When you are thinking about how you will manage the rental of your vacation home, you have two options:

Using a Property Manager When researching a management company to work with, start by analyzing the results that come up on search engines through the Internet. The number one objective for the management company that you choose is, “Can the company rent your property?” Look for a property manager who focuses on building their Internet presence, which is the number one place vacationers look for properties.

Look to see where the company comes up on a search engine by putting in the name of the town and various search terms. If you see the particular company's name come up again and again, that's certainly a company you want to investigate. In addition to Internet research, talk to other property owners in the area to see if they can recommend a good property manager. Additionally, you can ask your real estate agent for names of management companies. Agents constantly visit properties so they can see if the management companies are doing a good job of maintaining them. Agents can be an excellent source of referrals.

You will want to find a property manager who can and will handle everything for you. In exchange for their services, they typically charge a commission for their services, which can range from 20 to 50 percent of the rental income.

Before hiring a property manager, verify the following:

• Will advertise the property both locally and internationally?
• Will they guarantee a minimum level of bookings?
• Will they interview potential guests to make sure they are suitable?
• Will they inspect the property before and after each rental and do an inventory inspection?
• How do they welcome the guests into your property?
• Will they organize repairs and maintenance and provide receipts?
• How will they communicate with you?

Self-Managing aka Renting by Owner
Today hundreds of thousands vacation homeowners choose to rent without the use of a property manager. For many, there are 3 main reasons they choose to rent by owner instead of using a property management company. The first is the more obvious: it's money. You can make more money by saving the management company commissions. The second reason to rent by owner is having complete control of “who” rents your property. By talking to each renter yourself, you can better screen who you will allow to stay in your second home, whereas property management companies might not be as particular. And the third reason many people have chosen to rent their vacation home without the use of a property manager is because websites such as HomeAway.com and VRBO.com have made it extremely simple and cost effective to rent your vacation home without a middleman.

There are some challenges to renting your home without the use of a property manager, especially from a distance. Finding a reliable cleaning service or housekeeper is probably the most difficult part of renting your vacation home by owner. Your housekeepers are going to be your eyes and ears to your home, they're the ones that are going in there every single week, and they are the ones checking up on the renters making sure that there was no damage or theft. Since this is such an integral part of renting your home, you need to find someone who is reliable, communicative, and trustworthy.