Thanks Lip for the 2 websites. I will defiently look into them. 1 question I have is if you deal with the owners do they live under or above the rental? Or state side? Who would meet and greet you and take you to rental and give you keys? Just more to think about. Like I need that. lol

I'm not sure how all owners do it but I live in Atlantic City,NJ ... I get down , perhaps 30 days a year. during my trips down I usually make minor repairs when necessary, inspect linens, towels, household items... ( i'd be lieing if I said I didn't mix in a lil beach, sailing and miller lites lol) I have a one bedroom apt. under the main villa where my property manager resides. Most likely you would not ever see her unless you seek her out via cell or go down and knock. Also she would never be concerned w/ noise or your fun... You are there to have fun and she understands that ,plus the floors are 18 inch thick poured concrete... so dance all night as far as she's concerned. Her normal MO is to have you call her cell once you land and she will meet you at the villa entrance and let you in and go over the features of the villa. When you exit she will tell you to lock the villa and tell you where to put the keys. She will also upon request meet and greet at the airport if requested.

I own a condo and have a manager who oversees several units and villas. He doesn't live at the resort, but he is there daily, always available by phone and also available for airport pickup. That's the way most work where I am anyway.

Don't overlook the resorts where individuals own villas. We own at the Point Pleasant Resort on STT. Resorts like ours offer a professional lobby staff, full time maintenance personnel, two on-site restaurants, swimming pools, beach, tennis courts, nature trail, daily housekeeping, activities desk, mini mart, shuttle service, free wifi, cable television, 24 hour security staff, etc., etc., etc. and you still have the luxury of an individual fully equipped villa that is located in a number of free standing buildings. We owners generally sign a contract with a management firm (Antilles Resorts in our case) to rent & service our villas (we mainlanders call them condos) for us. Antilles, of course, receives bookings through travel agents and travel wholesalers like Expedia, Hotels.com, Travelocity, Cheap Tickets, etc....however, you can also book directly (ask for a discount when booking directly)....."tell them Future Islander sent you".....

We have rented from managers and directly from owners. Just one renter's point of view - give me an on-island manager any time. This is what we've experienced (owners, don't jump all over me, these have just been our experiences with the properties we've rented and my own opinion). No ax to grind here, just a different perspective.

We've found that the owners in a management program are held to a certain standard when it comes to having things in working order and having a certain level of amenities and keeping those amenities current. We've also found a better response if things go wrong . A manager has other properties to move you to if there are inconveniencing problems at a property. The manager is interested in getting the guest into the right property and ensuring that their stay is problem-free. After all, the manager wants you to return to rent from them again regardless of the property you choose. I think that the manager can be more dispassionate about the property, see the problems from the guest's perspective, and do what they can to alleviate the problems. If there is only one property, the guest is kind of stuck with living through any problems unless they relocate on their own. Also, regarding rental contracts, the ones we have been asked to sign by direct owners have been so pro-owner that it has given us strong pause as they have pretty much absolved the owner of any liability in case of well, pretty much everything.

Some say that you will save money renting directly from an owner. We've not found that to always be the case and, for us, having that management back-up is worth a little more, if that's what it takes.

I'm sure there are great owners who rent direct and keep their properties in tip-top shape and take really good care of their guests. We've just had a couple of strange experiences when we've strayed from using the management companies and don't want to hope we've found one of those great owners only to arrive and be disappointed or stuck with any problems that we encounter. I'm just giving my perspective based on the properties we've rented and the management companies from whom we've rented.

I have to disagree with the above. At our place we've heard just the opposite. The management company at my resort does a pretty good job. However, you don't know which unit you'll be in; some are better than others and some renters have not been pleased. If you rent from the individual owner from the rental sites; you see the actual unit. You can read reviews from people who've stayed in that actual unit.

From the owner perspective; I can charge less as I'm doing the advertising, booking and billing so I don't have to give the management company 50-60% of the rental income. Of course we all have a manager on island; I can't fly down every day to deliver towels. He's also available to guests should there be a problem. My last renters had to call him out for a plumbing problem after 9 p.m. This problem should have gone to the front desk. However, the resort maintenance staff goes home at 4 or 5 each day. Luckily they rented from a private owner or they'd have been out of luck until morning or moved to another unit if one was available.

As the renter, the choice you make depends on what's important to you. I can tell you that myself, my manager and my condo have gotten nothing but rave reviews. Since people (unfortunately) are more likely to criticize than praise; I'm sure I'd have bad reviews posted if anyone had been less than pleased.

Anyway, just another perspective. Has anyone else noticed that rentals have increased slightly?

Sorry, I neglected to clarify - - I was referring to renting villas through on-island managers rather than owner-direct, not condos. We have yet to rent a condo.

Just an update. After lowering my rates people still wanted more of a discount which I refused to do. At some point it's cheaper to have our condo empty so we don't have the utility expense. Anyway, I dug in at my posted rates and I'm happy to report that we're pretty well booked. Molly, I'd love to meet up at the Toad & Tart (best Banger's & Mash I've had since living in England) in January if you're game. Anyone else interested? We'll be on island January 9th through February 10th.

SapphireBeach08,

Love to meet up, we will be arriving late on the 15th and leaving on the 19th, short trip so that we can make it to our annual association meeting. Saturday or Sunday would work best for us. I look forward to meeting you, I think that we had PM'd in the past, are you also from Illinois?

Molly

Just want to echo what SapphireBeach08 says re private villa owners: over many years we have rented vacation villas and condos directly from the owners in the US and British VI's and have, on the average, been EXTREMELY happy with our stays. We've gotten fair prices (sometimes amazing prices; it helps if you're down for a last minute stay in the middle of the summer...) and have found almost without exception that units were well-represented, both by the owner and in reviews. Maybe we were just lucky? Maybe, but I think it's more than luck--I have come to assume that most private villa owners who deal directly with the public are serious about the business of vacation renting or they wouldn't stay in the business for long. Another note regarding finding owner-direct vacation rentals in the VI's and elsewhere--while we've gotten some from sites like VRBO.com, we've also relied on word of mouth or on listings in places like college alumni magazines. There is more accountability if the owner is someone who knows someone (who knows someone...) you know.

Best,

Islandlola

Sapphirebeach08 (soon to be 09) I too have picked up since lowering my rates... people seem to appreciate the discounts. I will be down 1/13 thru 1/20 ($302 round trip spirit air out of Atlantic City) I would meet ya at T&T but stt resident doesn't carry miller lite??? LOL

You might have to moderate the beer choice but the food and British humor are worth the sacrifice don't you think?

Lip, we met STT in November. We certainly have a history on this forum, but I was so glad that I met her. Her food is excellent!!

Lip, you're going to let a beverage keep you away? The food more than makes up for it. Anyone else care to join us?

stt is a woman? hmmm I have been posting and chatting back in forth w/ her for years and always assumed she was a man?

Nope, he's a she. lol

And Anna is her name.

Search for the Toad and Tart restaurant!!

If people are financially smart, they'll use any discretionary income to take advantage of the economic impact on real estate. Short sales and foreclosures abound. Is the VI seeing real estate deals?

Our realtor toured us around the island in October, my husband and I thought that the best deals right now were in the $750,000 and over market. They had the largest price drop.

My husband and I bought a property almost 2 years ago that was in terrible condition for a fair price. We completely gutted and renovated our property but I'm not sure if that is for everyone. Even though my husband is a contractor stateside, we definately opened a can of worms with our property. For example, what we thought would be a drywall repair turned into replacing the roof. Although we are very happy with the outcome it definately took us longer and cost more money than planned. We even brought our own crew down and supplemented with a few of the island subcontractors to help speed up the process.

Would I do it again? Of course, I've already had a trial run and I think that we would be going into another project with a lot more knowledge and things would work more smoothly. For starters, I think that we would ship most of our supplies in with Tropical Shipping, I ended up spending too much time running around the island between East End Lumber, MSI and Home Depot. What is on the shelf one day is almost certianly gone the next and can cause unexpected and frustrating delays.

Molly

where is your villa? I am looking for a small villa/condo Dec 31 to Jan 3 for 2 adults.