Quote:
Originally Posted by mulligan
I have seen ads for weekly rentals in TV. Now I notice an inquiry about purchase by multiple families, and purchase by a LLC. I believe that if we don't get a grip on these issues, we will have properties occupied by people that don't have a vested interest in our community, don't stay long enough to learn the local "rules", and won't make any attempt to educate themselves prior to signing a lease. I don't know if sales can be somehow restricted, and the duration of rentals regulated, but IMHO, the time has come to find out. I don't believe sales to any entity other than a real person should be allowed (not trusts, or corporations), and rentals should be at least 90 days (the longer the better). I do not mean to cast aspersions in all renters, but as we all have seen, 1 rotten apple can create a barrel full.
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We settled 2/14. We set up the villa in mid March. We advertised on **** and the house has been rented steadily since that time. We plan to retire in a couple years, wanted a specific lot, and decided to use the property as a rental. We have had rental property in a beach area and are not new to the game.
We have had guests in The Village house for a month, 3 weeks, a week at a time, and in one case 3 nights. 100% of the guests renting less than a month were looking for property in The Villages (two have since purchased), were attending a birthday/anniversary family event for a parent/grand parent that resides in The Villages, and in the case of 3 nights a family member living in The Villages passed away.
We spent a week in July in the villa and were pleasantly surprised how well taken care of the villa was. We have a home watch that oversees things and they obviously were doing their job. We arrived this past Sunday at the Orlando Airport. The guests that left in the morning (were here for a week looking at property to retire in 6 months) left and the home watch could not clean before we arrived. Many thoughts went through my mind other than I'm tired, a clean freak, and I think I want to go back to PA. When we opened the door I held my breath. We had weekly rentals (13 different couples/groups) since July 4th week, the house had not been checked by the home watch after the last guest left, and the house was immaculate. The forks and spoons were still stacked in even piles in the silverware drawer. The beds made with clean sheets and the final set of sheets had been washed ready to go into the dryer. We leave very specific instructions and our expectations were met and exceeded.
We arrived ready to touch up paint and deep clean after 7 months of rentals getting ready for the winter rentals. Instead we attended Good Golf School, took a golf lesson, had the heat pump serviced, did some landscaping, and tomorrow the stairs going to above the garage gets installed. We will do the touch up painting while the steps are being installed and a deep clean is not needed.
We drove around many, many areas the last couple days to see first hand the houses in The Villages. In our travels of many miles enjoying the scenery the pride of ownership is quite apparent. Those who rent out their houses are not slum lords and those renting are not necessarily depreciating the value of the property.
Please don't lump all renters or people who rent their property into one category or another. One of the worse property's we have seen is next door and they are here year round.