3 Quick and Easy Ways To Improve Your Vacation Rental Ad in 2010

As I was browsing HomeAway tonight looking for a vacation rental I noticed one ad in particular that caught my eye over all of the other ads.  This ad was nothing special but it had three things going for it that most of the others did not. If your vacation rental ad on HomeAway or VRBO doesn’t already consist of these three things than I would advise you to consider implementing these tips into your ad and you will most likely notice a higher click-thru rate in 2010.

1. Accept Online Payments
The very first thing I noticed about this ad over the others was that it accepts online payments.  I don’t know about you but I’m a creature of convenience and love to keep things as simple as possible.  If a customer can quickly and easily pay online for their vacation rental and does not have to deal with calling a management company  or owner to arrange payment than they will be much more likely to book your property over one that makes them jump through the hoops to make payment.  Many owners don’t implement this concept for many reasons.  Some of the most common reasons are they either don’t know how to set it up or they don’t want to pay the fees that are assessed when accepting credit card payments.  It takes about 2 minutes to set up a Pay-Pal account and start accepting credit card payments.  If you decide to start accepting online payments be sure to list it on your ad!

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2. Reviews
The second reason I clicked on this ad was because it had more reviews than the other vacation condos listed on that page.  No matter how happy your customers may be after they leave your vacation home, getting a testimonial from them is sometimes one of the hardest things to do.  It’s not because they didn’t think your place was great but in most cases it’s just plain inconvenient for people to go to your website and leave feedback or send you an email with feedback.  There are many methods you can implement for getting more feedback from your guests and I will go into that in another post but it’s important that you get as many of your guests as possible to leave you a review about your property.

Don’t forget to join the waiting list for The Pink Flamingo’s up and coming e-book “Everything You Wish You Knew BEFORE Buying a Florida Vacation Rental Home“

3. Great Cover Photo
The subject of what makes a great vacation rental ad photo is debatable by many but what I loved most about this particular ad was that it didn’t have the same picture of either the kitchen or living room as all of the other vacation rentals did.  This photo showcased exactly what I was looking for and that was an amazing view and a great location.  The photo that you put on the front of your ad is going to be the first and in some cases the only picture that prospective renters are going to see, so make it count!  If your home is in a tropical location like Florida it’s great to show a picture of the ocean view or the pool and spa area.  Take into consideration what you are trying to sell and that’s a vacation not a house. People make purchases based on emotional reasons so learn to push those emotional buttons in your ad and watch the click-thru rate and bookings sky rocket!

Here’s to 2010 and all of the bookings you will be getting for your vacation rental!

Four Free Ways To View Local Orlando Real Estate From Afar

Trying to find the perfect vacation rental investment from thousands of miles away can often become a very frustrating task. Homes might look great in the pictures online but what does the surrounding area look like?  If you’re not utilizing at least one of these five free mapping tools listed here than you you may be in for a huge surprise when you arrive here in Orlando for your property inspection trip.

1. Bing Birds Eye View: Birds Eye View from Bing is one of my favorite free mapping tools on the market. It’s so easy to use and gives an very clear picture of not only the home but also the surrounding area. It also offers an ariel/satellite view which is similar to what google has.

2. Google Street View: Some pretty funny stuff has been caught on Google street view but we’ll save that for the What the Flock section. Google street view is great for just about anything but above all it’s amazing for researching real estate.  It’s the second best thing to actually being able to walk or drive the streets your self.  Google street view offers you a 360* view of the street.  This is great if you want to see what your future neighbor’s houses look like or what your walk to the clubhouse will be like.

3. Map Quest:

Compared to Bing and Google, Mapquest seems to be the awkward kid at school but even the awkward kids are good at something and mapquest is still my number one choice for driving directions and route planning.  Mapquest even has the 360* and ariel view options. What’s great about Mapquest is you can map the route with an ariel view and also add tons of cool options to your route like gas stations, traffic reports and much more. Mapquest is a very useful program for checking the distance and route from your potential vacation home to Disney or other popular destinations.

4. Google Earth:

Google Earth deserves it’s very own post but I’m throwing the short version in because it’s THAT important to know about and utilize in your property searches.  Google earth integrates street view, ariel view and so much more.  You can view the sun exposure at any hour of the day, see what your neighborhood looked like 3 years ago and if you’re an astronomy nerd like me you’ll love that you can even view the night sky from the house that your researching.  How cool is that? Google earth is  free to download and will become your best friend when trying to purchase and research a home from thousands of miles away.

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How To Estimate Rental Potential For an Orlando Vacation Rental Investment Using VRBO

As if I haven’t pounded this into the heads of my readers enough already here I go with a video tutorial to make this even more clear.  You must research a vacation rental investment before you purchase it, two of the most important things you want to know up front are

1. What is the rental potential of this property?
2. What type of rates can I generate?

In my up and coming ebook I go into this subject in EXTENSIVE detail with spreadsheets and videos but for the sake of keeping this simple, short and sweet I’ve created this quick little tutorial on how to quickly use VRBO to check the booking and rental rates of an Orlando vacation rental.  This method can be used for any vacation rental property listed for sale.  All you need to know is the neighborhood name and the general stats of the home (beds and baths)

Here is a link to the exact property I used as an example in this video
Here is a link to the example listing I used on VRBO

Important Information Regarding the Launch of The Pink Flamingo’s New Ebook

I would like to say a huge thanks to everyone who signed up on the waiting list for the up and coming ebook “Everything You Wish You Knew Before Buying a Florida Vacation Rental Home”.  It’s quite a mouthful to say but I wanted the title to reflect the extensive detail of the ebook.  This is a project I have been working on for quite some time now and I’m excited to release it to you.

We’re Beefing Up
During the process of writing this book I have come across so many fantastic people that have inspired me, educated me, helped me and guided me. Like everything else in my life, if I can’t devote my absolute best to something I will not take it on, because of this I have chosen to add both video and interactive spreadsheets to the ebook. This ebook will no longer be just another ebook but the only Florida vacation home buying resource you will ever need and will be more of a workbook.  The process of adding these bells and whistles to this has caused me to have to delay the launch of the book.  I don’t feel it would be fair to deliver you the product in it’s current state, I want to give you the most valuable resource available on the market today and to do that I will need to push this launch back.  To show my gratitude to those of you who have been anxiously waiting for this ebook and registered on the launch list before December 7, 2009; I will be giving you this workbook absolutely free, details on that have been emailed out to you.

Again I want to thank everyone for their help and support with this project and please stay posted for the release date.  I don’t anticipate this going to far past January and I am pushing for before the New Year.  If you haven’t subscribed yet you can do so here to stay updated this project.   Happy holidays to all of you around the world and thank you for being part of the flock!