Nice community but on a budget!

[nb1968]

THere is the catch. The rental market is awful right now, so with that and other factors, you can pick up the property you want for CHEAP ! ! If you choose a forclosure, you might get it for pennies on the dollar.
Again you will get a great deal, BUT have major difficulties keeping it rented, so if you have cash reserves, and can hold out for a few years (who knows how long) you will make your profits later on.
so.
Get a tremendous deal right now, . . . then hang on by the skin of your teeth, . . . then profit when the job market and tourism industry and worldwide economy recovers.

[GregTraub]

Originally Posted by nb1968

THere is the catch. The rental market is awful right now, so with that and other factors, you can pick up the property you want for CHEAP ! ! If you choose a forclosure, you might get it for pennies on the dollar.
Again you will get a great deal, BUT have major difficulties keeping it rented, so if you have cash reserves, and can hold out for a few years (who knows how long) you will make your profits later on.
so.
Get a tremendous deal right now, . . . then hang on by the skin of your teeth, . . . then profit when the job market and tourism industry and worldwide economy recovers.

Good points here.

Can you get a single family home or Townhome for under 150K with a pool in a Short-Term Rental zoned neighborhood, yes. Some neighborhoods are much better than others (actually more bad neighborhoods than good) many community associations that have a large number of foreclosure properties are going bankrupt which is NEVER a good thing. Community area's/amenities start deteriorating and I"m not even sure if the remaining homeowners would be liable for overdue bills or not (check with attorney) but generally I"d stay away from those.

With no mortgage at all your carry costs for a Detached home won't be too much. Taxes will be about 2% of the purchase price a year, Insurance, and HOA dues. Even with a bad economy you may be able to break even or make a profit some months...but you must be prepared to carry the property for the lean months to come until the vacation industry strengthens. It will all depend on how involved and active you want to get booking yourself in conjunction with your property manager.

Now where you looking to purchase a home you can use yourself on occasion and rent out to cover some expenses the rest of the year? Or where you looking for a pure investment property? If for pure investment you may want to look into Long-Term rental properties (yearly leases) as that market is still doing well and you can make a decent return. You may even make enough return to pay for a hotel at disney for a week or two a year.

I'd be glad to help discuss what strategy would be best to meet your goals.

[annerk]

Keep in mind that you'll need a property management company at $100 a month to do nothing, who will also take 10-40% on all rentals they book.

For a $150K single family home, plan on $3K in taxes, $4K in lawn care, pool service, and extermination, $3K in utility and cable costs even if the house sits empty (you still need to run the a/c to prevent mold)--not including pool heat, $1K in home owners insurance, $2K or more in association dues and management company costs, and $1000 in miscellaneous fees and maintenance upkeep costs. So you are looking at over $1100 a month just to own the place, with no guarantees of having a single rental.

[celticzod]

thanks for all the info, wow! hard to believe a villa with no mortgage and with the biggest tourist attraction in the known world on your doorstep.. you still can't even break even !? Every realtor I talk to says it shouldn't be a problem to break even and now is the best time to buy in 15 years.

Was hoping to holiday 2 weeks a year and leave the rest for STR for it to cover itself.

[annerk]

Realtors don't get paid until they make a sale, and many will tell you what they think you want to hear, even if it's an absolute lie and they know it, to make the sale.

To cover your nut and managemetn companies commission on rentals you'd need to have it rented 50% of the time, and that doesn't take repairs (plumbing, electrical, pool pump, appliances, roof) into consideration. The chances of you getting it rented 50% of the time these days are slim to none.

[Lauriejen]

My husband and I are coming to the area in September to look for a home. We plan on renting it out (long term lease) for about 7 years until we retire. We want to take advantage of low prices and tax incentives. Our number 1 goal is to find a home in an area that is safe. We also want to be sort of close to a town for shopping and movies Etc... Davenport looks to be a good area from a distance. We do want to be fairly close to Disney but not so close that we have all of the tourists in our neighborhood.

Now that I have said all of that I would love if someone here would be willing to tell me if a house is in a decent neighborhood if we come accross one that is in our price range and meets other standards. I would hate to get there and spend lots of wasted time doing drive by's in a bad area. I have contacted a couple of agents but they do not seem to be motivated to help. Meaning they don't reply to initial emails. I would think that they would need the sale and be willing to spend some time helping us get set up to look a properties before we get there. But then again maybe 4 weeks out is a little far out for them to take the time. The thing they don't understand is if they found something we could fly out for a weekend to look at something if it were right.

I like the way you think Greg and some others in this forum. Reasonable, and that is what motivated me to submit a reply.

Originally Posted by GregTraub

Good points here.

Now where you looking to purchase a home you can use yourself on occasion and rent out to cover some expenses the rest of the year? Or where you looking for a pure investment property? If for pure investment you may want to look into Long-Term rental properties (yearly leases) as that market is still doing well and you can make a decent return. You may even make enough return to pay for a hotel at disney for a week or two a year.

I'd be glad to help discuss what strategy would be best to meet your goals.

[annerk]

Be care ful in Davenport. Some of the areas aren't all that safe (lot's of break ins) and many HOA's are crumbling due to the number of foreclosures. Many of the communities in Davenport are short-term rental as well, so make sure you are buying what you really want.