So you have enjoyed your holidays abroad so much that you have now made the decision to purchase a property in your favourite destination, not just to have cheaper holidays, but to earn some extra income through holiday rentals.
Research your chosen area
Before purchasing your home abroad, make sure you research the area fully, holiday there yourself, what local facilities are available, good restaurants, beaches, shopping, banks, supermarkets etc ,are these accessible for those that are holidaying without renting a hire car, and are these facilities open all year round.
If you are going to be renting the property yourself it is essential that you can provide information about your own property!
Personal Recommendations are invaluable, remember find out what the area is like in the high season and the low season, what changes!? Many Restaurants, Bars and entertainment venues completely close up for the winter season.
When choosing your home abroad with rental in mind consider the type of development and area that you are looking at. In a larger development that has been purposely build for investors, your potential rental income may be reduced. If they are a large amount of properties for the holiday renter to chose from, this may devalue your rental income.
In developments that have been purposely built for investors you may find that a lack of interest in the communal areas and the overall management of the development, making it less appealing to potential holiday tenants. Not paying an active interest in the management of your complex will impact on the services that are offered. Taking an active role in the management of your complex ensures that standards are kept high and the development is a desirable place to stay!
Many new developments are built with ample parking spaces and this can make your rental property more appealing to potential holiday tenants. Some resorts don’t require the necessity of a car, so make sure you do not pay over and above the odds for a parking space that may never be used!
Ok so you have found the area that you like and are ready to buy!
The look of your chosen property will be a major factor in the amount of rental income that you will be able to achieve.
An en-suite bathroom and a decent sized lounge area are important to any holiday tenant; these are key points to remember when you are buying your rental property and when you later advertise to potential holiday tenants!
Ready to rent your property – have you considered the following?
When deciding to rent your holiday property it is advisable to consider a number of factors before making that final decision.
If you still wish to have your own holidays there, think about when, remembering that you will receive a higher rental income for the property during peak seasons and school holidays.
On purchasing your holiday home are you looking to rent your property to cover the properties running costs or to maximise its full income potential.
Don’t dream of a higher rent, this will only lead to your property remaining empty for weeks if not months, particularly if your property is located in a competitive area.
Being realistic with your rental prices, means that you will achieve more rentals throughout the year.
The fear of holiday makers arriving in your holiday property and causing mayhem with your possessions may prevent you from furnishing your property to the best that you can afford.
Do not limit your initial set up costs when preparing your home for holiday rentals, people prefer and generally expect their holiday accommodation to be like home if not better! If you have taken the time, effort and inclination to make your property a nice place to stay then it is human nature for your holiday tenants to keep it like this, you have shown care and consideration so should they.
When furnishing your property bear in mind that other people are going to be using these items as well as yourself.
Avoid light coloured furnishings in your holiday apartment, to avoid unnecessary wear and cleaning.
Remember people are on holiday and will be using sun creams, sun oils etc which will dirty any light coloured furnishings.
Make your guests aware of any extra cleaning charges that they may occur for excessive cleaning required after their departure from the property.
If you do decide to store some personal belongings in your property then we have found it advisable to leave a polite notice informing your holiday tenants of this, this will deter them from investigating what is actually stored there and if you decided to keep this storage locked prevent any damage being caused by them trying to have a look!
RENTING YOUR PROPERTY
There are a number of different ways for you to market and manage your property.
i) Do it yourself
ii) Management/ Letting Agency
iii) Booking Agency
Do it yourself
Advertising your property on a property rental website is the best media to advertise your property direct to potential holiday tenants.
By advertising your property on such a media, your property is on view to potentially the whole world!
Looking after your property yourself gives you the advantage of dealing directly with potential holiday tenants and this gives you the perfect opportunity to vet the people that will be staying in your property!
Whether you received enquiries regarding the rental of your property via email or telephone, always thank them for their enquiry and ask where they heard about your property, this is always good to make sure that money spent on advertising is being spent in the right place.
It is important to remember never ignore a rental enquiry, even if you are fully booked at that time, you may receive a cancellation. Keep a record of all your enquiries; these are potential bookings for next year if they have not booked already!
With these contact details you can send a yearly reminder about your rental property, giving you a head start for bookings for your following year!
If you decide to fully manage your own property rentals make sure that you do this as professionally and as efficiently as you are able.
Management/ Letting Agency
If you decide to use a letting agency to handle your holiday bookings make sure that you weigh up all the pros and cons, make sure you know exactly what the agency are going to be doing for you.
An advantage of using an agency is that they can cover every aspect of the rental for you from booking enquiries, money transactions to general cleaning and maintenance.
Using a letting agent is ideal for owners that don’t have the time or inclination to deal with people and rentals directly.
Many agencies offer a variety of services depending on what you have paid for, and remember the agency that charges the least is not necessarily the best, when choosing an agent always go on recommendations, word of mouth is always the best advertising, whether it be good or bad!
On making a decision of which agency to use find out what they are going to be doing for their money.
• Property Inspections – Full Inventory Inspection before and after each letting period?
• Check In – Do they check holiday tenants into the property and explain how everything works?
• Departure – Do they check your guests out of the property?
• Maintenance – Do they organise ongoing repairs and maintenance with written reports?
• Emergencies – Do they provide a 24hr call service in the case of emergencies?
It is also advisable, should you choose to use a Letting Agency to think about having a separate company to look after the swimming pool or gardens for instance, as each company can double check that the other is doing what you are paying them to do!
Iii- Booking Agency
This is a compromise between doing it yourself and a full management company.
A booking agency will market the property for you, but you will have to find somebody, if not yourself to manage the property.
Basically the agency acts as a middleman for you, taking and handling enquiries, bookings and payments, with monies being paid to you on completion minus any commission payments due to the agency.
Keeping it Clean & Tidy
Keeping your self catering holiday property rental accommodation clean between your lets is essential.
An untidy apartment is not welcoming to any body and is certainly not a good start to anybody’s holiday!
Reliable cleaners are a must and again like many aspects of the holiday rental game, ask for a recommendation, word of mouth is the best free advertising after all, and you can make sure that you will get good cleaners for your property, if you decided not to do this yourself.
Have your cleaners go into your property before and after every let, and also give your guests the opportunity of a mid week clean, this is also good is you want to keep an eye on things!
Please bear in mind that your property may not be pristine after every rental period, there is the possibility that you will have guests who will not leave the holiday accommodation clean and may break items, unfortunately this is all part and parcel of the business.
This is where it is a good idea to have a damage deposit held for each booking, any excess cleaning that is required and breakages and damages can be deducted from this money.
If it is necessary to do this, provide a detailed breakdown not only for your records but for your guests to see what they have had to pay for.
Keeping records of all your guests is essential and in the case of cleaning you will be able to build up a good client base for future rentals of reliable and clean holiday tenants, who will return year after year and giving you the opportunity to remember and refuse the less desirable of guests!
So everything is now in place in regards to looking after your property, if you have decided to use a full management company to do everything for you all you now need to do is sit back and let your property earn its keep, if however you have decided to make the most of your properties earning potential and manage the holiday rental bookings yourself then there are a few more things for you to do…
Obviously by deciding to rent your holiday property you want your property to make you money but remember that you must set a sensible rental tariff to attract holiday guests.
Researching into rental tariffs is essential, you don’t want to be the most expensive but at the same time you don’t need to undervalue your self catering holiday rental accommodation.
Compare prices of other rental properties in your area, speak to other owners and agents, some agents have been known to charge up to 50% commission on each booking, so this gives you an ideal position to undercut on agents prices.
Remember that people looking to book their holiday accommodation direct with the owner will be looking for the best prices possible, so bear this in mind when setting your rental tariff and handling your enquiries.
On deciding your rental tariff, there are a number of factors to consider these include:-
• Location – are you near the beach, town centre, popular resort?
• Size of property, how many bedrooms, how many can your property sleep?
• Swimming Pool – Private or communal
• Transport Links, are you close to the airport , local attractions
• General Standard of the Property
• Local Amenities
You can also vary your rental charges to suit the time of year, high, low and mid season. You will find that you will have more enquiries for certain times of the year in particular school holidays, bank holidays, Christmas and Easter.
Once you have ‘set’ your rental tariff, test the water, these prices don’t have to be set in stone, offer repeat clients discount, discounts for recommended friends, late availability specials and much more to make your property the one that they want to stay in!
When renting your holiday home abroad please bear in mind that sometimes you may need a license from the local tourist board or even the Government to rent your property to holiday makers, or tourists.
You holiday property may need to meet certain health and safety requirements along with certain building specifications, for example any new build in Greece now has to withstand earth quakes! And in America depending on where you and you holiday property are depends on what rules and regulations you have to adhere to, namely called Rental Zoning.
Florida for example rental zones vary depending on what county you are in, Lake County, Orland has no Zoning policy, but you will have to apply in Polk County, and Orange County does allow short term rentals.
Some areas such as Daytona Beach have restrictions on renting; you can only rent for one week every seven months!!