[CoachKandSportsguy]

DHP is better than TV. Custom written ads, calls you about inquiries and exceptions for approval first. Much more flexible

[La lamy]

Originally Posted by vintageogauge

2 things, no Canadian renters this year and moratorium on evictions. I would suggest using the management companies, with Hometown if the tenant is not credit worthy they get your rent up front in full. You'll sleep a little better.

Not true about "no Canadian renters this year". I'm flying down and so are 7 friends I know. We can't cross the border in a car, but can fly. Why not in a car is beyond all logic. Seems a lot safer way to travel and stay healthy to me, but the point is we are finding our way down.

[La lamy]

Originally Posted by Dahabs

Border closure and travel advisory is expected to be extended to end of November at least. In addition, all Canadians require emergency medical insurance which gets somewhat problematic with this Covid issue. Yes some insurance companies are beginning to offer some type of Covid specific coverage but suspect it will be expensive and one must read the fine print very closely. As you pointed out, there are ways around driving down who wants the additional hassle?

Medipac is offering Covid coverage as well as all normal coverage. Not a hassle. Staying in the freezing cold for 6 months is a hassle. My landlady just offered me a golf cart since I will not have my car.

[Brg1956]

I live in SC and have rented my courtyard villa myself since 2012 without incident. I use Villagers4rent to advertise and am booked a year out. I rent Jan-March but many renters want 6 mo. Good luck

[dshoberg]

I can highly recommend Down Home Property Management (352) 753-0976

They are very easy to work with and very responsive when something comes up while you are away.

[JimmyDebbie]

We rented our house on our own for 3 1/2 years before making it our permanent home. We used villagershomes4rent.com for advertising. The annual fee to use this site was $125. The site was user friendly and we had great success. We usually rented our home for 6-7 months per year. We visited and used it ourselves at other times during the year as we lived about 6 hours away at the time. By going this route, we were not restricted to certain requirements imposed by renting through The Villages.

As far as minor repairs, if there were problems during the times that tenants were there, we were able to arrange for repairmen to schedule a time that tenant was available. This was never a problem as the tenant usually needed the repair completed (example, the freezer ice maker was leaking and not making ice correctly).

The Villages Community Watch provides good service. Personnel called us a couple of times when tenants went to bed and left the garage door open. We also had good neighbors who would contact us for unusual situations (such as when our sprinkler system had leaks).

Renting yourself can be done — it takes a little work because it basically becomes a business. If you go this route, the site I mentioned above has great information available to guide you through the process and requirements.

[Tblue]

Originally Posted by La lamy

Not true about "no Canadian renters this year". I'm flying down and so are 7 friends I know. We can't cross the border in a car, but can fly. Why not in a car is beyond all logic. Seems a lot safer way to travel and stay healthy to me, but the point is we are finding our way down.

That is good news as I have family there, but if you were to fly back to Canada does that get you a 2 week self quarantine?

[LonnyP]

Whatever you do, do not use Down Home Properties.

[ron32162]

no to village property management. do it yourself

[mikeritz53]

Originally Posted by Toymeister

Absolutely do it yourself. Of all of the 'professional ' firms the villages affiliate firm is the worst. TV uses a simple schedule to price your home. Is there something special about your home making it more desirable to rent? The Villages Property Management doesn't care, here is the schedule. For example designers are xxx .a month for prime season. They forbid you to offer a cart with your rental, so they are forced to use villages golf carts. Is there something special you want mentioned in your ad copy? Professionals don't care, this is what we write. Think about it, most renters don't care what the name of your home model is, they want to know how close the the square, name of nearest GC, and so on.

All firms charge you a percentage of rent, typically 17%. They often force you to use their in house services for home watch, etc. Usually these services are overpriced and sub par performers.

Now if you diy then you can use dynamic pricing. You can wait to rent your home after most homes are rented and thus get a higher price for the property. There is a rush at certain times to list homes and rent for next year's prime season.

By careful diy property management I achieved (in a non covid year) 85% occupancy.

Not all companies charge a % of rent.
Check www.VillagersVacationHomeRentals.com, $100/mth Flat Fee. Been in business 6+ yrs and Manages 40+ Properties, they also do SnowBird Services.

[Toymeister]

To the original poster:

You should be aware that there are two basic types of rentals. Long term (usually unfurnished) and furnished short term monthly rentals. Most of the comments so far that provide a miniscule level of detail are referring to monthly rentals. You can get a better response if we know What your intent is.

What sort of rental will you have?

[Laker14]

I'm glad we are all in agreement here.

[Toymeister]

Originally Posted by mikeritz53

Not all companies charge a % of rent.
Check www.VillagersVacationHomeRentals.com, $100/mth Flat Fee. Been in business 6+ yrs and Manages 40+ Properties, they also do SnowBird Services.

Interesting. He is a realtor at Black Tie real estate. He offers two fee structures for his services, flat rate or another where he takes 10% of all rent. Could be an option

[lindaelane]

I have had experience with two companies.

I do not recommend White Pelican. It was a very, very bad experience.

I do recommend Downhome Properties. Overall, a very good experiences.

The Villages itself has a rental program but it takes a greater percent of your rental money than other services, or did 3 years ago when I looked into them. Also they are very strict. An example is that I had a golf cart, but they would not let me use it to attract renters, I would have had to pay to store it somewhere.

Renters did not damage my house beyond breaking a soup bowl and leaving a brown stain on the bathroom floor. Well worth the thousands I gained in rental income. But its up to you - be well insured if you take renters in any case.

[Klassykathy]

I would not recommend The Villages Hometown Property Mgmt unless you are OK with only getting it rented from Jan-Apr. We just got out of a 15 month contract with them. Besides the high season, we had 3 WEEKS rental the rest of the year. A total of less than $1K. Meanwhile, I had to keep cable/internet, etc, that whole time. Absolutely no marketing. They talked a big game (their salespeople) and did nothing. This was last year - pre-COVID. We had a newly furnished place in Pine Ridge - very central and nice. Lack of service with a 20% price tag. Oh, and they would not do anything when half of my towels disappeared!