Advice Please: Snowbird Wannabee Owner and Partial Year Rental/ROI
 

Hi All, thrilled to have found this forum, looks like a great source for exchanging ideas/info!

My wife and I are from NJ, visited last month and decided we'd love to buy a place in Eastport that we can enjoy for a couple of the snowbird months, but also be able to recoup as much of our expenses by doing short term rentals the rest of the year (most likely using a management company).

We are considering either a 3 BR Cottage or one of the Patio Villas, ideally we would love to break even after factoring in lost interest on our cash purchase (not sure break even is possible, given rental supply/demand outside of snowbird season).

That said, would greatly appreciate if those in the know, would please offer their view and possibly include thoughts on the following:

1. Does one of these models make for a better short term rental place, i.e. does one typically provide a better return on investment?
2. Is there decent enough demand in the March through December period or does supply greatly outweigh demand? Is it realistic to think we should be able to break even?
3. Do you get a good return on the added purchase cost of a 3rd bedroom, or most short term renters don't need the 3rd bedroom, i.e. 3/2s rent for similar $ as 2/2s?

(I understand and expect our first year will be challenging since Eastport is still being built)

Thanks so much! :ho:

RoI is best on a patio villa. It is simple math a designer costs 2x but yields 1.3 more in rent for the prime season. Math is similiar for larger villas and smaller 3 br homes.

So you ever plan on living in the house, or is it investment property? We have owned PV, Cottage, Designer’s and a Premier. So basically all of the house venues.

Renting all but the Premier.

PV, Cottage, Designer all rented with zero complications, and for as many months as needed. From short term 4months to long term (12) months unfurnished.

We chose to rent 2 long term so not much money start up (no furniture tenet pays utilities, you pay amenities, water, lawn care)

When selling Cottage sold 24hours to couple who were going to live in it. PV sold in 30days as investment.

If you plan on retiring in that home buy for your needs. If you plan on just investing, buy what is the best deal.,if you are only using for personal use less than couple months rent something else while you make income on investment

For now we plan to live in it at least the months of Jan and Feb for now, potentially more in future years. So it should be easy to get short term guests even in the summer/fall months, and would you guess I could break even (more or less) with those ten months of income - assuming I can buy a 3BR Cottage in the low 300s? If we instead did as you suggest and just rented a place for us and leased out our place full time, what time of ROI cash flow would you expect on a 3 BR Cottage like this? (much appreciated!)

Makes sense, thank you! Any idea what type of cash flow to expect on a home in the $250k-$300 range? I should have no issues renting in the summer and fall months? Would you say the demand is sufficient, even for those less busy months?

That's great. The Villages needs more Short Term Rentals. It's wonderful for the neighborhoods. At least it's in the South, so no one really cares if there's another STR down there.

Pretty sure a management company will require you to rent at least one of the peak months, they dont make much money on short terms, and they are a lot of work.

If by short term rental you mean by the month, I hope it works for ya. If you mean by the week, or worst yet by the night, think about what you’re doing to your neighbors who expect to live in a quiet 55+ community and shame on you. Also, if you’re looking to snowbird for two consecutive winter months, consider either December and January, or February and March. By choosing January and February, you are blocking out two consecutive rental months during the four prime rental month season.

With good marketing and pricing you can rent December to April, five months. With a less desirable location and average marketing you can count on Jan-March.

With some luck and fantastic marketing you could have 85% ocupancy but that is fairly rare. I have done this, it did take some work. The simple math of cash in, cash out and considering opportunity costs (forgetting appreciation and taxes) it was a break even situation.

We are Brits - so can only stay in the US for 6 months each year. We started out along the lines of trying to cover our costs through renting year round when we were not staying.
Eventually we realised that we were getting around 80% of our costs covered from about 3 rentals per year. The first was the Jan thru March period (high season). It’s seems just now you can charge just about what you want and get someone to pay. But a word of caution, our home is situated mid way between Lake Sumter and Spanish Springs. So our success rate may be through location.
The second rental is for April.
These two periods are now regular returners so no great concern over their looking after the house properly.
The third rental is over Xmas but ending no later than 30th Dec.
We did get enough rental income during the summer, but they were all short term (normally a week). They were the least tidy, caused most damage and gave us the most headaches.
We have come to realise that over the 8 years we have owned our home, the value of the house has increased, each year, by far more than the annual costs.
We are fortunate that our income and savings/investments, allow us to take the hit on lower rentals. We also realised that our costs were lower as a result, and over the last couple of years we have only had to cover around 10-12% of the yearly costs. For us that’s about $3000 per year.
So, best advice we can give is to think about location, starting with where you want to be. Then see what rentals might be possible, by looking at the nearest developed area and what other renters are charging. You can do that by going on the various sites and looking at rates in those areas.
Once you have a fix on the possible rates at various times of the year, for the nearest locations, you can work on your costs. Don’t just take what The Villages say in their blurb. We found lots of other costs were necessary.
Then plan your strategy.
If you want to know more - DM me. Happy to help.
Ray

Explore the statistics on Rent From A Villager's site. The charts present real-time data reflecting renters' preferences over the past 30 days. It will give you an idea of the area, village, home type, number of bedrooms, bathrooms and more that renters are searching for! You might find this helpful when deciding the area and type of home to purchase for a rental. Visit rentfromavillager.com/stats
:thumbup:

Don't forget the very high bond and taxes in that area. Better off going further north and buying pre-owned. If you check the Daily Sun, you will see tons of houses south of 44 for sale already....you must ask yourself why???

No ROI
 

It’s simple math.
You just need to be able to carry the monthly costs plus some additional $$ for ROI. Your total carrying costs for a cash purchase will be in the range of $1800/mo plus a maintenance reserve and a 20% reduction in rental income for management fees.

There are a lot of homes for rent!

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Right? and "snowbirds" come down and wonder why the golf courses look like s÷@t, they can't get t-times, their yards look like hell, the insides of their houses are beat up.

My parents HAD an ABnB nextdoor up in the LSL area. It's not a "hotel" anymore. The owner recently seemed surprised by the condition of their "managed" home. Just had to LMAO on that "dah" moment.

The Villages, the largest tourist golf resort hotel spot in the US right??