Investment property questions....
 

It seems that every time we go on vacation, we end up in Florida, and we rent a house for a week+. We have been thinking of buying a house there to use a few times a year & rent out the rest of the time. Not looking to make a fortune off of the rental, but a little more than the expenses/mortgage.

Wondering if anyone has done something like this. Where to look for the house, size (was thinking at least 4 br, 3 ba, with pool).

Advise, good idea/bad idea?

Thanks.

I have several investment properties in Fort Lauderdale area. They are all condos since I do not live locally (NJ to be exact). In my opinion investment properties are a great idea. However if you plan on staying in the property that becomes difficult as you wouldn’t have a full time tenant to cover your monthly costs so you constantly would have to rely on temp rental which comes with its own bag of problems such as how will you find these tenants? Who will make sure the house is in good order (nothing is broken). The more tenants you have staying there the greatly likelihood of something breaking.

Additionally a home with a pool has a lot of maintenance costs. You will have to hire a maintenance company to keep up the house and pool. You will have to pay for garbage, water, electricity, cable, internet all year long regardless if someone is there or not.

If in the other hand you just rent the property you will know exactly what you monthly expenses are vs your rent.

Investment property should just be that an income generating stream. Vacation home if you can afford it should just be that. A vacation home.

If interested I can recommend some areas/developments which are priced around 120k 1-2bed condo that rent for about $1400 per month. Association costs are around $300 per month and taxes are around $2k per year.

Good luck!

We were thinking the Orlando area & cater to the ones renting a week or 2 at a time. Yea sure more chance of something getting damaged & with a house would have to pay more for lawn & pool maintenance. Thinking more income from it, (if it is rented out). And could possibly rent it through the winter to someone wanting to get away from the northern winter but go back come spring.

I love real estate, but I like my investment properties close. I'd lean towards buying something close to home and renting in FL. It will be cumbersome to have a property that far from home especially on a short term rental basis. You also need to consider that most home owner's associations frown on transient rentals. I see many that require a min. of a six month lease. I don't think it will pencil out very well once you look at all the actual costs.

Todd, what do you think about Airbnb?

Hey T.C. I think it can work well if you are in a tourist area with and hoa that won't end up fining you. I also think management fees can eat up a big portion of your margins due to how cumbersome it can be from afar. If you are close and can handle the management, it can certainly pencil out nicely. I've used VRBO and Airbnb myself over the years to rent places.

I don't want to be negative, I just like simpler investments these days. I've had a few properties out of state and it was more work than I cared for.