posted by orlandovacationhome on Aug 14

The New York Times “Intelligent Traveler” section recently ran an online piece regarding Guaranteeing Vacation Rentals(1) for rentals placed online by owners. Our concern after reading this piece - Vacation Homes That Don’t Lie - leads one to believe that purchasing protective insurance is needed before booking a vacation villa rental. This is not necessarily the case if you consult our blog.

As we have stated before, this website is provided to give you piece of mind in terms of reviewing vacation home community quality in the Orlando area. As we always say, all Disney area villa rentals are NOT created equal.

There is also a very big difference between booking through a private owner vs. a professional management company. A professional management company has years of reputation to protect and certainly will not put you in a “dump” as the newspaper tried to claim.

For trustworthy profiles of over eighty (80+) Orlando villa rentals, consult our Community Home Reviews area. The reviews are formulated to help you evaluate various important factors and to avoid surprises.

We believe in the power of vacation home brands and that all vacation home rentals in Orlando are not created equal. For thousands of visitors every day, vacation homes are a preferred option for lodging accommodations over typically cramped hotel rooms.

Vacation Homes in Orlando

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Feb 28

Hotel attrition clauses in room block contracts for convention and meeting groups have historically been standard policy. An attrition clause makes the booking entity pay for the rooms they book whether they use them or not.

Likewise, vacation home management companies have also had strict rental booking policies with regards to deposits and cancellations.

However, with the world economy crumbling at rapid speed, many companies and vacationers are hesitant to book a hotel or vacation home with a strict attrition/cancellation clause if they will be forced to honor them.

As a sign of the times, many hotels in the Orlando market are throwing out the attrition clause as an incentive to get groups to actually book. This should also be a signal to vacation home management companies to relax some of their non-refundable deposit and cancellation policies to encourage potential bookers.

The market and economy is changing at lightning speed, and the short term rental industry must react accordingly.

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Nov 26

Property and casualty insurance premiums will almost assuredly rise throughout the coming year for Orlando vacation homes and vacation home owners. Many Orlando vacation home management companies had hoped that with the recent financial credit crisis and signs pointing towards overall price deflation, vacation home premiums would decline.  The main reasons that Orlando vacation villa premiums will most likely rise in 2009:

1) Tremendous casualty losses all over the United States, but partly due to losses in the Midwest.  For example, states like Arkansas and Missouri had more losses in 2008 than any on record.

2) It has been a very soft market for several years for premiums as insurance companies continued cutting prices to win market share. This was good for homeowners and investors, but profit margins on recently underwritten policies have now dried up.  All insurers now recognize they must price accordingly based on risk demands and let the business go where it may.  Insurers will fall back on reserves and tried and true business lines that they’ve developed in the past.  All insurers have generally trimmed their business projections drastically. 

However, the quality of your Orlando vacation home management and the actions you take as a prudent vacation home owner do matter. These actions include:

1) Street appeal/appearance does matter to the insurer.  Insurance companies have definitely been known to not renew if the appearance of the exterior and the interior is not up to par.  Larger insurers do worry about this aspect, especially with the state of the local vacation home rental market. Small firms are hired in all areas that inspect insured properties regularly to decrease losses and take them off the books.

2) Updating your vacation home can be expensive and some owners may try to avoid, but losses do occur from defective features, lack of saftey items and other various factors on a frequent basis. These updates can save an owner significantly on premiums if they make the insurance agent aware when these improvements to the home are done for renewal considerations.

3) Community associations are helpful if they have legal “teeth” in terms of owner accountability.  As they say, it’s the bad apple that ruins a whole bunch and causes others to lose interest in the state of their vacation home. Insurers take into account that home fires and other catastrophes do spread because of physical proximity and the likelihood that you are affected by someone else’s negligence.

If you are looking for additional insurance news visit HERE  a great source of information for professional managers and vacation home management companies.

As always, consult an insurance expert/professional who is licensed in the state of Florida and specifically familiar with vacation homes and vacation home management in the Orlando area.

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Nov 10

Eyebrows were raised earlier this week when HomeAway, an Austin, Texas based vacation tech company, was able to raise $250 million through venture capital sources for what CEO Brian Sharples termed opportunities for the company to pay down debt, insiders to cash in a little equity, and for the vacation home rental company to perhaps pursue additional vacation home acquisitions. This comes on top of a $209 funding several months ago.

HomeAway owns the homeaway.com, vrbo.com, vacationrentals.com, a1vacations.com, cyberrentals.com and ownersdirect.co.uk websites. They are the proverbial 900 pound gorilla in the vacation home rental and vacation home management niche of hospitality lodging. They maintain some of the best vacation villa rental inventory in the Orlando area within several luxurious vacation home communities with a plethora of pools and other amenities. Inside sources indicate that roughly 30% of its revenues come from overseas which makes its domains a prime fit for Orlando tourism and travel. These brands certainly have a strong presence in the Orlando, Disney area and Kissimmee vacation home rental markets.

The ability for the firm to acquire capital in such a rough market does indicate that the clout and respect for the vacation home management and that the vacation home rental business model is growing. Strong consistent growth and a relatively stable cash flow model has now shown to be a valuation premium in this difficult market. My guess is that the funding will in time be used to:

1. Help HomeAway and its online brands to strengthen their market positioning in Orlando and other vacation home rental markets in the Central Florida area and elsewhere

2. Make additional prudent acquisions as the dust settles during this recessionary period. This additional funding might allow the company to expand its Orlando footprint in more “drive to” vs. “fly to” destinations that may come back quicker as a result of lower gas pricing for consumers.

3. Grow its presence in the vacation home managment area where cash flows tend to be stable and where its brand presence will give the company clear competitive advantage and leverage with homeowners

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Oct 31

We think good Vacation Home Management includes, but is not limited to:

1. All rental mark ups are fully disclosed to owners
2. All repair costs are fully disclosed in detail
3. Accounts can be accessed on line at anytime to see all bookings, fees and revenues
4. Any conflicts of interest are always fully disclosed by the managing entity
5. The cost of property maintenance is clearly broken down
6. The ability to opt out of the management agreement at any time
7. Quality assurance scores and complete inspection photos are disclosed monthly
8. Quarterly contacts to go over the scores by the manager
9. Realistic estimates formulated on the level and type of rental income the home can generate
10. Enabling owners to escrow for capital (major repairs) in an account the owner controls

Please see our other blog posts for additional tips and suggestions for choosing a vacation home management company.

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Oct 28

Foreclosures Effect Orlando Vacation Home Market.

The level of foreclosures in the Orlando vacation home market are now at or near record levels. As many vacation homes in the Central Florida are second homes and many were bought by speculators, the prices in many communities have dropped significantly. It would seem that many owners have simply walked away due in part that the rents from such homes are not enough to cover their expenses.

Some of the communities hardest hit are those that saw the greatest appreciation. Unlike regular homes, vacation home communities tend to have less permanent resident owners that can help stabilize the area or neighborhood.

Many banks are also being tough when lending on vacation homes which can further hold demand down. In effect, this means that many homeowners who bought a property over the prior three years could now face significant losses they sell today.

We are not real estate professionals, as we had to go through online public records, and methodically pull sales along with calling a few local realty offices in the Orlando and Kissimmee area. Our information may not be perfectly accurate so, as always, consult a real estate professional in the area and have them pull the data for you.

So what will happen to the Orlando vacation home market in the future? No one knows, and it is pure opinion and speculation at best. If we knew, we would be sitting on an island in Tahiti sipping a beer rather than worrying about the general state of the market.

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Oct 25

With a fragmented industry with lots of players and no strong “branded” presence, the consumer for vacation homes is left to make some decisions with little or no information regarding the maintenance and cleanliness of the home they will eventually be staying in. Quality assurance in the mind of the consumer will be the ultmate differentiator after staying in the home or referrring

Orlando Vacation Home Management Quality Assurance

How Clean is your Vacation Home

others to frequent that management company again. Along those lines, and before booking any vacation home, one should make sure that the management company has a program in place to proactively manage maintenance and cleanliness of each vacation home.

A quality program for housekeeping may include training methods, graded inspections and employee recognition to deliver a home that is clean and well maintained for each inbound guest. All three elements and others are part of an overall strategy to compete with the cleanest hotels, and to deliver a pleasurable experience.

From a maintenance perspective, regular and thorough inspections of the entire home are an important part of the process. Too many companies use the guests as their de facto QA team, which should not be the case, and is

All Vacation Homes Should be Quality Inspected

certainly not what you paid for. Performing needed maintenance and preventive maintenance at appropriate intervals before the guest arrives keep the home and its collective infrastructure operating effectively to the benefit of the occupants.

Before you book your vacation home, make sure the management company has a quality program in place as evidenced by testimonials, referrals or a program mentioned on their website. Although this might seem a given as a consumer, it is surprising to see the number of companies that don’t see the guest experience as part of their “brand”. Why? They put their time and efforts into other areas of the business or they purposely cut corners to reduce expenses. Make sure you never book with a company in the latter group.

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Oct 5

Good Vacation Home Management

So you own a vacation home? Join about 40,000 other owners in the Orlando, Kissimmee, Disney, Clermont or Davenport area.

What Homeowners should demand from their management company:

1. The option to opt out of the management contract at any time if you are not happy with the company.
2. The ability to rent out your home at least 65% of the year.
3. A quarterly quality assurance and inspection report with photos and scores for all aspects of your home from the AC system to pool.
4. Assurance that home repairs are completed at cost, and that a detailed report is provided of work completed
5. All capital projects are bid out in writing to at least three bidders for items such as roof repair, ac replacement, pool resurfacing etc.
6. Minor repairs are billed at a rate no higher than $35 an hour.
7. You can login-in to your account 24 hours a day to view all bookings, maintenance and account details.
8. They are licensed and insured, and can provide all documentation
9. They provide resumes of their key staff
10. They respond quickly and professionally to your requests and answer their phones by the third ring 24/7

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Sep 12

Always do your homework. There are hundreds of management companies and picking the wrong one can be costly. Here are some questions you may want to consider asking:

1. Are they licensed and do they have proof of licensure?
2. Are they insured and do they have proof of insurance?
3. How long have they been in business and do they have proof of that experience (references, etc…)?
4. How many homes do they manage?
5. Do they have a physical office and where is it located?
6. How will they market your house to potential renters?
7. How many full time staff do they have?
8. Do they contract out and markup pool service, cleaning, landscaping and general maintenance or do it themselves at cost?
9. Do they have a system that an owner can access and view when the home is booked?
10. Do they have a system where I can view my account and property maintenance?
11. What is the average occupancy of homes they have managed for 3 or more years?
12. What type of preventative maintenance will they do on my home?
13. Do they make a profit off repairs and maintenance?
14. How is my home inspected and maintained?
15. Will they guarantee a minimum net rental income in writing?
16. Are they also real estate agents?
17. Are they registered with the Better Business Bureau?
18. Do they have 24 hour customer service?
19. Can they provide you with a dozen references (of other home owners) for you to call?
20. What type of quality assurance do they offer and how is it communicated?

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