[hema54]

Can anyone help me? We are here on our 2nd month long visit. We would like to buy and rent the house till we can sell our home and move here. I have alot of questions about how to get started. Do houses rent enough to pay for themselves? Is it better to have a 2 or 3 bed rental? Can you do it as a business for tax purposes? If anyone can help me ?

Thanks for the help

[tucson]

PM me

[jaj111]

Originally Posted by hema54

Can anyone help me? We are here on our 2nd month long visit. We would like to buy and rent the house till we can sell our home and move here. I have alot of questions about how to get started. Do houses rent enough to pay for themselves? Is it better to have a 2 or 3 bed rental? Can you do it as a business for tax purposes? If anyone can help me ?

Thanks for the help

We're in the same boat. I would also like to hear opinion on this.

[Sable99]

I'm probably not the best person to answer this because I'm new to renting our TV home. Mom and I closed on our home in early May and we are renting it unfurnished in the long-term rental program with JD&V Property Management. I think our home rented two days after the pictures were posted on their website.

I am only renting our home because my 88 year old Mother doesn't want to move to Florida full time. It broke my heart to rent my brand new, beautiful home!

It appears that we will break even this year. Next year, we won't because a full year's taxes will increase my mortgage payemt. However, our tax person tells me all our home rental expenses can be taken out on my taxes so that will help.

The reason we went for the unfurnished long-term rental program is we are responsible for water, the amenity fee and lawn care. The renter is responsible for electric, cable, internet, etc.

Hope this helps from a rookie's side!

[hema54]

Thanks for the help. So the rental expenses can be used for tax purposes like a business. Those are the things I need to know. I didn't want to use a management company I live a couple hours away so we can do alot of stuff ouselves to save on that cost.

[ijusluvit]

We've rented our home when we are not there for seven years. Knowing we cannot take care of rental details ourselves because of the distance away from our northern home, we must have a property manager, not just a home-watch service. For various reasons we are now on our fourth property manager, whom I describe as the "best in the entire world". Her name is Vilas Hinkle.

I've learned a lot and shared info with a number of folks. I'd be happy to discuss things with you and answer any questions. Just send me a PM. Good Luck! TV is the right place to be!

[asianthree]

if you find a house in the village that you want buy...rent it out you will not make money but it will pay 75%ish of the bills, we are looking for a resale and do not need it for 4 years but if one comes up in the village that we want to live in we will buy early, we plan on keeping the home we have now

[daca55]

Originally Posted by hema54

Thanks for the help. So the rental expenses can be used for tax purposes like a business. Those are the things I need to know. I didn't want to use a management company I live a couple hours away so we can do alot of stuff ouselves to save on that cost.

That will be a big help to you if you can do things yourself. You live close enough so that if tenants have a problem you can attend to it. I am renting my house I am using a management company to oversee it. They have only been able to rent it in prime time i.e. Feb & March. My home is a patio villa and the rent I receive for those 2 months pays my taxes and insurance which is all I am looking for. For taxes purposes I claim it as a rental. If you do this however the IRS says you can only use your house no more than 2 weeks out of the year to be able to claim all expenses etc otherwise you have to prorate expenses to account for the time you were there over the allowed 2 week period. It is my understanding that if you claim it as a rental you have to depreciate it also. You may want to check with your accountant to see what your actual liabilities will be. Hope this helps.

[hema54]

Thank you.

So you don't list your rental yourself on the "villages for rent" or "vacation rentals by owner"? I see alot on those sites and many of them are rented almost all year.

Thank you again for responding.

[daca55]

Originally Posted by hema54

Thank you.

So you don't list your rental yourself on the "villages for rent" or "vacation rentals by owner"? I see alot on those sites and many of them are rented almost all year.

Thank you again for responding.

No I don't rent it myself. That said you will do fine renting it yourself on those sites. I use a management co because they also check my house twice a month to make sure all is well when it is empty. That is big for me as I live in Maine. It is a brand new house so I am not concerned about only renting it a short time. Besides when it is empty I can use it when I can.