Quick answer, as of November 2026
Checked November 5, 2026: a furnished mid-term rental keeps more cash only when its higher rent outruns added utilities, turnover, furnishings and empty months. In our hypothetical house, a $2,100 annual lease retains $10,746 a year, while $3,000 furnished stays filling 10 months retain $5,700. Florida also taxes stays of six months or less, per its Department of Revenue.
Gregg Costin, Realtor, The Gregg Costin Team at Dalton Wade
Key takeaways
- Compare the cash retained on the same house, not the two monthly rents. In our example, a rent 43 percent higher still retains about half as much.
- Set a break-even before buying furniture: at 10 occupied months, this house needs about $3,594 a month furnished to match the annual lease.
- Three different day counts apply. Florida lodging law turns on 30 consecutive days, Florida rental tax on six months, and Alabama lodgings tax on 180 days.
- A stay of 30 days or more is not automatically free of licensing, tax, zoning or association rules, so check each one for the actual address.
A furnished rental at $3,000 a month sounds like an easy win over a $2,100 annual lease. It may not be. The owner now pays the power bill, buys the sofa, cleans between stays and carries the house through every empty month.
Here, the same hypothetical house runs both ways. Every rent and expense is an illustration, not market data or a rent estimate, and we make no claim about how many furnished renters any Gulf Coast market has. Document that demand yourself.
Does a furnished mid-term rental keep more cash than an annual lease?
Not automatically, and in our base example it keeps about half as much. The annual lease retains $10,746 a year before the mortgage, while the furnished plan retains $5,700, a difference of $5,046.
By mid-term we mean a furnished stay of roughly 30 days to six months. That is a working label, not a legal one.
The mortgage and big-replacement reserves are left out because they are the same under both plans, and we assume no appreciation. A plan that wins this comparison may still lose money after the loan, which our NOI and cash flow walkthrough shows on this same $2,100 house.
What costs does a furnished rental add?
Five lines change, and all of them are hypothetical for this house:
- Utilities: power, water, internet and trash at $400 a month, paid in every month, occupied or not.
- Turnover: $300 per stay for cleaning and resetting, across four stays.
- Management: 15 percent of collected rent rather than 10 percent, because a manager is finding tenants more often.
- Wear and insurance: repairs of $2,100 rather than $1,500, and insurance of $4,500 rather than $3,900. Quote your own policy, and tell the agent the stay length.
- Furniture: $15,000 to set up, then $1,500 a year to replace what wears out.
Yard care and pest control also move to the owner, at $900 a year in this example. Property tax stays at $4,800 in every column so the comparison stays clean, though your actual bill depends on the parcel and on any exemption you hold.
| Line (annual) | Annual lease | Furnished, conservative | Furnished, base | Furnished, upside |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly rent | $2,100 | $2,800 | $3,000 | $3,400 |
| Occupied months | About 11.4 (5% vacancy) | 8 | 10 | 11 |
| Collected rent | $23,940 | $22,400 | $30,000 | $37,400 |
| Property tax | $4,800 | $4,800 | $4,800 | $4,800 |
| Insurance | $3,900 | $4,500 | $4,500 | $4,500 |
| Management | $2,394 | $3,360 | $4,500 | $5,610 |
| Repairs | $1,500 | $2,100 | $2,100 | $2,100 |
| Yard, pest and miscellaneous | $600 | $900 | $900 | $900 |
| Utilities | $0 (tenant pays) | $4,800 | $4,800 | $4,800 |
| Turnover | $0 | $900 (3 stays) | $1,200 | $1,200 |
| Furniture replacement | $0 | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 |
| Cash retained | $10,746 | Negative $460 | $5,700 | $11,990 |
| Versus annual lease | Not applicable | $11,206 less | $5,046 less | $1,244 more |
Guest taxes do not appear because they are collected and passed on, not earned. The first-year furniture bill is also outside the table, and it matters.
How much rent does the furnished plan need to win?
At 10 occupied months, about $3,594 a month. That is the rent at which the furnished plan matches the annual lease's $10,746, and it is about 71 percent above $2,100. At $3,000, the house would need essentially all 12 months occupied, with no gap between stays.
Self-management narrows the gap without closing it. Take management out of both plans and the annual lease retains $13,140, so the furnished rent needed falls to $3,294 at 10 months, about 57 percent above the annual rent. Your own time then becomes the unpriced cost.
Now add the furniture. The base case's $5,700, less a $15,000 setup, is negative $9,300 in the first year. Even the upside case, which beats the annual lease by $1,244 a year, would take about 12 years to earn back that setup.
What would reverse our answer? A documented furnished rent well above the break-even, a house that already has furniture, or an annual rent so soft that vacancy runs far past 5 percent. Our conclusion belongs to these inputs, not to every house.
What counts as a mid-term rental under Florida lodging law?
Florida's lodging statute does not use the term mid-term, so the first question is whether the unit counts as transient lodging. Section 509.013 covers a unit rented to guests more than three times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 consecutive days, or one advertised as regularly rented that way.
So 28-day stays do not get you out, and neither does an old weekend listing you never took down.
The same section excludes certain condominium units and one- to four-family dwellings that are rented for periods of at least 30 days or 1 calendar month, whichever is less. The unit must not be advertised as regularly rented for less than a month, and no more than four rental units within a single complex can be available.
That exclusion concerns lodging licensing. It does not answer your tax, zoning or association questions, so a longer stay is not a blanket pass. Three separate day counts apply:
| Day count | Where | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| 30 consecutive days | Florida | Whether a unit is transient lodging |
| Longer than 6 months | Florida | Whether state and county rental tax falls away |
| 180 days | Alabama | Whether lodgings tax applies; in Gulf Shores, also a license exemption |
Our short-term rental rules guide covers local rules for Pensacola Beach, Perdido Key and Gulf Shores.
Do you collect tax on a three-month stay in Florida?
Generally yes, because the tax line sits at six months rather than 30 days. Section 212.03 levies 6 percent on the total rental charged, and it does not apply to a person with a bona fide written lease for longer than 6 months for continuous residence.
A single-family house is not outside the statute just because it is not a hotel. Section 212.02 treats every house held out as supplying living quarters for pay to transient or permanent guests or tenants as a roominghouse for that chapter. Confirm your own case with the Department of Revenue.
County tax comes on top. The Department's October 2026 rate list shows Escambia and Santa Rosa at 5 percent and Okaloosa at 6 percent for terms of six months or less, in addition to the state rate and any discretionary surtax.
Before surtax, then, a $3,000 month in Pensacola or Milton carries 11 percent, or $330, and one in Fort Walton Beach carries 12 percent, or $360. Your renter sees a $3,330 or $3,360 bill. That can change the rent the market will bear, and it is why a lease longer than six months deserves a look.
Does Alabama draw the line in a different place?
Yes, at 180 days. The Alabama Department of Revenue describes lodgings tax as applying to accommodations for transients for periods of less than 180 days of continuous occupation, and lists accommodations supplied for 180 continuous days or more as exempt.
In Gulf Shores, the city's lodging tax page lists 16 percent in the corporate limits and 11 percent in the police jurisdiction. Applied to a hypothetical $3,000 month, that is $480 or $330. The page speaks of short-term rentals, so ask how it treats your specific stay length.
Licensing follows a similar line there. The city's rental license page requires rental owners to apply for a business license, but exempts the owner of no more than one unit while it is leased under written agreement for 180 days or more. A 90-day furnished stay falls outside that exemption. Our Gulf Shores and Orange Beach page has more on buying there.
Are your rights different with a guest than with a tenant?
They can be, and the stay length alone may not settle it. Section 83.42 takes transient occupancy in a hotel, condominium, motel, roominghouse or similar public lodging out of Florida's residential tenancy law, and Section 509.013 defines transient occupancy as occupancy that is temporary.
A furnished stay on a written lease may therefore be a tenancy, with the notice and removal process that comes with one. Section 83.57, for example, requires not less than 30 days' notice before the end of a monthly period to end a month-to-month tenancy.
Have a Florida or Alabama attorney draft the lease for the state the house is in. A template written for a vacation rental or a 12-month tenant may not fit a 90-day stay.
How will a lender and the IRS treat the income?
Ask your lender before you count the furnished rent. For a purchase, Fannie Mae's rental topic uses 75 percent of gross rent, supported by a rent schedule. Its short-term rental topic describes rentals typically under 30 consecutive days, on one-unit investment properties, and multiplies the monthly gross rental amount by 50 percent.
The percentages alone show why the label matters. On our rents, 75 percent of $2,100 is $1,575, while 50 percent of $3,000 is $1,500. The bigger rent could qualify for less, and those topics gave us no separate rule for a stay of 30 days or more.
The tax return may change too. IRS Publication 527, the 2025 edition, says substantial services primarily for your tenant's convenience, such as regular cleaning, changing linen or maid service, are reported on Schedule C.
The same publication places furniture used in a residential rental activity in the 5-year property class and says you can't simply deduct the cost of furniture as an expense. So the $15,000 leaves your account at once while the deduction may spread out. Ask a tax professional how this applies to you; this is not tax advice.
What should you check before you buy the furniture?
- Get two rent figures for the same address: an annual rent from current comparable leases, and a furnished rent backed by real, documented bookings or leases.
- Count occupied months honestly, using the gaps between stays and the slow months in your actual area.
- Read the recorded covenants, the condominium or association rules, and the zoning for minimum stay lengths.
- Decide on the stay lengths and keep every listing consistent with them, including any old short-stay advertisements.
- Price all the owner-paid lines: utilities, turnover, management, furniture and a home insurance quote that names the stay length.
- Confirm tax registration, the lease and your lender's treatment of the income before you commit.
- Find your break-even rent and compare it with the documented furnished rent.
For a beach condo with nightly stays, use our vacation rental break-even guide instead. To test real prices, search current listings and run the loan through our rental and mortgage calculators. When you have an address in mind, send us the details and we will build both plans with you before you furnish anything.
Sources
Sources checked November 5, 2026. The rents, costs, occupancy and furniture figures are hypothetical; they are not a rent estimate, a demand forecast, legal advice or tax advice.
- Florida Statutes, Section 509.013: transient and nontransient lodging, the dwelling exclusion and occupancy definitions.
- Florida Statutes, Section 212.03 and Section 212.02: the transient rentals tax and its lodging definitions.
- Florida Department of Revenue, Form DR-15TDT (R. 10/26): county transient rental tax rates.
- Florida Statutes, Section 83.42 and Section 83.57: residential tenancy exclusions and notice.
- Alabama Department of Revenue, lodgings tax: the 180-day rule.
- City of Gulf Shores, lodging tax and rental license: city rates and the license exemption.
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.8-02 and B3-3.8-03: how lenders count rental income.
- IRS Publication 527 (2025): Schedule C services and furniture depreciation.
Frequently asked questions
Is a 30-day furnished rental legal everywhere in Florida?
No state statute answers that for every address. Reaching 30 days affects the state lodging definition, but zoning, your association's documents and local rules can still limit how a property is rented. Read the recorded covenants and the lease restrictions, then ask the city or county about the parcel. Do the same for a condominium before you count on any stay length, because association rules can be stricter than the state's.
Does a three-month furnished lease avoid Florida's rental tax?
No. Section 212.03 excludes a bona fide written lease longer than 6 months for continuous residence, so a three-month stay stays on the taxable side. The Department of Revenue says counties may add local transient rental taxes for terms of six months or less. Ask the Department or a tax professional how an extension, or a lease that ends early, changes your filing.
How much higher does furnished rent need to be than an annual lease?
There is no universal premium, because the answer depends on your costs and your occupied months. In our hypothetical house, a $2,100 annual lease is matched at about $3,594 a month furnished, assuming 10 occupied months and 15 percent management. That is about 71 percent higher. If the owner self-manages both plans, the figure falls to $3,294, which is about 57 percent higher.
Who pays utilities in a mid-term rental?
It depends on the lease. We model the owner paying them every month, including the empty ones, because that is the cautious assumption. In our example, $400 a month comes to $4,800 a year that an annual tenant would have paid directly. If you pass utilities through or cap them, change that line and confirm the arrangement in writing.
Can I count furnished rent when I apply for the loan?
Ask before you rely on it. Fannie Mae's long-term rent topic uses 75 percent of gross rent supported by a rent schedule, and its short-term rental topic uses 50 percent for one-unit investment properties. Those topics did not give us a separate mid-term category, so your lender decides how a furnished stay of 30 days or more is treated. Get that answer in writing early.
Does regular cleaning change how the income is reported?
It can. IRS Publication 527 says that if you provide substantial services primarily for your tenant's convenience, such as regular cleaning, changing linen or maid service, you report the income and expenses on Schedule C. A one-time clean between stays may be a different question from weekly housekeeping, so bring the actual service plan to a tax professional. This article is not tax advice.
Is a mid-term rental the same as a vacation rental?
Not necessarily, but an advertisement can blur the line. Florida's definition of transient lodging reaches a unit rented more than three times a year for less than 30 consecutive days, or one advertised as regularly rented for such periods. A 28-day stay falls under that count. If you list the same house for short stays and long ones, read our short-term rental rules guide first.
Put this guide to work
Send the address, the association documents and your two rent estimates, and we will build both versions with you before you furnish anything.