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How to Rent Your Second Home

Thanks to the Internet, offering your secondThe financial institutions involved are aware
home as a vacation rental has never beenof the unique considerations involved with
easier or, potentially, more profitable. Invacation  rentals.
the past, you really had only two choices.
You could either list your second home with aBeing able to accept credit cards for booking
property management company and trust it toand damage deposits simplifies things
get you bookings for the season, or you couldenormously. You don't have to worry about
place ads in newspapers and handle bookings,checks clearing (or bouncing). Or being
security deposits, rental checks, and all thedelayed in the mail. You don't have to write
other  details  yourself.out and mail refund checks for damage
deposits. You can handle all financial
Unfortunately, there are at least twotransactions associated with your rental
disadvantages to listing with a propertyonline  or  over  the  phone.
manager. First, a property manager's goal is
to rent as much if his or her inventory asStep Three is to build an on-site team of
possible. None of them has any interest inmaintenance and service people. When you
renting your particular property. Second,have a plumbing or electrical problem in your
while property managers can free you from allmain home, you know who to call. Your second
booking and maintenance chores, their feeshome/vacation rental may be located a
can range from 15% to a whopping 50% of yourthousand miles away, but the process is the
rental  income.same. Your guest phones you with a problem.
So you call the appropriate local service
As for the traditional do-it-yourselfperson to take care of it. The same with
approach, newspaper ads are expensive, andcleaning and other services. You do not have
placing ads on free services like Craigslistto be on-site. You just have to previously
requires constant reposting since theyestablished relationships with good people.
disappear  after  a  week  or  so.Alternatively, as you're setting things up,
you may find that a property management
So what do you do? You own a second home.company or rental agency will agree to sell
Since it isn't your main nest, you aren'tyou  cleaning and repair services a la carte.
reluctant to offer it as a vacation rental.
How can you maximize the income it throws offActually, this brings up an interesting
while minimizing management and maintenancepoint. The savvy property management
hassles?companies realize that the Internet has
altered the balance of power. Rental agencies
Step One is to list your property withare no longer a property owner's only choice.
HomeAway.com, owner of the four leadingSo a growing number are willing to negotiate.
vacation home rental sites. The cost is $300For example, you might list with a property
a year, and it gets you on CyberRentals,manager but arrange a deal under which you
GreatRentals, A1Vacations, and HomeAway's ownpay full commission on bookings they bring in
site. For an additional $180, you can alsobut pay no commission on bookings your own
list on HomeAway's VRBO.com, the biggest suchmarketing  efforts  generate.
site on the Internet. We also recommend
($150), for a total annual cost of $630.Here's the bottom line: If you're not renting
Think of these systems as your starter set.out your second home when you and your family
And avoid the temptation to waste timeare not using it, you are passing up
listing with the free sites that are sure tothousands of dollars a year in extra income,
solicit  you.not to mention applicable tax deductions.
And, thanks to the Internet, you no longer
Step Two is to get set up to accept majorhave to pay ruinous commissions to property
credit cards. Costco, Sam's Club, and trademanagement companies. You can do it all
associations and business groups offer credityourself and keep all the money. (This is a
card "merchant accounts" as membershiplot easier than you might think.) Or you can
benefits. But we recommend going to anddo some things yourself and pay for other
clicking on "Vacation Rental Credit Cardservices. There is definitely a continuum of
Merchant Account." Like Rentors.org itself,possibilities when it comes to making your
this program was created by the leadingsecond home or vacation property work for
vacation rental listing sites now owned byyou!



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