Can anybody let me know how many weeks per year you can expect to rent your property if you give to a local letting company in orlando. How much you should expect per year, any other advice that may help. If possible advice from people who already rent property in orlando.

Any comments appreciated

There's loads in this forum about Florida, take a look. In a nutshell, it's not pretty and if it's not too late, don't do it.

Lopin

have you bought or are you just thinking about it (if so which model on which subdivision)? I unwound all my exposure to the Orlando property market in July 2005. I owned/ran a property management/rental business. Ignore all the ‘A Place in the Sun’ costs and forecasts. They massively overstate the price and number of weeks you’ll be able to rent at (no management will provide anything other than a few infill weeks at wholesale prices) and underestimate the running/operational costs!!!

I wrote the following on a forum a few days ago:

“I personally know of five UK buyers that have proactively made the decision to walk away rather than close on off plan new Florida villas (Orlando area). They all bought at late 2004/05 prices and since agreeing the deal have seen running costs increase and rental potential fall (they don’t see this changing in the next few years). On top of that they have seen resale’s priced 25% below what they are contracted to buy at and not sell for 8 months or so. In some cases the developer has discounted the same models by between 20 and 32% (and thrown in other sweeteners to try to shift inventory). All of the buyers are walking away from deposits of between $40 to $115K and believe that is a less painful option, rather than take on big mortgages for villas that they now believe will burn cash both at an operating and asset/capital level for the foreseeable future.

Never before has the property market gone into reverse so quickly as this one and its all the more worrying because it’s happened in the absence of a recession. If the general economy stalls then all bets are off.”

The site below will give you a very balance view


http://www.top-forums.com/forum/

Pablo Silver or Lead?

PS The best advice re Orlando property is "beleive nothing you're told and only half what you see!"

Lopin

how did you get on? If you want specifics as to running costs (e.g. the 5 taxes that are payable) on Florida property + insurance, pool, management etc so you can work out how many weeks you'd need to break even, let me know.

Pablo Silver or Lead?

Hi Pablo

Thanks for getting back to me the property i purchasee is on Old Lake Wilson road beside Reunion its a 5 bed with pool ect costing $380,000. I bough off plans March 2005 and due to close next March. The same properties in the same estate are now selling for $439,000. While im happy with price increase on the property im concerned that the running costs approx $40k pa will not be reached and i will have to make up a large portiion of the shortfall. Anybody out there with similar experiences and any advice

I know the 192/Old Lake Wilson/Ronald Regan Parkway/US27 ‘box’ very well, you’ll be right on the border of Polk/Osceola counties.
In your $380k are you including all you closing costs (if not the title company doing the closing can furnish you with a good faith estimate). Are you furnishing the villa yourself, or has the developer/realtor/management company offered you a turnkey package and is it included in the price (the normal cost is around $12k to $18k). You’re about right with your running costs ($38K to $44k). The rental market is very tough at the moment, with hundreds of villas offering $800 per week for new 5 bed pool villas, which is below cost. Beware of guarantee schemes. Many people who enter into these and rely on the income are at best severely disappointed (because the income is either exceptionally low or none existent) and at worse it’s a scam to relive you of lots more money. Most successful villa owners generate 80% of their own bookings. However it’s important to understand this is very time consuming and hard work. They then have a local management company to provide: Pool service, Yard service, Cleaning, Handyman, Bug spraying and co-ordinate with contractors etc.

The market peaked around Aug/Sept/Oct 2005 when demand (if not prices) fell off a cliff, it was like a light being turned out! Since then unsold inventory has gone up massively and prices have come down. On many sub divisions the amount of re-sale villas on the market is equivalent to 4 years supply at current rates of sale. I would be very wary of making any price comparisons especially against new build developer headline prices as in Florida there is generally a 15% premium against resale’s.

Did you go to the Florida Villa Owners forum via the link I gave? On there you will be able to get better advice than I can give, as there are many people on there with years of Florida villa ownership experience behind them (the forum Owner/Moderator Patti is British, she’s a villa owner and property manager).

Feel free to ask any specific questions and good luck.

Pablo Silver or Lead?

Hi Pablo Silver or Lead

Registered with the company you advised however they still wont allow me access