In my opinion, you are much better off renting it yourself. I have been through 4 property managers who were awful. Don't count on them doing credit checks or background checks. My last property manager rented our home to a single 60 year old lady, who the property manager told us was a wonderful women, who ended up wrecking our house. The Property Manager did not do a walk through when the renter left, gave back her security/damage deposit...which cost me thousands of dollars. I live in California and now manage the house myself, and it is a lot easier. I have had nothing but good tenants since. It is pretty easy to check someone out on the internet, by googling their name, their phone number, their address, etc. You can also get a good feel of them, by talking to them. Property managers do not have a magic way of knowing who they are renting to. I think a homeowner has better instincts then a property manager that is just out to collect their commission. You can also sign up with a credit checking website, if you want to, but I haven't needed to do that. Especially if you get a Reservation/Security/Damage deposit well in advance of them renting it and have them pay the rent in advance of them moving in. In the Villages, you are usually able to rent your house for 2 or 3 months at a time and the standard is to collect the total amount of rent in advance, not month by month. So, considering that you have a security deposit, plus 2 or 3 months rent in advance, there is not much risk. You will have to register with the State of Florida and the County in which the house is located, in order to pay the sale's tax that is due when you rent out your house. You need to charge the renter the sale's tax, or include it in your rental price, and pay the sale's tax every month. Once you get the hang of it, it is not a big deal. If you don't pay the sale's tax, there is a big fine and a very large penalty. Also, the property manager does not pay your bills. You still have to manage that. Also, if there are any problems with the house when the tenants are there, the property manger does one of two things. They either get the problem fixed and send you the bill (but they are not careful about who they choose to fix the problem and are not concerned about the price) or they call you and ask you how you want to handle the problem and you have to take care of it anyhow. So, there is very little a property manager really does. It is just as easy, if not easier, to get your own renters.
One more note on long term rentals. If you are going to rent your house out for 6 months or more, then no sale's tax is due to the state or county.
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