When should I start advertising my vacation rental?

Question

I have a condo at the beach that I have had listed with a rental management company. I will be taking it over myself in January. How soon should I start advertising it? If you have any suggestions or advice as to where to advertise it, that is greatly appreciated also. I’m learning this on my own!

Thanks!

Kristi

Thanks!

Kristi

Patricia Steiner · Answer

Start now...just state "available January" - which is the start of somebody's vacation somewhere, right?  To learn what to do, you need to know what's already being done in that market.  Google for rent in that city and spend time comparing what's currently for rent to your property.  Zillow is a popular search engine and there are a lot of vacation rental sites.  Educate yourself first...the market will be your best teacher.

Kristi Pulmano · Answer

Thank you so much!  I’m looking at possibly purchasing software to help me manage it.  Any suggestions?  We only have the one short term right now, but may add a long term or two in the mix...

Rob B. · Answer

1000% what Nathan and Patricia have noted. Keep that calendar blocked until January 1 and get your place advertised. I still imagine it won't take too long to get it rented (condo on the beach sounds mighty nice). There are a ton of short term vacation rental sites (ex. VRBO, Flipkey, HometoGo, etc). I hope that helps!

If you ever switch gears and decide to do longer-term rentals, there are some options for small DIY landlords with 1 to 15 units, built with you in mind. There are some tools available to you where you can bring a certain level of automation to that rental management process (ie. automatically syndicating a single listing to 10+ major listing sites, thorough tenant screening with full background checks, digital lease creation, automated online rent collection, and maintenance tracking). Best of luck to you -- @Kristi Pulmano

Nathan Gesner · Answer

I agree with Patricia. People are already booking for summer of 2020 so you need to start advertising immediately. Just block the calendar off until January 1st.

When should I start advertising my vacation rental?

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