Happy New Year! I cannot believe it's already 2007.

Well in my last post I left you hanging…I wrote: “all rested up for the inevitable January 2nd major crisis that happens every year…”

Ok here's the deal. Every year since I have owned vacation rental homes, I have some sort of major problem arise on Jan 2. One year my air conditioner need replacing, another year a well pump had to be replaced, another year a dishwasher, another year a tree fell on my cabin and so on. I kid you not! Every January 2nd! I don't know why, be it fate or fortune, but I am glad to report that the spell has been broken. Nothing happened this year.

Well… maybe because it all happened the week before! Let's see…on Christmas Eve morning I had a renter call and the propane went out~ which we use to heat the fireplaces. Yea! Try to get a gas company to come out on a Sunday which also happens to be a holiday! With some sweet talking, coercing, and I'll admit begging, the gas man agreed to come up the mountain on Christmas Eve. Thankfully the renters could have the ambiance of a fire cracking on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

The next thing that happened was I had renters in a different property who had to leave after only one night's stay…long story but it was a big dollar rental (holiday)…and though my contracts states non-refundable, I felt morally obligated to do my best to re-rent it and refund them as much if not all of the unused portion of their rental monies.

Here's what I did~ I went to my ad on VRBO and Changed the headline. I wrote Dec 27-Jan 7 OPEN! I also changed my calendar to reflect the vacancy and in the text of my description, I wrote in capital letters “CALL IMMEDIATELY if you want Dec 27-Jan 7” Wouldn't you know that within minutes I got phone calls from 4 different people and I was able to re-book! I was pleased as were the renters who departed early.

And then lastly I got a call from one of my housekeepers. She said, “Christine has anyone told you about what your renters did to your cabin?” ….that's not a great start to a phone call. Of course, after swallowing my stomach that inadvertently ended up in my stomach, I grabbed an alcoholic beverage and sat down, I said, “Ok I'm ready for the bad news…what now????” My housekeeper started laughing and she said, “Holy Crap, Christine you would never believe it! The renters that left must have spent $500 on decorations for your cabin and they left them all up. Your cabin looks absolutely beautiful. There's a real fully decorated Christmas tree, lights everywhere, garland, candles, wreaths, and so on. They also left gifts for the housekeepers and one for you!”

So this is why I absolutely love renting out my vacation homes. No matter what goes wrong, there's always someone out there who will make it all “perfect” and make you forget about any of the bad stuff that happens.

Wishing each and every one of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2007! …and at least one great renter who makes it all “perfect”.

Happy Renting By Owner!

Christine

If you're interested in hearing Christine speak at one of her upcoming seminars, visit the Seminar Schedule for more information.

More Recent Post

Older Post