So you own a lovely secondary home in the mountains, or near some nice lake, or in a charming town. You spend three months of the summer enjoying your home and maybe a few days during the winter holiday season. And that’s wonderful.
But how would you react if someone told you that you had missed out on some $250,000 in potential rental income over the last 10 years? Gulp…
Rather than feeling terrible about that shocking, rather depressing thought, why not look at it as a wake-up call (I’m an unrepentant optimist). Instead of thinking about what you’ve missed out on, just imagine how much money you could bring in over the NEXT 10 years! And imagine what you could do with that money…
There are several reasons why some property owners haven’t yet entered the vacation rental business. Many simply have just never thought about it. Some busy people have considered it but haven’t found the time to sit down and think it through. Some may be concerned about the amount of time and energy they will have to invest or whether they have the competence and patience to undertake the task. Others are worried about potential damage to their property. Or what to charge vacationers, how to be competitive with hotels and what regional regulations may exist. Often times, it’s simply a matter of not knowing where to start.
Our point this week is: If you’re not renting your vacation property now, you’re probably sitting on a cash cow without realizing it… And like the rest of us, I’m sure you would know what to do with the extra income, especially as we’re coming out of a recession. You may not realize that, yes, you can have your cake and eat it too – you can enjoy your secondary home and still leverage it for precious extra income.
In our next posts, we’ll walk you through the primary obstacles – most of which are simply perceptions and misconceptions and not reality. I think you’ll quickly see that the multiple advantages of offering your home to vacation renters far outweigh any disadvantages.
