Rental Tips for Owners

    1. Forms of Acceptable Payment. Be sure you don’t get ripped off when it comes to payment for your rental item. The safest form of payment is PayPal, credit cards, certified bank checks and/or personal checks. Do not give out wire instructions for your bank account. Giving out your bank account number and bank ABA information is very risky, and could result in a withdrawal from your account, rather than a deposit into your account.
    2. You can set up a credit card merchant account by clicking on the WhyBuy Partner Services link called “Accept Credit Cards — Set up A Credit Card Merchant Account for your listings”.
    • You can set up a PayPal account by clicking on the WhyBuy Partner Services partner link called “Accept PayPal - Set up a PayPal account for your listings”
    • Verify authenticity of certified bank checks from the bank where the check was drawn on. Be careful, there are lots of counter fit certified bank checks out there, and they look very real.
    • If you receive a personal check, take it to the bank it was drawn on, and convert it to certified funds. At a minimum, do not execute a lease until the funds have cleared your bank.
    • Never accept more than the amount due. If they insist on sending you more for some reason, just say you are not comfortable renting to them, and end the conversation. This is a sure sign of fraud.
    1. Security Deposits. Always require a sufficient security deposit and clearly state the security deposit damage and refund provision in your rental contract. Only you will know what a reasonable security deposit is for the item you are renting. However, it should be sufficient enough to make the renter think twice before damaging your rental item, however, it should not be too large such that the renter can’t afford your item.
    2. Rental Contracts. Be sure your rental contract is legally enforceable in the state that you are doing business. It is highly advisable to have the rental contract drafted by a licensed attorney in your state.
      • You can get acceptable rental contracts for all types of rental items by clicking on the WhyBuy Partner Services link called “Free Legal Forms and Rental Contracts”
    3. Respond Quickly & Accurately to Rental Inquiries. It is important for your prospects to get a quick response from you. It is likely they inquired about more than just your rental item, and we have learned that the first to respond usually gets the deal. Be specific in your response, meaning, answer their question that they sent in their rental inquires. However, send them additional information about your item as well. Point 5 below discusses what should be included in a comprehensive professional rental package for your renters. In your initial response, include some of this information. It will give your renters confidence that they are dealing with someone creditable. Also, it is highly recommended that you not only email back your prospects, but you follow up with a phone call. This really gets deals closed. People want to know who they are dealing with, and speaking with them personally is the BEST way to gain their confidence in you.
      • Consider using WhyBuy’s reservation services at www.whybuyreservation.com. We will handle your entire reservation process, which can be time consuming and often you are spending considerable time answering and responding to renters who are just inquiries, and not getting deals closed. With www.whybuyreservation.com, we will provide a toll free number for your prospects to call, and one of our professional reservation agents will have all the information about your item, and be able to answer most if not all your prospects questions. We will also be able your prospects a complete rental package and contract on your behalf, schedule the rental, and collect the payment on your behalf either via credit card or other acceptable payment means. Go to www.whybuyreservation.com for more information on this valuable service we can provide.
    1. Prepare a Professional Rental Package. It is essential that the rental package you send your prospects either by email (recommended) or by regular mail is comprehensive and very professional. At a minimum, your rental package should include the following:
    2. Legally enforceable rental contract for your state and your item. We highly suggest you click on the WhyBuy Partner Services Link Called “Legal Forms and Rental Contracts”. Not having a properly legally enforceable rental contract specific to your item and enforceable in your state will lead you to end up in court, and likely resulting in a loss. Do it right, and avoid this headache. Trust us; we have learned this the hard way.
    • Driving Directions. Make sure you include clear and easy understanding driving directions to the location of where your rental item is. We suggest you make 4 different driving directions; one set each coming from 25 miles or so from the North, South, East & West.
    • Operating Instructions. At a minimum, these are a few of the things you should include in an instruction guide that you give to your renters specific to your rental item. By no means is this meant to be exhaustive, the more information you give, the better. It’s time consuming to put it together, but it will save you and the renter lots of aggravation by providing this up front: Entrance & Exit Instructions, Alarm Codes, Thermostat Instructions, Telephone Use Instructions, Pool & Hot Tub Instructions, TV & Remote Instructions, Internet Access Instructions, general Operations Instructions, Safety Tips 7 Suggestions, 24 hour emergency phone number for your renters to call, Expected return condition of item (i.e. clean, functionality, nothing broken, doors locked, thermostats set to a certain temperature, etc etc etc). If www.whybuyreservation.com handles your reservation service, we will assist you in preparing this guide as part of your Professional Rental Package.
    • Important Telephone Numbers. This directory should list every single important telephone number you want your renter to have. Examples include a 24 hour contact number in case of emergency, emergency number(s) for local Sheriff, emergency numbers for local hospital, phone number of the rental property itself if this is a rental property, phone numbers of all amenity centers available at your property location (i.e. golf pro shop, ski reservation office, equestrian center, security entrance phone number, tennis center, etc…), all utility provider’s phone numbers (gas, electric, telephone, water & sewer), TV provider phone number , Internet provider phone number, Pool cleaner’s phone number, house keeper or house keeping services phone number, two or three recommended restaurant phone numbers, caterers phone numbers, etc… Of course, a white pages and yellow pages should be available on the premises if this is a rental property).
    1. Updated Pricing Guide. Provide your renter with all the updated pricing for amenities offered in your rental property community if this is a rental property. You can even give them a link to a website if this is updated by your community or resort on a website.
    2. The More Pictures The Better. WhyBuy gives you 12 free pictures to upload. We suggest you utilize this awesome free offer, and upload all free pictures. Additional, we offer a premium service at www.whybuyrental.com. Here, we give you an additional 250 pictures, but some other nice features. As the old saying goes “pictures speak a thousand words” and we have learned that the rental items wit the most and best pictures seem to rent the most. We even suggest having professional photos take of your rental item, especially if it’s a property. These pictures will do lots of the selling for you.
    3. www.whybuyrental.com At Whybuy.com, we are unique in that we let your link in your listing to any outside URL you wish to (as long as it complies with our User Agreement and subject to our approval (i.e. no pornographic or obscene websites, etc.) Take advantage of this and put a linking to other websites you may have right in your listing with us.
    4. Customize Fields For Your Rental Item Category. It is likely people who are looking to rent your item are familiar with your item category. Therefore, if there are particular things you know your prospects would be interested in knowing about your item, make sure that information is listed. The more details you have about your rental item, the more likely it is to rent. We encourage you to request from us any categories or custom fields you want added within your category for your rental items. Simply email us at categories@whybuy.com with your requests.
    5. Calendar Tips. It is important to keep your calendar in your listing up to date. Renters get very frustrated if they see an available date on your calendar, and then call to only find out that the date they wanted really wasn’t available. This will likely prevent them from renting with you in the future. At whybuy.com, we believe we have the best calendar system, flexibility, & functionality on the web. You can use our very comprehensive calendar, choose to link to another calendar you may already have somewhere else on the net, or have no calendar at all (as calendars are not necessarily applicable for all rental categories). However, if you do show a calendar, keep it updated currently. If you use www.whybuyreservation.com, we will do this for you.
    6. Guestbook. Owners have the option of enabling the guestbook feature for each listing. The guestbook actually encompasses two features for the listing: ratings and comments. The guestbook feature can be enabled or disabled at anytime by the owner of the listing. Guestbook items cannot be edited or deleted. An owner can choose to re-list an item starting with a fresh guestbook. We recommend turning the guestbook feature on because it shows your prospects you are not trying to hide anything that anybody has to say about their experience in renting with you. We have seen that items with guestbook turned on have a much higher success rate in booking rentals.
    7. Competitive Rental Rates. Make sure you do your homework. Research comparable items in your area, and make sure you compare “apples to apples” in determining a competitive rental rate. You can look at other listings on whybuy.com or other rental sites for research. It’s important you get the most you can for your rental item, but asking too much will surely limit your number of successful bookings. At www.whybuyreservation.com we can help you in deciding what the rental competitive rental rate is for your item if you choose to use our booking service agency.
    8. Insurance. Bottom line; don’t rent anything without it being insured. Today’s society is very litigious, and not having the proper coverage type and amount can be devastating to your financial well being. Click on the WhyBuy Partner Services link called Insurance to get immediate online help with your insurance needs.
    9. Get An EXCELLENT Cleaning Service. The first impression a renter will have for your rental property (if your item is real estate) is how clean it is on arrival. Make sure the cleaning person you hire is detailed, has an excellent reputation that you checked out carefully with their references, and has a clear understanding of the services you expect from them. Your rental property should be cleaned thoroughly after each use, and of course, you should add a cleaning fee into your rental rates, but state the cleaning fee separately in your contract.
    10. Exterminators. If your rental item is real estate, it must be exterminated regularly. This helps to prevent costly damage to your property (i.e. termites) and is essential for making a good impression on your renter. Let them know right in your listing that your property is exterminated regularly.
    11. Perform Regularly Scheduled Maintenance & Service on Your Item. It’s important that the item you are renting is in good working condition. Everything on it or within it should be functioning as if it’s brand new. Performing regularl maintenance will save you lost of money in the future and will make for a happy customer who you want back to rent from you again.
    12. Make Sure You Are Ready for Property Ownership. We strongly suggest you read “Woody’s Basic ABC Rules on Buying Rental Properties” which can be found below.