[philnpat]

Just wondering...
We close on our Amarillo in Duval next month. We won't be able to spend as much time there as we'd like for a couple of years. The home has 3 bedrooms. If we decide to rent it out, has anyone ever had a similar home and rented it as a 2 bedroom and kept their possessions locked in the 3rd bedroom?
Thanks,
Phil and Pat

[SteveFromNY]

We rented though TV Property Management. Thye did not allow a full room, or even a closet locked off. They said they wanted people to feel like it was their house. We kept a lot of personal stuff in a locked cabinet in the garage, and in the attic.
We furnished the house with sort of bland furniture and really didn't have much personal stuff to deal with. We left stuff like razor, tooth brush, soaps, etc in the cabinet.
Once we sold the house up north we moved all our real stuff down and stopped renting the house.

[BobKat1]

In March we rented a home in Caroline thru **** and the home owner did the same. He had several locked cabinets in the garage, as well as some things stored in the attic. He also asked if it was OK to leave a few things hung in the closet of the 3rd bedroom. Since it was just my wife and me it was OK with us. He stays in the house as much as possible when it's not rented or he's not back in Mi.

[Ohiogirl]

We rent out our 3 BR villa and keep stuff in the attic, and the 3rd bedroom closet - we don't bother locking it up. Some people put a lock on the linen closet and keep stuff in there.

Some of our stuff would be available to tenants if they needed it anyway - like a child's table & chairs, pack n play portable crib, booster seat/high chair (for when the grandkids are there).

We have a couple of heavy plastic storage boxes in the 3rd BR closet (they're too heavy to drag up and down the attic stairs) with our own personal supplies of shampoo, sunscreen, paper and plastic supplies, etc. and stuff we only use in The Villages or have duplicates of up north - swim goggles (one of us swims serious laps), music stand (one of us is a musician), bathrobe, golfballs/golf shoes, swimsuits, etc. Just so we don't have to drag it down every time on our short visits, especially if we fly.

We keep shelves of minor tools and gardening supplies in the garage.

Only thing I ever noticed missing were some bungee cords, and maybe I just haven't found wherever they might have been moved to (I didn't look real hard on my last visit, which was a quickee). Rarely has any tenant needed the 3rd bedroom, and if they did there was still some closet space left. No one has ever complained. If it's more than 2 people renting, I tell them we have some personal stuff in the 3rd closet and no one seems to care.

The type of tenant you get in The Villages is not a typical renter. I am guessing it would be very rare to have any kind of theft problem.

One of the nicer things about NOT renting thru the Villages is the ability to do what you want with your own property, also not to have to pay to stay in your own home when you are able to come down. It's my understanding (my sister rents her Villages home thru the Villages rental program) that owners have to pay $25 per night (yikes)!

[philnpat]

Thanks for all the input!...We probably won't have much there anyway because we won't be living there for awhile. We took pictures of the home last week but for the life of me I can't remember if there are pull-down stairs in the garage. As thorough as I was in taking the pictures, I didn't get a shot of the garage ceiling. Oh well, there'll be a project for me to do when I finally do get there.
Thanks again,
Phil and Pat

[Irish Rover]

We rented the same home for three years and the owners had two closets in one BR locked, the attic was locked, as was a storage cabinet in the garage. It didn't bother us. We didn't rent thru TV though. Good Luck