help with house rental

[Penny]

I did this for a while when we first arrived and it is HARD work. I also found that people really don't want to pay you. They think "oh it takes me about 4 hours to clean the house" and then want to pay you that amount. They don't think that it takes a lot longer to clean a house where people have been on holiday in it. You have to do everything all at once. Every towel, sheet etc etc. It takes ages.

I had one house where it was a real Heath Robinson affair and the owners had brought everything over from B&Q and Screwfix in the UK (including the sockets). The wiring left a lot to be desired! They were in an area where they would have water shortages if the weather got hot. Instead of installing a storage tank to make sure their guests could at least have a shower when they got there, they did nothing. Instead, I regurlarly got shouted at by irate guests who had no water. I also, remember one group turning up just as the water board turned off the water as the owners had not paid their bill.

They hadn't taken up the animal stall floor and put down a membrane so apart from it growing a fur coat in winter, it was a b@stard to keep clean. The final straw was getting groped by the owner's brother-in-law who lived opposite. Needless to say I didn't go back!!!

Good luck to those of you out there making a living at it. You deserve your money. Those of you that rent your houses out, the property management guys are worth every penny and more!!

[Paul McDonnell]

Hi Joanna,
With regards to your question on a reputable key holding/property & letting management company based in Calabria. Myself and my partner are in the process of setting up a company called 'Calabria Management' which will be based in Pizzo. We have 15 years of experience in similar fields and we will be moving permanently to Calabria in June of this year. We have our website currently under construction and are going to inspect suitable office premises in February. We have our team of professionals already organised, we are just in the process of finishing off the finer details.
If you would like more details on the nature of our business etc; please don't hesitate to contact myself @ paulmdonnell@hotmail.com.
Yours sincerely,
Paul McDonnell

[Noble]

Having read Penny's comments I so agree. Here above Lago Traimeno there are some holiday apartments in a complex of old buildings, owned by an Italian/German couple. The website doesn't show it as it really is and the place is also none too clean. This is a terrible start to anyones holiday! The poor person that did the meeting and greeting gave up last season. It is a tough job and tougher if the owners are tight fisted.

[Sally Donaldson]

Paul Hi Bad move to put your e-mail address online as you lay yourself open to spam. Better to get people to pm you.

[Liset]

Hi, the original post seems quite old, and good answers to the problem has already been given, I'd just like to mention that I have a (danish) friend living in centro storico in Loreto Aprutino. She is already holding the keys for her various foreign neighbours, always help out with a meal and some home owners have hired her for cleaning/washing calling her a week before coming out so that they find everything in order.
She doesn't want to work full-time, but if needed she would be a very reliable asset to any houseowner in that area.
If somebody here finds it relevant they can PM me.