Your tales of 'going it alone'...

[johnandtahra]

Having looked at the Sykes model, it's probably not cost-effective for us to do a FHL by the time they take their slice and add the VAT (bearing in mind that the addition of VAT at a fixed price point means that it pushes the net income down).

So, I'm looking for inspiration: tell me your tales of rejecting the hegemony of the booking agents, striking out into a big, scary world on one's tod, as it were.... and any tips along the way would be welcome

ta.

[Nemo]

I'd just start by saying Sykes aren't the only agents. There are lots of small businesses around that don't want to be one of the big boys, are happy to stay small and offer personal service. Have you found or tried any that are specific to your area?

[Guest]

[johnandtahra]

Thanks - very interesting indeed. T and I have agreed that we won't expect to turn a profit in Y1 or Y2 (though to do so would be very welcome) as we learn the ropes. We're fortunate in that we can do a lot of things ourselves - the web stuff, marketing, the cleaning, etc. - and we're local to the property so we have that advantage also. Also, we're not totally against the idea of a 'gentle ramping up' of bookings rather than a deluge; after all, we've got to get processes and systems in place to dovetail this new adventure into our world of work, kids, hobbies and dog

Any more?

[Bunny]

Hi, I'm in my 9th year and from the outset did it alone. To start with I managed to get enough bookings from my own website and free listing sites. But things have changed a lot over nine years and I now pay to advertise on a major listing site. I've never used an agent and do absolutely everything myself. Until 1 1/2 ago I also worked full time. I can totally see the benefits of an agent if you are not in a position to manage the property yourself, but I get a lot of satisfaction of knowing that it's all my own work and I reap 100% of the benefits (except the tax man of course!). I'm in a similar position to Aspire except that I live on site.

[Astorchamonix]

Hi,
We are newbies to the rental market too. I'm not sure if we are 'doing it right' or not yet but this is our experience to date.
Our place is in chamonix and we live in Leeds so we have a management company. They take 30% commission if they get the booking themselves or 15% if we get the booking! including linen hire! cleaning! key drop etc etc
We have had great success with air bnb and using this have booked out most of the winter season with about 90% occupancy. We have also listed on flipkey, housetrip and homeaway but no bookings via these streams to date.
We are working hard to improve the content on our website, only one booking through this so far but hopefully if we work hard on our web presence this may improve?
We find airbnb really user friendly and if you are willing to accept short breaks then we can't recommend it enough.
We are struggling with summer bookings so any ideas via this forum would be very welcome!

[Astorchamonix]

Sorry, the ! Were meant to be ,

[sandyandy]

Hi JohnandTahra, I was with a local agency for 2 years, paying in total 30% plus VAT, until December 2014 when I decided to go it alone. Luckily, I have an excellent housekeeper. Like Aspire 7, I manage the property from a distance. I set up a website through promotemyplace which I am pleased with.

The help from laymyhatters has been invaluable and I am really grateful for the advice (although this forum can be quite addictive!) I am listed with OD, where almost all my enquiries have originated from, as well as some small websites.

During the past 10 days I have had almost all the school summer holidays booked, which I am very happy about. Its early days yet and it does involve more work, but I am enjoying being in control (as much as I can be) and I get a real buzz when I receive a booking. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[kevsboredagain]

I'm not sure why so many people do use a management company who charge huge cuts. The marketing part and doing the bookings is fairly easy, so much so that anyone could do it. For cleaning and maintenance etc it can be more tricky but it's usually not difficult to advertise and find someone local.

I started by using a property management company just to do the change overs and maintenance. They were terrible. Of course they wanted to handle bookings too but I dropped them after 1 season.

[kg1]

We have always gone alone. I want to control who stays in the house, not be told by a booking site.

Never had any problems. Started with HL, moved on last year to OD and various smaller niche sites plus a PMP own website.

It's not difficult. You just need a system, booking forms and T&Cs and a large calendar!

[Robin S]

We bought our house just over a year ago and started renting it from last September as we are expecting our first child soon and wanted to recoup some of the cost.

Local agents charge 30% plus in our neck of the woods and didn't come highly recommended.

We started with a listing on HL, AB and our own website and have been very pleasantly surprised by the results to date. I'm adding an ad to OD as we speak.

We've found a local cleaner who also acts as first point of contact for guests during their stay (on a retainer basis). We only live 20 miles from the house but as we both work full time were keen to avoid having to deal with emergencies during the working day.

To mirror the sentiments of some other posters, one of the major joys I get from it is being my own boss and learning a number of new skills

Good luck with it!

[Casscat]

I'm new to holiday rentals - I bought my finca in June last year. It didn't occur to me to market it via a full services agent. I started off thinking that I would use one or more of the direct booking sites and create my own web site. Like many here I used Promote My Place to create my own site (I'm not a techie and it's virtually idiot proof) and decided upon Owners Direct as on the other side of the fence that is the site I had used most heavily to source my own holidays. I added Home Away later to get a listing on overseas sites, but that has been a complete waste of money as I've had not one single booking from HA. Key to all of this was having a really reliable property manager locally - and I fell on my feet with this because I have excellent people with very high standards dealing with the property and my guests. They aren't cheap, but they are worth it and still work out much cheaper than the huge cut a full services company would suck out of the gross rental. I deal with all the enquiries myself and forge a good relationship with my rental guests even though I never get to meet them. All of them have (flatteringly) commented on this in the online reviews they have left. The pre-holiday stage is an important part of the overall experience I think.

[Guest]

[marsh frog]

We have always done it alone too. We live 70+ miles away from our property but have a reliable band of local 'helpers' [cleaner, window cleaner,someone 'on call' to guests,someone to clear rubbish,help with welcome baskets etc etc]

We started with HL but have changed to OD and a handful of smaller more specific sites [dog friendly/local area etc] We have our own website which has made a huge difference and we're very active on social media which has brought us loads of bookings too.

It's very satisfying doing all the marketing yourself and we started from scratch nearly 4 years ago so have learnt as we have gone along

[johnandtahra]

Because FHL in the UK get the advantage of full Capital Allowances (CA) (unlike conventional rental properties), all of our setup costs were tax allowable but only against future rental income rather than general income.

Thanks - very interesting. I reckon that, by the time all is done and the property is available, we'll have spent upwards of £15k on renovation and furnishing. I would expect a few years before that is clawed back.

Quick question: do you have to make the application to be FHL in advance, or can you start up via 'second home available-as-holiday-let'? We're not quite half way through the renovations, and doubt that we'll be able to take any bookings for any earlier than May, so do we have to do the official FHL thing now?