warddj1

Hi Everyone,

Very new to this so feel free to pick me up on any points. We've been visiting Florida for a few years since my son moved to Tampa. we've been thinking of spending a few month a year around St Pete / Clearwater area and renting a place. Any tips on which area of the forum I should go to get advice on renting and all that goes with it.

carcajou

The US section.

Renting is standard and easy in Florida however I suspect you will need to be in the market for a vacation home or corporate rental, because standard apartments like the kind Floridians themselves would rent to live in, don't typically give short-term leases of the kind you would need to fit in with your tourist stamp.

SanDiegogirl

Presume, you realise that on the Visa Waiver program you can only stay for up to 90 days at any one time?

As already said you'll probably only be able to rent vacation rentals for such a short time, not standard properties residents would be eligible for.

tom169

Check out air b and b.

Dan725

As the others have said, something like airbnb would probably make the best sense and you'd like have a bit of a hard time permanently renting a 'regular' type of apartment. Only way round it possibly would be to get your son to sign up the lease agreement with you down as a family member.

caretaker

If you're 55 or older you might be able to rent a mobile home (most of the trailer parks I've seen are 55+).

Pulaski

A snowbird might be willing to rent a FL home for months at a stretch, but only between April and October.

caretaker

No rule says you have to rent from a snowbird; anyone with a trailer for rent will, by definition, rent a trailer. I could phone my sister in St Pete's and ask her if there are any signs up in her trailer park.
https://www.mhbay.com/mobile-homes-f...ida/clearwater

Pulaski

Understood, but most landlords are going to want either 12mth+ leases, or offer short-term vacation rentals, whereas snowbirds who own a home in FL, whether it be a single-wide trailer or a high-end condo, or anywhere in between, will likely have a vacant home for 6-7 months of the year.

warddj1

Thanks guys,
To elaborate a bit more we would be looking at 2-3 months at a time maybe once a year. We have considered buying a place but with the change in £/$ rate and price increase in the last 3yrs it doesn't seem feasible or good time to buy atm. We have looked at Airbnb, home away etc but the cost is huge £1,000 PW and up which for 3 months is a lot. I know from experience that some cond's, houses or homes are vacant during the winter but people seem to rather leave them vacant than reduce the price. We wondered if anyone know of a website where owners rent direct or for last minute bookings, there are several of these in the UK and Europe but cant seem to source and in Florida.

scrubbedexpat099

Airbnb

Booking.com

HomeandAway

VRBO

FlipKey

even Craigslist, and that is just a few that come to mind.

Winter is high season in Florida.

caretaker

My sister said that some people in her trailer park in St Petersburg do rent theirs out, but they don't get advertised as a rule because they rent to people they know. The rules dictate they can only rent once per season, have to have owned for 2 years, and there are a couple of other stipulations. When I was down there she said where they originally rented in Largo was a better neighbourhood but they couldn't afford to buy there or in Clearwater so took St Pete's.