Renting out a second home is no vacation!

investmentnews.com:

First things first for financial advisors with clients who are renting out their second homes: Make sure they get paid for the entire season up front, not month-to-month.

Americans are getting out of town in droves this summer, with 64% planning to rent vacation properties. Unfortunately, many first-time rental property owners aren’t aware of the potential risks associated with the booming short-term rental industry.

Seriously, ensuring a clean short-term rental transaction is far from a walk on the beach. There’s a reason why the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that real estate scams, including those involving short-term rentals, resulted in nearly $400 million in losses for almost 12,000 victims last year.

From the perspective of property owners, getting the whole fee in advance is an essential demand and one that rookies should remember. So is limiting the number of guests that the renter can entertain on the property, said attorney Scott Smiler, a partner with Gallet Dreyer & Berkey.

“An intimate dinner party or family BBQ is one thing, but a weekend frat party is not acceptable,” Smiler said. “We also recommend adding a clause in the lease affirmatively requiring the renter to clean the property upon lease termination. Depending upon the property, holding a separate security deposit for cleaning purposes is not uncommon.”

Along those lines, LegalShield attorney Robert Bellitto Jr. of Willinger Willinger & Bucci in Connecticut advises homeowners looking to rent their homes away from home to check with their lender to see whether short-term rentals are a permissible use. Mortgages on owner-occupied properties can prohibit their use for rental purposes, with rentals constituting a default on the