Ten Tips To Get Rentals for your Property
Over 50 years ago, in 1951, the first officially recognised "Gite" was opened in France. Tourists liked the idea of staying in family homes for reasonable rates. Self catering accommodation developed from this and by 1969, being France, the Gite system became regulated. Demand grew and by 1990 the self catering accommodation industry in France was well established with catalogues printed for people to find private self-catering accommodation.
The Internet has changed the way people book and use their accommodation. Many people had started advertising their own private properties from 1995, I started a website offering rentals which grew from Internet work I was doing in 1996 and was one of the first open websites offering a full booking and reservation service by 1998.
Since then renting a home direct from the owner has become a way of life for millions of people. Hundreds of thousands of people have bought overseas property as an investment or as a business and are offering rental accommodation. Television programmes like "A Place in The Sun" have dangled dreams which many have followed.
The result has been a massive growth in supply for basically the same demand.
When we started renting our apartments in Nizas in 1997 we were the only house in the village offering accommodation. Now there are over 25 properties available. Property prices have increased by over ten times in as many years, but rental income has not increased and in many cases has dropped over the same period. At the beginning we thought we were doing badly by only getting 42 weeks a year booked. Getting 16 weeks now is difficult.
To get clients you have to be competitive and aggressively market your property. Here are some tips which I know from experience are vital for success.
===
1. Really enjoy contacting the people who rent your home. If you live nearby, make a point of sharing a meal or a drink with them. If you are miles away, keep in touch by phone, let them know you are genuinely concerned for their comfort and happiness. Make sure your local agent keeps in touch and solves any small problems immediately. This feeling has to be genuine, I was always taught to smile when I asked for any payment. You will be surprised how many renters will recommend you to their friends if they had a happy experience with you. Recommendations and return visits should be the single biggest source of your income and should be more than half your basic business.
2. Go the extra mile - give fluffy towels, good quality soap, leave a good bottle of wine on the table, fresh fruit, flowers, leave good books and DVDs, give free WiFi and telephone services, new mattresses every two years, find local services, the best car hire rates, offer airport limo services, get local restaurants to give a free drink or a voucher. Get the price right and don't add these as "compulsory extras".
3. Make absolutely sure everything is spotlessly clean and tidy. Nothing is more unpleasant than arriving tired and irritable from a 7 hour flight to a scruffy or dirty house. Make sure the home is welcoming, air conditioning (or heating) is on and there is plenty of hot water. Once a tenant finds mouldy soap in the washing machine, a blocked filter in the dishwasher or a greasy patch on top of the kitchen cupboards, they will then look in a lot more places and feel unhappy.
4. Make sure there is plenty of hot water. French plumbers calculate 40 liters per person per day for hot water - I recommend 200 liters per person per day. I try to make sure there are plenty of WCs and bathrooms - if possible more WCs than there are bedrooms and at least the same number of bath or shower facilities as there are bedrooms. Also French systems are usually electric using low cost night heating, so after a shower in the morning, and one when they come back from the beach, there is no hot water in the evening. Set the timers so there is always plenty of hot water.
===
5. Towels and linen, make sure this is the best quality and that there is plenty of it. Do not charge for any extras, it is one of the meanest things to charge 1,500 euro a week for a small villa and then an extra 30 euro for towels. The same goes for cleaning, you would not expect to pay extra in a hotel for sheets and maid service, so why should a guest pay for this in your home ?
6. Charge the right price for the property. There is no rule to this, look ruthlessly at the quality of the service and accommodation you are offering and then see what is being asked locally. Then charge the same or slightly more (with no extras). This means you have to be competitive with the service you are giving, not selling down to a price. It also means you have to market your home better to get more bookings than your competitors, but if you get the price right you can afford to invest properly in advertising.
7. Advertise - you should expect to be investing about 20% of your expected revenue in marketing so look at good visible websites. Newspaper and magazine advertising is now giving a very poor return. Catalogue companies are dropping private villa rentals and they never have paid good rates. The Internet is the principal way now to get bookings, study it and use it. Selecting good advertising sites on the Interent is diffficult, when I started I could count the rental sites in the dozens, now there are thiousands of sites offering advertising from free to over 500 euro a year for a listing.
Due to the complexity and wide range of offers, I am working on a evaluation and multiple listing websitre which will enable you to find the best advertising deals and to get discounts from many of ther sites - so make sure you are subscribed to my newsfeeds and newsletters to learn more.
8. When you advertise get the best photos you can - pay a professional and put a clear portfolio of photos on the websites. The single most important thing you can do is to have good photos, lots of them. If possible get an independent designer to look at what you are offering, not a relative or friend, but pay a professional. The way you present your property is vital to your success - then take their advice.
9. Write a clear description of your property, but more important, tell prospective renters why they should rent from you, what are the benefits of your home over the million others online, tell them about yourself, how happy you are in the home - with examples of other guests from your guest book (you are keeping a guest book aren't you?).
10. To every enquiry react immediately - if possible within 10 minutes. You can get email and email/sms direct to most mobile phones (you are running a business, buy a Blackberry) and this is definitely the way to do it. Reply in detail and then follow up with a phone call. I have researched the reaction times and it shows that for every four hour delay the probability of a booking seems inversely proportional to the square of the time. Leave it a day to reply and you are over 50 times less likely to get a booking than if you replied immediately.
===
These are a few and in my opinion, crucially important points to follow to get bookings. What I cannot do is to put your property in the "right" place. The old maxim that "There are three important things to be successful in any property business, the first is location - - - and so are the other two", is very very true.
Many people have contacted me telling me how cheap property is in Limosin or Centre in France compared to Provence or Languedoc now. There is a good reason for this, people do not go there as much. A villa with a pool in Antibes overlooking the Mediterranean is from eight to thirty times easier to rent than a similar villa in Charente Maritime. It will cost three to four times as much to buy, but rent for two to three times the price for twice as long and much easier - do the maths.
===
Tony Tidswell lives in the South of France and writes about the property and travel business. He has created a number of very successful websites for real-estate and vacation rentals as well as a number of other Internet businesses.
These include work for established British estate agents on the Cote D'Azur Coast and Country and his new online business helping people find and create Fractional ownership opportunities Harmony Ownership
Write to him through his personal website, named after a village near the Mediterranean Nizas.com which has been the source of inspiration for people coming to the south of France since 1997.
The Internet has changed the way people book and use their accommodation. Many people had started advertising their own private properties from 1995, I started a website offering rentals which grew from Internet work I was doing in 1996 and was one of the first open websites offering a full booking and reservation service by 1998.
Since then renting a home direct from the owner has become a way of life for millions of people. Hundreds of thousands of people have bought overseas property as an investment or as a business and are offering rental accommodation. Television programmes like "A Place in The Sun" have dangled dreams which many have followed.
The result has been a massive growth in supply for basically the same demand.
When we started renting our apartments in Nizas in 1997 we were the only house in the village offering accommodation. Now there are over 25 properties available. Property prices have increased by over ten times in as many years, but rental income has not increased and in many cases has dropped over the same period. At the beginning we thought we were doing badly by only getting 42 weeks a year booked. Getting 16 weeks now is difficult.
To get clients you have to be competitive and aggressively market your property. Here are some tips which I know from experience are vital for success.
===
1. Really enjoy contacting the people who rent your home. If you live nearby, make a point of sharing a meal or a drink with them. If you are miles away, keep in touch by phone, let them know you are genuinely concerned for their comfort and happiness. Make sure your local agent keeps in touch and solves any small problems immediately. This feeling has to be genuine, I was always taught to smile when I asked for any payment. You will be surprised how many renters will recommend you to their friends if they had a happy experience with you. Recommendations and return visits should be the single biggest source of your income and should be more than half your basic business.
2. Go the extra mile - give fluffy towels, good quality soap, leave a good bottle of wine on the table, fresh fruit, flowers, leave good books and DVDs, give free WiFi and telephone services, new mattresses every two years, find local services, the best car hire rates, offer airport limo services, get local restaurants to give a free drink or a voucher. Get the price right and don't add these as "compulsory extras".
3. Make absolutely sure everything is spotlessly clean and tidy. Nothing is more unpleasant than arriving tired and irritable from a 7 hour flight to a scruffy or dirty house. Make sure the home is welcoming, air conditioning (or heating) is on and there is plenty of hot water. Once a tenant finds mouldy soap in the washing machine, a blocked filter in the dishwasher or a greasy patch on top of the kitchen cupboards, they will then look in a lot more places and feel unhappy.
4. Make sure there is plenty of hot water. French plumbers calculate 40 liters per person per day for hot water - I recommend 200 liters per person per day. I try to make sure there are plenty of WCs and bathrooms - if possible more WCs than there are bedrooms and at least the same number of bath or shower facilities as there are bedrooms. Also French systems are usually electric using low cost night heating, so after a shower in the morning, and one when they come back from the beach, there is no hot water in the evening. Set the timers so there is always plenty of hot water.
===
5. Towels and linen, make sure this is the best quality and that there is plenty of it. Do not charge for any extras, it is one of the meanest things to charge 1,500 euro a week for a small villa and then an extra 30 euro for towels. The same goes for cleaning, you would not expect to pay extra in a hotel for sheets and maid service, so why should a guest pay for this in your home ?
6. Charge the right price for the property. There is no rule to this, look ruthlessly at the quality of the service and accommodation you are offering and then see what is being asked locally. Then charge the same or slightly more (with no extras). This means you have to be competitive with the service you are giving, not selling down to a price. It also means you have to market your home better to get more bookings than your competitors, but if you get the price right you can afford to invest properly in advertising.
7. Advertise - you should expect to be investing about 20% of your expected revenue in marketing so look at good visible websites. Newspaper and magazine advertising is now giving a very poor return. Catalogue companies are dropping private villa rentals and they never have paid good rates. The Internet is the principal way now to get bookings, study it and use it. Selecting good advertising sites on the Interent is diffficult, when I started I could count the rental sites in the dozens, now there are thiousands of sites offering advertising from free to over 500 euro a year for a listing.
Due to the complexity and wide range of offers, I am working on a evaluation and multiple listing websitre which will enable you to find the best advertising deals and to get discounts from many of ther sites - so make sure you are subscribed to my newsfeeds and newsletters to learn more.
8. When you advertise get the best photos you can - pay a professional and put a clear portfolio of photos on the websites. The single most important thing you can do is to have good photos, lots of them. If possible get an independent designer to look at what you are offering, not a relative or friend, but pay a professional. The way you present your property is vital to your success - then take their advice.
9. Write a clear description of your property, but more important, tell prospective renters why they should rent from you, what are the benefits of your home over the million others online, tell them about yourself, how happy you are in the home - with examples of other guests from your guest book (you are keeping a guest book aren't you?).
10. To every enquiry react immediately - if possible within 10 minutes. You can get email and email/sms direct to most mobile phones (you are running a business, buy a Blackberry) and this is definitely the way to do it. Reply in detail and then follow up with a phone call. I have researched the reaction times and it shows that for every four hour delay the probability of a booking seems inversely proportional to the square of the time. Leave it a day to reply and you are over 50 times less likely to get a booking than if you replied immediately.
===
These are a few and in my opinion, crucially important points to follow to get bookings. What I cannot do is to put your property in the "right" place. The old maxim that "There are three important things to be successful in any property business, the first is location - - - and so are the other two", is very very true.
Many people have contacted me telling me how cheap property is in Limosin or Centre in France compared to Provence or Languedoc now. There is a good reason for this, people do not go there as much. A villa with a pool in Antibes overlooking the Mediterranean is from eight to thirty times easier to rent than a similar villa in Charente Maritime. It will cost three to four times as much to buy, but rent for two to three times the price for twice as long and much easier - do the maths.
===
Tony Tidswell lives in the South of France and writes about the property and travel business. He has created a number of very successful websites for real-estate and vacation rentals as well as a number of other Internet businesses.
These include work for established British estate agents on the Cote D'Azur Coast and Country and his new online business helping people find and create Fractional ownership opportunities Harmony Ownership
Write to him through his personal website, named after a village near the Mediterranean Nizas.com which has been the source of inspiration for people coming to the south of France since 1997.
posted by Harmony at 9:16 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home