I assume this was stated with tongue firmly planted in cheek.
:thumbup:

correct answer in my opinion

I had not determined the best renting approach yet for our situation, but it is good to know that weekly rentals have such a bad rap here. We have done weeklies back home for a several years already and have never had a bad experience that impacted our neighbors (if anything, something inside the house got damaged). We did a weekly rental for our stay this year and the place was immaculate in and out, I just presumed that most short term guests would be senior couples who respect our place like we respect others places (more or less). Is it really that bad or have a a couple of bad apples soured everyone to this way of thinking?

Just because you're not aware of any impact your "weekly rentals" have had on neighbors, doesn't mean there wasn't impact. Personally, I wouldn't by a home that was abutted in any way, by a home/unit that I knew was used as a STR. That's impact, whether you acknowledge it or not.

Short Term Rentals have no place in a residential zoned neighborhood, in my opinion. The Villages is not regulating them in any way and (& won't, because it works to their benefit) and current Florida Law makes it almost impossible for a city or county to regulate them.


In general, they (STR's) de-stabilize neighborhoods and put increased burden on the infrastructure and in the case of The Villages, the amenities.

Just my opinion, everyone else's mileage may vary.

This is where your customer based business plan identifies the customer base, and the drivers.

What's the biggest draw to FL? Orlando and the entertainment parks. If you are looking for a cheap version of rentals for school vacation and still get to Orlando for a day or two and have access to pools, etc. . is TV competitive? a viable alternative with lower affordable accomodations to renting hotels in Orlando?

of the rentals we have, there are two major categories:
1) retired couples looking for their retirement house, or waiting on building completion
2) younger generation visiting grandparents with children. . .

The third category, we haven't had any, are school vacation types, wanna get away by SWA to FL . .

Friend of ours had one of these in NH, and threatened to call their higher education institution about their college visa for all the damage done if they didn't pay. .

In my current HOA, they had a vote last on year on whether to get rid of STRs. This year we have seen a significant slow down, and lots of houses slashing their prices. Even the condos, which normally sell very quickly are sitting.

Now, I’m not saying that getting rid of STRs is the reason, probably the rise in interest rates has something to do with it, but we rented four different houses over three years for one/two weeks while we got to know this area, and if not for STRs we would’ve never had that chance.

Let us know where you buy so all the dogs can sh!t on your lawn. That way you'll be like the rest of us even though you're not actually here. Best wishes

We are going into our third year as Villagers. We are "snowflakes", meaning we go back and forth throughout the year but we do rent out our place during certain months like Feb-March where you get top dollar compared to the other months. That alone covers around 75% of our annual costs.

1. Designers are by far the most popular for non-short term rentals, like renting a month or two at a time. Also, I would highly recommend against offering short term rentals that are under a month. You will not make that much money due to fees going to AirBnb/****, plus your neighbors will all despise you. Personally, we value our neighbors and don't want them to feel like they live next door to a hotel. You get a VERY different type of renter from AirBnb vs sites like Rent from a Villager.

2. The easiest to rent are Feb/March. April and May you can get some interest if you're priced right and have a nicely furnished place. June-Nov is a crapshoot in getting any renters at all.

3. A 3 bedroom you're getting slightly higher rent but probably not enough to say the 3 bedroom is more "profitable", although the higher the price, you're generally getting a more desirable renter than someone that's trying to rent at a bargain basement price.

I would also caution against using a management company. Many charge 25-30% or more and you're at the mercy of them finding renters for you, some try less hard than others. Some try to rent your place without you knowing so that they can pocket 100% of the rent. I belong to a Villages Landlord group, and almost every anecdote I get from talking to other landlords that have used management companies in the past is very bad.

Eastport area is likely to become one of the prime areas. It seems likely to be the best Square out of all of the existing ones. Aside from that, I'm south of the turnpike and we get $3000 for Nov or Dec. $6500 for each the prime months. I'm sure Eastport designer homes will get more than that once it's completed.

I agree though that as a pure investment, there's several better options than buying a home in the Villages just to rent out.

Thank you for saying that. Who would want to encourage a hyper-transient community. Place is becoming a ghost town out of season as it is.
Carpetbaggers!!

Amen. We wa owned three rental condo’s in Smithville NJ just outside Atlantic City. Renters paid them off for us and yes we made some good money over all but factor in all the headaches and the turnover due to AC market, we might as well have broken even. Buy your home and enjoy life here. Forget about chasing the $$$$$

If you really want to have your home trashed try renting to spring breakers for the month of March. I have rented on the beach and seen spring break in full swing, and I believe it is starting to happen here.

Investment
 

From an investor’s point of view, buy when prices are low. They certainly are nowhere close to bottom here yet. Real estate is all about timing, location and risk exposure.


Even money markets are safer than real estate right now.

It’s on some HOA’s radar outside of TV as our Midwest HOA wanted us to consider amending the Bilaws against rentals.

Lawsuits
 

Airbnb is being sued by multiple agencies. There isn’t any clear place where everything will land because there are so many suits. They have been flooding Florida campaigns with cash. I’m not sure where it will get them.