It is a well known fact that Vacation property management companies do best with their own speciality which is day to day management of vacation homes.
Here are some issues many Buyer’s Agents have run into when showing homes to their buyers when listed by vacation home management companies who as an extra sideline also offer real estate services.
1.SCHEDULING CONFLICTS
Property Managers office hours are typically 9-5pm, Monday-Friday. It’s a well known fact that a lot of Property Managers only will allow showings with them being present each time. (Their focus here is primarily to sell their Property Management program to prospective buyers and the property sale as a second priority). Well, afterall, the longer they keep the management of the home the better, right?!?
Typically, Property Managers will insist on showing their listings after their office hours, typically after 5pm or to suit their schedule and not the buyers, this is most inconvenient for most vacation home buyers as they typically like to view in the mornings when it is cooler. Hence, lots of lost viewings of potential buyers. This really does restrict selling a property in a timely and successful timeframe for the sellers. A conflict of interest.
Whereas, when a Realtor lists a property, it can be shown at ALL times when VACANT via an accessible lockbox. Only Realtors who are registered with the Regional Realtors Association are able to show as they have attended a mandatory Code of Ethics training and adhere to the Code of Ethics of the ORRA and NAR. All viewings are logged so that each showing is registered for security reasons.
2. LIMITED CONTACT HOURS OVER THE WEEKEND
This has been a huge problem when trying to show vacation homes listed with vacation property management companies. Their operating hours are from 9am-5pm, Mon-Fri.
Over the weekends, property managers are typically busy dealing with guests arriving/departing so are not on hand to answer showing requests for their listings and ONLY utilize an emergency number which of course, Realtor are not going to call.
The busiest time for showing requests is over the weekend and when Realtors call during the weekend to request showing of a listing, he/she will be greeted by a voicemail which won’t be checked until Monday morning. Lots of property showing requests are made in the evening hours when the Realtors are working on their list of houses to show the following morning and many Realtors send out contract offers in the evening time and weekends. So, who will be around to catch these opportunities?
Weekends are especially difficult when trying to arrange viewings with properties listed with vacation home property management companies and if a buyer does want a quick response to an offer there and then within a couple of hours, it can be so frustrating when a Realtor can’t get hold of the vacation home property management company to put across the offer. Most buyers will then move onto their 2nd choice and won’t wait around. Remember, some buyers fly in for a few days to property hunt, especially the Canadian and out of state buyers!
Realtors typically work most evenings and weekends so can catch these calls and convey offers to their sellers quickly and swiftly. Most Realtors specialised in sales ONLY will have 2 direct contact phone numbers and an email address which goes through to their smartphone.
Realtors tend to be fully equipped to deal with last minute showings and catching contracts asap to present to sellers. In real estate, time is of essence and once buyers have chosen a property they do like to move fast with the negotiation process.
- Not a Specialized Process
Management Companies are specialized in renting out vacation homes and managing property. Their website and marketing materials are geared towards rentals and management, not sales!
A specialized Sales Brokerage, has a sales website and all marketing is geared towards home sales and buyers! Most of the real estate website are affiliate with over 200 other websites for listings, so this gives their listings more exposure.
- Marketing
99% of management companies main source of income comes from the management end, hence most of their marketing dollars are spent on marketing their Rentals/ Management side. They don’t typically spend too much of their marketing dollars on the real estate side. In the market that we are currently in, we still need to go above and beyond to make sure all properties are marketed and target marketed in the correct manner in order to gain interest and hence gain a timely sale. A specialist Sales Brokerage would typically plough 100% of the marketing dollars into promoting their listings and finding buyers and advertising by target marketing! If you have a vacation home, it makes sense to list with a Specialised Brokerage that deals with vacation home sale as their marketing dollars will stretch internationally to Europe and beyond, whereas local brokerages will typically only marketing local and nationally.
- Ulterior Motives
Management companies are not trained to sell homes they are trained to book vacation stays and manage property. It’s the difference between hospitality management and business marketing. They are two completely different markets and therefore you run the risk of ending up with an agent whose sole purpose in selling your property is to gain property management rather than a sale.
There are a lot of people acquiring their real estate licenses, this is straight forward to do, however, it is what you do with it afterwards that actually matters and that is when all the specialist training courses start for most Realtors that take their career seriously. Check carefully the crudentials of a Brokerage before you work with them. Do they have any specialist designations? Do they specialize in Sales? Do they specialise in your location? What services do they offer? More importantly do they specialize in vacation home sales?
It is vital to the sales process to stick with a Specialised Brokerage that is working full time in real estate, who has a website which is real state only, specialized marketing techniques, offering extra marketing services, a steady flow of vacation home buyers and is specifically trained in the sales and marketing process for vacation homes as well as having a specialized knowledge in dealing with foreign national sellers.
Working 100% in Vacation Home Sales means that Brokerages are keeping up to speed with local market changes and variances between each Community in order to give you a specialize guide to your selling price and negotiating terms as well as having the knowledge in how to deal with the closing process for foreign national sellers.
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WHY WOULD A PERSON GO TO A REGULAR DENTIST TO HAVE BRACES FITTED WHEN THEY CAN GO TO AN ORTHODONTIST
A Dentist MAY well try to fit the braces as they have knowledge of teeth, BUT, actually are not trained in fitting braces!
It is the same scenario for a Management Company listing Properties!
Why would a Vacation Home Owner go to a Property Manager to SELL their vacation home? When a Management company Specialises in taking care of property cleans, taking bookings and looking after guests needs.
BUT, are they actually fully trained and specialized in: Marketing, Negotiating, Sales, Dealing with foreign national sellers and all the requirements and the sales process right through to closing that a fully trained Realtor can do? Are they spending their full working days focusing on selling listings?
At Vacay & Co Real Estate, we are specialized in working with Vacation homes in and around the Disney area’s of Orlando, Kissimmee, Davenport, South Clermont & Haines City.
We are specialized in marketing & negotiating and have a full list of credentials and work full time on focusing on vacation home sales to local, national & international clientele.
We look forward to being able to assist you with the sale of your property. Contact us today: 321 284 3600 or 407 369 8804 or email: [email protected]
WE LOOK FORWARD TO BEING ABLE TO ASSIST YOU FURTHER.