[Taj44]

I just took a quick peek at rentals available at TheVillages4Rent.com and saw that there were quite a few rentals available for the prime months of January, February, and March 2011. I remember it used to be you had to book your rental a year ahead of time or you wouldn't get one. Are any of you landlords out there, particularly those of you with newer rentals not having an established client base, having trouble finding renters? We used to have a rental here and toyed with the idea of getting another one, but now I'm not sure. Thanks in advance..

[disney07]

I'm assuming you are using the Search option which is so nice a feature of Villages4rent. What you'll really find is that the greater part of these homes that have Available Dates for Jan-March using the Search option will show in another part of their listing, Booked, Not Available, Rented for those months. Then there are those that don't even show that, only to have you inquire and find out it is taken. Just click on Feb only and you'll find 15 pages of listings available, only to open the listing and find out NOT. It is apparent these home owners do it just to draw persons looking for a rental to their property listing. If I were a person interested is renting, I would certainly be annoyed by this practice., because somewhere in all those available homes is really a home that is available.

[l2ridehd]

We must be looking at different listings. I just went to that site, opened the first 3 pages of listings for CYV, Ranches, and Designers and found only one that was available for the 3 prime months and two others that had January only open. That's a total of 45 listings, 135 possible months and 5 months available. About a 96.6% rate of occupancy which is outstanding for any prime time vacation rental market. And of the one available for all 3 prime months it appeared there was something wrong with the listing. Missing information and items that didn't make sense. The two that had January open were both very new listings as you can tell by the listing number. And most were rented for April and other months as well.

So it appears with decent marketing and competitive rates you can still be successful. I own one rental and will close on another Friday. I need to rent it for 6 months to break even. So far on the first rental I have had a single tenant for the 6 months of November through April every year and been able to pick up one or two other months. Just starting out with the second so no track record yet but February and March are already booked and lots of interest in January, April and November.

[Halle]

Originally Posted by disney07

I'm assuming you are using the Search option which is so nice a feature of Villages4rent. What you'll really find is that the greater part of these homes that have Available Dates for Jan-March using the Search option will show in another part of their listing, Booked, Not Available, Rented for those months. Then there are those that don't even show that, only to have you inquire and find out it is taken. Just click on Feb only and you'll find 15 pages of listings available, only to open the listing and find out NOT. It is apparent these home owners do it just to draw persons looking for a rental to their property listing. If I were a person interested is renting, I would certainly be annoyed by this practice., because somewhere in all those available homes is really a home that is available.

I agree it is very frustrating to go to a listing that shows it is available only to find out that it not available. I believe that many of the homeowners just forget to go back and uncheck the box for the months that are rented and that is why they show they are still available.

[Larry Wilson]

Taj44, All the responses are right. I have friends who spent days trying to find an opening in winter. Yes, most they call are already booked.

[another Linda]

I've heard that there have been more cancellations this year due to the economy. Our January renters had to cancel. I got calls from many people wanting a cheaper rate, but ended up renting for what we usually get. I still think January, February, and March are pretty sure bets for finding renters. There rest of the months there is more competition (i.e. lots of places available) so being able to keep your place full can be a problem.

[Pturner]

Our January renter canceled too.

[another Linda]

Have you re-rented yet?

[tkret]

Yes, many owners are not updating the site to show that the unit has been rented.
I know of a friend who posted her patio villa on November 30 and the next day she had a renter for Jan, Feb, and Mar. There is a shortage of availability for the prime months.

[Schaumburger]

Since I'm a wannabee/worker bee who can only rent for a week or two at a time, it sounds like off seasons rentals are the way to go for me to experience TV. It seems like summer weekly rentals are pretty easy to come by -- is that correct? I've checked the Villages for Rent web site, and it seems like summer rentals are pretty plentiful and at a good rate.

How easy are weekly rentals in October to come by?

Snow in Chicagoland this weekend

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Originally Posted by Schaumburger

Since I'm a wannabee/worker bee who can only rent for a week or two at a time, it sounds like off seasons rentals are the way to go for me to experience TV. It seems like summer weekly rentals are pretty easy to come by -- is that correct? I've checked the Villages for Rent web site, and it seems like summer rentals are pretty plentiful and at a good rate.

How easy are weekly rentals in October to come by?

Snow in Chicagoland this weekend

Yep, summertime weekly rentals are defintely easy to come by!

Bill

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Originally Posted by Pturner

Our January renter canceled too.

So that makes your place available for YOU to come to TV then!

Bill

[disney07]

Originally Posted by tkret

Yes, many owners are not updating the site to show that the unit has been rented.
I know of a friend who posted her patio villa on November 30 and the next day she had a renter for Jan, Feb, and Mar. There is a shortage of availability for the prime months.

As I've pointed out just for February there is 15 pages, that's 75 rental properties available for 2011 on Villages4rent. Yeah Right! Out of the 75 there may be a few truly available, but these home owners that do not update purposely make it very difficult and frustrating to find. "They just forgot" One time you may have forgotten. After the first inquiry as to the availability and not changing it you're just being deceptive. Good luck Pturner. Hope you are able to find a renter. Those self interested home owners are making it hard to find your home. January of 2011. 37 pages, 185 Rental properties available. Clean it up!

[Taj44]

You probably wouldn't have any trouble finding an October or even November rental, and those are lovely times of year here in central Florida.

[BobKat1]

Do some rentals appear in multiple listing services? Such as Villages4Rent, **** etc.