Charlotte County FL - renting out home, math doesn't add up

[Irene Morgovsky]

Hello. This is my first post, and I'm just starting out in real estate. Please be patient if I am wrong in any of my assumptions.

I own a home in Rotonda West, FL. HOA, no homestead exemption, because my primary residence is in PA.

I am considering renting it out, but the math is not adding up. During Covid, the home could have easily went for $1 million. Right now, it can probably go for $700,000.

Summer renting is tough, because people know that the heat is no joke, and it doesn't seem like there is much demand during the summer months.

My elementary math is telling me that I can earn 1.82% on my $700K. That's terrible, considering I can get a CD for 4% for 10 years, or an annuity at 6% for 10 years.

Management companies want 20%, and property taxes and home insurance keep rising, considering I have no homestead exemption, so I am capped at 10%, not at 3%, and home insurance can do what it wants.

Could someone please tell me where I am wrong, because in this case, it does not seem that this real estate is a good investment at all. I've owned this home for a long time, but in the beginning, property tax and home insurance, were way lower. And over the years, pool maintenance, lawn maintenance and other such expenses, just kept going up.

I got the rent numbers from looking at comps, and this assumes I have a tenant 100% of the year, which is probably way optimistic.

Please let me know what you think. And thank you in advance.

property tax	11000
home insurance	5000
monthly bills	4800
yearly cost	20800
rent	3500
mgmt fee (20%)	700
net rent	2800
yearly net rent	33600
profit	12800
property value	700000
% profit	0.018285714

[Nathan A.]

You’re right that you can’t assume 100% occupancy, and you’ll also need to include costs for maintenance and capital expenses. The management percentage seems awfully high.

But all of those matters are details. It sounds like you’re trying to compare the return on renting against selling and using the proceeds in other ways. And one thing I think you’d need to add to your analysis is the total return on retaining the property — that is, the equity appreciation too.

If you buy a CD, when it matures you get back the nominal principal but inflation has eroded its real value in the meantime. If you keep the house over the same period, its value will hopefully track or outpace inflation and your heirs can inherit it. If you buy an annuity you’re receiving income but your heirs sure don’t get the whole annuity purchase price back at the end. So I think one thing you might need to add to your calculations is the projected value of the house over time and any anticipated rent increases. There are calculators that can help you. But whether renting or selling is appropriate I think depends a lot on your overall financial situation and your goals.