Best web sites to advertise vacation rental?

[Airwaves]

Beyond Winnipesaukee.com and Craigslist what internet sites have you had the best luck with?

[mcdude]

CYBERRENTALS lists 190 Winnipesaukee area rentals.

[CanisLupusArctos]

You might do well to try Facebook. A lot of 30-somethings are now on there, reconnecting with high school and college classmates, networking, posting pictures of their babies, new homes, new cars, etc... And a lot of parents of teens are getting on there just to see what their kids are up to and finding their own friends are on there too.

You can also advertise on any of the Lake Cam sites that have "Ads by Google." Those of us who run them have to sign up with Google. We decide where the ads will appear, what shape, how big, and Google does the content. I love it when local ads start showing up on my site because my site's visitors (or visitors to any of the lake cams) aren't as likely to click an ad that says "Lake Tahoe Vacations" if they're viewing a Lake Winnipesaukee webcam.

To sign up for advertising on any of the lake cam sites that have Google ads, you would need to sign up with Google and tell them where you want your ads to appear. They'll put your ads on those sites, and any others they think are relevant. If you do pay-per-click advertising instead of pay-per-1000-views, you won't have to worry about your ads costing you lots of money from people who aren't really interested.

[AC2717]

I have mine on Cyberrentals. Gets a lot of hits and I have generated 5 possible 7 rentals this year so far. I have made my money back and then some, helps pay the boat storage and taxes, this is the first year I am doing it

[donnamatrix]

Hi

We don't have a rental to post, but we have rented from VRBO.com (vacation rental by owner) in other states and St Thomas and St Croix and London for more than 10 years. Always been great.

[Gatto Nero]

I've used VRBO to get places in both Utah and Vail and it worked out great. I think its about a $230 annual fee for their service.

[Flylady]

This is my third season using Cyberrentals.com. 90% of my rentals have come from that site. It gets a lot of hits and also links into three other rental links.

[cjay]

We've put our place through Preferred Vacations for eight years now. They send a brochure out every fall and ours has always filled up. Mind you, since we're on Silver Lake Belmont our prices are lower than Winnipesauke.

I like that they take care of anything that goes wrong during the rental season, and they also sent those of us living out of state a warning message about roof pile ups this Winter. They offered to call someone out to shovel off the snow if we felt it might be needed!

This will probably our last year as we might be selling it - your taxes are eating us up!
Chris

[pmj]

For what its worth, as consumers, when we have looked for a private rentals we have always looked at VRBO first, then cyberrentals.

[wMw]

Thank you for starting this thread...I'm too frazzled to have thought of it myself. I suddenly have found myself in the predicament of not being able to afford my house (long story) and not really wanting to sell it (especially since enduring the Winter-of-Many-Snows and finally being in the Spring-of-I-LOVE-IT-HERE!). A better paying job might help or a housemate who would actually pay! ...But giving up my summer at the beach house and renting it out might just be the solution.

To those of you who rent out through Cyberrentals, VRBO, etc. how do you handle cleaning your house/cottage between guests? Any tips for avoiding the "Animal House" type renters?

Well, gotta go! I've got one more room to paint and furniture to move back into rooms and then I've got to find a camera to take pictures of this old house if I'm to become a Landlord-to-the-Lake-Lovers.

[GrandmaBig6]

Last year my step son and his family rented a house off Cyberrentals in August. The house was very nice, much nicer than the one we rented and for less money. He was even considering renting from them again this year, but when it came time for the owner to return his deposit the check bounced. After several calls and emails that were unreturned he finally reached them at the beginning of October. He told her what happend and she apologized and promised to get a checkout for the deposit $200.00 plus the reimbursement for the bounced check right away. The new check came a few weeks later and that one bounced too. He is quite discouraged from renting from this site again. He has decided to give up the asking for the deposit, he says its not worth the aggravation. I on the other hand would have followed her to the end of the earth for my money.

Not sure what can be done renting off a website, but I see the house is back on the website.

We've always rented our houses for the past 15 years thru a real estate and have had no problems. Last year we went searching on our own to save money and dealt directly with the owner - not again.

Good luck with your search.

[AC2717]

Originally Posted by GrandmaBig6

Last year my step son and his family rented a house off Cyberrentals in August. The house was very nice, much nicer than the one we rented and for less money. He was even considering renting from them again this year, but when it came time for the owner to return his deposit the check bounced. After several calls and emails that were unreturned he finally reached them at the beginning of October. He told her what happend and she apologized and promised to get a checkout for the deposit $200.00 plus the reimbursement for the bounced check right away. The new check came a few weeks later and that one bounced too. He is quite discouraged from renting from this site again. He has decided to give up the asking for the deposit, he says its not worth the aggravation. I on the other hand would have followed her to the end of the earth for my money.

Not sure what can be done renting off a website, but I see the house is back on the website.

We've always rented our houses for the past 15 years thru a real estate and have had no problems. Last year we went searching on our own to save money and dealt directly with the owner - not again.

Good luck with your search.

I think this stinks, but as a person that uses cyberrentals, I have set up a separate account with my bank to hold deposits and security deposits, and I keep a record of everythign and I mail everythign with a return receipt to make sure I know things have been received. I think the issue your son had is a rare occurance, and it stinks but I do not think it is a bad site at all, I have used it before and friedns have to with out any issue either renting or having a place to rent. The reason I chose to go this route is that my wife and I rent very cheap for being on Lake Winni because we used to rent up there at higher prices and it is a little out of control and we wanted to build a repeat base of which we do not plan to gouge, and at rented with either Preferred, although an excellent service and nothing bad to say about them or any other real estate places, giving them 20% is a tough nut to crack, and also they wanted to know when I was going to be up there so the can try and trent it the rest of the time. Having the jobs that my wife and I have we cannot set a schedule for them.

I have been given the idea of renting only Sunday through Friday and that way being able to enjoy the weekends up at the lake at teh same time making sure it is clean for the next person for a Sunday check in, which I will wait until they arrive to drop them a key, plus I get to meet them. A security deposit depending on the week can pay off big time, we have done one for bike week and race weeks, also July 4th week. Otherwise I charge a $25 cleaning fee ontop of the rental but I provide the linens and bed sheets and chairs for teh beach. That way I can regulate that clean sheets go on the bed each week and there are always clean towels.

[wMw]

Sorry that your family has had a problem renting through CyberRentals. Your step-son could contact CyberRentals to let them know of the problem with the deposit. They might at least ban that particular homeowner. here is a link to their customer support page: http://support.homeaway.com/

It would be nice if they had way for renters to leave comments regarding places that they have rented. I'll bet that one comment about his problem for the whole internet world to read would cause a quick resolution.

I think I'll go to the CyberRentals customer support page and suggest that they offer a comment option for each listing.

[Flylady]

Cyberrentals is part of the Homeaway internet vacation rental system. IMany property owners listings are on all three of the sites. If you go to HomeAway and find the rental listing it also allows you to rate your rental experiece, thus future renters going to the site will be able to learn from others experience with that property.

I have used that nextwork for three years and only spend a few weeks in the area in the summer. I have found that many families prefer to rent through a local real estate agent. I pay a local company 20% of the rental, they collect the fees, deposits, inspect the property andd deal with all of the inquires. This is the most hassel free way to go if you can't do it yourself.
I also state that on the rental site that all arrangement are through the RE company. People do not have to worry about lossing their ssecutrity deposits when they know they are dealing with a long standing company.
Good luck in which ever way you decide to go.

[wMw]

I did go to CyberRentals and emailed them regarding renter feedback on listings. They responded almost immediately explaining that on the HomeAway site listing reviews can be posted by renters and that the home owner is notified by email before the review is posted...gives the home owner the option to respond to the comments so that they appear on the listing at the same time.

[AC2717]

Originally Posted by wMw

I did go to CyberRentals and emailed them regarding renter feedback on listings. They responded almost immediately explaining that on the HomeAway site listing reviews can be posted by renters and that the home owner is notified by email before the review is posted...gives the home owner the option to respond to the comments so that they appear on the listing at the same time.

This is a great system, but when dealing with a dishonest person whether the renter or the rentee you have to be able to take them with a grain of salt and be able to pick out which ones are not right when reading reviews.

[GrandmaBig6]

Don't want to give the Cyperrentals website a thumbs down, just passing along one problem.

Thanks for checking into this for us.

I will pass the information on to the family and let them do what they want. As I said before I would have complained after the first bounced check.

Thanks to everyone appreciate all the comments.

[Airwaves]

Thanks for all your responses. I'll do some work tomorrow and hopefully get the place rented out.

The first year I rented I contacted several rental agencies/real estate companies but I really didn't like their contracts so I decided to do it myself even though sometimes it's a pain.

wMw...if you want to PM me I'll give you the name of the woman who we use to come in after renters leave and make sure they cleaned up and make sure nothing is missing or broken.

As far as keeping the Animal House types away I don't rent during Bike Week even though I know I could charge a little more, and once you get renters they usually return year after year. You keep the good ones and don't invite the bad ones back.

Thanks again
AW

[wMw]

wMw...if you want to PM me I'll give you the name of the woman who we use to come in after renters leave and make sure they cleaned up and make sure nothing is missing or broken.

Airwaves - thanks for the offer. I just PM'd you.

Do you have this person clean after the renters leave?...or do the renters generally leave your place clean enough for the next renters?

I'm considering using one of the rental agencies because I work weekends and it would be difficult to find the time to get in and out on a Saturday to deal with the cleaning and the meet-&-greet. From my innkeeping days I know that the "meet-&-greet" can be very important to keep people respectful of your property. They are less likely to purposely steal or damage if they've met you...makes it more personal.