Things You'll Need:
- A good digital camera (if you don't have one borrow one) 7 megapixels or better.
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Step 1
The first thing that you'll need to do is make sure that your property is prepared for a good photo session. Like the cliche goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and if your pictures are bad, your chances of rentals will decrease severely. So, you'll need to clean your property (remove the clutter, scrub, wash, etc.) and prep the house as you would prep it if you were going to sell it. This is very important!
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Step 2
Next, take a high quality digital camera (7 megapixels or better) and take lots of photos of the interior and exterior of your property. If there are popular tourist spots nearby (such as beaches, amusement parks, etc.) it may be worth it to take high quality pictures of those areas as well. Most importantly get good pictures of the main living spaces (such as the living rooms, kitchen, master bedroom, dining room, etc.).
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Step 3
Once you've got some good pictures, come up with a good description that is marketing driven. For example, rather than saying "this home is located near the beach," you may say "centered in a thriving beach community, this home...". Keep it enticing and keep it short, also make sure to give a good description of the sleeping arrangements, amenities of the properties, possible nearby activities, etc. You'll also need to come up with a good system for allowing renters into your home (i.e. lockbox, friend that provides keys, etc.).
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Step 4
The best way to advertise your vacation rental property is online. While several different vacation rental listing Websites have popped up on the Internet, one of the most popular still remains to be VRBO.com (short for Vacation Rental by Owner). An advert on VRBO.com costs a minimum of $179/year (with 3 pictures) and more if you want more pictures (12 is the max), however, this is going to be, hands down, the most effective way to spend your advertising dollars. To list your ad on VRBO.com just go to the site and click on the "Join Us" link and follow their instructions (this is where you'll use the description you've created and the pictures you've obtained).
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Step 5
It's also important to be able to track your rentals somehow, provide invoices to your renters, obtain signed rental contracts, etc. It may even be worth your while to setup a dedicated Website for this purpose and there are several cost-effective online software solutions that will allow you to easily setup a site and manage your vacation rental property from anywhere in the world. See the TenantWIZ Vacation Rental Software at www.tenantwiz.com (or click on the resource below).
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Step 6
Another alternative may be to call a vacation rental agency that specializes in rentals in your area. This may be a quick and cost-effective approach to getting your property rented, however beware of the large commissions that some agencies will take from you and expect to give up between 20%-40% of the gross rental amount.
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Step 7
Market, market, market. Send out email blasts to friends, use Craigslist, post your property on blogs, and do anything you can to get the word out. Also, treat your renters like GOLD! If they're very happy with their stay, they're not only likely to come back as repeat-renters, but also very likely to recommend your property to their own friends and families!
Comments
bgraham said
on 10/30/2009 As a homeowner who had listed with VRBO, I was suprised to find out that you cannot get a refund for the considerable listing expense from VRBO if you sell your property. Particularly if you are thinking about selling your property in the near future, I would not advise you to list with VRBO.
itsagoodday said
on 8/10/2009 Another really good resource is Vacation Rental Want Ads. They have a pay-per-lead option. You can receive free vacation rental requests and respond to the ones you want. Try www.vacationrentalwantads.com
janett53 said
on 11/12/2008 If you want a very affordable site that has many different advertising and leasing tools, try www.rentalspacenetwork.com. I use it and I get more traffic from it than I did from using Homeaway for 1/10th the cost.