10 Most Profitable Cities for Renting Your Home to Visitors

Living in an area that draws a lot of tourists means regularly dealing with the crowds, but it can also mean profiting from them.

Homeowners can make anywhere from $800 to more than $2,300 per week by renting out their properties, according to TripAdvisor, which runs a vacation rental website.

CBS MoneyWatch reports that the most in-demand cities and towns include perennial tourist draws like islands off the coast of Florida; country music capital Nashville and Gatlinburg, Tennessee, the gateway to the No. 1 most visited national park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park; and, of course, Las Vegas.

At the top of the list is Marathon, a 10-mile island in the Florida Keys archipelago off the southern tip of the Sunshine State, CBS reports. Activities such as sailing, fishing and snorkeling and sites like the Turtle Hospital, a nonprofit rescue and rehab facility for endangered sea turtles, make Marathon a popular destination for families.

That demand also makes it potentially profitable, with one-bedroom homes renting for an average of $2,344 per week and four-bedroom homes renting for an average of $3,668 per week.

The 10 most in-demand locales on TripAdvisor are:

• Marathon, Florida
• Key Largo, Florida
• Nashville, Tennessee
• Siesta Key, Florida
• Galveston, Texas
• Gatlinburg, Tennessee
• Destin, Florida
• Ocean City, Maryland
• Las Vegas
• Orange Beach, Alabama

Laurel Greatrix, a spokeswoman for TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals, tells CBS that homeowners can better capitalize on their properties by creating a listing for it that has the following elements:

• Include attractive photos.
• Write an exciting but concise description of property highlights and amenities.
• Know your target audience — such as families, for example — and craft descriptions with them in mind.
• Be clear about the type of vacation your property offers, like a beachfront getaway, for example.

For more tips, be sure to check out “15 Steps to Profit by Renting Your Home to Visitors.”

Have you ever rented out your home? Or would you ever consider doing so? Share your thoughts with us below or on Facebook.