We have a house in the north Georgia mountains we rent when we are not there. We use it a lot, at least once a month and most major holidays. It is pretty high end for the area and we use a great management company that screens the customers and does a good job of identifying issues immediately. It is rented about 80% of the available days.

I have a pool table, mame cocktail and a cocktail pin. I have not had any issues with these in the house.

With that said I would remove all of your nice pins and decorations. I am continually amazed at how stupid and inconsiderate renters are. I look at some things and can't figure out how it got broken or scratched or stolen. It's always the little things but it doesn't irritate me any less.

We bought the house fully furnished so I have no attachment to the furniture and stuff so to me it is just economics. Since I make so much money renting it I don't mind the replacements and repairs.

If you like your machines and furnishings you will hate renting.

Either remove the good stuff and rent it for vacation stays or leave it and get connected with a good corporate rental company who will rent to execs on a long term basis. That is a very profitable business.

For AirBnB, I can see it as a quirky way to get more attention to your place. Especially for people hosting a party in your rental. Perhaps let AirBnB know that you have a few extra thousand dollars in these. I don't see how it wouldn't be covered like how a nice piece of furniture would.

Also, consider who's renting from you. Check their feedback. Don't rent to a bunch of rowdy teens.

I think the last guy who tried that got his WH2O topper stolen.

One can only imagine what they might try to do if a ball gets stuck on the playfield with no keys and no one around to keep them from being stupid

I wouldn't.

Sell the pins.

I wouldn't leave them in a "rental".

People tear shit up.

I would be happy to store them at my house for you and when you do come into the DFW area you can play them....you're welcome.

i have some in my NH house we rent out and we have never had a problem. thanks ed

The money you will gain by a renter who happens to like pinball, will not out weigh the risk for damage to your machines

+1

Unless you don't care about the pins getting damaged and losing some of their value, I would sell them.

Most people are animals.

Don't chance it.

Agreed. Very few people I know care much at all about pinball/arcades. Those things take up a huge amount of space and worth a lot of money. There might be a younger single guy that would love it but more likely it would attract someone with young kids. Either way, if it's a rental you shouldn't have stuff you care about in there. Sell them or put them in storage.

I have 3 vacation rentals in Lake Tahoe. They all have pinballs / calssic arcdae games & mega touches on the kitchen counter. We book 2 heavily and the other is fair.

I had a players White Water in one. When we came by to do some misc repairs... I noticed the complete topper missing (dome & waterfall). I was shocked, as it was installed with torex wood screws. It was definetly a Pinhead who had a torex & knew the value of a true WH20 topper. The clean crew missed it and I had no way of nailing it down to a particular booking. There is a long thread here on Pinside "someone stole my topper" if I remember correctly.

The pinballs I have are now system 11 players (Police Force / Buggs Bunny / Gameshow / and a sitdown Knight Moves). I have many of the multi-cades as well.

You can see the games in this link; www.MyTahoeFunHouse.com The WhiteWater is in FunHouse #3. Since those picts were taken, I have exchanged the DMD pins for pins noted above.

I think the games are an added draw... however, maintenance is problematic, especially with the pins.

Kerry

After I just posted this, I thought I would search "someone stole my topper". It did pull it up; https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/someone-stole-my-white-water-topper-dome-and-waterfall#post-1717043

At post #16; Travis from Twisted pins graciously offered to replace it for free! I can't believe there are 173 up votes and 1 down vote. Not to re-hash this topic, as many have been burned by TP... I just wanted to do the research and post if anyone was interested in reading.

As a renter, I'd definitely choose a house that had pins...just sayin.

you could prolly rent this place for big $$ during TPF

They seem safer to me in a rental where you can trace who's been at them, than on a location where anyone can walk up and abuse them. I'd say go for it - the premium you can charge for having an awesome game cave in your rental will offset any potential losses from abuse.

I'd throw some pingulps on those

Just as an aside....if you are renting to any not familiar with pins etc. Make sure they have directions on what to do if a ball is stuck or something is malfunctioning to power it down and not attempt to fix it if they don't know how. Also that you are easy to contact in this event.

PM sent. Coming through in December.

I would no way leave this nice of pins. They will get abused for hours by some really young kids, teenagers or drunk adults at some point. Wait until they put candy, water, beer and food all over it. Shake the machine to death when the ball is stuck. Leave it calling for ball 2 to shoot for 24 hours straight. Maybe leaving some nice $1000 SS pins, but these, no way. Crazy no way to renters.

you'd be surprised by how many people couldn't be bothered.

The Twilight Zone seems problematic game to maintain on location. Since their will be no tech around to fix any mechanical issues, it may not be a great idea, especially that game. The vids should be fine.

Are these all ground floor level? I know it sounds absurd, but the right person could easily pull those out of they are not secure.

I rented out my current home as a weekly vacation rental for 3 years, until I was able to relocate here. The most important thing IMHO was having a good management company. Many are just an afterthought in a local real estate office, and will rent to anyone with a pulse.

I used a local retired person who handled their own rental and a dozen others like mine, and they got a percentage of each rental as a 'marketing fee'. They took all the inquiry calls day and night, and filtered out the frat party college types. - very important to avoid no matter how much they promise to behave, it never goes well. You want families. Once a suitable guest was identified, I was given the info, and would send them the rental contract, and payment, security deposit, and housekeeper fee were due a few weeks before the rental. The rental was not a get rich quick thing, but it did cover a good share of the mortgage until I could move in permanently.

The rental season was spring and summer here, and I had reduced rates for fall winter to attract guests, so check what others do in your area. Obviously, if the rates are set too low, it is not worth the wear and tear on the condo.

The more people your place sleeps, the more you can charge and the more it will be rented, so fold out sleeper couches are a must! Families loved my place with 4br plus 2 fold out couches. Explained it could sleep up to 12 when utilizing the couches, and families on vacation lined up to rent.

Do list the place on www.vrbo.com. Don't bother with rental signs out front, since those inquires were always just a nuance in my experience. Do put up small signs where necessary in the condo, such as HVAC and Pinball instructions. You may want to add an older console game to further attract families.

Do put ID labels, such as the name of the condo on small things like DVDs, Nice books, games, etc. I think guests assumed someone left them behind and would take things that were not labeled. Also label the remotes, since they sometimes get wrapped up with linens and end up at the laundry and never find their way home without it. (speaking of linen: http://www.linensource.com/)

My vacation rental experience was a good one, and I expect your pins will be fine. They were built to take a little abuse anyway.

Good luck. I've seen what people do to machines at a show that aren't theirs while surrounded by other people. I'd be scared to see what they do when there isn't anyone around.

Mount a few security cameras pointed at the games and at the doors and put up signs that the area will be recorded for safety purposes, doesn't matter if they are actually hooked up or not it will deter most people from abusing or stealing them.

If you do that... you may want to check into "if" there is a break in / rape / assault (etc) and there are no cameras recording, or for privacy issues... you may have some liability issues to tend to.

That's awesome, dude! If I was visiting the area, I'd rent that place in a heartbeat.

Just a quick note on the vids, since everyone has the pin part covered...marble madness is a REALLY nice game to have on location,If you are planning on keeping games there I'd swap it with a Mrs pac or something..those medium resolution monitors are getting hard to find...I just sold one a few months ago for $300. Just my two cents..

I'm building a pinball barn with 46 cool pinball games and 2 bedrooms. It will rent for $5,000/week. Any takers?

Only if that Dog-man in your avatar stands watch over the place at night

I have had a TZ, METLE, STLE, TAF and TRON in my vacation rental. Never had a single issue in 3.5 years. Well, not pin related anyway.

Well, if I was fortunate enough to rent that place, it would definitely be my first choice, solely because of those sweet pins.

On another semi unrelated thought. Does anybody here have pins in their home use they don't set to free play? where guest, family, or roommates must pay to play? I am wanting to get a nice pin, however, I have 4 roommates, I don't entirely trust to treat it well. So I want to make them pay, for part of their playing or for certain times, to offset any repairs I may need to do from use. Just curious if any has done this and how its gone over or tips on doing it right......or if you just think I should post this on a different thread. Any help is appreciated, thank you

I agree with this 100x.

Your collection there is way too valuable. Leaving one or two inexpensive things is fine but your collection is too valuable.

I'm sure this policy will be very popular.

Not yet but I think we should make one. I'd rent your place and take a vacation but I'm looking for a beach destination with pins for next year.