How to Find a Winter Rental in Florida

One of the most common questions I get, especially this time of year, is from people wondering how to go about finding a winter rental in Florida.

My inbox is full of messages like this:

Is it possible to rent for a month or so during February?

I don't mind these types of questions though. In fact, it brings back lots of great memories.

When I was growing up my mom owned one of the largest property management companies in the area, and we had a LOT of winter rentals.

It was always an “event” getting the homes and condos ready for tenants, helping everyone get in o.k., and so on.

Definitely good times. Busy, but fun!

With the tips below, and maybe a little bit of luck, my hope is that you too can find a great winter rental in Florida.

Winter rental season here in Florida runs roughly from November through March, but some people extend their stay into the month of April.

The obvious reason for people wanting to spend winter in Florida is to escape the cold temperatures and conditions up North this time of year and to take advantage of Florida's more forgiving climate.

Its no surprise that once people experience winter in Florida for the first time, they tend to come back year after year.

When we had our property management company, I'd estimate that in any given year, at least 75% of our clients were repeat renters.

Some rented the same exact unit consistently for more than 10 years straight!

So be careful, once you try it, you'll likely be hooked.

History of “Wintering” in Florida

The most widely documented accounts of people wintering in Florida date back to the era when the country's elite like John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and others with the substantial means required at the time would make the yearly journey by rail south for the winter.

In fact, John D. Rockefeller's goal was to live to be 100 years old, and though he fell about 2 years short of that goal (he died at his home here in Florida at the age of 97), he thought that traveling with the seasons would help prolong his life, and it likely did.

If you're interested in learning more about this piece of Florida history, you can visit the winter homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford in Fort Myers, Henry Flagler's Whitehall Estate in Palm Beach, or the winter home of John D. Rockefeller at The Casements in Ormond Beach.

Getting Started (…and a Word of Caution)

These days most people start looking for a winter rental online.

While this is a good idea, and we'll share some places to start your online search below, you need to be extremely cautious when responding to advertisements placed on websites advertising rentals.

There have been reports of many rentals scams in the last few years, and people have come up with some pretty creative ways to (illegally) separate you from your hard earned money. Learn more about some of the popular rental scams and how to avoid them here.

“By Owner” Winter Rental Listings

VRBO is probably the king when it comes to websites where private homeowners typically list their properties for rent.

Just so you know, all links to VRBO on my site are affiliate links meaning I earn a small fee when you book a rental, but there is never any extra cost to you for using these links.

In most cases you're going to have to go through their list of available rentals and figure out which properties might be available for the winter months you wish to rent for.

Depending on your housing needs, you may have to do quite a bit of leg work looking through each listing that might be relevant to you.

On VRBO, in many cases you'll find “nightly” or “weekly” rates listed, so you may need to make contact with the owner of the listing and let them know your desired length of stay and negotiate from there.

Just know that it's not uncommon for winter rentals to carry a 25-50% premium vs. your run-of-the-mill long term rental.

Facebook Groups

There are a number of Facebook groups in which people will post rentals that are available.

A few that I know of are:

• Seasonal Snowbird Rentals Florida
• Florida Vacation Rental Listings Owner Direct
• For RENT By Owner FLORIDA

Those are just a few of the bigger groups but there are many others, and, there are also groups focused on specific areas. To find them just go to Facebook and type “CITY NAME winter rentals” or “City NAME snowbird rentals” and see what comes up.

Property Management Companies

Another stop on the road to finding a winter rental may be to find property management companies in the area you wish to winter in.

Just fire up your favorite search engine and type in some variation of:

“CITY NAME property management” or “CITY NAME winter rentals”

This will typically return several good results for you to check out and explore. I recommend going the professionally managed rental route for a couple reasons.

One reason is that you'll have a convenient point of contact should anything go wrong during your stay. Stuff happens…refrigerators go out, heaters go on the fritz, etc…and assuming you're renting through a quality property management company, your problems will be short lived.

A good management company just makes the whole rental experience easier from end to end. When my family managed rentals, we would have a welcome basket of expensive chocolates and gourmet foods waiting along with a folder full of useful information that tenants might need during their stay.

Plus, by going through a property management company you are much less susceptible to rental scams like I mentioned earlier in the article. My advice is to exhaust all efforts going the property management route before moving on to the others.

Come On Down!

If you made it this far, you are armed with the knowledge you need to successfully find a winter rental in Florida.

Come the peak of the season, you certainly won't be freezing your behind off or shoveling snow, and you might even be out playing golf or enjoying a nice walk on the beach.