Real estate experts who have been at this for years know very well how to manage visitor expectations so as to deliver on the vacation promised. The experts offer tips:
1. Clean up the personal clutter and make your home tourist-friendly. “All your toys and fuzzy stuff would get in the way of someone having a good time,” asserts John Oldham on Islesboro. “And do you have a good coffee maker and shades on your windows – maybe you love the sun coming in the window, but the tenant might not.”
2. Learn to listen carefully speaking with a prospective tenant, and avoid the hazards of an unsupervised teenager. “I like to ask what your teenage boy likes to do, and can we get him a basketball,” explains Phil Freemont-Smith, a Peaks Island homeowner who has been renting out his home every summer since purchasing the property three years ago. “Not knowing what their kids like is a warning sign.”
3. Don’t discriminate (it’s against the law), but stick to the letter of your contract, when necessary. “Last summer, eight people who were already bombed at 11 in the morning arrived in a car,” recalls Peaks Island’s Ralph Ashmore. “They were from the Bronx and should have gone to Old Orchard Beach – but the important thing was that this was just too many people for the property. So I gave them a refund and sent them on their way. The property owner lost that week, but it was better than having the property damaged by people who were not honest or forthcoming.”
4. Describe your property honestly; be judicious with descriptive flair. “Spin, but be honest,” advises Freemont-Smith. “Build a history and ‘rustic-ness’ into the building’s imperfections. If you have a porch that’s not sturdy, say that your grandfather built that porch – it adds charm and flavor.” (If someone’s likely to fall through the porch floor, fix it before renting.)
5. Explain the unique features of your island, and encourage tenants to feel like they belong to the summer community. “We don’t get many tourists on Islesboro – a tourist is someone who visits Camden, shops and stays in a B & B, and then moves on,” explains Pendleton, who has been a broker on Islesboro for 42 years. “But we do get ‘tenants’ from Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. I tell my ‘tenants’ they’re visiting a private, crime-free island, with activities for their children, and they love it,” assets Pendleton.
6. If they feel like guests, they might break less. “Have a guest book with a welcoming page, where you explain the eccentricities of the house,” suggests Oldham. “It’s your chance to make tenants feel like they’re coming into your home.”
7. Help your visitors make ferry reservations. For example, Steve Miller, at Vinalhaven Island Rental, always offers tenants the name and telephone number of Lauretta Chilles; for a fee, Chilles waits on line, in the middle of the night, to secure ferry reservations. “It gives them piece of mind, knowing they can get on and off the island,” explains Chilles.