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I own a 1 BR oceanview condo in a very nice family friendly resort. The previous posts are correct, chances are you won't make much profit and will do well to cover all your expenses. I've owned my unit for 2 years now. The first year I lost $, as it needed cosmetic renovations, linens, bedspreads, curtains, appliances, etc. This year I will have enough to pay my taxes and expenses. As far as damages not covered by a deposit, all damages are sent to the homeowner to pay. I've never had any help with damages, holes in walls, doors, etc. My boss owns a 5 BR, million dollar OF unit in NMB. They do not make a profit on theirs, as they have a mortgage. Their expensive Italian leather sofa broke after 1 year in the condo. They just replaced all the carpet in their unit (after 2 years). The bill was $5000 for carpet, $10,000 for ceramic tile. In the summer they get $10,000 week in rent (gross), but their HOA's are $1800 month. My unit stays rented in the spring, summer and fall. I have use of it this time of year, and pay a modest fee for housekeeping services.
Good luck with your decision.
Yikes! That doesn't sound good at all... I'm considering a single-family home set back from the ocean, which I'm sure would be more practical all around (esp. trying to park a Class B motorhome when there), but there's just something about waking up to the sight of the sea!
Question: We are looking at purchasing a 2BR 2B min. oceanfront on either N Myrtle or one of the other less populated beaches, not Myrtle. This will be our full time residence along with some property on acreage nearby to break things up between ocean and country. I realize the HOA is or can be expensive. We will be paying cash. Any advice, anyone? Should we buy a higher elevation, how do we get our new furntiure into the building, is that an issue, how about provacy and having weekly rentals next to us or above us? I know, a lot of questions but better to ask now. Thanks.
If you are NOT a resident, the taxes are HIGH...and you also pay on "furniture/fixtures, etc..." which I've NEVER heard of before!
You also have to get a business lic. if you're renting your condo or home on anything but a "long term" rental.
If you want to buy a place to vacation, it's almost better to just buy it and not rent it. Our rentals offset some of the costs, but there is NO profit in it at all...
Question: We are looking at purchasing a 2BR 2B min. oceanfront on either N Myrtle or one of the other less populated beaches, not Myrtle. This will be our full time residence along with some property on acreage nearby to break things up between ocean and country. I realize the HOA is or can be expensive. We will be paying cash. Any advice, anyone? Should we buy a higher elevation, how do we get our new furntiure into the building, is that an issue, how about provacy and having weekly rentals next to us or above us? I know, a lot of questions but better to ask now. Thanks.
The higher in the resort your condo is, the more desirable it will be because of the views and distance from the hustle and bustle at street level. Our unit is on the ninth floor of a nine story building, or the "penthouse level" and our place has rented more consistently than others lower in the building for that reason.
Our unit was fully furnished when we bought it, most of the units in resorts are in order to maintain a sense of unity in design throughout the resort. However, since yours would be your full-time residence and you would want your own things in it, there would surely be a freight elevator somewhere on the property that would accommodate that, because all of the other units have furniture in them so it had to get there somehow.
You will have to deal with weekly rentals around you if you choose to live in a property that caters to vacation renters and as you know, these people are there to have a good time and they are using someone else's condo so they will almost definitely be louder and less mindful of how they treat the place than full-time residents who are invested in maintaining their home in the building. This is one reason why we would never move to our condo as full-time residents. If we wanted to move to Myrtle full-time, we would find something quiet away from the beach and vacationers and then either keep our current oceanfront condo to go to when we wanted the beach experience or rent someone else's place. I think living in a vacation resort would get old very fast.
We were originally looking at condotels. Seems great, affordable ocean view, amenities and a vacation atmosphere. The issue I discovered before looking too much further along is that financing for condotel units are very difficult to get. Also, make sure you look at those HOA fees. Granted, they typically include power, water, cable, building insurance and all your amenities.
Well, that's true of any property with an HOA fee? And if you're paying cash, financing isn't a problem! Of course, it might be a problem when you go to resell it...
If by condotel you mean a condo within one of the oceanfront resorts, as opposed to a condo in more of a neighborhood setting, then I agree, it probably wouldn't be a great place to try to put down roots full-time.
For one thing, yes, the HOAs at these places are extraordinarily high because they included so many things. We own a condo in a very nice resort and our HOA is right around $1,000/month. That does include all utilities, insurance, security, parking, etc. but still...if we didn't have the rental income it would feel pretty exorbitant for a place that we occupied full-time, the HOAs for condos in neighborhoods are much, much lower as a rule.
Also, it's true that financing is not easy to get on resort condos. We were able to pay cash but had we wanted to take out a mortgage we wouldn't have been able to find one because when we bought our unit no banks were lending for resort condos because there is such a huge turnover/foreclosure rate with them. I can see why. With a monthly HOA of $1,000 and a mortgage payment, it would be extremely difficult to make both payments, especially in the winter months when revenue is way down unless you were quite wealthy, which we and many other owners are not. The banks don't want that kind of risk.
The vacation atmosphere would get old quickly too. People on vacation don't take care of a place or behave like people who have an investment in the property and make it their full-time home. Some people get loud, sloppy, careless and rude very quickly when they are on vacation and who wants neighbors like that 24/7 every day of the year? Also, let's say that owners who are full-time residents are allowed to have a small dog. What happens when the vacationers see you taking your dog in and out of the building when they were told that there is a no pets policy? Too many annoying little issues like this occur when you live full-time in a building that is designed for short term vacation rentals.
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Myrtle Beach Condos
One bit of advice...try and stay away from purchasing a Condotel. Make sure the condominium project doesn't have any litigation either.
