Short term rental in Tampa
Dana Point, CA · Member since 2019 · 4 posts · 4 votes
I lived in Tampa for two years, but I now live in California. I want to invest in an Airbnb in Tampa. I know it’s a growing market, especially for the state of Florida. This would be my first investment property. I wouldn’t live in Florida. Any tips or comments about this location? Also doing an Airbnb out of the state I live in?
@Mark Holmes Tampa is a great market with strong revenue for short term rentals. If you have particular neighborhoods or cities you are looking at, I can provide you with an analysis to assist you in a decision. When it comes to operating out of state, I can also provide you with some systems to help you manage your property. If you would like to be hands off I can assist you in managing it as well. Feel free to reach out to me and connect.
Thanks!
Hello Yasmin Ramasco. Your asking for waterfront in Hillsborough County? On a canal? And you want to know if your can Short Term Rent it, like with Airbnb.com...Hillsborough County does not have beachfront to the Gulf of Mexico. We have Hillsborough River to the Tampa Bay. If you want to short term rent on a canal in Tampa, with access to Tampa Bay, you can do your Search for houses, townhomes, condos etc. on Rocky Point and Beach Park running South along Westshore Ave. But, there is only one around $200K in Rocky Point and the rest start at $500K and above $700K from Beach Park South. I don't think you can make any money doing Short Term Rentals with them. I would expect that the Code would prohibit STR in those areas. You may be able to do 30 days or more rentals, but, the taxes would be higher. You can Search on Hometogo.com and Airbnb.com and see if there are any such rentals available. If you want something with access to the Gulf of Mexico, then it would be in Pinellas County etc. We sold our Hillsborough River property after the value came back to above the 2008 Economic Collapse property values and the Government started to explode the cost of Flood Insurance, without any solution to that mess. Your not from Tampa? You should visit any area you might be interested in. There rules for short term rentals are very prohibitive. Need to know that right away if you find your Target property.
Completely depends on where in Hillsborough County. South Tampa is going to bring you a higher rental income than say somewhere in Apollo Beach. You do have to look at rental restrictions for short term rentals to make sure you are complying with the county. Right now rental demand is through the roof here in the area so I don't think it matters about seasonally at this point. Maybe if things get back to the way it used to be maybe Oct-May, but I can't speak to that for sure as I do long term rentals and have never had any issue getting tenants.
Hello Cj Hall, "Arbitrage method?" You mean you want to give me a small Down Payment with a contract allowing you to Assign to someone who is actually going to buy the property, giving you a commission? Or you want me to give you a long term Lease and enable you to sub-lease to other people who will pay rent to live there, without owning said property? What about just joining the Wholeseller's Club or getting your Broker's license. Oh, you don't want to live here, but, you think that Tampa is still a hot Market. If the numbers work and the Market holds up, more power to ya.
Hello Cj Hall, "Arbitrage method?" You mean you want to give me a small Down Payment with a contract allowing you to Assign to someone who is actually going to buy the property, giving you a commission? Or you want me to give you a long term Lease and enable you to sub-lease to other people who will pay rent to live there, without owning said property? What about just joining the Wholeseller's Club or getting your Broker's license. Oh, you don't want to live here, but, you think that Tampa is still a hot Market. If the numbers work and the Market holds up, more power to ya.
Hey Michael, Thanks for replying, but I've just realized how broad my question was, my apologies. I was actually referring to the investment of Short-Term Rentals in Tampa using the method of Arbitration which is what you described in your second guess. But yes I would be assuming a long-term lease with a landlord and fully furnish the property and rent on short-term rental platforms and to our corporate clients. In my research of the regulations and legalities of Tampa, Florida, I noticed they require registration of the vacation rental so I just have two main questions I'm coming up short with:
1.) I was hoping someone has had experience with registering and getting their short term rental license with Tampa and could share the total time it took them to receive the green light for operation once they submitted there application and required information?
2.) Also I noticed that Hillsborough County states you have to be within certain zoning districts in order to rent your Short-Term Rental unit for durations less than 7 days, I wanted to know if anybody is aware of the exact zones this would be permissible or where I could find this information as I haven't had the best luck locating it?
@Mark Holmes location location location. In general, the closer to the airport, downtown, water, local attractions the better. There is a 7 day minimum requirement for STR, complaint-based enforcement.
Feel free to reach out, I'd be happy to discuss and answer any questions.
Hello Cj Hall, The first thing is that you want to STR properties for your Commercial clients? Does that mean that you have professionals with business to take care of in specifically Hillsborough County, around Tampa, that need STR's? Your not looking to rent to the beach or tourist crowd? You 1.) question you need to answer yourself as the "short term rental license" is a State of Florida license. You do a Search on Google for any of your questions and the answer will be online...in this case it says you apply on the DBPR website. Your 2.) question has all the information with a Search for "short term rental map Hillsborough County Florida." The City of Tampa has the 7 Day minimum and each little commumity has different rules that you have to know. If you are thinking of Apartments or Condos you probably cannot STR because of the HOA etc. One big block to your idea is you will be hard pressed to find a property owner who will sign a Long Term Lease that allows you to Sub-rent. I know I would never do that. You have no "skin in the game" and you live "out of State!" I can start making a whole list of caveats to your Plan, like do you know we have Flood Zones in Florida? Flood Insurance is extremely expensive. Then, try and talk with STR Property Managers...do you think you can make it work with all of their requirements? Get a few of their applications and see what they demand. It's kind of like my friend in Brazil this year who asked me if she could make money with Cryptocurrency or Bitcoin? She knows that I Daytrade Futures online successfully and probably know something about trading. I told her NO! I had a few Duplexes and Houses in South Tampa for 35 years. I went through the 2008 Collapse of the Economy and I know the biggest Broker/Builder/Developer in South Tampa who lost 135 houses...everything they had and started over again. The complications with beachfront communities in St. Petersburg this week wanting to shut down all the STR's because the whole place is turning into a Hotel owned by Investors is a sign that new restrictions or outlawing STR's is in the works.
Hey Mark, Tampa is a great area for Airbnb with a lot of opportunity still. Unless you're in an HOA, Tampa is pretty lenient. I would look in the west tampa or seminole heights area. They are both close to downtown, the airport, hyde park etc. With a good cleaning crew and a handyman it is quite feasible to run the airbnb from out of state!
I saw few properties in west Tampa are listing to rent for over $5000/month. Those remodeled for short-term use obviously. We have short-term in this area and know it is impossible to earn any after pay the owner $5000, cleaning, and all other costs.
Pinellas County pool homes offer far better returns than Tampa in my experience. Tampa can also require a 7 day minimum at anytime although it’s rarely enforced.
Feel free to reference this article for all areas that allow daily stays within an hour of Tampa