Looking for a rental? Good luck
It’s Oct. 1 – do you know where your winter rental is? Based on the multiple phone calls I have recently received from the Northern environs, chances are if you or your friends and family are looking for a winter getaway for a few months, they may be too late.
The baby boomers have struck again and this time their aim is the Florida rental market, both seasonal and annual. They are gobbling up rentals at an alarming rate and are willing to pay almost anything, driving the rental market just like they have driven every other market this huge bubble of babies have passed through since they were born.
If you live in Manatee County, especially on Anna Maria or near the water, you’ve probably have had some of the same phone calls I’ve had from friends and relatives telling me that virtually every seasonal rental is already booked. All it takes is a quick 10 minute look at a couple of realtor websites to confirm this is true and it takes even less time to be blown away by the weekly and monthly rates Island properties are getting. It’s not unusual to see upwards of $3,000 a week being asked for modest homes on or near the water. Someone I know just rented a two bedroom condo east of I-75 for $4,000 for the month of March and grabbed it because it was a great deal.
But it’s not just seasonal rentals that are flying off the market. Baby boomers are also more interested in annual rentals than ever before. Many have been hit financially during the economic crisis and have calculated that renting is a better arrangement for them. True renters are exempt from home repairs, association fees and insurance, not to mention a monthly mortgage payment. They don’t, however, have the benefit of a tax write off and the prospect of the property increasing in value and turning a tidy little profit down the road.
A few months ago, RealtyTrac, the online housing data provider, published statistics relative to the best places in the nation to get a great return on rental properties. Out of the 25 regions looked at, the top 15 were in Florida. Manatee County ranked 14 and Sarasota ranked 15. The annual rentals examined were based on three-bedroom, single-family homes being rented by the baby boomer generation.
In order to be considered for this study, at least 24 percent of the population in the regions analyzed had to fall into the baby boomer generation. In addition, that number had to have increased as a percentage of the total population by at least 10 percent between 2007 and 2013. Manatee County’s boomer population is 20.8 percent, and in Sarasota County it’s 30.4 percent. What this means to investors is an ever increasing generation of retirees who are now considering renting rather than purchasing properties for both seasonal and full time residences.
One quick aside about vacation rentals, In April the vacation rental bill SB356 relating to local governments’ right to regulate vacation rentals was passed in the Florida Senate and sent to the Florida House. As of April 29, the House companion bill HB307 was “laid on the table,” basically meaning that nothing has been done to date.
Baby boomers continue to move the needle in Florida real estate. Traditionally they have always looked for a seasonal rental but now more of them are renting full time. Either way, with the predicted cold winter headed North this year, if you don’t have something in place yet better plan on a new winter coat.