Old beach homes give way to luxury houses
By Katy Stech
The Post and Courier
January 28th, 2007

From time to time, we like to provide articles of interest to our vacation rentals owners in highly targeted areas - like South Carolina Vacation Rentals.

Nell McDuffie expects that her single-story ranch home soon will sit in the shadow of other houses in her Isle of Palms neighborhood.

To her left stands a two-story family home. Another on the corner is a $1.7 million weekend getaway owned by a family from Georgia.

McDuffie's modest, three-bedroom, 1½-bath residence looks similar to the ones across the street and to her right.

But one of those is set to be demolished and replaced. The other is likely to follow suit, as it is on the market as a $835,000 "teardown" property.

"I'll probably be sandwiched one of these days," McDuffie said, smiling.

Space is limited on the Isle of Palms. With only a few dozen empty lots left on the island and the value of coastal properties pushed to sky-high levels, buyers and investors are looking to older beach homes as prime locations for roomy new dream houses to live in or resell for a tidy profit.

In some cases, real estate agents don't even factor the structural value of the existing homes into the selling price. And despite the coastal housing slowdown, many expect investors to continue the trend of tearing down old homes until almost all of this beach community's structures are replaced with towering luxury spreads.

"One thousand square feet of house isn't going to meet the needs of someone who's paying $1 million dollars for a lot," said Douglas Kerr, the city's building department director.

In recent years, Kerr's office has received a steadily increasing number of demolition permit applications. Only four homes were demolished in 2000.

That number increased to 12 in 2002 and to 25 in 2004.

Last year, 36 homes were approved for demolition.

Compared with the 4,100 total residential units on the island, that's a sizable rate, Kerr said.

Most of the flattened homes were built in the 1950s and 1960s, when the island was beginning a transformation from a sparsely populated seasonal vacation spot to a community of year-round residences.

Residential development on the Isle of Palms blossomed under the direction of the late J.C. Long, who founded The Beach Co., now one of the state's largest privately held real estate firms.

The land was simple and flat, but the area was not that accessible because the only bridge to the mainland was on Sullivan's Island. A daily commute to Charleston could take hours if the span was malfunctioning, said Bill Casey, a 59-year-old lifelong island resident.

Long built accordingly. His first housing models were modest two- or three-bedroom ranch homes that ranged from 1,000 to 1,400 square feet. In the 1970s, the average selling price hovered around $16,000, Casey said

"It was developed as the average man's place to live," he said, adding that many of the homes were occupied by military families.

When Hurricane Hugo ravaged the island in 1989, homeowners had an opportunity to either renovate their property with insurance proceeds or sell "as is," said Jimmy Carroll, owner of Isle of Palms-based Carroll Realty.

In more recent years, tightened building standards have made construction almost an all-or-nothing affair.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has implemented minimum height requirements as part of its flood code since the older ground-level homes were built. And city regulations allow property owners to renovate up to 50 percent of the value of their structure before having to comply with those standards.

That limit pushes many home projects to reach, literally and figuratively, new heights, Carroll said.

"If it meets flood elevations next to a house that's on the ground, it's going to look big no matter what," he said.

Some of the new homes are built for families who intend to live there full time after the sawdust settles.

But Carroll provided numbers that show how often newly built homes are resold as investments: 35 new homes have changed hands since January 2005.

It's not hard to show how investors can turn a sizable profit on an outdated home that's sitting in a highly desirable location.

First, tearing a house down costs about $10,000. Donating the home to charity also can amount to a sizable tax break for owners in higher tax brackets.

The land that remains is the real gem, said Ron Davis, owner of Isle of Palms-based Ron Davis Realtors.

An industry standard for home pricing is that the land is worth 20 percent of the value, and the home structure is worth 80 percent, he explained.

But on places such as the Isle of Palms, it's almost the opposite case for smaller, older homes. Interior lot values typically range between $600,000 and $800,000. Prices can climb to $3 million on the oceanfront.

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You can find your South Carolina vacation rentals at iGOvacation.

If you are planning your summer vacation and are looking for some great golf locations, be sure to check out South Carolina. Believe it or not, a South Carolina vacation offers enough golf courses so that you could play a different set of links EVERY day of the year! South Carolina vacation rentals provide easy access to the course of your choice as well.

Myrtle Beach is truly one of the greatest golf resorts in the U.S.A. Myrtle Beach has more public golf courses per capita than any other place in the country, along with some of the best courses. Many of the most recognized golfers and course designers in the industry have placed their signatures on Myrtle Beach area golf courses, including Robert Trent Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Pete Dye, Arnold Palmer, Tom Fazio, Greg Norman, and Davis Love III.

Myrtle Beach is considered the hub of the Grand Strand, 60 miles of beaches stretching from Little river to Georgetown. In this stretch, you will find 100 championship golf courses. Grande Dunes Golf Course, Indigo Creek Golf Course, Charleston Municipal Golf Course, Crosswinds Golf Club, and the Parkland Golf Club are the top five sought after courses according to the South Carolina department of tourism.

If you are looking for the perfect golf vacation this summer, check out South Carolina - you're sure to find a course that fits your style! You can search for vacation rentals on iGOvacation.com.

Vacationers Choose Homes Over Hotels taken from the Sun-Sentinal.com on January 16, 2007


Some of the hottest vacation accommodations in Central Florida are hiding in plain view, cloaked so completely in the commonplace that they are in a sense invisible.

Thousands of single-family homes, town houses and condominiums clustered in newly built subdivisions near Walt Disney World are in fact vacation homes available for short-term rental. They cater to economy-minded group travelers who can save hundreds of dollars in hotel bills by renting an entire home instead of a number of adjacent rooms.

In the past two decades, vacation rentals have moved from the fringes of the region's lodging industry to its mainstream. The Central Florida Property Managers Association, which represents rental agencies, estimates that there are now 20,000 to 25,000 rental properties in Polk, Osceola, Orange and Lake counties, most clustered near the theme parks.

"We like to call it a cottage industry, no pun intended," said Ted Garrod, Osceola County Zoning and Code Enforcement director. "It started as an unregulated business 15 years ago and has grown to include 205 communities at last count."

Yet it remains stealthy. Most of the region's estimated 700 property-management companies market fewer than 100 houses each. Although the renters pay resort taxes, no one has yet studied the effect they're having on hotels, which are suffering falling occupancy levels throughout Central Florida.

More and more such short-term rentals are in the market. Garrod said that almost every new subdivision near Disney World now includes at least a section of vacation rentals.

Individuals own most of them. Some buy the dwellings strictly as investments, while others want to milk some income from their vacation home. Many are like Leslie Nixon, a Briton who began coming to Central Florida with his family in the 1990s and caught the state's real-estate bug.

Nixon bought a home near Walt Disney World in 1998. He loved the property but was less than thrilled with the cost of ownership. So he put his four-bedroom house on the short-term-rental market, creating a cash flow that offset some of the expenses.

"It seemed a good way to cover some of the costs of running the house," Nixon said. "We really can't think of any problems. It doesn't cover all the costs, but it certainly helps."

'Whole neighborhoods'

Britons helped launch the industry in Florida. Renting vacation homes is far more common in Europe than in the United States, but management companies say Americans are catching on. The business is young, and like many new enterprises, it is far from consolidated.

"It is a very fragmented industry," said Steve Trover, chief executive officer of All Star Vacation Homes in Kissimmee. "It grew dramatically in 2005 and 2006 with the big wave in second-home buying. In the Orlando area, there is a very large amount of property that is being rented out."

Osceola and Polk counties have special zoning for rental subdivisions.

"There are whole neighborhoods in Osceola and Polk that are composed entirely of rental homes," Trover said. "Since the average home has four bedrooms, that is the equivalent of about 75,000 hotel rooms."

Many are packed with bedrooms, most with baths and televisions. What looks like a garage door from the outside might really be the wall of a home theater or a billiards room. And pools are standard.

"We rent pools with houses attached to them," Trover said. "A lot of people today want the privacy of their own pool, and you can't get that at a hotel."

Kendall Griffin of Chicago rented a vacation home in Kissimmee this month.

"Our experience is wonderful," said Griffin, who shared the house with his girlfriend and two other couples. "Cost is the main reason -- it's a lot cheaper than renting hotel rooms. And the communities are clean and safe. And you don't have to go out and eat every night."

Finish Reading the Article

iGOvacation is your source for Orlando Vacation Rentals.

iGOvacation is a great place to advertise your small business to vacationers spending time at vacation rentals in your area. If you are the owner of a coffee shop, restaurant, jet ski rental, sushi bar, or unique store and would like to let vacationers know about your business - an iGOvacation advertisement is a great place for you.

How does it work? To add a new advertisement, you simply set up your advertiser account which is free of charge, then upload a picture or PDF file. Once you have uploaded your picture or PDF file, you will set your daily budget.

We try to keep it very simple. So, the advertising on iGOvacation is on a cost-per-click basis. You may set your daily budget as low as $1.00 or as high as $50.00. All ads are clicked through at a rate of $0.20 cents per click. There are no additional fees to placing an advertisement.

How far does is reach? When you sign up, you will select your TARGET ZIP CODE. The advertisement will appear in all property searches within a 50 mile radius of your target zip code.

Our advertisement process is quite simple. GET STARTED NOW! You can change, modify, increase, decrease your budget at any time. If you have any questions, please contact us!


iGOvacation is an excellent source of vacation rentals usa!

All of us at one time or another are first time vacation rental owners and have the daunting task of responding to inquiries that we receive through the web. Here are a couple of tips to help turn that inquiry into a booking!

1. Be sure to reply quickly: People who visit iGOvacation send an average of 1.5 inquiries. A fast, professional response can help ensure that your property is the one they book.

2. Answer their questions and provide details: It is a good idea to include well-written follow-up details with your response to e-mail inquires. At this stage, people are interested in your vacation home and extra bits of information will influence their decision.

3. Include your contact information again: We recommend that you include your phone number in your response. This way, the owner does not have to re-visit a web page to find your contact information when they have a question.

If you are new to owning your vacation rentals and would like more information about responding to inquiries, please feel free to contact us at any time. We are vacation home owners ourselves and would be happy to share any of our experiences with you at any time.

Happy Renting!

iGOvacation is an excellent source for vacation rentals by owner !

We want thank all of our customers for your continued feedback. We appreciate your ideas on how we can make iGOvacation the easiest and most effective place to advertise your vacation rental property.

Based on your request, at the end of last year, we updated the property listing page with the Rentors.org calendar. After you add the Rentors.org calendar URL to your property listing, when the renter clicks on the link that says Availability Calendar - the Rentors.org calendar will appear. The iGOvacation calendar will not be visible.

If you utilize the Rentors.org calendar and would like to include it in your property listing, follow the simple step-by-step instructions below.

As always, we appreciate your business and are excited about the growth of iGOvacation. Please contact us with any questions! We appreciate your referrals. If you need more refer-a-friend cards, let us know!

ADD RENTORS.ORG CALENDAR INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Visit iGOvacation.com and go to the MY ACCOUNT tab
2. Sign in using your USERNAME and PASSWORD
3. Scroll down to MANAGE MY OWNER PREFERENCES
4. Click on EDIT A LISTING
5. Select EDIT
6. Select RENTAL INFORMATION
7. Scroll down until you see the FIELD for the RENTORS.ORG URL
8. Select SUBMIT

iGOvacation is an excellent source for vacation home rentals.

As many of you have noticed, the traffic on iGOvacation has increased dramatically and vacation rentals owners are seeing a strong increase in the number of inquiries and reservations on their vacation rental homes.

We attribute this growth to many of the search engine optimization tatics that we have employed to improve our search engine rankings. Take Florida for example, if you search in YAHOO: Florida Vacation Rentals, you will see our site on page one of the results. Additionally, we are seeing the tremendous results from other key terms like: north carolina beaches.

From now until February 15th, we are offering a FREE 14 day FEATURE LISTING for any vacation rental owner that submits a success story to iGOvacation. We are looking to hear the successes that you have had with your property on iGOvacation. Whether it is a very successful booking or the increase in traffic that we have sent to your site.

Submit your success story via email or use our CONTACT US form. Be sure to include your PROPERTY ID and we will place your property on iGOvacation.com's Home Page and appropriate State Page for 14 days - no charge.

We appreciate you taking the time to compose an email to us with your successes and want to reward you for it.

iGOvacation is an excellent source of Vacation Rentals by Owner.

As many of you know, January is the busiest month for making reservations for popular luxury vacation rentals. However, not all vacation rentals owners have taken the proper steps to update their listings for the New Year.

By now, owners should have posted their new rates for the 2007 season. In addition, they should have updated their listings to reflect all improvements they have made during the past year. This is a good time to also update the photographs that reflect the changes you have made to your rental.

Additionally, be sure you keep your email address up to date on the site. If your change emails, please make sure you change it under the MY ACCOUNT tab so that emails and inquiries are directed to you without delay.

Remember, at iGOvacation, we do offer Virtual Tours as part of our Platinum Membership Plan and take the stress out of photos! As part of the virtual tour service, we provide 12 professional photos of your property on the property listing page.

iGOvacation is the best source for North Carolina Vacation Rentals.

We trust that you had a wonderful holiday season with your friends and family. We hope that this year will be very profitable with your vacation home rental! At iGOvacation, we are anticipating record growth, just like we did in 2006. We pride ourselves on customer service and are constantly working to increase our key word rankings.

If you haven't noticed, currently in Yahoo, we are ranking on page 1 for "florida vacation rentals" and are seeing quite a bit of traffic from that key term. If you own property in Florida, now is a great time to place your property on iGOvacation.

Happy New Year! We appreciate the opportunity to work with each of you!

Thanks.

iGOvacation is an excellent source for finding your Florida Vacation Rental.