We all know that the vacation rental business is exploding right now. There are a lot of landlords and investors looking at vacation rentals as a viable way to make money. There is also a whole other group of investors that have had second homes for a long time, especially down here in south Florida, that come and use the home a few times a year or have family use the home, but it’s not being used all the time.
Only using your vacation home a few times a year is basically like leaving the money on the table. There is a great opportunity to put your home on Airbnb and rent it out as a vacation rental when you aren’t using it.
Keeping the Home Safe
One common concern for owners is their personal property in the home. There are things in the home that you may be emotionally attached to or things you have spent a lot of money on, and you don’t want people to damage those things. If that is one of your concerns, you don’t need to worry. One of the things we do in all the homes we manage is to set up owner closets. There are specific closets around the rental home where we keep the owner’s private things. These are things that the owners do not want renters to use or have the potential to ruin. Even if it’s the towels and the bed linens, you can put those in the closet to keep them safe.
Buy Plenty of Insurance
Most vacation rental sites and Airbnb rentals come with insurance. The listing itself is protected with a million dollars of insurance, so there’s a good chance anything that could potentially go wrong would be covered financially.
Peace of Mind with Extra Security Deposits
When you don’t want to make a lot of changes to your home because you still plan to use it yourself, we can charge your vacation renters an extra security deposit. This guarantees that renters will be extra cautious not to do anything to damage the property. They’ll want to get that deposit back.
Reviews for Owners and Vacation Renters
Vacation travelers have a profile on vacation sites and they get reviewed. So just like they review you and your rental, you have the opportunity to review them as well. A traveler does not want a bad review because then a future landlord or homeowner will not rent to them.
Vacation renters are going to be very different than normal, long-term tenants. The wear and tear on the home is going to be different, and you can prepare your home by taking away anything of value and putting it out of potential harm’s way. You can give your rental the look and feel of what it’s like to own it and enjoy it yourself, even if you’re renting it out.
Please contact us at Domu Property Management if you have any questions about renting out your vacation home.