Vacation home rentals are often great deals and can make for great fun with family and friends.
Vacation rental homes typically offer you some additional freedom and choices to work with. For example, you can often get more space for your dollar than hotel rooms and they usually have kitchens and appliances that will help you save money by preparing meals.
They can be excellent for large groups traveling together, offer fun extra amenities and provide a feeling of a community’s local flavor.
However, vacation home rentals do entail certain risks personally, legally and financially. Here are eight things to consider to make renting a vacation home a great experience for the family:
Use a reliable vacation rental company that offers protection policies and guarantees.
Bulletin board websites. Websites that specialize in vacation rentals by owner such as HomeAway™, Airbnb and FlipKey offer bulletin boards that allow homeowners to post their own homes as vacation rentals.
Many (although not all) of these types of companies offer basic safety features such as background and address checks, uncensored reviews and systems to flag or remove posts that they suspect are fraudulent.
Many of these companies will also offer you a refund for subpar rentals and offer additional vacation insurance options, protection plans and guarantees.
Some companies will automatically refund your money or find you a replacement if you realize the place isn’t as advertised as soon as you arrive. Others have optional guarantees you can purchase.
Curated sites. In addition to bulletin board sites, you may also want to consider renting through an agency that manages”curated” vacation rental properties. These properties have been vetted by the agencies and the agencies have contractual responsibilities to you as a renter.
Agencies with curated rentals usually offer a limited number of rentals in specific areas.
Rental fees from curated agencies may be higher than those from vacation rental bulletin boards, but they are a fantastic way to minimize many of the risks of renting a vacation property.
Check if vacation rental homes are legal where you intend to rent.
Some vacation destinations such as New York and San Francisco have regulations forbidding homeowners from renting residential properties for terms shorter than a month. These regulations are meant to protect hotel-tax revenue and guarantee an ample stock of permanent housing for residents.
Some cities prosecute property owners who violate the regulations while some attempt to permit vacation rentals and assess taxes on renters. Other towns are still determining the best way to handle such vacation rentals.
Think about the insurance implications.
When you are renting someone’s home or condo, what happens if your personal belongings are damaged or stolen, someone in your family gets hurt or you damage the rental property as you’re there?
A good deal of it depends on whether you purchased vacation insurance and your insurance covers you — and what sort of vacation home insurance the owner has on the property.
Homeowners or renters insurance coverage.
Homeowners policies regularly provide security for off-premise destruction or theft, which covers your possessions while they are out of your home.
If your homeowners policy does not contain off-premise coverage as part of its standard coverage, you may be able to purchase this coverage for an additional charge.
Examine the liability portion of your policy to determine your level of coverage for accidents that occur outside your home. To be safe, you may want to consult your insurance carrier, the home operator, the rental agency and perhaps even an attorney to clarify the full scope of coverage for difference circumstances.
The rental home owner’s coverage . For vacation homes that are for rent by owner, the homeowners insurance prices will increase and additional coverage may need to be purchased.
The insurance needs will depend on how often the property is rented out and for how long. For a one-time short-term rental, a simple extension (known as an “endorsement”) can be added to the existing homeowners policy.
On the other hand, if the vacation home is regularly rented out, a separate business coverage or a landlord coverage may be required. While some rental services, such as Airbnb and VRBO™, offer coverage for homeowners, it is important to read the fine print to determine limits and exclusions.
Ask questions to help you understand what you’re getting with your vacation rental home.
Here are a few questions you may want to ask the homeowner to be sure you understand as much as possible about the property:
How can I get around? Are items close enough to walk? Do I need a car? Is there convenient transportation? If I bring a car, is covered parking included?
What amenities are nearby? How far are they? Grocery stores?
Restaurants? The beach? Other entertainment attractions? The airport? In addition to asking the owner, you can also use mapping services that will assist you get a sense of the location and nearby amenities.
Is the neighborhood or apartment complex noisy?
Do the neighbors know the home is being rented? Do they approve?
How available are you if I have questions? Who do I call if something breaks or I have another problem?
- Are laundry facilities available?
- Are linens and other basics included such as sheets, towels, beach towels, toilet paper, paper towels, hand soap, dishwasher detergent and laundry detergent?
- What extra amenities do you supply?
- Is Wi-Fi available?
- Is the property kid-friendly? Do you allow pets?
- What does the cleaning fee cover? Am I expected to do any cleaning before I leave?
Check up on the rental homeowner
Before you sign anything or make any payments, do a little research to help you check up on the owner and the property:
Don’t rely on just electronic communication. Speak to the property owner over the phone that will assist you get a feel for them.
Ask the owners for referrals from other renters. Speak to them by phone as well.
If the property is part of a homeowners association, consider contacting the association to verify that this person is actually the owner.
Consider contacting the company that does maintenance or cleaning to verify that they do the job and ask about the status of the property. You might also wish to inquire regarding the status of the property.
Read the owner-written property descriptions carefully; don’t just skim.
Read reviews of the property and the homeowners carefully. The more favorable reviews from renters similar for you, the better.
Consider looking up the owner and the property on the internet.
If you have a weird feeling about the owners or they don’t look helpful from the start, trust your gut and walk away!
Get a contract for renting the vacation home.
Before you make any agreements or payments, make sure you have a contract outlining specifics, such as:
The arrival and departure dates.
The method, timing and full amounts of all payments including additional fees such as deposits, pet fees and cleaning fees.
What situations might cause the owner to withhold your deposit.
The cancellation policy.
Don’t skip the fine print and don’t hesitate to ask the owner to change contract language you don’t like. You may also want an attorney to review the contract before you signing.
Pay smart.
If you rent through a well-known vacation rental site or agency, you should be able to pay by credit card. Credit cards offer you the most protection against fraud and wrongful charges.
If you’re not able to use a credit card, your option should be an online money transfer service like PayPal, which also offers some protections against fraud. Avoid cash payments whenever possible.
Review the property once you arrive.
As soon as you arrive, go through the property searching for anything broken, damaged or especially worn and allow the operator or agency know straight away. If there are any significant problems, take date-stamped images for proof. In most cases, they’ll know about the problem or take your word for it.
Take special notice of things you might not use the first day but could put a real damper on your trip if they’re broken — heating and air conditioning systems, showers, faucets, toilets, appliances, doorknobs and door locks.