Isle of Palms Magazine Winter-Spring 2017-18

29 www.IsleOfPalmsMagazine.com | www.ILoveIOP.com | www.IOPmag.com [ Feature ] “We are in constant communication with our homeowners regarding the status of their home and are available to provide updates when requested,” said Courtney Kretly, property manager with Dunes Properties. “We inspect our properties every 10 days or before and after each stay to ensure items are put back in their original location and that nothing has been damaged or stolen. And we organize maintenance when needed.” Collins Atkinson, business manager at Island Realty, said, “We are the eyes and ears for the property owner. Our relationship with the owner is a partnership, and we consult with them on any major issues.” One of the best benefits of using a property manager is its expertise in marketing and advertising the property. Atkinson said they will do all the work to solicit renters. “Our homeowners definitely benefit by having their home listed on our website for rent,” he said. “It takes the worry away from them having to create a website for their home that also has good search engine optimization on Google.” Every property management company handles the maintenance and cleaning a little differently, but, at Beachside Vacations, they actually give their housekeepers 100 percent of the cleaning fee. “We believe this gives the housekeeping professional a vested interest in assuring the property is cleaned to the best of their abilities,” Michael Long, director of Beachside Vacations, said. “Maintenance is handled in a similar method, with all minor maintenance expenses handled and paid by our team.” And since we live in a hurricane-prone area, homeowners can rest easy knowing that their property will be taken care of before and after the storm. “During the hurricanes this year and last year, we moved in all of the outdoor furniture prior to the storm and organized windows to be boarded up at many of our oceanfront homes. We also provided updates and photos after the storm to offer peace of mind to the owners,” Kretly said. Atkinson estimated that about 15 percent of the beach homes in the Charleston area are managed by the homeowners and listed on VRBO.com . “But who is taking care of that 2 a.m. call when someone is locked out of the home,” he said. “It is our job to take those kinds of headaches away.” Alain Raoult owns an oceanfront property at Wild Dunes and said that he simply would not be able to own the property if it wasn’t for a property management company. “We would have to sell if we couldn’t use a property management company,” he said. “We rely on them so much.” Raoult, who works directly with Long from Beachside Vacations, said he knows a few people who have tried to manage their beach vacation homes on their own. “They do it for a few years and then end up going to a property management company,” he said. “It just takes up so much personal time, and you have to be close by.” He specifically remembered how great Long was keeping him informed when Hurricanes Matthew and Irma were threatening the area. “He sent me a report every day leading up to the hurricane coming, during it and then afterward,” Raoult said. “I was quite impressed at how well he kept me appraised of what was happening.” Raoult advised first-time vacation homeowners to really study the different property management companies. “They all offer a different cost structure and their commission varies quite a bit,” he said. In the end, costs aside, using a property management company or not comes down to how much time you have – and how much of it you are willing to spend taking care of your vacation home. “It really comes down to ‘what is the value of your time worth,’” Atkinson said. “That’s what you have to ask yourself when considering using a property management company.”