold design choice turn from something that wows maybe potential guests or buyers to something that’s like, why did they do that? What’s your rule of thumb for walking that line

Ashley:
Or really limits your buyer pool as to this may only appeal to 10% of the people, they’ll absolutely love it, those that 10%, but that limits the amount of people that would actually purchase a property.

Brianna:
Yeah, absolutely. I think when it comes to short-term rentals, I’ll speak on that first, really thinking about how are you going to formulate and create this listing and what are you going to highlight first? What are those spaces? And generally they’re going to be your key amenity spaces, maybe the outdoors. Those are the areas that really need to be focused on when it comes to design. So I see it time and time again where sometimes investors might own an engineer a little bit. They might be too focused on like, let’s break this wall down and reorient the kitchen and do a whole gut rehab in the bathrooms. And from my perspective, I’m like, I rather look at this from an opportunity to identify what are the low hanging fruit opportunities that we can tweak. We can do maybe a cosmetic upgrade and not a full rehab because one, it’s going to increase your renovation costs, it increase your holding costs for sure.
And a lot of the time, that’s where things get really held up in the process. It’s permitting and et cetera. And so I try to encourage that. Let’s maybe not do all of those things, but let’s focus on these things that I think are still low cost, high impact ideas, and that will help get you up and running sooner. It will still increase your value on your property. And so I like to really focus on that first. But from a rehab or reselling perspective, you don’t want to create a design that is going to be off-putting to some, you do want a design that’s palatable, that is something that anyone, if you’re avatar is you want a family, a brand new young family to move into this home, what are the things that you think will resonate with that avatar in mind? And generally, if you’re looking at the pink tile versus the sage green tile, maybe it’s something more of like the earthy, clean, serene tones that are going to perform better versus the bold pink options that just may not make sense. Maybe they don’t have a little girl in their family and that just doesn’t make sense to have in one of the bathrooms. So just try to make those decisions and try to balance them with, you want many buyers, as many people exposure into this home, that’s how you’re going to sell it. And so you want them to be able to click through your listing, go to your open house, and you don’t want to be off putting at the time of you going live and your listing going live.

Tony:
And Bria, I couldn’t agree more with that advice, but just one thing I want to call out is that I can tell that you’re a professional just based on the language that you use. Like you said, sage green, to me it’s just green. And to me there’s no distinction. And I distinctly remember the first property that we walked together was one of the houses in Joshua Tree, and there was this rug and you called it a jut rug. And I’d never heard that phrase in my life. So even just not having the vocabulary as a rookie investor means you’re probably limiting yourself on what options you put in front of you, but if you can differentiate sage green from, I dunno, what’s another green, mint green or something, you can make better choices, right?

Ashley:
Bri, another thing that I’ve noticed too as we’ve gone along is you’ve brought up a couple times without us highlighting is the importance of design isn’t just what rug you should put in the room, what lamp to pick, what light fixture, what wall color, but it’s so many more things. It’s the landscaping, the design of the outdoor space. I remember I did a project in New Build for a dealership before, and just the exterior lighting was a whole design element in itself where it all had to be laid out and what fixtures and things like that. So I think there’s so much more to design than we initially think of just like, oh, what is going to make this place even the flow, the layout, things like that. But what are some tools and resources that a rookie investor can use to actually help them design the property?

Brianna:
I mean, I think rookie investors of course, look at the market, do your research, have talked about that. But when you’re coming up with that vision, you just want inspiration. Pinterest is a great tool. You’re looking at your comparables, looking at the MLS and seeing what’s going on in the market from that perspective, but also Instagram, looking at social media as a way of drawing inspiration, drawing inspiration from travel and just going through your personal travels and going into a restaurant or a local bar and you’re like, wow, this is such a cool experience. It’s such a vibe in here. Take pictures of that space, bring it back home with you and really see if that is a good fit for what you’re trying to achieve. And then using tools, what we personally use for project management to really collaborate and create a very creative atmosphere for our clients is a tool called Notion.
And that’s our project management system that we use and all of our clients use it just to be able to communicate with us and we share inspiration and mood boards and designs through there. And then design tools, if you don’t have the expertise for the sketchups or the CADs, that’s okay. You could use Canva honestly when putting together designs. And so encourage you to use those resources that are definitely user-friendly and put those ideas pen to paper, layer in with Canva. You can layer images and see what you can completely create a room with Canva. Definitely think that’s probably the optimal tool to use if you’re just getting started.

Tony:
Let’s talk a little bit more tactically because obviously the big parts of a home are things that everyone focuses on, but what are maybe some of the, call it under $100 items that elevates maybe guest experience or that you’ve seen just makes a space look more luxury that people are maybe overlooking?

Ashley:
I’m thinking of the target fines when you first walk into targets, like their dollar savings thing. What are those types of things that we can incorporate

Brianna:
From a short-term rental perspective? We love this. We love the little things we think they do really count and bring such an experience to the space. So little things could be branded elements, and we are really keen on incorporating branded elements throughout our property. So if you had a branded welcome book or branded mugs in the kitchen or branded cornhole set in the backyard, those are really low cost items that just really remind and resonate with your guests. A musical element is always something that we try to incorporate in every common space. So a vinyl record player, which you can’t get any better than that. So having a vinyl record collection, there’s so many cool Bluetooth speakers now that you can incorporate into a space that have a vintage feel and have that sense of nostalgia. Simple things to book collections. When we have our spaces curated, we’ll put really curated coffee table books on the table that really draw and tie back to the market that they’ve invested in or cookbooks in the kitchen that tie back to the style or the colors or the local cuisine in the market.
Just being super thoughtful. Elevated coffee bars is really key for us as well. So making sure you have all the mechanisms to make a cup of coffee. So if that’s a drip option, a pour over a French press, just making sure that you are providing everything that a guest would be looking for at their fingertips and having some locally ground coffee options that are from the local market just shows that you as a host are being thoughtful and are supporting your local community, which I think is amazing. And then from a flip and renovation perspective, little things like hardware can go a long way in a flip that’s kind of like they’re small tweaks that you can add to a kitchen. So maybe if you’re doing a colored cabinet, maybe opt out of the brushed nickel that everyone you see do and maybe do something brass or matte black that just really will help stand standout. Lighting goes a long way in a flip, and so making sure that you have some statement pieces that feel like a little bit more intentional, less builder grade, sometimes that will creep up a little bit over a hundred, but it’s worth the investment because it just helps curate a little bit more of a custom feel when you’re walking into a home.

Tony:
Alright guys, don’t go anywhere because after the break, Bree’s going to share some DIY design traps that kill prophets and the design that stopped her in her tracks as a designer. So we’ll be right back after this. Alright guys, we’re back here with B brie. Now, B brie, what do you see, and we touched on this a bit already, but what do you see most rookies get wrong when they try and DIY? Their own design?

Brianna:
Yeah, I think some common mistakes, which I feel like we’ve hit on is just not understanding their market and their competition. But another that I think is really important to keep in mind is that these are not your personal homes. They’re not your primary residents. Not none of this really should tie back to your personal preferences. You really have to look at these investment properties as a business and you have to understand what the marketability that you need to create the experience that you need to create. And that may not align with your personal style. And so that needs to, there needs to be some differentiation and separation there. So I do tend to see a lot of rookie investors get too hung up on like, well, I wouldn’t want this in my space, but that may be okay because your guest avatar or your buyer avatar may want that in their space. So you just have to really separate yourself a little bit from the investment.

Ashley:
I can say from my own experience as a rookie designer is that one mistake I’ve made is thinking that, you know what? This will be fun. I would really enjoy to design, but not recognizing that I am not good at it. The last slip I did, me and my kids literally stood in the Home Depot tile aisle for over an hour with me just asking my kids, what do you guys think? Does this look good together? And them telling me no and us just going back and forth and not being able to make a decision. And then finally me texting my contractor, do you think this will look okay? Does this work? So I would say that was a big Ricky mistake of my own is wanting to do something just because I think that I would enjoy it, that it would be fun, but not recognizing that I wasn’t good at it and that it did not become fun for me having to take forever just to pick out tile.
And I actually delayed our project because I could not make a decision and I just went back and forth and procrastinated on making the decision and it came to the wire and the tile that I actually picked, it wouldn’t even come in time. So then I had to change it all again because it wouldn’t be there in time when they were ready to lay it. So huge lesson learned. I am not good at design and I definitely need some kind of assistance. And my contractor in that job was a great help with that in helping me pick out a lot of the finishes and tying it all together too. Okay, so let’s go back to listings. And this could be even long-term, short-term midterm rentals or even probably properties that you’ve flipped that you’re putting on there. What is the last, let’s do with the Airbnb first, what’s the last Airbnb listing that stopped your scroll? What set it out made it different than anything else?

Brianna:
I think photography is so, so important when it comes to short-term rentals. So finding a photographer that could really capture the intimate moments and the intimate vignettes that you created within the design lighting within that photography. And so when I look at listings, I see listings every day that have the same amenity stack, and that’s kind of the name of the game right now. You all have to have the same amenities, but who can do it better? Who can do it? Where you’re capturing a story throughout the design, you’re speaking to me through the photos, I’m almost envisioning the experience with lifestyle photography, with maybe models in the actual home, partaking in some of the activities and experiences that you’ve put together in the design. And we just want to make sure that when we’re looking at listings like that, that we’re telling a story, we’re evoking emotion and through photography, I think that’s a great way to stand out amongst your competition is who’s that photographer that you’re going to use to position your listing a little bit differently and taking photos during all times of day. So having some day shots, some night shots, some shots where the sun is coming down and the twinkle lights and the string lights are up, the fire pit is going, making sure the property’s fully staged. Those are the properties that really stand out to me because they’ve taken the extra step to really market to position that design in the most optimal way.

Ashley:
Our photographer actually recommended to come back to our property to take another set of photos because we’re in a four seasons market, so we don’t have all the seasons yet, but we got fall photos with the pretty changing colors of the leaves all around it. And then we had winter photos where it looks so cozy. So that was a big thing too, is being able to capture the property in all seasons and having those photos available.

Tony:
Brie, let’s fast forward to 2035. What are the design shifts or the trends you’re seeing that Ricky investors should start preparing for today

Ashley:
10 years from now

Brianna:
You’re expecting to make,

Tony:
Maybe make it five, maybe make it

Brianna:
Five. I had no idea. I’m a fortune teller here. No, but I think we’re already seeing the shifts in the market even as we speak. So I think the investors that have approached this with kind of throwing it together, DIYing are already struggling and we’ll probably see a lot of those properties be offloaded over the next five years just because they’re not going to be able to maintain them. They’re losing money at the end of the day. So the ones that are potentially not doing so well are going to be offloaded. And the ones that are going to continue doing well are the ones that have really invested in the properties from a design perspective, a guest experience perspective, amenities. And they’ve really treated this as an investment. So they’re going to continue to add to the property, continue to move the needle a little bit as the competition shifts in the market and those will continue to do well.
But design has just become incredibly important. So it’s almost going to be table stakes at this point. I think especially in five years from now, I can’t really imagine a lot of investors probably wanting to DIY their designed because there’s going to be too much riding on it. And so we’ll see more professionally designed properties, more amenity stacked properties. And so the main thing is how are you going to do it differently and create longevity behind your design so that you’re not having to tweak it and change it every three to five years. We don’t want to position any of our clients to have to do that. So that’s where I really see the market going. And I see a lot of more investors realizing that instead of maybe having such a diversified portfolio with so many different size properties, there may be investing in that one big property and putting all of their efforts behind it.
And so we’re seeing a lot more of our clients come to us with five, six bedroom homes that have all of the amenities from a game room to a theater to a pickleball court, and they’re really trying to curate this resort, one of a kind experience. And the way they’re doing that is that they’re targeting multi-generational avatars with families, adult groups with 14 to 16 plus guests. And that’s something that you’re able to really achieve, really high increased a DR and revenue because of the amount of people you’re essentially able to sleep. So I’m seeing a lot more of that as well over the next five years come up.

Tony:
And Brie, you even speak to a shift that we’re trying to make in our portfolio is consolidating down to a fewer more premium properties as opposed to a lot of properties that are middle of the road because less management overhead, more revenue per property. So I think there’s something to be said there, but I think the million dollar question, because I feel like this was the design trend that was all the rage, the White House with the black trim, the black windows, is that still the move for rookies to make or is that in the rear view mirror? From a design perspective?

Brianna:
I think there’s always a time and place to do that. It just depends on the home and the architecture of the home, if that makes sense to do. But I think what you’re starting to see more is that we’re almost kind of going to step back in time a little bit. Like the aspect of new versus old nostalgia is really coming into play. So a lot of older vintage elements being added to properties and having moodier spaces, darker tone woods, a lot of layers and curves in the furniture, that is really coming up a lot in design trends right now. And so I think you’ll continue to see some of those monochromatic looks. But I think what you’re going to more so see is just the layering of colors, moodiness that has been kind of missing from the market before. So yeah,

Ashley:
My Instagram feed is filled with where somebody’s painting the walls and the trim the same color, or they’re painting the trim like a blue or a green, and then wallpaper. And I like this design and I feel like the design is shifting to this, and I’m thinking of doing this in my live and flip and some of the rooms right now, but I also don’t know, is this actually a design or is just my algorithm focused on this type of property? So it’s only showing me this type of design.

Brianna:
I guess it depends on the type of investment property. So I think the color drenching theme and trend that you are seeing through your feed is something that you will see a lot in short-term rentals right now. So we are color drenching rooms, we are painting ceilings, we are painting baseboards and trim all the same color. It’s a 360 kind of immersive experience when you walk into a room. But when it comes to a flip, that might be a little bit too much of a bold option. And so what I would encourage is maybe you do a little bit of a contrasting trim and a different color door that is still in a kind of earthy neutral palette. So even in our home today, we just moved into our new house, we did that here because I feel like it’s still a little bit of an elevated design choice.
It feels custom, but at the same time, it’s not like offput and it’s not something I’d get tired of in the next 10 to 20 years. So you have to kind of put yourself in the shoes of your buyer too. If you lived here, would you want to see a blue color drenched room for the rest of your life? Maybe not. So I would maybe just do a few pops here and there and maybe do a colored cabinet somewhere, or colored vanity, something that’s kind of low risk, but still high impact. And it isn’t a lot to change for that future buyer if they weren’t keen on it.

Ashley:
Yeah. Awesome. Thank you so much. Even one thing you had said earlier was the girl tile stuck with that forever. I have all boys, so it would probably be all blue trim or all green or whatever. So a buyer coming in with all girls, they would have to completely, well in some cases have to completely paint all that to match whatever color the girl wanted or whatever. So yeah, great point there. My last question here before we kind of wrap up is how does the pricing and the hiring work of a designer, is it a flat rate, is it hourly? Is it based on the project? Is it based on the cost? And I guess one question I have too is when you’re hiring the designer, do you give them the budget upfront and how do you even decide what your budget is going to be for design?

Brianna:
Yeah, I mean there’s a wide range of how designers essentially charge for their services. So that’s going to vary quite a bit, especially with the type of designer residential, there’s usually yes, a percentage on top of the cost of all of the materials and furnishing elements that is added to the overall fee structure. But for us, and I can speak for us, what we like to do is full transparency to the investor. We want them to go into this deal knowing this is the cost to furnish the property, this is what it would be to invest in our design services all upfront so that they know what they’re getting themselves into and that they’re allocating enough budget to do. So we do a flat rate, and that’s based off of scope of work, size of the property, square footage, and we come up with a custom quote that makes sense. And we personally, as far as procurement, we use a third party vendor that supports our clients with all of the procurement. And so we don’t add any additional commission or percentage on top of the items. Essentially the only way you’re kind of paying for the design services is through our fee.

Ashley:
Well, Brie, thank you so much for joining us today on Real Estate Rookie. Where can people find out more information about you and see some of the projects that you’ve

Brianna:
Done? Absolutely. Well follow us on Instagram. Brianna Michelle Interiors is our Instagram handle. And Brianna michelle interiors.com is where you can reach out and set up a consultation call with me. I personally take those calls, so you’ll be able to jump on a call free consultation with me and we’ll talk about your project, what your goals are, and we do everything. We design primarily short-term rentals, but we’ve helped Tony with flips and we are at flippers ourselves, so renovations, rehabs, primary residences, we’ve done commercial projects. So we have a wide variety when it comes to our expertise. But our bread and butter is short-term rentals.

Ashley:
And look at the great advice that Bri already gave me about color drenching too, and who knew was even called that. Yeah, I am Ashley. And he’s Tony. Thank you so much for joining us on today’s episode of Real Estate Rookie.