07 Nov 2009 2:29 PM:

Hi Kevin

I totally agree that there are Agents out there charging a lot for not a lot, these days, just like the sales commissions, are coming to an end.

With regards to the utilities an approximation is easy to work out, however the rental is unfortunately geared to the market price rather than how it should be i.e. work out your costs such as Agent fee's, mortgage, utilities, comm fee's and so on then your mark up and that's your rental price. It's a tenants market as well as a buyer market and therefore the rental price has to be competitive but not necessarily the give away price that some are doing.

You don't have to run your business at a loss to have the Owners best interests at heart, infact I would say that it is essential to have the Owners interests and the condition of the property at heart to be successful. We rented out everything we had during the Summer period and were turning people away after filling some of our competitors/collaborators places too!

This area was the only area that was up on Tourists in the whole of Spain (up 12%), Spain will always be the old favourite amongst the Brits even with the emerging markets and was I believe still no.1 this year for Tourist volumes.

The market is not just the Brits though, this market has been good for a long time and it's now due a slack period!

For the rest of Europe Spain has become very attractive especially with the Scandinavians, French (more and more re-locating long term), the Dutch and Belgians are becoming prominent and are buying down here as well as renting for Holidays and Long term. 

With regards to Holiday Rentals, I know I'm biased but a good Agent should be making you more money than you would normally achieve yourself despite commission, unless you invested more capital, had the marketing knowledge (not just placing adverts by the way) and did it as a part time job. They should also be the haven of security and peace of mind, not a necessary evil as some opinion's seem to be or someone you want to avoid like the plague as in your case.

I can understand your negative opinion of Agents, the financials/yield especially with those ridiculously high commission charges, maybe it's time to look for another Agent rather than leave your place fester or simply be a Holiday home.

How is good ol' Sussex by the sea, I see the new stadium is coming on well, I'm Brighton born and bread (well Hove actually, Patcham and Peacehaven)

Thread: Holiday Rental Owners Please Help

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07 Nov 2009 1:09 PM:

With regards to Holiday Rentals

I totally agree that the returns on rental are not the greatest to say the least, I would however query those costs and more importantly who pays for them. The idea is that the Owner gets as much as possible, there seems to be a bizarre ideaology from a lot of Owners and Agents that the Agent should earn and the Owner gets whats left!

The product/commodity is surely the property and the customer/client is the Owner, they should be returning as much as possible.

25% for an Agent is extremely high, in my opinion, even for a Holiday rental it should be 15% max (And I am an Agent!!)

The cleaning costs, laundry and meet & greet are all paid for by the incoming tenant to the property manager/Agent on arrival, NOT from the rental price.

The costs for the Owner should only be Agents commission, tax and running costs of the property or holiday maker duration. If the utilities are metered then this is already factored into the rental and cannot be abused by the tenant without them paying for it.

Also the rental price is a reflection of the amount of marketing the Agent does, if the marketing is extensive then the Owner will get the price they want (being realistic) and not have to get into a price war with not so switched on Owners.

With regards to Long Term Rentals the return is poor and it is just a contribution towards overall costs due to the fact that a lot of Owners in my area have high mortgages some were 100% so they won't be covering their mortgage and overheads anytime soon.

Long Term does take the uncertainty out of the equation versus holiday rentals over the course of the year, but it is still low and on the negative side all the legalities, tenants and their issues if anything goes wrong or you get a bad one it can leave you wondering why bother!

A lot of Owners seem to be of the mindset, I'll take the risk of getting a bad tenant as I need to generate some income as the exchange rate and my financial situation back in the UK can't sustain the whole deficit on the property costs. (and it is a risk stacked in their favour, they're not all bad tenants you know!) 

Thread: Holiday Rental Owners Please Help

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01 Dec 2008 4:03 PM:

Hi Vacacaconi

We have properties available for short and long term rent, send me a private email if you want the details and you're still looking.

We have places in San Pedro, Santiago de la Ribera, Los Alcazares, Los Narejos, San Javier and more.

Speak soon

Emma

Thread: 10 day rental December Lo Pagan, San Pedro, Los Alcazares

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