Hi ajflorida,

Welcome to the community forums.  We are all here to learn and share info about VR management.

Renting to friends and friends of friends?   Sounds like you have the social networking part of it working!

Years ago, if you didn't live close to your VR you had to use full a service property manager.  I have had several and some were great but most were not.  Believe me, they are not going to lose money on the "fixed fee" repair policy.   

Now with the internet and a cell phone you can handle the inquiries and bookings yourself.  You can handle your own availability calendar. You still need a reliable cleaning company and a property manager / inspector to check the house on a weekly basis and handle guest calls when something goes wrong.  You also need the phone numbers of contractors.  A plumber, electrician, HVAC, painter, carpenter, etc.  The keys can be handled high tech, coded keyless entry or low tech, real estate lock box.  That door or window open HVAC interconnect would be available through an HVAC contractor.  All a full service property manager does is call a contractor and charge you 20 to 50% more.

There is tons of information about all these topics and others here on the forums.  Also, I do recommend Karpinsky's book "How To Rent Vacation Properties By Owner"  for some very specific advice and techniques that may be helpful to get you on track.

Good luck,

Paul

Aloha,

I also have a hybrid situation with my management company.  We live in Los Angeles and our rental is in Hawaii.  We met with this management company even before we bought our place.  They handled quite a few units in the complex we were interested in buying and they told us about the average rates, their fees, and that they recommended we buy a poolside unit, because those were easier to rent out than golf course units.  (Renters like to be near water.)  They also recommended a 3bedroom vs a 2 bedroom unit.  (We could get $260-$290 a night vs $150 a night for a two-bedroom) 

We were so glad we talked to them first!  We initially wanted a golf course view unit, but changed to a poolside unit and we can actually charge slightly higher rates than golf course units.  The poolside unit was $50,000-$70,000 cheaper too.

Our management company gave us two possibilities for fees.  If I handled the vrbo account and answered the inquiries, they would charge us 20% to take care of the contract, payment, and keys.  They are also a concierge service for the guests.  They would take care of the cleaning staff, call service technicians when needed, and do quality checks.  For additional fees, they would refill propane tanks for our grill and do any shopping for any type of necessities needed for the condo.

If they were able to rent out our place through their advertising websites, they would charge 35%.  Currently, I rent our place about 70% of the time, so we are quite comfortable in this arrangement.  Our management company gets great reviews from our clients and they have been very honest and open with us.  It is a small company (about 10 employees)  and we have the owner's telephone number, who we can call anytime. I recommend that you talk to other people in your area who rent out their place and see if they are satisfied with their management company.

Personally, I enjoy answering inquiries and talking about our place.  We have done relatively well, so when a poolside foreclosure in the same complex became available, we bought it and now have 2 vacation rentals. If you have a very busy job like my husband (14 hours a day), it maybe too much work, but I work full-time (8 hours) and answer my inquires and  really love doing it. I can deal with the fun inquires, while the management company can deal with the headaches.

We tried the property manager route for the 1st year and had nothing but headaches. We have found a housekeeper and maintenance man we trust. We do all bookings and managing our home from 600 miles away. We use the internet and stay in contact with our housekeeper to make sure all is runnuing smoothly. If guest have a problem they contact us and we arrange for the problem to be resolved. There are challenges when you are at  a distance but we have not only made alot more money with this system but have also had great guest feedback.

In our experience a BIG mistake to go with a Property Manager!  We started out using the services of a Property Manager, as we live about 1,600 miles from our property.   The experience couldn't have been much worse - they were slow to respond to guest inquiries, they did not reply to all the inquiries, their bookingkeeping did not resemble the agreement that we had with them, they asked the guests for fees that were not part of the contract etc, etc.  We decided to manage the property ourselves and it has worked out very well - we are almost always booked, we get great reviews and using the services of both VRBO and HomeAway it quite straightforward.  Instead of using a PM, hire a good janitorial company who are willing to cover both the housekeeping (cleaning) needs and meet the guests on arrival.  Having been a successful owner of a janitorial company myself I know that most companies would be happy to include this additional service.  Check around, do some interviews and select a company you think you can work with.  Save yourself some money, lots of aggrevation and my advice would be to go this route.

Hope it works for you!!

I also live in Ohio and our property is in South Carolina. I manage all bookings myself with our on line sites keeping track of it all on a spreadsheet and our VRBO calendar. I also use Google Calendar to set reminders for invoicing, check outs, welcome letters, taxes. I have a "guest manager" who is not a licensed property manager. She does our trouble shooting and inspects the house after each guest leaves for damage and quality of cleaning. We pay her a flat monthly fee. We have a wonderful cleaning service and the owner of that company also helps us with troubleshooting. We have a contract with a local maintenance company to take care of small repairs as they come up. My husband manages the coordination of the physical aspects of caring for the building and I do the people and finances. We visit the house ourselves quarterly and that has helped keep things looking good. When we visit the house, we always have a meeting with the cleaning team manager and the guest manager to talk about what's working and what's not working. So far, with the internet and smart phones, it is working out well for us. You just have to have a good team of people.

For years we had a property manager in Kauai.  Since we live in California, it made sense.  Until the down-turn in the economy.  We had fewer and fewer bookings.  People in our complex kept talking about VRBO & HomeAway.  We finally made the jump in August last year.  We have been booking our condo like crazy.  The challenge is to find a good contact person (it's our cleaning company) and we have a handy man who housekeeping calls in as the need arises.  We will never go back. 

Your question is a good one, but there is not a simple answer. Some people just like to be in control, your vacation home is an extention of you, you will always try and take care of your investment better than a 3rd party. In addition, you can be marginally successful by just marketing to social network and portals can be of some success-but in markets that are saturated, you have to find the distinquishing characteristics to stand out. For most in portals-the go the simple route-price.  What a professional company brings to the table-if they are any good, is just that professionalism, they should understand the market and what it can bare, they should have a plan to drive revenue on the shoulder and off season, they should do more than just book your property, they should provide services(when people go on vacation they go to an area to participate in the area, the lodging is secondary), they should provide the guest with a face and a touch(when people go on vacation most often it is who they meet that provides the memories).  For you they provide you with a level of security and comfort- any cleaner or handyman that comes in is insured, they are local and on call 365 days a year, they have connections with law enforcement if their is an issue, they have legal contracts and protect you against scam artists, they pay your taxes and provide the correct documentations.  My question to you is really do you want to be a vacation rental company(which is what you are if you do it yourself) or do you want to have a partner.  There is a general trend to try it on your own recently-it is a lot easier than it used to be, but if you have a bad experience, they can be epic and they can come from many directions.  My recommendation if you are just thinking about renting for the first time, go with an agency, but go with an agency that empowers you to be part of the process, you focus on your social marketing and let them focus on the other. Set an expectation with them that is reasonable and if they accomplish it, keep going, if they dont, then look else where-either to another agency or take the knowledge you have gained and try it yourself.