Managing a Vacation Rental for an Owner

[Josh Astbury]

Hello,

I am new to the site and I love the podcast. I am 25 years old living on the coast of Maine and I am trying to find a way to get my foot in the door of Real Estate. I am currently a project manager for my parents excavation company and my wife is a stay at home mom. 

I met a client today that was looking to get their property ready to sell. They are planning to do some landscape type work to create more "curb appeal". Their primary residence is in London and they also have this beautiful 4 bedroom 2 bathroom property with ocean and mountain views where they would come and spend their summers in Maine. They have never listed their home as a vacation rental because thats the time they use the home. Properties are listed in their area anywhere from $400k to over $2 million. Although I am untrained the listings on HomeAway show that they could earn well over $1,500 a week for rental. Vacation rentals are pretty popular in this area over the summer. 

This feels like a big opportunity for me to speak up and talk about possibly managing the property for them while trying to rent during the summer months as well as trying to sell the property. I am relatively handy and have the resources and contacts of professional services in the area and know many of the contractors quite well. I also have an aunt that has a beautiful vacation rental and she deals through HomeAway and she could sort of be a mentor to see what managing is like.

Lastly, they don't have anyone manage their property over the winter! The road isn't plowed out and no one even checks on the house. I probably could tie that in with managing it in the summer as well.

Is this a good opportunity for me? What are some things that beginners should know about managing vacation rentals? What would a beginner charge? How have other people started out in managing vacation rentals for people?

Thanks