All Forum Posts by: Dale Going

Quote from @Kenneth Garrett:

@Ryan Clouser

I does depend. If your market is a beach market, then the closer to the beach the better. You don't have to be on the beach, but a short walk will be a big benefit as well. My STR is two blocks from beach. It is located in a HOA where we have two pools, a clubhouse, workout area, tennis courts and private entrance to the beach.

Agree 100%. I had two direct beach front condo's that were STR's in Indian Shores, FL (between Clearwater Beach and St. Pete Beach), and in my 10+ years of renting, found that most folks are looking for the convenience of just walking out the door directly onto the beach, or having it be a very short walk. In my opinion, if the renter needs to load the car, drive and then look for parking, etc. you won't get as many rentals as needed to be profitable.  Beachfront or one to two blocks from the beach maximum I feel are best. Another thing to take into consideration is not only how close to the beach, but where the actual public beach access is. Eg. If you are a block or two from the beach, but the public beach access is many blocks up the road, it is the equivalent being much further. I'm not sure about the Sarasota or Siesta Key area, but in the Indian Shores area, there are many listings, but hard to find a reasonably priced property where STRs are permitted. Ideally, you would want the HOA (if a condo/townhouse) to permit rentals of one week minimum.

Hi Jason,

If you are asking about Toms River in particular, the biggest challenge with TR is that short term of less than one month is prohibited by the township on the mainland. Rentals are a no go if you're looking to do weekly summer rentals or even Airbnb for a night or two. On the island (Seaside and neighboring towns), you can rent however you wish (check with each individual town, as they may have ordinances for one week minimum). The winter is dead there, but some folks are able to get winter rentals in place. Not sure how lucrative that is though. I thought of buying a rental in Seaside Park last year and had concerns. . . What if I had my summer booked, but yet my winter renter didn't/refused to vacate. Worried about that scenario, I passed. That's just me though. I'm sure there are plenty of folks that have been successful with winter and summer rentals of their property. I guess it would just all depend on how thorough of a background check/credit check, etc. you do for the winter rental. I personally think if you want to do vacation rentals/short term, you should purchase in an area that is very tourist or close to it and has vacationers all year round.

Long term rentals. . . I have a couple in TR. As with any rental property, do a thorough credit check, work history, references, etc. The type of house (size, updating, rent charged) for the most part, will dictate what type of renter you'll get.

Wishing you success!

Hi, I too own a vacation rental in FL, but I reside in NJ. My taxes for the rental business is handled by my NJ accountant. However, you are responsible to collect, report/file taxes on your transient rentals to the state each month, and the county the property is in, once a quarter. You can set up an account for each online.  To be clear, this is NOT tax on your income, but tax the renter pays on the rental amount you charge. It's basically sales and tourist development taxes. If you are listed on a rental network like VRBO, they are now submitting those taxes. However, they are NOT reported with any connection to you/your tax ID (go figure). Even though their site collects and submits those taxes, you are still required to file a return. If you have a month where all rentals went through that site (and not direct to you), you would just file as $0, as the site already paid it for you. Any rentals not through the rental network that you collected tax for, you would file and pay directly to the state & county. Hope that helped and didn't confuse you.

Thank you @Dave Foster and @Bill Exeter. I appreciate your quick and knowledgeable responses.

Hi,

New here, and have a question. . . I own two condos (10+ years and used as vacation rentals) in FL with my ex-husband. We no longer want to be partners. One is currently for sale and under contract with closing early January. I'm thinking of buying him out of the other condo we jointly own. I'm wondering if it's possible/legal to use the cash from the one condo sale and do a 1031 exchange to purchase/buy him out of his half of the remaining condo. Both condos are owned personally and not by an LLC.

Thank you in advance,

Dale