With visitors flocking to town and seeking unique accommodations, the short-term rental market is thriving in Oxford.
Written by Emily Welly | Photographed by Joe Worthem
A winning football team and a student body that’s growing exponentially has led to entirely new business creation and growth in Oxford. Case in point: the short-term rental market.
“It’s the wild, wild west,” said Ashley Freeman, who manages a multitude of short-term rentals through her business Velvet Ditch Villas.
Freeman has seen massive changes in the market since she started in the business, which she didn’t really intend to enter in the first place. She was teaching tennis to kids and had just purchased a home when a divorce in 2014 led her to look for ways to make supplemental income. She decided to put her home on Airbnb, which was new to Oxford at the time, and then used the earnings from it to build a cottage on the side of the house in 2017. The Cottage at Sweet Lucy Farm became the primary rental unit.
But Freeman’s business is much bigger than that. Primarily these days, she is a cohost through her Velvet Ditch Villas business. Private people own second homes or investment properties that they want rented out, and they hire Velvet Ditch to make it happen. Freeman’s growing business mimics the short-term rental market itself which has exploded in Oxford.
She says that about three years ago there were 700-800 units available for rent in Oxford. That number has tripled. Increased inventory has driven down prices, creating a very competitive market.
Additionally, while football season is the busiest of times — Freeman says revenues triple in September, October and November — occupancy rates stay pretty high all year round these days. She attributes that primarily to more students at Ole Miss, which means more orientations and more people coming to town to attend them, plus surges throughout baseball season and during Double Decker weekend.
For success, rental units must stand out from the crowd.
Lee Ann and Mark Etter attempt just that for their SLOhouse rental property. The Etters, who live in San Luis Obispo, California, first bought a property in Oxford when two of their children decided to attend Ole Miss. The home is close to the Square and a two-minute walk to Oxford favorites like Big Bad Breakfast, Volta, Good Day Cafe, Chicory Market, Snack Bar and Jinsei.
“We believe what sets our short-term vacation rental property apart from others is not only the location but also the elevated experience of staying at our home,” Lee Ann Etter said. A local designer (Allyson Duckworth from Pearly Peacock Design) helped with the home design, which reflects the Etters’ rural and coastal California roots.
Specific details like Fornasetti wallpaperin the powder room and higher-end Saatva mattresses for all the bedrooms were important to the Etters.
“Our whole focus was that it would be a place that anyone visiting Oxford could walk into and feel like they were staying in a home that felt like a luxurious comfortable escape with all the necessary amenities while enjoying all that Oxford has to offer, from the university’s sports to all of the city’s cultural events,” she said.
According to Freeman, the Etters are doing the right things to make their property stand out from the competition.
The No. 1 priority is location. In Oxford that means proximity to the Square and campus. “If you’re outside that two mile radius, you’ll miss out,” Freeman said.
Additionally, details like unique furnishings and decor, focal walls, pops of color, even accessory pillows, can make a unit stand out. Amenities that offer something more than just a place to sleep are also important: a pool, a gym, charging stations — all make a difference.
Most importantly when it comes to marketing a property, all of the things that make the rental stand out need to be captured in professional photos.
“Guests are looking for experiences,” Freeman said. “They want to live through your photos.”
Another rental property that maximizes on prime location and unique decor is The Hutt, owner Kelly Parrish’s first foray into short-term rentals. Parrish owns a children’s store in Southaven, and her whimsical style with funky artwork, colorful wallpaper and other fun accents fits the unique property perfectly. “Whimsical is kind of my fun outlet,” Parrish said. “I am hoping that our eclectic hut brings a sense of joy, whimsy and wonder to everyone that visits.”
Parrish purchased the property after her son transferred to Ole Miss, recognizing that it would give him a place to live and could later be listed as an Airbnb. An Ole Miss alum herself, she wanted to share her love for Oxford with others.
“Oxford has a unique way of bringing a sense of ease to me,” she said. “I worked to make sure that all the things I love most about the feeling in Oxford are represented in our hut.”
Freeman handles the marketing and advertising for her clients. She has the professional photos taken, creates the listing, and boosts it on Airbnb, Vrbo and her own direct booking site. She has an eight-person cleaning staff for cleaning before and after stays, a full-time handyman who handles everything from replacing TVs to water leaks, a full-time bookkeeper to provide owners’ reports.
Especially because of how competitive the market is, the business also requires investment in sophisticated tools to stay on pace with the evolving market. For example, revenue managers track market activity to make sure prices are where they need to be and virtual assistants manage messages and communicate with clients and guests 24/7.
For Linda Lewis Raney, who owns four rental units located on her own 160-acre country property plus two duplexes in town, having a property manager with expertise in these areas is essential.
According to Raney, just getting her listings to come forward in potential renter’s searches can be difficult without some knowledge of algorithms used by short-term rental platforms.
“I know that my rental manager gets so much more exposure for the properties than I can eek out,” Raney said.
Raney began renting properties by turning a wing of her home into a rental with a separate entrance. She called it The Empty Nest. A few years later, she built an architect-designed and sited three bedroom-three bathroom guest house across the driveway from her home: The Nest Egg. She has since renovated two other buildings (a garden shed and a barn) into rental units.
Raney takes real joy in sharing her property in the country with her guests.
“I have never found the right collection of words in my marketing blurbs that explain how special this place is,” she said. “I hire great professional photographers but my most common comment is, ‘Your photos are great but they don’t do it justice.’ I get the most beautiful and eloquent reviews written online and in our guest books. I’ve had people almost cry to me about how spiritual this place is, how restorative their stay was. I’ve had two guests, one living in Northern California and one from Memphis, who stayed here a few months and decided to move to Oxford/Lafayette County.”
Knowing the kind of impact providing a perfect stay can have on a guest is a primary motivator for Freeman, too, and it’s also what she believes leads to real success is this constantly evolving business.
“Align your heart to service,” she said. “This is our mission field, this is how we serve. How can we service these people to the best of our ability? What can we give? Think about that first, rather than how much money you can make,” she said. “I love to serve in this capacity and to help other people.”
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