| Perspectives on Texas

Thinking about renting your home as a short-term vacation rental? According to VRBO, the site for renting vacation homes, cabins and condos, many Texas homeowners are earning up to $5,400 per month renting their home to visitors (based on average annual rental income for top 20 percent of Texas homes in 2017). That’s a clear signal of the potential income homeowners could make by responsibly renting their properties or vacation homes.

Each year, with vacation rentals becoming the preferred choice for travelers, homeowners are also realizing the many benefits of renting their homes as a substantial source of income. VRBO and its other sites, like HomeAway, enable homeowners to rent out a variety of different properties to earn extra income, including primary residences rented for only a few weeks and vacation homes or second homes rented throughout the year.

Currently, over 50 percent of VRBO owners use their rental income to cover at least 75 percent of their rental property’s annual mortgage payments. VRBO’s new rent potential calculator takes the guesswork out of the equation, so homeowners can get a preliminary estimate of what they could earn before they list. This offers Texans an idea of their potential extra income, which gives them the opportunity to plan for expenses like retirement, college tuition or other household costs.

For Texans with second homes in popular vacation destinations, the opportunity is clear. Vacation rentals in nearby destinations like Port Aransas and Galveston are earning up to $105,000 and $96,500 each year respectively (based on average annual rental income for top 20 percent of those rentals in 2017). With many vacation homes sitting empty while their owners are away, renting on VRBO is a great way for homeowners to put their properties to work to help cover the cost of their next vacation.

And Texas homes aren’t the only ones seeing a big spike in demand for this holiday season. Popular second-home destinations like Park City, UT, and Breckenridge, CO, are bringing in travelers from all over the world. This gives Texans with homes there, and in similar destinations, an opportunity to cover a substantial portion of the cost of ownership.

For Texas homeowners looking to rent for the first time, VRBO provides everything needed to get started: from educational materials on how to market your rental, stay compliant with local regulations and enhance your listing, to tools that enable you to optimize your pricing, bookings and communication with travelers. Properties advertised on VRBO can be accessed by 675 million travelers through Expedia, VRBO’s parent company.

“Texans own homes in so many popular destinations for families and groups,” says Bill Furlong, VP of North American Business at VRBO. “We’re here to help homeowners capitalize on the many visitors to these destinations in the easiest way possible. Once a property is listed on VRBO, we work to match that property to the right travelers and maximize bookings and rental income for homeowners.”

Interested to see how much your home could make? At www.vrbo.com/earn, you can enter basic information about your home’s size and location. You’ll receive an instant estimate of your property’s rental potential based on nearby comparable rentals.