Property Management in Gulfport, FL

Gulfport is a small city of about twelve thousand people on Boca Ciega Bay, wrapped almost entirely by St. Petersburg, with a waterfront district of galleries and restaurants and a housing stock of older bungalows and mid-century houses. It is unlike anywhere else we manage, and the difference that matters to a landlord is that it regulates more than its neighbors do.

What houses rent for in Gulfport

Single-family houses in Gulfport rent for about $2,349 a month, with the median across all property types nearer $2,250, townhouses lower, and condos lower still.

Gulfport is small enough that a citywide figure covers relatively few houses, so treat it as a starting point rather than a comparison. The character of the street does a lot here: a restored bungalow two blocks from the waterfront district and a 1960s block house closer to the boulevard sit in different markets despite sharing a city of two square miles.

Our guide to how much rent you can get in Tampa Bay walks through the same work you can do yourself first.

Managing rentals in the Waterfront District, Pasadena Isle, and Gulfport's other areas

• The Waterfront and Marina districts, walkable, the strongest demand and the shortest vacancies.
• Pasadena Isle, on the water, the top of the market.
• The Town Shores area, condominiums rather than houses, with the building's own documents deciding most of it.
• The Stetson area, near the law school, older and more affordable.
• The Gulfport Boulevard corridor, the mid-market of the city.

Gulfport can restrict short-term rentals, and most Florida cities cannot

This is the reason this page exists, and it is worth understanding before you plan around any short-term income.

Florida has preempted most local regulation of vacation rentals. A city generally cannot ban them outright and generally cannot regulate how long or how often people stay. The exception is ordinances that were already on the books when the state took the power away, which survive.

Gulfport has an ordinance. Under the city's code, a property rented for periods of less than 30 days more than three times in a 12-month period is a short-term rental. And Gulfport's zoning code works by listing permitted uses, so a use that is not listed for your district is not allowed in it. The practical effect is that short-term rental is confined to particular districts rather than available citywide.

For a landlord the consequences are simple and worth respecting.

Do not assume the state preemption protects you here. The advice you will read about Florida cities being unable to restrict short-term rentals does not describe Gulfport.

The answer depends on your zoning district, not on your street's reputation. Two houses a few blocks apart can sit in different districts. What the neighbors do is not evidence of what you may do.

Confirm with the city in writing before you list. Not with a management company, not with a platform, and not with us repeating a page we wrote. Ask the city about your address.

Separately from permission, there is tax. A rental of six months or less is taxed as a transient rental in Florida, and in Pinellas that comes to 13 percent. Our Clearwater page works through that in detail, and it applies to a Gulfport address the same way.

We manage annual leases. If what you are exploring is short-term, this page is the warning rather than the offer.

A small city with its own everything

Gulfport runs its own city government, its own zoning, and its own code enforcement inside two square miles, entirely surrounded by a much larger city. For an owner that means the answer to almost any regulatory question is Gulfport's rather than St. Petersburg's or the county's, even when your mail, your neighbors, and your habits all point the other way.

If you are still deciding whether to rent at all, our guide on renting out your house or selling it runs the numbers both ways, and if this is your first rental, the accidental landlord's guide is the place to start.