At OVW, we like to get involved in the communities where we do business.  One way we are trying to help the local residents of Hatteras Island, NC is by participating in a fundraising effort to make the Christmas season brighter for needy families.   www.cheerforhatteras.org is the site our daughters, Lauren and Tori Steagall established to give back to the island they have grown to love.  We have spent a lot of time there at our vacation home and have formed an attachment to the local residents and their families.

A large portion of our property listings are on Hatteras Island so we know the impact of Hurricane Irene is still being felt by the local residents there.  One lingering effect has been on local businesses and employees.  Many of the businesses in the Waves, Salvo and Rodanthe area had to close for the season long before they normally would.  Not only have the business owners been financially impacted, but their employees lost their income months before they normally would, making the Holidays particularly rough this year.

Please take a moment to visit the website and make a donation – any donation.  As you will see on the site, we are asking for cash donations, fulfillment of a child’s gift list or gently used bicycles.

One thing we encourage our clients to do is send Christmas Greetings to those people in your database that have either inquired about your property or rented your house before.  It’s easy to add entries in your database if you don’t want to wait for the list to build automatically.  Just log in and go to your Dashboard, click on Email Marketing Management and find the “Add a Contact” option.  Once you have a database built it’s easy to put people into Email Groups, create Email Templates and send messages to all or some of your contacts at once.

There are many success stories when it comes to on-line vacation rentals, but be careful…there are scammers everywhere.  There are bogus renters trying to scam owners and bogus owners trying to scam renters.  How can you make sure of a successful transaction?  There is no fool proof way to make sure you are not being taken, but there are some steps you can take to minimize your risk.

Renters should ask detailed questions, get the address and make sure the property physically exists, check the ratings on the website (if they exist) and make sure you have a rental agreement signed.  If possible, we also recommend speaking with the owner, rather than just making a deal through email.  Most of all, use your instincts.  There are  many alternative properties out there if something just does not sound right with your first or second choice.

One of the most common scams we have seen affecting owners is where a potential renter from overseas agrees to rent your place, then says they accidentally sent too much money and ask you to send the difference back to them.  Don’t send them any money!  They are waiting to see if you agree to this before sending a bogus check.  By the time you realize their check is no good, they have already cashed yours.  We have been posting ads on Craigslist through OVW and Craigslist seems to be where many con artists find their mark.  Be careful.

The weather is expected to be very nice in the Outer Banks next week.  With any luck at all, the 60 – 70 degree weather anticipated next week will hold for a while.  There are many properties available on Open Vacation Weeks.  Owners, don’t let these last few weeks of the season pass you by without an aggressive effort to maximize revenue.  Try posting a special from OVW to Craigslist.  It takes about 2 minutes.

Another unique capability exclusively for Open Vacation Weeks Clients…within the next 30 days we are anticipating the release of a feature that could truly change how renters search our site for a property within their budget.  Historically, bargain seekers have responded to Craigslist ads and/or combed through individual calendars to see which properties match their needs and fits their budget.  It is impossible to gauge an owners response to the inevitable question “will you take less since it is still vacant.”  It is an arduous process for the renter.  With OVW’s new “Offer Wall,” renters can post their last minute offers to a board by area, budget and amenities.  Owners that have open calendars will go review the offers on the board to see if any of the offers are close enough for discussion of their property.  It’s almost like a reverse Craigslist post to a targeted area of owners and property managers.  This will save a ton of time for the renter and provide the owners another option for finding renters to maximize revenue.  We’ll keep you posted on the release date.