Welcome to Kentucky Derby Home Rental!
When my wife and I moved to Louisville from Washington, DC, in late 2008, our real estate agent suggested listing our home for rent on Kentucky Derby weekend. When I contacted the local Realtor who seemed to have a monopoly on Derby listings, I was astounded at her cost: 30 percent of the rental fee! It didn’t seem worth it. While it was too late for me to create a website on my own for Derby 2009 (I picked up some web skills as part of my job as a freelance writer), I created this site in time to list our home for the 2010 Run for the Roses.
Our house rented quickly in 2010, but I kept getting calls and e-mails from both people looking to rent and Louisville homeowners looking to rent out their homes. My wife and I joked that we should transition the site to include other for rent by owner listings, but with a new baby and a hectic work schedule, we never acted on it.
Our experience renting out our home was a positive one: the renters were excellent and it gave us a good excuse to give the home a thorough spring cleaning. So renting it out again in 2011 was a no-brainer!
2011 worked in a similar fashion to 2010: our home was booked early in the year, but the calls from would-be renters and local homeowners kept coming. Not that a 1-year-old is much easier to take care of than a newborn, but this year we decided to retool the site to help other Louisville homeowners rent out their houses for Kentucky Derby weekend without having to pay a ridiculous percentage to a real estate agent. Travelers to Louisville benefit too: staying in a home when traveling often provides a much better—and affordable—experience than staying in a hotel, especially in Louisville on Derby weekend. And Derby is one of those rare events that’s actually better than expected.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me (Zach Everson) at 502.526.5217 or zach@kentuckyderbyhomerental.com.
Happy Derby!