FEATURES
Rental service for race weeks added in Talladega
Laura Nation-Atchison
07-04-2008
Imagine this-getting paid to take off for a vacation.
And that’s just what Melissa White and her husband, Tommy, might end up doing.
The Whites decided to sign on with a new service offered in the Talladega area, and will rent their Cedar Street home to race fans in October.
Through her job at the Talladega Chamber of Commerce, White met Aleeta Gant Pearson when she came to town to introduce her company, Race Lodging.
Pearson has been offering her service of connecting NASCAR race fans with homeowners willing to lease their homes for seven years now.
She decided to add Talladega this year, having already introduced the service in racing areas such as Bristol, Tenn.; Martinsville, Tenn. and Richmond, Va.
She now has a total of about 1,200 home listings with the company and already has about 30 homeowners signed up in the Talladega area.
“It’s really a win-win situation,” Pearson said. “For the homeowner as well as the race fans.”
Pearson stopped in to visit White during a trip to Talladega last week.
Some of her clients are sheer racing fans, and others are involved in the racing industry and its support companies.
Renters could be hands on track people, network or other media or people working the hospitality events for sponsors, she said.
“I even rent my home,” she said.
There’s a two night minimum for leasing through the company and accommodations include everything from condos and entire homes to detached cottages, apartments or even recreational vehicles.
Pearson and her staff personally visit each home they list to make sure it meets their criteria.
“Basically, we expect the homes to be neat, clean and in order,” Pearson said.
Homeowners are required to have clean linens on the beds, and two sets of towels per guest, along with coffee and creamer available and liquid soap at sinks.
Guests are required to bag up garbage upon leaving and wash any dishes.
There is a 30 percent deposit on rentals, which is not refunded on cancellations. The damage deposit is refunded for cancellations made more than 45 days in advance of the arrival date.
When cancellations are made 45 fays or fewer before the arrival date, the rental amount remains due but the damage deposit is returned.
Typically, rates are determined according to the number of bedrooms and baths.
For example, a home will usually be rented for from $125 to $200 per bedroom, Pearson said.
Homes that are within walking distance of a track usually rent for more, from $200 to $250 per night, she said.
Renters are required to pay the balance due on their rentals 45 days prior to their arrival.
When Pearson decided to offer the service in Talladega, one of the first places she went was the chamber of commerce.
When White talked with Pearson, she said the idea interested her.
“I just trust her and the way the company operates,” she said.
Seldom has anything gone awry with the arrangements she makes for renters and homeowners, Pearson said.
But the few times something has happened, such as damage, the renters were on the phone almost immediately to report it and make it right, she said.
“Someone broke a glass table top once and called right after it happened to make arrangements to replace it,” Pearson said. “These are the type people renting the houses.”
Another incident involved her own home.
“It was just a $2 plastic picture frame of my daughters,” she said. “But the people left her a $20 bill to replace it.”
Pearson and her staff can be reached by renters or homeowners at all times, she said. just in case something comes up.
As far as taxes on the rentals are concerned, people can rent their homes for 14 days a year without paying tax on the income.
It may sound like a lot to manage more than 1,000 home rentals, but Pearson said she has a great staff in place that helps make it all happen.
Pearson started out working in the travel business after finishing graduate school in student development.
She had planned to teach on the college level.
Instead, she ended up working in a travel agency.
Two years later, she opened her own agency, All Journeys Travel in Bristol, and has remained in the business since.
“My father always said my middle name was ‘go,’” she said, laughing. “I was always ready to go when anyone was going somewhere.”
And, she said, once she went on her first cruise after finishing school, she decided the experience was the best in the world.
“That became my most favorite thing in the world,” she said.
White said she wasn’t sure yet what she and her husband would do while their home was occupied, but the thought of taking a little trip themselves sounded pretty good.
“We may just do that,” she said.
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About Laura Atchison
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Laura Nation-Atchison is The Daily Home features editor.
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Contact Laura Atchison
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