Buying A Short Term Rental? One thing you should know.

Orlando is the home of Disney which attracts 56 million visitors each year! So everyone wants to live here, so many people buy vacation homes designated for short term rental use.  This means you can rent out your home to vacationers during times the owners is not utilizing it.  The revenue can help to offset the expenses of owning a vacation home.  If the property you are considering buying is currently be used a short term rental, then be sure to inquire whether you are required to utilize the property management company currently in place as well as take on the future bookings.  The seller of the property has an agreement in place with a property management company and there are certain advance cancellation notices that have to be honored by the seller.  The cancellation notice may not be fulfilled by the time a buyer closes on a property.  For instance, if a unit is in Reunion Property Management Program, they require an advanced cancellation notice of 90 days.  Recently, we negotiated on a short term rental property, and after we completed a verbal agreed to terms, we were told the seller will not sign the buyers offer if they were not using the current management company in place!  Well the buyer was not interested in using the sellers management company as they had already have a track record with another company.  If this was a condition of sale, it should have been disclosed upfront.  We did get it worked, out and buyer is closing on property.  If you are in the market for short term rental and if this is not disclosed upfront, be sure to ask.