How to Build a 5-Star Property Management Business

Steve Resnick (0:05)

Welcome to the STR Data Lab.

Jamie Lane (0:12)

Hello, and welcome to the STR Data Lab. I'm Jamie Lane, Chief Economist at AirDNA. And I'm joined today by two very special guests. We have Steve and Kim Resnick, the co-founders of HeavenlyRez, and our 2026 AirDNA Best Property Managers winners. So, Steve and Kim, welcome to the show.

Kim Resnick (0:35)

Thanks for having us.

Steve Resnick (0:37)

Thank you so much. It's a great honor for sure.

Jamie Lane (0:40)

Yeah. So, I've got so many questions I want to ask about the company, ask about you guys and sort of your journey, and the standards, sort of what led to this. But maybe we could start with just the origin story.

About how you guys got started, and sort of what your goal was when you launched, and sort of where you're at today.

Steve Resnick (1:05)

Yeah. I'll get started and you can chime in. So, I mean, we started with our own rental back in 2015 We entered the Ocean City Market. It's a market that, Ocean City, New Jersey. I know there's Ocean City, Maryland as well.

It's a market that we've always vacationed with our daughter and our family, and we just love this area and love the market. So, we bought a home and we didn't really like the way it was being managed. So, we decided to take things into our own hands, and we started doing it ourselves and became very passionate about doing that. We found that we were able to, we knew our property obviously better than anyone else, and then we were able to just kind of market and take advantage of that. And then we were so successful with that one, we eventually just doubled down and bought another one. And then same thing happened, same results. And we bought another one. And then COVID hit, and we panicked a little bit. At the same time, I was, you know, working at JPMorgan and I decided, hey, let's, I'm being relocated to a different area, so I was, let's just sell this property. Kim is the one who actually had the idea. And the property that we sold was purchased by a gentleman who didn't believe the rental income that we were getting because it was way above the market rate. And he, I think he thought we were fudging the numbers, but we weren't. And he said, well, if this, this is the case, if you can really get this kind of rental income, will you stay managing it for me when I buy it? And we said, sure, why not? So we did that and we actually did better than what we said we were gonna do. So he was quite thrilled and he said, hey, by the way, I have another beachfront property. Do you want to manage that one for me? And we said, sure, why not? So we did that, same results. And then, long story short, he came back to us and said, I want to buy another property in this market, but I only will do it if you and Kim decide that you will manage it for me. So we looked at each other and we're like, I think we have a business here.

This is more than that. So I was still working full time. This was kind of a hobby for us. And it was complimentary to my skill sets and what Kim does interior design. So it just really worked out with the way we were kind of organically growing at the same time.

So it was going pretty smoothly. And we built the name HeavenlyRez. Do you want to talk about the HeavenlyRez name?

Kim Resnick (3:36)

So we built, we chose the name HeavenlyRez. Our daughter Ashley passed away in 2004 So we chose the name Heavenly for her.

Rez is Steve's nickname from youth, and also kind of a twist on reservations, kind of a turn on that. So we put that together because we made so many memories with her in Ocean City, and we loved being here and even coming back after we lost her, making more memories with our daughter now, Alexa. It just always felt so peaceful to us being here. So it felt right to name it that because we just, we love the area and we have a strong faith, and just thought HeavenlyRez, the perfect name for HeavenlyRez.

Jamie Lane (4:20)

Yeah. And Kim, maybe you could talk a little bit too about your side of the business and doing interior design and sounds like bringing that into the business as well.

Kim Resnick (4:30)

Absolutely. So I had done after Ashley, I did many years in philanthropy work, and I ran a local chapter called Special Spaces, which did bedroom makeovers for children who were fighting life-threatening illnesses. So I've always had a passion for interior design, and I would do one day bedroom makeovers, plan it for months, but one day bedroom makeovers with a whole team of volunteers. And I loved it. I've always loved giving back to the community. And I did many makeovers.