A lot of people here in the Ozarks own vacation home properties.

With the slow season approaching us, here are a few helpful hints to keep your cash flowing.

• Post lots of photos and information on your Web page. Make sure the information you provide is complete and accurate, and don’t exaggerate. That will help avoid disappointment from renters who expect more than there is. “I, as a consumer, would not rent a place without seeing photos of each bedroom and the living room.”

• Replace the furniture often. The normal wear and tear on upholstery and linens can prove a turn-off for vacationers. They’re much more satisfied when everything is crisp and new.

• Hire a caretaker. You need someone on-call nearby if there’s distance between you and your rental property. That way, if there’s a problem — the heat goes off, the oven won’t light, etc. — there’s someone who can offer quick problem solving.

Hopefully with some of these helpful hints, you can get that vacation property rented out for the off season, and bring in some extra cash for the holidays.

Christine Karpinski, author of How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner.
Source: BusinessWeek Online, Maya Roney (07/18/07

Fabulous dining room with oak flooring, crown moulding, baseboards and even window sills grace the interior of this beautiful home near Branson West. This Featured Property is offered at $776,000 by 76Realty.com.

Its been an interesting year for the Branson area real estate market.  Take a look at how many homes have been sold from January 1st, 2006 to November 30th, 2006 compared to January 1st, 2007 to November 30th, 2007.

Has our market been affected by the higher interest rates and lack of buyers.  See the figures below, you may be suprised.

In 2006: 1537 Homes Sold, an average of 107 Days on the Market, and an average sales price of $166,985.00

In 2007: 1286 Homes Sold, an average of 112 Days on the Market (DOM) at an average sales price of $182,814.00

Information is based on a price range of homes between $19,999 to $1,000,000.00

Tri-Lakes Board of Realtor’s recorded total sales price volume: $235,281,634.00 in 2007, but in 2006 the total sales volume was at $256,656,641.00

Wondering where all this money is coming from?

 2007 Sales:1286/ 2006 Sales: 1537 (Broken down below)

Conventional 894 ‘07 981 ‘06

Cash 308 ‘07 410′06

FHA Financing: 48′07 40 ‘06

Owner Financing: 11′07 18′06

VA loans: 9′07 7′06

Other: 17′ 07 39 ‘06

Comparing the information gathered, there over a $21,375,000 decrease in real estate sales for the Tri-Lakes Area from 2006 to 2007!!