Are you a vacation rental owner looking for the best vacation rental sites for your investment? There are so many out there but what are the best vacation rental sites for owners to help them effectively buy a property or assist them in marketing a rental property?
Well, you have landed on the right page. Today, we will explore the best vacation rental sites to help real estate investors in every step of their business- from finding the best investment properties to learning how to get more bookings. With the following sites, you will be able to increase your property’s occupancy rate and derive higher returns.
The Best Vacation Rental Sites
The Best Vacation Rental Site for Buying a Property
When buying a vacation rental property, as a real estate investor you ought to conduct a thorough investment property analysis. Your property research will enable you to find properties within a desired location that enjoy a high return on investment. Today, a few real estate analytics platforms have emerged to facilitate the process of buying a vacation home to rent out on a short-term basis.
Mashvisor is one of the best real estate analytics platforms that helps investors conduct investment property analysis while finding the best income properties to suit their goals. With Mashvisor, you can cogently assess the different rental strategies for a single property and find a vacation rental property that will generate positive cash flow.
What features does Mashvisor provide to help real estate investors score high returns on their property investments? Well, Mashvisor has three tools that you can benefit from: the Airbnb investment property calculator, heatmap analysis tool, and rental property finder. Here’s a brief description of each tool:
- The Rental Property Finder: Mashvisor’s rental property finder tool will provide you with a list of properties that match your search criteria and that have the highest ROI in the market of your choice. So instead of spending hours manually analyzing and comparing investment properties, the property finder tool will perform such analysis for you in just one click. You can also choose to use the tool for both Airbnb and traditional investments.
- The Investment Property Calculator: The investment property calculator is an online tool used to assess the profitability of income properties. The tool projects readily calculated returns for both traditional and Airbnb investment properties across the US housing market based on traditional and predictive data (traditional and Airbnb analytics). Thus, our investment property calculator can also work as an Airbnb profitability calculator. A real estate investor would enter in the expected rental property expenses and the tool will automatically calculate the return on investment and profits expected from the property. Simply put, when using this tool, you ensure that your vacation rental property achieves your goal of making money.
- The Heatmap Analysis Tool: This tool has saved many real estate investors the time and resources that were otherwise put into the numerous hours looking and comparing neighborhoods. Instead of spending considerable time determining which neighborhood is more suitable for your investment, the heatmap analysis tool can do that for you in a single click. Essentially, the tool will show you neighborhoods on a map portraying their investment credential based on key real estate metrics and data. These metrics are necessary for evaluating the return on investment on a property; they include the cash on cash return, rental income, and median listing price.
If you want to know more about the heatmap analysis tool, read: Using a Heat Map Tool to Analyze a Real Estate Market. Or you can start looking for an Airbnb property right now using Mashvisor’s tools:
Now you have bought your property, where do you advertise it? Here are the best vacation rental sites for advertising.
The Best Vacation Rental Sites for Advertising Your Property
What real estate marketing strategies should you use to promote your vacation rental property? How do you advertise to achieve the most interest in your property? Many real estate investors have had success in promoting their investment properties using the following platforms:
Airbnb
Well, we are all aware of the home-sharing platform Airbnb- the fastest growing online global community. With Airbnb, you can rent out one bedroom of a house, shared spaces, or the entire property.
There are many reasons that make Airbnb one of the best vacation rental sites. For example, when you advertise an Airbnb property, you will be indebted to pay a booking commission of only 3% with no credit card fees.
Airbnb is also very secure; the host is protected by a $1 million Host Guarantee coverage in case there is property damage. Airbnb’s Host Protection Insurance provides liability coverage for up to $1 million for every Airbnb listing.
Airbnb has become a trusted listing site for all types of properties. The platform ensures that all short-term rental transactions are easily carried out. It’s both flexible and accessible for hosts and guests. This has made Airbnb one of the best vacation rental sites for many.
VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner)
VRBO has become one of the best vacation rental sites today. The platform has about 2 million listings worldwide offering different vacation rental types including houses, villas, condos, etc. Unlike Airbnb, VRBO only lists whole properties rather than one bedroom in a property.
You can subscribe with VRBO in two ways: either pay a subscription fee ranging from $350 – $999 or pay a commission fee between 10% and 13% per booking. Hosts pay a 2.5% credit card processing fee.
VRBO makes for one of the best rental sites for hosts and guests interested in whole properties. For hosts, the site tailors directly to their needs and attracts the right guests. The platform, moreover, is also easy to use with little fees incurred both on the guest and host.
Booking.com
Booking.com is the #1 accommodation site with over 1.5 million nights booked every day. The site offers all various types of properties including boats, cabins, apartments, condos, and villas. A vacation rental owner can list properties on Booking.com for free. The host gets charged a commission fee between 12-15% per booking. There are no guest booking fees charged.
What makes Booking.com a preferred home-sharing platform is the host’s ability to set his/her own rules, prices, and policies. Booking.com has plenty of features that a real estate investor can benefit from. Moreover, the site’s increasing client base has encouraged even more property owners to use the platform.
The Bottom Line
Buying and advertising vacation rental properties become easier when you have access to the best vacation rental sites. Real estate analytics platforms such as Mashvisor have emerged to cut-through the hassle of finding and analyzing investment properties.
Moreover, modern home-sharing and booking platforms have enabled property owners to easily match renters to their properties. Visit each of those sites to get more familiar with them and the services they offer. For more information about how Mashvisor can benefit your real estate investments, click here!