Rent it out? am I nuts?
 

I have been crunching numbers on life in the villages. (never met a spreadsheet I didn't like)

I was wondering those of you who rent out your place in TV for several months a year, what do you do with your personal stuff. Do you put it in storage, lock it in one bedroom of a three bedroom and rent it out as a two. What works?

Can you count on renting it out every year for Jan, Feb, and March?

My husband hasn't in his heart of hearts given up on retiring Home to Hawaii. It is way too expensive and I also don’t like it there much, so really not an option. But I was thinking that if we rented out for Jan Feb March to snowbirds we could get enough to rent in Hawaii for those months, and avoid the crowded time as well. Hawaii costs nearly the same year around.

The numbers seem to work. But is this nuts?

Depending on the style home, you can usually place your personal items in a closet. One of the MB closets if you have two. I have a Cypress which I rent all the time and a Gardenia I rent occasionally to folks I know. Both have 2 large MB closets. I have used the smaller one of those for personal items and emptied the larger closet for the tenants. Another option I have seen for Villas, is a lockable storage cabinet in the garage. Boxes for less valuable items could be placed in the attic. Lock the linen closet and place a shelf unit for linens in the bath or laundry may be an option as well if it's large enough for you.

I did it from Jan-Apr and rented out of state for those mos. I put my personal stuff in a sm. storage unit for $50.per mo. I think it's a good idea! I'm surprised that more ppl don't do this.

We rented our 3 BR Stetson ranch and we put a lockset on one of the guest bedroom doors and put our stuff in there. When we moved in, we just replaced the lockset with a regular knob.

I rented my house out through TV Property Management, and they had some rules about what you could or could not do with personal stuff. They said they wanted people who rented to feel like the house was theirs, and they wouldn't allow a locked off closet or bedroom. They would only allow a locking cabinet in the garage. We were still living in NY so it was OK by us. We kept toiletries, laundry detergent, and a few other things in the locking cabinet. We kept a suitcase full of clothes in the attic. When we "visited" our house, it was easy enough to get the suitcase and toiletries from the hiding places. But, we had furnished with "rental" furniture, so there was no emotional attachment to the stuff. If it had to be replaced, it was more of a ledger item than a possession. Now that we have moved our "stuff" their I'd be hard pressed to rent to anyone. Of cours, it isn't an option any longer anyway as I will be retiring in just a few short months.

I'm not surprised. We rented thru TV Property Management also but then, they change the rules every time you turn around!:confused:

Thanks for your thoughts. I guess no one thinks it's nuts to be renting out for the most popular months and living there the rest of the time. Either that or you are just too nice to say so.
I know alot of people here who think I am nuts to prefer Fla to Hawaii.
I can rent a 1 brm, 1 bath in Hawaii for about $3200 a month and the car will cost me another $700 a month and the airfare ranges from 700 to 1500 pp from orlando.
So this is not a cheap option and we would need the income from a rental to offset the price if we decide to do it. Just trying to come up with ideas to make my husband happy, he deserves it.

I know this sounds far-fetched, but have you considered seeking someone in HI who may be interested in house-swapping a couple months of the year? There are outfits on the web that deal in that type of transaction.

Cool idea Hadn't thought of that. Might work.

I probably am overthinking the whole thing. We have 24 months till retirement and I have crunched the numbers a thousand different ways. It looks like TV is the best quality of life for the buck. (the great people aside) I am just trying to come up with a way for my hubby to be able to be home for awhile at least every other year. Cost of living in Hawaii is 156% of national average. Seattle area where we are now and where are son is, is 128% and the villages comes in at 97% according to the net. Now if someone had a crystal ball to tell me what inflation was going to do over the next 25 years I would be all set.

As always you guys have great ideas. Two heads are better than one especially if one is cabbage and my head has turned to mush trying to figure it all out.

Certainly not able to predict with any certainty, but for the 20th century (all 100 years) inflation was approximately 3.5%. That's the figure I've been using in my spread sheet.
Now, if someone could tell me I was going to live for the next 25 years, I could really come up with a plan!
;)

If you want a well thought out prediction of the next 20 or so years go to link below and take the crash course. (upper left) To say the least it does not show a pretty picture, but it is interesting and you can decide for yourself.

http://www.chrismartenson.com/

I can tell you when we bought, my wife had 1 year to retire and we had to amke a decison to have a vacant house for a year and use it as a transition home or to furnish it with rental furniture and rent it out.

The initial cost to furnish a home you are going to rent is not cheap and as was previously said it is a leger item no personal atachment. However the bigger issue for us is that this was to be our retirement home and we both wanted it to be a new home for us and this was more imporant to us rather than furnishing a rental home, renting it out for a couple of months at best, having to deal with florida and federal taxes for rental property. WEll what we expected to be a 12 month transition turned out to be close to a 20 month transition for we could not sell us north BUT we were certainly glad when we finally did move to move into a "NEW" home.

Personal choice, personal decision in all respects!!