Archive for Vacation Rentals

The Benefits of Staying in Vacation Rental Homes While on Vacation

If you’re planning a vacation, choosing where to stay is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. Many people first think of hotels, though vacation rental homes have gained in popularity as a place to stay. Whether you’re looking for a villa rental in Colorado or Disney vacation rentals, look around to find vacation rental homes that are perfect for your trip.

Vacation Rental Homes Offer More Privacy

House or villa rentals offer more privacy than a regular hotel. Because many of the houses are single, detached homes, you won’t have to worry about the noise from rowdy vacationers, housekeeping and slamming hotel doors.

It’s sometimes possible to find rentals with amenities like private pools and hot tubs to make your vacation as relaxing as possible. Booking a villa rental means you’ll be able to enjoy your vacation to the fullest, all without worrying about other vacationers.

Villa Rentals Are Great For Large Groups

Private units are perfect if you have a large group or are vacationing with extended family. Places like California and Florida are popular family destinations, so finding Disney vacation rentals that sleep the whole family means it’ll be easy to transport everyone to the nearby amusement parks.

Booking a separate lodging instead of a hotel means parents and children can have separate bedrooms. Also many of them have multiple bathrooms, making getting ready in the morning faster and easier so you can get out of the house more quickly and enjoy more of your vacation time.

Private Vacation Rental Homes: Perfect For Families

In the past, larger families with young children needed to find a hotel with adjoining rooms in order to fit everyone in. Many parents are uncomfortable with their children being in a room that opens into a hallway if they can’t be in the same room and a private unit solves that problem.

Private units are also good for very young children that need to go to bed early. The kids can go to bed, while parents can still enjoy their down time without needing to worry about waking up the kids.

Vacation Homes Reduce Your Cost

Private units can be less expensive than you’d think. Think about it this way – if you’re a family of 5, you’ll likely need a hotel suite or two rooms to fit everyone in. If you stay more than one evening you’ll be facing a large hotel bill at the end of your trip because hotels often charge extra for more than one person per room. A vacation rental home, however, is the same price no matter how many are staying in the home.

In addition to the reduced cost of lodging, these rentals usually provide a full kitchen, which means less money spent on eating out. These two facts will often drive down your cost significantly, leaving you more money for fun and souvenirs.

Using vacation rental homes instead of hotels can add to the fun of a great holiday. These villa rentals can offer you more privacy, are great for large groups and families with young families and can reduce the overall cost of your holiday.

Most Overlooked Tax Deductions for Your Vacation Rental Business

Owning a vacation rental business can be very exciting and prosperous. Yet, when it comes to filing taxes, many owners are unsure of what is a taxable expense. Many of these expenses are overlooked and becomes a costly event to the taxpayer. To keep this from happening to you, remember to save every receipt for every item or service that you purchase for your rental property. Yes, everything!

If you’re filing a US tax return and you have rental income, you’ll need to include a Schedule E tax form with your returns. If this is your first time preparing a Schedule E, here are some tips to help get you organized.

1.) Gather your property information including the purchase price, the year you bought the property, any points you may have paid, mortgage interest, mortgage insurance, and real estate taxes you paid for that year.

2,) Next, total all of your rental income minus the security deposits held in escrow and any refunds.

3.) Add all of your paid receipts for labor and materials for any repairs and maintenance performed on your rental property.

4.) If you own a condo, then total your condo fees for the year.

5.) Total your property management and housekeeper’s fees.

6.) Auto Expenses: Gas for traveling to and from your rental property to check on it, meet contractors and housekeeper. Record repairs and general maintenance costs.

7.) Travel and Meals: Auto expenses and meals for the purpose of getting a booking or for traveling to check on your rental or to meet with your renter.

8.) Missing deductions can cost you money. Using The Mobile Bookkeeper will help you track all of your rental income and expenses as you go along throughout the year. At year end, all you need to do is print out summary report and all your numbers are calculated for you.

9.) Include all of your supplies. For example: Every time you buy paper napkins, or toilet paper for your rental record these purchases for a tax deduction. If you provide your renters with shampoo, soap, laundry detergent or any other type of cleaning supply, it can be a tax deductible event.

10.) Snow plowing, landscaping are expenses that some people tend to forget to include.

11.) Also, the utility bills, cable, telephone or cell phone bills, fax line.

12.) Home Office: paper, postage, office supplies, office rent, new computer, fax machine, desk and chair, and desk lamp.

13.) Donating your vacation home as a charitable gift is a deductible expense.

14.) Advertising expenses, newspaper, online sites, internet service, business cards.

If you need any additional information, please contact Marie at her site shown below.

Protecting Your Vacation Rental Property For The Off-Season

When investing on rental properties, the landlords or investors usually have two choices. They can either buy a property they can rent out as a full time home, or they can buy a property that can be turned into a vacation rental. Each has its inherent pros and cons and it will depend on the landlord which choice is the best fit for his or her situation.

For instance, when it comes to vacation rental properties, the landlord has to deal with the off-season or that time of the year when the property would just sit idle. During winter for example, you cannot expect people to rent your property due to obvious reasons. At this time of the year, you run the risk of leaving your property at the mercy of nature if you do not know how to prepare it for the upcoming cold weather.

In this article, we will look into the things you can do to make sure that your rental property will go through the winter unscathed. First off, you have to make sure that rain water is diverted away from the house as fast as possible. This means you need to clean the gutters to make the water drain away easily.

During winter, wind and ice storms can cause severe damage to any property when trees are involved. Thus, you need to prune tree limbs close to your property. This would reduce the risk of the limb crashing down during a hard ice storm. If the property has a satellite dish installed on the roof or any similar elevated place, make sure that you disconnect it and stow it safely inside the property.

If the property uses propane or natural gas, make sure that you turn it off in preparation for winter. If you are not sure how to do it, do not hesitate to call in professionals. The small cost of commissioning the job is a good investment as it would lower the risk of any significant and costly damage to your property. Bonus tip to lower costs: stop newspaper delivery during the offseason. You would just be paying extra when there would be no one there that would have use for the delivered reading material.

It is imperative that you protect your investment as a landlord and screening potential tenants is not the only thing you should worry about. You should also look to protect the property even during the off-season.