Buying a Villa

[T16GEM]

Hi all!
I know this has been asked before but I can't find any on the posts through search, so forgive me!

DH and I are looking at buying a villa in Orlando. And I was just wondering if I could get some advice from other villa / condo owners out there.

I don't really have a list of questions but just wondered if you could maybe post or PM me with how you went about it, where your property is etc and your views, how you got on etc etc.

We would be looking to rent it out but don't for one moment think that we would make any profit from it.

Thanks guys
Gems

 

[PoppyAnna]

We've been toying with this idea for a while too and are looking at buying a 3BD 3BR Windsor Hills townhouse. We have given this some serious thought in recents weeks and are in the process of researching costings etc.
Obviously Florida prices are really favourable at the moment that combined with the current improving exchange rate we see it mainly as an investment with a holiday thrown in once a year, or so.

I would also love the [honest] views of a UK based vacation home owner

I want to manage the rentals myself and do my own website, we just want to use a management company for keys, cleaning and maintenance etc.

Throughout all our searches Gem we have found this website to be really up to date and useful (information on running costs etc). You have to register with them but I haven't been bombared with spam, I get an email from them every now and then.

Good luck Gem

 

[T16GEM]

We've been toying with this idea for a while too and are looking at buying a 3BD 3BR Windsor Hills townhouse. We have given this some serious thought in recents weeks and are in the process of researching costings etc.
Obviously Florida prices are really favourable at the moment that combined with the current improving exchange rate we see it mainly as an investment with a holiday thrown in once a year, or so.

I would also love the [honest] views of a UK based vacation home owner

I want to manage the rentals myself and do my own website, we just want to use a management company for keys, cleaning and maintenance etc.

Throughout all our searches Gem we have found this website to be really up to date and useful (information on running costs etc). You have to register with them but I haven't been bombared with spam, I get an email from them every now and then.

Good luck Gem

That's what we want to do too, I already manage the website for our shop so I know what I am doing with that side of things. We have been looking at a 4bed 3bath.
Thanks for the link too I think I will register with them!

Good luck to you too!
(shelby asked for this smilie)

 

[brer_rabbit]

Hey both

My parents have a house in Bradenton, south of Tampa which they bought 7 years ago. They used to rent it out long term through a company (not allowed holiday rentals as it's a residential area) which gave them a little bit of income but at the moment it sits empty apart from when they visit. They're counting down to 2011 when they can retire out there

One thing to consider is the maintainance costs which you will have - dad pays average £400 a month on bills, state taxes, communual gardeners etc. They have a lady who goes in every 10 days to check over everything, sort out the post and generally keep an eye on things (like the air conditioning which broke last week ). Her husband has a team who put up hurricane shutters on the windows - it costs something like $150 but luckily in 7 years they've only had to do it twice.

The street the house is in is a maintained one so all your gardening etc is done as part of the costs which saves the hassle of employing someone. It also means the neighbours are in a similar situation which is a great way to make friends.

In terms of choosing where to buy they did their research before we went over there - they'd ruled out Orlando because they wanted to be near the sea. We took a last minute 1 week holiday in 2002 just for house hunting (ok so they went house hunting, i got dropped off at theme parks each morning! ) I think they only viewed 3 or 4 communities but that was because they knew exactly what they wanted and to be honest they're all pretty similar from what I saw.

Good luck with your search! It sounds like you both know what sort of place you're after. I have to say there's nothing like being in the house and feeling like you're at home - only its a home in Florida

 

[aaronandterri]

hi#
thats our plan this year too, ill get hubby to send you some links later.
theres a lot of bank owned stuff out there if your not looking for finance over there and can pay cash, if u need a us morgage most places need at least 30 % or more deposit.
Best to look at the more popular developments some of the smaller ones are less occupied most of the year and have terrible crime there.

terri x

 

[aaronandterri]

theres a lot more villa owners on the dibb that will point you in the right direction.
lol maybe well go halfs and buy a big one! x

 

[wilma-bride]

We considered villa ownership when DH got made redundant and we were looking to invest his settlement in a property abroad. When we weighted up the pros and cons, though, we decided against it. You have been given some good advice and, as others have said, it can work but it's best to weigh up the options and consider things like maintenance and additional costs and also whether you will still be able to afford to pay for it even if you can't rent it out.

What clinched it for us was that, on one of our trips to Disney, we had massive problems with the sink/waste pipes in our room at the Boardwalk which took literally days to fix. We were lucky in that it was Disney's responsibility and we were able to go our own way and leave them to it (and they compensated us well for the inconvenience). All we could think about,t hough, was that if it was our own property, we would have had to put our holiday on hold to get it sorted and all the cost and associated hassle would have been ours to bear. Not something we really wanted to do hence why we ended up investing some of the money in DVC and the rest in our house at home.

Good luck with whatever you decide and let us know how you get on

 

[Pegasus928]

We considered this a couple of years ago - and still haven't totally ruled it out.
The best bit of advice I ever read was to only do it if you can afford to leave it stood empty. If you need the income from renting to be able to afford the villa in the first place then you will be dissappointed, as a lot of people this past year or two have found out to their cost.