There are over 100 vacation rental management options in the Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Vacation Rental Market right now. Add in the flood of self-managed cohosting arrangements, and it can feel like everyone with a laptop and a Canva subscription is suddenly a "local expert."

Here's the truth nobody wants to say out loud: anyone can promise you a big number. Getting paid that number is a different story.

The Pitch Deck Problem

I've spent the last two and a half decades in this business, with this company, working directly with rental history, rental performance, actualized revenue, net operating income, and what our competitors and the local industry as a whole are really producing. That's not a sales pitch, that's my job every single day as our Qualifying Broker and Director of Business Development.

So, when I see a brand new company roll into town and promise an owner numbers that don't match anything happening in the real market, I know exactly what's happening. Some of these companies aren't in it to manage your property well. In fact, they aren't even considering you as anything more than a stepping stone to their end goal. They're here in it, trying to win you over just to build inventory fast so they can sell the whole book of business to a bigger player just moments up the road. Your property becomes a value of 1, a simple number on a spreadsheet which they're trying to make look attractive to a buyer, not a home they actually care about operating well.

New owners jump on those big promises and grand rental projections because they sound good, and who doesn't want to hear a great number. But a few seasons later, some of those same owners are underwater, holding a property they can't afford, wondering what happened.

What Due Diligence Actually Looks Like

A Google search and a phone call or 2 isn't due diligence. Real due diligence looks like this:

• Ask how long the company has actually been operating in this specific market, not just how long the brand may have existed regionally or nationally.
• Ask to see real historical performances for comparable properties, not a projection built to win your listing.
• AUDIT THOSE RENTAL HISTORIES. If the number looks big, look closer. Are taxes being included in that number? How about housekeeping fees, or parking pass fees? If so, thats not helpful, becasue those dolloars dont go in your pocket. Those are vendor costs and should be treated as such, and kept sepertely. Those numbers should never be included as rental numbers. You are looking for pure base rent numbers. Annual base rent. If you decide to partner with a management company this base rent number should be from where they draw their commission. 
• Ask who owns the company and what their long-term plan is. Are they building something to keep, or building something to sell?
• Ask about their business model? Are they a quantity of inventory business? Or, do they value the quality of product more? Ask if & how they vet owners, not just how they recruit them. A company that will onboard anyone or any property is a company that isn't protecting your investment or the guest experience.

Why We Do It Differently

Young's Suncoast Realty & Vacation Rentals has been in business here in Gulf Shores & Orange Beach for over 53 years. I grew up in this company and I've been an active, working part of it for 26 of those years. We're a family-owned operation, and our family has been rooted in this county even longer than that. I am a 4th generation native personally.

We've had chances to sell. For examle, Vacasa has come after us more than 2 handsful of times over the years. We're still here, still independently owned, still doing this the same way we always have: with transparency, honest numbers, and real communication with our owners. That's not an accident, and it's not a marketing angle we invented last week. It's just how the company has always operated.

If you're new to investing in Gulf Shores or Orange Beach, do the real homework before you sign with anyone. Call us. Ask us the hard questions. We'll give you real answers, backed by real numbers, not a fantasy. 

Whether looking to buy, sell, or just learn more about our current local vacation rental market, give me a call or shoot me a text. 251-223-7564

You can't be in business for over 53 years without standing on integrity.

Jordan Bodenhamer

Qualifying Broker & Director of Business Development

Young's Suncoast Realty & Vacation Rentals

251-223-7564 | JBodenhamer@Youngssuncoast.com