Читать книгу Renting Your Recreational Property for Profit - Heather Bayer - Страница 27

I recently asked a real estate friend how appraisers arrive at a figure for property valuation. After getting a short explanation of the principles of appraisal, I realized that setting a rate for a vacation rental week is not dissimilar.

What you will charge on a weekly basis for your property should be largely determined by what the market will bear, and this will depend on a number of criteria. Location (regional as well as physical), facilities offered, size, and ambience all play an important part, and it is well worthwhile spending time looking at comparable properties before making a decision. Regardless of whether you decide to go it alone and do your own marketing and advertising, or if you choose to use a rental agency, have a realistic idea of what rental fee you are expecting before you start planning. Doing the research now will pay dividends in the future as it will be a daunting task to make changes to your rental rates once you start advertising.

First of all, look at the websites of rental agencies servicing your area, then check local advertising sites. Finally, check out the larger sites where your potential competitors might advertise.

One way of setting a price is to decide whether you want to go the Wal-Mart route — high volume/low price — or the Chanel route — low volume/high price. However, setting rental rates is not an exact science; we will discuss different factors that will influence your pricing in this chapter.

High-season rates are generally applicable from mid-June to early September, and for Christmas, New Year’s, and the Spring break. Long weekends in the low-season period will generally attract higher rates. The rest of the year can be set at one rate, although if you are near a ski area, you might want to have an additional high-season or mid-season rate that covers the January to March period. Your location may dictate your seasons, so take a look at what your competitors are using for their low/mid/high-season dates.