Options for Renting Your Winter Park Home

Many buyers in Winter Park, CO and other resort towns express a desire to rent their condo or home when they arent using it themselves. This is a great option for helping to off set mortgage and HOA costs. Since many buyers are new to the market, I often get asked what options are available for renting. There are basically two options, one place your unit with a local management company, or second use an on-line service that you manage yourself. Each has their benefits and drawbacks and depending on your situation one might fit better then the other. Placing your unit on a rental program with one of the local management companies is the painless no effort way to rent. However it will typically yield less money to the owner at the end of the day. Typically a management companies fee will be 50% of what the unit rents for nightly, so for example if your unit rents for $150.00 a night the management company will take $75 and give the owner $75. For their fee the management company will manage the whole rental process including advertising, booking and cleaning. The owner will get a check each month, with no effort on their part. Management/Rental companies in Winter Park include Allegiant, Vacations Inc., Destinations West, Resort Management Groupand Beaver Village. Each management company has different splits and fees, so it would be best to call each company to get the best deal. The second option is using an on-line rental service such as VRBO.com. VRBO short for Vacation Rentals By Owner is an on-line service that allows owners to post their rental property on-line for a nominal fee. VRBO starting cost is $249.00 annually. With an on-line rental service the owner will be responsible for taking calls and booking as well as coordinating a cleaning service to clean in between each visitor. This can be a time consuming option, but for those buyers who have the time the return can be well worth the effort.