The beaches in Wellfleet have parking lots, but to park in them you’ll need a beach sticker. There are two kinds of stickers: a Resident Beach Sticker and a Visitor’s Beach Sticker.

Visitor’s Beach Sticker

If you’re on a summer vacation in Wellfleet, you’ll need to get a Visitor’s Beach Sticker.

Proof of Stay

To get a Visitor’s Beach Sticker, the first thing you’ll need is a proof of stay. This is a document that proves you’ll be residing in Wellfleet. You’ll have to ask the owner of the house where you’re staying– he or she can give it to you.

Other Requirements

Besides the proof of stay, you’ll also need to provide the following:

1. Vehicle registration for each vehicle
2. Payment of about $75 for one week (you can also get 3-day, 2-week, or seasonal permits)

If your car is leased, is a company car, or has dealer plates, you’ll need to provide documentation to prove you are the owner. See the complete eligibility rules and requirements.

Bring these documents to the Wellfleet Town Pier, located at 255 Commercial Street. Your beach sticker will enable you to park at all the public beaches in Wellfleet.

Resident Beach Sticker

Residents of the town of Wellfleet can apply for a Resident Beach Sticker. You’ll need to bring vehicle registration for each vehicle plus means of payment. For more information, see the town document on rules.

More information

Town of Wellfleet Beach Administration

Town of Wellfleet Website

There was a LOT of erosion on the ocean side beaches of Wellfleet this winter. Some, like LeCount Hollow, now have a HUGE vertical drop. Also, there’s damage to the parking lot, and a house now precariously hangs off the edge. What’s it going to be like this summer? Will some ocean beaches be closed off? If so, that might make the remaining ones more crowded. Over on the bay beaches – Mayo and Duck Harbor – I did not notice any change from last year. They still look great.

As a vacation rental property owner, you already know about the benefit of being listed on a vacation rental website.  And chances are good you’ve already joined one.  If you have, I have a recommendation for you. I’m going to suggest you join another. If you’re an owner of a vacation rental property, it’s worth the money to be listed in at least two directories.

Online vaction rental directories

But first, if you’re not already listed on one of the national or international vacation rental directories, here are the top 3 reasons why you should be:

1.  Number of inquiries. The big directories, which charge between $200 and $500 per year to list your property, spend big bucks on advertising.  The advertising gets the attention of Mrs. Prospective Vacationer, at just the right time– when she is formulating the summer vacation plans. Personally, as an owner, it’s worth the money for me to have my property listed on five different vacation rental sites.  From some I get 5 inquiries in a good week, and from some I might get one inquiry a week – it’s still worth the cost.

2. Quality of inquiries.  Theoretically, the ‘list your property for free’ sites should give you the same quality of inquiry as the pay-sites, but they don’t– not in my experience on Cape Cod. From the free sites, scam inquiries actually used to be rare.  Now, scam inquiries are a regular occurence.  Is “free” really free when you have to spend your valuable time screening prospects because something about their inquiry sounds ‘fishy,’ but you’re not really sure?

3.  Pics and videos.  At some point in the future (and maybe by the time you’ve finished reading this!),  you will need to have at least 20 good quality photos and a couple of videos of your property to compete with other owners that do, and to ‘close the sale’ with a vacationer online.  Make sure to list your property on a website that allows for this.

Benefits of listing in multiple directories

Now I’ll talk about how to choose a second vacation rental directory.

The big national and international directories promise to deliver lots of inquiries, and they do.  But no single directory gets EVERY vacationer inquiry, or even a majority of them. If you’re only listed in 1 directory, you’re missing out on LOTS of prospective vacationers.

Do you get a rental from every prospect?  Neither do I.  Not by a long shot. For my Wellfleet Cape Cod rental,  I need to get between 5 and 15 inquiries before I  get a deposit.  It depends on the week.  Shoulder season weeks – that’s the spring and fall in Cape Cod – are harder and need more internet exposure.  Summer weeks are easier to rent and need less exposure, so fewer inquiries are needed.  But the summer weeks are so valuable.  I’m more confident about raising prices when I’m getting more inquiries.  More inquiries can get you more income.

In evaluating whether it’s worth it to list your property on more than one rental directory, consider the possibility that an additional directory listing could result in one additional week or weekend rental. What’s your lowest priced week?  If it’s $600 or more, then you can see how it’s worth it.

Another reason to join an additional vacation rental directory even if you’re already listed in one is specialty.  Some directories specialize in a certain geographic area. For example, First Vacation Rental specializes in Wellfleet and Cape Cod and has a “Things to Do” section on their site.  Directories like this can enhance and emphasize the desirability of a specific location. This may add value to your individual vacation rental.

Lastly, another reason to join a second (or third or fourth) vacation rental directory: Customer Support.  Was it a hassle to list your property in your current directory?  I know what that’s like.  I’ve listed my vacation rental in about 12 different sites over the years.  What a pain.  But some of the new sites make it extremely easy.  Some will walk you through the process over the phone, use the pictures you already have, even come to your house and take high quality shots.  (High quality pics are VERY important, but that’s another topic.)  Look for a vacation rental directory that has a “Whatever it takes to earn your business” attitude.

Online vacation rental directories are a great tool to rent available weeks and to increase the inquiries you get for your popular weeks, giving you the confidence to raise prices. Because each directory has different strengths, you can often benefit by listing in two or more directories. Vacationers use one directory at a time, and if you’re not listed there then they won’t find your property. And a vacationer who becomes interested in your property could be a life-long customer.

When marketing First Vacation Rental subscriptions, we advertise that our site, along with each owner’s listing, will be optimized for search so that vacationers can easily find rentals.  One of the most frequently asked questions is “How do you optimize your site?” and “What does that mean?”  Both are good questions that deserve thoughtful answers.

We are noticing that vacationers renting homes from online directories are often originating from Google through its search engine.  Many of our pages are designed to be placed in the top search results for certain search terms.  This helps attract vacationers  to our website who are searching for Wellfleet or Cape Cod information through Google.

There are two ways we use Google to get these searchers onto our rental listing pages.  The first is by buying advertising space for popular searches that vacationers make.  When searching for “Wellfleet vacation rentals,” “Cape Cod cottages,” or “Marconi Beach rental,” our ad will often appear in a section of the page right above the search results.  Our ad is displayed for over 100 different Wellfleet-specific search terms. Our ad is also displayed during some more general Cape Cod seach queries such as “Cape Cod summer vacation.”

This is one of our Wellfleet ads. Most of our ads are specifically targeted to Wellfleet.

The second way we optimize with Google is by building pages on our website that will naturally find themselves among the top search results over time.  For example, if you search for “Indian Neck Beach Wellfleet” our page about Indian Neck is on the first page.  Once searchers end up on this page about Indian Neck Beach they can see nearby vacation rentals.  There aren’t a huge number of people searching for Indian Neck Beach in Google; in fact, we only get about one hit a day from that search.  Although that may seem small at first, it adds up quickly because we have over 100 pages about Cape Cod beaches, restaurants, and other Wellfleet activities.  Factoring in all of our pages, the hits start to add up.

First Vacation Rental is the first result when searching Google for Indian Neck Beach in Wellfleet.

About 70% of our Google visitors find our site by searching for specific terms like Indian Neck Beach.  The other 30% come from clicking our advertisements.

We make sure to get all of our Wellfleet vacation rentals into Google’s database.  We do this by making sure that each one of our rental pages complies with the search engine’s guidelines.  Also, we provide Google with the information it needs to best index the listings into the search results.  Here are some tips for vacation home owners to help drive traffic to listings pages.

Our software provides all of the necessary tools and methods for attracting vacation searchers from Google.  Of course, until you list your rental on the internet, Google won’t know about it.  Once you’ve listed your rental, there are a few things you can do to help vacationers find it. For more information on this subject, check our our articles on:

Naming Your Vacation Rental

How To Drive Traffic To Your Vacation Rental

The First Vacation Rental software offers a large number of different inputs, if you choose to fill them out, about your rental property.  Although the software allows you to describe your rental in great detail, the simple things are usually the ones that matter most.  One such field is the name of your property.

The highlighted area above is how your vacation rental name will appear on our listings page.

The Name Stands Out

When vacationers are browsing the listings on First Vacation Rental they will immediately notice the name because of its bold blue color and large font size.  Remember that your vacation rental listing is competing with 20 other listings on this page.  If you want vacationers to click your listing and learn more, your name had better be appealing to them.

Provide Information

One way to attract to renters is to let the name of your property provide them information they are looking for.  For example, one the most common questions our home owners receive in their inquiries is: “How close is your house to the beach?”  Every house on the Cape is pretty close to the beach, but not every vacationer knows that.  You can use your property name to show off just how close you are with a name like “Only 15 steps from the beach”.  When coming up with the name, think about what vacationers are looking for when selecting which home to rent.

Be Professional

It’s not hard to attract attention by using funny looking characters and typing in all caps.  If you named your home “~!~!!! CLICK HERE !!!~!~” everyone might see it, but probably no one would want to rent it.  Both you and your listing should look professional and respectable in order to gain the trust of renters.

Truthfulness is another important characteristic your property name should possess.  Do not claim your home is 15 steps from the beach if in fact it is a mile away.  Vacationers will eventually figure this out and dismiss your property.  If your home is a bit further from the beach, highlight some other great characteristic.

Experiment

You are not married to the name of your property on your listing.  Feel free to change it and experiment with it.  If you picked a name last year, but think maybe it’s time for a new name, then go for it.  You can keep changing your name until you find something that works.  There’s no perfect formula for naming your property, so you might need to try a few names before finding one that both describes your rental while also attracting the interest of vacationers.

Want Help? Let Us Know

If you want some help brainstorming some names, or just want to bounce a few ideas off us, then let us know.  Cape Cod vacation rentals are our specialty and we’d would love to hear your story and give you our best advice.

If you use a  real estate agent or property manager to lease your vacation property, an important function they perform is to shield you from being defrauded, or scammed.  One way they do this is they have the vacationer make payment to an agent, and then you receive your money from the agent.  If payment to the agent was fraudulent – stolen credit card, bounced check -  the agent suffers the loss, not you.

Another important function the agent performs is the screening of the prospective renter.  I’ll explain how to efficiently perform these 2 functions, but allow me first to mention:  Having an agent is a double-edged sword.  Whether it’s a Real Estate Agent or a Managing Agent, an agent has a fiduciary responsibility to represent your best interests.  This is good for you… as long as they don’t screw up. If they do anything bad in relation to your property,  you will be held responsible.  Examples include:

• The agent accepts a deposit for a week that’s not available
• The agent promised that the fireplace works, but it doesn’t
• The agent fails to inform you of an unsafe condition and someone gets hurt

Your agent is your legal representative.  Choose wisely. If you choose not to have an agent, you need to  learn how to screen prospects and qualify people. (I’ll share my ‘broker’s secrets’ with you in another blog entry.)  If you don’t use an agent, here’s a few things you should know…

Bad checks,  phony money orders, and stolen credit cards

Stolen credit cards being used to pay for vacation rentals: I haven’t heard of specific cases of this happening, but I’d bet it does.  The last I checked, MasterCard, Visa,  and American Express do not process “rent” payments.  They do process fees, commissions, and of course, hotel room stays.  If you are interested in accepting credit cards, there are various places to go on the web. PayPal is an easy way to receive payment online by credit card. (PayPal is owned by eBay.)  To enable a vacationer to pay you using a credit card, you need a PayPal account.  Read their terms and conditions carefully.  I’ve heard  merchants’ claims of being “cheated” by PayPal.  For example, what happens in the case that a vacationer uses a stolen credit card?

There is a bank money order scam that goes like this:  You receive an inquiry that includes a request for the “total deposit” due or the “total payment” due, or something like that– a  how-much-should-I-send-you question.  ”Hmmm…” you should be thinking.  ”Isn’t the price listed?”  The inquiry doesn’t mention anything specific to your property.  That’s because it was mass mailed to property owners.  Odd - they didn’t ask any questions about the rental.  Just ‘how much should I send you.’

What happens next is you get a money order for some amount more than the amount you requested.  An explanation is given as to why this was done. You deposit the money order, and the vacationer requests a refund of the excess, which you’re happy to do.  Then your bank notifies you they’ve debited your account for the amount of the money order.  The money order was fake.  But you don’t receive the notification from your bank until possibly 4 weeks have gone by.  Same as a bounced check.

This is why it’s important to make sure full payment is received and deposited at least a month before check-in.  And if you receive, or are told you will receive,  a payment in excess of the amount due,  someone is attempting to scam you.  You can bank on it.

Using Search Engines to Your Advantage

First Vacation Rental receives a lot of its traffic from Google.  In fact, about 70% of our new visitors come directly from Google searches.  These visitors are potential vacationers searching for a rental on the Cape, usually near a popular Wellfleet destination such as a beach or pond.

Our most popular searches include the following terms:

• Wellfleet vacation rentals
• Indian Neck Beach
• Bound Brook Island

How to Get These Vacationers to Your Listing

The easiest way to get these searching vacationers to your listing is to provide them with information they might be searching for.  If your rental is on a beach, provide information about that beach.  The First Vacation Rental listing service gives you a lengthy description field to write anything you want about your rental and the surrounding area.

Here are some guidelines on how to use the description field to effectively lure internet searchers:

1. Include a couple of sentences that describe the popular destinations that are close to your rental.  Beaches, town centers, and any activities for kids are great topics to write about.  Remember to include how far these destinations are from your rental with terms like ‘walking distance’ or ‘short drive’.  Vacationers may be searching for these terms in Google, Yahoo, or Bing as they look for a summer vacation rental. As an added benefit, the more information you provide to vacationers to pique their interest, the more likely they will be to inquire about your listing.
2. Write as much as you can about your property.  A few sentences describing the property’s location in Wellfleet and how beautiful Wellfleet and Cape Cod are in the summer months will go a long way in driving traffic.  Search engines love text, so the more you write about your property, the higher your listing will appear in their search results.
3. Like most Cape Cod property owners, you’ve probably vacationed on the Cape a few times.  And over the years, you may have learned helpful tips about the area surrounding your rental.  It’s a good idea be to pass that information along to any vacationers who are browsing your listing.  List your favorite restaurants and shops in town.  Provide any insights you have about parking at the popular beaches that vacationers need to drive to.  Remember, you’re an expert when it comes to the area around your property, and vacationers will find your advice very valuable.

But Don’t Overdo It

Providing information on the area immediately surrounding your rental is a great idea, but describing every destination on Cape Cod is just too much.  There’s no need to list all the beaches in your town– set a limit of 4 or 5 destinations to talk about.  Also, try to stick to destinations that you’re familiar with and can really give great advice about.

Let Us Help

First Vacation Rental has a lot of experience when it comes to writing content about Wellfleet and Cape Cod.  Feel free to bounce ideas off us, or have us review your listing page or help you write a description about your property.

Most vacation home owners have a maintenance person who “closes” the property for them this time of year. The hardest and most important part of winterizing a vacation house is draining the plumbing in such a way as to prevent damage from winter freezing. If you’d like to tackle this task yourself, or if you’re a new vacation homeowner, there are some tips at the end of this post.

But first, there are two things that should be done in addition to draining the pipes. Instruct your maintenance person or do it yourself.

1) Roof

Cape Cod home covered in snow

Checking your roof is the most important thing. Does your roof leak? Are you seeing brown water stains on the ceiling or walls? Get these leaks fixed before the spring rains come.

Roofers

A roofer actually replaces the roofing, not the whole roof. Most roofing consists of asphalt shingles. If you call a roofer, you will probably be told you need a new roof. Try to get a recommendation for a roofer. Their work will be hard to inspect, and they are not subject to licensing standards like plumbers are, for example.

Handymen

If you call a handyman, you may very well be told you don’t need a new roof, just a roof repair. Maybe you want to investigate and possibly make repairs yourself. Are you comfortable on a ladder and do you know how to set one up properly? If you do, you know that the scariest part of working off of a ladder is when you have to step off the roof and onto the ladder.

Shingles or flashing?

Now, a little secret I’ve learned from my experience as a vacation homeowner and a short stint as a roofer: Almost all roof leaks are due to failed flashing, not the shingles. Flashing is metal. There is flashing around all the things which protrude through your roof – the chimney, the vent pipe (called the stack), and if your roof has a valley, there is valley flashing. Check all your flashing and you will probably find your leak. To make repairs, there are various products that will work, but one that I find has multiple applications for maintenance and repairs is 100% silicone caulking.

2) Cleaning

Do you have a lot of carpeting? I’m not a big fan of carpeting, and some other time I’ll explain why I think you should get rid of most of your carpeting. But if you’re keeping your carpeting, it’s good to clean it now before the stains “set.” Use a chemical cleaner or steam clean. If you steam clean, make sure you leave time to dry the carpeting with fans or air conditioning, otherwise you may get a mold/mildew situation. And speaking of mildew: you can make your own mildew-killer by mixing 3 parts water with 1 part bleach.

Draining the pipes

Draining the water out of your plumbing system (to prevent pipes from bursting) is fairly complicated. I don’t recommend it to a do-it-yourself beginner. Have an experienced handyman or plumber come, and then observe what they do. You will notice that a complete job consists of using a plumber’s wrench to disconnect the water lines, removing the mixing valves, and then at the end, they “blow out” the pipes with compressed air.