Buying A Florida Villa

[allie5]

Just wondered if anyone can answer a couple of questions. We are now seriously thinking of investing in a property in Orlando. The dollar is so low that although we werent going to do it for a few years, we think that maybe the time to do it is now. Property prices are soaring in FL, so we dont want to miss out!

My questions are:

Is it better to have a UK mortgage arranged to buy it, and if so, which lenders offer money for foreign properties?? We would prefer to repay in ££ than $$.

Where can I find developments that have propery for sale? After surfing for ages, I can only find old sites, where the property has long been sold.

Apart from the mortgage, what other expenses do we need to consider?? I know we would need a local management agency and there will be pool maintenance and other bills.

In light of the above, does make sense to possibly consider a condo, where there are shared facilites, such as a pool and clubhouse, or is rental income and growth better on a standalone house??

Although we obviously have some "back up" funds, we would be keen to rent the property out for at least 8 months of the year. Is this a feasable goal?? How reliable are the builders that offer you "guaranteed rental income" for a certain amount of time? That sounds far too good to be true??

Thanks if anyone can help.

Allie

 

[Netty]

Hi Allie,
my sis has just bought a condo out there a couple of months ago.
If you want I will pm her email address to you, she should be able to answer some of your questions!!
Jeanette

 

[UKDEB]

Allie

Try iNest.

 

[vernon]

If you have a UK based mortgage you will be in the situation where your earning ( rentals) will mostly be in $ and your expenses will be in £, more importantly your asset and liabilities will also be in differnet currencies. You may be happy to take that currency risk on, but you will be taking a very large punt on what £$ rate will be in the future.

The best way to check out whats for sale in on the Orlando Sentinels home sales pages, although a lot of those are sponsered sites. You really need to set aside time to go and visit the developments yourself during a vacation. When I bought I used Peggy Morris from Premier vacation homes ( http://www.pr-vacation.com ) she was very helpful and kept me in touch with every step of the process. I would happily recommend her services.

Costs you need to take into consideration are power costs ( cooling and pool heating can be expensive) , gardening, pool services, pest control and management costs.

Almost no management company will say they will cover all your costs. They may hint at that, they may say they will cover your mortgage costs ( but omit to mention that is only about 50% of what your total costs are ) . Depending on how much deposit you pay you'll need about 35-40 weeks rental a year to cover your costs. Most rental companies will get you between 25-30 weeks a year. Which means you'll need to be able to find 5-10 weeks private rentals a year. But this is assuming you don't take the house yourself in July,August, Xmas or Easter. It's hard to get rentals in September, November and often the first couple of weeks December. If you'd take the house yourself in those dates it will swing the economic balance in your favour. If you're going school holidays it works against you

 

[stubb]

Hi Allie

My husband is going out on thursday- we have put down a deposit for a condo at Venitian Bay. We first considered doing this 2 years ago but got cold feet. We feel that a condos running costs are less than that of a villa although the rental income may be less.

We also decided to add the mortgage to our main mortgage in the U.k so that we could keep track of the mortgage costs. The down side is by having the mortgage in the U.K the interest paid is not offset against taxes in the U.k.

We found a realator and Jeff will see her on Friday to show him some other properties as well to compare.

If you want to pm me I will let you know how he gets on.

michelle

 

[allie5]

Thanks for the info guys.

Netty, thats kind of you. Will PM you soon!!

Deb, that link is useful...thanks .

Vernon, thanks. Will start looking at the Sentinel ads. I kind of thought that the "guaranteed income" wasnt all it appeared. Cheers for the heads up on that.

Michelle...thanks! We are also considering a condo as the running costs are smaller. We were concerned about the rental income though. Its possible a relative may want to come on aboard as a silent partner, so we will consider our options when they have decided. Will be VERY interested to hear how your hubby gets on. We arent due to go to December, but would like a reliable realtor to show us some properties. If you get on well with yours, maybe I can get the details from you??

Thanks once again.

Allie

Allie

 

[lisag1]

Try this site for all the information you'll need.

http://www.top-forums.com


Please make sure you do your homework though - and don't bank on the guaranteed rental incomes as they're not worth the paper they're written on.

We took the plunge last August and have so far had absolutely no regrets. The business is doing fantastic and we couldn't have asked for a better start but for every positive there is also a lot of negatives just make sure you're 100% positive and that you have enough money behind you should you face rough times and you can't guarantee rental income.


Good luck

Lisa