Creating a video to market your home

Thursday 31, Jan 2008 - 03:57AM

Any marketing expert will tell you that marketing is all about creating the right message. A video about your home is the best way to show off your beautiful home either to rent it or to sell it. So, how do you create a great video.

You need some basic tools - that most of you have or can borrow easily.

 

  1. A camcorder (ideally digital)
  2. A tripod
  3. Someone with a pleasant voice
  4. A script
  5. An editor

Camcorder

Most camcorders are digital these days. If you have an older style camcorder, don't worry. Your video can be easily converted from analog to digital with an extra step. I've used Sony camcorders for over 15 years and I have been very happy with them.

Tripod

It's very important to place your camcorder on a tripod so the resulting video is not jerky.

Someone with a pleasant voice

Ideally, you will need someone with a pleasant voice who can talk enthusiastically about your house.

A script

It's best to start off with a script so there aren't any Ah and Um's in your recording and the story flows nicely. Here is where your creativity comes in. Instead of taking a single long video, break it up into parts, e.g.

  • Outside
  • Entering Home
  • As we enter
  • Family Room
  • Kitchen
  • Breakfast nook
  • Formal Dining
  • Formal Living
  • Study
  • Powder room
  • Master Bedroom
  • Master bath
  • Guest room
  • Guest bath
  • Game Room
  • Kids Room
  • Conclusion

An editor

Now, the goal is to put these pieces together to make it flow nicely, add some music and transitions. If you take video clips of your home, RentExpert can make it look professional for a small fee. Take a look at this video that we've put together.

How do you know which listing service is performing?

Monday 07, Jan 2008 - 06:09AM

Each listing service tries to get you to sign up. However, it is difficult for you to know quantitatively which is the best listing service in terms of maximizing your revenue. There are a number of factors to consider:

  1. What is the aggregate traffic?
  2. What is the quality of the traffic?
  3. How many listings are you competing with?
  4. What is the cost of the listing service?
  5. What is the uptime of the listing service?

It's really hard to make these decisions without real data. You could make guesses or you could use RentExpert's advanced tools to show you exactly what is working and what is not.

Register now for a FREE exclusive preview and participate in a RentExpert T-Shirt drawing. 50 free T-Shirts will be given away.

Why a professional looking website is important?

Thursday 03, Jan 2008 - 06:45AM

Imagine you are trying to sell your property. Your real estate agent makes you jump through a number of hoops to ensure that your property looks attractive so you can create a great first impression and get a better price.

Well, a professional looking website is the first thing your online customers see. This crucial first impression is the key to get the best rental rates for your property. A professional website for Vacation Rentals should have the following components:

  • A description of your property
  • Well organized photo gallery
  • Walk through video of your property
  • Google Map showing the location of your property
  • Feedback from other renters
  • Amenities
  • Availability Calendar
  • Blogs

These should be organized attractively so you build confidence with the renter.

Technically, this is complex to do and you want no part of it. Here is where RentExpert comes in. Even with its FREE offering, RentExpert gives non-techies the ability to create striking websites. So, take advantage of our FREE offering and jazz up your online presence!

Register now for a FREE exclusive preview and participate in a RentExpert T-Shirt drawing. 50 free T-Shirts will be given away.

Customer satisfaction through autoresponders

Thursday 03, Jan 2008 - 03:14AM

Autoresponders are a great way to communicate with renters and prospective renters. When you buy a product online, isn't it great to receive an email stating:

"Thank you for your order! We really appreciate and value your business. We will keep you informed of the status of your order."

One reason is that the vendor has received the order and is taking accountability for it. The second is that it feels good to be acknowledged as a valued customer.

When you rent your property, it is just as important to send timely emails to your customer. These can be:

  1. Thank you for booking online. (Courtesy)
  2. Your booking is confirmed. The confirmation number is 6527281. (Customer feels secure)
  3. Your security deposit is due in 5 days (Informational)
  4. Your vacation is about to start. Make sure you bring warm clothing as temperatures can dip during the evenings. (Informational)
  5. Make sure you check out these great attractions (Informational)
  6. Your emergency contact number is 206-345-9992 (Customer feels secure)
  7. Thanks for staying with us. Let us know how we can make your stay more comfortable in the future (Courtesy and survey)
  8. The vacation rental code to the keybox is 9876

RentExpert automates this for you so you don't have to remember to send manual emails. Wouldn't you rather be doing something else like lounging in the hot tub or watching a great game of Football?

Accepting Credit Cards is a must for Vacation Rentals

Tuesday 01, Jan 2008 - 04:53AM

Consumers have become accustomed to using credit cards and one can understand why.

First and foremost, it gives them the ability to limit their liability to $50 for less for most cards.

Second, they earn frequent flyer points and other rewards.

Third, it encourages them to spend, when they do not have cash readily available.

So, accepting credit cards is a must for home rentals!

Consumers are afraid of giving credit card information to owners they do not know. So, what is the best solution?

We strongly recommend using Paypal for the following reasons:

(i) They are a well known brand name.

(ii) Owners do not need to store credit card information. You can make this an important part of your marketing pitch to the renter.

(iii) Their rates are very reasonable.

Based on these clear advantages, RentExpert has integrated with Paypal so that you can offer a seamless experience to your customers.

We do not store customer credit card information and use only https with a valid Secure Certificate to give your customers a high degree of security. So, why not make it easy, fun and secure for your customers by using RentExpert?

Maximizing Vacation Rental Revenue

Saturday 29, Dec 2007 - 01:14AM

Hotels and Airlines have been maximizing revenue for a long time. When you reserve a hotel room or an airline seat, a powerful server crunches out the most optimum price based on the season, availability and a host of other factors. Well, you should be thinking the same way with your Vacation Rental properties.

First, we recommend that you determine all the special holidays where you expect to get maximum traffic. These typically include Thanksgiving, Christmas, July 4th weekend, Labor Day weekend and Easter Weekend. During these peak times, a lot of people travel, and availability is scarce. Consequently, you should set high rates during this time. You should also set policies about the minimum stay required during these high traffic times. Typically, we recommend setting at least a 3 or 7 day minimum.

Second, we recommend segmenting the calendar year into 2 or 3 seasons; Peak Season , Off Season and optionally a Mid Season segment.

During the Peak Season, you should set higher prices with higher minimum stay requirements. During the Off Season and Mid Seasons, your goal should be to keep your property occupied by offering competitive rates and a low bar for minimum rentals.

Without Online Booking, it is difficult to keep all of this straight in your head. RentExpert is powerful Vacation Booking Software that incorporates a dynamic pricing engine where you specify your pricing rules. RentExpert automatically crunches the numbers for you and presents the pricing dynamically to potential renters. Why is this important? Simply because it helps the renter make up her mind quickly without lots of back and forth conversations with you.

My Vacation Rental Experience

Thursday 27, Dec 2007 - 08:36AM

The first time I tried to rent a vacation home was in Chennai, India. My family was planning to stay there for a month and we needed an apartment (or a flat as they call it in India). I searched hard on Google, Sulekha.com and Craig's list. I found a number of places that looked really good and got really excited. Here is where it got frustrating. Online Booking was not really an option. I called owner after owner and my optimism began to fade. I spent the next 3 months trying to find an apartment in India. I finally succeeded through sheer perseverance. Please share your vacation rental experience with us.

Welcome Owners, Managers, Renters and Listing Services

Sunday 23, Dec 2007 - 03:43AM

Welcome to Blog.rentexpert.com. Vacations should be fun and our motto is to make Vacation Rentals easy, fun and secure. RentExpert.com is a service that will revolutionize the Vacation Rental experience.