20 Young Leaders Transforming the Real-Estate Industry in 2023
Sabrina Guler, 30
Courtesy of Sabrina Guler
At 7 years old, Guler loved her grandmother’s house so much, she offered to buy it for $20. Her grandmother laughed at the offer but made a fortuitous prediction that Guler would one day work in real estate.
After a detour at Apple, Guler is now at the helm of Techvestor. In two years, the $65 million fund for investing in short-term rentals has scaled up from one condo in Tucson, Arizona, to over 100 properties across nine national markets, including Memphis, Tennessee; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains.
Her own enthusiasm for hosting short-term rentals drove the expansion. “I loved the feeling of owning something myself and the potential that came with the business,” she said.
This year, the cofounder and COO opened Techvestor’s 100th property, hired over 40 property managers to help oversee operations for the brand’s 50,000 guests to date, and celebrated the first of the brand’s properties to hit over 100 reviews.
Techvestor is growing when the short-term-rental industry is becoming increasingly professionalized. Traveler demand for short-term rentals during pandemic lockdowns prompted an explosion in investor activity. The analytics site AirDNA, which tracks data from Airbnb and Vrbo, estimates that there are 4,500 short-term-rental hosts who have more than 21 listings, accounting for at least 25% of the entire industry.
Guler attributes Techvestor’s success to going through every “hair” of data with her research team. They drill down to the specifics of lot size, whether a certain market needs a hot tub, or what markets perform best with in-home movie theaters.
“We cater to families and we design homes so you don’t have to leave them,” she said.
As for market saturation, Guler is confident Techvestor’s properties will rise to the top and plans to focus on high-quality service to maintain an edge, from rapidly responding to messages to stocking homes with games.
—Dan Latu
