Buy and renting the unit out during the year
 

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

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.

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.

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.

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 !

"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?

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.)

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

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

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.

It’s a Crap Shoot
 

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

I would definitely not use the villages prop Mgt co
 

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

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.

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.

How about an ad in the Daily Sun?

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.

I was just going to alert about that 🙃

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.

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.

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.

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.

Renting
 

[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.

The pilot should watch the movie “Pacific Heights” with Michael Keaton on Amazon Prime. Part time residential rentals is a fool’s game.

Please Clarify
 

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:

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

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

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

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.

Renting
 

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

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?

be careful management usually charge 30% of income

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.