Renting Your Second Home: Revisited07/16/07
A while back, we visited some items on attracting renters for your second home. Asheville and The Wolf Laurel area are second home, vacation rental havens, and the matter of rental income is important to some clients.
There is some indication in our county that second homes might account for as much as 80% of the market in certain niches. The data comes from a private study, but even so, is notable.
The previous post we did on these matters centered on making certain small investments in order to distinguish your home from an increasingly crowded vacation rental market. The list included a number of items ranging from 500 thread count Egyptian sheets, to making your second home more family friendly, say by adding an X Box 360, or a decent DVD collection.
We offered one caution to would be vacation landlords however, and that involved the pitfalls of bypassing the rental management company. Specifically, in our own experience, the point was made that the number of phone calls ranging from no heat, to cable TV problems is too easy to underestimate, and might be best left to a third party.
Nevertheless, the proliferation of such websites as Vacation Rental By Owner, (vrbo.com), or Home Away have definitely made being your own part time rental manager easier, in terms of finding tenants. Here is some more food for thought while pondering the idea of using a management firm, or going out on your own.
Amy Gunderson, who writes on second home matters for The NY Times, has a recent article that speaks to "The Hazards of Wayward Renters", (registration likely required). Just a few of illustrative high points for do it yourselfers:
-Spell out limits on the number of occupants
-Perhaps specifiy a minimum age, it seems that 25 represents a common industry threshold, and avoids "the spring break crowd", or in our part of the world, holiday ski weekends.
-Think about a policy on pets.
-Security deposits range from 10% to 50% of weekly rental.
-Have the house rules posted or personally delivered to renters upon occupancy.
Rental income is not an insignificant criteria for many second home buyers, tread carefully, and do so armed with information.
Thanks for stopping by,
Black Bear Realty Website
828 689 2055
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Filed Under: Homeowner Tips - Wolf Laurel Items - Buyers' Tips
posted by jazz | 8:25 AM PERMALINK
1 Comments:
Tom, I am excited to see someone else blogging about short term rentals and management companies. I have written several posts for my blog on Colorado property and thought I was about the only one outside of Florida doing it! You have some good points. I am using www.vrbo.com and www.homeaway.com myself, and doing very well with it. The secret is to have a local manager to handle the things that are difficult if you don't live in the area, and I have found a flat fee company that will do it for me. It makes a huge difference.
Joanne
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