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Rent better than others...

exon

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Luckily I don't have uncle who lives from paycheck to paycheck (all others in my family do), so here is what I've learned from him. He is in real estate business for many years and he do it better than others and that encourage me to explore why. I'm not in that field but I find it useful even for me.

Beside trading, he own apartments and houses for vacation rent on largest Croatian island. Apartments always have waiting list and they are 20-30% more expensive for rent than others. But why then other have empty apartments when they spend lot of money to advertise themselves, have websites... He doesn't have any website, any add... nothing at all. But always full. All he have is a business card with phone numbers and email. I will compare him with my friend who is in same business, but without success. Always nervous and always blames others for his failures.

This little things in every apartment are a reason that separate him from my friend:

He never buy house or apartment - he build his own, in way he think will be best for his users and save money by the way. Most of apartments have a sea view from big balcony or if that is not possible (ground floor) they have a nice garden - this is start decision where most fail. My friend bought apartments that are cheap and just think how to get more money from them. At the end he pay much more then my uncle for brand new apartments.


Here's what you get by my uncle - you will need at least one of them while you are there...

- exactly in minute service - he will be there for you when he say in minute

- unexpected - if you use his apartment for more than 10 days he will give you 1 day for free, but he will not say you that until you pay to him

- bottle of wine and brandy that are made on island waiting for guests

- few bottles of beer, properly chilled also waiting in apartments

- all the little things you need for the beach
(beach bags to cool drinks, beach chairs, inflatable beach mats, beach parasol, small beach tents for kids, inflatable toys and balls...)

- beach eat & drink accessories

- other stupid small things that are always there - cigarette lighters, ashtrays, nice candles, full kitchen equipment with every opener, coffee making equipment...

- social games - poker, monopoly....

- f***** Playstation2 in every apartment. (few euros for used on ebay and great for entertaining kids for few hours... so that you and your lady can be relaxed to drink wine at sunset on big balcony...)

- TV with satellite receiver where guests can watch tv in any language + radio, cd/dvd players with recorded music of any type - there are people who want to hear news from their countries, or just listen relaxing music while they doing above thing...

- tourist board info book with pictures and directions where you can go and what to do on the island- when you come to new place you miss a lot of opportunities if you don't know where to find them or spend lot of time (for which you are paying) to find them + you will receive recommendations from him directly)

My favorite:
View attachment 1325

Here's what you get by my friend:

- service - He won't be there when he say, you will need to wait him for few hours - he will say "I have so much guests and do not manage to do all"- he lying to people who feed him, and when he say "I'll be there in 5 min" he will be there in 45 min.

- unexpected - When you pay to him hidden fees comes to the sun - when you ask him for price he will tell you price without tourist tax - it is just 1 euro for a day per person he say later.
4 x 1€ x 10days = 40€uro more to pay for his guests. One more minus for him.

- there is small TV without antenna or any receiver, so you need to find some wire...

- there is kitchen without knifes for bread or meat

- you won't find any useful thing there

So, this is one more "How Can I Make Money" vs. "How Can I Help People" story.....
 
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JayKim

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Great post exon! Your Uncle knows customer service good things to remember if I ever get into re. Thanks!
 

Russ H

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Great post, Exon.

We run a B&B (small Inn) in the Napa Valley. And our success over the past few years is directly attributed to surprising people (in a good way) and keeping them very happy.

Your uncle is doing the same thing in his market. :thumbsup:

-Russ H.
 

WildFlower

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Aug 21, 2009
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Your friend would be called a "Slum Lord" in the US ... Where the focus is on money only, and they will let the properties stay in disrepair.. or very cheapest repair... like painting over issues instead of properly repairing. AND they charge as much as they can for rent without the customer service.

Thanks for posting!
 
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