Call your homeowner insurance company to find out whether you are insured should you rent your home out seasonally. Many homeowner's insurance policies do not cover rentals. Purchase a home rental policy valid for the seasons that you plan on renting out your house to cover the value of your home and your belongings.
Find out how much other homeowners who rent their homes out seasonally in your area charge for renting homes of similar size and locations to determine how much you should charge in rent. Look at square footage, the numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms and the amenities of the comparable homes. Price your home competitively.
List your home for rent seasonally in vacation and seasonal home guides as well as in local newspapers. In the ads, include information like the location of your home, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the rental price, the dates the home is available for rent, which utilities are included in the rent, which utilities the renter is responsible for and a phone number at which you can be reached.
Fax rental applications to those who wish to rent your house seasonally. Because those who rent homes seasonally typically do not live in your area, you will need to fax the application to them. Ask for the names, phone numbers, addresses, employment information, character references and the contact information of previous landlords of each of the people who would be living in your house. Have the prospective tenants fax their applications back to you, call their character references and ask how responsible they are, call their previous landlords and ask about their abilities to pay rent on time, how they treated the property and whether they had any evictions.
Decide to whom to rent your house based on ability to pay the rent on time, previous rental histories, character references and your gut feelings about the individuals from talking with them on the phone. Fax the applicants whom you wish to rent a rental agreement that outlines the terms of the lease, the dates that the tenants will live in the home and that you may evict them prior to the end of the lease should you determine them to be in violation of any of the clauses of your agreement. Have the tenants sign the agreement, fax the signed agreement back to you and mail you the original copy of the signed agreement, first and last month's rent and a deposit amount equivalent to the monthly rental price. A security deposit is used to protect you as a landlord should the seasonal tenant cause damage to your home that goes above and beyond normal wear and tear and is refundable to the tenant upon completion of the lease.
Set up a date and time to meet the tenants at the home. Walk through the home with them and show them how to turn on and off the lights in each room, how to work the appliances and how to troubleshoot issues that you commonly have with the home. Sign the lease on the blank labeled "Landlord", make copies of the lease and hand one copy to the tenants for their records when you give them the keys to the house.
