A Word from Christine
A welcome message from the Director of the Owner Community, Christine Karpinski. |
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About the Author: Christine Karpinski
A short biography of bestselling author and Owner Community director, Christine Karpinski. |
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Ask Christine: Is It Okay to Have a Permanent Renter Live on the Property?
Christine chimes in on the viability of having a permanent cleaning and maintenance person live in half of a vacation rental property. |
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Ask Christine: Can I Ask For a Credit Card Number in Case of Damages?
Christine answers a question from an owner who does not take credit cards, but who wonders if she can keep a credit card number on file in case of excessive damage. |
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Ask Christine: Can I Start Renting If I Don't Have Any Interior Photos?
Christine answers a question from a homeowner who would like to start renting, but does not have any pictures of the inside of her house. |
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Ask Christine: Does a Two Bedroom Rent More Easily Than a One Bedroom?
Christine answers a question from an owner who wonders if it would be better to split her home into two separate rentals. |
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Ask Christine: How Can I Tell if My Second Home is Rentable?
Christine answers a question from an owner who has a second home in a suburb of Denver. |
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Ask Christine: How Do You Keep Track of Video Games and DVDs?
Christine offers a tip for keeping up with video games and dvds at your vacation rental home. |
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Ask Christine: Should I Charge a Non-Refundable "Wear-and-Tear" Fee?
Christine answers a question from an owner who wonder if she should charge a non-refundable fee to cover wear and tear to her property. |
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Ask Christine: Should You Offer Refunds for Acts of Nature?
Christine answers a question from an owner whose property was struck by lightning during a guest's stay. |
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Ask Christine: Why Do I Get a Lot of Inquiries, But No Bookings?
Christine answers a question from an owner who gets a lot of inquiries, but very few bookings. |
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Christine Karpinski in the Media
A record of bestselling author Christine Karpinski's print, tv, and radio appearances. |
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Christine's Blog: 2008 Seminar Locations (12/5/07)
Christine finishes up her fall seminar tour and looks to 2008. |
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Christine's Blog: 4th of July Weekend and Using the Find Feature (7/7/2008)
Christine explains why she doesn't use her own homes on the 4th of July and shares a handy keyboard shortcut. |
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Christine's Blog: A Few Things We Can Learn From Hotels (7/9/07)
Christine recounts what she noticed while staying in hotels this past month and what hotel practices and amenities that vacation rental owners might want to emulate. |
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Christine's Blog: A Last-Minute Lock Change (11/27/07)
Christine deals with renters who forget to return the keys to her property-- and the backup set. |
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Christine's Blog: A Non-Traditional Booking (9/16/08)
Christine is pleased to have landed a 10-week booking at her Panama City Beach condo. |
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Christine's Blog: Accepting Large Dogs (5/14/07)
Christine talks about targeting an often-overlooked group of renter: large dog owners. |
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Christine's Blog: Added Extras (3/11/08)
Christine talks about the benefits of including beach service for her guests. |
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Christine's Blog: An Overview of Spring Conferences (05/05/2008)
Christine talks about the recent shows and conferences she has attended. |
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Christine's Blog: Arthur Frommer's Radio Show (6/20/2008)
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Christine's Blog: Back from the FVRMA Conference (5/23/07)
Christine's takeaways from the Florida Vacation Rental Manager's Association conference that she attended this week. |
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Christine's Blog: Back from Vacation (8/18/08)
Christine had a great time in Exuma and is ready to plan her next vacation. |
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Christine's Blog: Being a Good Vacation Rental Owner (1/8/07)
There's a new type of vacationer on the rise-- the vacation rental newbie-- and it's important to treat them well to ensure your future success and the success of the vacation rental industry. |
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Christine's Blog: Being on the Renter Side (8/28/2008)
Christine shares some insights into her search and booking process. |
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Christine's Blog: Booking Patterns and Weather (3/17/08)
Christine weighs in on how the weather across the country affects when bookings tend to roll in. |
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Christine's Blog: Buying Linens for Your Vacation Home (4/10/07)
Christine writes about her experience buying new sheets for her new king-size beds. |
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Christine's Blog: Buying New Beds for Your Vacation Rental Property (1/30/07)
Christine vents her frustration with the myriad of choices to made when buying new beds for her vacation homes. |
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Christine's Blog: Christine's Take on HomeAway 2.0 (9/17/07)
Christine talks about the benefits to owners of HomeAway 2.0. |
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Christine's Blog: Credit Card Scam or Not? (4/30/07)
Christine talks about her experience dealing with an unsavory credit card situation. |
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Christine's Blog: Dealing with a Drought (11/12/07)
Christine offers insight into how to divert complaints when dealing with less than ideal situations. |
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Christine's Blog: Deviating from Your Process (2/25/08)
Christine goes against her booking process... bad idea. |
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Christine's Blog: Did Early Easter Affect Your Spring Bookings?
Before you start scratching your head about lower than normal spring rentals, it might just be the early Easter holiday. Consult your calendars for insight into booking patterns. |
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Christine's Blog: Do Two Wrongs Make a Right? (9/4/07)
Oh no! Christine's renters showed up and her vacation home wasn't clean. She recounts how she handled it and why you should check your HomeAway listing to make sure that your rates haven't dropped off. |
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Christine's Blog: Do You Rent with Your Heart or Your Wallet? (2/8/07)
Christine looks at three scenarios that are difficult business and moral decisions to make regarding your vacation rental home. Consider what you'd do in these tough scenarios. |
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Christine's Blog: Do You Stick to Your Principles? (7/2/07)
Christine reflects upon the quandary of offering amenities that don't necessarily coincide with the owner's personal principles to attract renters. |
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Christine's Blog: Doing Maintenance While on Vacation (3/21/07)
Christine's recent visit to her vacation rental home entailed more than just soaking in the sun. Each time she visits her properties, she completes necessary maintenance tasks that come with renting by owner. |
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Christine's Blog: Double-Booking Scare (5/29/07)
Christine recounts her Memorial Day experience dealing with a potential double-booked property. |
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Christine's Blog: Following Up with Inquiries (1/22/08)
Christine offers advice for how to followup with inquiries for the summer season. |
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Christine's Blog: FVRMA and Takeaways from Traveler Focus Groups (5/21/07)
Christine sounds off on why she's attending the Florida Vacation Rental Manager's Association conference and what she learned from focus groups conducted by HomeAway this past week. |
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Christine's Blog: Getting to Know You... (7/23/07)
Christine talks about how you (the owner) can sign up to participate in press opportunities, focus groups, and other owner feedbacks forums. |
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Christine's Blog: Getting Your Ads Ready for 2008 (11/19/07)
Christine prepares for the Thanksgiving holiday--- and for next year. |
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Christine's Blog: Heading to the Hawaii Seminars (9/22/08)
Christine talks about the prep work for the Hawaii Seminar Series. |
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Christine's Blog: How I'd Like to Respond to Bargain Hunters (5/7/07)
Christine reacts to a few of the inquiries that she received this week. |
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Christine's Blog: How I'd Like to Respond to Stupid Questions (8/20/07)
Christine talks about how she'd really like to answer stupid questions from her renters. |
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Christine's Blog: How the OC Gets Ideas (7/17/07)
This week, Christine writes about how the Owner Community decides what to write/podcast about and what you can do to help. |
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Christine's Blog: Juggling Inquiries from the Road (10/10/07)
Christine deals with a situation where a renter sent an inquiry about a certain weekend and expected her to hold it for her without sending payment. |
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Christine's Blog: Less-Than-5 Reviews (2/5/08)
Christine explains why she's not upset by a 4-suitcase review. |
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Christine's Blog: Maintenance Disappointments (4/22/08)
Christine discusses her maintenance expectations and finding trustworthy service providers. |
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Christine's Blog: Memorial Day Weekend (5/21/2008)
Christine talks about ideas for booking last minute renters for a big holiday weekend. |
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Christine's Blog: Misconceptions About Recent Inquiry (5/27/2008)
Christine discusses an inquiry from what she thought was a scammer but was actually a qualified renter. |
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Christine's Blog: My Labor Day Weekend Confusion (8/25/08)
Christine discusses some recent confusion about Labor Day availability. |
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Christine's Blog: New Appliances (July 22, 2008)
Christine's special anniversary gifts resolve some vacation rental problems. |
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Christine's Blog: New Technology and the New Year (1/8/08)
Christine chats about new developments at HomeAway and how to make sure you're getting your inquiries. |
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Christine's Blog: Not-So-Smooth Sailing (8/6/07)
After her claim of a smoothly-running summer last week, Christine recants as this last week was a doozy. |
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Christine's Blog: Nothing's Ever Easy (8/27/07)
Christine recounts her struggle to install an over-the-stove microwave in her vacation home. |
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Christine's Blog: Observations about Vacation Homes and Owners (10/1/2008)
Christine shares some valuable insight on her recent conversations with owners and vacation rental stays. |
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Christine's Blog: On Cancellations and Missing Organs (10/31/07)
Christine talks about her recent appendectomy and her only seminar cancellation in 10 years. |
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Christine's Blog: On the Road Again... (9/30/07)
Christine checks in from her Northeast seminar tour. |
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Christine's Blog: One of Those Weeks (2/22/08)
Christine recounts this past week when everything seemed to go wrong. |
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Christine's Blog: Playing Catch Up (2/13/08)
Just so you know... Christine doesn't always practice what she preaches. |
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Christine's Blog: Preparing for the Holidays (12/18/07)
When you're going to be out of town and out of reach, make sure that you have a plan for dealing with crises that could befall your vacation rental home while you're away. |
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Christine's Blog: Preparing for Vacation (8/5/08)
Christine talks about the building excitement and the not-so-fun prep work for her upcoming vacation. |
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Christine's Blog: Proposed Vacation Rental Bans in Hawaii (3/2/07)
Christine addresses the reasons behind the Owner Community's new Vacation Rental Bans and Local Rental Alerts sections. |
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Christine's Blog: Protecting Your Second Home From Wildfires (3/26/07)
After a wildfire scare last week, Christine gives a few tips for eliminating the risk of fire in your vacation rental property. |
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Christine's Blog: Responding to Inquiries... Even When You're Booked (1/22/07)
One of the top complaints that we hear from renters at HomeAway.com is that vacation rental owners never respond to their inquiries. Why not? |
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Christine's Blog: Revisiting Your Insurance Policy (11/6/07)
A little CNN Headline News inspires Christine to look over the insurance policies and declaration pages for her vacation rental homes. |
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Christine's Blog: Scheduling Fall Maintenance (09/08/08)
Christine vents about the burdens of scheduling and planning for fall maintenance. |
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Christine's Blog: Sending Two Contracts for the Same Week (4/7/08)
Christine gets on a soapbox about why you shouldn't send two contracts out to potential renters for the same week. |
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Christine's Blog: Summer Update, Seminar Tour, and Survey (7/30/07)
Christine talks about a smattering of topics this week include how the summer has been so far for her rentals, why she's limiting seating in the fall seminars, and how a little survey can get owners big press exposure. |
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Christine's Blog: Switching to Fluorescent Light Bulbs (4/23/07)
Christine talks about making the switch from incandescent to compact fluorescent light bulbs. |
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Christine's Blog: The 2008 NAREE Conference (5/13/2008)
Christine talks about what she learned from her panel at the 2008 NAREE Conference. |
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Christine's Blog: The Downside to Vacation Rental Ownership (6/10/08)
Christine recounts a recent experience that made her momentarily forget why she enjoys renting her vacation homes. |
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Christine's Blog: The Frommer Interview (6/23/2008)
Christine shares her thoughts about her Frommer interview and a recent rental pain. |
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Christine's Blog: The January 2nd Curse (1/3/07)
Every year, some major problem arises at Christine's vacation rentals. She's learned to prepare for the worst and relish the great renters. |
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Christine's Blog: The Most Difficult Part of Renting (9/10/07)
Christine contemplates the housekeeping situation at one of her properties. |
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Christine's Blog: The New HomeAway Connect Calendar (12/21/07)
Christine gives her take on the new HomeAway (and VRBO) calendar system. |
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Christine's Blog: The Pre-Busy Vacation Rental Inquiry Season (12/4/06)
Before you get barraged with inquiries for your vacation rental property, take a few minutes to update your listings. |
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Christine's Blog: The Vacation Real Estate Market (6/4/07)
Christine's back from the NAREE conference with advice about dealing with the softening housing market. |
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Christine's Blog: The Value of Snowbirds (1/29/08)
Christine describes the invaluable feedback that monthly (or longer) renters can give. |
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Christine's Blog: Updating Your Rental Agreements (12/11/07)
Christine make a few alterations to her rental contracts. |
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Christine's Blog: Vacation Rental Booking Dilemma (12/18/06)
Christine deals with the dilemma of holding time at one of her vacation rental properties for a renter. When should you make exceptions? |
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Christine's Blog: Vacation Rental Highs and Lows (7/1/2008)
Christine discusses some unexpected bookings and a vacation rental obstacle. |
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Christine's Blog: What is a Vacation Rental? (2/22/07)
At a recent conference, Christine spoke with many travelers who had never heard of or considered staying in a vacation rental. Here are a few of the questions and pre-conceived notions that they had about vacation rentals that vacation rental owners should be aware of. |
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Christine's Blog: What To Make of the 2007 Vacation Home Buyers Survey (03/31/2008)
Christine's take on the survey results of the National Association of Realtors. |
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Christine's Blog: What You Should Know About Scams (6/27/07)
Scammers are getting more and more savvy. Here are some quick dos and don'ts. |
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Christine's Blog: Whew! Taxes Done (4/16/07)
Christine is glad to be done with her taxes and checked in at her cabins on the new beds and linens that she recently ordered. |
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Christine's Blog: Wrong Number Coincidence (6/20/07)
This weekend, Christine once again tranposed a number (see the Credit Card Scam blog post)... and it may result in a booking. |
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Meet the Owner Community
Meet the staff members responsible for the behind-the-scenes work of the Owner Community. |
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The 2nd Edition of Christine Karpinski's Book, How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner
Christine talks about the new 2nd edition of How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner, which includes over 150 pages of new material and is now available on her website. |
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Vacation Rental Seminars & Workshops
Information about Christine's upcoming How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner seminars and workshops for vacation rental owners. |
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