Free-Rentals Vacation Rentals

Based on several polls over the past year, a pattern has emerged. It seems that Austin Texas is consistently ranked high up on practically all categories from all sources.

Ranked
1st - Best Big City Places to Live MSN House & Home
1st - Best City for Hispanics (2004) Hispanic
2nd - Best Large City for Relocating Families Worldwide ERC & Primacy Relocation
3rd - Cool Cities Kiplinger
3rd - Top Growth Cities U-Haul
3rd - Great Places to Live Life 2.0
4th - Fastest Growing Cities Men’s Journal
4th - Smartest Cities Men’s Journal
5th - (2006) Most Educated Cities MSN Encarta
10th - Interesting Neighborhoods Travel-Leisure, America’s Favorite Cities
11th - Best Places for Singles Forbes
18th - Top US Destination Cities U-Haul
22nd - Top Rated Cities (2004) Cities Ranked & Rated
26th - Brainiest Cities American City Business Journals
27th - Best Cities for Families Child.com
27th - Best Cities for Seniors Bankers Life and Casualty
28th - Large Kid-Friendly Cities (2004; grade: B+) Population Connection
32nd - Fiscally Fit Places Sperling’s
35th - Best Places to Live Men’s Journal

Amid record gas prices and a slumping housing market, 37% of Americans are not planning to vacation this summer while 35% are planing a weekend getaway.

Only 13 percent of those surveyed said they planned to travel outside the United States this summer, which is even weaker than the 15 percent of Americans who intended to travel overseas in the summer of 2002 - after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks - according to the survey.

According to another survey released this month by a Washington think tank, most U.S. workers receive an average of nine days paid vacation, but 28 million don’t receive any paid leave.

Source: http://money.cnn.com

Next time you book your vacation rental holiday, you may want to check whether or not they have a computer or laptop with internet connectivity available for your use.

A recent survey conducted by AP-Ipsos revealed that 1 out of every 5 vacationer brings their laptop with them on their vacation. 80% bring their mobile phone.
 
Nineteen percent said they worked on their vacation even though they were technically off. Twenty percent said they checked work messages like voice mail, and another 15 percent said they called to check in.

Overall, about six in 10 in the said they were planning a vacation trip in the next year, with men a bit likelier than women to express that expectation. About half said they had taken one in the last year.

Seven in 10 women and half of men said they had read a book on their last vacation. About three in four men, and six in 10 women, said they had read a newspaper.

The AP-Ipsos poll was conducted from May 15 to 17 2007 and included telephone interviews with 1,000 randomly chosen adults. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points
 

Modern Bride Magazine recently posted the following question to their readers… “Where is the best place to go on your honeymoon?”. Some may also infer this question to mean, what is the most romantic destination for your honeymoon.

Here are the results of this open ended question in order of reader preference. 

1 Hawaii
2 Italy
3 Tahiti
4 Anguilla
5 Fiji
6 St Lucia
7 Mexico
8 St Barts
9 Jamaica
10 France
11 Bali
12 Bermuda
13 South Africa
14 Costa Rica
15 Greece
16 US Virgin Islands
17 British Virgin Islands
18 Turks & Caicos
19 Nevis
20 Australia
21 Aruba
22 New Zealand
23 Antigua
24 Barbados
25 Cook Islands
26 England
27 Thailand
28 Florida
29 California
30 Ireland
31 Kenya
32 Las Vegas
33 St Maarten/St Martin
34 Dominican Republic
35 Switzerland
36 Bahamas
37 Belize
38 Canada
39 Cayman Islands
40 Monaco
41 Turkey
42 New York
43 Spain
44 Alaska
45 Chile
46 India
47 New England
48 Portugal
49 Scotland
50 Austria

I’ve come to believe there are more vacation rental websites out there than there are vacationers seeking rentals. But are there more rentals websites than rental home owners? I think not.
 
We want to establish partnerships with rental home owners seeking to rent their out their unit. How? We offer you a vacation rental website. You can see our offer at www.free-rentals.com/partners. 
 
If you own a rental home and build a website about it... who visits your website? Nobody. Sure you can pay for traffic with google adwords, but once you stop paying, say goodbye to your traffic. 
 
Directory websites are aggregates, matchmaking the rental home seekers with the rental home owners. They typically cost between $70 and $150 usd per year to keep your property listed on them.  But once again, one you stop paying, your listing gets taken down and say goodbye to your traffic. 
 
We think the best idea is to simply OWN your own vacation rentals website for your area. So not only do you get your home(s) listed, but you get to feature them at the top of the listings. Plus, you get to collect yearly revenue from everyone else who wants to list on your website. 
 
We offer turnkey vacation rental websites: www.free-rentals.com/partners
So whats the catch? There’s only one catch…. FIRST COME FIRST SERVE. 
 
This is a ground floor opportunity, but it’s going to take off like magnesium in a flame. For each particular vacation hot spot around the world, we only have 1 website to offer, so if you get it, then you own it as long as you want, you can even resell it later, and all along, not only do you collect money from other paying members, but you get to feature your homes predominately… and, you get access to all the unanswered inquiries sent to other properties. But once this website is taken, we do not offer any overlapping competitive sites,

We will only work with 1 partner per region. So check it out!

So you want to add a calandar and bookings section to your vacation rental directory website? How about adding rentor.org’s free calandar system to your rentals website? Wrong. You should be aware that www.rentors.org is yet another “Home Away” brand, that looks like a free, open source, aulturistic venture. Home Away also owns several vacation rental websites such as www.homeaway.com , www.cyberrentals.com , www.greatrentals.com , www.a1vacations.com and perhaps several more. Here are plenty of free and cheap bookings calanders you can add into your vacation rental website without having to share a bed with your competition:
 
hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Organizers
hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Calendars

 Sometimes the owner of your apartment or rental home may sell the property.  When this happens, the new owner may want to continue renting to you. If so, you probably will be asked to verify information for the new owner, such as the monthly rent you pay, the names and ages of you and any other occupants, and the amount of your security deposit.
 
          All of this information usually is provided to you on a form, commonly referred to as an Estoppel Certificate. Carefully review or provide the information requested. If you disagree with any information, contact the current owner or property manager immediately. By signing the form, you certify that the information is correct, which makes it difficult to correct an error later.
 
          You may wonder what happens to your security deposit. The former owner has two options: either transfer the deposit to the new owner or refund the deposit to you.
 
          Before taking either action, the former owner has the right to inspect your residence and deduct the costs of any necessary repairs from the security deposit. You should be notified of any required repairs in advance and afterwards to receive an itemized list of the repairs and their costs.  The owner may also deduct any outstanding rent from your deposit.
 
          If any amount is deducted, the new owner will likely require you to pay that amount to restore the security deposit to the amount you agreed to pay when you signed the original rental agreement. Why? Even though ownership of the property may change, the terms of the rental agreement remain in effect until one of the following occurs: 1) the lease expires, 2) proper notice is given for any changes to a month-to-month agreement, or 3) you accept new terms in writing, such as a new lease or rental agreement.

 Avoid having your vehicle towed by complying with the regulations of your rental community as well as the parking ordinances of the city in which you live. Vehicles owned by renters often can become the source of problems when parked illegally or left in an unsightly state of disrepair.
 
            Code enforcement officials and property managers are very diligent when it comes to parking violations.  Depending upon the condition and location of your vehicle, it may be towed 24-96 hours after the required warning is posted.  If you see a warning notice, act quickly to avoid expensive towing charges.  
 
            It is a good idea to provide your property manager with information about your car, such as its manufacturer, model name and license number.  This will enable your property manager to contact you in case there is a problem regarding your vehicle.  Most apartment communities already require such information. 
 
            Be courteous to your neighbors.  When you park your vehicle in a no parking zone or another renters space, you probably will cause an inconvenience for someone.  If you leave your inoperable vehicle on jacks with parts lying around, you create a safety hazard and an ugly detraction from the nice surroundings of the neighborhood.  In addition, your inoperable vehicle creates a negative image of your apartment community that may turn away potential good renters and upset your property manager.

  Renters who do not pay the rent on time may receive a document from their property manager called a Three Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit. This notice is a legal demand that you either pay the rent or move out. Even if you move out, you will be liable for any rent due according to the terms of the rental agreement.
 
         You need to know that the Three Day Notice serves as the first step in the legal process of evicting you from your rental. Although the notice can be given to you the day after the rent is due, many property managers wait a few days before issuing a Three Day Notice.  According to many rental agreements, a late fee will be assessed if the rent is not received within a certain number of days after the due date.

         Do not confuse these extra days with a €œgrace period€?or an automatic extension of time to pay your rent.  Since the rent usually is due on the first day of the month, paying after the due date means you are paying late, even if a late fee is not assessed until several days later.  If you make too many late payments, your property manager may decide to terminate your rental agreement.
 
         If you receive a Three Day Notice, you only have a few days to pay the rent before your property manager can take the next legal step in the eviction process. Starting the day after you receive the notice, you have three days to pay the rent, unless the third day falls on a weekend or holiday, in which case you have until the end of the next business day.
 
         When you receive a Three Day Notice, contact your property manager or rental owner immediately. If you already mailed a check, your property manager will appreciate knowing that the rent payment is on the way. If you cannot pay the rent, you should attempt to resolve the problem with your property manager before any legal action is taken against you. Otherwise, the eviction process will proceed, and you may end up with a negative mark on your credit records.

 When moving out, you want to receive your security deposit as soon as possible. Be sure you have provided your former rental owner or manager with an accurate mailing address, and notify them if it changes.
 
          According to state law, the security deposit must be mailed to you within 21 days of the date the owner regains possession of the unit. If any amount is deducted, you must be provided with a written and itemized statement explaining each deduction. Possible deductions include any outstanding rent you may still owe, the cost to repair any damage to the rental unit, and the cost of any cleaning needed to return it to the same condition at the beginning of your tenancy.