Local Real Estate Agency or Airbnb

10 Reasons to choose a local Real Estate agency over Airbnb to advertise your vacation/ furnished rentals.

There is no denying the gigantic success of Airbnb in today’s real estate, travel and leisure industry. Technology companies are creating sophisticated infrastructure networks to commandeer the worlds market for vacation rental homes and other travel needs, providing you with information on restaurants and memorable places to visit. If you want to get the real experience of the locals and don’t mind not having all of the luxuries afforded by hotels, booking a trip with Airbnb sounds like the place to go. With millions of destinations and homes worldwide, Airbnb is the go-to website for travelers wishing to rent for less. Owners and landlords have the option to list their properties online place pictures and consumers can choose from a variety of rentals for the location that best meets their needs.  Renters pay a fee to Airbnb for using their services.  Ideal for landlords right? Well, think for a minute. Which makes more sense, Local Real Estate Agency or Airbnb?

Here is a list of reasons to advertise with us at SECPE

a)       We know the geographic local areas: When you list your rental, the information provided to the consumer is generic to the city and not specific to the area or neighborhood.  Yes, Yaounde boasts spectacular views and the pictures of the home are beautiful, however, if the property is im Damask, you are unaware of power shortages or water supply outages that can occur for up to a week. At SECPE we provide ratings on our properties so you know the areas that are prone to such occurrences and recommendations to mitigate those conditions. It could be the difference between shelling the extra dollars for the additional comfort, or leaving your rental as is, KNOWING, the disadvantages.

Pictures:

b)    Speaking of pictures, there is no way to guarantee that the pictures that you see on Airbnb actually reflect the true nature of the property. At SECPE, every property listed has been inspected by an agent and its authenticity guaranteed. In most cases the pictures on our website are taken by our enterprise. There are no surprises what you see is what you get.

You can talk to a human being:

c)  Technology works for folks that are truly savvy. For the more seasoned travelers which makes up 65% of today’s travel population, searching on websites for the appropriate rental is daunting, time consuming and annoying. The option of being able to talk to an individual in that specific area with knowledge of the present conditions is a huge plus. When you advertise with us, rest assured that your prospects can contact us via traditional methods, telephone and email in particular.

We offer Car Rentals:

d)  Most of our furnished rentals are afforded the option of a car rental. In other words, one stop shopping. If a prospect needs a car rental at the time of service we can offer that service and improve the value of the rental. We partner with reputable car rental service companies. Cars come with or without chauffeurs at comparable prices

We also include Hotels:

e)  It’s true that renting from a local adds to the experience, but what if you don’t want to. What if security is key, an inhouse restaurant is prime, you don’t want to cook and you like the idea of security and personnel around you 24/7. Smaller hotels, not affiliated with any particular chain offer affordable housing options and can be accessed on our website. This provides greater competition for landlords. In other words, they need to meet or surpass these standards.

Pricing Variations:

f)  Most landlord and owners want to be able to provide their potential customers with savings for long term rentals. At SECPE we are able to negotiate with the landlord and provide the customers with deep discounts when stays are initiated for longer than 2 weeks, 1 month or even 3 months. This translates into higher occupancy for our Landlords.

 Missing items:

g)The most annoying thing is to get to a location and the pool that was advertised is not available, or the kitchen sink is not working, the white sheets that you saw in the pictures were actually colored sheets and there are no towels. While SECPE cannot mitigate every circumstance, our personal care will ensure that the property meets our standards prior to the arrival of the customer. This translates into great reviews, more rentals for the landlord and higher occupancy ratings.

Prices listed are in the local currency:

h) Currencies fluctuate in value daily. Airbnb publishes and bills in dollars. However, when a property is listed at $45, how much is that in the local currency?  A patron pays $45 2 months ago. You receive 20,000XAF however the true rental rate for that unit is 28,000XAF. For a ten-day rental you just lost 80,000XAF

Our business is Real Estate:

i)    Often companies leveraging technology to advertise, are simply that, advertisers and not experts in the real estate business. Their technology will advertise whatever is placed in their database. At SECPE we are selective in the rentals we board on to our platform. If you, as a landlord have a poor reputation, refuse to meet our standards, are unreachable, do not respond to our calls, we will drop you from our site. Our goal is to circumvent and prevent situations that may arise by being proactive in our due diligence.

j)        Our Service Fees are comparable to industry standards but lower than the average fees charged by management firms in Cameroon. List with us, we charge a 12% per rental flat fee. That fee Is transparent to the landlord and not the customer. We collect/process the funds via Cash, Check or Credit Card and the balance is dropped into the landlords account once confirmation has been obtained.

So, what are you waiting for? We are accepting properties in all locations in Cameroon.

SECPE investments is the number 1 authority for real estate in Cameroon. We service our clients one real estate transaction at a time.