Instead of doing interior design, what I do is I do a strategic design.
You have to know the venture, you have to know what the renter is looking for. But then at the same time, and on a tight budget, to make sure that the investor makes money. Miami Halivic is an entrepreneur, designer, and the founder of my creative spaces. Drawing from her background in real estate and investment properties, she helps investors transform homes into high-performing vacation rentals
through strategic design, streamlined execution, and spaces that maximize both guest experience and return on investment. Use all major creation and knowledge to help the investor understand what they could do with their property.
We talk about budgets, how much money can be realistically spent to make sure that you're immediately getting your return the first season.
“What advice would you give to someone trying to get their first property?”
Connect with me. Okay. Well, I would say, um... Today Apple is going to reinvent for Mom. It's not over, I'm telling how we're...
The living your legacy podcast, for those who live, to leave a legacy. As I see it, it's awesome, though. Oh, that is sensational, too. It's open. Check how it was the way you said, Paul.
It's about just not on the planet. You can live your dreams. Hello, and welcome back to another episode. I'm sat with Maya today, and she is going to take us into her story. Her life, her mission.
The ups and downs of entrepreneurship and what she's learned. She's just a fantastic job making lots of investor homes and homes, look fabulous. So let's dive in, welcome to the show. Thank you, Rudy. Thank you for having me.
Thank you so much. Of course. So let's start, you know, IT's a little bit if people don't know who you are and what you do.
“Do you want to just summarize what you do and your journey to get there?”
Yes. So I have a company that works within investors in Southwest Florida, and I focus on designing furnishing rental properties. Most of our investors that we work with are outside of the state. So we take care of everything, and that's pretty much it.
So someone investor buys a property, Airbnb, or they're flipping it, or whatever they're doing with it. They might not even live here, they call you in, you make it look fabulous and they can resell it or rent it or whatever they want to do. Exactly.
So basically what I do is I talk to the investor to understand what their strategy is.
Are they looking to flip at the property, are they looking to rent a property? Are they looking to partially use the property for themselves as a second home? And once I know what the strategy is, then we focus on furnishing and making sure that the property stands out, I look at the market, I have a real estate license as well, project management, MBA, the grease, so I use all of my education, and I'm an investor myself,
use all my education and knowledge to help the investor understand what they could do with their property, and what would make most sense strategically. Great. How did you get into this? How did you build a business out of this, you know?
I was, yeah, I was the investor myself, I lived in Chicago for 20 some years and purchased a few properties myself and ended up having to fly back and forth, leave my three little babies to home and furnish a property in three days.
Actually, the first property I purchased is a funny story, I think it's good to share here.
I actually was able to use the money from a rental, from an investor that wanted to rent for me for six months, I used that money for my first-town payment of the first condo. Condo was not even furnished, I did the design, the presentation and said, okay, here's how it's going to look, do you want to live here?
“And so that's how I started, you just started building from there.”
I had numerous investors then contact me saying, hey, I heard about you, I didn't even know something like this exists, you know, because I don't know anybody that does this, you know, and so I said, okay, great, well, let's talk about what you're looking to do, I had couple investors that decided to furnish immediately rent the first season and then their family would use the property Thanksgiving Christmas summer.
Others would buy two or three units, we talk about budgets, we talk about what you can rent that unit for, what the units are going for, how much money can be realistically spent to make sure that you're immediately getting your return the first season? And so, you know, I think it's important to differentiate, you mentioned there's not really anyone else that does what you do, but to maybe the average person, it just sounds like
Interior design.
So can you help break down that's absolutely if someone's listening, why you say that and why it's different? Yes, thanks for asking that question, it's a very good question, by the way. So interior design can be very expensive, interior designers usually charge by the project or by the hour, and what they focus on is they focus on making sure that the place looks
beautiful.
“However, you have to know the venture and you have to know the area and you have to know”
what the renter is looking for. And so instead of doing interior design, what I do is I do a strategic design, what makes sense, but then at the same time, and on a tight budget, to make sure that the investor makes money. And what we're looking to do usually is within the first season, which is usually
January February March, is when you get the high season, when you get the most dollars, so you look to furnish quickly, which I usually do within two weeks, get the property out there, get it ready and vent it, and you're basically returning your investment that for season. I kind of like that catchphrase, you should use this if you don't. This is not interior design, it's strategic design, because you know, I invest in real estate
a lot, and I never, I never hire interior designers, I do it myself, because yeah, interior
designers, I think that great if you buy a five million dollar house, you're going to live in it for 20 years, you're going to look awesome and unique, but most of my real estate is so if you know, for a quarter of the prize, you can make it look almost the same, you know, and you can do it yourself and obviously save a ton of money, you know, I think when people are looking to furnish, you know, they get a bit stuck, because they're even having to
go really expensive interior design or they do it themselves, and they're not, you know, I've got an eye for design and creativity, so I'm good at it, but most people are, and then, you know, the house is empty with one book, and I'm going to cite it.
“Exactly, and that's what I experienced, I had a multiple people reach out to me after they”
started the process and said, I'm stuck. Yeah. I don't know what to do. This mattress is $2,000. I don't want to spend that, you know, and so that's where my expertise comes in. I know what to buy at what quality from where it goes really quickly. I have contractors that I work with, so if you need to paint, if you need to do a picture wall, whatever needs to be done, I organize all of that, where within two weeks, everything is done, electrical TVs,
you know, ceiling fence. For example, there's properties that don't have ceiling fence in bedrooms, and people, when they're down in Florida, yes, they like the outdoors, and they like it to be hot, but in the evening, they want to be able to sleep comfortably, so not having ceiling fence in an Airbnb is a huge mistake. So there's just so many things that you kind of do to understand. And you look at it more from the business ramp perspective, what the Airbnb or the
six-month tenant would want versus a lot of family that's going to live there for 20 years. Exactly. It is so different. And like I said, the interior design is part of my child, but it's a smaller part of my child. For me, it's an ROI. It's how, how do I make you money?
“Because that's what you're trying to come. Yeah, yeah. And that's what I do, and with my design”
of discounts and the knowledge and the expertise, you're saving money by working with me, comparing to you doing it yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Great. And what, um, you know, what are the size of projects you take on? Is it like someone buys a beginner $200,000 one-bed condo,
and they're trying their first Airbnb, or is it more a million dollar house? And oh, is it
bit of everything? Yes. It's a good question. Thank you. I have a lot of properties that I've done that are within up to half a million dollars. Most of those properties are around Naples. However, I've also done properties within Naples that are $34 million homes. So yeah, I kind of manage it all. The budget goes up and down a little bit, but you would be surprised that you can furnish and design really well a $3 million home for a lot less than what people are, what putting in.
Yeah, Greg. And let's talk a little more, you know, if people listen and, you know, something that caught their attention earlier was, you got into real estate, right? And you got your first place. And I mean, a lot of people have aspirations of buying their first house, whether it's to live in or to rent out, right? And, you know, a lot of more entrepreneurial people when they start making money in their business, or maybe they're doing well in their careers, they look at buying their
first real estate investment property is a great, you know, first step, right? They can put some money in stock, or they can buy real estate to the most common ways, a normal person invest. So, what advice would you give to people, especially, you know, in Florida, it's a big rental market, right? You know, say they just have a couple of hundred thousand to put down and want to buy a
half a million dollar place to start. What advice would you give to someone trying to get their first
Property?
within a Southwest Florida, at least there are different communities that attract different type of
renters. So, I have worked with a lot of people that are now in their 40s, that are looking to buy a property rented out and then eventually move down and use it as their primary home.
“So, you have to kind of know what your long strategy is. Are you looking to move down eventually?”
There's properties that are good that you can rent weekly or daily. There's properties that are golf communities where you have people renting seasonally. So, there's just so many different options that you can go with. So, it's really good to connect to someone who knows the market understands the communities, understands what type of rental property you want. And then kind of talk about strategy and talk about, okay, long-term, short-term, whatever you want to accomplish here.
And on my calls that I have with my clients, my initial free calls, we talk about that strategy. We talk about, okay. So, if you want, do you like to play golf? Do you want to use, you would like to have a property that you would use and your family would use. If so, then you want to go in a golfing community. You're going to attract people that want to spend January, February, March here. You can get a two, three, four-month rental right at the start. This is what the usually
the rents go for. This is how much we would invest. This is when you would get your money back. Yeah. And this is how quickly I could do it. So, the advice is to really understand the market and know what you're buying, where you're buying it at, and what you wanted to accomplish. Good. And,
“you know, you're in this industry. This is a question I see a lot online. Start at 2026, right?”
A lot of people say Miami and Florida are kind of in a bubble and they're not a great time to invest. Property prices are through the roof. There's going to be a crash soon. There's more inventory than ever before in Miami and Florida. Should you invest in Florida real estate right now? Should you weigh? Is there going to be a crash? What's your opinion? Now's the time to buy. There is a lot of inventory. It did slow down. Obviously, I'm sure you heard
about potentially removing property taxes for primary homes. You've got to look great from there. It would be very great. And I think if that happens, which it looks like it is going to happen, the properties are going to start flying again. Yeah. So, now is a good buying power. As a buyer, you can negotiate a lot more than you could have in 2020. I just bought a house and got 200,000 off buying. There you go. Yeah. So, being in real estate, you know. And so, now's the time to buy.
And in a couple of years, you might be able to flip and make that 200,000 back. Yeah. Okay. So,
you think it's a great time to buy. Tips to buy in your first rental property. Tips you need. Like
I said, very important to know where you're buying and what you're trying to accomplish. Yeah. You don't want to get in a community and say, I want to be able to rent weekly. Well,
“the association says you have to rent monthly. Very strict. And they can change one block over.”
Yeah. In Miami, one block, five, one block, no. Yes. So, it's very important that you know what you're buying and that you understand your properties long-term potential. Understanding what the price was in 2020 versus what the prices are now because that will give you an idea on how much you can make off of that property in the next five years. Right. And let's go kind of, you know, a lot of people asked this to I see online, two or three or four or five hotspots in Florida to buy. Where would you recommend?
Sarah Soda. Okay. Why, why Sarah Soda? Sarah Soda. There's a lot of new properties getting built. A lot of families from cold states are coming down. Schools are really good. The communities are growing. And this is exactly what I did in Naples. Naples used to be very high-end. Now South Naples is still that way, but North Naples, which is where where I invested in bought properties in, has my properties that I have purchased in 2020 have doubled. Black, we got it. So, yeah. So,
I would definitely say Sarah Soda, Naples, they're all building tons of new properties in new communities. And a lot of a lot of people are moving down still. Good. So, Sarah Soda, what, what, what else? Oh, what did we say? Sarah Soda, Naples, fourth myers is a very affordable community that's growing. Yeah. I definitely think it's huge and it is going to become similar to Sarah Soda in about five years.
Got it. What about the two hotspots, Orlando Miami, good or bad? Orlando Miami, Miami is always
A good investment.
and I don't think that there's a lot in their lot more room. Yeah, in their place, I bought it. It's
“got up 800 grand in five years. Very low. You know, you've missed, I guess, in some ways, a lot of that”
bubble, right? You've missed a lot of it. Yeah. You know, over 10, 20 years, it will go up obviously. Yes. Yeah, I haven't, you're going to get it. It's not going to double probably again. Yes, exactly. So what we're saying right now, I would say, Naples, fourth myers, Sarah Soda has a little bit more of a potential aware you can. What about Orlando? Same as Miami,
you think it's saturated. Yes, it definitely is. There's a lot of jobs there. So a lot of people
still move down there for jobs, but that's a different market. It's more about if people that
“are wanting to move down to Florida and live in Orlando and they have a state of job. Not being”
be the student. So not, yeah, I definitely, I mean, everywhere on every house, and I mean being in Orlando. Sure. Yes. So good. And then other, you know, flipping it into more what you do with the investor side, give me a free, you know, someone is buying or owns real estate or does that mean
me free tips or must have in a rental property that's easy to do that adds a lot to the wow factor.
Right. Of each will or whatever that might be. What are three, four, five must have that you love to do to help increase rental income or increase, you know, how easy it is to rent it out. Yes. So obviously staging is huge, right? Because when you're taking pictures, they have to show well online because nowadays, you get your property booked online. Nobody's going to come in and look at
“your property. So you have to make sure that it's staged and it shows well, but most importantly,”
you're going to make sure that you have, like I talked about, ceiling fence, that you have comfortable mattresses, that you have TVs in every bedroom, that you have a really good outdoor area because a lot of people that are coming down, they like to enjoy outdoor. They want to be comfortable, they want to be able to lounge, they want to be able to sun tan, they want to be able to barbecue. So in properties that I furnish, I try to invest a lot in the outdoor area. That's really what
attracts to writers. Great. And last question, this has been great, lots of information. Someone, you know, is listening to all this and like, wow, you know, your stuff, you know, there's all complicated, lots of moving parts. If they want to hire you, they want to learn more, where do they find you? So my creative spaces is my website. And you go, you can go on there and book a free call with me. It's a strategy call. It could last half an hour to an hour and I'll
talk about strategy with you about what are you trying to accomplish and how I can help you get there. And then you help in people before they buy after they buy what all kinds of processes. I am a realtor. So I could help. I could help with the, with the vine as well. But yeah, I've had people that are building and so it's six months before the build is done. And I've had people approach me and say, oh, I'll reach out to you when I close. And I said, it's too late when you close. Let's prepare
everything ahead of time. So that when you close, we go in and we're done in two weeks and you're not losing your ventaling. Yeah. Great. Good. All right, guys, so I enjoyed that episode. And if you get looking to get into real estate or have properties and obviously want to increase the yield and how much they run for and how easy they run, you know, where to go. Take care, keep it working hard, have an impact and I'll see you guys soon.
