Just curious: What do Windsor Hills or Windsor Palms sell for?

[HeatherC]

Hi - Just wondering what these places sell for and what the average monthly maintenance fees are? I realize there are different price ranges depending on the property, but just trying to get a ballpark. Since we go to Orlando a lot, this always crosses my mind for the future. You never know....

HeatherC

 

[isla bonita]

What are you looking at town homes with splash pools, condo club pool, private home 4-7 bedroom?

We own in EI a 6 bed 5 bath costs us approx. 3,300.00 per month to keep our home status quo. When we upgrade depending on what we purchase for the home. I am always making purchases but our home is pretty well stocked.

We have a mortgage on our home, pool care, pest control, man/co, electric, telephone, sewer/water, insurance, taxes, home owners dues, county tax, state tax, tangible tax and I think that is it.

 

[5mins2disney]

I can't speak for Windsor Palms, but we just bought a townhome ourselves this summer in Windsor Hills Resort. I found a neat website where you can see all of the current real estate MLS listings online...a friend of mine is buying the townhome right across the street from us at the moment, and doing it all "by owner", so we didn't have the luxury of having a realtor with access to the MLS system look all this up for us.

www.windsorhillsreserve.com ... click on "resales"....then they have it broken down by condos, townhomes, and villas.

Of course these are asking prices not sale prices...the interesting part is figuring out which places are furnished already and which aren't.

You can see actual sale prices if you know an address or owner name online on the Osceola County property appraiser's website. If you put in an address for, say, a townhome, it has a feature where you can click on "similar sales"...and it will display all of the recent townhome sales, for instance. I used it and found out I got a pretty good deal!

www.property-appraiser.org

The monthy costs depend on your mortgage amount, but the electricity is very expensive in our place (avg $280/month, but we have a pool too)...and the HOA is expensive too, and so are the MC fees, it all adds up. At the end of the year, MOST people who do this lose money, you would be doing very well if you break even renting your place out. It's even worse when people lowball bid on the rental prices, since most owners are already losing $$ and it's a VERY competitive market, lots of supply in the area.

Combined with the average of 20-23 weeks of rentals a year...it's tough to even break even. Of course, you can then write off all of the expenses on your place, and you can then write off 2 trips a year (travel and expenses) to check on your investment property which is nice.

For us, who were longtime boat owners, it's a better investment than our sailboat was! (Believe me..that's not saying much if you know the old expression about a boat being a hole in the water you throw $$ into!) (also... BOAT = Break Out Another Thousand!)

Feel free to PM or email me if you have any other questions, I can at least tell you about Windsor Hills, the other resorts I don't know the costs / etc.

Other expenses include:
cleaning fees (the more guests you book the more of these you pay)
hotel taxes (13%) same deal
MC Commmissions (10-25% if they get you the booking, ouch!)
Cable tv
Internet

 

[FLParadisevilla]

I think Deb and George about covered all the expenses of owning a home in Florida!
Its a great thing and a lot of fun, but it is also a full time job.... so you have to really enjoy Florida and having a home there and helping people with vacations or it will become more of a chore than fun!

I have to say that all of the other owners I have met like Deb & George have been just awesome! They really all help each other out and I think that is hard to find and a great feeling to have a group of other people all willing to help each other so much!

Also for me the guest's that I have had have been Wonderful! They make owning a home in Florida probably one of the best experiences I have had in my life! I really do enjoy every part of it!

If you are thinking about owning a home you can PM me as well and I will give you any information that I have.

 

[HeatherC]

Thank you all so much for your responses. It is great to have a little more insight into this real estate market.

I can certainly understand how it can be a full time job to manage a property with all the competition in the area.

When I plugged in dates on just one rental site, I think I got something like over 100 units available for the timeframe I was looking that. That certainly tells me that there is a lot of competition with the rental market.


Part of me would love to own one, but another part would also love to own somewhere closer to the gulf beaches ...thinking of retirement down the road.

I guess it can never hurt to investigate things and I really appreciate everyone's responses. I wish all of you that own the best of luck with your rental properties and many happy years of travel to the area.

HeatherC

 

[FLParadisevilla]

Heather,
Looking for the future for retirement its a great Idea to plan ahead! I can say as far as the gulf coast what a great place. We have friends who live there year round they retired to that area and thier home is incredible!
But because of the hurricanes last year they had a hard time getting a homeowners policy for thier home. Thier are a lot of insurance companies not writing new policies for homes on the coast. (I personally think that is rubbish) But if you wanted to talk to other owners in the area you can go to www.orlandovillas.com and they have a forum but they also have some owners in the gulf area as well I think.
It sure would not hurt to post a question there to some owners, I know they would be happy to answer any questions you may have about homes there.

 

[5mins2disney]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-growth0706dec07,0,2191021.story

--------------------
Paving the way toward a very crowded future
--------------------

Environmentalists and developers studied state growth, and it's not pretty -- unless things change.

Kevin Spear
Sentinel Staff Writer

December 7, 2006

How crowded and unlivable could Florida be in a half-century?

Think of emptying most of New York state's 20 million residents into the Sunshine State.

Put another way, Florida's population will equal the nearly 36 million now living in California, but they'll have just a third of the land to live on.

Central Florida won't escape the stampede as it transforms into a megalopolis -- the Orlando area in the bull's-eye of an unbroken crisscross of pavement from Ocala to Sebring and from Daytona Beach to St. Pete Beach.

What now are nearly 3 million acres of natural lands will become a sprawl of roads and rooftops. Much of the remaining wilderness will be rendered ecologically isolated and desolate, more suitable for urban critters such as dogs, cats and pigeons.

That bleak scenario was unveiled Wednesday in maps and studies by a broad coalition of environmentalists, growth-management advocates and two of the biggest developers in Florida.

"It shows a frightening look at the future," said Tim Jackson, a vice president of the wise-growth group 1000 Friends of Florida in Tallahassee.

The coalition's warning: If unchanged, Florida's long-standing style of growth and the government rules that control development will ruin the state's quality of life just halfway through this century.

Florida will have twice as many people --more than 36 million -- and twice as much cityscape as today.

(read the rest online)

 

[5mins2disney]

We were scared off from the coastal regions due to hurricanes as well as having even more competition in the rental market. The Orlando Sentinel article though would lead you to believe that the real estate market in Florida is going to continue to boom over the next 30-40 years.

Our other factor... besides hurricanes and insurance and all...people are always going to want to visit and go to Disney...so at least you have people who might be interested in renting from you at all times.

In the coastal regions the big draw is the ocean, etc, so for the most part you're competing with everyone else who is on the coast. Someone recently told me that the panhandle (I think it's Panama Beach?) is expected to be a really hot growth area though.

This is a neat website that tells you past and predicted real estate appreciation:
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/real-estate/investments/

The fun part of ownership near Disney though is helping people and working with guests to plan their Disney vacations by far! Setting it up and running it has been fun too, but it's a lot of work, almost like having a part time job!

But..the cool part of course...really the BEST part... is we get to go to Disney a lot more often now!

 

[ducklite]

Keep in mind that unless you are a full time resident, your taxes will just keep going up and up and up.

Thank goodness I'm homesteaded now so mine have capped at just shy of $11,000 with a maximum 3% annual increase, but my next door neighbors are Brits and theirs were $16K this year, with no end in site as they continue to skyrocket.

I know of at least two DIS'ers who own Florida property purchased as a vacation home and eventual retirement property who are now thinking they might need to sell as they can't afford the spiraling taxes.

Anne

 

[Figment22]

Thank goodness I'm homesteaded now so mine have capped at just shy of $11,000 with a maximum 3% annual increase

Holy $#@&!!! Just out of curiosity, what's the square footage of your home? That's even higher than we were paying when we lived in NJ, just 8 miles outside of Manhattan! I can't believe how high your taxes are.

 

[ducklite]

Holy $#@&!!! Just out of curiosity, what's the square footage of your home? That's even higher than we were paying when we lived in NJ, just 8 miles outside of Manhattan! I can't believe how high your taxes are.

Not quite 3000 sf under air, plus a three car garage and screened lanai. And we don't even have a pool!

Anne

 

[HeatherC]

Anne - I was also shocked about the taxes. I honestly thought that because there is so much business in the area that the taxes would be reasonable. The tax payment a month is more than many mortgages. Wow...I do feel your pain and appreciate you sharing that info with us.

I'm in Massachusetts in a 3000 sf house and my taxes are only $3200 a year. And I thought that was bad. And we all keep hearing how the Northeast is out of control with prices. Guess we are pretty lucky in actuality.

I'm thinking that owning a second home may not be the best financial move for us right now.

HeatherC

 

[mbb]

Keep in mind that unless you are a full time resident, your taxes will just keep going up and up and up.

Thank goodness I'm homesteaded now so mine have capped at just shy of $11,000 with a maximum 3% annual increase, but my next door neighbors are Brits and theirs were $16K this year, with no end in site as they continue to skyrocket.

I know of at least two DIS'ers who own Florida property purchased as a vacation home and eventual retirement property who are now thinking they might need to sell as they can't afford the spiraling taxes.

Anne

Thanks for providing that info, Anne.

...And George, Deb, and Karen.


we knew taxes were high, but...well, that's just HIGH!

 

[Kay1]

Anne - I was also shocked about the taxes. I honestly thought that because there is so much business in the area that the taxes would be reasonable. The tax payment a month is more than many mortgages. Wow...I do feel your pain and appreciate you sharing that info with us.

I'm in Massachusetts in a 3000 sf house and my taxes are only $3200 a year. And I thought that was bad. And we all keep hearing how the Northeast is out of control with prices. Guess we are pretty lucky in actuality.

I'm thinking that owning a second home may not be the best financial move for us right now.

HeatherC

That's interesting, Heather. I was just reading an article in which an irate man said he'd left Massachusetts because of taxes and now he was leaving Florida. He said, "Florida is worse than Taxachusetts!" I have to wonder what they're going to do about Citizens insurance next month. It's supposed to double for some people.

 

[isla bonita]

Purchasing a rental home, condo, town home etc... is not cheap by any means but I think for us it was a great investment at the time we started.

We have owned our home for 2.5 years and it took 2.2 years to build. (thats a story in it self)

If you or any one is thinking about it please get all your facts. So many buyers were sold a dream and not a reality. Prices have increased in the last 4.5 years and there is loads of competition. It is a business it takes time time to build. I think it is the best once it gets off the ground. It has worked for us so far.

 

[HeatherC]

KAY1 - That is an interesting note from that article. I hear that alot. But it seems that the more I look other places, I find that the costs/prices are just as insane. Not everywhere, of course.

For example, I have my parents and two brothers who live in Northern New Jersey. My parents house is about 1800 sf and they pay $9000 a year for taxes. My one brother's house is very big...about 4000sf....but he pays over $15,000 a year for taxes. The other one is in a smaller house about 1600 sf and they pay around $11000 a year. That to me is insane!!! And the towns they live in don't really have many services.....that's probably why.

I feel really bad for people trying to buy their first home. I never thought I would see starter homes selling for over $300,000. CRAAAAAZZZZYYYYY!!!

HeatherC

 

[FLParadisevilla]

Heather
I agree! The costs are crazy for homes! I know when I bought my first home years and years ago I think I paid $106000.00 for it in a nice neighborhood and good county! I know I could not afford a home on my own now its really quite nuts the prices of homes and taxes. But I can say our taxes in Florida are about $4000.00 per year. I think it depends on where you buy your home! Plus I don't think people living in Florida file a state tax return either.
I could be wrong on that one though!