Snow Bird House - recommendations needed
 

Fellow villagers,

I recently inherited my mother's house which is now a short term rental in TV. It is rented for Jan-Mar 2016, but will likely be empty from April until at least November. I need your recommendations please, regarding:

1) Phone, TV & Internet provider, given that I only need it for 3 months.
2) Golf cart liability insurance
3) Homeowners insurance for rental properties. Will be switching from the one my mother has had.
4) Termite and pest control

Many thanks for your recommendations.

We have comcast for tv and Internet. Hardly anyone has land line these days. We use deans for pest, mow, fertilizer. One stop shopping. Insurance shop around a few phone call will be worth your time. Right now there is now way to insure the cart for renters, not even family

Sorry for your loss. Be particularly careful with a golf cart in a rental. Insurance will not cover losses and you could lose a lot in the event of an accident involving injury or death. Talk to an insurance agent. If it were me, I'd sell the cart and rent without cart to protect my own assets at least until appropriate insurance is available.

Also, be sure you are paying the county sales tax on the rental.

Termite and pest control companies abound. Don't pay upfront!

Excellent advice!!

We have Century Link for internet and TV. They told us to put our account on vacation status would be $15 per month. It ended up being almost $50. One thing I have learned with the cable providers down here that they will do anything to get your business but then the lying begins.

There was a thread about putting the golf cart in an LLC but if I were you I would just sell it.

I also have Century Link for phone and internet. I go into vacation mode every year. Have not had any issues. I have a five year contract. This year I call up to turn service back on and they jack my rates up $20/month. Why? They said I nullified the contract by going into vacation mode and must pay today's going rate. Vacation mode will equal cancellation mode next year.

Rental
 

You do not need a landline,your renter will have a cell phone.
For cable and internet call Tom at Villages AV (352) 388-1677.
You can get a no contract plan for 3 or 4 months,cancel the service and then after 120 days sign up as a new customer.Tom will help you.

Phone
 

I use Ooma for telephone. The initial cost is around $100 but after that you only have to pay taxes which is less than $3 a month. Also, great advice about selling the golf cart. We do not allow our renters to use our golf cart because of liability. It is not worth the risk.

I would sell the cart but provide a list of golf cart renters to yours and mention that they are readily available it in your adds. New renters will not know where to go for a rental.

This might help
VillagersHomes4Rent.com

You may need a landline if your renters are from Canada or the UK or they need to monitor certain health conditions ( like a pace maker ). Not all renters have cell phones...

I rent my home through a property management company. I was told if I put my home in a short-term rental program, I would have to have a landline phone in my home.

I want to thank you for your answers, and just need to share with the rest of you who may have insurance renewal problems due to an old roof.

An independent agent found me a policy with a company called GeoVera Specialty that does not disqualify you based solely on the age of the roof. (I had received a non-renewal notice from St. Johns solely due to the age of the roof.). This has saved me $10k for a new roof that I do not need.

Also, golf cart liability insurance IS available through All State

Also, by calling the 'Customer Loyalty Department' at Comcast, I was able to reduce my bill by several $$.

I hope this info is helpful to some of you.