Investing in real estate can be as challenging and exciting as it is lucrative. If you are venturing into real estate for the first time and considering investing in a vacation rental, there are some things to keep in mind. Follow these tips to help your business succeed.
1. Choose a Good Location
Location should be your top priority when searching for a vacation property. Your rental location determines whether you will see high or low volumes of guests. A house near a beach or a lake will generate a lot of income in the summer, and a cabin near a ski resort will be in high demand during the winter.
Experts recommend choosing a location near a year-round tourist destination to maximize your profits. Keep in mind that your down payment, property taxes, and utility costs also depend on where you purchase your rental.
2. Calculate the Costs
The upfront investment isn’t the only expense you’ll need to consider when making your first rental purchase. The cost of upkeep can add up, so be sure to factor in utilities, regular cleaning and maintenance, and potential repairs when determining how much you can afford to invest.
Managing a vacation rental can be deeply fulfilling, but it can also be stressful and time-consuming. You might want to hire a property manager who can help ease the burden. These professionals can handle bookings, coordinate cleaning, and ensure a positive guest experience, giving you more time to enjoy the profits.
3. Spruce Up the Place
Before you welcome your first guests, you need to get your property rental ready. Complete any repairs or improvements that need to be done, including minor updates such as landscaping or a new coat of paint. Since guests will be there to relax and have fun, you should invest in comfortable furniture and stylish decor to create an appealing environment. Provide plenty of lighting and ample storage solutions so guests can easily make themselves at home.
4. Market Your Rental
Attracting guests can seem like a challenge, but there are tools to help you boost your profile and get more bookings. Make sure to have quality photos that highlight the best features of your listing. These photos are the first thing potential guests see when they get to your listing, so you might want to invest in a professional photographer for more polished results.
Maximizing your listing’s visibility is vital, so try to promote your listing on social media, create a website, or post to multiple marketplaces. Advertising on sites like Airbnb and VRBO comes with fees, but it allows you to reach a wider audience of vacationers searching for a rental in your area.
By creating high-quality content, you can attract new guests to your rental and keep them coming back for more. Additionally, content marketing can help you build relationships with potential guests and build trust. Fortunately, there are resources available like Cornerstone Content to help you get started with content marketing.
5. Establish a Business
When getting into the vacation rental business, it’s good to establish a limited liability corporation, or LLC, to protect yourself and your assets from personal liability and prevent headaches during tax season. There are helpful online formation services that can help you start an LLC. If you have a larger budget, you can also hire a lawyer to help you establish your rental property as a business entity.
When you’re ready to start searching for tenants, visit Screening Guy to avoid potential liability and find high-quality tenants.
Owning a vacation property is an exciting way to earn passive income and increase your net worth while enjoying the benefits of having a second home. Increase your chances of success by investing in a good location, understanding the costs, and promoting your listing.
Preparing your home for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease doesn’t have to mean changing your entire lifestyle. There are a few things you cando to keep everyone safe as your family adjusts to your new housemate. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Start with a decluttering session. If you’re like most people, there is a good chance that clutter has piled up in your home without you noticing. And while a few too many pieces of furniture might not be an issue for you, your aging houseguest may not be able to successfully navigate disorderly rooms.
Deep clean your spaces. Once you’ve done a round of decluttering, you’ll be able to deep clean areas that may be holding on to bacteria, dust, and allergens that could impact your loved one’s (and your own) health. In addition to cleaning your floors and counters, be sure to clean your furniture, because your couch, chairs, and other pieces are among the dirtiest places in your home.
Consider how they will enter and exit the home. Mobility concerns are not limited to those in a wheelchair. For some older people, it can be difficult to gauge the height of steps. This makes entering and exiting the home especially dangerous. Consider installing a wheelchair ramp, which will eliminate the potential for tripping and falling on stairs.
Limit the need for stairs. If possible, reduce the need to travel up and down the stairs by putting your loved one’s bedroom and bathroom on the first floor.
Light it up.With age, a person’s eyes don’t adjust to changing lighting situations quite as well as in their youth. Coupled with delayed reaction and inhibited cognition, a dark hallway or dimly-lit bathroom presents a falling, tripping, or impact-accident hazard to an elderly person. Something as simple as LED strip lighting in the hallway will help.
Add a personal touch throughout the home. Moving into someone else’s home can take its toll physically as well as emotionally. You can ease some of the emotional pain by providing a familiar atmosphere for your loved one. Whether it’s an heirloom blanket, a favorite chair, or beloved piece of art, incorporate some of their personal belongings throughout your house to provide a sense of comfort and familiarity.
Make their room comfortable. Prepare their room by adding comfortable linens, blinds or curtains, new lighting and any of their favorite decor. Consider also mounting a TV on the wall, and adding a smart speaker they can use to listen to music, use as a sound machine or to help them stay connected or find out about the weather.
Keep healthcare and provider contact information visible. In case of an emergency, you’ll need to easily access health care provider information along with documents for health insurance and a list of medical conditions. Now is also a good time to put together any necessary paperwork you will need to make decisions on behalf of your loved one. This typically includes at least a power of attorney and a living will.
When you’ve made the choice to open your home and heart, you offer your loved one the opportunity to live in a loving environment. Follow these tips and your home will become a safe sanctuary for your loved one while giving you peace of mind as a caregiver.
CPN’s (Credit Privacy Numbers) and Synthetic Identities are being used more frequently to mask poor credit history and to create fraudulent identities. Most screening companies don’t have a system in place to flag these individuals.
We’ve partnered with True & Verified, an applicant verification tool that works with your current screening provider to ensure the person applying for your property really is who they say they are. Watch this free webinar to learn more about how to protect yourself and your business, one applicant, at a time.
The data driving eviction policies may not be complete, and in some cases may not be available, due to the way court records and eviction reporting are broken down differently in multiple states and jurisdictions, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC).
The council says they have done research and “complete data on evictions is severely lacking,” they said in a release.
In this final installment of the Eviction Webinar series, Mike Stout and the team will dive into the best practices of rental criteria and share a few effective screening tips that have helped them avoid evictions.
