Can you do snowbird rentals in 55+ community?

[Rachel Kokosenski]

I'm looking into purchasing a home in a 55+ community in one of the desert communities of Southern California; probably, Palm Desert or Rancho Mirage. My husband is 52 and I'm only 50, but we would like to eventually move into the home full-time. So, the question is - can we buy it as an investment property and rent it out 6 months of the year to snowbirds (over age 55) and use it ourselves the rest of the year?

Or, is it better to buy it as an investment property, put a long-term renter in there until my husband turns 55, and then do the above strategy? Thoughts??

[Lisa Graesser]

We purchased in A 55+ community in Fla, with the idea of being snowbirds ourselves after retirement, so we do rent to snowbirds and throughout the rest of the year. We stay at the house as much as possible,  when it is not rented and do maintenance and at the same time enjoying being there. You can only use the house for a limited amount of  days for personal use( I think it is 14) if you want to be able to write off your expenses as a business. Since we are usually there doing maintenance, it is not considered personal use and as long as you are doing 4 hours of work per day you can write off your expenses. Our community does allow renters that are less than 55, so in the off months we will get families that come to visit their parents/grandparents. It has worked out great. We have always had great guests and we always look forward to being able to use it ourselves.