Reading how the locals resent the renters

[jennyrae]

I have been reading here for a while now. I don't know why I am surprised at how you 'locals' feel about the renters, which includes me, but truly I am. I have stayed in Seagrove every March for the last 5 years. I have never felt anything but welcome in your wonderful community. My husband is unable to work and has gone done there for the last 2 summers as a volunteer to help rebulid after all the hurricanes. He is one of the many that gave their time to rebulid boardwalks. He does this becausee we love the area, and the people have always been wonderful.

Hopefully the posters that complain about us are not locals, that they are ones fortunate enough to have vacation homes in this paradise. If not, I am rethinking my idea of paradise. I won't go where I am not wanted.

I am glad the area dodged a hit but I know the damage will be immense. I do appreciate this board, but I am very disappointed in some of the sentiments here.

Stay safe.

 

[Travel2Much]

I wonder if that is an entirely fair criticism. Maybe it is, dunno. I have never read the things that are said as pejorative of all or even a substantial number of renters.

I am neither a local nor renter, nor do I rent out. I am continually amazed by some of the astonishing behavior of some short-term visitors, and I think if you spend an extended period of time on the beach you would see that too.

There's no sin in renting. Right now I am thinking you have the better end of the stick.

 

[jennyrae]

I am only speaking for myself, not a substantial numbers of renters.I thought that was clear. And if my view isn't fair, then there are lots of others that are equally unfair. It's MY view, no, more, no less.

 

[Camp Creek Kid]

Many property owners have to rent in order to afford their homes/condos. I think the main problem might be that sometimes it is hard to share! Nine months out of the year, its pretty quiet around here and its hard to adjust to the crowds. Without people on vacation, this area would have no source of income for those who live here full-time. Full-time homeowners can choose to live in a non-rental neighborhood. Tourists come with the territory--just like hurricanes . There just needs to be a means of better educating tourists on how to treat the beaches. As for damage to one's rental property? That is what a damage deposit is for!

 

[Travel2Much]

... It's MY view, no, more, no less.

Well, thanks, then! My response was mine. Views have been shared.

 

[phdphay]

Damage deposits are a joke. I have never gotten a dime from a damage deposit, even though many items in my house have disappeared or been damaged. The problem is that the rental management companies have so little time on a check-out/check-in day, they don't have time to inventory every item or check every item to see if it has been damaged. Renters have apparently learned that if they throw something away that they damage, the rental company won't see a damaged item and won't recognize that it's missing. Then when the missing item is detected later on, the rental company doesn't know which guest to blame. So they (and thus the owner) can't collect the damage deposit.

Our first set of renters damaged an expensive lounge chair in the living room. They adamantly denied it - blamed it on the cleaning crew. But even if they had admitted it, how much should they have paid? Bought us a new chair? Or paid based on the cost of the chair divided by the expected life of the chair in weeks? Even in that scenario, we're faced with a damaged chair for the remainder of the life of the chair, which makes it an eyesore.

What I don't understand is that I have, for example, a set of nice flatware that I've used at my primary residence for 35 years. We've only lost one piece. How can a renter come in and in one week lose more pieces of flatware than I've lost in 35 years? This sort of loss is never detected by the rental company - they don't have time to count the flatware every time a new renter comes in.

One renter obviously let their children play with the pool equipment. The damaged pieces were apparently thrown away by the renter. So we had to buy new equipment since, again, the rental company didn't see the broken pieces and didn't know whom to blame.

I don't resent renters. We've had some good ones. I just resent renters who damage my property and remove it from my house to avoid paying a damage deposit.

 

[Kathryn]

I applaud everyone's right to express their opinion and this is a fabulous forum to do just that. There is good and bad in everything and perhaps generalizations should be avoided.

We rent out several homes in Seagrove and like having guests! I think this is probably true for MOST homeowners. We realize they have worked hard all year for a vacation and try to make their visit relaxing and enjoyable. My goal is to make our guests so happy that they return year after year. The rental income is very helpful and is put toward (but does not begin to cover) the mortgage, taxes, utility bills, insurance, various fees, furnishings and damage.

I am happy to say MOST guests have been very respectful of our homes. (we, too, have worked very hard for years and are blessed to have these homes, but make no mistake, "Luck" had nothing to do with it) Over the years, we have had a small percentage of guests who have had total disregard for our property. (what was with the hot pink Playdoh smeared all over our walls, anyway?) The degree of their destruction has been so bizarre that it sticks out in my mind. But again, I remind myself, in general our guests have been great !

PLEASE continue to come to our area and enjoy the fabulous Emerald Coast!

PS. I have also seen homeowner's that disregard other homeowner's property as well as the beach. This is even more frustrating...

 

[Miss Kitty]

I bet that most of the people renting their homes are like us in that we VACATIONED in the area for years before being able to buy. I remember (OH NO...that word again!) when we first came to Seaside in the '80's and read the guest books that people were thanking the homeowners for SHARING their homes with them!

We would not have bought our place if we relied on rental income. I understand that some do...I couldn't stand the worry! We chose to buy in WaterColor and WE chose to join the rental program. So far, other than a missing GUEST BOOK (?) we have fared well. The income does help to offset some of the costs, but we would pull out if the damage was more than wear and tear and was not rectified by damage deposits.

I agree with CCK....most of the complaints from homeowners in the area is what has been happening on the beaches....trash and beach equipment left behind. Maybe education is the key, but how anyone could not know to pick up after themselves is probably a problem that a list of suggestions will not cure! Bottom line...to all VACATIONERS...PLEASE come down and enjoy the beauty of 30-A...and remember to leave only your footprints in the sand at the end of the day!!!!

 

[Miss Kitty]

Hey Sea Turtle...you beat me to the punch! I do believe you are right that most homeowners are happy to share their homes with vacationers (that sounds better than TOURISTS to me!). I am thankful that there were places for our family to rent and always treated their homes BETTER than my own!!!!

 

[Paula]

As I've said in one of my other posts, we have not had significant problems with guests staying at our cottages. We've had some normal wear and tear (our house at home is in worse shape because we don't have a rental company managing it -- just busy us).

I really can't say enough that our guests have given us as least as much as we've given them -- they leave kind appreciative notes in the guest book, follow-up with us by email to give support during hurricanes, sometimes leave a few things behind for us or other guests to use (really, we received two kinds gifts -- a small wall rack and a decorated wine glass), let us know when things need to be fixed, and help pay for the cottages by paying rent. And we're happy to know that we help families build memories and perhaps tempt them to want to buy in SoWal as well.

Two caveats. First, our cottages are relatively one-story, not huge, 3 bedroom in a family-friendly community, so we're unlikely to get large groups of misbehaving teenagers or young adults (though a few have rented in our community and were quickly caught for misbehaving and I think they had to leave both times). Second, we had some small things stolen twice and that was too bad, but we've been renting to guests for 2.5 years now so, as the saying goes, "one or two bad apples don't spoil the whole bunch". Perhaps our day will come when a guest really does something disappointing (as I mentioned, we've had a few neighbors who had some bad experiences), but that will be one guest out of hundreds. Not bad. Perhaps there's a lot that goes on in our cottages that I don't know (and probably don't want to know), but right now I'm not worried. (Mostly, I believe people are building happy memories together which is a very good uses of the cottages). And I hope my neighbors would let me know if anyone misbehaves at our places (so far, so good)!

I'm am far from alone with these feelings toward our guests in SoWal and am sure others join me in saying "thank you" to the guests who visit and love the area. As I said in another post, all of us are guests here, whether we own property or not, or whether we're locals or not. Mother nature keeps teaching us that lesson (I wish she'd just let us read about it in a textbook, though, or maybe we could just have a free lecture or two on hurricanes at an outdoor theatre on a nice summer evening at Seaside or Rosemary Beach rather than get first-hand experience).