Vacation rental management in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel
Your Fort Myers house, booked directly, no platform fee.
Canal homes in Cape Coral with a Gulf-access dock, beach houses on Estero Island, the quiet streets off McGregor Boulevard and the islands over the causeway. We are taking on our first Gulf coast homes now and bring the same model we run on the Atlantic side: direct bookings on this site, no platform fee, and one local person who answers every guest.
Free estimate by season. No contract to read first.
Looking for a place to stay in Fort Myers? See the homes.
Taking on homes in Fort Myers now
We are taking on homes in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Fort Myers Beach and on Sanibel and Captiva now. The first houses here get the same treatment as the homes you can see on this site: professional photos, a rate card by season you approve, guests who sign the agreement and pay by card before arrival, and an inspection after every departure clean. Tell us the street and the bedrooms and we will say honestly whether the house is one we can fill.
What could your Fort Myers house earn as a vacation rental?
Pick a size and a cautious number of booked nights. The rates are the real ones from the homes we manage; the fees are the published 2026 numbers for Airbnb and for big-brand managers.
Our 7 homes with 3 bedrooms average about $485 a night across the year, with a 3-night minimum.
Starts at our typical rate for this size. Slide it if you know your house is worth more.
150 nights is about 40% occupancy, a cautious year for a well-kept house on this coast.
We block these on the calendar before anything else.
Estimated rent a year, before cleaning fees and tax
$72,750
150 nights at $485. Where it goes depends on who runs the house:
- You, on Airbnb$61,474 to you
Minus $11,276 platform fee at 15.5%, plus roughly 120 to 240 hours of your year answering messages, arranging cleans and handing over keys.
- A big-brand management company$50,925 to $58,200
Typical full-service fees run 20 to 30% of rent, often on top of the platforms they list you on.
- With Florida Luxury Rentals$72,750 to you
Guests book direct on this site, so no platform takes a cut. The rate card is agreed with you, and the figure you agree is the figure you receive. Our agent confirms the numbers for your house on the call. Your time: a phone call now and then.
These numbers are approximate, not a quote. Every house is different, and what yours earns depends on its size, location, condition and the season.
Rates are averages from the homes on this site; platform and manager fees are the published 2026 figures. Cleaning fees and Florida tourist tax are paid by guests on top.
What a house earns here
For context, Airbtics put the typical Fort Myers short-term rental at about $27,000 a year with a $122 average nightly rate and 60% occupancy for August 2023 to July 2024, blended across every listing type from studios up. Canal homes with a dock and houses near the beach sit well above that median. Airbtics, Fort Myers annual revenue data.
What a year looks like for one owner on this coast: My experience owning a waterfront vacation rental in Fort Lauderdale.
Renting a house in Fort Myers: the steps, in the order the city wants them
The licence, the tax accounts and the city certificate are in your name. The paperwork, the inspection and the monthly filings are ours to keep straight.
1. State vacation rental licence (DBPR)
Required once a home is rented more than three times a year for stays under 30 days, or advertised that way. $170 a year plus a $50 application fee and a $10 education fee for a single home. Cape Coral asks for it before it will issue its own receipt.
What we do: We fill in the application with you. The licence stays in your name.
2. Florida sales tax account (DOR)
Stays of six months or less carry 6% state sales tax plus Lee County's 0.5% surtax, 6.5% in all.
What we do: Collected from the guest at booking and filed on the monthly return.
3. Lee County tourist development tax and business tax receipt
Lee County charges a 5% tourist development tax on every stay of six months or less, filed with the Clerk of Court: due on the 1st, late after the 20th, a return required even for a month with no rentals, and a late penalty of at least $50. A Lee County business tax receipt is needed alongside it.
What we do: We register the house with the Clerk, collect the tax at booking and file every month, including the zero months.
4. City registration: Cape Coral, Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel or Fort Myers
Cape Coral registers every short-term rental at $350 a year from 1 January 2026, with a business tax receipt on top, a named contact over 18 reachable around the clock, and fines of $500 then $1,000. Fort Myers Beach registers each unit at $400 a year, renewed every December, with a contact who can act within one hour and the registration number on every advert. Sanibel licenses short-term rentals through its business tax receipt. The City of Fort Myers has no registration programme that we have found; its residential districts are written for month-to-month occupancy and longer, so we check the zoning of the house first.
What we do: Our agent prepares the registration in your name, is the round-the-clock contact the towns require, and keeps the renewal dates. The calendar does not open to guests until the house is registered.
What a guest pays on top of the rent in Lee County: 11.5% in total, 6% state sales tax, 0.5% county surtax and 5% Lee County tourist development tax. Collected at booking, never out of what you receive.
Fees and rules checked October 2026 from Lee County Clerk, Tourist Development Tax, City of Cape Coral, rental property registration, Town of Fort Myers Beach, short-term rentals and Florida DBPR, vacation rental licence fees. They change from time to time; we confirm the current ones for your house before you sign anything.
Where in Fort Myers we take houses
Two to six bedrooms, a pool, and either water or a short walk to the sand. These are the streets that book.
Cape Coral canals
Four hundred miles of canals; the Gulf-access streets in the southwest and south-east Cape book first. A dock without a fixed bridge between you and the river is the thing a boating family pays for.
Fort Myers Beach and Estero Island
Beach houses and rebuilt cottages from the pier to the south end. The town registers every rental and expects a contact who can be at the house within the hour.
McGregor Boulevard and the river
The old royal-palm streets from downtown to the Edison and Ford estates, with pool homes a short drive to the beaches and the causeway.
Sanibel and Captiva
Low, wild islands with the best shelling in the country. Rules run by zoning district and by island, and the season books a year ahead.
Fort Myers and the Caloosahatchee
River-front streets and the downtown River District, with marinas and spring-training crowds in March.
Three ways to rent a house in Fort Myers
Do it yourself on the platforms, hand it to a national management brand, or work with one person who knows the coast.
| Yourself on Airbnb or Vrbo | A national management brand | Florida Luxury Rentals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform fee on every booking | 15.5% Airbnb, 8% Vrbo | Usually, plus their fee | None, guests book here |
| Who answers the guest at 9 pm | You | A call centre | Our agent |
| Open to owners | It is your house | By arrangement | Always, just tell us your dates |
| You approve the rate card | Yes | No | Yes |
| Someone local who has seen the house | Yes | No | Yes |
| Cleaning, keys and small repairs arranged | No | Yes | Yes |
| Your own dates blocked first | Yes | Limited | Yes |
| Help with licence and tourist tax paperwork | No | Sometimes | Yes |
| Your hours a month | 10 to 20 | 1 or 2 | 1 or 2 |
Platform and manager figures are the published 2026 rates. Hours are from host surveys and vary with occupancy.
Questions Fort Myers owners ask
Are short-term rentals allowed in Fort Myers and Cape Coral?
Yes. Florida law stops cities from limiting how often or how long a home is let, so the towns regulate what they may: registration, a round-the-clock contact, occupancy, parking and noise. Cape Coral and Fort Myers Beach both register rentals; the City of Fort Myers has no registration programme we have found, and we check the zoning district of a house there before quoting. An HOA or condo association can still say no, and we read those documents first.
You have no homes on the Gulf coast yet. Why would I be first?
Because the first houses get the most attention. Our agent sets the rate card with you from the Atlantic homes' numbers and the local season, photographs the house, and books it directly here with no platform fee from day one. You see every rate and every booking in the owner portal, and if the house is not one we can fill we say so on the first call.
What does a house here earn?
We do not have Gulf coast rate cards to show yet, so we will not invent a number. The published market figure for Fort Myers is below, blended across every listing type, and canal homes with a dock and beach houses sit well above it. Tell us the street and the bedrooms and you get an estimate by season for your house.
What do guests pay in tax?
11.5% on top of the rent: 6% state sales tax, 0.5% Lee County surtax and 5% county tourist tax. We collect it at booking and file the monthly return with the Clerk, and the state licence renews every year.
When is the season on this coast?
January through Easter, with the Red Sox and the Twins in town for spring training in March and the Christmas fortnight priced on its own. Summer is green, quiet and cheaper, and most houses take monthly lets then.
Who looks after the house between guests?
Our agent and the same small local team who look after every home we manage. The house is inspected after every departure clean, guests send photo ID and sign the agreement before paying, and when something is wrong someone is there within the hour, which Cape Coral and Fort Myers Beach both require of a rental anyway.
More answers for the whole coast on the owner page. Keeping the house for yourself? Home Watch checks on it while you are away.
Get the number for your Fort Myers house
The street, the bedrooms, whether it is on the water. Our agent comes back with estimated rates by season, what you would receive, and an honest read on the city registration for your house.
- Call or text
- (954) 240-1891