Dealing with an empty rental can be a costly ordeal if not handled soon enough. Not to mention dealing with short-term rental platforms can also be a pain, which is why we suggest hiring a local property management company to handle your Vacation Rentals.
If you plan on doing it yourself, here are a few tips to help you succeed when it comes to getting your Airbnb property rented quickly. If you’re curious about what makes a great property management company, read this blog.
First and foremost – marketing your rental is crucial. The opportunity cost of vacancies is the single highest expense for rental owners. Therefore, the top priority for every rental owner should be to keep rental vacancies down and to keep rental income coming in. Sometimes it literally pays to hire a company that specializes in Airbnb / VRBO management services vs do it yourself as there are a lot of areas to lose money on when renting to the STR (Short Term Rental) market.
Before you list your home, condo, or apartment online to rent, we always suggest reviewing the nightly rental requirements to rent legally in the Mammoth Lakes area.
What Type of Marketing Can I do for my Short Term Rental?
It all depends on how much time, technical experience, and amount of money you want to spend. We always suggest starting with the free STR Apps, like these below. All of which are free for the most part (compared to alternative digital marketing efforts we’ll mention in a minute)
- Airbnb
- VRBO
- Houfy
- Plum Guide
But a lot of rental owners often ask what other marketing methods are suggested for short-term rentals (beyond the obvious like Airbnb / VRBO) which might help increase their annual income from their Airbnb rentals.
Which can get complex, but we’ll summarize as easily as possible without breaking into any technical marketing. One of the more common methods nowadays is for rental owners to create a website to book through directly. Typically the URL of the website is offered through referrals, friends and family, or those who have previously booked through one of the platforms mentioned earlier. One might ask “Where do I find someone to build my direct-booking website for my rental” and we’d suggest finding a STR Marketing Service who can build websites while understanding all the various Airbnb / VRBO marketing techniques.
If you want to build the website yourself, you can try building a website on any of these platforms (easier to difficult)
- Squarespace
- Wix
- WordPress
Lastly, there are a lot more other STR Marketing methods we’ll outline below. These can range from simple – to complex. We suggest speaking with a professional service before taking on SEO or Google / Facebook Ads.
- Search Engine Optimization
- Google Ads
- Facebook Ads
- Facebook Groups
How Long Does it Take To Get A Property Rented? (On Average)
The average home sits on the market for around 52 days before getting rented. It can even get as high as 90 days if the home isn’t in the proper ‘ready to rent’ condition. Likewise, if the rental property is priced too high, it might sit on the market longer.
Real Property Management is the market leader in residential leasing and most of the homes we have to get rented within 30 days of being on the market.
The Price Is Right
When it comes to pricing your rental, you don’t want to base it on your mortgage. While you might want to hold out for an extra $200 to cover your mortgage, if the market sits below it, you will only be prolonging the vacancy period. Rental prices do not usually change within 90 days. Therefore, if we assume the actual market value for your home sits at $1,000 per month but you need $1,200 per month to cover your mortgage and after wasting 2 months of vacancy the property’s rent increases to $1,100 per month for 1 year, you are still losing out. You multiply 12 by the $1,100 you are receiving and you divide it by the total amount of months it was rented or vacant which is 14. This equals $943 per month. Whereas, if you simply set your price equal to the market in the first place, you would have rented the property at $1,000 per month without any vacancy period. Therefore, you would have ended up making $798 more over the same 14-month period of time.
In this scenario, you would have lost nearly $800 by attempting to wait out the market to get an increase in your monthly rental income.
Mammoth Lakes Property Management has the necessary specialized experience in both area rents and market forces. Therefore, you can rely on us to ensure you can properly set your rent the right way to maximize your potential income with the shortest vacancy periods.
Pricing Apps for Those Handling Their Airbnb / VRBO Listing Themselves
- Pricelabs.com
- RateTiger
- RoomPriceGenie
- ResNexus
- Competera
- Beyond
Making Sure Your Listing is Compliant Per Local STR Guidelines
Make Sure Your Condo is Compliant With Mammoth Lakes Transient Occupancy Tax Rules & Regulations
Before you can legally rent your condo or apartment out in Mammoth Lakes, you must make sure it’s compliant and meets local Airbnb Rental regulations. This means you must have the appropriate smoke alarms, C02 sensors, exit signs, and more before you can legally rent your property out on Airbnb or VRBO. Hiring a professional TOT Compliance Inspection service is the first step. They’ll send you a list of what TOT items are required so you can be prepared and have the place ready before they come to sign you off. Once a TOT Compliance Service in Mammoth signs you off, they’ll send you a signed form you can forward to Mammoth Lakes Short Term Rental Center.
The Right Conditions
To get your home rented, it must stand out and be in the right condition to compete within the marketplace. If you are unable to make the necessary improvements due to budget concerns, you must undervalue your home to offset market conditions. Availability has skyrocketed due to the number of homes being foreclosed on and it is giving tenants a lot more choices than ever before. What you are looking to save in both maintenance and upkeep can end up costing you much more in the long run.
Not sure where to begin? Take a minute to review our 21 tips for renting your Mammoth Lakes rental property.
