Buying a Villa

[THOR1]

Originally Posted by billyt

will you be moving there as you can only stay for maximum of 14 weeks per year unless you apply for more.

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No wouldnt be the plan

I thought that was per visit?

Which only goes to show how long a road we have to travel before we get to the point of buying?

My tentative under standing was that you could stay for up to that long, leave the country and then return?

Our hope was that we would winter there from say October coming home for Xmas & New Year before returning in early January until say early April.

If we cant afford it though none of the above matters which is why we are trying to get a handle on costs before investigating other issues.

With the current Scottish summer we would be better being away from Mid May until Mid August which is why we go in 9 days time!

yippee!

[Tetrarch]

Hi George,

Well you've stayed in our villa and I'll happily share any data you need. Remember that ours is 3,000 sq ft, 2-storey, 5-bed. Most of the higher costs will come because of the higher taxes, wear-and-tear, furnishing, bedding, cleaning and utility costs associated with a larger house.

My personal view is that once you start to rent it out the incremental cost of fulfilling guests' expectations is extremely high. Especially when you consider the extra things that you supply that you wouldn't necessarily buy for yourself if you weren't letting it out (ie Games Room or new furniture).

Regards

Gary

[THOR1]

Thanks Gary

Only booked about 2 weeks ago and yours was taken

Despite my much heralded preference for Southern Dunes your villa is absolutely beautiful and had it been available we would have been very interested, even though its just the 2 of us this year!

Best Regards to you and Debra

Take care

I may well take you up your offer if we decide to look closer into the prospect.

Your comment strikes a bit of a chord with me though and one major concern I have had all along is just how much we would spend to get it just so and keep it that way.

We once stayed in the same villa 2 years in a row, the owners were / are good people, but the degradation in the villa over the year was startling.

If it had been mine it would have broken my heart to see it so abused.

I also need to seriously think if I can face continuous DIY for which I have very limited talent on "my holidays"

Never expected the advice, help and sometimes warts and all honesty I have received on this thread.

Thanks again to all

Best Regards

George

[Big Dog]

Originally Posted by THOR1

We once stayed in the same villa 2 years in a row, the owners were / are good people, but the degradation in the villa over the year was startling.

If it had been mine it would have broken my heart to see it so abused.

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I stayed in a villa twice, 2 years apart and it had a beautifull new cream carpet the first time but the stains on it the second time were unbelievable, I reported the stains to the management company as I wanted to make sure they were aware and they told me the need to look at replacing it and it was only 2 years old. Unbelievable to think thats your life span. No wonder tiles are pretty much the norm in a lot of places.

[Guest]

Carpets have to be cleaned and sometimes replaced regularly as they get a lot more traffic than they may do at home. Drips of coffee or sticky drinks across the room to the pool area etc.

Our carpets have just been cleaned when we were out last month.

Although we have a very good management company we do a spring and winter clean and check bedding, linens, cutlery, crockery, pots and pans ourselves. We replace where necessary as well as upgrade and add on to what we already have. I know that is pretty much the format for many owner operated villas where the owner is a regular visitor. A lot of our time is spent shopping for the villa and in the Home Improvement stores.

However if owners don't visit and some never do how will they know when things look shabby or need replaced. I have friends who run a management company and most of their owners leave it in their hands. They tell me it is a struggle sometimes to get investment only owners to upgrade and replace.

Regular maintainance is a must but it costs and some don't want to or can't afford to pay for it or invest their time.

It is a good idea to ask when you are looking at your potential holiday home, how often the owners visit themselves.

Alison

[Tetrarch]

I don't think I will get much change out of $4,000 for the re-carpeting that we're going shopping for in August (yes - while we're on "holiday")

When you turn up and whizz round to find that some oik has kicked out a doorframe and repaired it with decorator's caulk and repainted to hide it up - or repositioned a picture to cover up a hole cause by an aggressively opened door - or whose kids had thrown away an expensive pool cue rack to cover up the fact that they'd broken it by standing on it - or actually had the gall to steal your coolbox - or taken home a DVD that they took a shine to...

You're absolutely spot on. It's the heartbreak, not the expense. We know that things will get damaged. You really don't mind wear-and-tear, new pots and pans and towels and sheets etc are par-for-the-course.

Personally, I'm dreading the time that we go into the kitchen and find our beautiful granite with a nasty scratch or lump knocked out of it, or worse one of our pieces of artwork removed or damaged. It is lovely to be back but I must admit that there is always a sense of apprehension involved. You're also right about the DIY - I like to have things done as I would do them - this means that I normally end up doing them myself, yes I get what I want but it does cost me vacation time.

Best regards

Gary

[anniebee65]

Originally Posted by Tetrarch

I don't think I will get much change out of $4,000 for the re-carpeting that we're going shopping for in August (yes - while we're on "holiday")

When you turn up and whizz round to find that some oik has kicked out a doorframe and repaired it with decorator's caulk and repainted to hide it up - or repositioned a picture to cover up a hole cause by an aggressively opened door - or whose kids had thrown away an expensive pool cue rack to cover up the fact that they'd broken it by standing on it - or actually had the gall to steal your coolbox - or taken home a DVD that they took a shine to...

You're absolutely spot on. It's the heartbreak, not the expense. We know that things will get damaged. You really don't mind wear-and-tear, new pots and pans and towels and sheets etc are par-for-the-course.

Personally, I'm dreading the time that we go into the kitchen and find our beautiful granite with a nasty scratch or lump knocked out of it, or worse one of our pieces of artwork removed or damaged. It is lovely to be back but I must admit that there is always a sense of apprehension involved. You're also right about the DIY - I like to have things done as I would do them - this means that I normally end up doing them myself, yes I get what I want but it does cost me vacation time.

Best regards

Gary

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Gary, that is so awful to have to visit your home and find some idiots have abused it. We're so on top of our kids when we're away to treat the villa like home, and they would NOT be allowed to slop drinks around, or mistreat anything at home. I am constantly amazed at people's sheer lack of respect. I hope you manage to have a fab holiday without too much working.

[Tinklfly]

We sold our villa in April this year after almost 5 years of owning and renting. You've been given some great advice on this thread, all of which is very accurate so I won't go into more detail. We are off to Florida in three weeks time, staying at the villa which we sold as we transferred our bookings as part of negotiations. I have to say I'm so looking forward to spending 18 days on holiday as opposed to devoting precious family time to diy. For us, buying again in Florida isn't out of the question, but it would need to be at a time in our lives when we are able to maximise the time spent there and wouldn't consider renting. Good luck with your decision. Feel free to pm if you have any specific questions.

[Ros & Jim]

Please think long and hard before buying. We have owned in Florida for nearly 10 years and our current villa is the second we have owned. Woud we do it again? I honestly don't know. It is a lot of work and I would love to have an actual holiday rather than spend it doing DIY. We returned 2 weeks ago and I could count on the one hand how many actual days of holiday we had. For example, we had to move all the furniture as we had a company coming in to clean all the carpets, irrigation needed replacing and just a couple of days before coming home the pool heater packed in. Although we were glad it happened while we were there and not guests, it left our bank account $3800 lighter! This is the sort of thing you don't know when it will happen but you need to charge realistic rates to help pay for it when it does.

If you are thinking of renting, also consider how you would feel if you walked into your villa and saw the damage some renters do to your home. Also, the things that you will find are missing. Don't get me wrong, the majority of guests are great but there are always some who will disrespect your home and you need to know how you feel about this.

Please go into this with your eyes wide open and the best piece of advice you have been given is do not do it if you cannot afford to pay 12-18 months running costs without renting. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[nhyw]

Originally Posted by THOR1

I think what worries me most is the constant replacement / upgrading costs.

We could just about live with the ongoing costs although we would need to rent more than we had originally envisaged but its the blank cheque aspect of the replacement / upgrading and any big repairs that would worry me.

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Hi
I know you have stated that you like Southern Dunes but would you consider purchasing a new build property? Then you can furnish the house as you wish and everything will be new for a while and the major appliances will have guarantees in place as well as the main structure of the home.
We have had a couple of our appliances fail within their first two years but the repair guys always come the very next day or sometimes even the same day and because we use the company that made the appliances they always have the necessary parts on their truck, not like over here!.
We purchased our home off plan and took great pleasure in furnishing it ourselves. We also save some money every month so that when things need replacing we have a pot of money to take from. Each time we visit we check everything in the home and anything that isn't is great condition we get repaired or replaced. We make a list on the first morning of our holiday and then spend the next two/three days sorting everything so we can relax after.
Overall I would recommend buying, our home does cost us a fair amount of money to run and responding to rental enquires at all hours of the day can be a bore, but we truly enjoy owning it.
If you want any further advice or the details of a great realtor PM me.