Owning a rental condo in the Destin area (sales, rentals)

[sarahw]

Does anyone have any advice on owning a condo in the Destin for rental purposes? The thought is we would rent it as a vacation rental and then use it a couple of times per year ourselves. Some of the questions I have....
Insurance, what's the average insurance you would need on a condo in a high rise, hopefully beachfront.
HOA's is there a typical amount?
Maintenance/management company, what are the average costs to get a management company to run the rental for us? (we actually have family there so it may be that one of them will be the manager).
Looks like we need to avoid the Palms...anywhere else?
Does anyone know of a great place to look? We'd like either beachfront or great pool area. We have only just started to think about this as an option so it is very early days but any advice would be greatly appreciated :-)
Thank you in advance.
Sarah

[GreggT]

Originally Posted by sarahw

Does anyone have any advice on owning a condo in the Destin for rental purposes? The thought is we would rent it as a vacation rental and then use it a couple of times per year ourselves. Some of the questions I have....
Insurance, what's the average insurance you would need on a condo in a high rise, hopefully beachfront.
HOA's is there a typical amount?

. Insurance for the complex structure and your outside walls are covered in your HOA fees, insurance for the sheetrock in plus liability costs us about $800.00 a year.

Maintenance/management company, what are the average costs to get a management company to run the rental for us? (we actually have family there so it may be that one of them will be the manager).

I varies, normally the larger the company the higher the fee. We used Wyndham/Resort Quest for two years and their average take was 43%. Normally the average varies 20% to 25% plus all the extra charges. Personally I have found unless the owner takes an active roll, the owners will end up highly unsatisfied with ALL management companies. The two goals are often at odds with each other with the PM's goal of "Keeping Heads in the Beds" with yours of maintaining your condo to the best it can be.

Does anyone know of a great place to look? We'd like either beachfront or great pool area. We have only just started to think about this as an option so it is very early days but any advice would be greatly appreciated :-)
Thank you in advance.
Sarah

Don't consider a place based upon what others think, base it upon what you like.
First decide what you want and can afford.
Stay in those places under consideration yourself to see if it actually meets your expectations.
Hire a good realtor which is much harder than you think as the vast majority are next to clueless. Interview and ask questions about the complexes you are interested in included the HOA, is the complex reserves fully funded, any outstanding legal issues, how many special assessments has the complex experienced, what exactly is the comp on the floor plan you are interested in, etc. If the realtor really cannot answer those questions off hand, move on to another realtor. We went through several before settling on a knowledgeable person.
Talk to a few owners of the complex you are interested in, get their take.

You did not ask but on HOA fees, they are not all created equal, find out what they cover as it varies complex to complex. Again, are the reserves fully funded, are they paying off a loan for a special project that they could not cover with their reserves, are there excessive legal fees.

[jghorton]

With the high vacation traffic in Destin, almost everyone with a rental condo makes out well - Most remote owners simply get a management company to handle rentals, cleaning, etc.. Some locals handle their own rentals through VRBO. The HOA fees in 'condo-hotels' are typically quite a bit higher than more resident-owned condos - because of the added traffic wear and tear.

Building insurance is included with the HOA fees, but, you will need to get a landlord policy to cover the contents and interior. (Our individual interior policy runs about $500, but, we live here (Destin) full time.

[mudbug]

We bought our unit in 2010 with the same plan you have. Finding a management company has been challenging.
One company great rentals but really awful cleaning crew. Our new company is on site and this can really make a difference as drop in's can fill those non booked weeks. Most charge between 20%/25% to manage. I would worry about a family member managing as during peak season folks come and go everyday. Check out at 11 new folks at 4. May thru August.
October has become an excellent rental month as more folks go to seafood festival etc. We never go during peak as loss revenue and crowds. Beach front is the way to go for rentals. We are at Majestic Sun with great gulf views but have to cross old 98 to beach. HOA is high due to being part of resort. But well managed with reserves. Sad about Palms, HOA $2200. per quarter on one bed units. Ours is $1800 for 2 bed/2bath with golf, tennis etc and nice view of beach. Majestic is a rental machine and very reasonable for Gulf view. Lots of info I could share but not here. Market is hot now and sales brisk. Have an excellent web site for property sales that I can PM if you want.

[sarahw]

Originally Posted by mudbug

We bought our unit in 2010 with the same plan you have. Finding a management company has been challenging.
One company great rentals but really awful cleaning crew. Our new company is on site and this can really make a difference as drop in's can fill those non booked weeks. Most charge between 20%/25% to manage. I would worry about a family member managing as during peak season folks come and go everyday. Check out at 11 new folks at 4. May thru August.
October has become an excellent rental month as more folks go to seafood festival etc. We never go during peak as loss revenue and crowds. Beach front is the way to go for rentals. We are at Majestic Sun with great gulf views but have to cross old 98 to beach. HOA is high due to being part of resort. But well managed with reserves. Sad about Palms, HOA $2200. per quarter on one bed units. Ours is $1800 for 2 bed/2bath with golf, tennis etc and nice view of beach. Majestic is a rental machine and very reasonable for Gulf view. Lots of info I could share but not here. Market is hot now and sales brisk. Have an excellent web site for property sales that I can PM if you want.

Yes please, that would be great.
Can I ask, how many weeks per year would you say you manage to rent out your property?

[sarahw]

Majestic is a rental machine and very reasonable for Gulf view. Lots of info I could share but not here. Market is hot now and sales brisk. Have an excellent web site for property sales that I can PM if you want.[/quote]

Yes please, any info would be greatly appreciated.

[sarahw]

Our individual interior policy runs about $500, but, we live here (Destin) full time.[/quote]

Is that per month or per year?

[jojonole5598]

This thread is a bit older, so thought I would see if anyone has any current opinions on buying a Destin condo as a 2nd home/vacation rental. We like both Sandestin with the Village at Baytowne Wharf as well as beachside in Destin. Does anyone have any (good or bad) experience renting a condo in either area? We would use it several times a year, mainly in offseason, and rent as a vacation rental the rest of the year. We are not looking to make a ton of money, just would like the rental to offset the mortgage after paying fees and a property manager to oversee it. Thanks for any insights!

[m1a1mg]

Originally Posted by jojonole5598

This thread is a bit older, so thought I would see if anyone has any current opinions on buying a Destin condo as a 2nd home/vacation rental. We like both Sandestin with the Village at Baytowne Wharf as well as beachside in Destin. Does anyone have any (good or bad) experience renting a condo in either area? We would use it several times a year, mainly in offseason, and rent as a vacation rental the rest of the year. We are not looking to make a ton of money, just would like the rental to offset the mortgage after paying fees and a property manager to oversee it. Thanks for any insights!

We have a condo on 30A in Seaside. Property is fully managed and we still make money. Not sure specifically about Sandestin, but your realtor should be able to pull rental history from the previous owners.

Condos are a hot commodity in our building. The waiting list of buyers is 64, just with the in house realtor.

[jojonole5598]

Thanks! Seaside is so popular (and gorgeous)! We would like to stay in Destin as it is closer to the mainland area where we have family.
Does anyone have experience buying vacation rentals in Destin? We are looking at Emerald Dunes as a possibility.