FAQ

Hello Greg - I just visited your website and have a few questions. I am using a local Property Manager and not happy with their costs. They also only booked 4 weeks for me last season. I would like to use the VRBO but I am not that comfortable with using the internet and besides I don't want the phone calls and paperwork.

Q: Could you send me a quote for what you would charge? A: Yes once I get a little more information on your property and location.

Q: Can you improve on the number of weeks booked? A: I can try by teaching you how to set up an account on a1vacations.com and VRBO.com and building you a website which can be linked to both advertising sites.

Q: How are you different from a Property Manager or any other real estate agent? A: I've created this system for complete Rental home advertising management and maintenance after several years of perfecting it on my own rental properties. With this said, I'm not a RE Broker in Sales or Rentals, nor do I have a license as a "Property Manager" so I cannot tell you what you should rent p/week. My job is to help you the Owner make more money with little effort using my supervisory program as well as website marketing.

The following are the differences between what I offer and what a Property Manager offers:

Q: Do you have an office? - A: Yes, I'm located next to the "Beach Guide" located across the street from the WAWA (Rt. 26, Bethany Beach, DE)

Q :How does the customer get his keys? – A: I recommend getting a "lock box" and placing in on one of your doors; I can place one on your front door for no extra charge. The combination would be given to each of your Renters via e-mail. Moreover, if I'm also cleaning your home, I could change the combination for each new Renter if you'd like.

Q: Do you have a live site for another customer I could look at? A: Yes, here is an example of two of my own rentals:

Q: Do you come up with the weekly rental fee? A: - No, you would be the one to ultimately come up with your weekly Rental fees for each week. You then would e-mail me your monthly/weekly rental rates; we would then post your weekly rental fees on your new personal website along with the other websites, e.g. VRBO, etc.) BBC would communicate on your behalf with all your Renters (via phone or e-mail) thus freeing up your time, insuring all income goes directly to you, in addition to making sure all of your legal forms are signed and returned, insuring your Renters come and leave on time, and finally, *clean your home for your next Renter. If you’re not happy with any of our services, you could fire us at any time.

In conclusion, once you give us what you are charging your Renters per week, give us a description of your house, e.g., number of baths, beds, location, etc…, we will e-mail you a proposal. If acceptable, we will begin building your website (with pics & descriptions.) BBC take care of everything except you would need to return the Security Deposit to your Renters after BBC (or your own cleaners) insure there has been no damage or theft from your property. Moreover, if one of your Renters has a complaint or request, they could still go directly to you, (via e-mail or phone) or if you wish, they could contact BBC and we would contact you via e-mail or phone regarding their request or complaint.

* If you home is outside of my cleaning area you would be responsible for your own cleaning.

Hi Greg, I appreciate your honesty, however I'm still not clear on several points:

Q: If you are not allowed to offer my beach home for rent and you are not allowed to negotiate the lease, then does this mean I have to do those things? A: - Yes, you would e-mail me either a PDF or Word doc. your Lease Agreement (Lodging Agreement.) I would add your Agreements along with any of your other legal Agreements (I suggest the following documents which be added to your new personal website - You can make up your own forms or ask your attorney or accountant to send them to you):

Rental Policies

Lodging Agreement

Request-to-Reserve form - (this form begins the process)

These forms are where you would place all of your rules & conditions. By having your Legal Agreements on your personal website this saves time and money by not having to mail, fax or e-mail them to each of your Renters as they will simply go to your personal website, download, sign and fax them back to me. I will then place a copy of them in an Outlook folder which will be saved on my secure computer; I will also print a copy which will be placed in a (paper) folder stored in a secured location; moreover, I will e-mail you a copy if you like.

Q: How exactly would you envision a transaction working? A: Once you give me what you are charging for each week and month (i.e., your "conforming" fees), I'll add them to your calendar pages (you'll have 3 calendar pages as you'll have 3 websites - VRBO.com, HomeAway.com - (this is the same site as a1vactions.com, greatrentals.com, cyberRentals.com) and your personal site.) Most of your Renters will be renting for one week and they will know what you are charging per/week by looking at your 2 advertising websites. On these websites I will place a link directing them to your personal website where your "conforming" weekly fees (on your Calendar page) are also displayed. Your Renters will find more pictures and details on this site along with the steps to begin the process of renting your home. They will fill out your legal forms and fax them to me beginning the process. I will then update all 3 of your calendars in "Yellow" or tentative until they give you the initial pmt.. After I receive confirmation of this pmt., I will change the dates to "Red" as confirmed. However, if your Renters only wanted to rent a couple of days, or for longer durations (e.g., 1+ weeks), I would e-mail (or call) and ask you want you wanted to charge them for these "non-conforming" days.) I then would e-mail your prospective Renters with your "non-conforming" fees on your behalf.

Q: I understand that you would help me to put an advertisement on VRBO, then who would the renter email to? A: Your renters would e-mail me (Greg Hughes)and I would reply to them on your behalf. Moreover, after they send me your "Request-to-Reserve" form, your Renter will then send you the initial deposit (via *PayPal or a check via snail mail.) Again, all monies will go directly to your account or mailing address.

*PayPal - I'll give you easy, detailed instructions on how to set-up your PayPal account; these instructions will tell you how to send me your "HTML code" for your new PayPal button which I'll place on your personal website. I will not have access to, nor will I know what your bank routing or account information is, as you will be giving this information directly to PayPal via their secured website. The only other thing you'll need to do is make my e-mail address the "primary" address; this way I'll be Cc'd on each deposit transaction. This will enable me to e-mail you and your Renter a copy of the confirmation your account has received a pmt.

Q: Who would answer the renter? Do you have a step by step scenario in mind? A: Yes, here is an example:

Your new Renter Mr. Smith e-mails me and says he is sending you a pmt. for $1000 for your initial deposit to hold the 1st week of June. He uses the PayPal button on your personal website and the $1000 (less PayPal' s fee) goes directly into your bank account. I'm Cc'd that the transaction went through. I'll then email you and Mr. Smith (on your behalf) that the monies were received by you. I'll then go back into your personal website and the other two advertising websites and will update all calendars to reflect Mr. Smith has "reserved" that week in June. On your personal site this will be reflected in Red and the dates will be crossed-out; you will have access to all websites 24X7. A follow-up e-mail will be sent to Mr. Smith making him aware of the next and final pmt. due to you. I'll also make sure Mr. Smith signs and returns all of your other docs; I'll answer any questions or concerns that might arise (again on your behalf) doing the entire process. You would be Cc'd on all correspondences including your signed (usually in a PDF format or efax.com) legal docs, unless you tell me you don't want to be bothered.

In conclusion, after the initial work of you setting-up the PayPal account and you giving me all the information I'll need to build your website, you would only need to be involved with the following 4 issues:

Questions on "non-conforming" fees/rates, e.g., renting for a weekend, etc.. - (I would e-mail or call you for these rates/fees.)
Questions from your Renters which I do not have the answer, e.g., wanting to bring a pet, etc.. - (I would e-mail or call you.)
Returning your Renters Security deposit - (I would e-mail you reminding you of the amount and their mailing address; moreover if you are using my cleaning service, I will personally go to your home and conduct a "walk-through" ensuring there is no damage or theft)
Paying me for my Services - (I'll e-mail you for each service rendered)

Hi Greg, This is a lot to digest. Q: How do you get paid and how much? Is it based on the number of weeks sold? If not, then how?

A: I offer three set fees:

I. Website management - ($100 fee to be paid after your home has been uploaded to the www);
I'll build your personal web site (hosted on our Server - i.e., no monthly fee required) with the following:

a. Description of your Rental with main pic on your new home page

b. 10 additional pics

c. Map and directions

d. Availability/Calendar and weekly fees

e. Rental Policies form - (pls send to me as a Word doc.)

f. Lodging Agreement form - (pls send to me as a Word doc.)

g. Request-to-Reserve form - (pls send as a Word Doc.; all 3 forms can be modified as requested)

h. Reviews - (This is where I'll put your Renters comments per a “survey” which u will send back to your Renters with their security deposit; I also suggest placing a stationary book where each Renter can also leave comments; this is especially helpful to our cleaning crew as we want to make sure we are cleaning up to their expectations.)

i. Things to bring - (This page will be detailed for your specific property - just send to me as a Word doc.)

j. Pay Pal button w/credit cards w/all $ going directly to your account.

k. Add property details to (pls send to me as a Word doc):

HomeAway.com, VacationRentals.com, A1Vacations.com, CyberRentals.com, GreatRentals.com – $299 (yearly) + $15 (one time fee) or $314.

VRBO would be a separate fee, i.e., one year listing starting at $229 + $15 (one time fee) or $244.

(If you are already on any of these sites, there would be no need to pay me the $299 and or $229 as you could just continue to re-new with them every year; however, you would need to allow me to take over all updates and communications by giving me the user id and password. I would then change the e-mail address to mine in order to receive all communications. You would be cc'd on all correspondences including all forms.

If you are not currently using HomeAway and or VRBO I will pay for this advertising upfront, I will then bill you via e-mail the day your property has be listed.)

l. I'll add a link to your new personal website on HomeAway.com (which includes VacationRentals.com, A1Vacations.com, CyberRentals.com, GreatRentals.com) and VRBO.com

* FAQ's

III. Cleaning fee - We charge less in the off-season as we always strive to offer the lowest fees (the same goes for our Supervisory Management Service) and we'll charge slightly more in the peak-season as we will be busier. Just give us a description of your home and an idea of what you'd expect to pay per cleaning and we will get right back with a quote. In addition, we offer "deep" cleaning if you'd like to have your home "detailed" for the upcoming season. FYI... after you are acclimated to our services, if you ever find someone else offering a lower fee, we will try our best to offer a lower price; however after working with BBC and looking back at all our services, please keep in mind our attention to all the details including our house cleaning service. Our goal with every service completed is to gain an "at-a-boy" or "thank-you" letter.

Hi Greg, Just one more question.

Q: During July and August you will charge me $150 per renter. If I have 6 people staying for one week does that mean $150 for the contract, or $900 because there are 6 people. If the renters stay for 3 weeks, does that become $150 times 3 = $450? A: – No, my fee of $150 would remain the same no matter the number of people; moreover my fee is the same if they stayed 1 week or 3 weeks, i.e., $150 would be my total if they stayed 3 weeks.

I'll be posting more FAQ information shortly (in the meantime, pls e-mail with any questions)