Cocoa Beach New Rental Assessment for Airbnbs
 

Cocoa Beach has found a solution to curb Airbnb’s,

Cocoa Beach is raising short-term rental fees, increasing application costs from $525 to $2,500 and annual renewals from $325 to $1,500.

City officials say the fees will shift regulatory costs from taxpayers to rental owners and fund more code enforcement.

While some property owners object, many residents support stricter oversight to curb noise and disturbances.

That would be the case here also. The fees would discourage people renting out for short term. Living next to revolving door is no picnic.

Cocoa Beach rental property owners frustrated over sharp increase in fees | FOX 35 Orlando

Depending on the location highest fee is sometimes less than a day rental for something like our 3/3 on the beach. Or on a smaller unit block or two from the beach, a week rental depending on the time of year. Never a fan of short term, but as long as developers allow VLS agents to buy multiple houses then rent out short term to make as much money as possible, then sell at one year for more profit. Nothing is going to change

Bottom line we need something similar in The Villages. No thought that we could be living next door to a motel. Good luck getting this changed.

First off, I agree wholeheartedly with the entire premise.

Where I think folks who complain about STR's are missing the boat, the solution lies with the various towns/counties that make up The Villages.

Every County would love some extra revenue, at the expense of The Villages. I think it would be a fairly easy matter, to get municipal government to go along with local ordinances, that would make Short Term Rentals, less attractive for owners & renters.

Folks seem to be centered on complaining about The Villages not stopping it or not enforcing Deed Restrictions (that really don't prohibit STR's, per the rulings of most courts in the USA)... the municipalities can do it.

We all seem to forget about the governments that actually hold the power and focus on TV or the Developer. How about a movement to have our Elected Officials do something about it?

Added taxes, permitting costs, occupancy standards & more regulations are the answer.

That would be great, but it’s not happening for two obvious reasons.

1) Making short term rentals less attractive would have a negative impact on the demand for new home sales.
2) A certain entity, that benefits greatly from new home sales, has a very heavy hand when it comes to local government.

There you go.

Bingo. If it doesn't make $$ for the developer, it ain't happening.

And think about that if you (as a prospective buyer) want to stay in TV to get a feel for the flavor you cannot do that in a motel. Second, where are the motels around here? Many of the rentals here are stepping stones to purchasing unlike Coco Beach. All night parties at rentals are a rarity around here.

The Developer may control the local elected officials, but not the voters.

I'm sure there are plenty of folks in The Villages who have experience with Voter Initiatives.
Curbing STR's & generating tax revenue from the ones that remain, seems like it would be a fairly easy sell to John Q. Public.

I would disagree. Most STR are not prospective buyers. That's what lifestyle visits are for.
Plus there are plenty of hotels close by, some actually in TV, like at LSL.
We lived in a neighborhood that had a couple of rental homes that took short term renters. Needless to say, I'm glad I didn't live nextdoor.

Do you live in the same Villages as most of us?

We were short term renters before we bought. We did 3 or 4 1 week visits over 15 months
The advice given in every thread about newcomers is rent for a month - they would rent via STR.

Now, I agree, STR should be controlled.

In order to have a solution, you must start with a problem. "Curb Airbnb" is not a problem. It is a goal of the poster and obviously others.

People who have visited more than once, might very well wish to buy a home in The Villages before they are ready to move here. Short and long term rentals are a way that they could lock in a desired home today, postponing their personal move.

People who want to avoid location-based buyer's remorse might well want to try out multiple locations before purchasing. Long term rentals would be a costly way to avoid that.

The pejorative "snow birds" appears often on TOTV. It probably is used the most by the same people who want TV to be fully occupied by eliminating short term rentals - but they are not thinking that way, of course. That seems inexplicable, unless both positions come from those with a tendency to complain.

In order to do that, and maintain consistency across the whole of the Villages, there would have to be a coordinated effort from three counties (Sumter, Lake & Marion), as well as two municipalities (Wildwood and Leesburg). Probably never happen.

Where do you live?

Did you rent various homes in your neighborhood before you bought, to make sure it was "right neighborhood for you"?

If you interviewed a 1000 people on the street anywhere but in TV, if they "rented a few homes in their neighborhood before they bought their house", 999 would say .... "huh? Of course not, who does that"?