Should I Rent My Costa Rica Property Out My Own or Use An Agency?
Congratulations, you just purchased your perfect property in Costa Rica. Now that you have been through the entire sales process, its time to decide if you are going to rent out your property on your own or if you are going to hire an rental agency to assist. Both options has some pros and cons, but what is important is focusing on which decision is the best fit for you and your goals. Unfortuantely I think some buyers are not thoroughly guided as to all of the factors that are needed to consider when renting out a vacation rental in Costa Rica. So lets go over some of those key factors that I highlight to my clients
What are your goals and expectations?
I feel this is the first and foremost important start. Often with owners of property here, their desire is to simply rent out their property to help offset their property expenses and actually prefer not to have a tremendous amount of rental traffic. In any decent area covering expenses should be fairly easy to do on your own or via the help with an agency.
Other owners want to be more aggressive and are purely focused on a cash flow property. Again, this is possible on your or via an agency, but leads to then more questions that will dictate which might be best to choose.
How much time do you have to market and book your property?
Don’t be mistaken, marketing your property will require you to put some work in. Much like any sort of business, what you put into it will determine your results. You will need to market, follow up to inquiries, make calls, it will require a commitment from you, so if you have a busy and hectic schedule back where you live it is probably a better idea to let someone else handle all of that for you. A good rental agency will be able to handle everything and make the entire process hassle free.
But what I don’t want to pay all the fees and commissions to an agency?
I think the initial reaction for many is that they prefer to save the rental fees an agency will charge and instead do it on their own. The often think that just putting it up on couple rent by owner websites will do the trick. I have plenty of owners whom are VERY successful renting on their own, but again it is important to realize the work involved and that it is not always as easy as simply posting some pics to a couple sites. A good agency spends money on marketing, has large client databases and can be more consistent with results. Yes, they will dip into a percentage of your profits, however if in the end they are booking more than you can then those commissions can offset, not to mention, there is something to be said in the cost associated in saving your time that you would normally be putting into it.
Considering these factors will help you along with deciding on what is best for you. If you would like more help with finding a property in Costa Rica or consulting on what to do with your property, feel free to contact me any time, David Karr US direct 509.855.7457 or email here.