Welcome to Home & Condo Rentals’ Monthly blog. This is an informational section of our website to help constantly educate our clients and the public on what we do and ways to improve your rental experience, both from an owner and tenant perspective. This month’s topic is geared towards Seasonal Rental Owners and what Seasonal Tenants are looking for when they rent.
A seasonal property is any property that is rented for less than a 6 month period. In Venice, high season is considered the months of January-March (some April) and commands a premium for rental rates. Seasonal properties include all utilities, turn-key furnishings as well as cable and wireless internet. When contemplating whether to make your property into a seasonal rental or not, there are a few factors that really help the marketability of your property:
1) Is the unit clean? Cleanliness is of the utmost importance to tenants. Your property should be cleaned prior to any tenants coming in and soon after they leave. Everyone loves updated appliances and features, but we have found that if the property is clean and well maintained, tenants will generally be happy with it and continue to come back year after year.
2) Brightness of the property is important. If the property is bright and open, it helps with the comfort level of the tenants. This is easily achieved by light colored, neutral paint or pastels for a more coastal theme. Adding nice light fixtures and lighter linens/upholstery also helps with this. Remember, everyone comes down to be close to the beach and the water so if you can bring a little bit of that inside, that is never a bad thing.
3) Is there convenient access to shopping, restaurants, golf, the beach? Remember that the people that are coming down are coming for vacation in the warm FL climate so access to dining, golf, water and shopping is a very big factor for a lot of them.
4) Some minor things to take into account are listed below:
- Flat screen TV’s in living room and master bedroom
- Reading lamps
- Recliner in living room
- Storage for tenants
- Washer/Dryer in the unit or on premises
- Uncluttered
- Assigned parking
This is by no means a list of everything that the property absolutely has to have to make it marketable, but it is a good starting point for those that are thinking about listing their properties for seasonal rent. Thank you for taking the time to read our blog. This is the first of a series that we hope will help educate both owners and tenants in the Venice area. If ever there is a question that someone has, please do not hesitate to call us.
Thank you and have a fantastic day!!
Sincerely,
The Home & Condo Staff
