I have no idea why this thread showed up in the recent posts lists for me, but I absolutely love this idea/concept!
What this really is all about to me is the creation of a specific type of Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Your USP is something special and unique about your property that you use and feature in order to sell it. It is something special that you offer to your guests that they can't get anywhere else, that helps define you and your property, what you offer to guests, and makes you stand out amongst a sea of competition, and ultimately be successful.
Ideally, your property, like our first one, has a built in USP, and you bought it for that very reason, as we did. When purchasing a home for use as a vacation rental, one wants it to have a special feature; a view, location, or something about it not easily replicated, that prospective guests will easily recognize and instantly be attracted to.
If your home doesn't have a built in USP, it is quite possible to create one in many instances, and this is what may be necessary for many vacation rental owners to do if their property is to be successful and it doesn't really have anything special to offer amongst its competitors.
This was the situation with our second vacation home. There was absolutely nothing special about it when we bought it! The only thing that it had going for it was its price. It has the distinction of being the lowest price a home has EVER sold for in the history of our subdivision. But it started a surprising journey that will ultimately end up having taken us some place I never expected in the beginning.
A landmark feature is not necessarily a USP, but it certainly can be. A landmark feature of a property, in the right hands, can be a defining part of a vacation rental's brand. When a feature of a property can be both a landmark feature and a USP, it multiplies its power from a marketing point of view.
This thread has struck me so strongly (And thank you all for sharing, and your wonderful inspirational photos! They are SO appreciated!) because it gives a name to an idea that I've had in the back of my mind for such a long time... I have had everything about it resolved in my head, but never put the right label on it!
The USP for my second property will ultimately be a Landmark Feature!
You know... sometimes it can take years to create one.
We have two vacation rentals, and even though our second is slightly larger than the other, and nicer in just about every single way, it doesn't rent as well as the first. There are a number of reasons for this, but one is because the first one has a 'non-landmark feature' in the form of the incredible privacy of its pool area.
If you know anything about Orlando Vacation Rentals, which are mostly purpose built homes, tightly packed right on top of each other in dense subdivisions, the typical private pool area of one of them isn't private at all. In fact, many guests liken it to being 'in the fishbowl' because the pools are covered with screen enclosures, so you are sort of inside a transparent container and on display to everyone else in their pool area, and they to you in yours.
The privacy of our pool area, because we have no rear neighbors, but also practically no side neighbors either, makes the house quite unique amongst Orlando area VRs. Plus we have landscaped the rear yard to create an environment that is really pleasant, enjoyable and tropical feeling, which I believe most people want when they envision themselves in Florida. It has been described as a 'mini-resort' by our neighbor's friends, and I love that.
It took us about five years of work to realize that vision, and we continue to work on and develop it. So the vista from our pool area, with nothing but a nicely landscaped yard, and forest/jungle beyond is the landmark feature of that property, except it isn't a landmark at all. That big feature is define by absence... which is why I call it a non-landmark. But hot-damn, is it a great USP!
But solving the issue of what do to with our second property, to make it book just as well as the first, gnawed away at my brain for years. It simply doesn't have the isolation and privacy of our first property, and has side neighbors as well. So we went to work to landscape what was a completely open yard, and create a sense of enclosure and privacy from our neighbors. But there are limits to what you can do with that.
As I pondered this issue, I realized that I needed to come up with something similar to our first home... A unique feature with punch, that would help distinguish the second property; a great USP. And as I sat outside on the pool deck one day, and pondered the entirety of the situation, I realized what I really wanted and needed to do. So I designed an increase in the size of our pool enclosure, and an extension of our pool deck on both sides, that would result in doubling the entire width of the deck to 65' wide, making it the widest in the entire subdivision. The larger pool enclosure would allow guests to suntan on the deck, out of the shade of the house, because now there would be sunshine (assuming no clouds) somewhere on the deck, every day of the year, and every hour of the day.
Once the work was done, which cost a good chunk of money, we ordered four pool loungers, imported from Italy, that are very comfortable, but feature a bright electric blue color. I lined them up on the newly expanded deck with the pool in the background, placed a super colorful large fluffy beach towel folded up on the foot of each one, and shot a promo photo of it (well about 40 to get the right single one). And that image kind of became the landmark feature of that expanded deck, but it is really only temporary. Four great loungers, no matter how nice, do not a landmark feature make. And it is too easily replicated in other situations.
What I have planned, however, is for the other extension of the deck on the other side of the pool, and outside the pool enclosure. I never realized it at the time, but what I was building in my mind, and will now do in reality, is something that I described to Matt as an 'Architectural Digest' back yard feature; an outdoor fireplace, constructed in rustic brick, with a covered pavilion roof on an old-style post and beam frame, with a conversation area, trellised side for additional privacy, a spot for our BBQ and outdoor kitchen. (We already have a covered dining area on our lanai off the interior of the pool enclosure.) The new covered area and fireplace will overlook the open part of our rear yard and natural forest beyond.
The simple truth is, that when this thing is finished, it will be incredibly unique amongst most Orlando vacation homes (except the biggest, most luxurious ones that rent for thousands per night). As I've researched the construction of it and worked on my plans, I've discovered why they're so rare in the Orlando area. Most people can't build such structures in their yards, because the building codes require foundations for such roofs that anchor them in such a way that they won't blow away in a hurricane! I viewed forums where lots of people lamented wanting to have such things in their yards, but can't get them and build them, because the foundation for them becomes too challenging or cost prohibitive for them to do. Building codes won't allow for it.
But what did I do?
Without even having my plans for this special feature started in my mind (or maybe I did but they were all subconscious) I decided to extend my deck, and once I had drawn the plans, submitted them to a locally licensed engineer to produce engineered drawings – both for the concrete foundation of the deck, and the aluminum structure of the enclosure expansion. My concrete deck (it's really a patio I suppose, with textured latex non-slip coating on it typically found around Florida pools) has excessive rebar in it, and is twice the thickness it needs to be, and I have stamped engineered drawings outlining its construction, which will allow me to build just about anything I want on it, and anchor it into the concrete in a manner suitable to meet the Central Florida building codes. Yay!
Just doing things right in the first place, has opened up my options, and allows now for the creation of what I have ultimately come up with for that space; a glorious, unique and wonderful Landmark Feature!
And a USP that will be absolutely killer! Pictures of it will stick out like a wonderful, beautiful sore thumb amongst thousands of competitive listings.
In total, it will probably be a six or seven year journey from initial sparks to having this entire vision made real. But it will so worth it!
I always knew what I wanted for this property and this space... I just didn't have a name for it, but now I do; a landmark feature! It is really strange how happy having this label for what I'm doing has made me! So thank you! 😀
(I'm sorry I can't post pics of any of this. Maybe some day. But for the moment we just have to suffer through my description!)
