Vacation Rental Management 1. What do you charge?This is always the initial question that is asked and the answer varies wildly depending on which services you use. However as a percentage of rental fees that we book for you, we charge 20% of the rental fee. This is on the low end of the industry standard because we hope that you also will utilize us for some of the other services that we offer as well.What will my Return on Investment be?If the last two years in this area have taught us anything with the devastating hurricane and covid-19, there cannot possibly be a way to answer this question with a definite number and anyone who promises to is selling you snake oil. However, what we do do is a significant amount of research on your property similar to the way that a real estate agent finds comparable properties and review their past and present rental histories as well as future asking rental prices in order to get a comfortable expectation, but that must always be followed by the caveat that nothing is guaranteed. We operate under the understanding that yours and our success financially are completely linked together so we want you to have the highest return possible. As that benefits us obviously.How are rental prices set?As you are very likely aware, rental prices in the area vary a great deal throughout the year. There is the traditional busy season between Memorial Day and Labor Day, but there are also special events such as triathalons, bike rallies, concerts, and even the occasional presidential visit which draw larger than normal crowds looking for places to rent. We stay well in tune with the events in the area and as I touched on before, we constantly compare prices to competing listings. In our listings we also try to emphasize “added value” if possible for instance ocean views, beach access, fitness centers, location in relation to local attractions etc.. which would draw a potential renter’s attention. You as the owner are always in control of the prices we set, if you think it is too high or too low you are welcome to set it as you see fit but our intention is to do the research for you and make it where you don’t have to. This does involve some level of trust between us which can only be built over time. Prices are set weekly most of the time with obvious consideration to major holidays and long weekends such as Memorial Day, July 4th , Labor Day, that sort of thing.What is our rental “strategy?”We typically operate under the assumption that an empty unit isn’t good, and that some money is better than zero. We are extremely aware of the pitfalls of dropping prices too low and the clientele that such an action can attract which can cause more expense than profit, so while we like to have people renting units, we try to vet them in a number of ways. We have age restrictions in place so that we don’t get the college/high school crowd who always seem almost determined to destroy a unit and we tend to cater to a family/vacationing couples sort of crowd. We also read reviews of guests as provided by sources such as Airbnb or VRBO/Homeaway when they are available and if there is anything which causes concern we will not typically rent to them. Our primary goal is to make our owners money while at the same time protecting their investment.What type of owners do we want to work with?This is an extremely important question which we feel necessary to be included in this section. We are selective of who we work with because maintaining lasting and trusting partnerships is essential to both of our success. Most owners that we work with whether through the cleaning side of the company or rental management are from out of town so that involves a whole lot of us being their eyes and ears for their properties. We welcome that. We have been in quite literally thousands of units up and down this beach and can very often offer a lot of help to you and your guests. Some owners like to be very involved at first, as they should, but eventually we would like to establish an amount of trust which implies “do what you think is best and write me a check.” Now there is a whole lot packed into that statement and that level of confidence is gained over time. I look after my owners’ units as I would look after my own, and frugality is typically my strong suit. I often ask myself how can I get the most benefit for the least amount of expense? Because to put it frankly, your bottom line is directly connected with ours. I like to be interactive with my owners to some extent. Certain situations require immediate contact such as damages to a unit or appliances not working, things like that. I have a network of people to call to arrange to fix such things if necessary and I always give my owners the final say-so in what work is done and at what price before I give any of my vendors a green light. With that being said I won’t be harassing an owner every time a reservation comes in or cancels or changes or extends. That’s why you pay us after all isn’t it? To handle that for you. I am working with a web developer on creating an owner portal in which an owner can log in and look at their rental calendar at any given point in time. Most owners of course like to use their own properties as not purely income-producing but also they want their time in the units too. Why buy it if you can’t enjoy it at least some of the time right? For this we ask owners to give us as much notice as possible so that we can block their days from rentals, because once we book a rental for someone else, we have to honor it.How does an owner get paid?This is obviously the most important question. I prefer to do end-of-the-month statements detailing rentals, incomes, fees, expenses and the overall total. Then I write a check, include the statement, and mail it to you. I also prefer to keep a small, agreed upon amount of money withheld for an owner for minor expenses. But that isn’t a requirement. If major purchases are required or owners are shopping online and feel like browsing online and redecorating, then owners are free to do their own shopping and shipping and pay for things themselves for us to receive in the unit. We are astoundingly flexible with things like this.Why should I choose you?I love this question and I’m glad you asked. We are a smaller company. We do not just take any property that wants to sign up. This allows us the extreme luxury of paying attention to your unit in particular in a manner that a larger company simply cannot. I put this in our about us section but I feel like it is worth repeating. We want to create a partnership. A man that I greatly admire and used to work for who just sold his incredibly successful business once told me “if you can’t see yourself sitting in a boat all day with them fishing, you don’t want them as a client.” So I heartily encourage you to give us a call and speak with me to see if we might be a good fit together. Contact Us
