
Having a vacation home is your little getaway, but owning more than one property can be expensive. When you’re not using your second home, you can rent it to visitors to help pay for the bills, or even make some money.
However, it’s not that simple. There are some key things to do before you rent. We’re going to give you our tips for your home to get it ready for vacationers.
Use a Good Rental Website
Tourists are only going to know about your beautiful home if they can find it. Make it easy for them and use well known rental sites. You’ll get the most views and know you’re not getting scammed.
Some of the best websites to advertise your house on are Airbnb, Booking.com, and HomeAway. To get the most business, you can sign up for more than one site. Just remember to block off dates that are taken on all platforms, so you don’t double book anyone.
Take Out All Personal Items
As much as you love looking at your family and friends’ photos, visitors don’t want to see them. They want to come into a space that has a homey feel but nothing personal. It should be a neutral place that anyone can stay in.
If you have any family heirlooms or expensive items, we recommend taking those out before allowing anyone to stay at your place. Also remmeber to take any personal items such as medicine, CBD products, etc. Although it’s easy to trust people, you’re still inviting strangers into your home, and you’re not sure how they’ll treat your place on their vacation.
Photograph Your Place Professionally
Quality photos can increase the number of people who want to stay in your home. If the photos are dark or unclear, people will get turned off because of how it looks.
What you want to do is stage the rooms as if you were going to sell the home. Ensure it’s clean, organized, and exactly how it will look when they walk in the door. Take photos in natural lighting with your windows open whenever possible.
Choosing the correct days to take photos helps set the scene for potential renters. If you own a beach or lake house, take photos on a sunny summer day to create the look of the perfect vacation location. When you own a home in the mountains, it’s better to wait for a snowy morning with the sun for pictures. Whatever you do, never show photos when it’s raining.
After the photos are taken, remember to edit them a little to give them that polished look. When renting your property, the more pictures, the better. People want to see every aspect of the house before they settle on one.
Set a Reasonable Price
We know everyone is always looking for the best deals when going on vacation, so finding the right price to rent is vital for your success.