Does anybody do this?

Not my experience at all. I rented my fully furnished house to 2 guys that were building a Walmart expansion in my town. Never had one call from them in a year and when they left, the house was spotless. They took care of the house as good as we did. I would rent to them in a heartbeat. Not all tenants are pigs and will trash your house. You hear lots of horror stories and you do have to be very careful who you rent to. Never never accept pets. I've seen thousands of dollars damage from dogs and cats. Why risk it.

Nope, nada, would never even think of ever doing it!

I own several rental properties and from experience I am hear to tell you that no matter who you rent to it will end up costing you money and damage the value of your home.

Using a Management company is not a guarantee either. They are not, do not, and can not, be at your property 24 7's to watch over the tenants so they don't damage your property. Sadly it is a realistic fact about renting.

And IMHO do NOT ever use your real estate agent as a property management. Your rental agreement goes into a file and never seen again except to take their portion of the proceeds. Agents just don't have the time to sell houses AND watch over rentals and they don't.

If you really have to rent your house find a Property Management that does ONLY Property Management and does NOT buy or sell houses. They are out there and 'they' are the BEST bet for protecting your interests. Good Luck hope some of it helps you! :C

Thanks all for the responses. Exactly why I posted, got some good ideas and considerations that I hadn't thought about.

crabbin cabin, absolutely incredible idea on your advertisement method. I will keep that one in mind, awesome idea.

joeprinter, yes indeed, we do use an property mgmt. co. for our current rental and will do the same for our "home". Once we get a pretty good list of questions and concerns, we'll take them to the lady we work with on the rental and see where we go from there.

We have rented our home for the last 3 years, we are fulltimers, really does help with extra expenses. We DO have a property management company, IMHO well worth the 10%. We had to get different home insurance for the (rental) is cheaper since your home goods arnt covered. The renters are responsible for renter insurance. The lease is up in March, we will be moving back home. Its been really fun.
Enjoy

Yes! When we lived in Summit County (the real one -in Colorado LOL)and started snowbirding in AZ we rented our townhouse for the main ski season (Jan- April) for 3 or 4 seasons. When we started other locals said watch out for "ski bums" and when we said we will just raise the rent over what one could afford they reminded us that they would just increase their numbers to share what ever price we could put on it!
Better idea we went to the local senior's club and advertised in their news letter. It worked cause each year we had retired folks for the season - different ones each year. Every one of them treated our home like it was there own. When we returned each year the place was spotless and, over the years only one piece of kitchen glass ware had been broken- and replaced!! THE SEASON'S RENTS PAID FOR OUR OWN SNOWBIRD SEASON EXPENSE!!
Yes - if you are careful it can work.
John

westernrvparkowner wrote:
Don't think you will find a lot of season long rental people for a ski area other than the people who work at the resorts, which will be a whole lot of 20 somethings looking to minimize expenses and maximize fun, so you might end up with 10 or 15 people sharing and partying in the house. If you go for short term rentals, you will have advertising expenses, cleaning expenses, management expenses etc. It can be quite lucrative in the right area, but remember the value of a short term rental falls geometrically with distance from the attraction. A rental on the ski slopes is generally gold, 15 miles away, it is just another house for rent, so the price falls and so does the caliber of the clientel.
The rent you collect will be taxable, but if you start taking deductions for the expenses check with your accountant to be sure it doesn't make your home a business property, ineligible for the homeowner exemptions when you sell, this is doubly true if you start taking depreciation on the house. Be sure any HOA or zoning laws allow for short term rentals. And you will need to run all this past your insurance company to be sure you have the proper coverages.
With a great location and a good management company, you could make out quite well, but there sure is a big downside if you are not careful or if you are like pigpen and have a dark cloud that follows you.

Wow westernrvparkowner, you're flattening my tires and I haven't even gotten out of the garage yet. Seriously...I'm just kidding...gotta know me and my sarcastically sense of humor. LOL

Very, very good points, and I am a little embarrassed that we had not even thought about insurance aspects. We're not trying to make a lot of money off this, it would just be easier on the pocketbook to "Snowbird" if we could at least get our house payments made and utilities covered. Retirement checks only go so far. While they wouldn't be as costly, utilities will be there whether we're here or not.

We have considered the clientel and know there would likely not be a seasonal renter and it would be most likely short termers (a week or so at a time). We also know that we won't get the kind of price they would get at a resort, but again we're not looking to make a lot. Our thought was pricing at a level that would get a decently responsible clientel but not so cheap as to get just anybody. We also thought that while we might could keep the rent fairly low, we would charge a fairly high security deposit which would be returned as long as all went well during the transaction. We know that that is not fool proof, but hoped it could help in keeping some of the less responsible people away.

Again, I was just kidding in the beginning remark. While we do have rental property we deal with, this would be a different venture, being our "home". It is an option we thought about, but not knowing some of the technicalities is why I posted and welcome any input and will discuss with the rental agent we work with now. Because this is our "home" this may not be a viable option. While we are truly excited about getting away from the cold and snow, we will not do this at the expense of our "home"! If we have to find another option, then so be it.

I am reminded of a story I once heard, a Fire Chief ask's the council for funding to buy a new fire truck, the council said, NO. Later someone finds the Fire Chief working on possible fire truck purchase, and say's, why are you doing that, the council said NO. The Fire Chief responds, no they didn't, they said "find another way".

Don't think you will find a lot of season long rental people for a ski area other than the people who work at the resorts, which will be a whole lot of 20 somethings looking to minimize expenses and maximize fun, so you might end up with 10 or 15 people sharing and partying in the house. If you go for short term rentals, you will have advertising expenses, cleaning expenses, management expenses etc. It can be quite lucrative in the right area, but remember the value of a short term rental falls geometrically with distance from the attraction. A rental on the ski slopes is generally gold, 15 miles away, it is just another house for rent, so the price falls and so does the caliber of the clientel.
The rent you collect will be taxable, but if you start taking deductions for the expenses check with your accountant to be sure it doesn't make your home a business property, ineligible for the homeowner exemptions when you sell, this is doubly true if you start taking depreciation on the house. Be sure any HOA or zoning laws allow for short term rentals. And you will need to run all this past your insurance company to be sure you have the proper coverages.
With a great location and a good management company, you could make out quite well, but there sure is a big downside if you are not careful or if you are like pigpen and have a dark cloud that follows you.