Rental Market Picking Up Steam?

This is only my 3rd year renting out our lock-off, but it looks like the rental market is coming back. For the last 2 years, I had my March Shadow Ridge lock-off (2 separate weeks) listed on Craigslist and MyResortNetwork from the time I made the reservations, but did not get any inquiries until after the first of the year. I successfully rented the 2 weeks each year, but only once did I get my full asking price. The other times I gave a slight discount to get the rental. This year I waited to list the units. This past Sunday was spent listing them on Craigslist and MyResortNetwork again. 2 hours after posting, I had a serious offer from my Craigslist ad. For once it was not the basic scam of "my wife and I got married,....." Exchanged a number of emails with the nice retired couple from Tennessee (whose perfect grammar and spelling were a relief!), and as of today, I have their deposit, and they have mailed a check for the balance (full asking price) as well as the rental agreement. Too bad I can't get a refund on my paid ad.

I will post again if this episode blows up in my face, but I think the market is loosening up. Good luck to everyone who will be listing their units for rent.

Cheers!

A question - because I've never done the rental thing before - do you typically get at least as much, if not more, than your maintenance fees? I'm just curious again as I've never done it.

Cargojon said:

A question - because I've never done the rental thing before - do you typically get at least as much, if not more, than your maintenance fees? I'm just curious again as I've never done it.

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During my brief history of renting, yes, I got a bit more than my MFs, but not quite enough to cover taxes, lock-off fees, and rental ad costs. This year, if all goes well with this rental, I'll make a small profit.

Other folks have more experience at this and hopefully they will chime in with their results.

Cheers!

Congratulations - I take it you are enjoying the one bedroom portion and using the lockoff as an offset on your maintenance fees? Craig's List can be very effective. It can be done, thanks for posting. Funtime

I don't want to jinx it, and I have to say that I'm surprised, but I agree with you. I have started 3 new Ads in the last couple of weeks and I am getting far more legitimate inquiries than I expected. I have already rented my Maui week for 2011 for the full asking price, and now I'm helping a friend rent hers, and she is getting the same kind of response.

However, these are all holiday weeks which normally have excellent demand. I think off-season weeks are probably still struggling.

Let's hope it continues!

When it comes to renting it all depends on what you have that will determine if it will cover your fees.

Cargojon said:

A question - because I've never done the rental thing before - do you typically get at least as much, if not more, than your maintenance fees? I'm just curious again as I've never done it.

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It completely depends on what you own. If it's a mid-level or lower-level resort, or an off-season week, you may have trouble renting for even enough to cover your maintenance fees. But a popular holiday week, at a prime resort, should rent for a nice profit. How much effort you put into renting it, also has a big impact.

funtime said:

Congratulations - I take it you are enjoying the one bedroom portion and using the lockoff as an offset on your maintenance fees? Craig's List can be very effective. It can be done, thanks for posting. Funtime

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Thanks, Funtime! It was not our original intention to rent out the lock-off portion, but since life throws you curve balls, having a lock-off really helps when implementing "Plan B".

DeniseM said:

I don't want to jinx it, and I have to say that I'm surprised, but I agree with you. I have started 3 new Ads in the last couple of weeks and I am getting far more legitimate inquiries than I expected. I have already rented my Maui week for 2011 for the full asking price, and now I'm helping a friend rent hers, and she is getting the same kind of response.

However, these are all holiday weeks which normally have excellent demand. I think off-season weeks are probably still struggling.

Let's hope it continues!

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Congrats on your rental. I knew you had a number of units to rent, so I was interested in your success rate for next year. Good luck to you and your friend!

Cheers!

Westin Mission Hills

Congrats! It is a good news to all TS owners!
I used to own Westin mission Hills gold season (in Palm Desert area), and always reserved Thanksgiving week and rented with no problem.
Hope rental market is going up and alive!

The weeks that we rented are gone. Nine weeks on the Oregon Coast and 3 weeks in Mexico. The Oregon Coast were August week that went to people we know. We used redweek and tug for Mexico but had a better responce emailing everyone on our contact lists. The Mexico weeks were gone within an hour after we sent out the email.

Update

I received the renter's check and signed rental agreement in the mail today. Postmark was 9/21/10. Not bad! I'll let you know when the check clears.

Cheers!

The check has cleared. :whoopie:

Best of luck to everyone who has a rental listed!

Cheers!