Having a vacation rental property can be a great source of extra income. If your properties are popular for vacationers, they could even be one of your primary sources of income. Of course, your properties aren’t going to be popular if they aren’t well managed. So what can you do to manage them when you don’t live close by?
Use Automation to Make Tasks Easy
Automation does more than just make home life convenient. It can make managing vacation rental properties from afar much easier. You can automate the check-in and check-out process, as well as rental payments so you don’t actually have to show up to the property when your guests arrive if you don’t want to. Beyond that, home automation and security technology can give you control over the lights, HVAC, and alarm systems when no one is in the house.
Hire Help to Manage Properties
The more vacation rental properties you have, the more challenging it will be to manage them and keep up on everything. Hiring someone with property management skills can take pressure off managing real estate. Of course, you’ll need to pay them for their time, so it’s important to make sure your properties are generating enough income to justify the hire. That said, if the person you hire can help you book more rentals, it could end up being a move that pays for itself multiple times over.
Have Cleaning and Maintenance Contacts
Rental properties will need to be thoroughly cleaned between guests and have regular maintenance done to keep them in good condition. Laundry will need to be done, supplies will need to be restocked, and everything will need to be returned to its proper place. Failing to do so could cost you tenants and hurt your reputation. Since you live some distance away from your properties, handling that yourself probably doesn’t make sense. Instead, hire a cleaning crew to put your properties back in order and have a list of home maintenance professionals you can turn to for your property maintenance needs.
Not everyone lives close to their vacation rental properties. If that’s the case for you, automation, property management, and cleaning and maintenance crews can make managing your properties from afar much easier. It’s still a good idea to stop by in person periodically to make sure everything is up to your standards, but you should be able to take more of a back seat and enjoy the income from your properties.
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