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Crank Peach Florida - Specialists in Vacation Rentals, Sales, Investments and Property Management | Buying your Florida property |
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Buying your Florida homeResearch Where to start? Florida is a large state, popular with Americans and Europeans alike, both as a playground to visit and as a place to live and earn a living. It offers a huge variety of amenities from the award winning white sand beaches of the Gulf Coast and the alligator inhabited mangroves of the Everglades to the bustling theme parks in Orlando and the Space Coast renowned for the Kennedy Space Centre. There is something to appeal to everyone. Florida is popular with the British, there has always been an affinity between the two nations and the Brits love sunshine, sea, sand and theme parks. However, Florida is also very popular with the Americans. It is the fastest growing state and alongside Texas and California is one of the favourite states for retirement. So you will compete to buy but you can be assured of good long term capital growth in the Sunshine State. You may already have a clear idea of what you are looking for, but if not we shall be pleased to guide you. Buying to Rent The majority of our clients are looking for a good long term investment, many of whom have visited Florida many times and share an affinity with the state, but are content jut to buy and rent, without necessarily the desire to visit and spend time in their property.. For the most part, clients like to mix and match, perhaps spending the odd week or two at a time visiting their home and getting some enjoyment out of their investment. It is important to recognise that unlike buying in the UK, many properties lie in deed restricted communities where renting may not be allowed at all, or only with the approval of the HOA (Home Owners Association), or possibly longer term rentals of a minimum of 6 months. Very few new communities will allow renting for less than 3 months, some will allow one month (and a restriction on how many rentals per annum). Some of the older homes or those which are not deed restricted will allow short term vacation rentals of any period from days to months, but many HOA’s are trying to put a stop to this as there is a popular American view that short term rental properties allow values to depreciate and for areas to be classified as “investment zones” as opposed to residential areas, reducing their mortgagability. You will have a wide choice of homes to consider, from condos and apartments in gated communities, on golf courses, adjacent to beaches with swimming pools or on the inland waterways. Or you may prefer a single family home or villa with pool, universally available all over the state, but where do you want to be? Are you drawn to Disney or are you drawn to the beach? Beach or Theme Park The majority of investors are drawn to Orlando by the prospect of high demand, good capital growth and the certainty that Disney/Universal will continue to invest in the theme parks. Promises of high demand and capital growth should be treated with caution. Many realtors/developers are just out for the quick sale, not unlike the Mediterranean time share sharks. The truth is that whilst Disney/Universal/Busch are investing millions of dollars in the theme parks to attract more visitors and retrain their repeat visitors, they too are building their own villa complexes and hotels to accommodate their guests. They own plentiful amounts of cheap land to expand their businesses. In recent years developers have been building thousands of homes on the back of the Disney dream, and buyers have greedily bought with the expectations of maximum occupancy and increasing rents. But numbers of guests visiting the parks have not increased by the same proportion and coupled with the slow down in the US housing market, some capital values have dropped, rents are under pressure through competition and the number of weeks booked have fallen. Can you compete with your fellow investor and compete with what the theme park owners have to offer their on site guests, from themed restaurants and visits from Disney characters to swimming pools with water park facilities, discount attraction tickets etc? Can you compete? Yes of course you can! Armed with the right knowledge and assisted by our teams here and in the US, we can help you to get it right. The best way to start is to imagine taking 10 family members to Florida. If you ask each guest for the top 5 things they each want to do in priority order, you will see that a lot needs to be crammed into a typical two week stay. There is golf, a trip to the beach, shopping (of course), ALL of the theme parks (of course), restaurants, water parks, a trip to see alligators, the space centre etc. You have also heard that you can hire a couple of villas and that they are well equipped and have their own heated swimming pool! Sounds like paradise. There you have all the ingredients in helping you decide how your investment needs to appeal to all of those priorities. This will be a holiday of a life time for many and their two weeks will fly by – and you want their booking and will want them to stay again and tell their friends how great your villa is! So, your villa needs to be smart, well furnished, have a pool, possibly a lake view (everyone likes to look at water), it needs plenty of TV’s for every generation to watch their favourite programmes, a computer for all their games (or access to the internet), telephone, good quality and plentiful furniture, possibly a games room, good towels and linen. The gardens need to be tidy, the house immaculately clean and the pool crystal clear blue. It needs enough bathrooms for maximum privacy and utility, bearing in mind families might be sharing and unaccustomed to doing so. It needs parking, good privacy and here’s the rub – it needs to be within a 15 – 20 minute drive to Disney. This is where research is vital. Most home owners advertise their villas as within 10 -15 minutes of Disney. In reality many of these villas are stuck way down US 27 a good 45 minutes from the nearest parks. This curtails the amount of time you then spend at the parks and you are less able to come back for a siesta (especially with young children) during the day. May be you are better off buying the pre-owned property in the prime position, than the new one that is too far away? Certainly the new property has the advantage that everything is new, whereas you may have to budget to repair a second hand property, to redecorate and replace furnishings. The problem for some Brits is that Orlando may be heaven, but it is not on the beach. Brits like to spend some time on the beach. It is part of our culture. So most Brits on a two week holiday will probably drive over to St Petersburg, Treasure Island or Clearwater for a day or two, or possibly do a twin centre break comprising a week in Orlando and a week at the beach. So, your guests may not want to spend two weeks in your home. Increasingly, we are finding investors choosing Gulf locations. Many repeat visitors to Florida are looking for something a little more rewarding than just doing the parks. The Gulf Coast is paradise in itself. Miles of unspoilt white sand beaches, legendary sunsets, el fresco dining, fishing, sailing, golf courses etc, unrivalled by many Mediterranean resorts. Here you will buy to rent and you will be fighting with your guests over the dates you want to visit! Whilst the Atlantic Coast is closer to Orlando than the Gulf, there is something special about the gentler Gulf, the west facing aspect and the lovely towns, such as Sarasota, Venice, Bradenton and Naples offering cultural as well as recreational facilities. Crank Peach Florida is actively looking for new developments as well as pre-owned homes to put to its investment clients. Let us talk to you in more detail about your buying options and arrange your inspection trip as soon as possible. You will be amazed to find what you pound, when converted into dollars, will buy.
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