Buying a Holiday Home in Florida

[Jon and Sharon]

Hi everyone.

We are new to this site, and would welcome anyones advice!

We have reserved a property in Davenport to be used as a holiday home. We are buying 75% of the property and our friends are putting the remaining 25%.

As we are drawing closer to closing the deal, we are getting a little nervous, and would like to hear about anyones experiences, particulary regarding rentals (how many weeks can we realistically expect?), management companies (who are the most reputable?), what other websites do owners use to market their property.

For those existing owners - Knowing what you know now are you glad you now have a home in Florida?

Looking forward to hearing your comments.

Jon and Sharon

[JAF]

Hi Jon and Sharon and welcome to the forum.

We have had our home for 7 years and still enjoy visiting. It is hard work getting bookings and you will get a better rate if you can find your own bookings rather than relying on management company bookings.

The best way to find a reliable management company is to let people know which community you are buying on and ask for recommendations from others in the locality as some management companies only work in certain areas.

[Steve]

Hi Jon & Sharon,

welcome to the forum, as JAF says it can be hard work but can also be very rewarding. I have made your membership to villa owner status so you can go here http://forum.floridavillaselite.com/...splay.php?f=60 and read some more about marketing etc.

[kiomuk]

Originally Posted by Jon and Sharon

Hi everyone.

We are new to this site, and would welcome anyones advice!

We have reserved a property in Davenport to be used as a holiday home. We are buying 75% of the property and our friends are putting the remaining 25%.

As we are drawing closer to closing the deal, we are getting a little nervous, and would like to hear about anyones experiences, particulary regarding rentals (how many weeks can we realistically expect?), management companies (who are the most reputable?), what other websites do owners use to market their property.

For those existing owners - Knowing what you know now are you glad you now have a home in Florida?

Looking forward to hearing your comments.

Jon and Sharon

Hi Jon and Sharon

I own on Watersong in Davenport, which community are you buying on?

I'd be happy to share hints and tips and my experiences with you. I'd have no hesitation in recommending my MC, Florida Dream.

As others have said, it is hard work and you shouldn't expect to make a fortune through rentals. I conciously set out to focus on having a high standard and not to compete with the masses on price. I have my own website, put together by Steve via Sigma 53 web design (see the banner on this forum) and agin wouldn't hesitate to recommend him. Apart from that, I only list on Perfect Florida Villas having resisted the temptation to list everywhere I could which helps me to avoid receiving high volume queries, all of which take time to manage. I let the quality of our home speak for itself and the emphasis is on having bookings at decent rates rather than simply havingoccupancy (you'll see a lot of similar comments on this forum about that). I'm in my 2nd year and am very satisfied with my conversion rate to date especially as my marketing costs are very low which helps with profitability.

Would I do it again? Absolutely 'yes' as there is nothing like the feeling of satisfaction and pride whenever I go to the house and it is very enjoyable.

Get in touch with me privately if you wish.

[Mary and Colin]

Villa owning is like a rollercoaster ride some days your riding high then another day the coaster comes down very fast. But would i change it? No after meeting some great people willing to share the ups and downs you get through it and learn loads. Support each other.
We thought we had it worked out before we bought but there is so much to learn and we are still learning everyday.
This is our 3rd year of owning and we have yet to break even so that is something else to keep in mind. Having spare funds. Thanks to Ellie and others on here encouraging me to raise my prices and be confident of our home this is our best year yet. It is hard work as others have said. But also very rewarding when you get guests that thank you for sharing your lovely home.
When you walk through the door and think wow this is ours to enjoy.
Hope this sounds okay and not negative.
Mary

[reemur]

Jon & Sharon
I have sent you a PM
Carol

[pbensur]

Hi Jon and Sharon,
It's hard to put a number on how many weeks you should realistically expect as there are many factors involved, the biggest being the amount of time you can put into marketing your home. It is a huge time commitment especially in the first couple years. We've owned for 8 years now and it has gotten a bit easier as we have moved to the other end of the learning curve, but still extremely time consuming.

You've done a good thing joining this forum. The best thing you can do now is spend as much time as possible learning everything you can. Forums like these are valuable in educating you on every aspect of villa ownership. Best of luck to you.