Holiday Rental - Bond

[toony]

I have a holiday rental where I have listed the property on Stayz.com then passed the rental to an agency in the town who charges me 13% of the rental and then deals with the holiday tenant.

My property is listed here - http://www.stayz.com.au/70445

Stayz.com generates more holiday rentals than the rental agency, so I am looking at doing it myself.

I am not really sure how to go about collecting a Bond. Does anyone have a form or something to send a tenant if they are interested in the property? Does anyone do this themselves? Any advise, appreciated.

 

[Ausprop]

I use to just put it on the booking advice and keep the money in the bank. agreed that you are best to do it yourself. the agents use to be in shock when i told them I wanted $2k week at xmas..."oh but you can't other places only get and blah blah blah" to which I use to say "yes but there are 0 vacancies so why not put the price up" at which poin thtey refused because they were more wprried about their reputation than acvhieving max rent. So I put it on stayz at $5k a week and got it and saved myself the 20% comm. those 4 to 6 weeks over xmas are where you make 80% of your income. and if people wont pay high rent dont bother letting it out - better to do fewer high rents than run around like a blue eyed fly accommodating poor people!

 

[Ausprop]

i note yours is not beachside so your rental profiel may differ

 

[Ed Barton]

I use to just put it on the booking advice and keep the money in the bank. agreed that you are best to do it yourself. the agents use to be in shock when i told them I wanted $2k week at xmas..."oh but you can't other places only get and blah blah blah" to which I use to say "yes but there are 0 vacancies so why not put the price up" at which poin thtey refused because they were more wprried about their reputation than acvhieving max rent. So I put it on stayz at $5k a week and got it and saved myself the 20% comm. those 4 to 6 weeks over xmas are where you make 80% of your income. and if people wont pay high rent dont bother letting it out - better to do fewer high rents than run around like a blue eyed fly accommodating poor people!

some good points. agents don't understand that it is a 'hotel' style accommodation and not resi.

i have some mates who have blocks of units they rent for holidays. it's all yield (and not like we mostly define it) and occupancy rates.

you make the 80% during the school holidays at 2-5k pw but the extra cream is renting to pensioners in the off season at 500pw, but they take it for 2 months and you only need to do one change over. they don't wreck the place to boot and they sometimes book years in advance.

wot if now does holiday house rentals.

 

[Goofy]

slightly off topic.. i had a look at your listing... PLEASE change the photo with the bunks in them!! beds unmade, mattress leaning up against the bed. you want to present your property in its best light.. this photo drags it down...

carry on! (Sorry pet hate of mine!)

 

[toony]

slightly off topic.. i had a look at your listing... PLEASE change the photo with the bunks in them!! beds unmade, mattress leaning up against the bed. you want to present your property in its best light.. this photo drags it down...

carry on! (Sorry pet hate of mine!)

I agree. I have been meaning too. Just with everything else, its taken a low priority.

 

[toony]

I use to just put it on the booking advice and keep the money in the bank. agreed that you are best to do it yourself. the agents use to be in shock when i told them I wanted $2k week at xmas..."oh but you can't other places only get and blah blah blah" to which I use to say "yes but there are 0 vacancies so why not put the price up" at which poin thtey refused because they were more wprried about their reputation than acvhieving max rent. So I put it on stayz at $5k a week and got it and saved myself the 20% comm. those 4 to 6 weeks over xmas are where you make 80% of your income. and if people wont pay high rent dont bother letting it out - better to do fewer high rents than run around like a blue eyed fly accommodating poor people!

I have noticed something similar. Its not by the beach, but its on a lake that is now 80% full popular with water skiers. I got 2 weeks in Jan and have it booked for Easter, Labour weekend and another weekend. Its also a 30mins drive from Mt Buller. I got about 4-5 weekends during the winter last year. About 90% of my bookings have been via Stayz.

 

[Jody in Darwin]

Hi Toony,

I can't really answer your question as I struggle a little with this myself. My property is a holiday rental advertised on stayz too but my professional experience & training is all geared up for residential property management - which as everyone has said is a different kettle of fish. So I would definitely agree that you would do a better job than a regular agent - at least one without any hospitality experience anyway.

This one is mine: http://www.stayz.com.au/60996?numNights=1

- Bond - I don't collect it. My unit is not right in the city & its not a house that can accommodate a lot of people so it tends to attract couples wanting a quiet break or visiting family - no party animals or big families.

- Photos - even more important than long term residential to get professional photos taken I think.

- Pricing - It seems busy periods in Darwin are the polar opposite to what everyone has said re down south. We are quiet over Christmas. One thing I have found though is that my unit can bear $180 per night - possibly more but the higher I go, the messier & ruder my guests become. I prefer to keep the price at $160 in the busy season so my business is much more enjoyable & MUCH less time spent cleaning up after people.

- Landlord insurance - has anyone found an insurer who will insure you when your property is not being managed by an agent?

Kind regards,
Jody

 

[Jen_PFR]

We do take a bond, but we also rent for a minimum of two months. We say that the property isn't booked until we've received the bond. On commencement of the tenancy, we lodge the bond with the bond administrator. This has worked well for the last three and a half years that we've been doing it.

In terms of landlords' insurance - we go with ING, they cover self-managed properties.

 

[schminkle]

We rent out our holiday home and regularly take a bond, but really don't know what we should be doing.

I wished Stayz would provide the option, but they just prefer to take money and don't like refunding, or passing it on quickly.

Lately we've been using paypal and getting the bond as a separate payment which is easily refunded. We've never had a problem with any tennats requiring us to keep the bond, but it always worries me that when I do have to keep it, or part of it, how it will work out.