International Real Estate Investment | Eye on Worldwide

How to Rent your Property

Posted on 16. Jan, 2009 by Jane Sait in Buying Abroad, Investing Abroad, Owning a Property Abroad, Renting Your Property

Often the biggest priority for holiday home owners is to get their property let out – I know that it is for me! If you can get your property rented then it will help towards covering the costs involved with having a holiday home.

The way I see it is that you have 3 options:

1. Guaranteed rental
2. Short term holiday lets
3. Long term lettings

If you can get guaranteed rental for your property then that’s great. The chances are it won’t quite cover all your costs (mortgage, property maintenance, insurance, etc) but it should cover a large chunk of it. You will also have peace of mind knowing that you have a regular rental income. Contact rental agencies local to your property to see if this is a service that they can provide. Alternatively if you have bought or are planning to buy from a developer find out if they have their own management/rental company. If they do then ask them if they will be able to give you a guaranteed rental. They may say no but there’s no harm in asking. Please note that you will have limited or no access to your property if you go for this option.

Short term rentals will usually give you a higher income from your property so renting to holiday makers is ideal. There are some fundamental factors that you need to look into before you take bookings, like making sure you have the right insurance and finding a good management company. Once you are happy that you have everything in place then go for it. There are many sites out there that you can advertise with for a set price. Take my parent’s property for example. They have chosen to place an advert on holiday-rentals:

http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p90818

As you can see from their advert, holiday-rentals allows you to upload images, give a property description and show prices and an availability calendar. The site also gives previous visitors the chance to write a review and rate the property.

There are many other websites which offer similar advertising opportunities. If you are looking to rent out to holiday makers then put a budget aside and advertise on a couple of these sites. They’re becoming increasingly more popular with todays tourists. If you can get some bookings from it then great, it’s covered the cost of advertising with them.

Again contact your local agencies. There are normally no initial set up costs as they charge a commission from the rental income that they achieve for you (typically between 10 to 30%). This means if you sign up with agencies they are motivated to get your property rented out – otherwise they don’t get paid!

Always let your friends, family and colleagues know that they can rent your property. It’s up to you whether you give them a discount. Maybe take off the commission that the agencies would charge you. This will mean you receive an income and they get a discounted holiday – everyone’s a winner!

Long term lets are similar to guaranteed rental in that you will have a regular income and limited or no use of your property. Some overseas property investors purposely buy to rent their property for residential purposes, choosing areas that are near to universities or industry.

In an ideal world it would be great to get your property let for a long period of time in the winter months (maybe to retirees who are escaping the cold weather in the UK) whilst keeping the property free in the summer high season for short term holiday lets.

Whatever you choose to do make sure your property is well equipped and that you can deliver what you have promised. Remember if someone is happy with their stay at your property they are more than likely to rebook as well as recommend your holiday home to their friends.

Happy renting!

Jane Sait

cyprusholidaylet@yahoo.co.uk

Tags: holiday lets, overseas holidays, property rentals, rental guarantee