Will low ballers now be the norm in future rental years?

I don't know what the amenities of your rental are, but this is the best season of rentals we've ever had. I think that our great Gulf views, large private pool, close beach access, and very private beach have been the big attractions.

beach runner i'm in a great rental neighborhood in grayton and have a very nice 5 bedroom home with private beach access to the least crowded beach on 30-a. i just priced it a bit high to start off with being my first year.iw as also very picky at the beginning and threw a lot of renters away that i could have rneted too. bech runner my question to you is how many of your rentals were from june 1st on? everyone i've talked to has rented very little since then and all are low ballers

For the last few days the Low Ballers have become less frequent. Once the media gets bored with the story I think things will go back to normal.

I'm not against giving some discounts as occupancy is low right now. but based on all the inquiries i'm getting offering $100 a night all in i'm very worried that this will carry over to future years. My question is has this oil spill permanently reduced what rentals will rent for in future years?i'm worried this low balling will become the norm and destroy the mkt.

Ray, I'll probably delete this post in a couple of days.... just because....

I lived on Hilton Head Island for three years before coming here, and since the oil leak HHI has been a big beneficiary of the problem. I've spoken to friends there and they all say rentals are way up. The drive market from Atlanta have gone there in droves. But I think that's going to end -- IF BP and the USCG get this well head fixed soon. We still have a house there, which tried to sell but couldn't (so now it's rented out).

HHI is a wonderful place, but it doesn't hold a candle to the 30A corridor. I know what rentals go for there and what they went for here before the oil problem. Even then SoWal was a bargain. On HHI beach homes are often dilapidated messes, with rotted floors, mold, bug and rat problems. Here everything is relatively new. If it's not then it's been well taken care of. The worst thing about HHI is the truly wacked-out labor pool. The place is packed with truly hideous people; the difference between the people who do the hard work here and there could not be greater. Here everyone is almost all smiles and while on HHI they would just as soon see you drop dead before they lift a finger. Check out the crime stats for HHI and compare them to here and you'll see what I mean. There's no sense in comparing the beaches.... My point is, once folks get a dose of what they're missing, and once the media gets a grip and does their job vis a vis the local oil spill impact, the rental market will come back in a big way. Just my opinion....

beach runner i'm in a great rental neighborhood in grayton and have a very nice 5 bedroom home with private beach access to the least crowded beach on 30-a. i just priced it a bit high to start off with being my first year.iw as also very picky at the beginning and threw a lot of renters away that i could have rneted too. bech runner my question to you is how many of your rentals were from june 1st on? everyone i've talked to has rented very little since then and all are low ballers

We only had one week not rented prior to June 1 (and not blocked for our use) which was a week that we were thinking about using ourselves, so I just didn't respond to the VRBOs for that week. Then a week before the open week, we decided not to use that week ourselves. I decided to take the first offer that came in. It was lowball, but not so low that it wasn't worth renting. We also got an August rental after June 1 at full price.

I'm really picky about who I rent to. I ask about the ages of those in the group under 25. If I see a request with certain age distributions (like two adults and 8 teenagers), that's a no. I also ask them if there are others in their group staying at different rental properties. That's a no because our house becomes party central during the day because of the pool and the proximity and privacy of the beach. Don't want that many people in my house.

Ray, I'll probably delete this post in a couple of days.... just because....

I lived on Hilton Head Island for three years before coming here, and since the oil leak HHI has been a big beneficiary of the problem. I've spoken to friends there and they all say rentals are way up. The drive market from Atlanta have gone there in droves. But I think that's going to end -- IF BP and the USCG get this well head fixed soon. We still have a house there, which tried to sell but couldn't (so now it's rented out).

HHI is a wonderful place, but it doesn't hold a candle to the 30A corridor. I know what rentals go for there and what they went for here before the oil problem. Even then SoWal was a bargain. On HHI beach homes are often dilapidated messes, with rotted floors, mold, bug and rat problems. Here everything is relatively new. If it's not then it's been well taken care of. The worst thing about HHI is the truly wacked-out labor pool. The place is packed with truly hideous people; the difference between the people who do the hard work here and there could not be greater. Here everyone is almost all smiles and while on HHI they would just as soon see you drop dead before they lift a finger. Check out the crime stats for HHI and compare them to here and you'll see what I mean. There's no sense in comparing the beaches.... My point is, once folks get a dose of what they're missing, and once the media gets a grip and does their job vis a vis the local oil spill impact, the rental market will come back in a big way. Just my opinion....

Well said. I actually had some of your points in a post I deleted. Rock On! :cool:

yes hilton head and myrtle beach are out the door. my friend tried to get a place in charleston and its booked solid. hopefully all is forgotten and its normal next year. so basically most of the people whohave had great rental year booked it before the spill came down hard.i looked on line at one seagrove realty that rents 30-40 condos in the building and it seems all of aug is empty there. and being down here the last 2 weeks and talking with people i'd say business is off 40-50% here from last yr. its shame as things so pretty

yhopefully all is forgotten and its normal next year. so basically most of the people whohave had great rental year booked it before the spill came down hard.i looked on line at one seagrove realty that rents 30-40 condos in the building and it seems all of aug is empty there. and being down here the last 2 weeks and talking with people i'd say business is off 40-50% here from last yr. its shame as things so pretty

This sounds accurate. We have 3 places in SoWal and we had a pretty typical year. 75% of our bookings were done before the spill.

We were 100% booked at one place and 90% at the other two, with zero cancellations.

For us, August has never been a good month ( schools start back way too early these days) and this year also follows that pattern. After the 1st week of August we are generally done. (I'd really like to know how to get more August bookings.)

We did one very last minute booking this week at a lower rate (ie: You're vacant and we can arrive tomorrow) but we lowered our rates last year and left them down this year. Because of that, we declined most lowball offers.

I'm hoping that the oil is forgotten and rates are up a bit next year.

August used to not be good for is either after the first week. So we lowered our rate for the rest of August to be the same as the Sept./Oct. rate. That being said, we usually block the house for ourselves during two separate weeks in August because I start back to work around Sept. 1 each year.

Well said. I actually had some of your points in a post I deleted. Rock On! :cool:

Having lived in Charlotte, NC for several years, HHI was a place we'd skip to for a long weekend. Two entirely different vibes. You will either love one or the other, but not both.... not equally anyway. As Americans, we have VERY short memories. Everything will be back to normal next season.

I imagine that people who hadn't already planned their summer vacation before June 1 -- are always low ballers. They are probably all targeting Sowal this summer thinking the deals are going to be great! Hopefully, next year they go back to their regular places and leave Sowal to the people who love it!!

When we got out of grad school and I was a prof at the University of South Carolina, we went to HHI three times a year -- spring break, a week in the summer, and Labor Day weekend. We always stayed in Sea Pines. We didn't like the beach there -- we went for sailing. We'd rent a big sailboat in Harbor Town and take it out for a half day. Then we'd dine and enjoy evenings in Harbor Town. That was a lot of fun.

When we moved to GA we started going to The Cloister because we liked having the kids camp available so we could enjoy dining in the evenings and our daughter could enjoy playing with other kids. Everyone here vacationed in Destin, so when she got too old for kids camp, we tried SanDestin. Loved the beaches, the water, and staying in a beachfront condo. But two summers in a row we experienced the pool being closed because of baby poop. We decided to rent a house near the beach with a private pool. We saw that a lot of such accommodations were available along 30A. We rented a house in Seagrove for a couple of years and were hooked on 30A. We decided to build a home in Seagrove.

I wouldn't go back to HHI. I'd rather be on 30A with (God forbid) the water closed than at HHI. We love the laid-back atmosphere on 30A. I wouldn't mind going back to The Cloister sometime, but not as a regular vacation spot.

Long story of how we zeroed in on 30A, but I agree with Dwight.

Having lived in Charlotte, NC for several years, HHI was a place we'd skip to for a long weekend. Two entirely different vibes. You will either love one or the other, but not both.... not equally anyway. As Americans, we have VERY short memories. Everything will be back to normal next season.

Totally different vibe is an understatement. I know HHI appeals to a great many folks but it's not my thing. I've showed pics of our beaches to my West Coast boating friends and their comments are "looks beautiful but boring". It's America, we all enjoy different things.

Totally different vibe is an understatement. I know HHI appeals to a great many folks but it's not my thing. I've showed pics of our beaches to my West Coast boating friends and their comments are "looks beautiful but boring". It's America, we all enjoy different things.

When I think HHI, I think "Tennis & Golf......oh and a beach too!". (It is a much easier drive from the eastside of ATL though. 4Hrs and you are there.)

I love HHI. All of the Georgia and SC coast, I absolutely love.....grew up in those marshes. There is nothing like the Low Country. But, it is different than Walton County; much different. I spoke with a cousin last night who lives in Savannah and we talked about how devastating an oil spill would be off our coast, which is much like the Louisiana Coast with marshes and true barrier islands making an invasive spill very difficult to clean. We are lucky in Walton County - lucky we haven't had more oil and lucky it's been somewhat simple to clean.

I wish for everyone full price rentals!! Martini's for everyone~~~~~

I wish for everyone full price rentals!! Martini's for everyone~~~~~

I'm not sure that I 'm willing to wait until full price rentals are back to have my martini(s) :lol:

Wow oh wow i drove threw panama city tonight at 9 pm and it was the most crowded i think i've ever seen it in the 15 years i've driven threw it 5-10 times a year. The strip was backed up for miles and every hotel looked slam packed. Pier park was out the door. I bet they've had some deep discount oil sales.

Actually we love both HHI and 30-A and find our experience at HHI to very, very different from what Dwight describes. Crime stats are usually given by county and HHI is in a similar situation as 30-A in that crime stats for Walton County do not reflect the situation of SoWal.

As RiverOtter stated it's nice to have choices and I do agree that I think the situation will greatly improve when the media looses interest in the story.

Sadly their coverage of the situation is very much like they do the hurricanes, very few facts and lots of sensationalism.