Thursday, May 30, 2013

Vacation Rental Owners Blog

Vacation Rental Owners Blog

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Orlando and Kissimmee Rules & Regulations for Vacation Rentals

Posted: 30 May 2013 09:00 AM PDT

orlando vacation rentalFlorida is one of a handful of places in the U.S. where vacation homes are a standard vacation stay option. As such, the rules and regulations in Orlando and Kissimmee are fairly set, though not always straightforward. If you intend to comply with them, the first hurdle is the biggest: the Orlando and Kissimmee zoning laws. Take note that Orlando is part of Orange county, while neighboring Kissimmee, is actually part of Osceola county. Only certain areas allow short-term rentals (less than 180 days), and even within those areas you may need to get approval.

If you're in the right zone, here's a quick rundown of the licenses, taxes and fees required to rent your vacation home in Orlando and Kissimmee.

Licenses for Orlando and Kissimmee

Additional Licenses for Orlando

Additional Licenses for Kissimmee

Taxes for Orlando and Kissimmee

With over 7,000 vacation rentals on HomeAway along in Orlando and Kissimmee, the state and counties want to make sure they collect every penny of the taxes owed by owners.

Collected by the State

There is a 6% sales tax required by the state of Florida, with a 0.5% discretionary sales surtax for Orange County and 1% discretionary sales surtax for Osceola County.

Collected by each County

Both counties also collect a 6% tourist development tax.

Fees for Orlando and Kissimmee

In addition to taxes, there are fees associated with doing business in Orlando and Kissimmee. The first is the DBPR license fee which runs $150 per year for a single vacation rental, plus a $10 Hospitality Education Program (HEP) annual fee, and a $50 one time application fee. There is a $10 per unit annual fee for each additional vacation rental unit you license. For example, if you operate a duplex, you’ll owe $170 per year in license and HEP fees, plus a one time $50 application fee.

You’ll also be responsible for a business tax receipt which is proof of payment of the business tax. In Orlando and Kissimmee the business tax receipts vary in cost, but expire yearly. There’s also an Orange county business tax receipt which varies in cost and expires yearly, along with an Osceola county business tax receipt at $30 per year.

The information above is intended for informational purposes only; it is not legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. If you need legal advice, you should consult a licensed attorney in your area.
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Monday, May 27, 2013

Vacation Rental Owners Blog

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Leaving Personal Items at Your Vacation Rental

Posted: 27 May 2013 09:00 AM PDT

Often new vacation rental owners ask me how I balance using my own home as a second property and renting it out as a vacation rental during the times I’m not there. While I want my home to be comfortable and suit my own personal tastes, I have to balance that with the tastes of my guests, as well as the safety of my personal items.

Your guests should feel like it’s their home for the duration of their stay. For most travelers who’ve chosen a vacation rental, this means homey, yet sparse, so they can settle in. Here’s a few tips for de-personalizing your space for others’ use, but still keeping your vacation home friendly for your own needs.

decluttered bedroom

Create a cohesive theme

Give your home a cohesive theme (i.e. ski lodge, tropical), but don’t stylize it completely to your personal taste. A few key pieces you love are welcome, but might need to be put away when you have guests.

Empty drawers

Make sure you empty dresser and cabinet drawers of unnecessary items prior to guests arrival. May travelers like to unpack their personal items into the drawers to help them settle in.

Create an owner’s closet

Dedicate a closet (or even a room) that can be securely locked, and use it as the central place for all your personal items when you’re not there.

Use baskets

Use baskets for collections of items (like your toiletries) so they can be quickly returned to your owner’s closet without a lot of clean-up.  I bought a simple plastic shower caddy for all my shower items, and I leave it on the floor of the shower rather than unloading it onto the shower shelves.  This way, it takes me just a few seconds to return all the items to my owner’s closet.

Get a lockable safe

Purchase a lockable safe for your personal belongings and store it in your owner’s closet or an extra linen closet. This will keep any valuables safe and secure until you arrive again.  Then again, if anything is valuable enough to lock in a safe, you should first consider not leaving it at the property at all.

Put away personal photos

You’ve probably heard this tip before if you’ve ever put your home up for sale. Potential buyers, just like renters, like to picture themselves in the home. Seeing photos of you and your family and friends makes it feel like they’re living in someone else’s home rather than enjoying the creature comforts of a home on their own vacation.

Choose reading materials carefully

If you’ve got a library, stock it with books for a wide audience. Make sure coffee table books and magazines are also appropriate for your home. It’s usually a safe choice to go with architectural or environmental photographs of the local area.

Stock dishes that can be easily replaced

You may love having a special set for hosting dinner parties, but keep dishes and silverware for vacation rental guests that can be easily replaced if broken or misplaced.

Label anything that should not be disturbed

Any items that need to be left out, but should not be disturbed or used should be labeled appropriately for the guest. For example, if you have a wine fridge with a special bottle you want to preserve, label it accordingly. Expect anything left out for the guest will be free game for them to use.

photo credit: Mazzali
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Friday, May 24, 2013

Vacation Rental Owners Blog

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Presentation: “10 Minute Marketing” from 2013 HomeAway Summit

Posted: 24 May 2013 07:30 AM PDT

impact vs effort gridWe get it, you’re busy. We’re owners, too, and know there’s only so much you can do in a day. If you could carve out just 10 extra minutes a week to market your vacation rental, what could you do that would make a difference?

There’s a sliding scale when it comes to what works — and what doesn’t — in vacation rental marketing. Some things take little time or effort, but the impact is significant; other things have a high cost, but barely make a dent.

At the 2013 HomeAway Summit, Markus Nordvik and I shared 15 medium-to-high impact and generally low cost/effort marketing ideas to help you maximize your ‘bang for the buck’. Different ideas work for different properties, and these ideas give you something you can test without a significant investment.

 

 

Have you tried one of these ideas with your vacation rental? Tell us how it worked out in the comments below!
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Monday, May 20, 2013

Vacation Rental Owners Blog

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Cut the Cable Cord at Your Vacation Rental

Posted: 20 May 2013 02:00 AM PDT

apple tvLet's face it – cable television is expensive! Satellite tv is no exception. Even basic cable can run $60+ per month with sports and movie packages well over $150. With the proliferation of internet tv, there's plenty of options for you to meet guest expectations and maybe even delight them in the process.

If you are considering cutting the cord in favor of streaming internet tv, you'll want to first consider the speed of your internet connection. If you can only get low speed dial-up or DSL at your vacation rental property, don't even consider switching. Your guests will be unhappy with the quality and this could reflect poorly on their overall experience.

One expert recommends a connection of at least 2 Mb/s (megabits per second) – reasonable for many rural locations and easy for city dwellings. The higher the connection speed, the faster videos load and buffer, meaning the guest doesn't have to wait to watch their favorite show or movie.

Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, and iTunes are the most popular services to stream video content. While YouTube also hosts a lot of content, it's typically shorter in length and not categorized well enough for a guest to sit back on the couch and click to find a program.

Without connecting a computer directly to your television, you'll need a device to help make the viewing experience more pleasurable. Popular devices include the Apple TV, Roku, and XBox 360.

Apple TV

For $99 you can get a little device that connects to your television and provides access to some of the major streaming services like Apple's own iTunes, Netflix and Hulu Plus. Television shows and movies can be purchased or rented for 24 hours through the iTunes store. They have an extensive catalog of programs to choose from, but to build a big collection it can get quite costly (from $1.99 per television episode and from $9.99-$16.99 per movie). Netflix and Hulu Plus on the other hand are monthly subscriptions which allow you to access unlimited shows and movies for a small fee (around $8-10 each per month). For $99 plus $20 per month, you can offer your guests a great selection of content and they'll never miss having cable.

roku

Roku

From $49 – $99 you can purchase one of the Roku devices. Similar to the Apple TV, these devices also connect to streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Prime. Prime costs $79 per year, but also includes other perks like free 2-day shipping and other membership discounts. While I like to keep my devices all in the Apple family for ease of use, I've heard many great things about the Roku and think it's a great option for owners.

XBox 360

xbox 360

If you already have an XBox 360 gaming system for your property, guests can stream Netflix and Hulu Plus videos straight from the console, provided you have an XBox LIVE Gold Membership, which runs $14.99 per month. You'll still need to pay the additional subscription fee for Netflix and Hulu, but if you already own a 360 console this might be a good option for you. One downside to the 360 is that the remote is a little harder to handle – not as easy to just sit back and click like you would with the Apple TV or Roku remotes. Keep this in mind if you have older guests not accustomed to using gaming controllers.

I cut my cable cord at home over 2 years ago and haven't looked back since. I've never had an issue finding my favorite television program or movie online and it's so much easier to navigate. I love getting to watch shows when I want to watch them – and not just when they're airing on cable. The one downside is that it's harder to access live news stations, but I'm not sure how many guests want to watch the local news when they're on vacation.

If your vacation rental has high speed internet and you're ready to cut the cord, give one of these options a try. If done right, your guests will be delighted and you'll save cash in the process.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013

Vacation Rental Owners Blog

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Catch Craigslist Scammers With This Digital Net

Posted: 16 May 2013 09:00 AM PDT

"Duane Casting the Net", by wormwould on FlickrWe recently blogged about a common Craigslist scam: Someone creates an ad listing your vacation rental, then confirms reservations – and collects deposits – from people who think they're making a legitimate reservation.  All this can happen without your even knowing.

When the scammer disappears, your would-be guests are left ripped off and disappointed, and you're left with what is, at best, an awkward situation.

I want to show you how to create a "digital net" that can help reduce the likelihood of your getting stuck in this awful situation.

Craigslist: Offsetting the Risk

I advertise my vacation rental on Craigslist a lot because it works really well in my area (Sonoma). I'm always on guard when I’m on Craigslist (whether I’m a buyer or a seller), but the benefits outweigh the risks for me, so I haven’t felt the need to avoid it.   I think I’m also prettygood at spotting the potential scams.

Regardless of how I feel about Craigslist, someone using my property info is a different beast because it can happen whether or not I use Craigslist and it can happen without my even knowing. So, while I can’t stop someone from doing this, I had some ideas on ways that I could alert myself when this was happening, and I wanted to test them out.

As someone who's tech savvy, I decided to create a "digital net" to help protect myself – and unsuspecting travellers – from getting wrapped up in this con. As a starting point, I found a great reference about Craigslist alerts on Quora.

I then signed up to test a range of different alert tools:

* CL Alerts received a cease and desist letter from Craigslist while I was running my test, and they have since shut down.

Testing, Testing

“Charming 1662 sqft home for rent along beautiful tree-lined road in the coveted Sonoma East Side. Home is 2-3 blocks from the Sonoma Square and very walkable to shops, restaurants, bars, wine tastings, the town cinema, and more…”

Over the course of six weeks, I posted my listing five different times to see which tools would “catch” my posts. I focused the search on keywords that would be pretty unique to my property.  I decided to search for the phrase “charming 1662 sqft cottage.”  Each time I posted a new Craigslist ad, I sat back and waited for alerts to come in from these 7 different services.

The results?

  • Subscribing to the relevant Craigslist RSS feed worked 100% of the time
  • List-alert worked 100% of the time
  • My IFTTT alert worked 60% of the time
  • The rest failed.

CL Alerts has shut down, but I contacted both Craigslist Buddy and Alertopedia to understand why my alerts didn’t trigger (and to confirm that they were still in business), but neither responded.

While I couldn’t get IFTTT to work 100% of the time, they seemed the most promising to me.  IFTTT had the most responsive customer service, they are venture funded, and they probably have the best prospect of long-term sustainability. They were also the only tool that offered text alerts, which I found helpful; it's easy to lose track of email, and this isn't an alert I would want to miss! IFTTT also helped me troubleshoot when the alert wasn’t working properly.

Limitations With My Craigslist Alerts Test

Despite the usefulness of these alerts, there are a few negatives that I should note.

  • These services may not be around for long. Craigslist has a habit of shutting down outside service that are build on top of Craigslist.  Since Craigslist has shut down at least one of the services I tested, I'm not sure about the lifespan of any of them. Even my faith in IFTTT could be misplaced; the service connects numerous web tools, so while the tool itself seems sustainable they could eliminate Craigslist notifications if needed.
  • This is a Craigslist-only solution. This specific test only monitors Craigslist; it won't catch posts to other sites. However, other sites – like listing sites – can open the scammer up to other fraud checks if, for example, they require payment; these checks aren't infallible, but they create more hoops to jump through. I'm still looking for the best way to catch fraudulent posts outside of Craigslist; in the interim, I've set up a Google Alert to try to cover myself elsewhere (I’ll report out on that test at a later date).
  • The scammer has to be pretty lazy. The nature of these alerts depends on the scammer copy-pasting your home info verbatim (or at least including the specific phrase that you’re monitoring); if they change the text, the triggers won't work. However, from my experience, scammers often are lazy.  They copy-paste existing info and they’re not going to spend time re-writing it.

My Recommendations

I recommend that everyone set up both List-alert and IFTTT to monitor Craigslist, and create a Google Alert to potentially catch anything on other sites. While there are limitations, the tools are free and took just minutes to set up. That coverage is better than nothing!

Be sure to subscribe to our blog!  In a future post, I’ll review results from other tests I’m conducting outside of Craigslist using Google Alerts and searches for my home photo files.

photo credit: wormwould on Flickr
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Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Vacation Rental Owners Blog

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When Craigslist Scammers Take Over Your Rental Property

Posted: 14 May 2013 06:00 AM PDT

"For Rent", photo by HowNowDesign on FlickrOnline advertising leaves vacation rental owners open to a variety of scams, from phishing (where someone tries to steal your online identity) to scam artists sending fraudulent inquiries.

But have you heard about schemes where scammers use copy-and-paste and a Craigslist ad to pretend to be you – or at least, someone who owns your home?

How it works

To be fair, these scams aren't new, aren't limited to the Internet, and aren't exclusive to Craigslist. However, websites like Craigslist make these traps easy to set up and more accessible to potential vacation renters.

The warning signs are the same for these scams as any others that seem too good to be true:

Craigslist itself offers a good reference page you should review for additional examples and warning signs.

What can you do as a homeowner?

Not much, unfortunately: Many owners find out by accident that someone else is marketing their property, when someone calls them or their property manager inquiring about their reservation – or looking for the keys.

However, with the help of online tools, you can take a more proactive approach to safeguarding your property. In an upcoming post later this week, we'll tell you what we've been doing to try to stay one step ahead!

photo credit: HowNowDesign on Flickr
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Monday, May 13, 2013

Vacation Rental Owners Blog

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Getting your vacation rental website to rank higher on Google

Posted: 13 May 2013 02:00 AM PDT


How do I get my vacation rental website to rank on Google? I get asked this question a lot so let me help break it down for you.

This is a visual map of the Internet. See that huge dot in the middle? That's Google. And, this one is Wikipedia. And, this one is Craigslist. They have hundreds of thousands of links pointing to them from all over the web so it's easy for the search engine crawlers to find them.

map of internet

Now, see that little tiny dot waayyyy out there? I know it's kind of hard to see, but that's your new vacation rental website. You don't have any links yet and so it's hard for the crawlers to find you.

your vacation rental website

You can fix that. But, it's kind of like an election. You can only vote for yourself once. You need lots of other people to vote for you to win.

Nonetheless, it's important to make your one vote count so here's a few ways to generate links to your website. Granted, they won't count as much as when others vote for you with their links, but they'll help you get started (and might even bring you some new inquiries!).

  1. Submit your sitemap to Google, Yahoo and Bing using their webmaster tools – tell them your new website exists.
  2. While you're at it, get listed on free local directories like Google Places, Yahoo Local, Bing, Yelp and Mapquest. Make sure to utilize the tags or categories, like location or property-specific features to help you get found.
  3. Add a link to your paid listings on HomeAway, VRBO, FlipKey and every other vacation rental listing you have for your property. Unfortunately, not all sites will allow you to show a real link (that's clickable), but you should post it nonetheless so it's easier for travelers to find your website.
  4. Place a link on your social media profiles like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and YouTube.

Now, the hard part is getting others to link to you. This process takes time, so don't expect overnight success. Every new link to your website is like another vote of confidence to the search engines that your website is worthy of showing up in the results.

Here's one way to earn new links for your website.

Submit an article as a guest blogger on a local travel blog. If your property is in Lake Tahoe, search for a great ski blog where you can share best winter activities for kids. Or, if you're in Maui, your favorite restaurants for a romantic dinner out. Usually, the author will let you include a link to your website in the by-line.

What other ways have you earned links to your website?
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Friday, May 10, 2013

Vacation Rental Owners Blog

Vacation Rental Owners Blog

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Breckenridge’s Rules & Regulations for Vacation Rentals

Posted: 10 May 2013 02:00 AM PDT

breckenridge downtownIn many Colorado resort towns, the majority of homes in a neighborhood are second homes. Over the past 10+ years, as vacation rentals grew in popularity, so did the debate about taxes and community ambience. Should homes rented out as vacation rentals pay taxes? How do we protect the small community feel, while still encouraging the vacation rental business owners to thrive? Laws were enacted and city regulations documented. Many towns now actively enforce compliance, including Breckenridge, whose legislation is designed to keep it the quaint ski village it’s been known for.

To operate a vacation rental in Breckenridge, you must obtain the proper licenses, follow certain rules, pay annual and biennial fees and collect 11.675% in taxes from your guests. Here's how it breaks down:

Town of Breckenridge Licensing & Taxes

Accommodation Unit License

Short-term rentals in Breckenridge are defined as rentals less than 30 consecutive days at a time. To comply with local laws, you must get an Accommodation Unit License and pay a yearly fee. The fee ranges from $75 to $175 depending on the number of bedrooms in your home. If you purchase a property that was previously used as a vacation rental, the accommodation license and fee are transferrable, and good until fees are due again the following year.

Breckenridge Sales Tax

You must collect a 2.5% sales tax per transaction that is remitted directly to the town of Breckenridge.

Breckenridge Accommodation Tax

Along with the sales tax, you must collect a 3.4% accommodation tax per transaction. As long as you're collecting more than $40/month in taxes, you need to file monthly to avoid penalties.

State of Colorado Licensing & Taxes

Sales Tax License

This license is primarily to set up an account for remitting sales taxes to the state and comes in at a meager $8 per year. There's also a $50 deposit that is refunded to you once you've paid at least $50 in sales tax. The license must be renewed every two years.

Colorado Sales Tax

The sales tax is 2.9% per transaction.

Summit County Taxes

The state also collects the following taxes for Summit County (where Breckenridge resides): a 2.75% sales tax (which includes the 0.75% MTS tax, or Mass Transit District tax) and a 0.125% MHA tax (Multi-Jurisdictional Housing Authority tax).

Special Requirements for Single-Family Homes

There is a special set of rules for renters of single-family homes that essentially amounts to: Don't trash your neighborhood.

There are also special provisions for "chalet homes," defined as a single family or duplex home that is used as part of a tour package. You must apply for a Class D permit along with remitting a $50 fee.

If you’re thinking of operating a vacation rental in Breckenridge, I hope this information helps you navigate the landscape a little more clearly. Always be sure to verify the rules and regulations for your city or consult a lawyer before making any decisions about your short-term rental.

The information above is intended for informational purposes only; it is not legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. If you need legal advice, you should consult a licensed attorney in your area.

photo credit: Carrie Ansell
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