All properties represented by Spectrum Properties must be clean and well equipped to serve our Guests. Basic items such as carpet, floor covering, furniture, bedding, kitchen utensils, etc. must be kept clean and up to date. Our “Minimum Standard Items for Rental Properties” document contained in this Rental Owner’s Guide contains our recommended basic items to accommodate Guests. Please keep in mind that the items in this list are “basic” needs – the more amenities your property has to offer, the more attractive it is for Guests. In addition, we must have parking passes, pool passes and gate cards (where applicable) for your property. If our rental department deems that your property does not meet our standards, we will contact you with suggestions for improvements and future rentals.
Spectrum Resort Properties accepts reservations seven days a week. Reservations may be accepted 12 months in advance. We consider your property to be available for rent 365 days per year unless it is reserved by a Guest or reserved by an owner. Last minute reservations are common. Please do not come to your property without reserving owner time with our office.
When an interested renter calls for a reservation, we narrow the search for available properties based on specific requests (home or condominium, oceanfront or ocean view, number of bedrooms, price range, etc.) and availability.
If you choose to use your property for personal use, you MUST block your property online via the owner portal or call/email our agents and “make a reservation” (or ask for a Homeowner Block). We will reserve or block the time in your property for you – again, please remember we consider your property to be available for rent 365 days per year unless it is reserved by a Guest or by you. If you call to reserve your property and find that we have already made a Guest reservation, the Guest reservation must be honored. If you would like to use our housekeeping services upon your departure, please let our office know at the time you block your property / make your reservation or least 2 days prior to your departure.
We do not take weekend reservations in advance during the summer vacation rental season. Rental periods for less than one week during vacation rental season may be reserved at the “last minute if available”. The daily rate is calculated by dividing the weekly rate by 7 – we do reserve the right to negotiate the daily rate to create income for your property.
If you wish to remove your property from our rental availability calendar for an extended period of time in order to make repairs or for other reasons, we will block your property in our rental system upon your request. If you do decide to block your property, please call us to make arrangements. If you block your property for an extended period, we assume you will be taking care of maintenance needs, i.e. winterizing, hurricane preparation, remodeling, etc.
Your property should not be used or occupied by more than the maximum allowable number of occupants including renter’s family, children and renter’s guests. State and county health rules limit occupancy to two persons per permitted bedroom.
Travel protection insurance is offered to each Guest who makes a reservation through Spectrum Rental Properties. If a Guest must cancel their reservation for reasons allowed by the insurance company and they have purchased travel protection insurance, they may be reimbursed for their missed vacation through our travel insurance company – property owners may also receive some rental income for the time missed. Travel insurance also provides coverage for mandatory hurricane evacuations.
If a Guest cancels a reservation and does not have travel insurance, their reservation deposit will be forfeited unless the property is rented to another Guest. There may be circumstances when we will contact you about allowing us to refund the reservation deposit in cases of family emergency.
Occasionally, we see the need to issue partial refunds to our Guests for various reasons. For example, in the case of a major appliance failure, we are authorized to refund up to 25% of the rental amount. We will always try our best to rectify a situation before we refund any monies.
In cases where there is a mandatory hurricane evacuation order issued and your Guest did not purchase travel insurance but must vacate the property, we may refund a pro-rated amount to the renter for the time missed in using the property. We do strongly encourage Guests to purchase travel insurance; however, we are not in the business of asking people to pay for services they do not actually need.
In the event a Guest is totally unsatisfied and refuses to occupy the property, we will try to move the Guest to a more suitable property and /or will refund the rent to the Guest (we address these situations with the homeowner, if they shall occur). These are extreme situations that do not occur frequently.
Spectrum Resort Properties will put forth its best efforts to recommend the proper rental rates for your property based on our knowledge of the market and competition. It is our intention to maximize rental rates while being sensitive to our Guests’ expectations. Owners have the final approval of rates for their properties.
Upon owners’ approval, we will offer discounts and special reductions in your rental rates from time to time in order to stimulate business or match the rates of competition. It is better to reduce your rates appropriately in some situations rather than have no rental income at all.
Please feel free to contact our office whenever you need any repairs made to your property. We can handle most requests and will be glad to have our service vendors take care of your property’s maintenance needs.
Your Guests may submit requests to have certain items repaired during their stay. When a Guest is in your property for only a week or short period of time, they expect everything to be in working order and necessary repairs to be handled promptly. It is important for us to take care of these repairs to your property at your expense.
You may spend more money on repairs when you rent your property than you would if only you occupy the property. There are things that you may be able to live with that a Guest will not tolerate when spending money for rented property. We work hard to keep maintenance expenses to a minimum while keeping your Guests happy.
In most cases, we will not contact you when small repairs are needed; however, we will try to contact you for any repair that exceeds $250 prior to authorizing the repair.
Please be sure to notify our office if you have certain warranties or service contracts in place or if you wish to designate special vendors to perform repairs on your property. We will document this information in your property file.
You are responsible for either performing routine maintenance yourself or asking us for assistance. Please be sure to carefully check your property during your visits here. Routine maintenance will reduce your expenses derived from repair requests submitted by Guests and help to create loyalty from your Guests. Repeat business is crucial to long term success in maximizing rental income for your property. Our maintenance staff will be glad to assist you with any of your routine maintenance needs..
The housekeeping staff will be responsible for changing your HVAC filters and light bulbs. Each owner is required to have on hand a one-year supply of filters and light bulbs in the property prior to April 1st each year. If the owner does not supply the filters and light bulbs (a supply of all different types used in your property) by that date, we will purchase the items for you and bill your owner account.
Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors will be checked during the spring inspection of your property – any labor and supplies (such as batteries) used for repairs will be billed to your owner account.
When you rent your property, you receive income; in exchange for this income, Guests use your property. Due to this usage, your property probably will not look the same in October as it did when you left in April. Wear and tear such as scuffs on the walls, soiled carpets, broken glasses or dishes, missing utensils, and damage to appliances and equipment due to normal use should be expected.
The North Carolina Real Estate Commission will not allow us to authorize repairs on your property if we do not have funds in your trust account to cover the expense of the repair. We must have the ability to have repairs performed quickly. Therefore, we require a minimum account balance of $250 for your property. Your monthly statement will reflect this account balance. If your statement has an amount “Due by Owner”, this amount should be paid to us immediately to bring your account back up to the required $250 minimum balance.
Cleaning is required after every Guest’s stay. The fees for cleaning are included in the rental rates and paid out of rental proceeds. Cleaning fees vary depending upon the specifics of the property.
Cleaning is also required after every homeowner stay. You have a choice of cleaning the property yourself or having our housekeepers clean for you. After your departure, we will check your property prior to the arrival of the next Guest to insure the property has been cleaned to our required standards. If our housekeepers clean your property after your stay, the cleaning fee will be deducted from your next rental income check. If you wish to use our housekeepers, please call our office to make the arrangements.
Periodically, we will inspect your property to ensure that both your property structure and its contents are adequate to ensure the comfort and convenience of your Guests. It is critical that basic items such as those shown in our “Minimum Standard Items For Rental Properties” be available for their use. In addition, the exterior of your property including landscaping should be pleasing and nice. Specific recommendations can be offered by Spectrum Properties to improve your property and its contents in order to help increase your rentals and ensure repeat business.
When you rent your property, you will incur some loss and damage. We cannot do a complete inspection after every Guest departs; however, our housekeepers and agents will do everything possible to detect losses and damage.
We recommend that you sign up for a pest control service on a quarterly basis. Last minute service calls for pest control can be much more expensive than an annual contract. (Many condominium homeowners’ associations provide this service as part of their dues structure).
For owners of homes, we recommend that you sign up for a lawn care service to maintain your property. Our office will be glad to assist you with setting up this service.
For owners of homes, we recommend that you sign up for a lawn care service to maintain your property. Our office will be glad to assist you with setting up this service.
You are responsible for your own insurance so please be sure to update your policy often. You should make sure you have wind, hail and flood coverage as well as coverage for contents and the interior of your property.
Our Property Management Agreement requires you to have at least $500,000 in liability coverage for your property and agree to indemnify Spectrum Resort Properties against any claims. We also must have a copy of your policy in our files.
In the event hurricane warnings are posted and the emergency management office issues a mandatory evacuation, rent monies will be refunded to your Guests at a prorated rate for the number of days left in the rental period provided the Guest has purchased Travel Protection Insurance. Many of your Guests drive long distances to vacation here. It may be unreasonable / impossible to require that the Guests return to the property after the evacuation is lifted. However, we will do everything possible to encourage your Guests to return to their rental property once the danger has passed.
During the beginning of hurricane season each year, Spectrum sends each vacation owner a letter requesting a response concerning their needs for hurricane preparation. If owners request hurricane preparation assistance by returning this letter, Spectrum Properties will try to respond to owners’ needs and requests. Because of time constraints and possible lack of manpower and available supplies, Spectrum may have limitations in providing hurricane preparation services. Therefore, we encourage owners to make advance preparations with outside vendors to assist with this preparation task. Please treat this need seriously – once everyone is aware that there is a hurricane or strong storm approaching, it is often too late for preparation.
For an additional fee, Spectrum Properties offers a visual inspection of the interior and exterior of your property within a short time after re-admittance to our rental property areas. After an inspection is performed, our office will contact you as soon as possible to give you a report concerning the condition of your property. Please remember that we are not construction experts, and the inspection is a BASIC visual inspection to report any obvious major damage. It is highly recommended that you as a property owner make your own arrangements to inspect your property following a hurricane since we cannot be held liable for any damage. If you decide not to accept this service, please make arrangements to have your property inspected and report its condition to our office ASAP after re-admittance to your property. We may have Guests scheduled to check into your property and need a full report before allowing them to do so.
If you decide to sell your property, you must notify us immediately. Any reservations made by us must be honored and should be a condition of the sale. This language should be inserted into your Offer to Purchase Contract under item #15 OTHER PROVISIONS & CONDITIONS:
“Seller has entered into a Property Management Agreement with Spectrum Investment Group, Inc. to rent the property. The Property Management Agreement conveys with the sale of the property. All advance reservations shall be honored by buyer with proceeds of all rentals that occur after closing, less management fees and other ordinary expenses incurred, once deed is recorded, shall be paid to buyer”.
Please remember that Spectrum Properties has a full staff of professionally trained Sales Associates to assist you with the sale of your property.
Each month you will receive a statement showing complete details of each Guest stay including all rental income and all expenses. In addition, your monthly proceeds will be processed in a check by the 15th of each month. If you have any questions about your statement or check, please call our office for assistance.
If you decide to sell your property, you must notify us immediately. Any reservations made by us must be honored and should be a condition of the sale. This language should be inserted into your Offer to Purchase Contract under item #15 OTHER PROVISIONS & CONDITIONS:
“Seller has entered into a Property Management Agreement with Spectrum Investment Group, Inc. to rent the property. The Property Management Agreement conveys with the sale of the property. All advance reservations shall be honored by buyer with proceeds of all rentals that occur after closing, less management fees and other ordinary expenses incurred, once deed is recorded, shall be paid to buyer”.
Please remember that Spectrum Properties has a full staff of professionally trained Sales Associates to assist you with the sale of your property.
A management fee of 20% is charged on vacation condominium rentals of 90 days or less, and a management fee of 15% is charged on home & duplex rentals of 90 days or less. On home, duplex and condominium rentals greater than 90 days (long term), the management fee is 12%. The management fee per rental period is a minimum of $50
No – the cleaning charge is paid out of the total rental amount first and then our commission is computed on the balance.
Cleaning is mandatory after every rental guest has departed. The rental price quoted to the guest includes cleaning and does not show as an additional charge on their bill. This mandatory cleaning helps to keep the property in top condition.
No – however, it is highly recommended. Our guests expect a high level of cleanliness. Unless you clean as thoroughly and professionally as do our housekeepers, we suggest that you let us handle this task and charge the service to your account – you may then relax and enjoy your last day at the beach!
Statements and checks are mailed by the 15th of each month – you will receive 12 statements per year. Each statement shows the activities for the previous month and the year to date totals.
Yes – in January of each year, you will receive a comprehensive report showing every transaction that occurred during the previous year. In addition, you will receive a Form 1099 that will also need to be filed with the IRS.
We talk with each owner to determine the “Fair Market Rental Value” of a property. Using our experience, we can recommend rental rates by looking at your property, comparing it to similar properties and projecting the rental demand.
Summer Season begins during the first part of June and continues to the middle of August. This time period is generally the time when most children are out of school and families enjoy vacations. The rental rates are the highest during the Summer Season.
Yes – weekend rentals are encouraged during the off-season and may be booked in advance. During the Summer Season, weekend rentals are only offered when properties are available and booked at the last minute.
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