The High Season on the Northern Oregon Coast Comes to a Close

As the vacation rental season comes to a close here on the Oregon Coast we look back on the summer still a bit puzzled by the lack of summer weather. Each month it seemed we had a few days of warm weather which were enjoyed and celebrated by all! They were like jewels in the foggy mist of summer 2010. Interestingly, this cool summer weather had no effect on our guest numbers. Rain or shine vacation rental renters flocked to the beach. There were very few open dates throughout the season and those were always snapped up at the last minute.
  It has been a busy summer for all of the vacation rentals in Cannon Beach, Seaside, Gearhart. So we can say that the summer was a success! As the rain begins to fall we are beginning our end of season cleaning which is so important for a vacation rental. We finally have time to clean under the appliances, wash the walls, and clean the blinds (ugh) as we look towards our next season 2011. How can we make it better? That is the question we must ponder during these winter months.

Vacation Rental Owners Avoid Off Season Blues

The cancellation's rolled in through the month of December on the Northern Oregon Coast as guests were impeded by the winter weather. While snow fuels the skiing industry, snow and rain impede life here on the Coast as seen here in a picture from the "Daily Astorian". When snow first fell on around the 13th of December guests called in to say they wanted to come but just couldn't get out of the driveway. Inevitably the temperatures began to rise which has lead to wide spread flooding. Now we can't get to Seaside. Thankfully we do have renters coming tomorrow for three days.
How do deal with the low times in respect to cash flow in this wonderful industry of ours? Well the answer is obvious, when cash flow is at it's greatest stock it away like a chipmunk with his acorns and then hit your supply in the dead of winter, (or the dead of Summer depending on where you are). Go through your winterizing (or summerizing) check list at the end of your season. What is on it will depend on where you are. Ours looks like this:

• Turn off water at outside location
• Drain all faucets
• Defrost refrigerator and clear of all items in case of power outage
• open cupboards and set heat to a low setting (approximately 60 degrees)
• Turn off hot water heater (make sure it is drained)
• Turn off, clean, drain, and securely cover hot tub

Some of these winterizing features depend on your occupancy rate. Because we are always and did have guests scheduled we didn't turn off the water and drain the hot tub, but we did do this for several of the rentals we clean. So good luck, I hope you too have avoided the winter blues.

Oregon Coast Vacation Rentals stay booked

Even with the lagging economy the Oregon Coast Vacation Rentals are staying booked. Our Ocean Front Cottage in Surf Pines continues to get inquiries that are becoming bookings. Our cleaning business that works primarily with vacation rentals is staying busy as well. So why are travelers and guests still coming to the Oregon Coast. Why is real estate continuing to sell for top dollar here. I believe it is the beauty and departure from the everyday world and it's troubles that we offer. Possibly because travelers are choosing closer options to home. Rather than n expensive flight oversees travelers and guests are choosing quiet walks on the beach and wildlife viewing from a steaming hot tub all for discounted rate sometimes up to 60% during the quiet winter months. The beauty of the winter Oregon Coast and reduced rates are giving guests an inexpensive escape that guest and travelers can't seem to say no to this year.

Come see our ocean front beach house at:

http://www.vrbo.com/95104

Vacation Renters Feedback is Essential

Yesterday our Thanksgiving guests departed from our rental property. They gave us some great compliments on the property and the local aesthetics. The house is located about 400 yards from the beach. It is very quiet as it is in a secluded, gated community. It has a hot tub that overlooks the beach grass. You often view wildlife, elks grazing and hawks perched near the ocean. So the point being it's a great spot. Yes, we love the feed back but what was essential in all of this. In addition to complimenting the property the renters went onto say that although the kitchen was very well equipped there was not a cheese grater. She said they did fine without but it would have been nice. Of course I immediately made a note of this in my planner in addition to getting an extra cheese grater out and setting it near the front door so I don't forget it when I head to our rental tomorrow. The feed back and ideas from our guests are invaluable. We don't stay at our rental often and when we do we try not to use anything to keep it as clean as possible so we really depend on our guests for feed back so we know what things we need and ways to make the place just a little more comfortable. My husband and I both encourage our guests to tell us about their experience in addition to feedback coming into VRBO where we advertise our rental. I encourage all vacation rental owners to survey their guests for anything that will make their rental better whether it be more keys for guests, or just a cheese grater.

Attract Guest to Your Vacation Rental Off Season

• Since our high season ended in September we found ourselves looking at ways to keep guests interested in choosing our rental property from the list of so many others in Gearhart, Oregon. We did add WiFi last year, and we do have a wonderful hot tub. But what about the price? In the high season we get from $225.00 to $275.00 a night and $1,200.00 a week. This is actually pretty average for most ocean front properties that sleep 8-10 and have a hot tub. But unfortunately the high season is over and the economy has taken a nose dive. So how far do you reduce rates. Here are some ideas that have worked with our property this year
  
• Check other properties online and try to match their rate cut if not going just slightly lower


• Be flexible with your cleaning fees


• Be ready for spur of the moment booking


• Accomodate requests whenever possible


• Stock kitchen with cooking oils, flour, and other items or a bottle of wine. Try to set your rental apart from the rest to make their visit memorable.

We have really worked at implementing these ideas and they are working. We want to share them with other vacation rental owners and guests, and hope to hear your ideas, observations and guest requests.

Investment Property of the Week

This property is being sold by Kamali and Company a real estate company in Cannon Beach Oregon. I cleaned this property last week and was pleasantly suprised that not only was it up for sale but it was set up beautifully for use as a vacation rental. The house is in a secluded area in Arch Cape, a town south of Cannon Beach. The house was orginally built in 1971 and remodeled in 2008. It is approx. 1,891 SqFt. with and attached garage studio bedroom. The view is stupendous as it is directly on the beach! There are views from every room. The price is right for beach front property at $1,699,900 considering the taxes are relatively low for this property at $6,054.53 yr. I imagine they will be selling with furnishings intact in which case the house is ready to rent. This is a great investment opportunity that is sure to mature nicely with time. If you are interested in renting contact pamhill3@charter.net.

This is a view from the deck pictured above. See more at www.kamalicompany.com

Investing in a Vacation Rental

Owning and Operating a Vacation Rental is now as easy as 1-2-3.

Buying: Approximately 4years ago my husband and I sold some land we owned that was ripe for development. Because we had the road in and zoning for 28 lots it was quickly picked up by local developers. We then 1031 exchanged our profit for a beach front house with a hot tub. We quickly found ourselves asking ourselves how can we make our investment work for us. Because it was an investment property we couldn't really move in, plus we wanted to make our investment pay it's own way as we waited for it to acrue interest. Because it was an older home we found the taxes to be quite low despite the fact that it was ocean front. Because it was an older home that had been remodeled we found the taxes would never go up more than 3% a year. We didn't want the wear and tear of a year round rental, plus we wanted to ablity to use it ourselves if we felt the urge. That was when a friend who had a vacation rental encouraged us to do the same.

Renting: There are many options today for a vacation rental owner. In the past a property owners only choice was a local property management company that handles all the booking and cleanings for you and then charges a wopping 25 or 30% of your profits. Being slightly computer savy I began to explore how we could handle bookings our property. I quickly found vrbo.com (vacation rentals by owners). You can list your home for around $200.00 a year. The prices vary depending on how many pictures you choose to display. People worldwide can then access your property and a calendar that you block out with each booking. Guests are given the option of contacting the owner by email or phone. In addition, you are given the option to add paypal as a form of payment which accepts all credit cards. We try to be flexible and accept checks and paypal depending on the guests perference.

Decorating: If your property is well staged as ours was we just added furniture. When we made our purchase we looked for a property that was ready to go rather than a fixer upper. It really depends on how handy you are and how much time you have. We also lucked out because the owners left the pictures they used for staging, all ocean scenes that complimented the natural aspects of the coast. For furnishings we chose used, and added some things from home. Other properties go straight to Ikea and just outfit the whole place, another easy strategy. Purchase linens at a discount store like Ross, or go all the way and get the best at Crate & Barrel. The same with kitchen. You can bring extras from home, hit garage sales, or buy all new. It depends on the look you are trying to achieve.

Cleaning and Maintenance: This can be done hands on or farmed out. We do our owning cleaning, and maintain the hot tub ourselves. One of my clients though lives in Portland and farms both out. She hires us to do the cleaning and small maintenance projects, and hires a hot tub contractor to take care of her hot tub. Last week after a year in business they had the yard landscaped and called in contractors to do the work.

Great Investment: Ocean front property, and property with close beach access will never lose it's value. While the rest of the world goes into foreclosure vacation properties grow in value. At the end of the year you get to write off all of your expenses. Linen, advertisement, maintenance, your computer, the list is endless! No matter what they say you can't go wrong with investing in a vacation rental.