Managing a Vacation Rental on Your Own

When my husband and I purchased our beach house in Pacific Beach, WA we were filled with excitement, hope, and the pursuit of an investment property to help us towards our golden retirement years (we're in our 30's).

All that we hoped to achieve was to make enough rental income to pay for the mortgage and enjoy the house with our family once or twice a month. The education we were about to receive was like someone giving you a Christmas present and taking it away the next day. We had made an appointment with a popular property management company in the area and sat down to go over the "numbers." To our dismay, Mr. Vacation Rental Man explained to us that he would be charging us a 50% commission on our rental revenue to manage the house for us. We would still furnish everything except the bed linens and he would keep the cleaning fee as well as the 50% commission.

When my husband and I did the math on our new found "opportunity" we were very glum. We would have to rent the home over 200 nights a year (very difficult in WA's winter season) in order to break even on our mortgage. We had a long talk about how we were going to be able to make that happen and decided we should at the very least give renting the home ourselves a shot. What has occurred over the past 9 months has been very encouraging and we are excited to say that after this summer we hope to have the mortgage paid through the winter.

How did we do it? The first step in managing your own vacation rental is to find a location that people are drawn to and will seek you out vs. you finding them. There are many city websites and vacation owner websites that will put you in the right location and do most of the marketing for you. Nothing beats a good location to help drive your rentals. Once you've found your prime location, you'll need to make sure it's decorated to the hilt. Our theme for the house was obvious but if you're rental is in the mountains you'll want to decorate it with a lodge type feel; if it's a cottage you'd use more light and pastel colors, etc. For ideas on decorating with themes visit this link. Keep in mind that anything you decorate with should not be family heirlooms or things you will be heart broken if they break or get stolen. Make sure they are attached to the wall or some place that will dissuade people from bothering them. I used to have a cute surfboard just sitting in the corner which my neighbors reported they had seen children running through the house with. Needless to say, I removed the surf board for future rentals.

Secondly, you will need a GREAT website. First impressions are everything and your website is your welcome sign to everyone considering your place for a vacation. This is something you don't want to try to do on your own. Hire a professional site developer and give them ideas on the look and feel you want and work with them to get there. Find other sites that are comparable to what you want for your own and use those as a template to create yours. Do not copy something exactly or you will most likely have the owner of that site breathing down your neck. Ideas, fonts, and look and feel are things you are looking for and a web designer will be able to take those into consideration without copying it. Websites can range from $1000 to $5000 for a GREAT site. This is one are you don't want to skimp on. Be sure to post policies on your website and be clear about pets, check in times, payment, etc. Don't forget to set peak and off peak rates to draw in renters during the off seasons.

Third item for you to consider is a housekeeper. It is very important you find someone reliable, local, trustworthy, and good! An unkempt rental is a bad first impression and your guests and they will be less likely to return in years to come. Make sure to charge a cleaning fee and give the entire fee to your housekeeper if it makes sense. It will keep him/her loyal to you and pay is cut and dry this way. Always have a back up in case they get sick or quit. Be sure to keep a list in the pantry where cleaning supplies are stored and make sure there is a lock on this door so renters cannot get in there. I put a checklist on the inside of the door of everything that needs to be cleaned every time. If you are particular on how the beds should be made, etc. be sure to take pictures of how you want the room so they can view this on the checklist and there is no question to your expectations. Sometimes you just need to let perfection go a bit as a pillow out of place is not a deal breaker for your renter even though it's annoying for you.

Lastly you'll need a contract to have your renters sign. Have this done in a PDF format so they cannot change anything in it. Be sure to have them list out who will be renting (names of guests) so that you have a record if there are any issues. Most vacation rentals take a damage deposit. Our contract is pretty bullet proof so we do not take a deposit just because we don't want to deal with refunding it, but we do have their credit card on file and make it clear we will hit the card with any damages. To date (knock on wood) we haven't had anything but normal wear and tear. If you do not allow pets, make sure they understand if there is any evidence of pets that they will be charged a cleaning fee and will pay any other damages.

Some other items that we have found helpful are a keyless entry, Vonage (wireless) phone system and wireless internet. This allows renters to make long distance phone calls at no charge or forward their cell phones. The keyless entry is great as you can change the code often and provide a way to enter the home and secure the home without worrying about them losing a key or taking one home. There are also some basic amenities that will help your rental be chosen over others. I have included a list below:

Luxury furnishings, Gas BBQ, Deck, Garage, Gourmet kitchen, Game Room, TV - DVD, Hi-Speed Internet, XBOX, Utility room, Washer/Dryer/Dishwasher, Gas Fireplace By managing your own rental, you can save up to 50% on your revenue and control your own marketing, bookings, renters, and cleaning staff and decide if it's worth bringing in the extra income or if you prefer to have someone else do it for you and take the loss. My experience has been that earning double the revenue for a little bit of work is worth it!