Buying a 30A Vacation Rental or Second Home

I can. I'm Garett Huber, a realtor on 30A. I'm a Santa Rosa Beach realtor who has lived on 30A for 30 years, helping buyers and sellers of second homes, short-term rentals and luxury investment properties, backed by hands-on experience owning and running my own vacation rental.

My focus is short-term rental investments and second homes along 30A. I work mostly with buyers. If you're thinking about a second home or a rental here, I'll help you look at what a home costs to own, what similar homes have earned, and what each community allows before you make an offer.

Yes. I own and run my own vacation rental here. I'm personally invested in this market, not just as a realtor, but as someone so immersed in the rental business that I've begun developing software to help owners in the short-term rental community.

That side of my life shapes how I help buyers. I know what it takes to carry a house through the slow months, keep up with cleaning and repairs, and keep the rental taxes and county registration in order. I bring that to every home we look at together.

My family owned a beach condo here for years, in one of the few buildings that don't allow rentals. With 10 years in real estate helping buyers and sellers with rental properties, we decided to get into short-term rentals ourselves. We sold the condo, put the money into a house we turned into a short-term rental, and I've managed it ever since. Along the way, I've learned the Florida side of it, the licensing, the compliance and the rules you need to follow, as well as the heartaches of Airbnb.

Some can, and some can't. A lot of buyers come here expecting the same kind of profit they'd make on a long-term rental somewhere else. That's a misunderstanding. Here, you're usually buying to park your money and protect your asset while it earns enough to help pay for itself.

Before you think about what a house can earn, know what it costs just to own it. For an average home here, plan on somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000 a year just to own it. That's before a mortgage. Once you add a loan payment, the total yearly cost on a lot of homes here can climb past $60,000. Your rental income has to cover all of that first. Only what's left over is yours.

In some areas, prices have climbed faster than what the homes can earn as rentals. So I look at three things together: the area, the amenities, and what similar homes actually earned. Not what someone hopes it will earn.

The mistake many people make is putting the minimum down. If you can't carry the home through three to six months of little or no rental income, you can put yourself in a hard spot. The more you put down, the smaller the note, and the easier it is for the house to carry itself.

Start with whether rentals are allowed. Rules change from place to place. Anywhere on 30A, a house needs Walton County's yearly rental certificate ($300), plus a state license and tax accounts. White Cliffs, the Village of White Cliffs and The Retreat in Blue Mountain Beach don't allow short-term rentals. WaterColor allows them everywhere except the final phase. Alys Beach and Kaiya have their own rental programs.

Then look at the costs that come with the home: HOA dues, any resale fee, and insurance. I'll pull the current dues on any home you're looking at.

Guests here pay a 5% South Walton tourist development tax plus 7% sales tax on their stay, and you're responsible for making sure it's collected and filed. A second home doesn't get Florida's homestead exemption, and your taxes reset when you buy. A CPA has the final word on your taxes, and an attorney on contract and legal questions.

Get a policy written for short-term rentals. It's a must. Wind and flood coverage here is a real number, and costs swing widely with the home's age, roof, construction and flood zone. An insurance agent has the final word on what coverage you need.

Buyers from other places are often surprised by this: when a rental home sells here, the furniture usually conveys, and so do the housewares, all the way down to the coffee makers, plates and forks. If the home is with a rental company, you can often stay with them and keep the bookings going. If it's the owner's own Airbnb account, it doesn't transfer.

You can read about each town on my neighborhoods page and see the numbers on my market stats page, or just ask me and I'll walk through any home with you.