Vacation Home for Investment

When we started operating vacation rentals over 15 years ago, the industry was still very much in its infancy.  Airbnb was almost a decade away from gaining traction and even sites like VRBO were very much in their early stages. We initially relied on traditional channels such as print media, radio and TV as well as building relationships with old school travel agents and tour operators.  We were among the most successful in our industry and we would typically generate annual revenues around 15% of the initial purchase price. Those results didn’t come cheap, however, and as a result, it was normal for revenues to be split 50:50 between the owner of the property and the rental manager.

Over time, we have embraced SEO, paid search and social media and that has allowed us to grow revenues while reducing our costs and these are savings we passed on to our owners.  Now, with the growth of Airbnb as well as sites such as Homeaway and VRBO and a move into the vacation rental market by established giants like Expedia and Tripadvisor, the vacation rental market is booming.

We can now offer higher revenues and return 80% of revenues to owners while you enjoy an entirely hands off experience.  Where once the best that you could hope for from a vacation home was to cover the running costs, now there is no reason why a vacation home can’t be every bit as good an investment as a more conventional rental.  In many cases, the cashflow in particular, is substantially better than a regular rental property.  Airbnb also makes it much easier if you want to manage the property yourself and keep all of the revenue.

For more information on our rental program and on owning a vacation home as an investment, please send us an email to sales@ellicottville42.com