Reunion Resort

dragitoff · Jul 31, 2015

I'm looking into investing into a vacation home in Reunion Resort. I was curious for those who have stayed there or especially any locals, how the area is. I've stayed at Windsor Hills a few times, but it's been a while so I'm not sure how much the area has changed. Other than that, I'm not overly familiar with the area other than the general location and proximity to the parks.

I was also curious how the actual resort is. The pictures look very nice and it seems to have plenty to do, but I know they always put the highlights on any website/advertisement.

Thanks in advance for the feedback!

2Gma · Jul 31, 2015

We have stayed there in a condo 3 separate times in 2011, 2013, 2015. Obviously we enjoy it there

I feel the website gives a pretty accurate description (we used their promo web video as a basis for booking the 1st time) We have always booked our stay through vrbo.com because the rates are much more affordable than booking through Reunion directly. The grounds are beautiful, the buildings are well maintained and it is quiet. There are lots of different "areas" to chose to live/stay some nicer than others but none are too shabby! The golf courses look amazing but we aren't golfers. Right across the street is a small strip mall with Public, McDonalds, CVS, etc. It is a quick on/off for I-4, 10 min to Disney, 20-25 min to Universal, 30 to airport. Championsgate resort is a short 3 min drive.

Dave1234 · Aug 1, 2015

This may be of use:

http://www.reunionprivaterentals.com/reunion-resort/communities/

Reunion is large and multi-community rather than being one single gated community. It's beautiful and higher standard than other resorts. Probably appeals to more international vacationers.

DanInMN · Aug 2, 2015

Don't set your expectations too high for a financial return on your investment. The Disney area is overbuilt so rents are low, but costs are high (ie: association fees and taxes).

Also, the first time we stayed at Reunion, in around 2006, the unit we were in was selling for $400,000+. I don't remember the association fee, but it seemed very high at the time. A few years later at the bottom of the recession you could buy it for <$80,000.

dragitoff · Aug 3, 2015

DanInMN said:
Don't set your expectations too high for a financial return on your investment. The Disney area is overbuilt so rents are low, but costs are high (ie: association fees and taxes).

Also, the first time we stayed at Reunion, in around 2006, the unit we were in was selling for $400,000+. I don't remember the association fee, but it seemed very high at the time. A few years later at the bottom of the recession you could buy it for <$80,000.

If we decide to do this, we're going with a large home to cater to larger groups/families and people with higher disposable incomes. It's a larger investment up front; however that target demo seems to be a little more recession proof.

I appreciate all the awesome feedback so far though! Reunion was a new area for us, but we've done Windsor Hills a few times and Acadia (I think that was the name) once.

HeatherL1985 · Aug 4, 2015

Double check the houseguest registration/pool setup. It seems they recently changed the access and fees related to certain pools.

Woodview · Aug 4, 2015

Do you want an honest opinion .... that might upset you. ?

Do not BUY . unless you wish to keep throwing money into a bottomless well.

Look up the number of Villas for sail .... and see for yourself.

Now Think .... Hard

You have say $ 400,00 Plus in your " Hand " ( Low price )

How many trips to Florida will you make with this money ?

Staying in different Villas .... Without paying annual Property Tax . Insurance, Cable TV, Home Owners association Fees,

Replacement for A/C unit , pool Equipment , ETC ,Etc.

dragitoff · Aug 4, 2015

Woodview said:
Do you want an honest opinion .... that might upset you. ?

Do not BUY . unless you wish to keep throwing money into a bottomless well.

Look up the number of Villas for sail .... and see for yourself.

Now Think .... Hard

You have say $ 400,00 Plus in your " Hand " ( Low price )

How many trips to Florida will you make with this money ?

Staying in different Villas .... Without paying annual Property Tax . Insurance, Cable TV, Home Owners association Fees,

Replacement for A/C unit , pool Equipment , ETC ,Etc.

I appreciate your comment and I ask this question, not in a sarcastic manner, but as an honest question...Have you invested into one of these properties or is that comment based on an observation/opinion only?

Woodview · Aug 4, 2015

Yes we have a 5 bed ... 4 bath villa for the last 15 years . not in Reunion but on Hwy 27.

Paid $ 220,000 for it via a US mortgage .... over 30 years. ... luckily paid it off ,early, 5 years ago,

If we had not paid it off ... I would not be on this forum .... as I would be trying to find ways to pay the monthly payments.

The Price of the villa rose to about $ 400,000 in around 2012... but now back to $ 250,000

Check out your outgoings every month .... Sellers will give you B..S.... if they feel that they can get away with it.

The Guests ...... Do Not pay for electricity usage .... So sometimes the A/C is COOLING Florida when they leave

windows & doors open...... they dont care ... they wish to be cool .

dragitoff · Aug 5, 2015

Woodview said:
Yes we have a 5 bed ... 4 bath villa for the last 15 years . not in Reunion but on Hwy 27.

Paid $ 220,000 for it via a US mortgage .... over 30 years. ... luckily paid it off ,early, 5 years ago,

If we had not paid it off ... I would not be on this forum .... as I would be trying to find ways to pay the monthly payments.

The Price of the villa rose to about $ 400,000 in around 2012... but now back to $ 250,000

Check out your outgoings every month .... Sellers will give you B..S.... if they feel that they can get away with it.

The Guests ...... Do Not pay for electricity usage .... So sometimes the A/C is COOLING Florida when they leave

windows & doors open...... they dont care ... they wish to be cool .

Thank you for your help! The route we're looking into is a different route, as I agree the villas are a saturated market in the area. We're looking at going with a larger home that sleeps 20 or more so it will cater to large groups. That market seems to be less saturated; although a little smaller demo also. I've had a few different, trusted financial advisers run the numbers and all have come back with similar, positive feedback. We would also be using a management company. I know that's more $ out of my pocket, but it could be a net savings since they can help police usages and such.

ArwenMarie · Aug 5, 2015

I have thoughts on buying vacation homes in general, having been burned on one ourselves (not in Florida). Hope it's ok to post our mistakes here.

First up, we couldn't afford to pay for it all in cash and had a mortgage. Big mistake. Putting aside people who do real estate as their main business, real estate investment is great for people who have so much cash that they are literally looking for places to put it (for tax reasons, there is a lot you can do with real estate).

It cost way more in maintenance than we could have ever imagined. Way more. There were things popping up left and right. Ditto for utilities.

We got bored going to the same place, year after year after year. At the time, we were in love. But alas, it faded. For us, it meant we could never go anywhere else because we couldn't justify a trip anywhere else when we were dumping all of this money into the house.

I think the biggest thing is to be ok with never being able to sell it again. Seriously. We got out of ours at a loss and we were HAPPY, just to get rid of the payments and maintenance. This was four years ago, and there are still houses for sale in that development that were for sale when we were trying to unload ours.

Not to discourage you, just food for thought. Good luck!

Woodview · Aug 5, 2015

So you are willing to spend over a " million dollars " ( $ 1,000,000 )

for a villa that will sleep " 20 " that would be a 9 + bed villa.

( At least 40 showers a day .. + 40 towel wash & dryer , And at least 3 Dishwasher runs a day )

GO AND LOOK UP steve@TDFlorida.com ..... Team Donovan Orlando

OR steve.silcock@bardellrealestate.com ................ Steve Silcock Market Community Report

Please Please Check these out ...... before doing anything hasty.

Then Go and Visit the area & ASK questions & Visit Estate Agents ( !PG Vacation Homes on Hwy 192 just before it joins

Hwy 27 is one that comes to mind )

JimMIA · Aug 5, 2015

I considered something similar a few years ago, but decided against it. I did the same run-through with financial advisors, but the problem with them is that they personally had never owned a property bought primarily to rent out. So they made assumptions based on their research, and ran the numbers -- but they didn't know what they were doing. I ran the numbers myself (and I'm good with numbers) and got the same positive prediction. But something didn't feel like a good fit, so I didn't do it. And I'm glad I didn't.

The experiences of the two posters above are only anecdotal, of course, but so are the calculations of your financial advisors and mine. So who do we believe -- those who have actually TRIED it with their own money, or us geniuses with our spreadsheets?

You might ask your financial advisors if they want a piece of the action with their own money -- say 40%?

dragitoff · Aug 6, 2015

ArwenMarie said:
I have thoughts on buying vacation homes in general, having been burned on one ourselves (not in Florida). Hope it's ok to post our mistakes here.

First up, we couldn't afford to pay for it all in cash and had a mortgage. Big mistake. Putting aside people who do real estate as their main business, real estate investment is great for people who have so much cash that they are literally looking for places to put it (for tax reasons, there is a lot you can do with real estate).

It cost way more in maintenance than we could have ever imagined. Way more. There were things popping up left and right. Ditto for utilities.

We got bored going to the same place, year after year after year. At the time, we were in love. But alas, it faded. For us, it meant we could never go anywhere else because we couldn't justify a trip anywhere else when we were dumping all of this money into the house.

I think the biggest thing is to be ok with never being able to sell it again. Seriously. We got out of ours at a loss and we were HAPPY, just to get rid of the payments and maintenance. This was four years ago, and there are still houses for sale in that development that were for sale when we were trying to unload ours.

Not to discourage you, just food for thought. Good luck!

Fortunately, we will be able to pay cash and have money to invest. This was one of the many various options we looked at for investments. I think the comment for going to the same place is a great comment I hadn't previously thought of. That's something new to consider when weighing out the options. Thank you for your comments and certainly appreciate the well wishes.

Woodview said:
So you are willing to spend over a " million dollars " ( $ 1,000,000 )

for a villa that will sleep " 20 " that would be a 9 + bed villa.

( At least 40 showers a day .. + 40 towel wash & dryer , And at least 3 Dishwasher runs a day )

GO AND LOOK UP steve@TDFlorida.com ..... Team Donovan Orlando

OR steve.silcock@bardellrealestate.com ................ Steve Silcock Market Community Report

Please Please Check these out ...... before doing anything hasty.

Then Go and Visit the area & ASK questions & Visit Estate Agents ( !PG Vacation Homes on Hwy 192 just before it joins

Hwy 27 is one that comes to mind )

I will definitely check out those links and appreciate you providing them!

JimMIA said:
I considered something similar a few years ago, but decided against it. I did the same run-through with financial advisors, but the problem with them is that they personally had never owned a property bought primarily to rent out. So they made assumptions based on their research, and ran the numbers -- but they didn't know what they were doing. I ran the numbers myself (and I'm good with numbers) and got the same positive prediction. But something didn't feel like a good fit, so I didn't do it. And I'm glad I didn't.

The experiences of the two posters above are only anecdotal, of course, but so are the calculations of your financial advisors and mine. So who do we believe -- those who have actually TRIED it with their own money, or us geniuses with our spreadsheets?

You might ask your financial advisors if they want a piece of the action with their own money -- say 40%?

Fortunately, our primary adviser does invest in vacation real estate property and understands some of the headaches, hidden costs, and risks associated with them. He also sees the benefits to them as well. I agree that real world experience is greater than number crunching; however we're also comparing apples and oranges in some of these cases. Home owners promoting their homes through independent sites like VRBO vs. through an established management company. Smaller townhomes vs. larger luxury homes. Older neighborhoods vs. newer ones. There are many factors in determining whether or not this is a good investment, and I do appreciate ALL feedback received on it, good, bad or indifferent. Please keep it coming folks! :teeth:

Woodview · Aug 9, 2015

Any Up date on your Thoughts ?

dragitoff · Aug 10, 2015

Woodview said:
Any Up date on your Thoughts ?

I have a meeting scheduled in a few weeks to head down to the area and check things out. I read the real estate reports you suggested and the re-sale values and avg. days on the market was not actually bad when considering an "out" if the investment goes bad. I genuinely do appreciate the input and I hope none of my comments came off as dismissive or rude.

DanInMN · Aug 29, 2015

It is a terrible idea.

1. Rents are low in Orlando because the area is way overbuilt
2. Local management, cleaning fees, repairs will eat you alive
3. Local property taxes are high, and growing rapidly
4. Association fees in Reunion are astronomical
5. High-end renters will expect golf membership and water park membership, which ill cost you even more
6. Appreciation? Maybe, maybe not... in FL it's a lot like gambling

We own a vacation home that we rented out for about 5 years. It paid operating expenses, but nothing left over for return on investment (or payments, which fortunately we don't have). We no longer bother to rent it out. We just pay expenses out of our checkbook, as the wear-and-tear and hassle is not worth it.

Reunion Resort

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