Who Takes Care of Your Vacation Rental in the Outer Banks?
Do you live in the Outer Banks area? Even if you do, are you able to get down to your vacation rental after each of the guests and make sure the home looks great and is ready for the next renters that will be arriving? For most people, the answer is no. Either you do not live in the area, or you are so busy with other aspects of your life that you cannot tend to the property as much as it needs. In that case, you need to make sure you are working with local companies in the area that can take care of these needs for you.
Who Do You Need and How Can They Help?
The first thing you need to consider is the type of help you will need for the property. It will generally fall into three categories – cleaning, maintenance and repair, and landscaping. However, if you do not have any outdoor areas, you will not need to have any landscaping done, naturally. Let’s look at why each of these services are so important.
When your guests come to the property, they expect it to be spotless and ready for them. Dirty dishes left in the sink, a dirty carpet or floors, or towels that have not been washed make for a terrible first impression. The same is true of dried mud, a dirty kitchen or bathroom, or a layer of dust on everything. You want to impress your guests, and that means you need to have a good cleaning service that can come to the property.
It is important that you have this cleaning company come after each set of guests has gone. You should contract with a company that can meet your schedule’s needs, and they need to do a good job, of course. Your guests will be appreciative of a clean home, but it is not something they will notice, generally. However, you can be sure that if they enter a home that is a mess, you are going to hear about it.
Maintenance and repairs are a necessity too, although you will not need to have these specialists come after each guest. They will only need to be there when something goes wrong. Perhaps there is a problem with the plumbing, a broken window, or something else that needs to be fixed. It is a good idea to have a maintenance company that you can call in the area to take care of these issues for you.
Those who have a yard, whether it is in the front or out back, need to keep nature under control. A beautiful front yard helps to improve the curb appeal of the property, and a nice backyard will make it more inviting. Again, the landscapers will not have to come after each guest leaves. However, you might want to have them take care of the landscaping about once or twice a month. It will depend on what you have growing in your yard.
Should You Use Property Managers?
If you do not want to be the one who takes care of the property and find people to perform all the tasks we’ve mentioned, you might want to consider hiring a property manager. They will often have connections in the area already that they can use for the cleaning, maintenance, and landscaping. In addition, they can physically check on the property for you to make sure that everything is in good condition and let you know what needs to be fixed.
Essentially, they can take care of all the hard work for you, so you can get on with other things in your life. It does cost to hire a property manager, of course, but many vacation rental owners find that it is well worth the price not to have to deal with the hassle.
In addition, some of the property management companies out there can do even more. They can help with the marketing and photographing of the property. Again, this will provide you with more time that you can use elsewhere. You should consider working with a property management company.
What Should You Look for When Hiring?
No matter who you are hiring, whether it is a cleaning company or a property manager, you need to do your due diligence and make sure you are working with a qualified company that can meet your needs. This requires research. You want to check for reviews of the company you are hiring to see what other people have had to say about their services.
For example, if you find that the cleaning company you were considering has a slew of bad reviews stating that the property was not cleaned thoroughly, you know that you will want to look elsewhere. The same is true of all the companies you hire.
In addition, you should make sure that you check the fees from different companies. For the most part, you will find that the fees tend to be about the same from one company to another. This is because they are competing for business, and that tends to keep prices in line with one another. Still, it could save you some money.
Also, be sure that the company is able to meet your schedule requirements. When you put in some research, you will find that choosing the right companies for those jobs is not very difficult. If you start working with a company that just doesn’t live up to your expectations, do not feel bad about working with a different company in the future. After all, you want the best for your vacation rental in the Outer Banks. You expect it and so do the paying guests who walk through your doors.
You have quite a bit to think about when it comes to finding someone to take care of your property. Hopefully, the information in the blog has helped to make it a bit clearer for you, though.