Your Guru gets asked every now and again to help a buyer, who fancies himself/herself an investor, locate a condo that can make a little income (or perhaps a lot of income) on the side. You should know that there are virtually NO condos in the area that allow AirBnB, VRBO or short term rentals.
Why can’t I rent my condo short term?
Here’s the reason: The over-supply of condos in 2005 heralded the “beginning of the end’ of the condo building boom in South Florida. We led the nation in the real estate “bust” and in turn, led the nation in the recovery.
Cash investors bought up the bargain-priced inventory and used those condos as rental properties – in any way they saw fit. There were traditional long-term rentals, but those investors also treated their investments like short-term rentals and even as alternative to hotel rooms.
Lending on condominiums ground to a halt because so many condos had more tenants than owners. Most lenders didn’t see condominiums as viable investment for their lending portfolios – they believed they’d lose money on every one of them.
Condominium boards also got an earful from angry residents as tranquil buildings turned into transient communities and party-pads. Associations responded by enacting rules requiring anything from a year of ownership before an owner could rent their unit, to restrictions on lease length, and outright bans on short-term leases. In most cases here in South Florida you’ll find a condominium association will have a minimum of a 6-month lease, or 12 month lease, or a restriction that a unit may only be leased once or twice per year.
Our marketplace and season has matured as well. We don’t get as many snow-birds as in the past who drove the short-term rental demand. The Fort Lauderdale and Miami metro areas are not as tranquil as they once were, contributing to the decline in demand for quiet short term housing.
