?s for those of you who own rental townhomes

[Bichon Barb]

My husband and I have informally tossed around the idea of investing in a townhome/condo in Florida for years. Kissimmee would make sense because of our love of WDW. We stayed in a townhome in EI in 2003 and loved it.

My question for you is are you happy with your investment? Do you think the market is too saturated? What are the expenses like in renting out (ie. association dues, cleaning fees, etc.) I've ordered a book on the subject of buying and renting vacation property from amazon.com. I'm looking forward to receiving it and reading it.

Any thoughts or advice you could share here or in a PM would be most appreciated.

 

[5mins2disney]

My husband and I have informally tossed around the idea of investing in a townhome/condo in Florida for years. Kissimmee would make sense because of our love of WDW. We stayed in a townhome in EI in 2003 and loved it.

My question for you is are you happy with your investment? Do you think the market is too saturated? What are the expenses like in renting out (ie. association dues, cleaning fees, etc.) I've ordered a book on the subject of buying and renting vacation property from amazon.com. I'm looking forward to receiving it and reading it.

Any thoughts or advice you could share here or in a PM would be most appreciated.

Feel free to email me, something I'd rather not discuss on the DISboards publicly! gquinlan@5mins2disney.com

Which book did you buy? The 2 industry "bibles" I recommend every new homeowner reads are:
Christine Karpinski - http://www.howtorentbyowner.com/
Glossbrenner - www.fullybookedrentals.com

You should also read the newsletters here:

http://www.laymyhat.com
and here:
http://www.rentors.org/newsletterdir.aspx?culturename=en-US

- George

 

[Bichon Barb]

Thanks for the links. I will send you an email.

The book I bought is:

The Second Homeowner's Handbook: A Complete Guide for Vacation, Income, Retirement, And Investment (Paperback)
by Jeff Haden (Author)
Key Phrases: United States, New York
(7 customer reviews)

All 7 of the reviewers gave it 5 stars.

 

[5mins2disney]

If I was going to buy just one book, it would be the Glossbrenner's book, it's expensive, but worth every single penny.

It's more about how to run and market a vacation home, it contains nothing on how to select and purchase one, that sort of thing. Also, there are definitely variations in Glossbrenner and Karpinski between how they suggest you do things and how the local Orlando STR market works. Big one..

Karpsinski, for instance, say buy a home no more than 3 hours away from your main residence. I don't agree with that statement, as I live in Chicago.

Glossbrenner says you don't need a MC, you can do it all yourself. In Orlando MCs are everywhere, perhaps if you have a summer home somewhere else you can do this, in Orlando you're going to need an MC. They refer to the MCs though as people who get you bookings, our MC has never gotten us any booknigs, we do them all ourselves, the look after our home, our guests, and their owners, and do so very well, and that's pretty much what we want them to do for us! They're more of a property manager than anything really.

Some of the books suggest you can hire a handyman to act in this capacity, I just don't see it, not in the Disney area at least, good customer service to your guests is just too critical.

At any rate, the important points are how to market and "run" your STR business, that's why you need to read those books!

It's been a blast doing this, the only thing I caution people on, is, it's a lot of work, you don't get nuthin for free in life and this is no different! We get as much out of it as we put into it. As Fuzzy Zoeller once said (famous PGA golfer).. "the harder I work...the luckier I get!".

 

[KayR]

I would recommend joining top-forums.com and looking at some of the many posts there. Also you can ask your question there of other owners and get honest answers to your questions.

-Kay

 

[5mins2disney]

I would recommend joining top-forums.com and looking at some of the many posts there. Also you can ask your question there of other owners and get honest answers to your questions.

-Kay

I would too...along with the Yahoo Vacation Rental owner's forums...and www.laymyhat.com also have STR homeowner's forums.

I find top-forums to be primarily UK based owners though, not as many US owners on there, and for some reason, the forum seems to be somewhat negatively biased, maybe it's just my perception of it. If I'd spent a lot of time on that forum before buying my home, I probably wouldn't have bought it actually, I'm glad we did it the way we did, without listening to a lot of other's preconceived notions.

Later on I found out about all those forums and such.

I consider this to be all part of the "work" though of learning how to be a good owner and run a VRBO / STR business....you have to work at it!

 

[Bichon Barb]

My in-laws, who have owned about four properties in SW Florida over the years, stopped by the office to offer advice. They think it's a great idea. They have sold their property down there and are renting a place in Orlando for just January, Feb and March of next year. If we did buy, they would seriously considering renting from us the following year.

We are excited yet nervous about this. We may be calling the real estate agent George recommended in the near future.

I'd really like to know the expenses involved, i.e. MC fees, association expenses, insurance, etc.

 

[5mins2disney]

I'd really like to know the expenses involved, i.e. MC fees, association expenses, insurance, etc.

Depends on what type of home you buy of course, and in which resort.

I can send you a spreadsheet later with some expenses for a Windsor Hills Townhome based on real, historical numbers, I've shared this before with other people in a similar position as yourself.

There's other expenses to think about, namely, how much $$ you want to put down, what type of mortgate rate you can get / qualify for, that sort of thing, which will change the #s around a bit.

The "easy" part to figure is the HOA fees, the insurance, MC fees, cleaning fees, utilities, etc.

 

[Bichon Barb]

That would be great George--if you don't mind. I'll pm you my home email. The other address is work.

We'd like to look at newer developments including WH. I'd also be interested in looking into townhomes/condos that are still in the construction phase, as I have heard that there is some competition and inventory. Don't know if that's true, but I think it's worth looking into.

 

[5mins2disney]

Call the realtor I sent you, and do it soon, he's going on vacation for 2 or so weeks in May, so you want to at least call or email him before then!

He specialized in all of the resort properties in the area, and can tell you about pre-construction stuff too (if there is any, I really don't know).

I'm the resident "expert" on Windsor Hills it seems, as an owner there I can tell you the most about that resort in particular, but you should definitely look around so you're educated about all of them before you jump on in.

There's new resorts too like Vista Cay, Coral Cay, and other areas coming on line. One place I can tell you to avoid at all costs is a new development called Tierra del Sol, as there are many "horror" stories on other boards right now of the developer ripping off people's $$.