Waterfront Rentals

I have a neighbor who has great things to say about his renting experiences of his waterfront weekend home so I am considering the same.

My place is on the Saint Johns River in north-central Florida and I use is about once a month. It's clean an comfortable but it's not decked out with high end furnishings. Can anyone tell me if their experiences have been positive or negative?

I have a place on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, AR that I rent out by month, week, or weekend. I have had good luck with my rental on the water. I was at the same point you are with only making it out to AR a few times a year now that I work at Bennett's water ski and wakeboard school. Its hard to want to travel 7hrs. when you have 3 private lakes out the back door. I would just try and screen you renters or limiting to friends or friends of friends.

If I had a waterfront home, I'd have to only rent it to family or friends. Unless you don't care about damage to the house and/or furniture.

If you do decide to rent, list it here:
www.lakehouse.com

VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner) seem to have all the listings in my area. There will be cheaper alternatives in my area so hopefully I will attract a more responsible client. The furniture is nice but its not expensive and unless someone decides to punch holes in the wall and steal light fixtures the wear and tear should not be an issue.

I guess a big damage deposit and liability insurance is the key.

I do believe I can attract friends and friends of friends. I do use the house monthly but if I can cover the mortgage, insurance and taxes, I'm that much further ahead.

Thats why I am renting my place in Hot Springs and a place I have in Houston... I can't use them right now so let them make money to cover owners fees, insurance, etc.

Anthony,

Where do you advertise you listing? Do you have a property manager handle all the details?

I've used VRBO before with good luck for weekend houses in various cities. They email me regularly and keep up with their customers. and i've been pleased with their properties.

ACE, what do you charge by the week or weekend? just curious, been wanting to do an AR trip for a while.

I own and rent 2 vacation homes that you can see by following the link in my profile. I've been renting out the Lake Havasu Arizona house for the better part of a decade now, without incident. It's been great! The Big Bear Lake, California house is a recent addition (about 1 1/2 years now). In Big Bear I've had things stolen, broken, grafitied, damaged... you name it. I've been pretty upset by some things, like when one tenant stole 8 new Playstation2 games last year, leaving behind the empty boxes, and when another had the nerve to grafiti their gang sign on the house and in the guest book...

It's all about who you rent it to, but who you rent it to is more a function of the area than it is your personal choice. Lake Havasu, Arizona tends to attract up scale people with big, fancy boats, and plenty of cash. I've had people who've stayed there actually add things to the house because they like it so much and want those things there on their next visit (like coffee makers and blenders and stuff). I even had one tenant who found some things broken and voluntarily did some repairs on the place (even though it's a new home, things do break).

In my opinion, you don't want to do this without a good property manager, and you don't want to even think about doing it on your own. It's a full time job for someone who knows what they're doing, for sure... plus, the property manager gets to be the bad guy when something goes wrong, so you don't have to deal with it, and trust me, you don't want to deal with some of the things that WILL happen... They also advertise the place, take the deposit, clean, maintain, etc... all you do is talk to them when decisions need to be made, and collect a check.

Anyway, vacation rental is quite a different experience than having a vacation home for your own personal use. The place has to be adequately furnished and equipped. It has to be clean, and it has to be cleared of all personal items. You can have a locked "owner closet", but you can't leave things accessible that you don't want other people using and possibly stealing, like your wakeboarding gear, etc. You'll also NEED adequate liability insurance that's specifically designed for vacation rental.

If you end up doing your own advertising by putting up a website, hit me up for link exchange...

(Message edited by monkey on November 08, 2007)

I appreciate the insight.

Can you tell me what is an appropriate fee for the Property Manager? How much deposit? How do you screen renters?

The management fee typically depends on a number of factors, including the area, the length of the rental, the turn-over rate on the property, and the services provided. My Big Bear manager offers a 50/50 split for one level of service, and a 60/40 (I get the 60) for another. During the winter months, if there's snow on the ski mountain, it's not uncommon for it to have 75% to 80% of the month filled (sometimes 90%), which can be substanial income, but it requires a very active cleaning and maintenance crew for quick turn-over, and there's alot of wear and tear. For Lake Havasu, the place rents by the month in the winter months, to mostly older people coming down from the cold states to be in the sun. Management takes only like 15% for that, I think. Havasu, during the summer, rents mostly to families who are out for a quick 3 day weekend. Fees are in the 30% to 40% range for those shorter term rentals, I think (not 100% sure on that rate).

A good management company screens tenants over the phone, takes a credit card deposit on the place, and does inventory and damange check during the cleaning after checkout. Tenants are billed for damaged or missing items, and the property manager gets the place back to the way it was before the next tenant gets there...

For Big Bear, my wife and I provided them with a picture and written inventory after we set the place up. For Havasu, the property manager actually furnished and decorated the house for me because I bought it brand new and empty, a number of years ago, before I was married, and I have no design sense... so, they provided themselves and me with the inventory.

Also, there's usually some pretty good information here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vacation_rentals/

Thanks a lot Tim. My place in in a town of 2000 people but it's on the river and in any direction is a central florida tourist destination. I'll be able to get the renters but a good manager will be tricky.

I am looking for renting a waterfront home for a year or two in the orlando area. If anyone knows of any that would be great! I have taken amazing care of all the places I have lived and I have my own furniture as well. If you want to rent your st johns home out that would be great! You could stay whenever you want! haha. Please let me know!

I want to be able to use it at least once a month for a three day weekend but if you can cover the mortgage, insurance, taxes and maint of approx $3200 per month I'll write a two year contract and stay somewhere else. Its fully furnished all you will need is beer and a toothbrush.

Yo, anyone know of a Orlando rental available from mid-Feb/08 through Apr/08? H2Ofront is not a necessity. In addition, someone that may be interested in sharing.....let's talk