Rents4™ is constantly looking for ways to help you in your marketing efforts. We have included below (1) tips that will help you make the most of your Rents4™ property listing, (2) tips for renting AND (3) Five IRS rules for renting out your vacation home. Please take a look:
SIX TIPS TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR RENTS4 LISTING
1. Make sure you are receiving all Rents4™ communications. Please be sure that all emails sent by Rents4you.com email addresses are arriving in your in-box. If you have not already, you should use one of the websites (www.Rents4skiers.com or www.Rents4thebeach.com) to send a test inquiry to yourself to confirm that you will receive all emails from prospective renters. If you are not receiving these emails, please adjust your email settings appropriately so as not to miss out on important messages from Rents4™ and prospective renters' inquiries.
2. Take advantage of Rents4™'s unique points of interest feature! Other websites list properties only by location (region searches). Rents4™ lists properties by location and by vacation destination. Be sure to take advantage of this unique feature. To do this, simply select all ski resorts, beaches, golf courses and other vacation destinations near your property as points of interest when creating (or editing) your property’s listing. When selecting or creating points of interest, be sure to choose or create only specific beaches or other vacation destinations, as properties are not listed under general vacation destinations. For example, "Sunset Beach" will have a separate web page listing all properties near Sunset Beach, whereas the "North Shore" will not. Similarly "Lagos Beaches" will not have a separate web page but specific Lagos beach will.
3. Help us both by referring friends to the website. Rents4™ is the only premier vacation rental website that is free for all users. Be sure to refer as many other owners to this free website as possible. The larger the website becomes, the more relevancy it has in search engines. More listings will also increase the reputation it has among renters.
4. Include pictures of your property in your listing. You will especially want to select a good photo as your “main” property photo to attract prospective renters’ attention. Remember, Rents4™ does not charge extra for pictures, so you do not need to worry about increasing your costs by including photos. You may also include floor plan diagrams and other graphics. You simply upload these as you would a picture.
5. Help us help you. If you have your own website, you will definitely want to add a link from your website to the Rents4™ homepage or to your Rents4™ property brochure page. Linking to the Rents4™ website increases our relevancy in search engines, which in turn drives more traffic to your listing. It is also helpful to publicize your personal domain name on any literature you use and in other ways.
6. Because we are always adding new features to and otherwise improving the website, it would be a good idea to update your listing every few months to make sure you are taking advantage of all the features Rents4™ offers.
TIPS FOR RENTING
1. Determine rental rates (daily, weekly, weekend, monthly and seasonal) for your vacation home by checking classified advertisements for rental rates of similar vacation properties in the same area.
2. Establish written rental policies for such items as deposits, cancellations, refunds, check-in/check out procedures, pets, smoking and maximum occupancy.
3. Create an ad on Rents4Vacations.com and all its affiliated websites (www.Rents4Skiers.com, www.Rents4TheBeach.com, etc.) and follow the tips above to make the most of your listing.
4. Be accurate in the representations you make in your Rents4™ listing. Misrepresenting anything about your property, including mileage from key vacation destinations, will aggravate renters, ruin your reputation among prospective renters and put you at risk of losing the opportunity to advertise at no charge on Rents4™.
5. Contact the chamber of commerce or tourist board in the area of your vacation home to see if they provide prospective renters and tourists with listings of available rental properties.
6. If you don’t already, create accounts to accept payments by credit cards or PayPal. Accepting payment by credit card provides you and your renters with protections checks cannot.
7. Provide access to your home via an electronic keypad. This will save a lot of hassle mailing keys back and forth between you and your renters.
8. Hire a caretaker/cleaning company instead of a management company. Management companies offer two essential things: marketing and care of your property. With Rents4™ you can market your property absolutely free. Thus, you can save extremely steep commissions simply by finding a local caretaker/cleaning company to make sure your vacation home is cared for. The money you spend will be far less than the commissions you would pay.
9. Beware of scam artists. If a prospective renter proposes something to you that seems out of the ordinary, check it out. For further information about typical scams, please visit www.fraud.org.
FIVE IRS RULES FOR RENTING OUT YOUR VACATION HOME
From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, August 2008
1. If you rent out your house for 14 days or fewer during the year, you don't have to report the rental income on your tax return. And there's no limit to how much you can charge. The house is considered a personal residence so you Deduct mortgage interest and property taxes just as you do for your primary home.
2. If you rent out your house for more than 14 days, you become a landlord in the eyes of the IRS. That means you have to report your rental income. But it also means you can deduct rental expenses. It can get complicated because youneed to allocate costs between the time the property is used for personal purposes and the time it is rented.
3. If you use the place for more than 14 days or more than 10% of the number of days it is rented -- whichever is greater -- it is considered a personal residence. You can deduct rental expenses up to the level of rental income. But you can't deduct losses.
4. The definition of "personal use" days is fairly broad. They may include any days you or a family member use the house (even if the family member is paying rent). Personal days also include days on which you have donated use of the house -- say, to a charity auction -- or have rented it out for less than fair market value.
5. If you limit your personal use to 14 days or 10% of the time the vacation home is rented, it is considered a business. You can deduct expenses and, depending on your income, you may be able to deduct up to $25,000 in losses each year. That's why many vacation homeowners hold down leisure use and spend lots of time "maintaining" the property; fix-up days don't count as personal use.
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