It seems like a good time for me to think about buying a home in Florida..so..

[mimzy]

catch, meet mr. 22!

sure, the houses are cheap because the economy is in the crapper, but no one will be able to afford to rent it out while you aren''t using it. (unless you were planning on renting it exclusively to your friends). my dad and stepmom bought a vacation home in florida a few years ago with the same intention; use it a month or two out of the year, then rent it out the rest of the time. it worked well for a bit, but now it''s hard to keep it rented enough to not lose a ton of money on it. not to discourage, it''s just something to think about!

 

[beau13]

Date: 6/30/2009 11:33:10 AM
Author: mimzy
catch, meet mr. 22!

sure, the houses are cheap because the economy is in the crapper, but no one will be able to afford to rent it out while you aren''t using it. (unless you were planning on renting it exclusively to your friends). my dad and stepmom bought a vacation home in florida a few years ago with the same intention; use it a month or two out of the year, then rent it out the rest of the time. it worked well for a bit, but now it''s hard to keep it rented enough to not lose a ton of money on it. not to discourage, it''s just something to think about!

Many people from here (Canada) have vacation homes in Florida. Alot of people retire and move there for about 6 months of the year (snowbirds as we call them). Alot of friends of ours rent homes for 3-4 weeks, pull their kids out of school, and stay there for that time period. Homes can cost them up to $7000 for one month! I was thinking we''d rent to people from here (Canada) who are looking to go to Florida for the winter months. Thanks for all the advice and buying tips..I will check out the websites listed by a few of you, and who knows, we may just rent, we''ll see how it all pans out (insurance wise especially).

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Ladies,
It''s a two-way street. Sweeping general statements about ANY country/people are inappropriate and unfair.

 

[April20]

Beau, I don''t know if this has been mentioned yet, but have you considered buying a "used" time share? I don''t know a whole lot about time shares in general, but my in-laws bought a "used" one last year. My MIL bought it off Ebay, of all places (it was the first thing she''d ever bought there!

) At any rate, she got the first week of May in a two bedroom condo in Long Boat Key, which is outside Sarasota. It''s across the street from the beach, but has a beach view. Two minute walk to the beach, which you have practically to yourself. She paid $1200 for it and the yearly maintenance is around $600 I think. We went with them this year and it was a really good value for the money. Given that you only want to spend a few weeks a year in Florida and there are a lot of costs associated with owning a home there, something like this could possibly be an option to explore.

Just my two cents.