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.
Hi everyone,
This week I would like to give you a little “behind the scenes look” into how the Owner Community for HomeAway gets story ideas.
Each day, the staff at the Owner Community monitors many different newspaper websites, vacation rental chat boards and property review sites. We also field calls and emails from many owners. Much of the time, the topics of discussion are nothing new to us—the homeowner wants to know the best way to price their property, how much they can withhold if there are damages to their homes, where they can find insurance, and the list goes on… On occasion though we'll read something that catches our attention.
So here's what went down last Friday:
I sat at my desk Friday morning and started scanning through the message boards that I monitor. I read a post about a new occupancy tax that was imposed in Sevier County Tennessee. It was put into place 13 days prior, but the person who posted had not been notified by the county. Now that post really surprised me because I own in Sevier County Tennessee and I didn't know about the new tax either.
From there the staff at the Owner Community did some fact checking on the post ( checked newspaper websites and called the county tax offices). We concluded that the post was accurate. There was a new tax that homeowners were supposed to be collecting, and very few owners had been notified. We figured that this would create a lot of questions for owners in that area. We needed some answers—fast!
In this instance, we figured that it would be best if we could get an official statement from someone in the county. Rather than writing an article, we decided a podcast would be the best way to get all the facts—right from the source. We were able to call the county and set up a podcast interview with the County Trustee. Yesterday we sent an email to all of the owners in Sevier County Tennessee who list on HomeAway.com.
This time, it just so happened that I to own a property in the area. However I can't own everywhere (though I'd like to). But you (all readers collectively) do! So if there's something going on in your market that you think other owners would benefit knowing about, please let us know. The Owner Community is dedicated to keeping vacation rental owners informed.
Happy Renting By Owner!
Christine
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