[Zenmama18]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

A dog owner can just tell you it is a service animal and you cannot refuse to rent to them or charge an extra fee. They don't even need to tell you in advance. That is the Federal ADA law.

You can ask if it's a service animal and if so, what service(s) it has been trained to do. You cannot ask about what the disability is.

[BlueStarAirlines]

Originally Posted by Robbb

The second one is everyone on the planet has their home up for rent and the market is beginning to catch up. Currently on one web site alone there are 38 homes for rent for the the prime winter months of Jan to April. IMHO the day of getting 6 to 10K per month for a 3/2 are long gone, unless you get a foreigner who doesn't understand the market.

Agree. There are several homes that are now up for sale in my village (close to Brownwood) that were owned by investors (close to the one year mark for new purchase). I was told by one that a landlord could still cover most of the annual costs, but the combination of lots of rentals, high interest rates, and increasing costs are making it very difficult. He made it sound like those that bought during\pre-COVID would do okay as homes were significantly cheaper and those without a mortgage.

I agree that I don't see how a landlord could cover mortgage + insurance + Property Mgr + utilities + CDD fees + maintenance buffer each and every month. If its a nice home in a good location you might break even for a few months, but its the longer slow season that will kill you....

[Ski Bum]

Originally Posted by Leshook

Hi there, we are looking to purchase a home and then rent it part of the year. I’ve been researching, and I’m hoping some would share here or privately if they feel the market is over saturated with rentals? Is it a profitable thing or do you just break even? Is there a certain area that is better for rentals? Thanks so much for any insight!

How do you define "the market"? Lots of new building and new rentals in the south. The north has a fixed inventory.

I have two homes in the north that I rent part time. Over the last three years, costs have averaged $18,000 per year, per home. That does not include mortgage interest. It also doesn't include major repairs like roofs and HVAC.

You can easily rent Jan-April for that amount. When you find a good renter, they will return every year. So no worries about dogs, damage, etc. In fact, the people in my homes do minor repairs, clean the windows, maintain the golf cart, etc. The leave the house in better shape than when they moved in. You can find really good people without much trouble.

My neighbors love my renters. I have one January renter, and one March-April renter in each home that return every year.

The downside is you can't use your home during high season.

If you need to make a few thousand dollars more, therein lies the problem. Summer renters are an unknown factor. You'll get families and transient workers in the mix of applicants. Short term renters are a nightmare to manage and a disruption to the neighborhood.

So my conclusion is that it's easy to defer a lot of the cost and come close to breaking even. But don't count on making money, keeping your home in good shape, and keeping the neighbors happy at the same time.

[Mytym4fun]

We purchased our home five years ago and did annual rentals until we just moved in this year. So it is not exactly what you are looking for with the partial year rental. We use The Villages Hometown Property Management. You could call them and they should be able to answer most of your questions. We broke about even after the five years, but it did pay for the repairs and improvements that we would have had to pay out of pocket otherwise, like a new HVAC system. The TVHPM website has a listing of available properties you can look at as well. Good luck!

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Zenmama18

You can ask if it's a service animal and if so, what service(s) it has been trained to do. You cannot ask about what the disability is.

You can, when it involves a potential disabled tenant renting with their animal in a home that you own. That is the exception to the law. You don't have to verify that the animal is a service animal. You MAY verify that the tenant needs one (because he is legally disabled).

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by BlueStarAirlines

Agree. There are several homes that are now up for sale in my village (close to Brownwood) that were owned by investors (close to the one year mark for new purchase). I was told by one that a landlord could still cover most of the annual costs, but the combination of lots of rentals, high interest rates, and increasing costs are making it very difficult. He made it sound like those that bought during\pre-COVID would do okay as homes were significantly cheaper and those without a mortgage.

I agree that I don't see how a landlord could cover mortgage + insurance + Property Mgr + utilities + CDD fees + maintenance buffer each and every month. If its a nice home in a good location you might break even for a few months, but its the longer slow season that will kill you....

Most people who buy here, don't get a mortgage.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Please. As a practical matter, if a tenant has paid the rent, shows up with a dog, and says it is a service animal, the landlord has no choice but to allow the dog to stay, or risk being sued. And, how does the landlord even know there is a dog in the house? Also, there are plenty of lawyers who will sue the landlord. That is a fact and many dog owners know it. And, if you are out of town, how do you demand anything?

It's called consequences. You can build it right into the lease. Something like:

Pursuant to the ADA law about disabled tenants with service animals and emotional support animals, you can have an animal living here. However we, the landlord, must be informed of this by the date of the signing of the lease, and you must provide proof that you actually qualify to have one of these animals.

If we find out that you brought in an animal with you, and you didn't tell us in advance, then we have the right to kick you and your animal out. That would be a violation of the lease. If you have more than one animal, and you are only required due to your disability to have one animal, we can kick you out, or make you ditch the second animal.

Regardless of whether we authorize you to have an animal or not - any damages caused by any animal living in this property will be repaired by OUR choice of contractors, and paid for by you, within a reasonable period of time.

Lastly, as is within our rights as the property owner - should your authorized and permitted service animal cause destruction or disrepair to our property, we retain the right to toss you both out on your collective keisters.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Originally Posted by BlueStarAirlines

Agree. There are several homes that are now up for sale in my village (close to Brownwood) that were owned by investors (close to the one year mark for new purchase). I was told by one that a landlord could still cover most of the annual costs, but the combination of lots of rentals, high interest rates, and increasing costs are making it very difficult. He made it sound like those that bought during\pre-COVID would do okay as homes were significantly cheaper and those without a mortgage.

I agree that I don't see how a landlord could cover mortgage + insurance + Property Mgr + utilities + CDD fees + maintenance buffer each and every month. If its a nice home in a good location you might break even for a few months, but its the longer slow season that will kill you....

Annual cost to maintain: 15K, break even rent = $1,250 per month annual lease. .
Annual cost to maintain: 20K, break even rent = $1,660 per month annual lease. .
Annual cost to maintain: 25K, break even rent = $2,083 per month annual lease. .

2021 Fair Market Rent in The Villages | RentData.org

however, this is where one of my original question is critical: target market?
very different rates based upon house, location and target market. .
retirees aren't looking for apartments in Wildwood,
working labor isn't looking for houses in TV (in general, there are always exceptions)

basic part of a start up business plan is the target market and expected income statement:

price per unit
volume of units sold
Gross revenue
cost per unit fixed/variable
Gross margin
annual fixed expenses
operating income

[Michael G.]

I always thought that God had a special blessing for people that choose to be a landlords for whatever reason.

Myself? I could never own to rent and never wanted the responsibility and the grief that goes with it.
I can peacefully sleep through the night without getting a phone call from your renter saying the AC isn't working.

One house for me, and it's the one I live in, thank you very much.

I wish all you a high return on your investment.

[Karmanng]

Originally Posted by Robbb

As someone who has watched the rental market for some time, I can say its a very interesting market. There are really two narratives, one is that renters will pay whatever is asked and the housing inventory is way below the rental market demand. The second one is everyone on the planet has their home up for rent and the market is beginning to catch up. Currently on one web site alone there are 38 homes for rent for the the prime winter months of Jan to April. IMHO the day of getting 6 to 10K per month for a 3/2 are long gone, unless you get a foreigner who doesn't understand the market.

38???? that is NOTHING those numbers are wrong btw

[Karmanng]

Originally Posted by Leshook

Hi there, we are looking to purchase a home and then rent it part of the year. I’ve been researching, and I’m hoping some would share here or privately if they feel the market is over saturated with rentals? Is it a profitable thing or do you just break even? Is there a certain area that is better for rentals? Thanks so much for any insight!

I am a 3rd time landlord.........I bought in TV last year with renters in place that is immaculate!!! I NEVER knew that 2 dogs were living in it when I previewed it. As a landlord here in AZ I specified NO PETS and that can be done..........MY renters came with 2 dogs in TV do I like it? NO? But the dogs are well behaved and my carpet inside is very light but like I said its CLEAN.............Golf Cart If I do another rental there either furnished or unfurnished would I provide a Golf Car? NOPE do not want the hassle of maintence............Would I prefer to do furnished? NOT REALLY as you have to cover ALL bills even if its not rented.......so that means you are not making money...........So yes I prefer long term unfurnished. You wont make as much but you will make some. Case in point I tried to really up the rent on my people as they were really very low on the scale and it was a newer 3 year old home...........BUT I knew to cut them a deal as they are taking care of my home there as IF it was there own...........IF I buy again I may contact them to see what there pricing is to get them back but for the long term.........Am I breaking even? maybe but barely it was not about the $$$ for me this time as much as keepin up with my home so I can move into it and I hope to do so by the end of summer early fall....ALSO IF you rent under 6 months and 1 day you have to pay the tax of 7% which should be built into your price or stated in addition on top of rent......If it's long term there is no need to do this.. .........BTW there are many many facebook sites that you can learn from........Landlords of the villages is one site with loads of info...........Some of those that responded on here I bet were never ever landlords.............its not always peaches and cream when it comes to being a landlord just sayin......and its not always about the $$$$

[Larry P.]

I think a lot of this depends on your expectations. I bought five years ago knowing that I wasn't going to retire for three or four years. I was lucky in that the previous owner left a lot of good, usable furniture so I took pictures and posted the home on villagershomes4rent.com; cost was around $140 per year. I managed everything myself, I found rental agreement and security deposit forms on the internet and used them for every renter. I set up an LLC (under $100) to keep income and expenses separate from my personal stuff. My home rented easily in the "high" season, and had excellent renters from January through April; these same people have become friends and we hang out together when we're all in TV at the same time. Renting for the 3 or 4 months during high season covered my annual mortgage costs, renting any other months was just gravy. I had no other experience being a landlord but found it much easier than I thought; I was able to manage everything from 1100 miles away; you'll be able to find any help or maintenance people online or word of mouth from neighbors. Again, this all goes back to your expectations, I wanted to have income and tax breaks while I was still working and used the rental income to pay for a new roof and HVAC system but I did not have expectations that this would produce a profit. I did not make a profit in any of those years but the carryover losses helped lower my income tax hit. I would do the same scenario in a heartbeat, it was fun and rewarding for me but you have to have a certain mentality to do it. If you or your wife are worriers and are going to stress out about minor things this is definitely not for you, if you're able to roll with stuff you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

[Barborv]

First, If you can purchase without having a mortgage, that would be great. Your money will earn more in the rental income than it will in the bank. Second- Buy a preowned that doesn't have a bond. Rent it long term. Figure out what you would be paying in monthly fees. (insurance, Taxes, Vcdd utilities (probably around $290 for a courtyard villa or ranch) If its long term, you won't have to worry about gas or electric, Wi-Fi, internet, cable etc. You will need to get lawn care and pest control. If you're out of state, its not a problem. It's easy to find people to make repairs . this site is great for that. Good luck.

[Marsha11]

Originally Posted by Leshook

Hi there, we are looking to purchase a home and then rent it part of the year. I’ve been researching, and I’m hoping some would share here or privately if they feel the market is over saturated with rentals? Is it a profitable thing or do you just break even? Is there a certain area that is better for rentals? Thanks so much for any insight!

As a neighbor of people who buy and rent, always feel bad that we will never know the owner at all. It's hard to connect to such a group of renters. I also remember the developer doesn't like for renters. But now it's everywhere.

[dougjb]

Originally Posted by CoachKandSportsguy

If you have been researching, do you have any experience being a slumlord?

What are you assuming for an occupancy rate?
What target market renters are you expecting?
Are you managing the property or are you having a PM perform that duty?
What high season low season rates are you expecting?
What are your annual expenses to cover?
Furnished or unfurnished?
annual lease or IDIQ? individual dates individual quotes?
Have you even searched your answers on here? of which there are many answers to your questions. .

as a long time corporate financial modeler amongst other job skills, and a TV slumlord, my intuition says that you don't have any experience with the research part

or maybe I am wrong, but can you answer any of the above questions?

9 more working days until former corporate finance guy

I believe the OP was asking for input....not rudeness....which is how your post came across....at least to me. When someone asks for help or assistance in TOTV, perhaps it would behoove America's friendliest hometown to help or assist the person. Perhaps you might want to suggest the OP ask the following questions of themselves...not pose it as a know-it-all post.