villa purchase

[scousemouse36]

Hi

We luv florida and WDW and are considering buying a villa to use as holiday home and also rent out, maybe kissimmee.

Has anyone any experience of buying or renting

Cheers

 

[MickeyMcMouse]

Hi scousemouse36,

Have a look at my thread across on the dvc board click here for the results of our trip 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Please remember, this is very much our opinion which was formed after 2 specific trips to look at property.

regards

David

 

[scousemouse36]

Hi

I am interested in your comments regarding buying a villa as opposed to dvc.

I dont know much about dvc, but if its like timeshare arent you just renting property its never yours, whilst buying a villa its yours.

We luv wdw like most and are really serious about buying,

Why do you think we should consider dvc and how much would it cost for a family of five to vist maybe 3 to 4 times a year.

Thanks

 

[MickeyMcMouse]

Originally posted by scousemouse36
Why do you think we should consider dvc and how much would it cost for a family of five to vist maybe 3 to 4 times a year.

Thanks

Sorry scousemouse36, I hope I didn't tell you to consider dvc instead of a villa. We find dvc works better for us and it seems it will work better for the friends we took across to look at the purchase of a villa.

I think, again only my personal opinion, that unless you have the funds to pay for not only the purchase of a villa but also the upkeep, which varies considerably from what your salesman will tell you, and you accept any rental income you get as "cream" then it will work. (assuming of course that you are looking to rent it)

If you are looking to purchase and maintain your villa mostly through rental income, then I personally don't think that will work.

Here's our thoughts ....

We went across in dec and looked at around 20 propertys on 5 or 6 sites. In march on one of the new sites, there was already 8 house being built or finished on one site which was empty in dec.

The competition for the rental market is enormous. (although you will probably know that from previous visits)

This was one factor which put our friends off their purchase.

The other was the maintainence costs, which would vary from one meeting to the next. Apart from your general upkeep costs, eg general cleaning, pool cleaning, grass cutting, local taxes, insurances, utility bills, residence association fees etc, they failed to mention the other general costs which include repainting, renewal of towels/glassware/utensils, pool furniture, pool pumps, air conditioning maintainence etc etc ...

This made budgeting impossible.

And too add to the problems, every time they spoke to their realter over a period of 2 to 3 months, the initial costs increased "due to market conditions".

There was also the question over their "guaranteed rental income" - This should be looked into VERY carefully.

One of my fellow directors bought a villa a few years ago. He bought it to make some money from it, but after a few "dodgy rentals" he took the decision that it was to be a family home, and no longer rents it on the open market. This decision, although making him much happier about what was happening in his property, ended up costing him a lot of money.

That is a major point for consideration.Is it a family home, or is it to make some money, because it's been proven many times that it can't be both.

Don't get me wrong, the ramblings above our personal opinions based on our many visits and are maybe totally irrelevent to your own situation.

If you want to know more about DVC, to save me taking up the whole page with my reply check out the faq's at the bottom of the page.

Let us know how you get on, or if there are any more questions, ask away.

regards

David

DVC faq's

 

[scousemouse36]

Hi David

Thanks for your comments and I apprecite its only your opinion, but I do value it.

i am considering a villa in kissimmee to rent occaisonally to get some help towards costs, as I intend to visit it maybe 4 or 5 times a year, if i can cover some of the costs of finance , all the better.

I am also thinking long term as my children are aged 8, 5, and 3 and the capital appreciation surely will make sense long term.

I do take on board what you say about extra costs, but I suppose its all relative to how many times you rent it and to who.

If its rented to complete strangers, then i would expect a few 'dodgy' rentals and maybe damage.

My assuptions are if the rental income is on average £400 per week, I only have to rent about 12 weeks for it to pay for itself and then obviously property maintenance on top.

In your experience do people only buy in Kissimme if they intend to rent out a lot or do people buy just for them selves as a holiday home, are there plenty of areas with good views, and dont mean of fences lol

i am also looking at future costs of taking away five of us to wdw/ florida with needing more space as the kids get older.

We are in POR in May for 3 weeks in one room, but i dont see that lasting for ever, 5 of us in one room

I am really interested in any thoughts you have and your experiences

cheers

 

[Tron[ADS]]

I was quite impressed with David's reply there, a lot of sense spoken.
I can't speak from personal experience, but my uncle has a Villa in Poinciana, and I know the last couple of years have been tough going for him, almost to the point of selling up. He put this down to 9/11 after effects, but I think the "villa competition" might be more of a reason.
This year however, things have picked up. He has put his house on a web site advertising and booking Florida Villas only. He pays £30 commission for every booking, and from this site alone, he has got the bookings he requires for this year to keep going. He only rents it out 6 months of the year, and has I think 10 bookings taken.
He was telling me that his friend rents his house out a lot more, and has paid extra to this web site for his house to always come out 1st in the "searches".....bit of a con on the renters if you ask me, but aparantly he could have rented his house out many times over this year, purely from this site....which I cant remember the name of.
So it is possible to make it pay, but I think you have to make sure you can afford to pay its way with zero bookings.