Realtor for buying a vacation rental?

[Jajone]

My husband and I are just starting to consider purchasing a vacation home to use as a rental? Does anyone have advice as to where to start looking and what we need to know? Again, we are just starting to have this conversation. We will be there in January just the two of us and would have the time to look or meet with a realtor.

 

[wdwmouse]

I highly recommend Meredith Mahn. Here is her email: LIVINFL@aol.com

She knows the area well and goes above and beyond with service.

 

[Rpsemont]

What days will you be there in January? We will be there 1/9-1/18 and would be happy to meet for coffee and share our experience. We bought a vacation home June 2013. Our realtor was charles Valeston (cvaleston@gmail.com) he's familiar with the vacation rental market. Another website that I found immensely helpful, although I did not use their services (we had hooked up with Charles before I found the website) is www.thepinkflamingo.info. They have alot of general info that's great reading when you're thinking about vacation rentals. Good luck in your serach. We ended up buying at Oakwater Resort and love it. But our major goal was to buy a place that in 8-10 years we can become snowbirds will be where we want to live. You should think about your goals in making the purchase. Do you want a place you can afford, and can stay in and rent now? but will probably sell in 10-15 years? Or do you want a place that you plan to keep for "generations".

Good luck!

PM me if you want to meet in Jan

 

[Jajone]

What days will you be there in January? We will be there 1/9-1/18 and would be happy to meet for coffee and share our experience. We bought a vacation home June 2013. Our realtor was charles Valeston (cvaleston@gmail.com) he's familiar with the vacation rental market. Another website that I found immensely helpful, although I did not use their services (we had hooked up with Charles before I found the website) is www.thepinkflamingo.info. They have alot of general info that's great reading when you're thinking about vacation rentals. Good luck in your serach. We ended up buying at Oakwater Resort and love it. But our major goal was to buy a place that in 8-10 years we can become snowbirds will be where we want to live. You should think about your goals in making the purchase. Do you want a place you can afford, and can stay in and rent now? but will probably sell in 10-15 years? Or do you want a place that you plan to keep for "generations". Good luck! PM me if you want to meet in Jan

I would love to talk further with you, but we aren't going to be there til Jan 23.

 

[Rpsemont]

12-08-2014 05:58 PM
Jajone Quote:

I would love to talk further with you, but we aren't going to be there til Jan 23.

How long are you staying? We may be back on Feb 4th!

But if you want to talk, send me a pm with your e-mail and I'll send you my phone number.

Anne

 

[tednvon]

Hello, I am copying my post to a thread very similar to yours a few years ago. It is a bit long but hopefully will be food for thought as you explore your options...

Let us know if any another questions...Ted

Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Iowa City, Iowa...now stay Jan, Feb, Mar, just south Disney in Sunset Lakes...lucky us!!
Posts: 1,620

Hi...first of all, some great comments from the folks above me.

A little history. We bought a 7 bedroom home in Emerald Island shortly after 9/11 and sold it in 2006. We aggressively rented it out by owner and through a management company that was average at best.
We have been through the euphoria of buying, the costs of set up, the long evenings answering emails from "by owner" sites, then the long evenings of getting no emails and sweating the payments. We sold because the market has become saturated and the price of the home skyrocketed. This was not a "dream home" that would one day retire in. This was a home we loved as an investment, but only an investment. We now winter 3 months in a home in Sunset Lakes that we rent from an owner who is more than happy to have a guaranteed renter for 3 months.
You must run these numbers to make sure you can afford to do this...OR if you happen to be financially in a position to fund purchase a rental home where the income does not meet costs, then you will be able to sleep nights. In other words if you can eat $2000 to $10,000 a year and not worry, you are in an enviable position.

Here are the numbers:

$200,000 home furnished...20% down (these are my best guesses based on costs several ago...some may be low or high, but not off by much.)

P/I...............$1100
Ins...............$150
Tax..............$250
Elec..............$450
Management..$400
Pool.............$80
Bugs............$30
HOA.............$200
Cable, phone, internet...$140
advertise......$60...by owner web sites
cleaning........$300-500
monthly main..$100
Total............$3000+/month...appx...$36,000/year
Income....20 weeks at $1000/week is $20K/year
25/weeks at $1000/week is $25K/year...do the math...

Now look on www.vrbo.com at 4-5 bedroom homes...look at the availability calendars and see how many look like they are on pace to do over 25 weeks/year. This is a quick gut check on whether to take the plunge or not.
When we started, our PITI on a 7 bedroom was under $1500, and we would average $270/night and do about 24 weeks...But when the 7 bedrooms went from about 8 total in the whole area to over 120 just 7 bedrooms, the handwriting was on the wall....plus we had to look at upgrading to game rooms, High Def TVs just to keep up with Jone's.

It can be exciting, fun and quite a trip...but like Jannyanns said, listen very cautiously to the real estate folks...Their goal is to make money and they will stretch the rental potential to any length to get a sale...And never never believe a management company that will promise you a high number of bookings...either it will never happen or they will wholesale your home to any travel company they can at deep discounts and your cut of the weekly rent is not enough to meet costs even if it over 30 weeks/year....not to mention the wear and tear that 30 plus weeks will do to a rental home...

Below is rental map of most all the communities in the Disney area that do weekly rentals As you can see there is a heck of lot of them.

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/villa/map.htm

Good Luck, keep and open mind and let us know if we can be of help...

I reposted this for you today, 12/10/2014...figures are now about 4 years old so I added a few dollars here and there. If anyone on this board thinks these figures are not accurate, please feel free to post your thoughts for these nice folks.
We are in the area for 3 months and would also be happy to chat if it would help. We now late 60's in age and rent for 3 months. So we do not have the worries or rewards of owning a rental home. Hope this helps, Ted
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GRANDPA TED,
Too tall to be Mickey and too short for Goofy, but will find a job at Disney yet!
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