Make Some Money From Your House this Summer

Discover a new way to earn extra cash next summer and make money from your best asset.

Are you a property owner with a coastal cottage in a rural area surrounded by idyllic countryside or close to the heart of a famous tourist city like York or Bath? Have you thought about taking advantage of your biggest asset, your home, without having to sell it? Why not rent it to visitors over the peak summer season? Moving out of the family home can seem daunting, but the rental potential from the peak 6 – 8 week summer period could be the financial boost you need to afford life’s little luxuries for the rest of the year.

With good quality three-bedroom properties in the right location attracting rentals above £1,200 a week during July and August – it’s got to be worth considering.

Many agencies have developed a complete package for owners to simplify renting their property during the peak summer period, from website design to booking management. Once you have your website sorted, you can rent your house anytime, go skiing for a few weeks and let the rent pay for your trip!

The first time you do this, it’s worth considering an agency. Then, once you have got the hang of things, market your property yourself and save on an Agency’s 15-20% commission fee.

Don’t forget, though, if you are letting your house out. At the same time, you take a long holiday, whether you are managing things yourself or through an agency - ensure you have a good housekeeper and cleaning team in place to handle changeovers and deal with any issues that may arise during a guest’s stay.

Things to Think About

If you decide to market your cottage, you will need a website. These days, there are several online businesses with template sites specially designed for advertising holiday homes. They are very inexpensive and easy to use. You should be fine if you know how to copy and paste. Try ‘Promote My Place’ or ‘Wix’.

You’ll also need to find sites on which to advertise your cottage. Some sites can be very complicated and costly to use for a short period. Be prepared to invest 10% of your estimated income in marketing your property. They also charge guests a booking fee of 10% in addition to the rental price simultaneously while charging you a commission.

Popular sites, such as My Favourite Holiday Cottages, Independent Cottages and Country Cottages Online, offer a straightforward advertising service with no additional charges. My Favourite Holiday Cottages is particularly popular because adverts include links to your website within your advert. Web links help, as you’re four times more likely to convert enquiries through your website to bookings than those coming from an advert, so it’s got to be worth considering. MFHC also do not apply any fees or commission charges to you or your guests when they look or book.

The first time you rent, you’ll only really notice what needs doing as you get everything ready, suddenly realising that you only have four decent wine glasses in a house that sleeps 6, for example, or that a carpet needs a wet clean to remove the wine stains from one of the wine glasses broken last Christmas! Moving out of your property a week before the first guests arrive would be best. You’ll need the time because you’ll need to do quite a lot of work making your property guest-ready.

Make notes as you go so that you can prepare well in advance and with much less fuss next year.

Agencies or sites such as My Favourite Holiday Cottages will advise you on what to do, from essential decorating or replacing a manky kettle to removing all ‘personal’ items from rooms. Nobody wants to stay somewhere surrounded by their family photographs, as lovely as they might be!

Need More Advice?

Tips and advice are also part of our service. We are holiday property owners themselves and are full of helpful information. We’ll tell you if your property will likely attract bookings and advise on prices. We’ll also advise on anything from how to put together a welcome pack to what to include in an inventory, necessary insurance, tax implications, essential decorating and cleaning schedules.

Call Rick Bond on 01598 710631 to find out if your property has holiday-letting potential during the peak season and what is involved in letting it out.