If you have a 2 or 3 bedroom rental property, you can always lower your rate to snag a last-minute, 1 bedroom renter, if you want to.

However, the converse isn’t true…

You can’t take a 1 bedroom property, raise your rate, and rent it as a 2 or 3 bedroom property.

So, if your cost is nearly the same to maintain a 1 bed property as a 3 bed property, why would you want to own only a 1 bed and limit yourself to a subset of potential guests?

Chuck Eglinton
www.Mickeytown.com ºoº Rent a large luxury home near Disney World for less than a hotel room!
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Anthony asked if having a “very nice” rental home is enough to guarantee a high occupancy rate.

The vacation rental market is first driven by supply and demand. If 100 guests visit your area in a weekend , but there are 300 rental homes, and half of them are “very nice,” it doesn’t matter how nice they are because 200 homes will still be vacant, even the “very nice” ones.

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We own three 4 bedroom vacation rental homes 2 miles southeast of Walt Disney World.

I’m occasionally asked by guests and prospective guests about how they can get in the STR Vacation Rental home business. My advice to them? In most cities the numbers don’t work anymore. You’ll lose money.

Here is the problem: The weekly rental rates have not risen to match the increases in home prices. We still charge $900 to $1000 per week, which is the same rate we charged 7 years ago.

The rental rate is established by “What the market will bear.” Your prospective renters will compare your home on the Internet with other homes they believe to be similar. If they’re charging $1000, you have to charge $1000 to be competitive.

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