Auctioning Vacation Rentals - an untapped market

While online auctioning of just about everything has grown exponentially in the past few years, and 'by owner' type websites list tens of thousands of personal getaways, property owners still appear to be very shy about auctioning time in their vacation homes. They may be missing exceptional opportunities to market their rentals.

The top dozen or so of the 'by owner' type of vacation rental websites advertise thousands of vacation rentals each. Some claim memberships in excess of 10,000 properties. Yet, make a visit to the auction giant eBay, and it is difficult to coax up a fraction of one percent of those numbers at any one location. The examples on the right are actual live auctions. Click on one to see more information, or use the search box to do your own search.

Take Gatlinburg, Tennessee for example. A popular East-Central US vacation area, Gatlinburg is home to thousands of condos, cabins and chalets, most of which are on the vacation rental market. Even more properties are available in the neighboring shopping and amusement mecca of Pigeon Forge. A recent search of just one of the major vacation rental sites returned 281 properties available in Gatlinburg, while eBay listed 7. Take into account that there are a least a dozen more vacation sites advertising rentals there and you have a huge discrepancy - er, make that opportunity!