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The Dare County Association of Fire Officers is a group comprised of senior level and Chief Officers from all fifteen of Dare County’s fire departments, Hatteras Island Rescue Squad, Dare County Fire Marshal’s Office and several associate organizations. One of our primary purposes is in the area of life safety, for both the public as well as our firefighters.

At a recent meeting, several Chiefs expressed their concern about locks on pool fence gates. The problem we are addressing is locks that are not maintained or do not work and the potential for a child to wander into a pool area and subsequently drown. Sadly, this has happened in the past in Dare and Currituck counties and literally only takes seconds to occur. Obviously, this happens most often in rental vacation homes. While doing some research it has been noted that after a home is given a final inspection of the pool area by building and health officials, there is no means to follow up to see if the required locks function properly after any period of time. Given that these properties are considered “one and two family dwellings” inspections are not required.

The DCAFO is requesting your assistance in getting the word out to as many of our local rental agencies as possible about this problem. It is our hope that the rental companies can have maintenance personnel inspect the gate locks and repair or replace them if needed. I would hope that potentially saving a young child’s life is motivation enough, but there is always an issue of liability if a death or injury occurs. Our Association also advocates installing pool alarms that may alert if a child falls into an unattended pool. Also, hot tub covers should be in place anytime the hot tub is not in use as there have been tragedies involving children in those too. Thank you in advance for the cooperation of the Outer Banks Association of Realtors in what we believe is an important issue. If I may be of any assistance, please contact me. My office number is 441-6234.

     Repeat guests are incredibly important to maintaining strong home rentals year after year.  Taking such a simple step can reap benefits year after year.   Some ideas for owner’s gifts can include:

Owner’s Gift Ideas:

Gift Certificates to local restaurants

Bottles of Wine

Gas Cards

Gift Baskets

Discounts to repeat guests

Discounted or free show or local attraction tickets

If you want to know where I stand on sustainable tourism, you can read this article. I definitely think a push must be made towards making the Outer Banks more environmentally friendly. The easiest way for individuals to do their part is to change the light bulbs in their vacation homes.

For many home owners, this simple step would save them large amounts of money over time. Many first time vacation home owners can receive ’sticker shock’ when they receive their first in-season electric bill. Home owners have to realize some vacationers are going to leave every light in the house on for their entire stay. This type of guest are definitely the minority, but this does happen. The easiest way to lessen the amount of electric used is to switch your light bulbs.

Making the Switch

Need more proof on switching your  light bulbs? You can use this simple calculator.

What if a CFL lightbulb breaks?

The EPA has some guidelines for, What to do if a CFL light bulb breaks?

The cleanup is not as bad as everyone imagines when the hear the word Mercury.  The benefits of using these bulbs definitely outweigh the additional cleanup.

CFL Bulb Warranty

Most CFL bulbs come with a warranty.  As long as you have a receipt, you can go and exchange the light bulb for a new one.  Recently, I switched my home to all energy efficient lighting.  One of the bulbs did not work and with a receipt I was easily able to pick up a replacement at Home Depot  thenext time I was in there.

     For many, owning a vacation home requires them to rent the home to secure the mortgage each month.  It is often in the rental process that some home owners find dissatisfaction.  Most home owners are absentee owners of their vacation rental homes.  Depending on the distance from your home to your vacation home, simple repairs can be impossible.  Often, this is why most home owners elect to use a professional property manager. 

     If you do decide to rent your home, you must realize the simple difference between a home and a house.  If you want to know the difference, you can check some people’s thoughts on Yahoo Answers.  The main difference is perception.  When you are looking to buy a property, it is a house.  Once you have moved into what you bought and add your possessions to it, the house becomes a home.  Your second property becomes a home when you fill it with your possessions.

     Though your vacation home is a home to you, it is a house to your guests.  Think about people’s mindset when they look for a vacation “house”. They are looking for a “house” to vacation in.  What they receive is someone’s home.  The difference in both groups perceptions can cause some problems for new vacation home owners. 

     If you can learn to embrace the differences, you will definitely receive the benefit of renting your vacation home and learn to ignore the additional wear and tear placed on your home from renting it to groups of people looking for a “vacation house.”  

Is your vacation home not booking as many weeks as you would like?  Simply changing it to a pet-friendly home can increase your home’s weeks booked.  Many home owners are instantly against allowing pets.  Most of their fears center around the damage a dog or pet could do to their home.  While this certainly is a possibility, it definitely is not the norm.

A dog left unattended could definitely cause damage to your home.  There is no mistaking that.  The positive lies in the fact that most guests take extraordinarily good care of their dogs and other pets.  Most house trained dogs will not soil your home.  The simple fact of increasing rental income can outweigh the additional expense of allowing dogs.

In a 2004 study done by the American Animal Hospital Association, over two thirds of Americans travel with their pets.  Let’s take a minute and look at that statistic.  Two thirds travel with their pets.  That means your non pet-friendly home is only marketable to one third of all travelers.  There is a large market that your home is not even an option for.  It can be that the extra weeks easily outweigh any extra damage your home incurs.

One thing that often worries many vacation home owners is allowing guest reviews.  Many home owners often have the same fear, a bad review.  While one scathing review can really seem to hurt, it is definitely outweighed by the benefits of positive reviews.  Today’s travelers often vacation in places they have never been to.  As the availability of GPS and today’s mobile society increases, your vacationers could well be traveling over 1000 miles.  Many potential vacationers want assurance that what you’re presenting on the Internet is really present in your home.  The easiest way to alleviate this fear is by providing a forum where guests can comment about your home.  One simple way to accomplish this would be to create a vacation home blog.  If you are looking for something simpler, you can always try TripAdvisor.  Whatever method you choose, be sure to offer guests an incentive to comment.