Real estate question

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Samiha
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Real estate question

Post by Samiha »

Is it worth buying a property in the USA right now to turn it into vacation rentals? How has the vacation rental marketing been impacted with this economy? As property owners, have you noticed an increase in vacancies?

Thanks.
Musetta
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Post by Musetta »

As with anywhere, that would depend on location, location, location.

I am doing very well...I know others who are doing not-so-well, esspessially in over-saturated markets (like Orlando, for example), and bookings are slow - the impact is worldwide and not USA specific really as far as I can tell with vacation rentals....I don't see a difference in the economic impact really with my home in the US vs. my home in Italy.

In someways, I think rentals may be slightly more popular as people try to save money when travelling in groups...but...only time will tell I guess. I certainly would not buy anything right now in, any country, for a short-term investment...I think long-term, real estate is always a good thing :-)

One thing about the US VR market though (and anywhere) is that remember, depending on location, the majority of guests may not be Americans...so, it would really depend just as much on the economy of the country you anticipate your potential guests to be coming from. (i.e.in Italy, my guests tend to be Americans...in the US, English and French mostly)
Blythe
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Post by Blythe »

I am sure the economy has affected some vacationers but for the people in my circle, people have vacationed normally. I rent out a couple of vacation homes in Ocean City, MD and have not had any problems getting them rented. I actually had some movers move me into one of them for the summer since my other properties were bringing in so much money. With the housing market down, you might be able to make a good investment on one right now too.
Last edited by Blythe on Fri Sep 09, 2011 2:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
janny
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Post by janny »

If you are thinking of buying near the Disney area then I would say do it if you don't have to get a mortgage and don't have enough cash in hand to run it empty for at least 6 months.
The orlando area market is a heavily subscribed one as far as VR is concerned it is a tough market with many homes in foreclosure as the owners could not make it pay-so what does that say about the situation.
If you are prepared to do a lot of work on getting rental for yourself as the majority of the good listing sites either have waiting lists in their hundreds or cost a bomb to list on -then think about it.
There are a lot of costs that won't be mentioned by anyone when you are looking to buy such as licence fees ,tourist taxes -which will range from 11-13% depending on where you are ,in addition to the ordinary running costs of management &cleaning costs ,utilities-which are expensive-pool and lawn care ,pest control, insurance, property taxes to name but some.
Beware of going down the guaranteed rentals route as they are generally not worth the paper they are written on.

Good luck
Yorkie
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Post by Yorkie »

We bought a house close to Disney early this year, as it was empty it cost us quite a bit to furnish it. We started renting it out around may time and have booking spaced out until October next year but we have sufficient bookings already up to may 2012 to cover over 90% of the US yearly running costs, management fees (12 months) insurance, taxes, pool and lawn care etc. It will take more time to recoup the furnishing costs but on the whole given the current economic woes affecting the world I'm pretty pleased.
Stephen
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Re: Real estate question

Post by Stephen »

Samiha wrote:Is it worth buying a property in the USA right now to turn it into vacation rentals? How has the vacation rental marketing been impacted with this economy? As property owners, have you noticed an increase in vacancies?

Thanks.
Yes, you can get some good deals, but they are very expensive to run, and the crime rate has rocketed, Do not rely on other people to get you bookings, If you have to rely on bookings to pay the bills I personally would not bother.

We have owned our house for 14 years
Beachcondo
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Post by Beachcondo »

There are strict rules for renting out houses/condos. Those are called zones and are layed down by the cities in which they are situated.

The areas where you can rent out weekly are usually pretty much filled up with other short term rentals and this causes a lot of competition.

So a lot of places you simply cannot "turn the property into a vacation rental".

p.s. at least this is the case for my area in Florida and I presume you will find the same most places in the US
Pessimists only get positive surprises.
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