The rental market and Vacation Home sale market is unsustainable. Property prices are still rising by appalling amounts.

Yes that's great on the surface, but match today's house prices with what people are quoting for rentals. Anybody seen a 20 or 30% rise in their income from guests?

Anybody seen flight prices coming down?

Anybody seen car rentals coming down?

Anybody seen attraction prices coming down?

Any form of economics will show that if you have a home and have a mortgage of anything in excess of $1000 with all the associated costs like utilities, management,

taxes, replacement and upgrades, and if a home is being rented for anything less than $80 a night based on 35 weeks rentals that home is being run at a loss.

There is ample evidence to show that that homes are being rented for less than that. Fortunately there is also evidence that owners are sticking to their guns and getting what their home is really worth.

This is not a Last Minute syndrome. Because our site is so popular it's easier for owners to stick out for the rates, but there are other rental sites that lead owners to desperate measures.

This is not to suggest that a market economy is wrong but too many have been left in desperate situations by false promises by a whole myriad of people.

The first reaction by owners is to cut prices. Unfortunately all that does is delay the final sad outcome.

It's a fascinating insight as to how people operate their homes, and interestingly, its usually owners of less than 18 months who offer low prices.

The long-term owners, even though they could afford it in the main, are not lowering their rates unless it's a special one off deal.

The long-term owners, feel they have seen it all before - potentially supply outstripping demand ? so they wait until all the other homes are filled with cheap rentals, till they know they can get the price they need to survive.

Is this a good strategy? That's for you to decide.

Although Florida has being full this year, experiencing what is probably one of the best seasons in the past 5 years, not too many owners are taking advantage of this.

Disaster looms ahead and the only winners in this situation are the realtors. The very people that probably got many owners in to the situation they are in now. Luckily at sites like ours, the owners are in control.

If the enquiries come through, its up to the owners to convert them to bookings, its up to them to decide on pricing, its their web site that is the brochure for guests to view, its their techniques for making sure converted bookings are satisfied.

As one of the most popular sites, our focus is on getting visitors, getting enquiries and not having too many owners competing for the same enquiries. And this we do quite well.

Vacation rentals are a business and like everything its supply and demand. It only takes one owner to drop the price below realistic levels to create a precedent. As always it should be your decision, because you know what works for you.

Hopefully this helps clarify a situation, which will cause a lot of heartache for people in the future unless rental rates improve.

Stewart Granville is a Florida vacation villas rental agent and operates the Florida Villas Rentals and Orlando Vacation Rentals sites

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