Trying to find parking on a game day in Auburn during football season is sometimes pointless, but finding a place to stay after the game is now as easy as the click of a button.
When Rent Like a Champion Chief Operating Officer Mike Doyle saw the University of Notre Dame-based company book more than 300 homes during the 2011 season, he knew there was room for expansion.
"We started advertising through the Auburn Career Center, and we knew Auburn would be a good place to expand the business to, and we're just looking for motivated entrepreneurial students who want to take ownership of the website and kind of make it their own, " Doyle said.
"They (Bill Mitchell and Reid Taylor) liked the concept and had some good ideas about how to make the website work (in Auburn)."
Doyle then began University Football Rentals in order to expand his idea nationwide.
Mitchell and Taylor, both juniors in finance, are co-founders of Opelika Football Rentals, a local a branch of University Football Rentals.
"With the amount of hotels and the lack of lodging options there are, we saw the demand for it," Mitchell said.
The core focus behind Opelika Football Rentals is its easy-to-use website listing for homes available to rent during football weekends and other popular events.
"We're going to be doing a lot of posting about football season and sports news to keep the site interesting and to keep everyone on top of when listings are coming in and what properties are up at different times," Taylor said.
Although they have not received any official postings yet, Mitchell and Taylor are in the beginning stages and expect listings to pick up closer to football season.
"Right now we're just really excited for the opportunity of growth," Mitchell said.
"With us being in school right now, we have already created these different relationships with people that we know who own property that are down here right now whose parents are definitely going to want to list. Now is the hardest part - going out and hunting down these houses ourselves."
When renting a house, a $1,000 deposit is required for insurance purposes.
Posting a home on the website also has additional benefits, such as a $10,000 non-taxable income credit from the IRS when a home is rented for less than fourteen days a year.
Homeowners are expected to prepare their homes prior to the handing the house over to the renter, and Opelika Football Rentals will also provide homeowners with a homeowner expectations guide.
While Doyle continues to oversee the expansion of University Football Rentals to more than 19 universities, he is excited to see what kind of progress the Auburn branch can achieve.
"We know how (Notre Dame) football weekends go, but we don't have that inside knowledge of what a football weekend in Auburn is like," Doyle said.
"So (Bill and Reid) will put there own spin on it as far as what they think will work as far as marketing and things like that."
For more information, visit opelikafootballrentals.com.
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