A word of caution - Posted by Rob FL
Posted by Rob FL on April 19, 2003 at 16:43:09:
Check things out carefully. Short-term rentals are a very different ballgame than a normal rental property. The State of Florida treats these similar to hotels, meaning special licenses, special laws, resort taxes, etc. You will need to manage this like a hotel including: monthly/weekly bookings, a cleaning/painting service when people leave, etc. I wouldn’t touch one of these unless you plan on having it professionally managed. Otherwise you are going to have a LOT of work ahead of you.
Also, I’ve had a few listings of people trying to sell these sort of properties. Since the September 11 attacks, these properties have become almost impossible to sell (and not that easy to rent at a decent occupancy rate) because of the slow tourist market around Orlando/Kissimmee.
I have some friends who bought a unit in 1999, got a taste of the hard work for 2 years. Then September 11 hit. The property was vacant 50% of the time, so they decided to sell. They listed it with me for 9 months without success. They listed it with another Realtor for 6 months without success. In January, they finally ended up renting it to a Disney employee for a year with negative cashflow. There were 5 to 10 units for sale in the complex all the time and none of them were selling either.
Of course, this is an area to find many motivated sellers. Especially if you could simply buy one of these properties cheaply or subject to the existing mortgage and then lease option it out or hold it as a regular rental property.
