Make Money Renting Your Second Home

(NAPSI)—If you’re ever thinking about investing in a second home or listing your property as a vacation rental, you’ll be in good company. New research on the global second-home market reveals for the second straight year that more homeowners are buying a second home to use as a vacation rental rather than for their own use. Just under half of surveyed homeowners reported buying a second home primarily for use as a short-term rental.

Regardless of where or why homeowners are buying that second home, they all agree on one thing: Internet access is essential. Any Internet, no matter the speed, is the most important feature to homeowners planning to buy a second home. After Internet access, U.S. homeowners consider central air conditioning to be most important, whereas Greek, Portuguese and Italian homeowners believe having a balcony or terrace is essential, and British homeowners want access to a swimming pool.

Second-home buyers in the U.S. have also historically been domestically focused. This year, 94% of American second-home owners own a property in the U.S., up from 84% last year. French second-home owners similarly prefer to buy in their own country, with 89% owning homes in France.

More travelers are choosing to stay in vacation rentals instead of hotels or resorts when going on family trips because these offer more space and privacy, better amenities and a chance to stay in some truly unique properties. As a result, the second-home market has changed significantly over the past decade, and homeowners are taking advantage of the opportunity to get income by renting out their property. In fact, the average homeowner who rents a second home on Vrbo can earn nearly $31,000 a year.

“A third of American owners rent their second homes primarily to help cover the cost of the mortgage and taxes, and nearly 40% use rental earnings as a secondary source of income,” said Bill Furlong, vice president of Vrbo, Americas. “We’ve seen many second-home owners turn their property into an income-generating asset by listing it on Vrbo where millions of travelers book vacation rentals each year.”

If you’re curious to see how much you could make by renting out a second home, you can use the company’s rent potential calculator to estimate the rental income of your house. Once you’ve decided to rent out your home, there are a variety of resources and tools to help you get started, from how to market your rental and attract travelers to your property to optimizing your pricing and bookings, all at www.vrbo.com/lyp.

On the Net:North American Precis Syndicate, Inc.(NAPSI)