How to Post a Listing
- Login to your account. (If you haven't already, you will need to Register with us)
- Post your Home Offered listing: You may choose to list your home for rent, exchange, sit, and/or share
- Include important information: A catchy title, detailed description, accurate availability dates, and great photos go a long way
- Quick Tip: keep in mind you can post up to 10 photos, so have them handy when you begin the process
- Pay your listing fee to post your listing: Potential tenants won't be able to contact you until this step is completed
- Quick Tip: Get a head start finding the perfect tenant by reviewing our tenant listings
Your listing is renewable every 12 months. While your listing is active you may update it as often as you'd like. You may also pause and reactivate it as needed.
If you would like to post more than one listing, each property will have its own listing number and information. Listing and renewal fees apply to each property.
If you are an agent or broker, or have a property with multiple units, please contact us for permission prior to posting. Higher rates apply to commercial listings.
Updating/Editing a Listing
You can edit your listing at any time. In fact, we encourage you to update your listing every couple of months. It is important to keep your availability dates current. You can also upload new pictures or modify your description at any time. To edit your listing, login to your SabbaticalHomes.com account, click on My Listings and choose the Make Changes option. Be sure to click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page to ensure your information is updated.
Adding Photos to a Listing
Click here for a step-by-step "how-to upload photos" guide on our blog.
You may upload up to 10 photos per Home Offered listing. Be sure that all images are JPG, smaller than 2 MB, and each have their own unique name. Avoid apostrophes, spaces, symbols, and characters in the image filenames. If you are having trouble uploading photos, try renaming them (For example: photo1.jpg, photo2.jpg...) or try uploading one picture at a time to determine if only one of the images is problematic. If your problem persists, please contact us.
You may make minor edits to your photos during the upload process, such as: rotating, cropping, and arranging order.
To help make sure your pictures are great we've put together some helpful photo tips on our blog: http://blog.sabbaticalhomes.com/Resources/home-listing-photo-tips/
How Much to Charge for Your Home
In order to determine how much to charge for your listing, conduct a search for comparable homes in the same (or similar) location to yours. Such a search will help you better understand the going rates and set a fair price. Keep in mind that you are opening your home up to fellow scholars who may or may not be able to afford the going rates. At SabbaticalHomes.com our goal is to accelerate travel and accommodate learning. We are not a typical vacation listing service that's focused on profiteering. We want to encourage making the transaction a win-win for both parties. If your rates are negotiable, indicate so by selecting that option box when setting up your listing.
We've created some helpful tips for making your home listing more appealing:
http://blog.sabbaticalhomes.com/Resources/how-to-make-home-listings-really-work/
Communications Standards
Once your home is listed, people will begin sending queries about your space. Responding to inquiries promptly and politely welcomes open lines of communication. Take time to ask meaningful questions and expect clear answers. If the replies are not clear, be suspicious. You are not obliged to respond to an unsatisfactory query, and if you feel that it is dubious or inappropriate please contact us.
Developing a relationship is the first step to finding the perfect match (http://blog.sabbaticalhomes.com/Resources/finding-the-perfect-match/).
Don't forget to Deactivate your listing, or update its availability dates, after it has been booked.
Messages/Queries
If you are interested in a listing and would like to get in touch with the owner, click the green Contact Member button located to the right of each listing. This will allow you to send a direct message to the party. Allow some time for listers to get back to you before sending additional queries. In your communications be sure to include information about you, your background, and why you are interested in their listing. Or, even better, create a free SabbaticalHomes.com profile for yourself so that fellow members can learn more about you directly on the site. All initial messages sent and received can be seen in the My Messages area of your account. Replies to initial messages are done in your own personal email account and are not recorded in your SabbaticalHomes.com account.
As a courtesy to fellow members, be sure to respond to messages within two business days. Responding to inquiries promptly and politely welcomes open lines of communication. Take time to ask meaningful questions and expect clear answers. If the replies are not clear, be suspicious. You are not obliged to respond to an unsatisfactory query, and if you feel that it is dubious or inappropriate please contact us
If you cannot retrieve your messages this might be due to a payment delay. All queries sent to listings pending payment will be held until the listing is fully paid and active. If you pay via PayPal your messages should become available for viewing within less than one hour. For check payments, please allow 5-7 business days until your payment is received via mail.
Collecting Payment from Tenant
If you are gearing up for hosting a Home Rental, Sit, or Share you will need to arrange collecting payment(s) from your tenant/sitter. You may decide to accept payments via PayPal, check, or other options such as a person-to-person mobile payment service like TransferWise.
Before you deposit a certified check, verify authenticity with the issuing bank not just your bank. Make sure the account contains sufficient funds and the issuing bank guarantees payment on the check. It may take a week or more for the check to clear. Realize that it hasn't cleared just because your bank has accepted it and credited your account.
Don't agree to any plan where the tenant asks to send a check for more than the rental price and requests that the seller refund the difference. And be suspicious of any renter who proposes making payment through a friend or agent of the renter. These are usually arrangements from international sources and the scammer fabricates some reason for you to quickly send them money. These are telltale signs of well-established scams frequently used on the Internet.
Because we do not collect payments or take a commission, it is important for successful hosts and tenants to send a contribution based on what you can afford to give. Contributions make up a large part of our revenue and allow us to keep the site running smoothly as well as expand the services we offer our members. This equitable system depends on your generosity. Although the amount is left to your discretion, typical contributions range from $50- $100. [https://www.sabbaticalhomes.com/Donation.aspx]
Contract/Agreement
Once both parties have agreed on dates and details, it's a good idea for both the homeowner and tenant to draft an official contract/agreement. It is always a good idea to write down and sign off on both parties' expectations so that everyone is on the same page.
We strongly recommend using a contract whenever entering a housing agreement with a third party and have posted sample contract agreement guidelines on our blog to help you sort out pertinent information from dates of accommodation and fees, to mail forwarding and vehicle usage: http://blog.sabbaticalhomes.com/Resources/home-rental-home-exchange-vehicle-use-agreement-guidelines/#sthash.md2Fz6pO.dpuf
Hosting Standards
A Clean Home
If guests will soon be on their way, be sure it's a comfortable place for them to stay. Cleaning your home before they arrive is an essential ingredient in the recipe for a successful stay. To help you prepare your home, we've compiled a helpful cleaning checklist. The SabbaticalHomes.com scholarly community standard of clean earns an A+. (http://blog.sabbaticalhomes.com/how-clean-is-your-home/#sthash.SgcuR2VO.dpuf)
Some Guidance
One way to make your tenant, house sitter or fellow exchanger feel at home is to have a notebook waiting for them detailing the ins and outs of your home, learn more: http://blog.sabbaticalhomes.com/Resources/tip-a-notebook-for-your-visitors/
Reporting Your Match
We kindly ask that you report every match you make, there are two easy ways to do so:
To report a match while keeping your listing active:
- Login your account and go to My Listings
- Next to the respective listing, click on Found Match
- Select the name of your match
To report a match and deactivate your listing:
- Login to your account and go to My Listings
- Next to the respective listing, click on Deactivate Listing
- Select the appropriate choice and submit
- Quick Tip: You can always Reactivate your listing later
Deleting or Deactivating a listing
Login to your SabbaticalHomes.com account, click on My Listings and click on the Pause/Deactivate link found either in the Status or Options column. You will be prompted to confirm that you want to deactivate your listing. Once you click the deactivate button your listing will be paused. You can reactivate your listing by clicking the Reactivate link on the listing.