VROwners | Blog

Using Zoho Invoice to Accept Credit Card Payments

2008-10-03T16:00:58+00:00

Zoho's Invoice product recently added support for Google Checkout.

Zoho Invoice automates the invoicing and payment process, sending receipts, follow-ups for unpaid invoices, and allowing you to see which invoices have been paid. You can still accept money offline, but the real advantage is to take the difficulty out of accepting payment with either Google Checkout or PayPal.

They have a free account which lets you send 5 invoices a month, and upgrading to a 25 invoice per month account is just $5.

Here is a video demo (interactive demo also available):

Increased Permits and Exterior Signs for Lake Tahoe Properties

2008-09-19T04:36:31+00:00

Last week the South Lake Tahoe City Council voted to increase vacation-home rental permit fees. Fees for new permits increased from $75 to $205. Fees for renewing existing permits jumped from $50 to $140 a year.

The increased permit fees will pay the salary and expenses for a new community service offer to regulate existing vacation-rental ordinances.

The City Council also gave initial approval to the controversial requirement that vacation rentals display an exterior sign on their property indicating the home is used as a rental property. These signs must be visible from the street and display the maximum number of occupants allowed to stay overnight, the maximum number of cars that can be parked on site and the phone number for the police.

Jim Morris, president of Lake Tahoe Accommodations, wrote an editorial opposing the City Counil's vote.

The requirement that every vacation rental post an exterior sign so that would-be thieves, vandals and vagrant trespassers know which houses to hit reflects how their zealousness in pursuing personal vendettas spills over into official government actions.

The new signage laws are scheduled for a final vote on September 23. Morris also fears an unnecessary increase in citations to justify the new community service officer position.

What are your thoughts on the exterior sign requirement? Do you think it will help curb vacation rentals as party rentals?

[Source: Lake Tahoe Daily Tribune]

Palm Springs Requiring Vacation Rentals to Register

2008-09-08T16:21:02+00:00

Surfing around and just found an article from a local Palm Springs newspaper stating that vacation rentals are now required to register with the city. It's interesting when ordinaces such as these get approved. I wonder as vacation rentals become more popular, if local governments will try to make it more difficult for homes to become vacation rentals.

One particularly great quote from the article:

John Williams, chairman of the Palm Springs Neighborhood Involvement Committee, said he was pleased to see the law move forward because living next to a vacation rental is like “living next to Zeldaz” nightclub.

Article can be found at mydesert.com. (Scoll down about half-way to get to the vacation rental article.)

Fair Housing Act - Los Angeles Vacation Rentals

2008-08-31T20:31:01+00:00

A question recently submitted and answered in the "Los Angeles Times" discusses the fair housing act as it applies to Los Angeles vacation rentals:

As soon as you begin advertising your cabin, it becomes subject to the federal Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discriminatory practices and requires you to work with a tenant who has a disability and asks for a modification of the structure. Normally, tenants pay for structural modifications. Landlords can require that the structure be returned to its original state.

Note that the law requires you to "work with" a tenant who asks for a modification. You may refuse if it would place an undue burden on your ability to run your business.

Vacation Rentals - Bright Spot in a Bad Economy

2008-08-27T19:54:19+00:00

Vacation rentals continue to get excellent press. Today's post features a recent article from the NYTimes. The article gives quite a bit of praise to the vacation rental industry:

As the economy sours, demand for vacation home rentals increases, as rental homes are seen as inexpensive alternatives to luxury hotels,” said Douglas Pope, a founder of HotPads.com, a real estate search engine. “Also, people are now beginning to divert their vacations to more local spots where rental homes are an option.”

The article also quotes Justin Halloran from HomeAway,

“Vacation rentals as a category are growing well in the U.S....They are taking shares from hotels because they give more space, freedom and amenities than hotels” — like kitchens, private pools and more bedrooms for less money.

The article also gives many tips to potential vacation rental owners. Such as:

Considering not to hire a property manager to manage your rental
Purchase as many vacation-rental listing subscriptions as your budget allows
Don't forget to advertise to the overseas markets. Especially, if you're in areas popular with international tourists (I.e. Orlando).

Entire article found at NYTimes.com.

Importance of Local Laws

2008-08-25T01:52:42+00:00

An article posted by "The Maui News" exemplifies the importance of understanding your local laws when renting out your home as a vacation rental. It seems the Maui County police department is taking this case particularly seriously. This is obviously an extreme example, but a good reminder nonetheless.

One goal of this site is to create a repository of local laws, ordinances, and tax information where one can find information about your specific local laws affecting your vacation rental. In order to have information available for all locales we'll obviously need your help. As we continue to get up and running you'll begin to see the Wiki section of the site come together so we can begin putting this data together.

Is Your Vacation Rental on YouTube?

2008-08-22T14:00:22+00:00

You'd think given how easy it is these days to put a video on YouTube, there would be a ton of videos highlighting potential vacation rentals.

Especially considering the fact that video's can be tagged with their location coordinates so that they show up in a google maps search.

So how many people are taking advantage of this free marketing channel? VRBO claims over 115,000 rentals on their website. Each listing includes five photos (each extra costs $24 a year!), but I was curious how many listings have videos?

While not completely scientific, I went to YouTube to see who uploaded videos that linked to their VRBO listing. Doing a search on YouTube for "VRBO", I got 113 results. A search for "vacation rental" turned up 3,460 results. Better, but lots of room for improvement.

What prompted this little investigation? I read a story today on Search Engine Land that talks about how much more effective local businesses are when they have a video on their website. Citing a FindLaw study, the results are impressive:

Consumers typically visit an average of 4.8 web sites before deciding which attorney to select, but that when lawyers added video to their respective web sites, this number decreased fairly substantially, to 1.8.

Imagine if instead of 20% of visitors to your listing contacting you, that percentage was 50%.

Think about that over the weekend, on Monday we'll be posting some do's and don'ts for online video. If anyone has experience with online video and their properties, let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Trip Advisor Takes a Majority Stake in FlipKey

2008-08-20T21:23:14+00:00

In a big day for the vacation rental industry on the web, Trip Advisor has announced they are taking a majority stake in startup FlipKey. This follows the earlier story about Orbitz launching a vacation rental directory.

In a blog post on their site, FlipKey CEO TJ Mahoney explains the value for both sides:

Over the last year, FlipKey has made great strides in enabling the vacation rental community with the power of guest reviews. To add to our value proposition we will now begin working with TripAdvisor to introduce vacation rentals and the reviews you collect through FlipKey to tens of millions of consumers from across the world.

For those not familiar with FlipKey, it's a startup that launched their site earlier this year. In competing with the VRBO 800 pound gorilla, FlipKey is placing a premium on trusted reviews. VRBO listings allow vacation owners to delete bad comments; FlipKey is hoping to provide a more valuable VR browsing experience by showing all reviews and providing a better user interface.

We're big fans of their approach, however in a chicken and egg problem, it's been tough going getting a critial mass of user reviews -- this is obviously where Trip Advisor comes in.

Currently listings in the directory are limited to property managers, though they say that an individual listing option is in the cards.

VRBO is still the dominant player in the North America vacation rental industry, but today it got two big new competitors.

Orbitz Partners with Zonder to Offer Vacation Rentals

2008-08-20T07:09:45+00:00

Orbitz became the first major travel agency to begin offering vacation rentals. They've partnered with Zonder to power their service.

In an interview, Orbitz Worldwide Inc. President and Chief Executive Steve Barnhart said that the vacation home rental market is highly fragmented, with most rentals advertised and booked locally. Orbitz, he said, is the first major online travel agency to offer a dedicated inventory of rental homes.

The Orbitz homepage is live with promotional links to the new vacation rentals site, located at vacationrentals.orbitz.com.

The site appears to be an Orbitz branded version of the Zonder directory. In our test searches we didn't see any integration of the Zonder vacation rental listings into Orbitz search results.

While Zonder doesn't have the inventory of listings to match VRBO, it seeks to differentiate itself by offering No Hassle Bookings.

With Zonder, you can finally book vacation rentals in real-time online or over the phone using a credit card, just like you would a hotel. No more complicated booking process. No more paper and contracts and personal checks to send off. With Zonder, booking the perfect vacation rental is just a click away.

Search integration of Zonder's listings into Orbitz results will be the true test of Orbitz commitment to the new partnership.

To get your property listed in Zonder, their FAQ asks you to email your name, phone number, email address and a link to information about your property to rentals@zonder.com.

If anyone has had prior experiences with Zonder, we'd love to hear about them in the comments.

Vacation Rental Crackdown

2008-08-20T03:18:18+00:00

I read a couple articles from "The Pine Tree" and "Marco News" about their respective communities having recent issues with short-term vacation rentals and are now attempting to crack down on them through various methods. It seems that a few bad seeds can put a damper on the entire industry.

There's a very thin line here. If a community bans vacation rentals property value can decline, but in the same respect if vacation rentals are causing traffic and noise issues this is not good for a community either. As vacation rentals become more popular it will be interesting if communities begin to ban the rentals or if more stricter laws come into effect. I believe there will be more scrutiny on vacation rental owners requiring them to do detailed background checks of their guests to ensure respectful renters.

More on Obama and his Kailua Vacation Rental

2008-08-16T23:35:21+00:00

We wrote the other day about how Obama's Hawaiin vacation included a stay at a vacation rental property, and this weekend we have a little more info via the local Honolulu Star Bulletin.

Kailua has been at the center of a constant, bitter community debate over vacation rentals. Some homeowners say they constitute a legitimate business contributing to Honolulu's tourism. Others say too many people are cashing in by illegally renting their homes.

So when U.S. Sen. Barack Obama moved into a Kailua beachfront rental last week for a vacation with family and friends, the first thought for many was excitement. The second was whether the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee would get swept into Honolulu's long-standing debate over illegal vacation units.

As it turns out, Obama's beachfront rental is legal, according to the city.

Obama's rental is "a typical, albeit luxurious, single-family home in a residential zoning district," said David Tanoue, deputy director for the city Department of Planning and Permitting, which oversees rental units.

"This particular residence has never been cited by the DPP for illegal transient vacation unit rentals," Tanoue said.

According to Obama's campaign, the Hawaii-born senator paid for the 10-bedroom, 1-acre compound using his personal funds at "market" value to rent the home for a week for his family and friends. The property is valued at $8 million.

The campaign declined to provide the amount Obama paid, though rentals of that size in that area could go for thousands of dollars a night.

There is also a video story from local affiliate KITV.

Barack Obama and His Vacation Rental

2008-08-14T16:00:20+00:00

Even presidential candidates get a little vacation time. This week Barack Obama is spending time in Hawaii, the state where he grew up.

And according to Newsweek, he's staying in a vacation rental.

Obama is staying in a rental property for the next week--which will probably prove less expensive than investing, like McCain, in a 6.6-acre, $1.1 million weekend getaway ranch in Sedona, Ariz. Or any of his six other houses

Every now and then, we all have to interupt our vacations to take care of a little business, but I'm guessing none of us have had to do it like this:

Speaking at podium set up on the driveway of his vacation rental in Kailua, Obama condemned Russia’s movements in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and called for an immediate ceasefire.

“There is no possible justification for these attacks,” Obama said.

Any locals have any idea which home he rented and whether or not it has an online listing?

Photo courtesy of Alex Brandon / AP Photo

“Breaking All The Rules: How To Rent Your Vacation Home” Book Review

2008-08-11T04:22:54+00:00

Being the number one "vacation rental" book on Amazon and being my first vacation rental book read, I was looking forward to diving into "Breaking All the Rules"; ultimately however, I found myself to be disappointed. Out of five stars, I would give it three -- a "D" if it were being graded by a professor.

First, the positive aspects of the book:

· The book is a good source as a "checklist" for preparing your first vacation home. Some examples: placing a fire extinguisher under your sink, creating a first aid kit, and creating your welcome book. All ultimately obvious, but nonetheless, details that are important.

· She provides samples of agreements and rental packages which are a nice touch, but unless you want to retype what she has in the book, a link to the electronic form of these agreements is all that would have been necessary.

· The book is written in an extremely positive and upbeat manner and honestly did make me excited about becoming a vacation owner. She breaks down the process into a way that makes me believe I could effectively become a profitable vacation owner.

And some of the negatives:

· The book's large text was the first part that put me off about this book. I felt she was using the large text as a way to create enough pages to justify a book and to make me feel as if I did not waste $20 on ten pages of text.

· If one has any sort of basic experience with vacation rentals, this book would be most likely a waste of time. Even as simple as previously renting a vacation home would most likely provide as much information as this book provided.

· Related to the previous bullet, none of her "Broken Rules" gave me a, "Wow, I would have never thought of that." All were basic and typically common sense. Provide linens and towels (#3), keep the home clean (#6), offer a washer and dryer (#7), hire a good house keeper (#9).

Overall, the book contains what I consider to be primarily "business common sense" and information that is only helpful for the true beginner in vacation rentals.

Budget Travel’s - Best Travel innovations

2008-07-31T19:58:41+00:00

Recently published in their 10th anniversary edition, Budget travel named the "Best Travel Innovations of the Past 10 Years". And the winners are:

10. Online maps
9. Digital photography
8. Online flight check-in
7. GPS navigation
6. Worldwide ATM access
5. Cell phones
4. Global Internet access
3. TripAdvisor
2. Online travel booking
1. Roller bags

Interestingly enough, all but one is electronic related.

I'd like to recommend Budget Travel try another interesting article, "Top 10 ways travel has gotten worse in the past 10 years". I'll go ahead and start this one off with a couple that spring to mind:

Feeding passenger two small bags of peanuts (if anything) on four hour flights.
Requiring no liquids above 3.4oz carried on to the plane (effectively requiring me to check one bag every time I travel). And now deciding to charge me $15 (if, not more) to check that bag.

And perhaps another article, "Top 10 ways travel will get even worse in the next ten years." A couple on my list:

Allowing cell phones use on airplanes and having to listen the 16 year-old girl sitting next to me say "ohmigod" 3 times per sentence during my 6-hour flight.
Additional charges for aisle and window seats.

New Housing Bill Changes IRS Home Sale Exclusion Rules

2008-07-31T04:17:03+00:00

President Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 today. All the talk is about Fannie and Freddie, but there is a change that vacation rental owners should be aware of. A provision known as the Home Sales Exclusion Rule was changed which can effect how capital gains on a second home are taxed.

Under the old law, as long as you lived in your vacation home for 2 of the 5 years previous to your sale, any capital gains from the home would be tax free regardless of when you originally bought the home..

Once the rule change goes into effect on December 31, 2008, the gains that are tax free becomes a calculation based on the percentage of time you lived in the home as your primary residence out of all the years you owned it.

If you were planning on taking advatange of the home sale exclusion rule, you may have incentive to sell your home before the end of the year... but as always check with a professional.

Also note that this only applies to federal taxes, state tax law varies.

Here is a summary of the old law, and here is the ammendment passed today (full bill text).

SEC. 3092. GAIN FROM SALE OF PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE ALLOCATED TO NONQUALIFIED USE NOT EXCLUDED FROM INCOME.
(a) IN GENERAL.-Subsection (b) of section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to limitations) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

(4) EXCLUSION OF GAIN ALLOCATED TO NONQUALIFIED USE.
(A) IN GENERAL.-Subsection (a) shall not apply to so much of the gain from the sale or exchange of property as is allocated to periods of nonqualified use.
(B) GAIN ALLOCATED TO PERIODS OF NONQUALIFIED USE.-For purposes of subparagraph (A), gain shall be allocated to periods of nonqualified use based on the ratio which-
(i) the aggregate periods of nonqualified use during the period such property was owned by the taxpayer, bears to
(ii) the period such property was owned by the taxpayer.
(C) PERIOD OF NONQUALIFIED USE.
For purposes of this paragraph
(i) IN GENERAL.-The term ‘period of nonqualified use' means any period (other than the portion of any period preceding January 1, 2009) during which the property is not used as the principal residence of the taxpayer or the taxpayer's spouse or former spouse.
...
EFFECTIVE DATE.-The amendment made by this section shall apply to sales and exchanges after December 31, 2008.

via Calculated Risk