Buy and renting the unit out during the year

[mgwano]

Good afternoon all,

I would like to get opinions on buying a place in The Villages and renting the unit out for part of the year. I was thinking about using the Villages Home Town Property Management. I’m from up north in Chicago and being an airline pilot I would have the ability to fly down as frequently as I want. Can I please have some information from residents and people who are currently doing this?

thanks in advance,

Mark

[gadaboutgal]

We have over the last 15 years owned and rented out many villas. It is easy to rent out a patio villa in winter months,if you have 5-6 months rental , that will usually pay for the villa costs the rest of the year--but only if you are willing to do all the work yourself.

However, letting The Villages Property Management handle all for you is costly and you cannot expect to make much if any profit. I would only go this route if you want to purchase for your own enjoyment and use sometime in the future.

Having said all that, the way to actually make the most profit is to purchase, hold, then sell within a reasonable time frame as the rising cost of the villas is the best benefit, at least for now--who knows what future will bring.

[vintageogauge]

We use Hometown, unfurnished long term is 15%, furnished short term I believe is 20% and they take care of any complaints, etc. More importantly is the bond if you are interested in profit. Some villas have much higher bonds than others so checkout all the costs before you make a decision.

[baustgen]

I would say, don't do it. The people who make money on rental units generally live in the Villages and manage their own property. Jan, Feb, and Mar not a problem to rent and where you make your money..A lot depends on the purchase price and carrying costs the balance of the year. Watch out for bond costs.

[valuemkt]

Like any other financial investment, it depends .. I know people that have several units and rent them to long term tenants only.. They pay cash, and consider any net income as a pension annuity. They select the tenants and directly take care of any maintenance issues. On the other end of the spectrum is short term rentals, since you want to use the property as much as you can .. A mortgage and a property management fee with me not choosing the tenants ? Money loser and higher damage potential.
I go on cash flow and Return on investment. With ANY cash outlay I require a MINIMUM of 5-6% on my money.. not including appreciation. So now it;s a math exercise, which I;ve done countless times. So on OPTION A, you;re laying down 200-250K. Will you get $12-15K / year cash return after ALL expenses ? In OPTION B, 20% down is 40-50K, requiring a 2400-3000 /year return. A roof or an HVAC will wipe out several years of potential profits.. Is it worth it ? Remember, on OPTION B, you have 3 and maybe 4 good rental months a year .. perhaps the same months you;d like to be here. Other than that, slim pickings. At the same time, if you;re looking for a nice warm place to crash in between layovers, and don;t care about the cash flow aspect, welcome aboard, the place is great !

[melpetezrinski]

"With ANY cash outlay I require a MINIMUM of 5-6% on my money.. not including appreciation." So, 9% total ROI including historical rate of return on real estate? "A roof or an HVAC will wipe out several years of potential profits." You don't account for say a $1200/year maintenance expense when calculating yearly ROI whether you spend the actual $1,200 or carry it over to the next year?

[rjm1cc]

Rentals can be a good way to make money but I would not want the potential problems that go with it so it could be the greatest investment and I would pass. (I have worked for a small real-estate company that could afford to have employees to handle the problems and that is the way I would go. Not just one distant house.)

[rz5drf]

Another consideration, short term rentals require a 9% tax due to State of Florida each quarter !!

[mamahaffen]

We purchased a designer home 2 years ago. We have Realty Exec. manage the rentals which are usually seasonal (Jan-Apr). They take care of cleaning, problems, taxes, etc at 15%. We don't "make money", but we have a home when we want to visit (3x yearly) and have a place we live ready when we decide to move

[mrf6969]

The only way we have made it work is first you have to be a cash buyer, having a mortgage is out of the question. Second, only do annual rentals as this will be a lot less brain damage and gets you around the Florida hotel tax. Next you must be an active landlord. In other words you need to live here in TV year round to keep an eye on the property. You as a landlord must be willing to do most of the needed maintenance. After all is considered in the way of expenses, property taxes etc., you can realize an annual gross profit of around $10k a year. Been doing this for a few years now and this formula has worked for us.

[Keninches]

Good afternoon all,

I would like to get opinions on buying a place in The Villages and renting the unit out for part of the year. I was thinking about using the Villages Home Town Property Management. I’m from up north in Chicago and being an airline pilot I would have the ability to fly down as frequently as I want. Can I please have some information from residents and people who are currently doing this?

thanks in advance,

Mark
There are so many rentals now with all the new construction.
The real estate prices are Up right now, but who knows what will happen. Been here 16 years watched the market rise and fall.
Worked for a small rental company that toook care of everything for you, which someone mentioned. Don’t go with The Villages Management.
Good luck, it is a crap shoot.

[msilagy]

Any property rental does not owe Florida tax if rented 6 months and 1 day. Under that period rental tax to state and county is due.

[TheWarriors]

There are so many rentals now with all the new construction.
The real estate prices are Up right now, but who knows what will happen. Been here 16 years watched the market rise and fall.
Worked for a small rental company that toook care of everything for you, which someone mentioned. Don’t go with The Villages Management.
Good luck, it is a crap shoot.

Rental market will soon be adding 265 apartments in Brownwood, more competition for rentals.

[davem4616]

Good afternoon all,

I would like to get opinions on buying a place in The Villages and renting the unit out for part of the year. I was thinking about using the Villages Home Town Property Management. I’m from up north in Chicago and being an airline pilot I would have the ability to fly down as frequently as I want. Can I please have some information from residents and people who are currently doing this?

thanks in advance,

Mark


Mark, as Bob Dylan once wrote "The Times They Are A Changing"

Soon the developer will be putting quite a lot of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments on the rental market within walking distance to Brownwood's Paddock Square....to some extent these will compete with the private investor looking to rent a stand alone residence.

The designer-style house directly across the street from me has been a rental from the start...it was built in 2015....the owner has been able to rent it for either 3 or 4 months every year...from January thru March-April...often the same folks came back 2 years in a row

At best she's been breaking even on it, she's bailing now. How much the real estate fees going in / out will bite into her gain due to appreciation is a factor

good luck

With the stock market down like it is...you might get a better return on your investment in a depressed blue chip with a nice dividend

[ficoguy]

Good afternoon all,

I would like to get opinions on buying a place in The Villages and renting the unit out for part of the year. I was thinking about using the Villages Home Town Property Management. I’m from up north in Chicago and being an airline pilot I would have the ability to fly down as frequently as I want. Can I please have some information from residents and people who are currently doing this?

thanks in advance,

Mark
Your best bet is probably a patio villa of some type. The majority of those seem to be rented out.

[jeffy]

Best option, do it yourself. Advertise your unit on Villagershomes4 rent.com. Cheap and the place that most renters use to book.this is what we did. You will be able to book Jan-March in a day. I would recommend that rent those three months as a block. Easy to do and less headache than getting two or three couples rather than one. We had about a 90% fill rate with them thru the year. The key is to charge high rent in the winter ($4000 a month) and cheap in the summer ( $800-1000). Of course this depends on your home. But you can search similar homes on the Villagershomes4rent website to see what others are getting.

Option two, give it to Realty Executives Prop Management.

Worst option, give it to Villages Property Management.

[ficoguy]

We have over the last 15 years owned and rented out many villas. It is easy to rent out a patio villa in winter months,if you have 5-6 months rental , that will usually pay for the villa costs the rest of the year--but only if you are willing to do all the work yourself.

However, letting The Villages Property Management handle all for you is costly and you cannot expect to make much if any profit. I would only go this route if you want to purchase for your own enjoyment and use sometime in the future.

Having said all that, the way to actually make the most profit is to purchase, hold, then sell within a reasonable time frame as the rising cost of the villas is the best benefit, at least for now--who knows what future will bring.
Property sales in TV are slowing, I hear, but prices are not being reduced
The hit people are taking to their 401k(s) will cool the market here
Also the amount they can get for their current homes will probably go down as so many people are out of work they will not be able to get a mortgage.

[Topspinmo]

Rental market will soon be adding 265 apartments in Brownwood, more competition for rentals.


Not really those are probably all gone . What it will do IMO flooded market with home sales from people not ready to move into assisted living.

[villager1114]

villages prop Mgt required us to have a land phone in the house and even worse they were going to charge us to use our own home since it cut into their fee

Instead we are very satisfied with down home property management their cut is a little less but service has been great

Our home rents a lot since it has a pool. Overall not a money maker but it helps cover many of the costs. So you would probably do better investment wise with other choices Since we are not actively managing and rental periods are generally longer than 7 days the paper losses do not benefit us currently but defer off until sale of house so again not so good of a deal. Good luck

[mikeritz53]

Good afternoon all,

I would like to get opinions on buying a place in The Villages and renting the unit out for part of the year. I was thinking about using the Villages Home Town Property Management. I’m from up north in Chicago and being an airline pilot I would have the ability to fly down as frequently as I want. Can I please have some information from residents and people who are currently doing this?

thanks in advance,

Mark

Almost all companies charge 15-20% of the Rental income which is a significant amount for the J-A prime Rental season. After May until you get to the Nov/Dec Holiday period the rents are minimal. It is important to use a Realtor that understands the Rental market as there are types of properties and especially areas that rent better than others. Check the Village Sun Classifieds, there are a few companies in the Home Watch section and 1 there that charges a Flat Fee as opposed to a % which makes it easier to Break even or even see a profit.

[big guy]

I would say, don't do it. The people who make money on rental units generally live in the Villages and manage their own property. Jan, Feb, and Mar not a problem to rent and where you make your money..A lot depends on the purchase price and carrying costs the balance of the year. Watch out for bond costs.

What bond costs do you speak of? We owned a rental place that had no bond, we live in TV so I managed it and my husband kept the books and paid the hotel taxes. Most times I did the cleaning, hubby did repairs and made changes like refacing cabinets. I did all the yard work unless it required digging. I had it rented year round but, unfortunately, not to the same people (a lot of cleaning, washing comforters etc). I always stated that 2 weeks were the least amount of time I would rent but it was priced by the month (now **** prices it by the night). So if a couple wanted to rent for 2 weeks, I always told them that I would be glad to do that but I had to charge for a month. Sounds harsh but it cuts down on the partiers. I got tired of all my spare time at the rental so we sold. When all was said and done we barely broke even. That would be OK if I liked to fill my spare time with yard work and cleaning. If we had it to do over we would not have furnished it and would have rented it long term. Less work, less cost, less headache.

[jimbo2012]

How about an ad in the Daily Sun?

[merrymini]

I was a landlord elsewhere for over 25 years. More expense and work than you expect. The gain would be in appreciation and/or whether you will retain the property for your own use. If you keep the property for a long time, it can pay off. The other element is your tolerance for tenants. People who rent here, for the most part, are pretty easy on a house. I was glad to get out of the “landlord” business, a title I do not wish to retain. However, the market here is different now then it was five years ago when I first came and the rental market may be plenty crowded with all the new construction.

[17362]

Another consideration, short term rentals require a 9% tax due to State of Florida each quarter !!
I was just going to alert about that 🙃

[LiverpoolWalrus]

mgwano, the Lofts of Brownwood are not your competition as they are annual rentals and you are interested in renting your place out short term.

I bought in January and put my place in the Villages Hometown Property Management with the intention of renting my place out in the winter and, if possible, the summer. They got me a rental for January-March 2021 almost immediately. I have crunched the numbers and I figure income from the three winter months will allow me to just about break even, not counting major unforeseen expenses. I have no mortgage.

Hometown seems to be good at getting you a renter January through March, possibly December and April too. But any other month is probably unlikely. This is what they have told me and what I've heard from other people. I chose Hometown basically because they do everything including paying the taxes for you. I wanted to limit my involvement as much as possible.

Good luck whatever you decide.

[yankygrl]

Mark,
I have a 2/2 patio villa in buttonwood area, fully furnished that is on the market for long term lease. I haven't been able to rent it for months. Did have 6 week lease "for season" and they left after 20 days because of virus. It will be for sale now. If you are interested in purchasing let me know by PM.

[yankygrl]

I used them when I first bought my villa in 2015. They did the same - immediately had it rented for Jan, Feb and Mar. I GOT NOTHING FROM IT, renters cancelled and got back deposits, I paid for services I didn't receive. Be very careful with them.

[SHNOK]

While having now been a permanent resident for nearly 10 years, we rented our home out for a couple of years before moving down permanently. We initially rented through The Villages Property Management when they were using owner's homes for their lifestyle preview program. While that provided a continuous book of renters (short-term) and decent rental income, I was not pleased with the conflict of interest of The Villages. Every renter they placed in our home was also a potential customer (buyer) of a property in The Villages. As such, we had several instances where The Villages did not hold the renter responsible for damage while in our home, including several broken pieces of furniture from abuse (bar stool, end table and lamp). They clearly were giving preference to potential buyers instead of the home owner whose home they were renting. Of course, the damage was not discovered by us until we visited in person several months after the rentals were complete, and Property Management claimed they had no knowledge of who or how it was caused. By then, The Villages had stopped using owners' homes for their life style program. We then rented through an independent property management company, and they brought a longer term tenant (five months). That worked out much better with no issues, and just as much rental income. My advice is to make sure the property management company makes frequent visits and inspections of the property while the tenant is present and then as soon as the tenant's rental is complete. Have a clear understanding about how the tenant will be held responsible for any discovered damage (other than normal, expected, insignificant damage such as broken glass, cup, etc.). I do not recommend The Villages Property Management because of their built in conflict of interest, even though the tenant is not now a life style guest. They still are potential property buyers, and Property Management leans more toward to making them happy potential customers than supporting the home owner.

[jbrown132]

[QUOTE=mgwano;1750042]Good afternoon all,

I would like to get opinions on buying a place in The Villages and renting the unit out for part of the year. I was thinking about using the Villages Home Town Property Management. I’m from up north in Chicago and being an airline pilot I would have the ability to fly down as frequently as I want. Can I please have some information from residents and people who are currently doing this?

thanks in advance,


Jan, February, March and April and October no problem. Good luck the rest of the year. Might think of taking a little less on a monthly basis and look for a long term rental. Advice fro a previous rental home owner.

[Cranford61]

Like any other financial investment, it depends .. I know people that have several units and rent them to long term tenants only.. They pay cash, and consider any net income as a pension annuity. They select the tenants and directly take care of any maintenance issues. On the other end of the spectrum is short term rentals, since you want to use the property as much as you can .. A mortgage and a property management fee with me not choosing the tenants ? Money loser and higher damage potential.
I go on cash flow and Return on investment. With ANY cash outlay I require a MINIMUM of 5-6% on my money.. not including appreciation. So now it;s a math exercise, which I;ve done countless times. So on OPTION A, you;re laying down 200-250K. Will you get $12-15K / year cash return after ALL expenses ? In OPTION B, 20% down is 40-50K, requiring a 2400-3000 /year return. A roof or an HVAC will wipe out several years of potential profits.. Is it worth it ? Remember, on OPTION B, you have 3 and maybe 4 good rental months a year .. perhaps the same months you;d like to be here. Other than that, slim pickings. At the same time, if you;re looking for a nice warm place to crash in between layovers, and don;t care about the cash flow aspect, welcome aboard, the place is great !
The pilot should watch the movie “Pacific Heights” with Michael Keaton on Amazon Prime. Part time residential rentals is a fool’s game.

[mrf6969]

bingo!!

[Finchs]

We purchased a designer home 2 years ago. We have Realty Exec. manage the rentals which are usually seasonal (Jan-Apr). They take care of cleaning, problems, taxes, etc at 15%. We don't "make money", but we have a home when we want to visit (3x yearly) and have a place we live ready when we decide to move

Your list of expenses that the management company takes care of just can't be right; if the company only gets 15% and they pay taxes (Florida Room tax is 9%), cleaning (I had to pay $120 per month for that), and they get and handle tenants...they must be going broke working like this. :ohdear:

[pargolf]

Mark
We have rented our patio villa for 6 years. We are also planning on selling. I tried to send details but the post was blocked.
Give us a call and we can tell you how we handled the rentals.
Gary -913-544-3304
Jeannie- 913-634-3247

[RDhot]

Do not use hometown property management! They are extremely overpriced, they do not pay attention to detail, and nothing but trouble with them.

[vintageogauge]

Your list of expenses that the management company takes care of just can't be right; if the company only gets 15% and they pay taxes (Florida Room tax is 9%), cleaning (I had to pay $120 per month for that), and they get and handle tenants...they must be going broke working like this. :ohdear:

I think he meant they collect the taxes and file the forms.

[vintageogauge]

Do not use hometown property management! They are extremely overpriced, they do not pay attention to detail, and nothing but trouble with them.

I use them and have had no problems, they are charging 15% on a long term unfurnished villa. They direct deposit the rental amount less 15% each month. So far so good with Hometown. Also the Villages sales agents go to them for rentals when they have clients building homes but want to be here during the process. Some people say they are not affiliated with TV but they use the TV e-mail system and use offices in TV rec center sales offices so they must be affiliated in some way.

[engine1075]

We bought a patio villa. The agent went on and on about how easy it would be to rent. How we'd make money. After furnishing with all new furniture, linens, kitchen goods etc. we were all set for the money to come in. In 2 years we rented it only 3 months. the first year we used Hometown and that's who I would use. We sold it after 2 years. It wasn't worth it in the end. Be your own judge. Don't listen to the hype.

Good luck

Jane

[retiredguy123]

So, you just buy a house and turn it over to a real estate agent as a rental, and you will make money. If that is correct, why doesn't the real estate agent just buy the houses and make even more money?

[ron@jayron]

Good afternoon all,

I would like to get opinions on buying a place in The Villages and renting the unit out for part of the year. I was thinking about using the Villages Home Town Property Management. I’m from up north in Chicago and being an airline pilot I would have the ability to fly down as frequently as I want. Can I please have some information from residents and people who are currently doing this?

thanks in advance,

Mark
be careful management usually charge 30% of income

[manaboutown]

My father had I think nine rental houses at one time. From the age of 12 until I was out of high school I was the slave, bringing back grass in the yards, cleaning and painting after tenants moved out. I have owned a few rental houses, a couple four unit and one 36 unit apartment building. It is hard to make much and one needs to be very careful about choosing tenants, maybe less so in The Villages, but still necessary. If one really looks at the risks, the hours spent on maintenance, bill paying, renting and so on and all of the various costs, very little can be netted. Since I owned these back in the late 1960s through the late 1970's I had wonderful tax relief on other income from comparatively rapid depreciation no longer available. Depreciation schedules the IRS has today offer almost no relief. Indeed, the structures actually depreciate more than the tax laws allow one to deduct. These days real money can only made on the sale, so choose wisely. Remember in real estate it is location, location, location.

[manaboutown]

So, you just buy a house and turn it over to a real estate agent as a rental, and you will make money. If that is correct, why doesn't the real estate agent just buy the houses and make even more money?

Some do. I knew one that owned 23 houses that she had acquired over the years she rented out.

[big guy]

My father had I think nine rental houses at one time. From the age of 12 until I was out of high school I was the slave, bringing back grass in the yards, cleaning and painting after tenants moved out. I have owned a few rental houses, a couple four unit and one 36 unit apartment building. It is hard to make much and one needs to be very careful about choosing tenants, maybe less so in The Villages, but still necessary. If one really looks at the risks, the hours spent on maintenance, bill paying, renting and so on and all of the various costs, very little can be netted. Since I owned these back in the late 1960s through the late 1970's I had wonderful tax relief on other income from comparatively rapid depreciation no longer available. Depreciation schedules the IRS has today offer almost no relief. Indeed, the structures actually depreciate more than the tax laws allow one to deduct. These days real money can only made on the sale, so choose wisely. Remember in real estate it is location, location, location.

Good advice on being careful about choosing tenants. We had one that complained about the A/C not cooling. We went over and found the doors and windows open, the A/C on and the condenser (or is it compressor?) outside was all frosted up. We asked how long the windows and doors were open, 'since they arrived'. How long has the A/C been running, 'since we arrived'. They didn't have the sense that God gave grapes. They received a lesson on running the A/C and a follow up visit twice to make sure they weren't doing it again. But there were other incidents with those tenants. Thank goodness they were there only 2 weeks.

[rustyp]

I would not be in a rush to buy a house right now. Here is one expert's opinion of downturn coming soon in the housing market.

"The spring and summer months are traditionally the hottest home-buying season, but one housing expert predicts sales to drop as much as 40% during that time because of the coronavirus outbreak.

“Market activity will be lower in the next couple of months,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, said in a press conference. “I won’t be surprised if sales activity could be down 30% or even 40% in the next months.” "

[stan the man]

Wait a couple of months prices will be down

[vayssie1]

Good afternoon all,

I would like to get opinions on buying a place in The Villages and renting the unit out for part of the year. I was thinking about using the Villages Home Town Property Management. I’m from up north in Chicago and being an airline pilot I would have the ability to fly down as frequently as I want. Can I please have some information from residents and people who are currently doing this?

thanks in advance,

Mark
Villagershomes4rent.com. The Villages is very expensive. I would buy anywhere but Fenney area, especially for golfers.

[Barborv]

I have 2 rentals long term. I rented them myself from NY. I posted adds in Talk of the Villages and Nextdoor .com. I wouldnt use the Villages property mgmt. They charge YOU to stay in your own home! Well thats what they told us 7 years ago when I bought my first home. I just recently bought my third home which will be the one I live in when I make my permanent move to The Villages. I placed and add for rent in both sites I mentioned and also this time in the villagers homes 4 rent. That site you do pay for a yearly posting. Now the 2 rentals I rent long term is easy peasy. All I pay for is the VCDD bill and lawn service. Electric and internet, cable telephone and furnishing is the tenants responsibility. I bought them new.These both home are a court yard villa and a ranch home. Court yard villas rent great. Do make sure you get one with a 2 car garage. Better resale. The reason I did the other site this time was because its a premiere home(pre owned) and it is furnished and rents at a much higher price than a villa,etc. So I wasnt getting as many bites as my two other homes. I did thought get for the Jan. feb. and March season. I would of had this April, but person had to cancel due to whats going on. And renting long term you don't pay Florida tax. Otherwise seasonal rentals will be probably just the 3-4 months and if you get lucky a month here or there in between. When I have an issue with a repair I call local people to come and fix. Never a problem. There is another company called White Pelican home services. They take care of everything. I dont know what they charge . It might be worth looking into. They even advertise your home. clean after rental etc.
If you have any questions that I didnt think of writing please dont hesitate to ask.
Best of luck

[Barborv]

Also, you can advertise on air B & B. That usually rents a place weekly, monthly, etc.

[LiverpoolWalrus]

Mgwano, are you still here (OP)?

S/he posts a question and leaves us to fight it out ourselves when it isn't even our issue!

Anyway, if you're still here and quietly deriving benefit from our impeccable insight, I also wanted to say, as one who is enrolled with TV's Hometown Property Management, that another reason it may not be for you is that they require you to hand it over to them for at least all of January, February and March. Not sure that would work for a pilot who wants to use it as a crash pad.

Other posters here have said Hometown "charges you to stay in your own home." Not exactly. They charge a $50 monthly caretaker fee whether it's occupied or not and I for one am okay with that expense. I'd probably hire someone to do that anyway. And they also charge a cleaning fee when you leave, but all PMs do that.

[DON10E]

Like any other financial investment, it depends .. I know people that have several units and rent them to long term tenants only.. They pay cash, and consider any net income as a pension annuity. They select the tenants and directly take care of any maintenance issues. On the other end of the spectrum is short term rentals, since you want to use the property as much as you can .. A mortgage and a property management fee with me not choosing the tenants ? Money loser and higher damage potential.
I go on cash flow and Return on investment. With ANY cash outlay I require a MINIMUM of 5-6% on my money.. not including appreciation. So now it;s a math exercise, which I;ve done countless times. So on OPTION A, you;re laying down 200-250K. Will you get $12-15K / year cash return after ALL expenses ? In OPTION B, 20% down is 40-50K, requiring a 2400-3000 /year return. A roof or an HVAC will wipe out several years of potential profits.. Is it worth it ? Remember, on OPTION B, you have 3 and maybe 4 good rental months a year .. perhaps the same months you;d like to be here. Other than that, slim pickings. At the same time, if you;re looking for a nice warm place to crash in between layovers, and don;t care about the cash flow aspect, welcome aboard, the place is great !

Aren't you forgetting the cost of the mortgage? If you put $50k down on a $250k house and get $2,500/yr. return you are getting 5% on your cash investment, but that won't nearly cover the mortgage payment of appx. $1,500/mo. or $18,000/yr. Even appreciation won't offset that cost.

If you are paying cash it eliminates interest on a mortgage, but you have to factor in the opportunity cost of the $250k. If you could make 3-4% elsewhere that $7,500-$10,000/yr. you could have had, so that has to be considered in the math.

Unless I'm missing something, which I could be...

[npwalters]

We rented out our fully furnished house for 4 years. We started with Hometown and dumped them after the first year. They were (to us anyway) hard to deal with, unresponsive, and only got our home rented 3 of 12 months. Plus they took 20%.

We switched to ReMax and had better luck. Our home was rented an average of 4.5 months out of the year. They were good to work with.

We made enough on rental income to pay the bills and mortgage for the year. We had to rent it out during the prime months to do this and then use it ourselves during the slow periods. That is almost always the way it goes.

We finally decided to live here full time and enjoy the winter months; beginning this year.

Good luck with your decision.

[Shamp]

You should join the Facebook page, Landlords of the Villages. 90 owners in the group who can answer your questions. You can use a Home watch program if you don't mind marketing the place yourself. Mine greets my guests, orients them to the house and is on call 24/7 if there is an issue. They also inspect the house weekly when it's not occupied. I pay $50/month

[mamamia54]

You should join the Facebook page, Landlords of the Villages. 90 owners in the group who can answer your questions. You can use a Home watch program if you don't mind marketing the place yourself. Mine greets my guests, orients them to the house and is on call 24/7 if there is an issue. They also inspect the house weekly when it's not occupied. I pay $50/month

If you don’t mind, can you give me the name of your company. Thanks.