10 Comments for How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner Second Edition

• 1. MotherLodeBeth  |  December 11th, 2009 at 3:59 am

  Review by MotherLodeBeth for How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner Second Edition
  Rating:
  We have various family members who now own vacation homes or second properties in Hawaii, France, Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, here in California and along Hoods Canal in western Washington, and one thing they all worried about was what would happen if the wrong people rented their properties. And since I got the book in June I have had to fight to read it, since so many of my family and friends would see it on my table and would grab it and rave about it.

  This is the first (literally) book I (and my family and friends) have found that tackles all the hard questions, worries and various ‘what ifs’ on the subject.

  Beginning with the ‘before’ you buy questions, which is something I know a lot of people never really give much thought to, since many assume renting it out during off season etc will be a breeze. I especially liked the chapter dealing with ‘why self management makes sense’ since this is an issue I know something about. How many prospective rental owners know that a management company who handles rentals for clients can take 30% or more as a commission? Or that using a rental manager doesn’t assure your property will be safe, or repaired in a timely way without gouging your bank account?

  The author deals extensively with the how to of finding clients to rent your property, including which websites are the best and what to have on your website as well. This includes good and accurate digital photos of all the rooms, yard, as well as Mapquest.com links so people can see how close they are to stores, beaches, rivers etc, that would be a draw as well as a drawback. A place may look nice on the website but how many owners show photos of the neighborhood so that clients can see that its safe and clean?

  The author covers how to screen clients, pet clauses, smoking, and party issues and issues of liability in general. Will you use PayPal, credit cards, checks etc? What about the phone in the property and the agreement on use and charges? This is why I like the call anywhere in the country one fee programs phone providers now offer. If you have DishNetwork will there be an extra fee for use or will that be included in the rental fee?

  Will you provide bed linens and basic kitchen items? What about those few people whom you can never please? How will you handle them and how should you, legally? These are also covered in-depth.

  Does the state where the rental property is require you to pay state or local taxes like some hotel, motels charge a fee or tax for? These are all things you need to think about before you even buy a vacation rental.

  The back two ‘chapters’ or index’s offer a lot of Internet sites for valuable information that makes the price of the book worth every penny.

  Ms. Hrib Karpinski deserves a lot of thanks for finally writing a book that is easy to read and understand as well as recommendations of those she trusts who might provide the reader with even more information.

  And I am buying a copy for my local library as well! Also check out her website by the same name http://www.HowToRentByOwner.com

• 2. Joanna Daneman  |  December 11th, 2009 at 4:05 am

  Review by Joanna Daneman for How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner Second Edition
  Rating:
  Author Karpinski wrote me that one reader wrote to her saying “My first renter wrote me a nice note about how much fun they had and how they want to rent it again next year. Then she says, “Friday as I sat down to eat lunch, I heard a crack before the chair broke and I fell to the ground.”

  Just though you would like to know how true your words are. Thanks! Now I’m re-reading your book to see what else I snubbed my nose at the first time around.”

  That’s the point of “How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner.” There is detail, detail, detail, and you’d better read this with,well, to mix metaphors, a fine-toothed comb. Not only is the advice to furnish with STURDY chairs in there, but other wisdom that can save you, the vacation landlord, time and money and heartache. Have you considered a condo versus a free-standing property? What about maintenance, what about distance from the property? Are you going to be able to handle that or will you need someone to help you? Don’t forget, a condo has maintenance included in a fee, usually. That fee may look large at closing, but later on…

  What about the 20% downpayment usually required by lenders? Turns out that, too, can be borrowed. PMI, mortgages, lending, this is also covered.

  How do you advertise to get the best results? What needs to be in that ad? Where do you advertise?

  I can’t go into all the detail here, but chapters include finance, self-management, advertising including photos and description writing, pricing, organization techniques, tax collection and payment, key management, problems such as major damage, minor depredations, theft, cancellation and complaints.

  If you plan to rent a property, this is an absolutely essential book, written by someone with first-hand experience and an eye for detail. Get it.
  

• 3. Mark Twain  |  December 11th, 2009 at 4:51 am

  Review by Mark Twain for How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner Second Edition
  Rating:
  After reading the reviews I thought this would be a useful book. It certainly has lots of information in it, that you can find for free on the internet. I certainly did not learn anything I already did not know.

  Although that was annoying it was not as infuriating as finding out that the author works for a company called HomeAway Inc. She fully disclosed the fact that she worked for them, which is fine, but she must have forgotten that almost all of the portal sites she mentioned are owned by HomeAway Inc, a small little fact that must have slipped her mind when her company was lining her pocketbook. In one passage on page 142 she recommends that you sign up for all 4 of the portal sites she `recommends’ and only puts and asterisk by HomeAway, failing to state that HomeAway owns the other 3 that she ‘recommends’ you sign up for. Nice Christine, thanks for the full disclosure. After she recommends you don’t go with a rental management company (in Chapter 9 she has a personal crusade against property management companies) because they take too much money, she turns around and `recommends’ sending $1500 to her parent company. Wow, the hypocrisy!!! She certainly has chutzpah.

  She peppers the books with ‘recommendations’ of websites that are either owned or affiliated with the company that employs her. I would recommend buying a book on how to rent vacation homes from someone who is not in the pocket of a company whose job it is to take a percentage of your vacation rental income. Maybe someone with at least some degree of ethics and objectivity.

  For full disclosure’s sake, I am not affiliated with any rental management company or any company that directly or indirectly competes with Home Away Inc. In fact, I am not even in the real estate industry in any capacity. It is just very aggravating to find out that I spent $20 to get a 300 page advertisement for HomeAway Inc.

  It turns out that Mrs. Karpinski is just an arm of the HomeAway Inc marketing machine. I do not think that the author is the `expert’ that she claims to be, just a huckster trying to sell the wares of HomeAway Inc. I hope in her next edition she does the ethical thing and decides to fully disclose her relationship with what she is trying to sell you on.

  If you think I am just some crazy loon who likes to rant, just do a little internet research and you will quickly find out that HomeAway Inc owns most, if not all of the `recommendations’ by the author.
  

• 4. I. Kessler  |  December 11th, 2009 at 5:49 am

  Review by I. Kessler for How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner Second Edition
  Rating:
  The topic of the book is dead-on for what I am looking for… how to rent by owner a beach condo I just bought. Unfortunately, it reads like a How to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich book from an introductory writing class. I would think that anyone who can afford to buy a beach property doesn’t need to be explained about what a fixed rate vs adjustable rate loan is.

  The folksy nature and the rhetorical questions being asked and self-answered is not complementary to the topic and the intent of the book. I’m sure the author is excited about the topic, but I’ve never seen so many explanation points in a business/real estate book….

  The author is very against management companies and goes to extremes to tell why one shouldn’t be hired. She says a management company will keep 50 – 60% of gross profit. The mgmt companies I spoke to in my beach town charge 15 – 20% and by reputation are very different the the typical management company described here.

  So, overall some good, useful information but you have to weed through alot of… Why??? Yes!!! The author could have benefited from an editor.

• 5. Professor Donald Mitchell  |  December 11th, 2009 at 6:35 am

  Review by Professor Donald Mitchell for How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner Second Edition
  Rating:
  If you haven’t ever owned and rented out a vacation or second home, you probably have the same concerns that I have: How will I find renters? Will people destroy the property? Will people sue me? How will I get the toilet unclogged at 4 a.m. from a distance? How will I avoid having a terrible negative cash flow? How much time will this really take? Am I turning myself into a minimum wage slave?Relax! Ms. Christine Hrib Karpinski answers all those and many other questions you didn’t know enough to ask. She also provides details of how she does everything efficiently and relatively painlessly. Further, she gives you good advice on how to decide what property to buy, how much to charge, who to rent to, where to advertise, how to write the copy and even how to create great photographs for a Web site. In fact, both the marketing and the administrative details she provides are outstanding. My only suggestion is that you have an attorney in the state where your property is check out the forms she suggests (or obtain the standard forms used by landlords in that state). The only area where the book doesn’t cover a related subject in detail is in the tax advantages. If she does another edition of this book, I suggest that she have a c.p.a. write up a section on that point. As a result, the book makes it seem like you will make less than you actually will. Her focus is on long-term ownership and rental, but she also points out how you can make substantial short-term gains. The section on the current mortgage options is excellent.Even if you decide not to buy a vacation home and rent it, I suggest that you read the book for advice that will be valuable to you as a potential tenant of such properties. You can more than save the price of the book in that context.I recommend that you do the work she describes for setting rental prices and marketing a property BEFORE you purchase a home. Good luck!

• 6. Sunset Rider  |  December 11th, 2009 at 6:43 am

  Review by Sunset Rider for Breaking All the Rules: How to Rent Your Vacation Home
  Rating:
  This book has really helped me. – TEN STARS

  I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was written from personal experiences and I felt connected with the author. Marie Ferguson takes a different approach to renting vacation homes. She has a clear understanding of what your guests want and what they expect upon arrival and that they are willing to pay higher prices to get quality accommodations.

  This book is right to the point and answered all of my questions. It is also helpful to know that Marie Ferguson is available to answer questions as they appear. I have never heard of any author being available 24/7. She has great insight for creating property listings that really work and she is willing to help you with yours to give it that personal touch.

  I also received the Welcome Book (that no other author has provided) and a free property listing. The Welcome Book comes with Sample Rental Rules, Pet Rules, Beach Rules, Pool Rules, etc that can be easily changed to fit your rental needs. I had fun customizing it and my Guests love the fact that I provide all the information needed to make their stay more enjoyable.

  I particularly like the lists it provides for stocking my rental (things I didn’t think of ) and it provides samples of rental agreements and correspondences to renters. It certainly makes it easy for me to run a rental business by using the system in this book. By following the easy, step by step instructions, I have had good luck with my renters. Like anything, if you are consistent with what you are doing, chances are better that you will succeed in having a great business. I am having a great time with my rental home. With this system, I am able to use it when I want (easily) and rent it out during the times I am not there. I am planning on buying more properties while the prices are affordable.

  I also bought Marie Ferguson’s latest book, The Complete Vacation Rental Planner and Tax Organizer. What a handy book to own. All of my rental information can be found in one place and I like the tax section that shows the deductions that I can take.
  

• 7. Ilona Coffey  |  December 11th, 2009 at 7:26 am

  Review by Ilona Coffey for Breaking All the Rules: How to Rent Your Vacation Home
  Rating:
  I have read nearly every book out there on Vacation Rentals, and I found this one to be very straight forward ad easy reading. I have been in the business for 10 years, so most of this information is excellent particularly if you are new in the buisness.

  I had a bit of a problem trying to retrieve my “free guest book” from the author’s website, and as soon as she was aware of this, she contacted me directly and help me achieve my goal immediately.

  I have listed my vacation rental on the author’s site and will look forward to taking any bookings that come in as a result of this completely free advertising.

  After communicating with Marie, I can see why she is successful, she is a great “problem solver” Way to go, Marie!

  Warmest aloha,
  
  Ilona Coffey
  
  [...]
  
  bch-clb@aloha.net
  
  kauaivacationvillas@yahoo.com

• 8. Charles B  |  December 11th, 2009 at 8:10 am

  Review by Charles B for Breaking All the Rules: How to Rent Your Vacation Home
  Rating:
  at $20 for this short book I would recommend you look elsewhere. I was VERY disappointed by the lack of useful content in the book.

  The author’s ‘expertise’ in this field is that she owns ONE vacation rental in New Hampshire, so as you might expect, her recommendations are specifically tailored to that experience and situation. There is virtually nothing in this book that would be considered truly interesting information as I suspect everything could be found online.

  I wrote a prior review on this book and did not have a good alternative book to recommend. Fortunately I do now.

  How to Rent Vacation Properties By Owner, but Christine Hrib Karpinski. It is about 300 pages long and in my review of it so far it appears to have a number of useful details. It easily covers anything in the “Breaking all the rules” book but with useful information and insight.

  Before buying this book, I would suggest you check out the other one as well, read the reviews (significantly more of them for that book) and the author bios.

  One final comparison, and perhaps not a fair one, but intended to provide another example of the difference in quality of these two books.

  Both books have a forward included. For the OTHER book, it is written by some long-term journalist covering real estate. For THIS book, it was written by the author’s cleaning woman (yes, I am serious). Nothing against this nice woman, but I cannot imagine she has a not of useful insights for me on how to rent my property other than that it should be clean.

  Hope this helps. I don’t like to dump on books or authors because I know it takes a lot of time and energy to write and publish a book, but this one unfortunately deserves to be noted because at $20 it is unfair to buyers/readers.

• 9. Barbara L. Wood  |  December 11th, 2009 at 8:21 am

  Review by Barbara L. Wood for Breaking All the Rules: How to Rent Your Vacation Home
  Rating:
  Marie Ferguson’s book was a great help, and gave me lots of ideas on renting my villa in Florida. I also purchased her Vacation Rental Organizer. It’s nice to have all my information on my villa in one place.

• 10. Cala Mahoney  |  December 11th, 2009 at 8:43 am

  Review by Cala Mahoney for Breaking All the Rules: How to Rent Your Vacation Home
  Rating:
  Breaking all the Rules: How to Rent Your Vacation Home: A New, Innovative – Rent by Owner -Tool for Preparing, Managing, Advertising & Maintaining Your Rental & Free Welcome Book & Property Listing

  I bought this book and let me say my first year of renting was a huge success and It was easy !
  
  This book takes you from start to finish! Easy Read and Easy to follow samples of contracts etc.
  
  Thank you Marie for writing it! It has made my life alot simpler with renting!

Leave a Comment for How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner Second Edition

Trackback this post  |  Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed