[handieman]

Originally Posted by rdkent

My wife and I are very interested in moving to TV when I retire, but that is 3-4 yrs away unfortunately. Given the current buyers market we considered buying now and then renting out during most of the year. What success (or failure) have others found in doing this? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Excellent question and I went thru the same scenario just a year ago. We had the opportunity to buy at the right price and we also knew it would become instant overhead for us due to the fact that we both still work. We bit the bullet and worked our butts off furnishing it in 90 days. We had it rented the month of January,2007 by word of mouth, part of February and March. This summer we became more aggressive with our advertising ( on this website, I might add) and in no time had it rented for Jan, Feb. and March 2008. On the net I purchased a very nice user friendly lease agreement valid for the state of Florida and away we went. We did it all on our own with no help except for the kindness of this website and the website of Mallory Square. I took a bunch of pictures and made a slide show that the potential renter can see the whole home for himself. Check "homes for rent" on this site and see if mines still listed along with the photo show. My advice is buy it now if you feel the price is right, this market slump will not last and rent it to take the sting out of the expenses. Buy the time you move in maybe the market will let you sell at a profit and you can trade up. ;D I'm a dreamer but so far so good :bigthumbsup:

Handie :joke: