The Ultimate Vacation Rental Handbook
So many websites and social media influencers are talking about investing in short-term rentals and quitting their day jobs. This isn’t one of those books! Don’t get me wrong; Airbnb and VRBO can help you generate some great passive income, but it takes work, planning and repeatable processes. Short term rentals are not a get rich quick scheme. This book is your practical guide to purchasing setting up and managing your rental for success.
In Short, this is the no-BS operations manual that I wish I would have had before I purchased my first vacation rental.
Lesson’s learned scaling quickly from 1 short term rental to over 40 units today!
My goal with this book is to help you learn how to successfully manage your vacation rental and avoid some of the mistakes I made scaling quickly from my first vacation rental to the 40+ short-term vacation rentals in 7 short years. This book will provide you with practical and tactical advice and guidance on how to set up and manage your rental for long-term success including lots of tips and tricks to succeed on listing platforms like Airbnb and VRBO, extensive checklists for setting up and managing your rentals and even guest communication templates I use every day to help automate my process.
In short, this is the book that I wish I would have had before I purchased my first vacation rental.
I’ve broken this book down into short chapters so that it is an easy read and easy to reference all of the information in the future based on your current business challenge. I’m confident that this book will become your go-to handbook to help you manage your short-term rental(s). I’m passionate about helping other entrepreneurs achieve success in the short-term vacation rental market.
Vacation rentals are still a side gig for me. Over 20 years ago I founded a digital marketing agency called Foremost Media and still run that business as well. I’ve been an entrepreneur my entire adult life and I’m constantly learning and testing new strategies to grow my businesses. This is the first book I’ve ever written, and it’s always been a bucket list item for me. I’m really glad you stopped by the website, and I look forward to exchanging ideas with you. I hope you will consider joining our community of like-minded individuals and we can grow and learn from each other.
A few of the topics covered in The Ultimate Vacation Rental handbook :
Locating The Right Rental
Learn how find the right short-term rental property to buy by researching the market, considering the amenities, and understand the needs of the market.
Rental Purchase Checklist
Once you find a potential short-term rental property use our rental purchase checklist to help ensure that the property will really be a good rental investment.
Evaluating Income Potential
One of the top questions we get is “How much income can my short term rental generate?” Will provide some tools to help you evaluate potential rentals for income.
Amenities Matter
Having the right amenities for the market can make the difference between a profitable rental and not getting many rentals at all. Learn the secrets to amenities.
Airbnb Tips & Tricks
Listing your rental on sites like Airbnb and VRBO can help you generate more bookings but they are competitive marketplaces. Let us help you rise to the top of the search results.
Rules For Renters
Setting guest expectations in advance not only help protect your guests and property from damage and trouble but can also help you win a dispute on VRBO or Airbnb. Read about how to set up and enforce house rules.
Guest Communications
Good guest communication from initial inquiry about your property to after check out for a guest stay are a important part of running your STR business. Let us help you streamline guest communications.
Maintenance & Management
From finding maintenance people and contractors to inspections and task assignments & checklists we will break down the ins and outs of maintaining your rental.
Financing & Revenue
When it comes to financing your short term rental purchase there are a lot of options to consider as you scale your business from one unit to multiple units.
Cameras & Alarms
Did you know on some rental platforms not disclosing the fact that there are cameras on property can earn the guest a full refund? Let us help you protect your investment the right way.
Guest Access
From keys under the entry mat to high tech touch pads to unlock the front door, there are a lot of options for getting guests in and out of your rental. Will look at pros and cons for each system.
Pricing Strategies
Seasons, minimum stays, days of the week, events in the area all should factor into a pricing strategy to help you maximize revenue. Learn from our proven pricing strategies.
Hiring Cleaners
There is no faster way to tank your rental business then bad reviews about how clean your rental was. Learn about hiring and managing cleaning at your STR.
Rental Arbitrage
Is rental arbitrage a good strategy to grown your short term rental portfolio with out investing in real estate? Will look at the pros and cons of this popular tactic.
Reviews
“Research shows that as many as 92% of travelers want to see reviews before booking.” Reviews can make or break a property’s success on the booking platforms. Let us teach you how to build and manage reviews.
Bedding & Linens
Bedding and linens are a major cost for most rental units. Will share our insight on buying, and managing a linen program for your rental units.
Dealing With Neighbors
I can’t understate the importance of good relationships with neighbors. It’s so important to have a strategy in place to manage your rental neighbors.
Hello, I’m Jon Ballard
I’m so glad you stopped by my website. I’ve been purchasing and renting vacation homes since 2015, starting with one home and expanding to over forty units today. When I purchased my first vacation rental back in 2015, I knew next to nothing about the short-term rental business. Over the last seven years I’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t work in the short-term rental business often times though trial and error. There are a lot of people on social media talking about quitting their jobs, replacing their income and traveling the world because they bought a short-term rental or two. For the most part I think they are full of crap. If you are looking to live in a van or a hostel and make $40k or $50K a year with no retirement or benefits or insurance, buy one of their books about Airbnb get rich quick schemes. This isn’t that type of book. Owning and managing a short term rental can be rewarding and profitable but it takes work. The reality is short-term rental management is a business. Whether you have one home or many, it takes operating systems, time and effort to be successful in the long term. I’d love to share my experience with you. It is my hope that whether you’re buying your first short-term rental or your goal is to open a management company, the information I’ve compiled in my book and on this website can help you be successful without making a lot of the costly mistakes that I made when first starting out.
I want to help you succeed with your Airbnb and VRBO rentals!
Still Not Convinced? Become a member and get access to these great resources as well:
Getting Your Home Ready To Rent
Preparing your home for guests can be a daunting task with various factors to consider. Will dive in deep and discuss over 30 different topics around getting your property ready to rent for guests. Will also provide a robust checklist that will help you ensure you’re ready for that first guest and to start getting good reviews.
Listing Your Rental Unit Online
Airbnb and VRBO tips and tricks
Will help you learn how to set up your online listings to create an emotional connection with guests including actionable tips and best practices for listing on popular platforms like Airbnb and VRBO so you can rank higher on those platforms and generate more bookings for your vacation rental.
Guest Communication
Including message templates
Guest communication is one of the most important things you can do to make your rental business successful. In the book we talk through response times, communication work flows and even share guest communication templates we use every day to help streamline our guest communications.
Join Our Community To Download Resources & Instantly Download A Digital Copy Of The Book:
JOIN THE COMMUNITY
Private Group For STR Managers
Free
Exclusive access to our Short Term Rental Owners Facebook Group
Access to our video library of short term rental topics
Tips and Tricks Newsletter Subscription
Ultimate STR Amazon Shopping List
JUMP START PROGRAM
Normally $139/Year
$59/Year
Exclusive access to our Short Term Rental Owners Facebook Group
Access to our video library of short term rental topics
Tips and Tricks Newsletter Subscription
Ultimate STR Amazon Shopping List
Instant Digital Access to The Ultimate Short Term Rental Handbook
On Demand downloadable documents including:
Downloadable & editable Welcome Book Template
Downloadable & editable Cleaner Checklist
Downloadable & editable example rental contracts
Downloadable & Editable maintenance checklists
25+ Editable Documents I Use To Run My Business
ULTIMATE PACKAGE
Normally $299/Year
$159/Year
Exclusive access to our Short Term Rental Owners Facebook Group
Access to our video library of short term rental topics
Tips and Tricks Newsletter Subscription
Ultimate STR Amazon Shopping List
Instant Digital Access to The Ultimate Short Term Rental Handbook
On Demand downloadable documents including:
Downloadable & editable Welcome Book Template
Downloadable & editable Cleaner Checklist
Downloadable & editable example rental contracts
Downloadable & Editable maintenance checklists
25+ Editable Documents I Use To Run My Business
All the items included in the free and jump start programs plus:
Will mail you a hard copy of the book “Ultimate Vacation Rental Handbook”
You will also receive instant access to the digital version of the book.
1 Year Of Personal Email support – ask & get answers questions about your rental via email
30 minute one on one consulting call with the books author Jon Ballard
Review of your online listing with actionable suggestions on how to improve it
I would love to be a resource for you. Let’s talk.
Looking for one on one coaching?
Contact me today to discuss personalized on one one coaching packages. I also offer professional listing services to help get your short term rental set up properly on the major booking platforms.