Cleo and others from Florida...

[terry]

For the fun of it (for the time being), I am looking around for houses for sale in Florida.
I know several family's that take yearly trips to Florida where they rent a place for a couple of weeks or more and have been doing so for a very long time.
The more I talk with people, the more I find out that every body here is doing the same thing now.
So this got me thinking.. what if I buy a place and rent it out to all these people I know??? Sounds like a good idea to me.
I know nothing about Florida, only been there once and thats when I met you guys - in 2004 (I have pics to prove it haha).
Anyway, Im looking around on My Florida Homes MLS as I dont know where the best place is to find properties in Florida.
Would you be able to point out to me which areas are the better ones, and which I should avoid?

Thanks!

[Cleo]

Originally Posted by terry

Anyway, Im looking around on My Florida Homes MLS as I dont know where the best place is to find properties in Florida.

That ain't Florida... well actually technically it is but it isn't nothing like the tri county area which includes Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

I'm in East Ft. Laud. less than a mile from the beach by the Galleria Mall which is actually east Broward County and west Broward County is nothing like East Broward County. I love were I live but property, property taxes and insurance is not cheap.

The Keys are also wonderful, kind of a laid back island life.

I don't really know that much about central Florida other than it has great amusement parks. The further north you go in Florida the more redneck it gets though.

[LD]

I used to work in Jacksonville and loved it. My wife and I still talk about moving there some day. It does have a redneck element, but hey I'm from Alabama so it it seems more much less hicktown than where I am now.

[cd34]

It depends on your goal.

That area is in Central Florida. If you wanted to get involved in shorter rentals, you could probably get the theme park visitors plus friends and have a place of your own when you come down, etc.

There are different parts of Florida. Jacksonville still has seasons, Orlando is very transient - I almost moved there rather than South Florida. Tampa is fairly nice, is on the gulf coast so, you could get unobstructed sunsets. Then, you have South Florida - Palm Beach -> Ft. Lauderdale -> Miami. You get unobstructed sunrises - and the only time I see sunrise is when I'm working late.

Miami has some buildings, the Shelbourne comes to mind, where you can buy a condo and put it in their hotel rental program. Those units are in the $70k-$120k range depending on view. You get a share of the revenue earned by the hotel for having your condo in the premise. They take care of maintenance, etc. There was a Holiday Inn that did the same thing in Orlando a few years back. I believe Nikki Hilton's hotel in South Beach was selling rooms for $550k for revenue sharing.

If you're going to be a Landlord and continually be renting the place out to people, using a management company to handle the long distance responsibilities, and are looking to just build equity in a place, Orlando would probably be better. Then, when you're ready to retire down here, sell it and buy something you want. You'll probably want to get a unit conducive to rentals rather than a 2 bedroom/quaint unit.

If you're looking to buy a place you're going to want to retire to and would be comfortable with no revenue, but, would accept the revenue that friends and family would pay, I'm not sure Orlando would be my first choice.

However, if you're looking at condos, unless you've got some cash to throw at things, most banks will be hesitant to loan more than 80% LTV in a community that less than 80%+ owner occupied. Owner occupied becomes the key problem. With the vacancies from the investment boom, many condos that are listed might be stuck in a situation where a bank won't finance. It may be different for Canadian banks.

Now, there is also Key West. However, I believe you can only do 1 month+ rentals, so, no weekly/daily rentals.

If you have a part of Florida you enjoy, and there is a lot of diversity, then, pick an area, take a look at realtor.com which also has some additional searches, and look around.

[ArtWilliams]

Investors in Canada next at least 30% down to financing from a bank for rental properties.

Originally Posted by cd34

It depends on your goal.

That area is in Central Florida. If you wanted to get involved in shorter rentals, you could probably get the theme park visitors plus friends and have a place of your own when you come down, etc.

There are different parts of Florida. Jacksonville still has seasons, Orlando is very transient - I almost moved there rather than South Florida. Tampa is fairly nice, is on the gulf coast so, you could get unobstructed sunsets. Then, you have South Florida - Palm Beach -> Ft. Lauderdale -> Miami. You get unobstructed sunrises - and the only time I see sunrise is when I'm working late.

Miami has some buildings, the Shelbourne comes to mind, where you can buy a condo and put it in their hotel rental program. Those units are in the $70k-$120k range depending on view. You get a share of the revenue earned by the hotel for having your condo in the premise. They take care of maintenance, etc. There was a Holiday Inn that did the same thing in Orlando a few years back. I believe Nikki Hilton's hotel in South Beach was selling rooms for $550k for revenue sharing.

If you're going to be a Landlord and continually be renting the place out to people, using a management company to handle the long distance responsibilities, and are looking to just build equity in a place, Orlando would probably be better. Then, when you're ready to retire down here, sell it and buy something you want. You'll probably want to get a unit conducive to rentals rather than a 2 bedroom/quaint unit.

If you're looking to buy a place you're going to want to retire to and would be comfortable with no revenue, but, would accept the revenue that friends and family would pay, I'm not sure Orlando would be my first choice.

However, if you're looking at condos, unless you've got some cash to throw at things, most banks will be hesitant to loan more than 80% LTV in a community that less than 80%+ owner occupied. Owner occupied becomes the key problem. With the vacancies from the investment boom, many condos that are listed might be stuck in a situation where a bank won't finance. It may be different for Canadian banks.

Now, there is also Key West. However, I believe you can only do 1 month+ rentals, so, no weekly/daily rentals.

If you have a part of Florida you enjoy, and there is a lot of diversity, then, pick an area, take a look at realtor.com which also has some additional searches, and look around.

[cd34]

Originally Posted by artwilliams

Investors in Canada next at least 30% down to financing from a bank for rental properties.

Yes, but, will they finance a property that doesn't have an 80% occupancy rate? Down here we have condo's built during the real estate boom that are 20% occupied - and while the condos are a fraction of their original price, banks won't finance them at all.

[ArtWilliams]

That I don't know. The 30% down is for your typical condo that you lease out on a yearly basis. Generally speaking, Canadian financial institutions are much more conservative than in the U.S.

Originally Posted by cd34

Yes, but, will they finance a property that doesn't have an 80% occupancy rate? Down here we have condo's built during the real estate boom that are 20% occupied - and while the condos are a fraction of their original price, banks won't finance them at all.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by terry

I know several family's that take yearly trips to Florida where they rent a place for a couple of weeks or more and have been doing so for a very long time. The more I talk with people, the more I find out that every body here is doing the same thing now. So this got me thinking.. what if I buy a place and rent it out to all these people I know?

Well, I'm been down in the Florida Keys since 1997, and lived in Key West along with several of the other islands, so I can help you with this area if you decide this is where you want to get a place.

But my suggestion would be to talk in more detail with "all the people you know" and find out specifically where they've been going and if that's where they want to go again or if they go to different places each time. Might make it easier to rent a place to them if it's where they want to go versus getting a place that's located somewhere else.

Some people love the Orlando area for the theme parks while others want the Miami/South Beach nightlife or the Keys for their island lifestyle and great fishing. If you find out where your friends are going now you can use that to help make your decision.

And like I said, if you decide on the Keys just let me know and I'll get you pointed in the right directions.

[terry]

Thanks Everyone!

I do know they mostly go to Orlando but have been to Cocoa Beach and other places - that area anyway. I will ask.

Let me do some more homework. Again, thanks.