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The New York Times recently published an article about the summer rentals.
When you decide to earn some money over the summer by renting your house as a “vacation
rental by owner” you are bound to face problems from time to time. The tenants that
take up the place are there for enjoying and they know that they don’t
have to stay for long, thus one could only wish for an ideal tenant in your
vacation home. The summer stories of the tenants are endless. Scott Leggat, the
president of the North Carolina Vacation Rental Managers Association and the
head of the property management division for Outer Beaches Realty on the Outer
Banks recalls a story from last year where the couple had a domestic fight and
they started tearing the pictures from the walls.
However, these cases must not be taken as a proof that the tenants misbehave.
There are always exceptions in every business. The owner of vacation home for
rent can easily avoid such situations if they ask a few questions in advance.
These are
- Number of people in the group
- How many kids and age of children in the group
- Have they ever rented vacation home before
- A phone conversation before renting can be more helpful then emails
- Do they have pets? If your vacation home is a pet friendly
rental, you won't have to ask that. If not - better let them know before
they come.
When renting a home, the owner of vacation rental set some conditions like
the number of people in the group, whether pets are allowed or not,
age limit of the tenants. It is also quite easy to avoid groups who are on
spring breaks or celebrating graduation. They give themselves away,” said
Marlene Romanowski, the office manager for the Van Dyk Group in Beach Haven
Terrace, N.J. “We had one agent who suspected that the house was being rented
for a post-prom party. She asked the girl, ‘Are you excited about the party
after the prom?’ and the girl exclaimed, ‘Yes!’ “
Always take a security deposit when you rent home by owner. In
case of damage to the property the deposit can easily cover it. However, it
might requires writing the renter to explain why, and providing copies of
receipts showing the replacement cost of a broken item or the charge for a
carpet cleaning.
But when following these guide lines it is also important to keep in mind
that these don’t ensure that you will get an ideal tenant or won’t run into
trouble with them. Therefore, it is always helpful to ask one o the friendly
neighbors to keep an eye out for trouble.
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