Looking To Rent Your Cabin?
If you’ve got a vacation cabin which you can no longer afford to own, hold off a while before putting it up for sale. Why not think about turning it into a rental property? Here are a few guidelines to help you get started.
• Have a rental agreement drawn up by a lawyer. This will protect both you and your renters - you will each know where you stand. But you need to do more than have a rental agreement - go over the agreement with your prospective renter provision by provision - so that you know that your renter knows what is expected of him/her, and they can’t plead ignorance should something untoward occur.
• Speak with an insurance lawyer to find out what kind of insurance you must have in case a visitor trips on a step, breaks a leg while trying to get into a boat, or, worst case scenario, is killed while doing something on your property. (To that end, make sure your cabin has no loose wires, unstable roof slats, and so on.).
• Speak with your accountant to find out what the sales tax requirements are. In addition to charging rent, you may have to charge sales tax, and send that in to the local government, Find out what the local, county, and state tax rules are.
• Make your cabin attractive to renters by offering various “amenities” - hot tubs, ping pong tables, or pool tables even! If you have a cabin on a lake, make sure you have a dock, perhaps a paddle boat, even a personal water craft. (But be verrrry careful about the insurance for all these things.)
• Travelers with pets - cats, dogs, even birds - need a place to stay. Many places exclude pets. If you allow them, you’ve increased your customer base.
• A cabin is not a luxury home. Don’t over-decorate it… but don’t under-decorate it, either. Best thing to do is to visit other cabins that are for rent, check out how they are decorated (and how successful they are on the rental market) and follow that lead.
Once you’ve got all the formalities out of the way, you still have to find people who will want to rent your cabin. You can either list it with a series, or create a website for it, and handle all the rental details yourself. To that end, make sure you have plenty of photos of the cabin, both interior and exterior, to show off what you have to offer.
Then, be patient, while you wait for your first client. The first client may be a long time coming, but once you’ve broken the ice, future clients will come faster.
Filed Under How To |
Tagged With accountant, amenities, big bear cabin rentals, insurance lawyer, photos, rental agreement, rental property, tax requirements, vacation cabins
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