Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Leroy and Kiki Abrahams. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Leroy and Kiki, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Shortly after my wife, KeAndrea, and I got married in 2018, we embarked on a journey to pursue financial freedom and the flexibility to retire by age 50. At the time my wife was finishing an Internal Medicine residency and I was beginning my banking career as a Risk Analyst. We were buried in student loans and card debt and sported a 6-figure negative net worth. Today we run a business managing 3 short term and long term properties. We have paid off a large portion of student debt, while experiencing progressive success in our medical and banking careers.

For us, there have been two integral components to our success. The first has been relentless focus on financial freedom which has led to us capping our lifestyle costs well below what we could afford and foregoing the outward trappings of success that might impede our long-term goal of financial freedom and career flexibility. Part of this focus has also meant minimizing recreation time so that we could devote more time to building our business and sharpening our career proficiencies. The second part of this is persistence. From contractor struggles, to permitting delays, to surprise plumbing and electrical problems we struggled to get our first property refurbished to host Long Term tenants. Despite the challenges, we kept our focus on the long term goal and used that focus to fuel persistence in finding the right vendors, fixing the issues and getting our property to market, while learning from our mistakes.

Leroy and Kiki, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

At Sunny Vacays we want our clients to experience a comfortable and affordable long-term or short-term accommodations at our residencies. My wife is a doctor with a strong Tampa, Florida connection and I am banker who greatly enjoys the Southeast and Florida, in particular. We enjoy ethnic cuisines, great beaches and sunny weather that is available throughout the sunshine state. Even though we are based in the Birmingham Alabama area, we enjoy traveling and realize that accommodations, whether short term or long term, are vital to a visitor or resident’s assessment of the entire locality. We love staying in well kept, comfortable and affordable locations and are passionate about providing that elevated experience to our clients.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

As new business owners trying to renovate our first property, our immediate inclination was to rely on friends and family to source vendors that would complete the required work at the lowest possible price. Though we were able to source some high quality work, we also had instances where we spent twice the time, and close to twice the funds completing the same job, because we had to switch to a more reputable and established vendor. The big lesson for us was to focus on finding the best person for the job, regardless of personal connection. The money you spent up front for a reputable contractor substantially dwarfs the eventual money and opportunity cost of replacing a contractor to redo a job.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

My wife, KeAndrea, is my business partner. We met in 2015 at a church potluck in Birmingham, Al. She was starting residency and I was in a grad school internship program. After we got married, in 2018, we created a life strategic plan with a focus on financial freedom and early retirement. In 2021 we became business partners after acquiring our first property. I think a critical piece of being in a lifetime marital partnership in a time of high inflation and continued economic uncertainty is being able to leverage each other’s strengths and professional abilities is to build a business that can provide a significant financial return.

Contact Info:

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