Investment opportunities

monica9

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 3, 2011
Hi. Looking into an investment opportunity in Orlando area and need some help. We are looking to buy a condo or something we can rent out to families for a vacation and no idea where to start. Any threads or sites you suggest? Any specific area you suggest? Are there condos at resort facilities we can buy?
thanks for the help
 
Hi. Looking into an investment opportunity in Orlando area and need some help. We are looking to buy a condo or something we can rent out to families for a vacation and no idea where to start. Any threads or sites you suggest? Any specific area you suggest? Are there condos at resort facilities we can buy?
thanks for the help
There are thousands of rental properties in the Orlando area. Many of them are managed by large property management companies for absentee owners and many are managed by individual owners.

How much do you know about real estate investing vacation rentals? If you don't know anything, I would start by researching property investing in general. Bigger Pockets is a website and youtube channel with lots of information.

I would then visit Orlando and stay in few rentals to understand the product you are trying to invest in. Meet with some real estate agents. Meet some property managers.

Studying up and doing research will keep you from losing a bundle of money.
 
Here are some old threads on this board about the subject. I'm no expert for sure, but know I have always been able to rent in the Orlando area cheaper than any other vacation area I have gone to in terms of quality for the price. To me the area has always seemed overbuilt which would concern me as an owner/investor.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/any-vacation-home-owners.3673669/
https://www.disboards.com/threads/buying-a-vacation-home-in-florida.3607833/#post-57668914
If you are renting a vacation condo too, you would be competing with timeshare rentals too. People have overpaid for these timeshares and rent many of these for not much above their annual maintenance fees, and although this is a higher rental price than what condos rent for in communities like Windor Hills, as a vacation renter I go for these timeshare rentals a lot as I really like the resort feel for these places (prefer them to a Windor Hill type community, unless I want a large house with everyone under one roof) and can rent a two or three bedroom condo for the same price as a Disney value room.
 
Last edited:
Thank you both for the information. I will definitely be looking more in to it. We definitely don’t want to purchase a timeshare as we’d like to rent it out for more than a week a year and maybe one day be snow birds. Thanks for the info.
 


We stayed at the Regal Palms recently and had a great time. We got the whole 4br townhouse for $500 for 3 nights at the end of June. Lazy river with bar managed by resort management. Individual units managed by whichever management company you hire I think...
The unit was dated but clean and in good repair. Cable, WiFi included.
 
I too have been thinking and looking into an investment condo in Orlando area. Was thinking of vacation rentals but am leaning now towards short/long term rental. Being a total newbie in this and pretty reserved for this sort of thing I want to be cautious as I can't afford 2 mortgages so continuous revenue is critical.

I've been talking to some realtors and have found a couple of management property company but haven't talked to them yet. I don't even know if I can swing it but I want to divest and start branching out some with my money.

I don't have too much info to share but if I do I'll forward it on.
 
I too have been thinking and looking into an investment condo in Orlando area. Was thinking of vacation rentals but am leaning now towards short/long term rental. Being a total newbie in this and pretty reserved for this sort of thing I want to be cautious as I can't afford 2 mortgages so continuous revenue is critical.

I've been talking to some realtors and have found a couple of management property company but haven't talked to them yet. I don't even know if I can swing it but I want to divest and start branching out some with my money.

I don't have too much info to share but if I do I'll forward it on.
While it may seem more exciting to start real estate investing in a far-off city, I would first look at where you live now to start.

In your hometown, you know the market. If something goes wrong you are right there to fix the issue. You can more quickly find people to help you.

I don't want to throw cold water on anyone's dreams, but give it some thought.
 


Hi. Looking into an investment opportunity in Orlando area and need some help. We are looking to buy a condo or something we can rent out to families for a vacation and no idea where to start. Any threads or sites you suggest? Any specific area you suggest? Are there condos at resort facilities we can buy?
thanks for the help
Windsor Hills and Windsor Palms, Literally behind Animal Kingdom Lodge off 192 in Kissimmee. 2 and 3 Bedroom Condos, Townhouses and Houses in Gated Communities.
 
Hi. Looking into an investment opportunity in Orlando area and need some help. We are looking to buy a condo or something we can rent out to families for a vacation and no idea where to start. Any threads or sites you suggest? Any specific area you suggest? Are there condos at resort facilities we can buy?
thanks for the help
Make sure wherever you are looking, allows short term rentals. Some Condo Communities do not.
 
A few older threads on the topic of rental properties. A relative owns a condo near the ocean along the east coast and from the things they have said it has been more of a hassle then it is worth and they certainly don't come out ahead. They are basically using the rental income to help pay the mortgage. You need to pay a % to some local management company to hand out keys and arrange for things like cleaning between visitors. There is also the % fee to list your property on whatever online site you choose so more people can be aware of the property.

Wear/tear tends to be greater on a rental property since those on vacation aren't as careful as they would be for their own home. If the property is hundreds of miles from where you live, it is a hassle to coordinate any type of needed maintenancae/repairs or as the owner you use up part of your vacation time when you are there dealing with repair/service people. Finding reputable local repair people can also be a challenge if you don't actually live in the area.

Personally, you would be further ahead to take whatever money you planned to use for this type of purchase and work instead with your financial advisor to invest that money. I just don't see owning/renting as anything that yields a financial advantage over time. Take any returns from your investment to pay for your own rental place whenever you want to go on vacation and leave the hassle of ownership to someone else.

If buying with the idea to rent and then eventually move there in the future, need to consider that a community of mostly short term rentals is probably not the ideal place to live full-time.
 
Last edited:
A few older threads on the topic of rental properties. A relative owns a condo near the ocean along the east coast and from the things they have said it has been more of a hassle then it is worth and they certainly don't come out ahead. They are basically using the income to help pay the mortgage. You need to pay a % to some local management company to hand out keys and arrange for things like cleaning between visitors. There is also the % fee to list your property on whatever online site you choose so more people can be aware of the property.
I hear you, I used to help my Mom with rentals BUT it all depends very much on the community that your condo/house is in.

We own in an east coast beachfront community where many units are rentals. We have on property rental management so it operates to the customer like a resort. Our neighbors next door are rented so much that in 3 years the partners were able to buy a second unit.

At Disney I think it will very much depend on which community, location and the value of the on property management company. Without an on property management company I would not attempt to do, unless I were local too.
 
I hear you, I used to help my Mom with rentals BUT it all depends very much on the community that your condo/house is in.

We own in an east coast beachfront community where many units are rentals. We have on property rental management so it operates to the customer like a resort. Our neighbors next door are rented so much that in 3 years the partners were able to buy a second unit.

At Disney I think it will very much depend on which community, location and the value of the on property management company. Without an on property management company I would not attempt to do, unless I were local too.
In a beachfront community you may have a limited number of rental properties. Beachfront is a valuable and demands premium rental prices.

Around Disney, there are thousands of rental homes, apartments, condos, timeshare resorts and hotels. There are lots of visitors, but the supply is seemingly endless. Its a challenging market to operate in.
 
Everyone I know who bought a mixed-use vacation home/rental (a) sold within 5-10 years and (b) says they'd never do it again. The net revenue is rarely what you are hoping for, and the headaches are ongoing.
 
Hi. Looking into an investment opportunity in Orlando area and need some help. We are looking to buy a condo or something we can rent out to families for a vacation and no idea where to start. Any threads or sites you suggest? Any specific area you suggest? Are there condos at resort facilities we can buy?
thanks for the help
Boy, I sure would think about waiting a bit. The Orlando market is still way overheated and prices have risen incredibly fast. They probably have some room to fall as mortgage rates keep going up.
 
Boy, I sure would think about waiting a bit. The Orlando market is still way overheated and prices have risen incredibly fast. They probably have some room to fall as mortgage rates keep going up.

This thread is two and a half years old! Don’t know what OP ended up doing but the economics are definitely different now.

IMO there’s a lot to be said for just buying a REIT that you’ve done your homework on, and using the distributions to fund your vacations, vs starting a second career as a property manager.
 
Investing in Orlando is exciting. It's like venturing into new territory, much like exploring opportunities for oil investment. When I first looked into real estate, I felt overwhelmed too.
We sold a property near Orlando last year and took advantage of a seller's market in that community. But, we might have undercut our asking price due to how quickly it sold. According to our realtor, the market in that area has cooled primarily due to the current interest rates on mortgages.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top