Western Shore Realty, LLC

Rentals are hot in Southern Maryland. We offer full service property management in to investors and homeowners in Southern Maryland. We service both Calvert County and St Marys County. We have several renters we are working with that are moving to the area so we are always looking for new rentals to provide property management services for in Southern Maryland. Debbie is a great agent and handles most of the rental showings for the properties we manage. If you or anyone you know is looking for a property management company in Southern Maryland email visit our rental and property management site at www.SouthernMarylandRentals.com

This month I started reviewing rental data in the MLS for Calvert County. I found it has been very consistant. Properties are renting for near 100% of asking price! It takes around a month on average for a house to rent in Calvert County. I noticed some larger homes 5-6 bedrooms rent in a week or less so they seem to be in big demand.

View local listings in the area by all Real Estate companies!

This is good news for owners who are having trouble selling! We provide property management in Calvert County. If you want to take a look at what your house would rent for you can get a free analysis at www.Calvertvalues.com

    View All Rentals Listed by all Realestate Companies in the Area!

Some rentals near Pax River are receiving multiple offers and renting for more than the asking price. If you are having a hard time selling your home you may want to consider renting it out since Pax River rentals are in such demand. We are expanding our Pax River property management so if you own a home close to Pax River give me a call for a free estimate on how much rent you can expect to get. We are offering a special this month for property management $99/month and get your first month free.  Call me at (301) 904-5708 or visit: http://paxhomes.com/paxriverpropertymanagement.htm

The Lusby area offers many amenties for those people looking to rent.  Many of the neighborhoods in Lusby offer water access, play grounds, outside dining areas, and local restaurants and shopping.  By renting here you will have the ability to take part in all of the wonderful amenities within Lusby.

Click on the link below to see Dining Located in Lusby

http://westernshorevacationrentals.com/things-to-do-2/dining/lusby/

Click on the link below to see all the Activities Located in Lusby

 http://westernshorevacationrentals.com/things-to-do-2/activities/lusby/

Click on the Map Below to Search for Rentals in Lusby

Adding outdoor space can be as easy as sprucing up a deck or patio. You can also add a deck or patio or gazebo most require permits so check with the County first.

Below I turned an unused deck into a space to relax, eat lunch and view the Chesapeake Bay.

I had the furniture already so I just added pots with plants and pillows for the chairs. This is the most affordable option.

Below I added 2 decks to this cottage. The upper deck has a wonderful view of the Chesapeake Bay and I set it up for dining. The lower deck is used as an area to relax and read the paper in the morning. This was quite expensive but added alot of living area.

A patio can be nice space as well. Below I turned a back yard with no plants just ugly dirt into a living space and added plants that bordered it.

This area turned out to have a small view of the bay as well which added a great surprise to the project. Building a patio is easy to do also. I can usually do it myself.

If you would like more information about cottages for sale in the area with a view or where you can walk to the beach go to www.smdBeach.com for free listings under $280,000.

Every year contractors and employees of Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Plant come to the Calvert County area for the plant outage in February – March. We are still getting quite a few vacation rental inquiries that

I have to turn down during this time. Some workers stay at my rentals from December 1 – March 15. I manage several vacation rentals and many of the outage contractors and employees make reservations a year in advance. Many homeowners even rent their basement or extra room out to make extra money. But there is still a shortage of short term rental housing in Calvert County at that time.

I am on the tourism commission and it was mentioned that next year the outage will be over 60 days almost double the normal outage. This will be a good opportunity to help during the outage and rent your home during the winter/spring months.

It will be a great time to start renting your home, guest house or basement out as a short term rental. If you have a location close to the beach, or with a view your house could be marketable as a vacation rental. Go to www.VacationEval.com to get a free estimate on how much you could make renting your home in Southern Maryland Western Shore as a vacation rental. We are the only company managing vacation rentals in Southern Maryland Calvert County and St Mary’s County.

Recently I received a phone call from a buyer wishing to purchase a beach house in Solomons. They weren’t sure how to figure out how much they could spend on a vacation rental home. So I decided to publish some information about determing the right price to purchase a vacation rental property. 

My favorite second home rental cash flow formula was developed by Christine Karpinski, author of “How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner.” Her definition of the break-even point is when all of the rent from your vacation rental property is enough to pay all of the bills associated with ownership of the property. So basically the house should pay for itself.

According to Karpinski, if your monthly mortgage payment is equal to or less than one “peak” week rental rate, and if you rent for 17 weeks, then you should be able to achieve positive cash flow. Our peak is June-August. I can help you calculate about how much rental income you can expect. Go to http://www.chesapeakecottages.com/Management.htm

If a property that rents for $1,200 per week during the peak season, with a monthly mortgage payment of $1,200. There are 12 peak weeks, most or all of which are occupied. Then 12 weeks rented equal one year’s mortgage payments. To help offset costs, you’ll need to rent five other weeks to pay for costs such as utilities, phone, association dues, cable, internet, maintenance, etc. If you have 17 weeks booked, you will have an even cash flow.

Learn More about purchasing a vacation rental property in Solomons at http://www.chesapeakecottages.com/Management.htm

If you own a second home / vacation home in Western Shore area of Maryland there is an increasing demand for vacation rentals in our area. To get started converting your home into a rentable vacation home it is important to remember that how your home is decorated is to your taste but it may not be appealing for the vacation home renter. When I went to home staging training the instructor said how you live in your home and how you sell it are two different things. This applies to vacation rentals also.

This is hard for most people at first because it doesn’t seem like it’s your home anymore. But after a while they get used to it and it feels like it more of a vacation to them. I am lucky because I like to decorate in the vacation / beach living style so converting my properties was easier. I study all of the decorating magazines for ideas so I enjoy the beach style decorating. I found most people who are converting their homes into a vacation home don’t decorate their homes in that style.

There are some simple things you can do to give your home the beach look and make your vacation rental a fun place to stay. I suggest creating a theme for your rental to attract gusets. For example my vacation rental in Saint Leonard has a keywest flamingo theme. Below are some easy things you can do:

•Put beach oriented framed art up
•Purchase bedding that is beach related
•Purchase throws and pillows that are beach related
•Purchase accessories to display
•Purchase Lamps that are nautical
•Purchase shower curtains and drapes that are beach related

As you can see it doesn’t have to be difficult to transform your second home. Western Shore Realty offers a service that can help you if you don’t have time to do this. Vacation rentals that are decorated with themes are more appealing to renters so it would pay off in the long run to make this investment in your home. We are a full service Property Management Company for vacation rentals.

If you are interested in renting your second home out as a vacation rental in Western Shore Maryland find out how much you could get renting it out as a vacation rental at: Phttp://chesapeakecottages.com/FreeVacationRental%20Evaluation.htm

Phyllis Minik, Western Shore Realty, LLC

We are looking for agents that specialize in listing and selling water oriented properties in Calvert County. Email me at phyllis@localwaterfront.com if interested.

Help! I have rented out all of my short term furnished rental properties in Calvert County and I have repeat renters wanting a short term furnished place to rent 2-3 bedroom furnished close to Calvert Cliffs statrting Feb 6 – March 15. I am also receiving calls about some people needing to rent starting January – March 15. I manage short term rentals in Calvert County so let me know if you need to rent your home short term. See my website for details on property management and my other rentals I manage. Yours could be listed there! www.WesternShoreVacationRentals.com. I also need summer furnished rentals short term because my existing ones usually fully rented from mid June- September.