So, read all the posts, and I have a couple of points (consider this, I am a licensed tax attorney - and this is very complicated stuff). that said, I rented my house in Rockport for a number of years and did so without the use of a service, as - at least for me - if you pay 20% of gross for that service your rental business becomes uneconomic quite quickly. But be very careful, as if you rent short term in Rockport, Aransas County, Texas - you have three reporting and tax considerations, and failure to do so will create headaches beyond belief, exorbitant penalties... I do not have the correct names for these taxing jurisdictions off the top of my head but if you do some research you can find them.... first, there is a Rockport Occupancy Tax, Second there is an Aransas County tax and third there is a Texas Hotel tax - all three combined account for about a 15% hit on your gross rental income (e.g., you are taxed before any reduction for the 20% service fee). So if you want to make $100 per night (just using $100 as an example number), in order to get $100 in hand before paying the 20% fee, you need to charge your renter's $115/night - but that amount needs to be further grossed up if you use a service because you've also just increased your service fee from $20 (20% of $100) to $23 (which is 20% of $115). Couple other points, besides your possible HOA restrictions on renting - consider your mortgage, because many/most residential mortgage docs prohibit the lender from renting; now that may not be a worry for some, "what they don't know won't hurt them" but for some (me) that is not the way to stay licensed, and a lender is likely to charge another 1/2% for rental property mortgages... Same applies to your insurance carrier.... if a renter burns your place to the ground, and your policy doesn't cover renters you are SOL! All that said, I rented my house several weekends a year - just enough to make enough to cover my property taxes, and insurance. Don't let anyone fool you, you generally cannot take losses beyond simply offsetting your rental income from being taxed - because that is not the way passive loss limitation rules work.... I was fortunate in that I vetted my renters considerably before hand to make sure I was somewhat protected, and always made sure I had $250 of security deposit in hand (cashed check) before I gave any access, and if I was even a bit concerned, I said "no" - and took considerable chit for that on occasion. happy to answer more questions.