Survey of Villa Owners

[ashley.smith]

I'm looking to buy a villa and wanted to know if people with villas could help out with some market research by answering the following;

What type of villa (4bed 2bath etc) ?
How many weeks does your management company rent the property for ?
Who is the management company ?
How many weeks do you rent the villa for
a) Internet ?
b) Newspaper\mag ?
c) Shop window ?
d) other ?

If any of the above is too confidential to publish please email to me privately at ashley@smithfamily.me.uk

I will publish the results here for everyone as they may proof to be a useful benchmark for others.

Thanks for your help

[TinkTatoo]

Great thread - I am sure a lot of us with dreams of owning a villa would be interested :)

[athurstance]

What type of villa (4bed 2bath etc) ?
I have a 4/2 - it works for me although there are a lot of 4 beds on the market. I don't personally think the size of the villa is main issue - there is a market for all sizes. For me the important thing is a nice community, good location and good plot.

How many weeks does your management company rent the property for ?
None - I don't take their bookings. I like to know who is in my villa so I do all my own bookings.

How many weeks do you rent the villa for
I rented 47 weeks last year + we took 3. About 90% of my bookings are via the internet or returning guests who originally booked via the internet. The other 10% are people I know personally or people who have been recommended by previous guests

Angela

[Stu]

You'll find most of your answers in these recent threads

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16883

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23554

[Lisag]

What type of villa (4bed 2bath etc) ?

Our home is a 5 bed/3.5 bath

How many weeks does your management company rent the property for ?

[/COLOR] Same as Arthurstance, we take our own bookings. ManCo has put in a couple of 5 day fillers for me BUT they are booked at full rate not normal ManCo rates.


Who is the management company ?

http://www.floridadisneyhomes.com

How many weeks do you rent the villa for
a) Internet ?
b) Newspaper\mag ?
c) Shop window ?
d) other ?

[COLOR=red] We've got it booked for approx 48 weeks this year (2 wks booked for our hols) all through internet bookings, recommendations and repeat guests [COLOR=red]


Lisa

[jcholidays]

What type of villa (4bed 2bath etc) ?
We have a 4 bed 3 bath. It was important to us to have the 2 master en-suites so that 2 families could go together and not fight over who gets the master bed room.
The 4 bed market is competitive, it is normally recomended that you go for a 5 or 3 bed but when you see the price difference between a 4 and 3 emotions take over and you go for the 4 anyway. 5 Beds are normally out of reach for the average punter.

How many weeks does your management company rent the property for ?
We only take bookings direct so it gives a more personal touch to the guest and keeps us in control of our villa. We also pay all our bills ourselves so that nothing can go a miss and if it does then it is our own fault.

Who is the management company ?
We use a caretaker who does all the cleaning, maintenance, pest control, pool clean etc.etc. It also prevents someone cold calling your guest trying to sell tickets or special deals for another year and distrubing their holiday.

How many weeks do you rent the villa for
I haven't got the figs to hand but we managed 3x weeks last year and most of them come from the internet. I know this is lower than the others but we are about £25 more than the average villa price. The reason for this is that we provide a much better villa than the average one and in order to keep it up to standard we need to cover the costs of continual improvements. With less guests it also prolongs the life of the contents of the villa.

Most of our bookings come from the internet and we have had a couple of repeats even though it was only built in sept 02. I am hoping that as time goes on people will return again and again.

Good luck with your search and I highly recomend you do a lot of research and view the other threads. It is hard work and you won't make any money from it but it is a great way to get to Florida year after year.

[ashley.smith]

I have put together a number fo spreadsheets and dont expect to see a positive cash flow however I do expect to see a profit... For the non accountants this is because capital repayments are cash flow but do not come from profits. At the end of the finance term however we will have a place to go to and for the kids when they are older.... It is not a short term hit but a long term plan.

[fatmart]

type of villa--3 bed 2 bath with heated pool situated in a very quiet neighbourhood of Loma Linda, Davenport.

Management Co.---J & M management, they have organised around 10 weeks for me this year so far, as we are new to it all, i have organised a few weeks of our own.

Rentals--i do not advertise anywhere currently it is all done by word of mouth with people we know etc.

There seems to be many horror stories flying about relating to owning, i know we are still new to it but we are living a dream to own our own villa.