Staying at a real home away from home

ByABC News
November 13, 2007, 2:02 AM

— -- Golden Valley is a picturesque rural area of southwestern North Carolina that isn't on a state road map. About five times each day, though, potential vacationers contact Bob Singer about renting a house or cabin he manages there.

Singer's small company, which managed one cabin seven years ago and now manages 10 homes with views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, is part of a vacation rental industry that's growing rapidly, both at popular and obscure destinations.

"The Internet is the only way I could make a buck," says Singer, who pays $3,000 annually to list the 10 properties at Rentalo.com.

As a result, big-money investors are rushing to exploit the Web. Some are moving to consolidate listings and make money by conducting the rental transaction, brokering the deal or managing the property.

The Web has unleashed "the next growth wave" in the once-sleepy business of vacation rentals, says Steve Reich, an executive at LeisureLink, a vacation property marketing firm. "The Internet made the vacation rental inventory more searchable and less dependent on word of mouth and print ads," says Reich.

Travelers are benefitting from more choices and better websites, including some with video tours of each property. They're also demanding and getting a higher degree of assurance that the vacation property they rent meets expected standards, and that they won't be fleeced.

And owners of second homes, such as Joe Morgan, are reaping the benefits of greater exposure on the Web. Morgan, a Tampa anesthesiologist who owns a five-bedroom house managed by Singer, had planned to sell it. The general downturn in the real estate market prompted Morgan to hold onto the new house. He's been so successful renting it that he no longer plans to sell. And he's now planning to build a second rental home in North Carolina. "We've been absolutely thrilled, so far," he says.

The target of all the activity are travelers such as Kathleen Jurkovich of Minneapolis. She plans to rent a vacation house in New Mexico because she loved a house in Santa Barbara, Calif., she rented for her family through a rental website three years ago.