Thank you for entrusting us with the care of your Sunriver area home. Please review the following information and let us know if you have any questions. For your convenience, we have created three ways to get in touch with our Client Relations Team. You can call, email or text. If you have an urgent need, or you are trying to connect with the Team on Saturday or Sunday, texting will get you the quickest response.

Email: homeowner@benningtonproperties.com
Call: 888.610.9700
Text: 541.705.2267

Successful Homeowner/Manager Collaboration

Our relationship with you is a partnership. A collaboration. Our commitment to you is to work closely together to achieve the best result for both of us. Here are four traits that all of our most successful homeowner clients have in common.

Trust & Respect
Trust and respect are key to healthy, productive relationships. Trust that we are on the same team and that your success is our success. Respect that we have been doing this for a long time and that we are experts in our field. Vacation rental management is hard work and there are an immense amount of details involved. We are human and will sometimes make mistakes, but trust that we will always be fair and work to correct any errors we have made.

Healthy Involvement
We know from experience that collaboration can create some awesome results. Because we’re focused on taking care of your asset and making you income, we definitely want your input! Our most successful clients set aside time to review our work, standards, and communications; making suggestions for improvements, and brainstorming ideas with us. You know your house best – we want to hear from you.

Open Communication
If you’re excited, frustrated, concerned, or have a new idea that could be the answer we’re looking for, do not hesitate to question or suggest, we want to know. Not only that, your communication to our emails and phone calls has a huge positive impact on our mutual success. “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that is has taken place” – George Bernard Shaw.

Flexibility
Just like any other big endeavor or undertaking, the management of your home will include some unexpected turns. Sometimes, these turns will be fantastic. Other times, they may be less than ideal. Regardless, our most successful clients demonstrate reasonable flexibility – a willingness to change or modify their original plans to yield the best final product possible. We will always be willing to work with you to achieve the best result for both of us.

Homeowner & Homeowner Guest Reservations

Renters are able to book your home on a rolling 14 months in advance. We recommend that you reserve your personal reservations at least 24 months in advance, but we can book your personal reservations 6 years in advance. For example, if you think you want to stay in your home every Christmas, we recommend we put a reservation in for you every Christmas as far in advance as we can go. You can always cancel them in the future.

When making Homeowner Guest reservations make sure to include an email and cell phone number (we will text AND email them their arrival information) for your guest so we can provide them with all of the necessary information. If you have special instructions for cleaning you can note this in your reservation as well.

Early Arrivals + Late Departures

Check in time is 5:00 (6:00 for back to back reservations) and check out time is 10:00. Please do not arrive to your home early or depart late. If you or your personal guests would like to arrive early or depart late, please book your home the day BEFORE or AFTER you wish to arrive or depart.

Homeowner Discounts

You will receive a reduction of 10% off your normal commission rate for any reservation booked in your home by referral. Homeowners also receive a 10% discount when reserving any Bennington Properties vacation rental.

There are two ways to complete a referral:

1. Email or text us the name, cell phone number, and email of any renter you are referring to your home and we will contact them to complete their booking.

2. Book the referring renter into your home through the homeowner portal with detailed notes and we will contact them to complete their booking. Please make sure to note that they are a “Referring Renter” not a Homeowner Guest.

Email or text us the name, cell phone number, and email of any renter you are referring to your home and we will contact them to complete their booking.

Email or text us the name, cell phone number, and email of any renter you are referring to your home and we will contact them to complete their booking.

Utilities Set-Up

Please make sure you have activated the following utilities and please list Bennington Properties as an authorized user on your account.

• Midstate Electric service: 541.536.2126
• Cascade Natural Gas: 888.522.1130
• Cascade Disposal: 541.382.6660
• Sunriver Water: 541.593.4197
• TV/Internet: If you are NOT getting service through Bend Broadband
• Hot Tub Service
• Vacation Rental Liability Insurance: Please add Bennington Properties, LLC. as an Additionally Insured (liability portion only). This is a common practice in the insurance industry and if you or your insurance agent has any questions please contact Richard Downie with State Farm Insurance at 503.645.8616.

Hot Tub Management

There are four main hot tub companies in Sunriver. We have had mixed results from all of them over the years. Right now, we recommend Tubs Alive and Sunriver Pool & Spa because they have shown to provide the highest quality vacation rental service. Having your hot tub well cared for will save you money in the long run.

Appliances Covered Under Warranty

Please let us know of any household appliances that may be covered under warranty and provide the name of a preferred vendor for each item, if applicable. If an item is in need of repair, we will do our best to use the vendor you have chosen. However, if immediate action is required, we may use another reputable vendor. Homeowners are asked to update Bennington Properties if there is a change in warranty service and/or preferred vendors.

Winter & Summer Set-Up

We will winterize your home every fall and reverse the process in the spring to prepare for the summer. During the winterization of your home we will be checking to make sure all your foundation vents are covered, your garden hoses are disconnected, that you have a snow shovel and bucket of cinders or salt for ice management, your umbrella and cushions are stored away, and your BBQ is covered.

There are two things we do not do as part of our winterization that you may be used to doing at your personal residence if you live in warmer and wetter climates like Portland.

1. We do not cover the external faucets during our winterization of your home. All homes built in Sunriver are required to have freeze proof faucets. This is not true for homes in places like Portland, Seattle, Eugene, etc. The insulation caps provide no additional protection so we feel it not worth your money to install these.

2. We do not remove the vent covers during the spring/summer season. The sole reason for removing vent covers is to allow the crawl space to dry out. Sunriver is an exceptionally dry environment and it is very rare to have enough moisture building up under a house to need the vent covers removed during the summer (the exception would be houses built over marshy areas). This is a stark contrast with homes built in Portland where the environment is exceptionally wet and need those vent covers removed during the summer to allow the standing water to evaporate.

Bike Leasing

Bicycling is the #1 activity in Sunriver and therefore it is incredibly important to have quality bikes at your home. Money saved in purchasing bikes from big box stores like Walmart or Target will cost you more money in repairs in the long run. To help alleviate this cost burden as well as the high liability risk of providing bikes, Bennington Properties has partnered with a local vendor Big Dog Bikes to provide high quality bikes for your guests. Please contact us to learn more.

Carpet Cleaning

Carpets that are more than one year old have begun to build up sand, soil, and dust in and under the pad. Moisture from moist feet and shoes (showers, water from outside, sweat) will cause the dirt under the pad to wick up into the carpet. Water dripping from ice cold drinks will cause this as well. Therefore older carpets, especially lighter color carpets, will require multiple cleans per year. On average homeowners should expect to pay for two full carpet cleans per year. A full carpet clean can range from $350 to $850 depending on the size of the home. Carpet cleans due to guest damage (dog pee, large food or drink spills, etc.) are paid for by Bennington Properties.

Preferred Vendors List

We keep an up-to-date list of our preferred vendors that we are either currently working with or have worked with in the past with positive results. We also will add vendors that come highly recommended by other property owners.