Vacation homes around WDW: are we being realistic? (Kissimmee, Poinciana: short sales, real estate)

[gep]

My wife and I are looking to purchase a vacation home around Walt Disney World. We're very flexible with regard to location (up to 30 or 40 minutes North/North East of WDW) and type of dwelling (SFH, Condo, TH). We would consider short term rental zoning, not a requirement, as we are budgeting for zero rental income.

Ultimately, we want to ensure that the neighborhoods we consider are 1. safe, 2. those neighborhoods with HOAs are financially stable, and 3. the combination of HOA fees and taxes are reasonable (e.g. best value -- not necessarily cheapest, hopefully not an oxymoron ).

In terms of budget, I'd like to spend no more than 50k. Financing will either be cash or a traditional mortgage depending on the circumstances/advantages.

Our investment timeline is open ended. In other words, we're not looking to buy today. We're willing to wait for the perfect opportunity and/or longer purchasing processes associated with short sales/foreclosures.

Questions for the group:

1. Are we being realistic? Are we looking for something that's hard (or impossible) to come by? Can a situation I've described be found in every quality neighborhood in central FL? Or, are these opportunities somewhere in between bountiful and rare??
2. Can you recommend towns/zip codes that meet our criteria?
3. Can anyone in a similar situation enlighten me on their experiences? Recommendations, etc?

Thanks!

[annerk]

Personally I don't think you are being at all realistic. You get what you pay for. You won't get a house in that price range, and condo's in that range are generally going to be in communities with the HOA in financial shambles.

[cfIfan]

If im reading your post correctly and you want to purchase a property for $50,000 then you are being totally unrealistic. The market has bottomed out now and we are seeing sales increasing, however, people are not giving properties away. If you are looking for a second home as a vacation property which you can rent out aswell to try to generate some income, then you are going to need to spend a minimum of $100,000 and realistically for a good property in a good area around $150,000.

If you are unable to do this then in all honesty you need to wait until you can afford this or forget the idea. I have seen on these threads recently people asking the same questions with the exactly the same budget and i will tell you the same thing i told them. I wouldnt buy a property in that price range even if you were paying for it. You will loose big in the end.

I would recommend you take a look at some of those threads

https://www.city-data.com/forum/orlan...questions.html
Good luck.

[2KidsforMe]

cfIfan, how are vacation rentals doing in Central Florida right now? IF you owned a decent condo near the attractions, how often could you realistically expect to rent it out per year? Any thoughts on Windsor Palms? Thanks.

[salmanalk]

unrealistic...I have seen some condos in winter garden (close to the fl turnpike) offered for $60k. However, the HOA is around $300 a month! so you will get it cheap now but it wont be cheap to maintain. WDW timeshare for example would set you back $60k for two summer weeks a year! I believe that you could get a good condo for around a $100k.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by 2KidsforMe

cfIfan, how are vacation rentals doing in Central Florida right now? IF you owned a decent condo near the attractions, how often could you realistically expect to rent it out per year? Any thoughts on Windsor Palms? Thanks.

I have several friends who own vacation homes that they rent--they actively market their homes. They get between 10 and 25% of the weeks rented each year, and that's by not using the home themselves on the peak weeks. They have had to cut their rental rates to remain even remotely competitive. One couple has a home home that stays rented at 40%, but they have a couple that rent for a full three months every year, and have been for five years now. But the couple is getting older and have indicated they might not be back next year.

I don't know if my friends experiences are typical, but from what I've heard through the grapevine, I tend to think they are.

[Guntersville Boomer]

You can find a condo if you look around, many of the cheap ones are condo conversions from apartments and you do need to make sure their reserves are funded and they are not full of forclosures who are not paying their HOA Fees. If you want a house for $50k you might find a forclosure in Poinciana (do lots of reading on that area before you consider it) and it will most likely need considerable fixing up. Real estate is a great buy here but something nice in the form of a house in a decent neighborhood is probably going to be in the $150k range as previously mentioned.

[beenthere65]

I don't know anywhere in this country you could get a place for 50K!

[Wilshire81182]

You can get small condos for that price, but they are usually apartment conversions in crappy parts of town, not the Disney area. Maybe a bad part of Kissimmee, but then you can throught the whole classy, safe criteria out the window.

[cfIfan]

Thats right, you have seen them listed at that price, but if you check to see what they sold for it wont have been as low as that. What a property is listed for and what it sells for are 2 completely different things not to add the cost to cover any liens against the property or the cost to rennovate a property that has been through the foreclsoure process for well over a year and left with no AC and was probably abused as the owner felt their home was stolen from them.

Its time to start being realistic im afraid.

Originally Posted by salmanalk

unrealistic...I have seen some condos in winter garden (close to the fl turnpike) offered for $60k. However, the HOA is around $300 a month! so you will get it cheap now but it wont be cheap to maintain. WDW timeshare for example would set you back $60k for two summer weeks a year! I believe that you could get a good condo for around a $100k.