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According to the National Association of Realtors, there are 7 million vacation homes in the U.S., and 16% of them (1.1 million) are offered as vacation rentals at least part of the year. If you're one of these homeowners and you're not getting as many bookings as you have in the past, the Internet could be the reason. That's because instead of poring over classified ads or browsing the glossy catalogs put out by rental agencies, people all over the world now search the Internet and use vacation-rental Web sites to look for properties. Experts Alfred and Emily Glossbrenner, authors of "How to Make Your Vacation Property Work for You", say, "If your vacation rental isn't online, those prospective renters will never find you." The Glossbrenners take the mystery out of an important subject and offer helpful advice to people on how to create effective listings for their rental property on the Internet. In a nutshell, to make sure you do it the right way on the right Web sites they recommend: 1. Study the competition. Go to a site like VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner), where you'll find listings for more than 50,000 vacation properties, organized by geography. Pretend you're a prospective renter looking for a place to spend your vacation. Print out the listings you find most appealing and use them as a model for creating your own listing. 2. Take the time to shoot really great photos. Don't be lazy and pick any old pictures you have lying around. This is sales! Consider hiring a professional photographer. The better your online pictures, the more likely it is that your property will be chosen over others. 3. Write a wonderful description of your property. Why do you love the place? The location? What joys will your renters find there? Put some personality into your property description to set your place apart from every other "2BR/2BA Condo w/Ocean View." 4. Sign up with one of the leading vacation rental sites. In addition to VRBO ($159/year), other good choices include the services owned by HomeAway like A1Vacations, CyberRentals, and GreatRentals ($299/year for all four sites). Pick one and create your initial property listing. Once you're happy with it, you can use the same information for listings on other sites. 5. Consider joining your local visitors bureau. Member benefits often include supplies of attractive maps and area guidebooks you can provide to your renters, as well as listings in printed and online directories. This approach can improve the number of renters you get from all over the world. You can also reach audiences you might not reach otherwise. It is possible for you to handle everything yourself, improve your rental income, and pocket more of the money you're now paying out in rental and management commissions.
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