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Sarah Karakaian : [00:00:05] You are listening to the Thanks for Visiting Podcast. We believe hosting with heart is at the core of every short-term rental. With Annette’s background in business operation–

Annette Grant: [00:00:14] And Sarah’s extensive hospitality management and interior design experience, we have welcomed thousands of guests from over 30 countries, earning us over $1,000,000 and garnering us thousands of five-star reviews.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:00:28] We love sharing creative ways for your listing to stand out, serve your guests and be profitable. Each episode, we will have knowledgeable guests who bring value to the short-term rental industry–

Annette Grant: [00:00:39] Or we will share our stories of our own experiences so you can implement actual improvements to your rentals. Whether you’re experienced, new or nervous to start your own short-term rental, we promise you’ll feel right at home. Before we dive into the content, let’s hear a word from our sponsor.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:01:01] Hello. Welcome back for another exciting week. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

Annette Grant: [00:01:05] I am Annette Grant. And together we are–

Both Sarah & Annette: [00:01:07] Thanks for Visiting.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:01:09] We’re going to kick off this episode like we do every week, and that’s sharing one of you, our amazing listeners and supporters, and we’re mixing it up this week. Annette, who are we sharing?

Annette Grant: [00:01:19] Today we are sharing @becomingrentable, and we’ve actually had them on the show before. But I want to highlight them. Again, it’s @becomingrentable and you can go to their website. It’s B-E-C-O-M-I-N-G-rentable, R-E-N-T-A-B-L-E. And I want everyone to please, for Sarah and I, this is the holiday gift that we want you to do. 

We want you to go to their site and check out what you would need to do to have your property become accessible. And I want to give a snippet from the becomingrentable website. They understand there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to accessibility. Disabilities come in all shapes and sizes. 

While wheelchair accessibility is talked about the most, there’s also hearing, vision, autism, IDD, and walker accessibility. That’s why they offer over 36 filters so you can customize your own needs and find the best property for you and your family. And what that opens you up to, listeners, don’t count yourself out if you think, oh, my property isn’t wheelchair accessible. 

There are other options for you to get started on while that one might be in your future. So, please, go to their website, check them out. There are filters there where you can go ahead, put your information in and they can let you know if your property is accessible. And you can also list on their website if you match the criteria. And I know Sarah and I hear every single day how people want to know, how they can get more bookings. This is a way to get more bookings, make your property accessible. 

And the reason we’re talking about this today, we have an amazing guest on who is an expert in this space, and she is going to drop all of her knowledge on you, listeners, today so you can learn more about your property becoming accessible. And the statistics are insane out there how many people are trying to vacation and cannot vacation. So Sarah, who are we going to have on the show today so our listeners can learn about accessibility?

Sarah Karakaian : [00:03:15] We are so excited to have Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti, who is an internationally acclaimed expert on accessible and universal design. She speaks and consults with people in the vacation rental industry to help make their properties more accessible, more safe, and, as Annette said, more marketable. She is committed to teaching vacation rental homeowners how to attract guests of all abilities. 

As the author of Universal Design Toolkit, her book is filled with time-saving ideas, resources, solutions, and guidance for making homes accessible. Rossetti and her husband led the design team, were the general contractors, and live in the Universal Design Living Laboratory. This is a top-rated universal design home in North America. Welcome to the show, Rosemarie.

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:04:04] Well, thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here and a privilege to have my expertise shared with your listeners.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:04:11] This is going to be a treat. This is going to be really good.

Annette Grant: [00:04:13] And we have to give the listeners a little bit of background. She’s essentially our neighbor, which is crazy. I actually met her at an event years and years ago, one of my first vacation rental events that I went to, which was a verbal event, and she was speaking at that event. 

And I’ll be honest, I had never thought about accessibility in spaces, and at the time when I met Rosemarie, I was actually living in an ADA-compliant property and never listed it as such on the short-term rental sites. And I was listing there and she opened my eyes that I was missing out on this huge opportunity not only to market my property, but to serve so many. 

But then when I found out she’s in our city, it was a crazy thing because when you think about vacation rentals, a lot of people don’t think about Columbus. But she’s on the show today, one of our neighbors. And let’s talk about why are you the expert, Rosemarie? Can you give our listeners a background in your story?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:05:11] Well, it’s all about lived experience. I’m speaking to you from my National Demonstration Home here in Columbus, the Universal Design Living Laboratory. And I’m seated in my wheelchair. So as a person who had an injury in 1998 while riding my bicycle, suddenly a 7,000-pound tree fell on top of me, crushing me and leaving me paralyzed from the waist down. 

So I have the live experience of not only being a wheelchair user, but also leading the design team for our home, which is serving as a National Demonstration Home. And my husband and I led the entire construction process. We were the general contractors and we’ve lived here since May of 2012. 

So that’s what makes me an expert. It’s not from a background of education in terms of university, it’s from a different education. Having the immediate need to come home in a wheelchair for the first time in realizing what a frustration it is when your house is not set up for accessibility.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:06:21] Can you share a little bit with our listeners about what it was like after the accident and trying to travel and trying to take the vacations that you want to take with your family and friends? What was that experience like for you?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:06:35] Well, looking at hotels, we had to call ahead, and then we had to check out the rooms. And oftentimes the rooms were not what they said they’d be. So most of my vacation was at a hotel and usually in conjunction with a business speaking event where I would be speaking somewhere and then we’d extend that vacation. 

Even my most recent one in Denver a few weeks ago, I was on a business trip. I asked for a wheelchair-accessible room with a rolling shower, and it was consistently wrong every time. When we went to the room, there were no grab bars. There was not a rolling shower. There was not a shower chair. It’s like, “How could this be an accessible room? There’s not a grab bar in the bathroom.” 
And so they go, “Oh, we’re sorry. We’ll get you another room.” So we transferred to another room, and it was identical to the one we had just left. “Okay, we’ll look in the inventory and find you that room. It’s here. I’m so sorry.” So then the third room was presented. It was identical to the other two. And then they said, “This isn’t working.” Finally, the answer was that room is already taken tonight. We’re sorry. We’ll move you tomorrow. 

Now, that’s not easy for me. I’m independent to an extent, but grab bars are necessary if I’m taking a shower, using the toilet. It is very, very precarious for me by myself to operate independently in that room. This was consistent and I thought it would be better just less than a month ago in Denver, but it was not. So I had to educate them. 

And then finally the next day, they showed me the room that I should have had. It was there, but in their inventory, in their training of the front desk, it was not right.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:08:27] And this is at a hotel?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:08:29] Yes. Major chain, downtown Denver.

Annette Grant: [00:08:34] It’s 2022 and they’re still working on that. Have you recently been to a vacation rental?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:08:40] No.

Annette Grant: [00:08:40] Anywhere?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:08:40] I have not.

Annette Grant: [00:08:42] Okay. And I know when I met you, you were speaking on the challenge. I think you actually showed one property that was accessible. Can you talk to us how you’ve been working with the vacation rental community and educating on how they can become accessible and marketable?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:08:58] As I’ve been speaking to groups in terms of being at conferences, national conferences where the partners are there, the owners. And so that’s the primary way I’ve been communicating. Recently, I did a podcast and as a result, someone did call me and said they were building a large vacation rental for multi families. I think it had six or seven bedrooms and it was just starting to have construction.

And she called, she is, “I’m really struggling” and I like the word struggling. That resonated with me. She says, “I can’t figure out the landscape. We have ponds there. We want people to kayak. We want people to enjoy it with multi-generation households. And we can’t figure out the landscaping. Contractors fell short.”

They were building a pathway to the pond and they stopped halfway there. It’s like, “No, you have to go all the way to the pond with this pathway. People can’t get on the dirt and the grass and any sand we put there.” And she was struggling with the interior, the approach every which way. And I said, “Well, let me come to the site. Let me work with your design team. You’re still under construction. Now’s the time to bring me in.”

Sarah Karakaian : [00:10:16] Absolutely. It’s so exciting that you lend yourself and your expertise to people who are trying to design in a way where everyone is welcome, and can navigate and can enjoy themselves. In your intro, we said a few times Universal Design. I don’t think I said ADA. So can you share with me what Universal Design is?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:10:41] Think of it as a framework. It’s idea for designing not only vacation rentals but all homes, all workplaces as well as products. And so what we’re doing is designing it right from the beginning, way beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act and compliance. So we’re looking at how to make this property or this piece of equipment usable by all people, no matter what their ability, no matter what their age, to be much easier and very independent. 

So it’s a human-centered design if you could think of it that way as a framework, thinking about what if someone couldn’t hear well? What if someone was using assistive devices such as scooters or wheelchairs or walkers and canes? What if the person was less than four feet tall? What would that have as a consequence of design? And so we’re looking at all aspects of that property.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:11:42] Rosemarie, back in– was it 2019? I had a friend that I met on Instagram and her husband had a tragic accident where he was also differently abled and she was trying to find them a place for them to stay for the holidays. I think it was in Annapolis. Rosemarie, they could not find one vacation rental that listed any accessibility features, not one. Which leads me to believe that if anyone listening out there right now, we’re going to get into with Rosemarie what you can do if you aren’t in construction right now.

But it leads me to believe that if anyone out there is building right now or remodeling for short-term rental purposes, not only could we welcome more people with different abilities into our properties, but you’re going to show up in the search more often than other properties do because no one else is looking at this like an amenity that it is just like allowing pets. It’s allowing every single human to be able to feel comfortable and be able to move around a space. 

But are you finding that same thing that once people turn on this switch of realizing that they can accommodate all sorts of different people, that it actually is going to make their property more marketable?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:12:54] Absolutely. It’s going to be more attractive, as you said, with search filters. And so as more and more companies add filters, why aren’t you putting these particular amenities in your description? Oftentimes, the owner of this home has just no awareness. And that’s what today is about, awareness.

To say, oh my gosh, I do have some of these features. I do have a pathway from the parking lot that is wheelchair accessible. There’s no step. I do have doors that are wide enough with a 36-inch door and 32-inch clearance. I do have multiple heights and counters in the kitchen. I do have grab bars in the area by the toilet. My toilet is 17 inches high from the seat to the floor.

So making it more aware and putting these amenities in the public in terms of what the photograph look like? What is the virtual tour look like? And putting some of these dimensions in there to lure people and attract them to your property.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:14:00] It’s actually a question we get all the time is, we need more bookings. Bookings have slowed down. Listeners, I think this is one way in 2023 you can open up the search parameter so people can find you.

Annette Grant: [00:14:12] And this is something that over time, you’re going to have those repeat guests. If that guest came and had an amazing time with their family, I’m pretty sure they’re going to rebook with you immediately, especially if everything was there or if you are accommodating and maybe mention one or two things and you can fix those for the next time. I just think this is a way to have a really incredible space inviting people back year and year. And it’s an investment that’s going to pay for itself pretty much immediately. 

I hope, listeners, you were taking notes, but she was just rattling off stat after stat. Do you want to go through some of those baseline accessibility stats that you were just going through with the doorways, with the countertops? Can you give us just a crash course, if you will, because I know our listener’s minds are open right now? So can you go through a list of those things? Obviously, they can go to becomingrentable too, and check them out. But let’s go through that top list that you were just going through again.

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:15:11] Let’s look at it from the point of view of the person who’s arriving.

Annette Grant: [00:15:15] Perfect.

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:15:16] They’re driving in probably, and they may have taken their own van or their own vehicle. So if they’re in a wheelchair, there’s likely to have a need for a van-accessible parking spot. And it needs to be level, needs to be flat. It needs to be a solid surface. 

Not on a hill, not on grass, not on gravel, but actually a solid surface. And the van-accessible spaces are defined in the ADA, but basically, it’s a space for the van and then another aid foot on the side as an access aisle so people can come and go. 

So a path of travel from that parking area needs to be solid and level to get into the entry. And what entry is it? It doesn’t have to be the front. It can be a side door, it can be a back door, just so that the path of travel is able to be navigated. And as I mentioned, the doors, I like 36-inch wide doors. You’re looking at at least a 32-inch clearance when that door is solidly open. 

And that’s typical for access for wheelchairs and scooters. And then if you go in, you don’t want a big threshold. An easy fix would be to buy those rubber door thresholds that help so that you can just have the ability to roll over a threshold that might be an inch high. We’re looking at something more of a half-inch, so buying a little accessory at that threshold will lower that threshold so the entry is easy to navigate.

Another idea if your door is not wide enough, a simple fix is to go to the hardware store and buy some swing-away door hinges. These hinges then can replace the existing hinges on your door, giving you from 2 to 5 more inches of clearance so that door then swings away, giving access to getting into the entrance. So those are just a few of the ideas from the parking area to the access of the home getting into the home. So that’s a starter for them.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:17:26] This is fun. Can we talk about the kitchen? What are some things we’re not thinking about in the kitchen where we could make some– can you take us for some quick changes and then maybe you need to renovate or think about it during the design process changes.

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:17:41] A real quick change is the location of the microwave. Oftentimes, it’s above a cooktop, which is not reachable for shorter people or seated people. So buy another microwave and put it on the counter. That’s the solution. How easy is that? To have two microwaves in the home? So that would be one suggestion that doesn’t really cost very much at all. 

Things that need to be modified, of course, is the type of refrigerator freezer. If you’re about to replace that one, my recommendation is to get the side-by-side configuration rather than having the freezer at the top where you can’t get to it. So I like side-by-side. If you’re replacing some of the plumbing fixtures, the single-handle lever faucets are much easier than having the need to pinch and turn the faucet. So those are pretty inexpensive to change out. 

Now what’s going to be more expensive is looking at the counter heights. You need a counter height that’s 30 inches for the seated person with knee space underneath. Now, you already may have a desk in that kitchen that can serve as that 30-inch counter height. So clear that space off so that people who are short or seated can roll underneath and use that as a counter space. 

And looking at your dining configuration too. Moving some furniture around, moving some throw rugs out of the way so they don’t get caught up in wheels as people are using walkers and canes. So those are easy. Just get rid of the throw rugs. Move them away, totally out of the building, and throw them out. We don’t want any tripping hazards. 

And taking a look at the dining experience. Can people easily roll under the table? Are there low tables there? Or is everything high in terms of seating and benches? So have some variable heights in the dining experience for people who want to sit at a low 30-inch high table versus the bar height? So those are some simple things.

Annette Grant: [00:19:51] And it sounds like everything that you just mentioned to me that would fall under this Universal Design, correct? It’s not just for, let’s say, someone in a wheelchair. This could be a lot of different folks. Everyone could benefit from everything that you just said, correct?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:20:08] Yes.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:20:08] Yeah, all ages.

Annette Grant: [00:20:09] Yeah. No, I love those fixes. And I like the ideas that you gave like, hey, if your refrigerator goes out, this is an excellent time to buy a new one and just do the side-by-side. Little things like that. Or if you’re getting the new kitchen sink, just change out the faucet. These are great things, listeners, that you could just incorporate over time in your property.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:20:30] And you think too how it doesn’t impact people who are seated, but as you said, scooters, people who walk with canes, those things, the rugs. That’s an easy thing. I know, listeners. So, Rosemarie, we’ll admit it. Our listeners are probably the biggest rug lovers out there. They love their design, they love their interior experience. 

But is it not going to warm your heart so much more if you know that someone can feel safe in your home and they can move around your home? We’re actually working on a property right now, Rosemarie, which we were going to have to maybe have you over sometime soon because we want to make it as accessible as possible. But how about the bathroom? What can we do to make the bathroom more accessible with something in a bath that already exists?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:21:09] Well, those are simple. You go to all the big box stores and go into the bathroom and plumbing department. Again, we’re looking at safety. So what’s the number one safety feature in a bathroom? We can say it all together. It’s grab bars. 

So put them in. And realizing also your towel bars. Why not replace those with towel bars that were rated for grab bars so that if someone is falling and they grab the towel bar, that that towel bar is sufficient to hold them so they don’t go to the floor.

Annette Grant: [00:21:43] That is great. Right now in my head, I can think of like three of my friend’s houses that I’ve been to, that their towel bars were ripped off at some point in time, and now I know why. They probably don’t want to admit that they had slipped and ripped it out of the wall, but that makes perfect sense. So you can get towel bars that are rated to double as grab bars.

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:22:08] Absolutely.

Annette Grant: [00:22:08] No. Is that on the packaging? Where do we find that? Are they still decorative, if you will? So if we go into Lowe’s or Home Depot today, those could be easy?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:22:19] So much. The grab bars and towel bars will all match and there might be a suite that also goes with the plumbing that is also going to be there. So, for example, one brand might be Kohler or one brand might be Moen. And so as you look at that suite of products, you’ll see that they’ve really done a great job matching the products together. 

Sarah Karakaian : [00:22:41] Do you have a favorite place to shop for these hardwares and home pieces?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:22:46] I know my husband does.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:22:48] Okay. What’s your husband’s favorite place?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:22:49] On any given week, he’s probably over at Home Depot. 

Annette Grant: [00:22:53] Okay. Okay.

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:22:55] So it’s close to our home. It’s not necessarily that he has one store in mind. Home Depot is very close. And they know him. He knows where everything is. And because he was the builder of our home and maintains our home, he’s over there quite a bit, buying special gadgets. Now, our home, of course, was sponsored by many companies and Koehler was our sponsor for all of our plumbing needs. They’re wonderful.

Annette Grant: [00:23:23] All right. So we’ve got grab bars in the bathroom. Is there anything else that you can think of? You said 17-inch toilets, I believe you mentioned that earlier.

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:23:30] Yeah, if you’re in the mood to replace your existing toilet, why not buy one that is what they call in Kohler’s terms? Kohler has it trademarked as comfort height. So if you see a Kohler toilet, it’ll say comfort height. 

But any brand has taller toilets. There are about 17 to 18 inches from the top of the toilet seat to the floor, making it a lot easier on that transfer. Most of the wheelchairs have a seat cushion on them and they’re around 19, 20 inches from the floor. So when you’re sliding over from a 19 or 20-inch wheelchair seat to a 17 or 18-inch, it’s a lot easier than going to a 15-inch and then trying to get back up again.

Annette Grant: [00:24:20] Oh, yeah.

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:24:20] And you’ll find people of all abilities find that those toilets are just so much easier to get in and out of.

Annette Grant: [00:24:29] Yes, I agree with that. That is an easy fix. And I know, I go places now, my parents they reinstalled all their toilets. I’ll go play set this. I feel like I’m sitting on the floor when I’m going to the bathroom. So this is such an easy thing. I know, listeners, a lot of you are buying properties or renovating. That is such an easy fix that so many people will benefit from. 

Okay. So we’ve got the toilets and the grab bar. What about a shower? I know that’s rough. A lot of people have bathtubs. Is there any way that we can make those more accessible with what we currently have?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:25:01] Yeah, take them out too.

Annette Grant: [00:25:03] Okay. Awesome. 

Sarah Karakaian : [00:25:04] [Inaudible] bath tap.

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:25:05] Yeah, we’re looking at the most modern, and that’s the curbless shower. There’s not a lip, not even an inch. Curbless showers do not have an inch. They’re totally flat. And so if you’re modifying your bathrooms, please consider curbless showers. And you’ll have shower drains in there. Don’t put a center round drain in it, put the channel drain so that it’s a lot faster to get the water out. 

You’re going to be installing that floor at a very gradual slope. The water can go either to the back wall or to the front or to the sides. And your entry then needs to be at least 32 inches again. You don’t have to have a door on it. You don’t have to have curtains on it. It can be self-contained. The shower that is in our home is 4 by 7 and it has a 36-inch entry and a wonderful shower drain, the channel drain that goes all the way across the back wall.

And of course, the handheld shower is a must. Those are not expensive, and easy. It’s a real easy fix for a do-it-yourself, to go and buy the handheld shower with the six-foot hose and replace the existing showerhead with one that is now adjustable for people of all heights and needs.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:26:27] Absolutely.

Annette Grant: [00:26:28] That was great.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:26:29] How about the bedroom? There’s no plumbing, but what can we do?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:26:34] It’s a real simple fix. And that’s looking at the furniture placement and the bed placement. We’d like to see 36 inches as clearance from entering that bedroom and getting to at least one side of the bed so that someone can park their wheelchair or scooter there and have access.

Now, the big issue is how high is that mattress from the floor. So get your tape measures out, folks, and see from the floor to the top of the mattress. It should not exceed about 20 inches, 20, 22 inches, 23 at most. And again, it’s that issue of transferring from a seated wheelchair onto the bed.

So oftentimes we’re going to find that those mattresses are too tall. How can you resolve that? Take a look at the frame that you have that bed on. Does it have caster wheels that come off? That’s a simple solution. Just take the better part, get to the frame and remove those caster wheels and you might get an extra two inches. That’s a simple solution.

Annette Grant: [00:27:43] All right. I do have one question. Going back to the actual entrance, you said that it would be okay to go through the back door or the side door. So I just want to confirm, like that wouldn’t be a turnoff to a potential guest. Like, hey, you can’t enter through the front door. You have to go through the side or the back. You would be fine with that? Because I know a lot of–

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:28:04] I’ll be fine.

Annette Grant: [00:28:04] Okay. And then–

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:28:06] I’m fine with that as an entrance if that makes more sense in terms of the design. Of course, on new builds, it’s easy. Fix all doors. So they have three choices.

Annette Grant: [00:28:17] Sure.

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:28:17] Make all doors so that their thresholds are no more than a half inch and passive travel. So they have options. And that makes it easy for emergency exits, too, to be able to get out of that place really quickly and not have a problem saying, “Oh my gosh, I’m stuck here. There’s a fire, there’s a smoke emergency and I can’t get out this backdoor.”

Sarah Karakaian : [00:28:40] Right.

Annette Grant: [00:28:40] Got you. If you don’t mind, I’ve had the pleasure of touring your home and it’s not a vacation rental, but can you share with our listeners your home and how you do use it for education? It’s fascinating what you and your husband have built and how you continue to use it to educate. And you never know who’s listening here. So can you talk to us about this labor of love, your home that you currently live in, and how every single inch has been well thought out and designed?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:29:09] It is. It’s a wonderful design team and we had over 200 sponsoring companies. The home has had over 3,500 people in person touring it and virtually around the world. So I invite all your listeners to take the virtual tour today. 

We have a virtual tour at udll.com. It’s the Universal Design Living Laboratory udll.com. A virtual tour, you can go around and see the inside, the outside. You can zoom in and look for our cat. She was free that day, a little orange cat. She’s in a lot of the rooms.

And then to make your tour even more beneficial, download the free chapter of my book, The Universal Design Toolkit. There’s a chapter there that lists the universal design features in our home room by room. So take the virtual tour with the downloaded free chapter, and then you can also do a little video tour that my husband led.

So both of those are at udll.com, as well as many of the articles. There’s over 100 articles that will really give you the insight, the very, very behind the scenes in terms of how we designed our home. Now, our home is a training center too. We have a classroom in the lower level set up for 22 people. We bring in continuing education classes and people from all over the world have come here. My husband and I lead them as well as others. We brought in realtors. We brought in interior designers, builders, architects, as well as consumers. 

So it’s an interesting view to have a home that people are actually in and looking at every item of clothing, every item in my pantry, opening the closets and cupboards, and seeing how things are stored and accessed. It’s a pleasure to live here and it’s served us well since May 2012.

Annette Grant: [00:31:17] Well, actually, I said it’s not a vacation rental, but I think you’ve probably hosted more people in your home than Sarah and I and all of our listeners. You’re actually the super host because they’re coming into your home and checking it all out all the time. 

And when you do this tour, everyone, please keep in mind there were so many things that my eyes were open to. If you are getting ready to even build a home for yourself and maybe a forever home, think about what forever looks like. And some of the things that I noticed are just how wonderful the home was laid out for all ages. It could be young and old, so a multigenerational home. And there so many things there that I was blown away that it was universally designed and so amazing.

So please go check out the video. We will make sure to link that. And listeners, reach out to us, reach out to Rosemarie, and let her know that you did the tour. I wish we could give her five-star reviews, but I think email will do. Is there anything else today that you want to let our listeners know about accessibility? What they could do? Words of encouragement? What’s your parting words for our listeners?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:32:24] Yeah, start small. I’ve given you enough things that you could go to the hardware store now and fill up your back seat or your trunk with a few new items and realize some of these, you will do it yourself, some of them you might need a contractor. For the grab bars if you’re not comfortable, but if you are comfortable, my husband puts in grab bars all the time. It’s not that hard. Follow the instructions. 

So just start somewhere, and then start inventorying, taking my list of universal design features and check them off and say, “I have that. I have that. I have that.” And then go back into your description and rewrite your description so that people can understand what features you do have and how they might accommodate someone better.

Annette Grant: [00:33:15] I love that. Rewriting the description.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:33:18] Other than doing the tour, which is such a great way, Rosemarie, for anyone right now, to just add that to their list of things they need to do today, this week, this weekend, how else can they work with you? What do you provide in terms of consulting?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:33:32] I am a consultant and I work around the country. I can work virtually or I can come to your property. I’ve done lots of work with builders and architects and teams. We bring people to the home also. We’ll bring the homeowner as well as their team of designers here with the floor plan. And my husband is really good at that, so having the two of us looking at a floor plan and offering suggestions to make that even better. 

So that’s one way to work with me there, virtually or here in person. And of course, I have a book, The Universal Design Toolkit, that’s a great companion so that people can read that book and see the extreme details in the book on space planning and the photographs that we’ve included, the questions to ask a contractor, how to find a contractor, how to find money if you’re modifying or building a new home. For those, especially with disabilities or low income, there’s a lot of other ways to fund these modifications. 

But of course, if it’s a for-profit enterprise, it’s up to you to field this as an investment, not a cost, looking at what will happen as a result of attracting new guests, guests with disabilities, guests who have difficulty climbing stairs, guests who are bringing their grandparents and their grandchildren all at the same time.

Annette Grant: [00:35:03] This is awesome.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:35:04] So eye-opening.

Annette Grant: [00:35:04] Yes, we have some work to do.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:35:06] We have a lot of work to do, but I’m excited to do it. Rosemarie, 2023 Annette and I, every time we look at a property, this is on the forefront of our mind because we want to. It shocked me when our friend reached out and said in the entire city of Indis, she wasn’t able to find one place for her family to get together where her husband could also feel comfortable. And that just fueled me to do something about it.

Annette Grant: [00:35:30] Yeah. So thank you so much for sharing your time today. Listeners, please reach out to Rosemarie. Please take the tour. You will be pleasantly surprised and then reach out. If you have any questions, you can reach out to us, of course, and please check out the tour. Please check out becomingrentable and add this to your goal list for 2023.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:35:49] Yes, we will put everything in the show notes if you missed it during the episode today, although you might want to listen because all those measurements and stuff–

Annette Grant: [00:35:55] We’re going to have to do it like a download or something.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:35:56] But that’s in your toolkit. Rosemarie, all the toilet heights and all that, can they find those stats in your toolkit?

Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti: [00:36:03] Well, those are in my articles and in the toolkit. And the Universal Design Toolkit has its own website and it’s packaged as a digital copy with 16 videos. So go to Universaldesigntoolkit.com. If you want a printed copy, Amazon is selling the ebook Universal Design Toolkit there.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:36:23] Awesome.

Annette Grant: [00:36:24] Amazing.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:36:24] All right. Well, with that I am Sarah Karakaian–

Annette Grant: [00:36:27] I am Annette Grant. And together we are–

Both Sarah & Annette: [00:36:28] Thanks for Visiting.

Sarah Karakaian : [00:36:29] We’ll talk to you next time. Thanks for listening to the Thanks for Visiting Podcast. Head on over to the show notes for additional information about today’s episode. And please, hit that subscribe button and leave us a review. Awesome reviews help us bring you awesome content. Thanks for tuning in and we look forward to hanging out with you next week.