Now is the time to rent your home for the PGA

In less than three months more than 10,000 people a day will be visiting Saint Joseph/Benton Harbor and with fewer than 2,000 hotel rooms there is plenty of money to be made for accommodations.

Experts say the time to start marketing your home act is now.

Nancy McDonnall showed off homes Thursday that she’s marketing for the Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores May 21-27. McDonnall owns ‘Be Our Guest’ a vacation rental service that is working to specifically list homes on their website beourguestmi.com. ‘Be Our Guest’ offers a complete service for potential renters.

McDonnall is marketing two similar homes with two completely different rental prices. Both luxury homes have five bedrooms. One is going for $12,000 for the week another for $7,000. The difference is about four miles. The $12,000 home overlooks the 16^th fairway of the course.

 “The closer you are to that golf course the more you can generate for that week,” said McDonnall.

McDonnall said there is demand for not only luxury homes but also for smaller homes.  “There’s going to be 10,000 (people) just following the tournament each day.”

She estimated that the average home in Northern Berrien County could get at least $2,000 for the week. There could be demand further away as well. On craigslist.org there are several homes being marketed from as far away as Three Oaks.

McDonnall said she has gotten hundreds of calls from people looking to rent a home. She said there will be more demand than people realize. “We’re going to be overwhelmed,” she said. “I think we’re going to be nicely surprised.”

 Tips for renting your home:

Remove it or lock it. Put all of your personal belongings in a ‘safe room’ or remove them from the house.

Make sure you know the Laws. Different cities and townships have different laws for short-term rentals.

Get Insurance. Some homeowners insurance companies may not cover a short-term renter. You may need to get a special type of coverage.