1st Quarter 2009 Feedback
Well, we are almost at the end of the first quarter of the year so now is a good time to take a look at how our customers are currently reserving their holiday property rental.
By all intents and purposes the state of the world economies tells us that we can assume a late booking trend to evolve this year. Although a shift to booking later and later has actually been increasing year on year for the last 3, now is probably the right time to see if economy forces have endorsed this expectation.
So, question to all you lovely property owners out there is - what's happening in your market?
1) Have you noticed a later booking trend?
2) Have rents reduced compared to last year?
3) Are more customers choosing to book using a credit card?
Our Latest Poll needs your help, please vote so we can all get a clearer view of the rental market. I'll be able to analyse and share the results once we have a decent number of votes. Poll displayed in the right hand column->>>
Q's?
Look forward to hearing from you all,
Karl
BargainVillas
karlh@bargainvillas.co.uk
http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk REMEMBER: Home owners sign up for FREE at http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk/. Pay NO Advertising fee's or commissions....Ever!
10 Questions You MUST Ask Before Hiring Any Orlando Property Management Company By Erica Muller - Part 1
.Ever wondered what you should be asking before hiring a management company? Well I recently ran into a blog by Erica Muller (A real estate guru since the age of 18 with insider knowledge of property management - yes people, she really knows her stuff!)
Her blog contains some extremely useful Q & A's that would not only help you establish if a management company was right for you but could also help you save and increase value for money.
Erica writes; Before You hire just any management company to take care of one of your mostsizable assets there are some serious factors you should consider. Make sure you get the facts and interview at least three companies before hiring one. These are some questions you should always ask to help you navigate through the potential pitfalls that could arise form hiring the wrong company.
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Questions:
1.How long have you been in business?
2.How many properties do you manage?
3. Can you provide at least three references?
4. Can you provide at least three booking reports for a home comparable to mine?
5. What are your fees and are you willing to match other quotes?
For a full explanation on these essential questions please visit Erica's blog by clicking here!
Part two of this blog will contain the next 5 Q & A's - will update you when its released around the 5th.
Does anyone else have any questions that they feel are essential to put to any management company before signing a contract?
Look forward to hearing from you all,
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Karl
BargainVillas
karlh@bargainvillas.co.uk
PS. Many thanks to Erica Muller of http://www.thepinkflamingo.info
This year my blogs have had the same reoccurring theme - win more rents! Thinking of ways to keep your properties occupied should always be a priority. Yesterday I listened to an interesting pod cast from HomeAway which highlighted some positive points on processing credit cards.
Having the ability to process credit cards is a simple way of making your holiday home more accessible to more customers.
Unfortunately disposable incomes are not very common these days so offering a credit card facility helps your customers spread the cost of renting. Not only that but it also offers the renter payment protection.
OK, so there is a draw back and that is that to process a credit card you are going to incur a charge of around 3-5%* of the transaction cost. You can do one of two things here, swallow the cost and be happy that you have made a rental or you can pass the charge on to your customer - either way you are making your property available for rental to people that never pay by cheque or bank transfer.
How can you get a credit card facility? Well, an obvious contender is PayPal.com Their service allows you to send invoices, process payments, you can even add the credit card facility to your own website. Here are a couple of links that you might find helpful;
http://www.paypal.com
Paypal Fees
Paypal Features
Of course there are many other payment facilities you can sign up with, Paypal is not the only one. Do a google search, ask other property owners, speak to your bank. There are many options.
Going back to the HomeAway podcast; click here to have a listen.
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- Would anyone else like to share who they use for credit card processing?
- Have you noticed rentals increasing because of being able to process credit cards?
- Have you noticed that you have been attracting a different type of customer?
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Look forward to hearing from you all,
Karl
BargainVillas
karlh@bargainvillas.co.uk
http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk
REMEMBER: Home owners sign up for FREE at http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk/. Pay NO Advertising fee's or commissions....Ever!
Questions for your guys...
Better villa images can lead to more bookings!
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How can you create a good first impression? Easy, make sure you have killer photos of your holiday home displayed on your advertising. Often taken for granted a little attention to detail in this area can actually help you win more business! Think about it in these terms - The novelty of scrolling through properties online wears pretty thin, pretty quickly so it?s your job to try and capture a customer's attention as quickly as possible. (Preferably before they slip into a boredom induced coma)
On most villa rental websites a small image of the properties is displayed within the search results; this is your first impression. The better the image the more people will click through to your advert. If you aren't the best photographer or like me find most electrical item?s something of an enigma then do yourself a favour - hire someone that knows what they are doing. Get a professional to take some quality snaps. Quality, professionally taken images will pay for them selves in the long run. I like to save money and cut the odd corner or two but this is one I strongly recommend you get right. Without doubt making sure you have quality images of your property will help you win more of those rental opportunities.
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I'd be interested to hear from anyone that has improved their rental numbers with better pics or even with the use of a 360 tour as well as any other tips and comments you'd like to pass on regarding this post!
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Look forward to hearing from you,
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Karl
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BargainVillas
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Yesterday I spoke with a company that runs a villa website. They raised some important questions about the nature of our service. I thought I'd write a little about what 'exactly' we do and how we can HELP other villa owners / property managers.
