Over the years, our clients have taken our advice on many things that have helped them establish a comfortable retirement. We have successfully guided several of our clients to purchase retirement homes which have been paid off within 5 years simply by embracing the vacation rental concept.

One of the most overlooked benefits of buying a property is the ability to offer the property as a vacation rental. When listing the property consider doing some research on rental data for comparable properties in the area on VRBO, Homeaway or Airbnb. You will be surprised when you see the price others are willing to pay for your property.

If you're in real estate, marketing a property as a potential vacation rental, which will become a paid off retirement property can create tremendous value for the potential buyer and help you get more for your listing, faster.

The vacation rental community has created a way for everyday wage earners to make their retirement home dream a reality. In the past, retirement homes were unaffordable for most of the population. But if you can get the mortgage, the vacation rental community is likely to pay it.

Here is how you can help your buyers and sellers:

• Research nearby properties on the vacation rental websites to learn the high and low season rental rates.
• Look at the calendars on the nearby properties to determine how many rental nights can be reasonably expected from the property you are listing.
• Learn the rules of the community if there is an association which will have rules which must be considered.
• Check for any local rules or registrations that will be required.
• Prepare a projected revenue stream to determine if the property is a good candidate for the vacation rental market. Determine how much will be able to apply to the mortgage as principal above and beyond the required payment.
• Calculate the number of years that would be required to pay the house off making it a fully paid for retirement home turning the retirement home Dream into a reality.
  Include this in your listing data to show a potential buyer that they can own this property and have enough cash flow to accelerate the payment of the debt. This can often be done with very little out of pocket from the buyer.

As a bonus the buyer will have a vacation home that can be used between rentals for their own enjoyment which is paid for by others. So why not put this together for any of your listings that would be desirable vacation rentals? Show a potential buyer that this can be done and create tremendous demand for your listing.

Create more demand for your listings by putting this together to make it easy for buyers to see how to make the vacation home dream a reality.

As a real estate focused cpa firm we offer free consultations to real estate agents looking to add this value to their buyers. Reach out to us to schedule your free consultation and learn more. 

If you'd like to discuss this or anything related to your business tax planning, preparation or if you need any other help that CPAs of Florida might assist with, please contact us (239) 936-6144 or visit and start a conversation with us at cpaofflorida.com.

Sincerely,

Janet Noack, CPA and the team at CPAs of Florida!