Any Vacation Home Owners Out There?

[BellyBaby]

Hi fellow Canucks,

Wondering if anyone has taken the plunge and taken advantage of the low real estate prices down in Florida.

My dream is to own a pool home down there, use once a year, and rent out the rest of the time.

My big question is this: is anyone brave enough to go without a management company? I hear they can take a big chunk out of your income. Does anyone just have a very reliable cleaning service they can recommend?

Anyone have any regrets? Do you get to write off your trips for maintenance duties?

Help me convince my husband this is a good idea. We're about 15 years away from retirement (hopefully) and want to have a plan in place now.

Thanks guys!

 

[sean-1966]

We were looking at it a while ago. Traded e-mails with this company over several months. Came close but just couldn't get over the hump. Love our DVC too much. Give them a holler for more info.


http://www.floridian-homes.com/

 

[Ham Ham]

E-mail this guy and ask him. He has done it for years. Has a nice condo in a complex just a couple of miles west on 192 from WDW.

http://www.floridaxyz.com/

 

[disneynovic]

We would also love to do this, and have been actively looking. Our only draw back, is that as a non-resident you pay double the property taxes. The Star had a good section a few weeks ago about buying vacation properties. You may be able to search it online.
Let us know what you find out!

 

[Bushmills]

My wife and I purchased a vacation home in Southern Dunes in 2005 (yes, at the height of the real estate bubble - gotta love hindsight!), and have learned A LOT in the process! At this point, I could write a book about every facet about the concept - from purchasing, to mortgages, to taxes, to mgmnt companies, etc. I'd be more than happy to share our experiences and education with anyone who's currently thinking about doing this.

Some brief points to answer your questions:
1. Unless you are ONLY planning to rent to family and friends, I would highly recommend getting a property manager. Many times extemporaneous problems arise while guests are in the house (cable goes out, lights burn out, a/c fails, etc). These situation typically occur during off hours (that's when people are physically in the home), so unless you want calls at all hours, and have an emergency contact down there to liaise with, the property manager is the way to go, even solely for this reason. Bear in mind though that there are MANY unscrupulous companies who just want your money and will take what they can get without giving back. After being burned ourselves, we've found a company whom we can actually say we trust.

2. Regrets to own a piece of paradise? Never. A LOT of learning though - invaluable learning that I wouldn't trade for the world (considering we're in the planning stages of opening our own property mgmnt company down there).

3. Yes, you can "write off" any expense that relates to your home (or business). Air tickets, items for the home, interest on your mortgage, printers used to create brochures, etc. You declare these items to the IRS, which typically results in a loss. This investment "loss" is then parlayed to the CCRA tax return, whereby you qualify for a credit.

4. Disneynovic - yes and no on your statement. Property taxes aren't neccessarily double for us, though there is a caveat - As a Canadian, we don't "homestead", or live in our florida property. This allows the tax dep't to assees our property's value yearly and increase (or decrease) our taxes without limit. Homesteader's taxes can only increase a small percentage, whereas our's has no limits. So yes, in recent years with the housing market rise, we faced significant tax increases (which we can write off), but in the past year, we've also seen a drop.

I hope this provides some insight. I would be more than happy to help in any way I can if you have more questions - please just let me know.
Cheers.

 

[BellyBaby]

Thanks everyone, and special thanks bushmills, I made dh read your post.

I'll definately take you up on your offer soon for more info. So much research and planning has been taking place, now that it's getting close to action time, it's intimidating. Buying a house on your own soil is scary, never mind one that's miles away.

Now I just need the dollar to recover!

 

[Bushmills]

Thanks everyone, and special thanks bushmills, I made dh read your post.

I'll definately take you up on your offer soon for more info. So much research and planning has been taking place, now that it's getting close to action time, it's intimidating. Buying a house on your own soil is scary, never mind one that's miles away.

Now I just need the dollar to recover!

You're very welcome - I hope I was able to help in some small way. Let me know anytime you have questions - I'd be more than happy to help (either here or through IM, or anythhing that's convenient for you). There are many pitfalls out there, and if I can help you avoid even a few that we've fallen in, I'd be more than happy. Depending on how much you're looking to put down, many US banks won't even look at you, so if you haven't already tackled this hurdle, get ready - it's truly the "wildest ride in the wilderness" (sorry Big Thunder Mtn).

You're absolutely right - it is VERY intimidating buying a second home that's in different country and hundreds of miles away, but there are some really good times associated with the purchase too. You should have seen the look in my wife's face when I handed her $10,000 and said, "let's go furnish our new home"!
Cheers!

 

[bluenosemickey]

We went down on a hunting trip last fall. The dollar topped out at $1.10 while were there! We thought long and hard about it and decided to compromise with buying into DVC.

Don't regret buying that for a minute.

We might look at buying property again sometime, but not just now. I don't think the slide in real estate prices is over yet in the US so there will be many bargains to come. You just have to have your homework done in order to take advantage of a good opportunity.