Today we’d like to introduce you to Fernanda Cardozo.
Hi Fernanda, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I immigrated to the US in 1996 with my husband and my twin babies of 18 months. We started with nothing, my husband found a job as a mechanic where he was making $250 a week. That same week he found the job, we found an apartment studio, an AC unit, and an old TV, LOL. So, we moved there and slept on old comforters on the floor for a week. Later, we found a sofa bed on the street in great condition, I washed it and the babies were sleeping there. Little by little, we found other stuff like dining set dishes, etc. We were so impressed with all the good stuff people throw out lol. As the time passed by, we struggled with money a lot but were able to pay for rent and enough money for food. Many times, my husband wanted to go back to Venezuela, but I refused to go back, and was able to hold him here. By the time my kids were older, I decided to go back to school and completed my bachelor’s degree in Finance with a minor in Economics and even my Master’s degree. My husband helped a lot, I could not have done it without his help with the kids, cooking, and cleaning; he is my rock. I found a job at a mortgage broker firm and little by little learned a lot about mortgages and opportunities to buy a house. I grew in the company but still wanted to do more, so we saved up money and bought 2 houses in NJ, and we rented it with leases for a year. Let me tell you; it’s not easy to deal with tenants lol. One day I was talking with a coworker and she was telling me about her plans for her vacation with her boyfriend and how she was renting a house on Airbnb. At the time I didn’t know anything about Airbnb, or what it was. So, she explained it to me and was very intrigued by the concept. Immediately I thought about how great it would be to have an apartment in the most visited city in the US, Orlando, FL. So, I mentioned it to my husband, but he was skeptical about the idea of living in NJ and having this property in FL. Thinking who would take care of it? cleaning it? repairs? etc. With the experience we had so far renting to tenants, he was worried about all these details. Regardless, I kept thinking about it, and then talking to my sister she mentioned her desire to move from NJ to FL, so I thought this would be my opportunity. With my sister there, now I have a person I trust on the ground who can oversee and help me if any issues come up. So, I convinced my husband and sold one of the houses and was able to get 2 condos in Kissimmee. However, the condition was to put one on Airbnb to try it out, and the other my sister would live there for 1 year until she could find a place on her own. And so, we started, she moved there, and we all traveled for 5 days and painted, furnished, and prepared the unit for Airbnb. It was great; that year was amazing, my sister was helping with the cleaning and overseeing the unit there, and I was greeting the guests and attending all their questions and needs virtually from NJ. We decided to sell the other house in NJ and bought 2 townhouses the following year. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit us, and all major parks and the city closed down, and well short-term rentals were not allowed to receive guests, only hotels were able to, it was a disaster. Luckily, we had some savings, and we kept paying the mortgages on time, my husband kept working, and my line of work permitted me to work from home as well, so we survived lol. If I learned something during this difficult time was not to have all the eggs in one basket, and what I mean by this is that I realized that having all my investments based on Disney or Universal was not the greatest idea. We found out a lot of people were looking for places with less crowd, like the mountains, the beach, etc. We decided that the next property we would get would be by the beach. I started to do some research and found a city where it was not crowded, was growing and close to the beach, and bought a new house. It has been great so far. Now people are traveling again, and my units are filling up, now I registered my own business, Fernandas BnB LLC, have my own website, and I am working hard to build a brand of myself. I am continuously posting my units on social media. I am a super-host, Airbnb Ambassador, and now I co host for others as well. I help other people to put together their units and manage it for them. I also opened my own cleaning company called Cleaning Bees for your BnB, where the cleaning services are by my standards, and I make sure my guests and clients receive optimum services and make wonderful memories while they are staying in my units. I feel lucky to find people I can trust and feel comfortable to work with. My cleaners are an important part of my business since they are my eyes and hands there. I completely trust they are doing a great job, and I can see it reflected on my guest’s reviews.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There have been many obstacles and challenges for sure. The biggest one was obtaining our immigration status sorted out, which took us a long time. We were in process when the unfortunate event of 9/11 happened, and all immigration processes stopped for a long time. We were basically in limbo since they completely stopped processing applications, and we were at the initial steps. This situation limited us in so many ways; it was really hard times. Another challenge was the language barrier, it took us a while to learn it, but we did it lol.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I Completed my master’s degree in Finance and have been working for the last 9 years at a mortgage broker firm in NJ in a full-time capacity. I have learned so much about the mortgage industry, which has helped me to delve in myself and obtain my properties. It has been great; I love my job, and the fact that I keep learning is awesome!
Since 2018 I have been also working on my short-term rental units. What started as an adventure has become a passion now. I really enjoy and feel passion for my units and the ones I manage. I try my hardest to provide an amazing service to all my guests by delivering a property that is clean, modern, fresh, welcoming, and homey, so they can feel at home. I put myself in their shoes to try to anticipate their wants and needs in a cost-effective manner.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Unfortunately, I was not able to find a mentor; all I have learned has been a product of self-taught experiences, trial and error, reading other people’s experiences, and again putting myself in my guest’s shoes and trying to anticipate their needs. I love to travel, and as a traveler, I would like to think what other people’s expectations might be. Of course, I understand it is impossible to satisfy everybody’s expectations and desires, but I try my hardest to go above and beyond for my guests.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Fernandasbnb.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fernandasbnb/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fernandasbnb
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Fernand53312982
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fernandas-bnb-kissimmee
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/fernandasBnB
