The rental market is the most straightforward way to make money from a holiday home. The income could go towards the costs of maintenance; if you made a wise investment, you could start collecting a good profit from it. The Washington Post issued an article providing eight tips to make the most of a holiday home by entering the rental market.
Don’t have a property manager
Managing your property takes a lot of work, and that’s why you may find it expensive to hire someone to do it. You’ll have to deal with clients, collect your revenue, deal with taxes, ensure maintenance is performed, advertise your rental property online, and so on. If you believe you can do it yourself, go for it. You may end up finding that you’re perfect at it and start a business in property management.
Hire a property manager
If you’re not good at managing things yourself, focus on your main activities, and outsource it. A good property manager will save you a lot of headaches.
Benchmarking
The internet makes all the information about rental properties available. See what the best are offering. Do they include wi-fi or Netf
lix? Do guests need to stock the kitchen, or is this included? What about video games for the kids?
Taxes and licenses
We’ve mentioned it before, but it’s never bad to remind. Short-term rental is a business, and you can have a hard time if you’re making a profit without paying your due taxes. The Washington Post says that you may need to register with all three levels of administration: city, county and state. Make sure you know everything about it (if you hire a property manager, they may or may not be savant about the matter).
Automation
You still can’t have a robot to do all those standardized tasks related to booking, contracts, check-in, and so on. But software can be a big help with that. Automate as much as you can.
Guest reviews
To get positive reviews, you need more than the wi-fi service or the stocked kitchen. Those are the features that attract guests in the first place, but not the ones that lead to a smile from the guest at the end. Check common questions and make sure the guests feel at home. Be there for what they need. Some of them will be a little more awkward or hard to deal than others, but that’s part of the business.