Exclusive interview: Transforming distressed homes into vibrant short term rentals

Ken Burrows is an experienced mortgage broker in the United States. Now he is backing a bold real estate venture named KinLux.  The plan? Snap up distressed commercial properties—think rundown hotels, motels, or other forgotten gems—and turn them into vibrant, high-occupancy group rental spots for vacationers. Burrows’ plan benefits both the housing market and the vacation property industry. Listing excellent properties for short-term rentals to tourists is bad for local economies.

KinLux’s goal is to raise $50m in capital. To do this, KinLux will split the effort into a crowdfund (Regulation CF), and a private offer for accredited investors who have deep pockets (Regulation D). And in the future? 

They are looking at blockchain tokenisation as a way to change the ownership dynamics in this area. Burrows’ story starts young—he was just 19 when he jumped into entrepreneurship, eventually building a mortgage brokerage that operated across 13 states. 

Reviving rundown properties

KinLux began in 2013 when his family and he rented their Lake Tahoe house during a road trip. The move proved to be a huge success, earning them more money than they expected.

He spoke with EWN in a tone that suggested he’d had to change direction quickly. KinLux has decided to shift gears and focus on commercial real-estate instead.

The new playbook is all about grabbing distressed commercial properties—hotels, motels, you name it—at bargain prices, often 60 to 70 cents on the dollar. 

The properties are then re-branded as group vacation rental homes. These aren’t the typical hotel accommodations. Each unit can accommodate 20-25 guests in a mixture of regular and fold-out beds. 

Burrows, leaning in as if to let me know a secret, says “We’re doing the hotel thing. Staff will be buzzing about.” “It’s about that family getaway vibe—your group rents the whole place, cooks together, hangs out, makes memories.”

Listing with the ‘major players’

KinLux intends to spend the $50 million on five to seven of those properties. They haven’t yet closed, but are looking at a few properties in Lake Tahoe and Markleyville. One of them is an 85-acre ranch that they plan to turn into a “hobbit style” themed campground. 

Yeah, you heard that right—hobbit-style. To secure these spots, KinLux will rely on the major players in vacation rentals—Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and Hotels.com. 

No full-time workers are employed at these properties. A small team of back-end staff will take care of bookings, cleaning and customer support. This allows the business to run smoothly, without any overhead.

Burrows confirms that Andes Capital Group manages the fundraising and they’ve already collected $85,000 using the crowdfunding route. 

A bigger marketing push is coming in the next few weeks, with two agencies on board—one targeting everyday investors, the other focused on the accredited crowd.

Burrows, who is looking to the future, is particularly excited about the integration of blockchain technology into this mix. 

Blockchain is the future.

His voice is filled with conviction as he declares, “The digital future is here.” “We are planning to release one token for each dollar invested.” These tokens are placeholders for now. Once the business is humming—likely in a year or two—they’ll mint them on Ethereum or maybe a custom blockchain, possibly with a partner like DigiShares. 

There’s been some early discussions, but nothing has been finalized yet. These tokens won’t be straight-up equity but shares in the business, with investors getting quarterly profit-sharing payouts—10 per cent of net earnings, to be exact. You can reinvest your money if you wish. 

KinLux, which uses CoreConnex as a trading platform and for compliance, is creating a private marketplace before the tokens are listed on public exchanges.

Burrows refers to the investor group as a “club,” which has a say in major decisions like expanding into new regions or making new acquisitions. Token holders may also receive perks like discounts or access to KinLux’s properties. KinLux’s roadmap is clear, even though tokenisation will be at least one year away due to regulatory hurdles. They plan to file a Regulation A after launching the commercial aspect and putting the blockchain in place. This will set the stage for the public listing.Burrows, in a tone that is both grounded and optimistic, says: “We are taking this slowly and steadily.” This is not some meme coin nonsense. The value of digital assets will increase as the business grows.

Buying into a vision

KinLux has not yet generated any revenue on the commercial side, and its blockchain component is still under development. 

Early investors buy into a vision backed by Burrows’ long track record, and SEC-compliant funding structures.

KinLux is currently combining traditional real estate investment with a digitally-oriented approach. 

It’s planting itself at the crossroads of property and tokenisation, betting big on a future where distressed buildings become thriving group getaways—and maybe even a new kind of digital asset.