When it comes to property owners renting out their vacant vacation home, there are a variety of benefits to renting compared to leaving it idle for long durations of time. Owners who decide to rent their vacation property have two choices when it comes to vacation property management: take on the arduous task of managing it themselves; or hire a vacation property management company to handle all the ins and outs of owning a vacation home — leaving the headaches to the professionals. So why don’t all property owners rent out their vacation homes?
Most property owners don’t have the time and energy to rent their place out. Between work, family and their social life, very few property owners have the bandwidth to spend interviewing candidates, collecting payments, cleaning the property, advertising the property and being available to respond to any maintenance situations that arise while the property is being rented. When you calculate the time required to conduct all of these important elements of renting out a vacation home, property owners are looking at working a second job.
That’s where vacation property management pro’s are so valuable. You get all of the benefits, without undertaking any of the work. Below is a list of 5 outstanding benefits property owners experience when they partner with a vacation property management company.
1. EXTRA INCOME
There is truly nothing better than making extra income, and by utilizing an asset that you already own and pay for, renting may be one of the easiest ways to accomplish this. When a homeowner rents out their vacation home when they’re not using it, they generate pure profit. The extra income that they earn from renting is money they would otherwise not have seen. And, based on where the vacation home happens to be and what season it is, owners could end up making a lot more money than they anticipated. Extra income comes in handy when you’re covering extra expenses, paying off the mortgage, or just being able to use it for a quick vacation or special gift. When an owner rents out their vacation home, there will be money on the table that will seem as though it appeared out of thin air. The ability for owners to make extra income is just the beginning.
2. LESS UPKEEP
If your vacation home is sitting idle, it’s more likely to require maintenance. When your water and household appliances are not being used, your chances for frozen pipes and minor break downs is increased. By renting out your vacation home, these vital parts of your home are being used and are staying fresh.
Then there’s the lawn work. Who wants to pay all the expense of lawn care when you’re not even around to enjoy it? Or worse yet, arriving to your vacation home only to be greeting by ten-foot weeds. No owner wants a vacant home that becomes the eyesore to the surrounding properties. At the same time, no owner wants to pay for lawn care when they’re not going to personally experience it. By renting out the property, you’re able to generate extra income to maintain your lawn, contribute to pay for the property mortgage, and earn a little extra to pad your pockets.
3. REGULAR USE OF THE HVAC SYSTEM
When a property owner owns a vacation home, and they don’t regularly use their HVAC system, it tends to malfunction. Vacation home owners have to choose between two expensive choices when they leave their property vacant for long durations of time: do they run the HVAC system while their gone, seemingly flushing money down the drain, or do they leave the system off and run the risk that it won’t work when they arrive and need it to.
HVAC systems that don’t run for periods of time have issues. Think about your house, when do you experience the most issues with your HVAC system? In the early summer when your AC is being used for the first times in months, and in the winter when your heater is fired up for the first time since the previous winter.
Thankfully, there is a way for vacation home owners to alleviate this problem by renting out the property. With renters inside the property, your HVAC will running and keeping its form and you’ll be generating money to pay for the cost of running it. It’s a true win win for the property owner.
4. SAFETY & SECURITY
As many of you probably already know, when there is a vacant property in town, no matter what neighborhood it happens to be, it can become a target to thieves and burglars who may be watching for inactivity. This is especially true if the vacation property happens to be a large or expansive property, and situated in a nice area. The truth is that thieves and criminals love to break into homes that are vacant or otherwise empty. And as a property owner, it is in your best interest to consistently have renters renting out your vacation home whenever you are not using it.
This is for not only having the opportunity to make extra income, but for the safety and security of your entire home as well. The reason why it is so important for property owners to rent out their vacation home when they are not using it is because renters will essentially act as deterrents for thieves, criminals, and burglars, and will make it much less likely that the home will be broken into. Thieves and burglars will notice that people are inside the home, including using the lights, making noise, driving in and out, and walking around inside and out.
5. SAVE ON TAXES
When it comes to paying your property taxes, the truth is that many homeowners don’t seem to realize that they could actually save a lot of money by simply learning to change the way that they declare their property. A great example of this has to do with home owners renting out their vacation property to others. When a homeowner rents out their vacation property when they are not using it, they are able to claim this on their taxes, and therefore, write many things off and get a bigger return based on the fact that they are acting just like a small business. And by hiring vacation property management company will now be an expense that will offset the tax liability and, in some cases, pay for itself in tax savings.
Taxes can make or break a homeowner, and it’s vital that all homeowners learn to manage their own taxes within the world of property ownership, etc. This is why it’s a major benefit for all homeowners to have some type of business that they can claim on the side, such as renting out their vacation property out to others or posting their vacation property on a rental sharing website such as AirBnb. To learn more about the benefits of declaring your rental property, discuss your option with your tax professional.
By renting out their vacation home, property owners and able to benefit in all of the ways we listed here today. However, if they don’t have the time and energy to undertake all of the work required to successfully rent out their place, the entire process might go to waste. Lucky for property owners, partnering with a vacation management company takes out all of the work, but leaves all of the benefits. Contact us today to learn more about how Minnestay can help you turn your vacant vacation home into a profitable side business.
