FullyBookedRentals presents...

The Glossbrenner Guide to 
Vacation Rental Resources
[Free Sample]

Congratulations! You've discovered the world's only thoroughly researched, regularly updated, and highly selective guide to the very best resources for vacation-rental owners.

If you're serious about making money from your vacation-rental property, and providing your guests with the best possible vacation experience, you'll find lots of great stuff in our VR Resources Guide to help you meet those goals.

Many of the resources presented here are discussed in greater detail in our book/CD package, How to Make Your Vacation Property Work for You!, and in our Vacation Rental Secrets & Sources series. But in this guide, we've collected and organized our favorite products, services, and Web sites, along with tips on how they can help you advertise, rent, and manage your property more effectively.

What Makes Our Guide Different?

Every one of the resources you'll read about here has been personally selected by us. Other books and online sources promote products indiscriminately, or arrange to receive commissions, referral fees, or affiliate payments from the companies they recommend. That's not how we do things. 

The VR resources presented here are included for one reason, and one reason only: because they are exceptionally good products and services that can make your "rent by owner" experience much more pleasant, effective, and profitable.

How This Excerpt is Organized

We've organized this excerpt from our VR Resources Guide into several major topics. You can scroll down the page to read each one in turn, or click on the bulleted link to go directly to a specific topic. You can also use our site's Search feature if there's a particular topic—or a product, service, or company name—that you want to zero in on.     

• Buying a Vacation Property
• Getting Started as a Vacation Rental Owner
• Advertising Your Vacation Rental Property
• Managing Your Vacation Rental Property

• Networking With Other Vacation Rental Owners 

What's In the Member-Exclusive Version?

When you sign up as member of FullyBookedRentals, you'll have access to the full-length version of our VR Resources Guide, which we update throughout the year as we discover new products and services that we feel should be brought to the attention of our members.

Here's what we cover in the member-exclusive version:     

• Buying a Vacation Property
• Getting Started as a Vacation Rental Owner
• Advertising Your Vacation Rental Property
  Our "short list" of sites for properties worldwide, and why we like them.
  Expanded list of region-specific sites.
  Expanded list of special-interest sites.
• Making Your Listings Stand Out from the Competition
• Creating a Web Site for Your Vacation Rental Property
• Managing Your Vacation Rental Property
• Insuring Your Vacation Rental Property
• Networking With Other Vacation Rental Owners     

Buying a Vacation Property

We often hear from people who are intrigued by the notion of owning and operating a vacation-rental property but have yet to buy one themselves. If you need help figuring out where and what to buy, we have several books and Web sites to recommend:

Books

Buying a Second Home: Income, Getaway, or Retirement by Craig Venezia (Nolo, 2007). We're big fans of Nolo books, forms, and software. We've always found them to be authoritative, well-researched, and superbly written. This book/CD package by mortgage expert and financial writer Craig Venezia is no exception. Click here for the table of contents, reviews, sample chapter, and a list of the forms and checklists that are included on the CD.

How a Second Home Can Be Your Best Investment by Tom Kelly and John Tuccillo (McGraw-Hill, 2004). In clear, hype-free prose, the authors of this 220-page book explain how to calculate what you can afford for a second home, find the perfect property, and turn the place into a "cash cow" that provides a lifelong source of income. Click here for more information.

The Complete Guide to Second Homes for Vacations, Retirement, and Investment by Gary W. Eldred (Wiley, 2000). Though not quite as current as the first two books listed here, this 280-page guide offers a wealth of practical advice from one of the country's leading experts on real estate investing. Click here for more information.

Web Sites

EscapeHomes (www.escapehomes.com). Now owned by HomeAway, this site's goal is to become the premier marketplace for buyers and sellers of second homes and resort properties. It's the best place we've encountered for finding detailed descriptions of popular vacation spots. You can also use the site's search feature to locate properties for sale and real-estate agents who specialize in vacation homes. (Note: There's also a large collection of articles posted here, but the quality varies, and the collection is not very well organized.)

RealEstateJournal (realestatejournal.com). Click on the "Second Homes" tab for current and archived articles by Wall Street Journal editors, columnists, and freelancers about buying, selling, and owning vacation properties. (Note: You don't have to be a WSJ subscriber to access these articles. Everything posted here is free.)

Getting Started as a Vacation Rental Owner

There are countless books on how to be a successful landlord or property manager. But until October 2003 when we published the first edition of our book/CD package, there was absolutely nothing designed specifically for vacation-rental owners. Now there are several. These are the ones we recommend:

Renting Your Vacation Home: A Step-by-Step Guide by Kristin W. Dorsett. This nicely organized 27-page eBook published by HomeAway provides a good introduction to vacation rentals, with sections on Getting Started, Marketing, and The Rental Process. It's available as a free download, provided you don't mind giving HomeAway your email address. 

How to Make Your Vacation Property Work for You!: The Quick and Easy Guide to Advertising, Renting, Managing, and Making Money from Your Second Home by Alfred and Emily Glossbrenner. Now in its second edition, our 300-page book/CD package is designed as a complete "seminar-in-a-box." It shows you how to create listings that really sell on the leading vacation-rental advertising sites. It also includes tips and techniques for managing your property, a CD with sample forms and checklists that you can customize as you see fit, and a variety of money-saving offers. The package also includes our Key Features Update on what we consider to be the "must-have" sites for your online advertising program. For more details, reader reviews, and ordering information, click here.

How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner, Second Edition, by Christine Karpinski (Kinney Pollack, 2007). This book by the Director of HomeAway's Owner Community goes a long way toward demystifying the whole notion of do-it-yourself vacation rentals. If you're not quite sure you're cut out to be a vacation-rental owner, reading this inexpensive guide is a low-cost way to find out. Much of the new material is also available on the HomeAway site, but if you don't have the first edition, get this one, which is available for less than $18 on Amazon. Click here for more information.

Advertising Your Vacation Rental Property

The secret to spreading the word about your vacation-rental property is to create effective listings on several of the leading vacation-rental advertising sites. We recommend that you start with three or four sites, but you may need several more if your property is in a highly competitive area, or if your objective is to book your property year-round rather than just during a few weeks in high season.

Here's our "short list" of sites that you should consider when you're just starting out. These are sites that have good reputations and a strong track record for generating bookings, regardless of where the property is located:   

1. VRBO® (www.vrbo.com)
2. HomeAway™ (www.homeaway.com)
3. FlipKey/TripAdvisor (www.flipkey.com)
4. VacationRentals (www.vacationrentals.com)
5. VRConnection (www.vrconnection.com)
6. FindVacationRentals (www.findvacationrentals.com) 
7. PerfectPlaces (www.perfectplaces.com)
8. VacationHomes (www.vacationhomes.com) 

Note: If you list your property with HomeAway, your listing information will automatically be added to CyberRentals, GreatRentals, and A1Vacations, three well-established, top-quality vacation-rental advertising sites that were bought by HomeAway in 2005. VRBO and VacationRentals are also owned by HomeAway. But they were bought more recently and are still operating as separate brands, rather than being incorporated into the HomeAway Network.   

We also have a few region-specific and special-interest sites to recommend. (FullyBookedRentals members will find a more extensive list of top-quality regional and specialty sites in the Advertising Your VR Property section of the member-exclusive version of our VR Resources Guide.) 

• WeNeedaVacation (www.weneedavacation.com). For properties on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket, we'd alter our "short list" to put WeNeedaVacation (WNAV) right up there with VRBO and HomeAway. It's owned and operated by Jeff and Joan Talmadge, who founded the site 11 years ago and who probably know the "Cape & Island" region better than anyone else on the planet. WNAV is also a good choice for Florida property owners, because they have a Sunshine State office headed up by Kathy Jones, a Realtor and former owner of a real estate agency with experience handling hundreds of rentals.  
• GulfCoastRentals (www.gulfcoastrentals.com). If your property is in Florida or anywhere along the Gulf Coast, you'll want to consider this regional site operated by Dave Williams. It gets consistently high marks from vacation-rental owners in these areas.
• Holiday-Rentals (www.holiday-rentals.co.uk). This is a good choice for properties located in Europe or in vacation destinations that are especially popular with European travelers. Based in the UK, Holiday-Rentals is owned by HomeAway, the same company that owns and operates the leading U.S.-based vacation-rental sites (VRBO, VacationRentals, CyberRentals, GreatRentals, and A1Vacations).
• Holiday Lettings (www.holidaylettings.co.uk). This is another U.K.-based site that's well-established (in business since 1999) and gets rave reviews for generating bookings and providing superb customer service. In June 2010, the site was bought by TripAdvisor, the same company that owns FlipKey. But word is that, for the time being, Holiday Lettings will continue to be managed by its founders, Ross Elder and Andy Firth.  
• Local Visitors Bureaus. The quality varies, but if there's a good visitors bureau for your area that includes an online listing as a member benefit, it's well worth considering. To find out what's available, check TourismBureaus (www.tourismbureaus.com). Or do a Google search for "visitors bureaus" (plural and in quotes), along with the name of your state, province, county, or city—whatever seems most appropriate for the place where your vacation property is located.
• PetFriendlyTravel (www.petfriendlytravel.com). Some 69 million U.S. households have pets, and the vast majority of them wouldn't think of leaving Fido or Fluffy behind when they go on vacation. This is the best of several Web sites that specialize in listings for pet-friendly vacation rentals.
• GreatFamilyRentals (www.greatfamilyrentals.com). This is a relatively new but very impressive, state-of-the-art site with a special focus on vacation properties for families traveling with children. In keeping with their "kid-friendly" mission, they've also created an annotated guide to recommended books and other resources for family travelers and vacation-rental owners who host them.   

Note: We cover the topic of regional and special-interest sites in much more detail in the members-only version of our VR Resources Guide and in an article entitled "Fine-Tuning Your Advertising Program" in our Vacation Rental Secrets & Sources series.

If you're wondering whether you need to create your own Web site to advertise your property and how to go about it, take a look at our Secrets article on "Creating a Web Site for Your Vacation-Rental Property".

Managing Your Vacation Rental Property

So far, we've talked mostly about resources for advertising vacation rentals. But what about all the management chores?

Many homeowners cringe at the thought of "firing" their property managers and taking over responsibility for handling the myriad details associated with vacation rentals-setting rental policies and rates, responding to inquiries, arranging for cleaning and routine maintenance, confirming reservations, preparing rental agreements, getting keys to their guests, collecting and paying sales tax, and refunding damage deposits.

On the other hand, they're also not crazy about forking over 20 to 40 percent or more of their rental revenue for property-management services. The good news is that it really is possible to handle these things yourself if you follow our advice: 

• Tip #1. Don't reinvent the wheel. You can save yourself a lot of time, effort, and aggravation—not to mention embarrassing "newbie" mistakes—if you buy the books described in the "Getting Started as a Vacation Rental Owner" section of our VR Resources Guide. Naturally, we hope you'll buy our book/CD package How to Make Your Vacation Property Work for You!, which you can do right here at our Web site. (Click here for details.) But for just a few dollars more, you can also get the latest edition of Christine Karpinski's How to Rent Vacation Properties By Owner from Amazon.com. And you can download Renting Your Second Home: A Step-by-Step Guide for free from HomeAway by clicking here. 
  
• Tip #2. Offer an online availability calendar. Prospective renters like to see immediately whether the dates they want are available. You'll increase bookings and minimize the time you spend sending out "Sorry we're already booked that week" messages by using an availability calendar like the one offered free through HomeAway Connect (formerly Rentors.org).
  
  The neat thing about the HomeAway Connect calendar is that you can use it on all the sponsor sites (VRBO, HomeAway, A1Vacations, CyberRentals, and GreatRentals) and a number of other sites as well. That means that whenever you take a reservation for your property, you can update one calendar and the changes will appear in your listings at all those sites—a real timesaver!
  
• Tip #3. Get approved to accept credit cards. Your renters will appreciate the convenience associated with paying by credit card. But you'll also find that accepting credit cards makes your life much easier. Instead of waiting for rental deposit checks to arrive by mail (and then waiting even longer to make sure they clear the bank), you can process payments immediately and see the funds in your checking account within just a few days.
  
  HomeAway Connect offers a Credit Card Merchant Account Program specifically designed for vacation-rental owners. Another good choice, with very competitive rates and top-notch customer service reps who know the vacation-rental business, is eCom Merchant Solutions (www.ecommerchantsolutions.com, 888-277-3332).  
  
  For a detailed cost comparison of these and other credit-card merchant account options for VR owners, visit MyVRZone.  
  
• Tip #4. Establish relationships with a good CPA and real estate lawyer. They can help to ensure that you're in compliance with tax laws and the various rules and regulations governing vacation rentals, which vary from one state to the next. You'll almost certainly be required to collect and pay sales tax to one or more jurisdictions (city, county, and/or state). Ask your lawyer, or visit HotSpot Tax Services (www.HotSpotTax.com) and read about their tax-filing service. It gets high marks from vacation-rental owners.
  
• Tip #5. Consider using a PC-based or online booking and rental management tool. There are several software packages and Web-based services designed to help vacation-rental owners manage the booking process, and a number of others are in the works. Of the ones available now, these get excellent reviews from property owners.
  
  Vacation Rental Management Software:
  Vacation Rent Pro (www.vacationrentpro.com)
  
  Web-Based Rental Management Services:
  VRConnection Rental Management (www.vrconnection.com)
  iVacationOnline Reservation System (www.ivacationonline.com)
  RentalReply (www.rentalreply.com) 

Networking with Other Vacation Rental Owners

One of the best ways to meet and toss ideas around with other property owners is to join the discussions on a free online forum or blog devoted to vacation rentals. You typically have to register first and get a username and password. Once you do that, you can sign on and browse for messages or post comments and questions of your own. Typical topics include where to advertise, what amenities to offer, and when to raise your rates.

Of the Net's many forums and blogs for vacation-rental owners, here are several of the best and most active and informative: 

• Yahoo Vacation Rentals Group. With more than 3,800 members, this is the Net's largest and most active group for vacation-rental owners. You can read and post messages at the site, or sign up to receive the posts via email. To join the Yahoo Vacation Rentals Group, go to groups.yahoo.com/group/vacation_rentals.
  
• Lay My Hat Forum. This group has fewer members than the one hosted by Yahoo. But the quality of the information and the expertise of the moderator, Provence-based Paolo De Paolis, are top-notch. It's an especially good choice for VR owners with properties in the UK and Europe, but the US and other parts of the world are well represented, too. To join, go to www.laymyhat.com.
  
• Vacation Rental Blogs. According to Technorati, some 133 million blogs were created from early 2002 through the end of 2008, a stunning 72,000 new blogs per day. Of the hundreds (if not thousands) of blogs devoted to vacation rentals, here's our short list of the ones we find most interesting and informative:
  
  Blizzard Internet Marketing Blog (newsletter.blizzardinternet.com)
  Cottage Blogger (www.cottageblogger.com)
  FlipKey Blog (blog.flipkey.com) 

Note: When you post messages to vacation-rental forums and blogs, it's always a good idea to include your name, the location of your property, and, if possible, a link to one or more of your online listings. Doing so will increase the likelihood that people with similar properties will respond to your message. 

Copyright © Alfred and Emily Glossbrenner, FullyBookedRentals.com. All rights reserved.