Owners Guide to Renting Property in Spain

Renting out your Spanish property is a business, and as with any business it must be marketed and advertised successfully to guarantee a healthy return on your investment. It can be enormously rewarding financially, but also extremely hard work.

People buy people before they buy products or services. If you can get a potential customer feeling good about you - you've cracked it. The holiday business gives you the opportunity to become involved with people from all over the world, exchanging telephone calls and emails, so definitely falls within the 'people' business category.

There are several different methods of advertising - newspapers, magazines or brochures for example. However the cost of a reasonably sized advertisement with photographs of your property is way beyond the budget of most holiday home owners. Even if cost was not a major consideration, would these methods reach your target audience successfully anyway? Effective advertising needs to reach as wide and as targeted an audience as possible. Internet advertising offers a vast number of opportunities that are unavailable with traditional marketing methods and it's considerably cheaper, especially when you consider what you can get for your money. However, word of mouth advertising is still the best form of advertising you can get, so the better your rental property – the more repeat bookings and ‘friends of friends’ bookings you are likely to get!

Furnishing the property for Rentals

When you first venture into the holiday rentals business, it can be tempting to try and limit your initial set-up costs by providing the bare minimum of furniture and equipment.

Seasoned holiday property owners advice is...don't try and cut corners! Furnish and equip your property as well as you can possibly afford.

In general, the higher the standard of furnishings, the more likely guests seeing our adverts are likely to book. Holiday makers have become more demanding in recent years as the choice of property has increased dramatically with more and more foreigners buying property in Spain. Satellite TV’s, microwave ovens, air-conditioning and even dishwashers are becoming standard requirements. Soft furnishings such as beds, sofa’s and chairs should be comfortable and preferably have washable covers that can be changed when stained or dirty. These items should be of a standard that you would be comfortable sleeping in, or sitting on, yourself. At least two sets of bed linen and towels should be provided. These should be of reasonable quality, but bear in mind they may need replacing at the end of the season.

Properties should be presented as ‘homely’, but without too many personal or breakable items. Flowers, pictures, candles and mirrors will give a property a nice ‘feel’.

Kitchens should be well equipped with sufficient cutlery and crockery to accommodate the number of guests a property sleeps. All items should be of a design that is easily replaceable if accidents and breakages do occur.

Remember the saying ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’ ? In the holiday home industry this simply must be your ‘byword’ . A Clean and well maintained property is your key to success in the letting market!! People are more likely to look after your property if they feel you have taken a lot of trouble to make them feel welcome and comfortable.

What income can I expect from rentals?

The number of bookings you can expect our adverts to generate and your resulting rental income will depend on a variety of factors. The location, style, standard, price and facilities of your property are all key factors which will influence the success of your advertising and hence the number of bookings.

You should normally able to secure bookings for several months of the year, including the high and even low season for owners with property in the most popular holiday areas. Obviously an inland apartment in an area largely undiscovered by tourists is unlikely to generate the same level of interest as a villa with sea views and a private swimming pool in a top holiday spot. On average, a 3 bed villa with a pool within 10 minutes drive of the sea will obtain £800 per week during the 6 week summer period, whilst the same property with air-conditioning and satellite TV will bring in around £1,000 per week.

A 2 bed apartment with communal pool within 10 minutes of the beach will bring in a return of around £450. These are not ‘hard and fast’ figures as it is dependent also on other factors. Before pricing your rental weeks, it is advisable to browse various advertising mediums for other properties similar in style and location to your own.

However, in some areas there are so many properties for rent that owners have to make sure that their prices are kept competitive. Generally, people booking via the internet expect to pay less than they would from a high street travel agent. It is important to respond quickly to rental enquiries and it is important that you should be contactable at all times If you do not have the time or inclination to deal with the advertising, enquiries and bookings yourself, a letting agency can take over the work on your behalf - All you have to do then is sit back and receive the income from your Spanish property rentals!

If you are not 'on hand' it can be extremely beneficial to employ an agency to take good care of both the rental management and the comfort of your guests. Citrus Iberia arrange the advertising of your Spanish property, and deal with the resulting enquiries and bookings on your behalf. The fees charged by the Citrus Iberia letting agency are easily recouped by regular letting and it is our intention to make sure that each booking goes as smoothly as possible, resulting in guests that wish to re-book the following year, and recommend your property to others . . . Word of mouth advertising is probably about the best you can get!.

Author: Debbie Cooper