Property management includes Lawn Care, Pool Care, Pest Control, Cleaning and General Maintenance. Our management company also gets some bookings for us, and pays our bills. The service isn’t cheap but it does give us peace of mind. They provide us with monthly accounts detailing income and expenditure.
Like all owners of property abroad, we rely heavily on the performance of the management companies looking after our interests. Very occasionally their performance falls short of what I would consider acceptable, however providing i.) Our guests are not inconvenienced too much; ii.) I am kept aware of the situation, and iii.) They acknowledge that there is a problem and demonstrate that the service will improve, and then I am not too unhappy.
I have heard many horror stories concerning property management companies in Central Florida. More by luck than judgement we fell ‘lucky’ with our managers. I have known the owners for about 5 years. We bought our houses through them and have recommended them to other buyers and existing homeowners. I speak to them a lot and have found them to be honest, reliable and professional. Some of the other sales and management outfits I originally spoke to would make Arthur Daley look like a saint. Again, this is a personal preference based on my experience and talking to other Florida homeowners.
Tax
You must file a tax return each year detailing your income and expenses. A good accountant will be able to advise you on the paper work and acceptable offsets. I would recommend the firm of accountants we use.
In addition to the income tax filing, there are sales taxes to be paid based on the cost of your rentals. The percentages in each County vary for instance, in Polk County it is currently 10%.