Update: We've closed on our Offsite Townhouse - Regal Palms

[oufpat]

Yes this is interesting reading and I'm surprised how many of us are in the same boat. My dream has always been to be a snow bird, spending warmer months at our second home at the Jersey Shore, and winters in Florida, but those HOA and all the other fees are the killer. Hopefully , we'll spend some time in the Orlando area after the Holiday rush, and see from there.

[ermindy1133]

How exciting! Maybe Hoop De Doo will mellow Craig and make him see reason... Good luck with the decision making process! Can’t wait at see what you decide.

[MinnieMomofOne]

We are going to offer $105 for the smaller ground floor unit.

I expect a counter for either full asking price or $110. Getting it for anything less than $115 would make me happy.

If someone else snaps this one up with a full price offer while we negotiate, we will move on and offer for the larger top floor unit.

If someone else gets that too, then we will go back to saving more for a year or two. That’s not so bad, as we might then be able to make a cash offer....or look at doing something larger.

I’ll post links to the specific units later this week. If this deal goes through, next item will be decisions on what, if anything, to go ahead and update immediately versus a list of things to do over time.

Also, Hoop Dee Doo was great!!! We took brother’s family plus the 3 of us, then stayed for Chip & Dale song along. Fun, busy night.

[Brian5581]

Originally Posted by MinnieMomofOne

We are going to offer $105 for the smaller ground floor unit.

I expect a counter for either full asking price or $110. Getting it for anything less than $115 would make me happy.

If someone else snaps this one up with a full price offer while we negotiate, we will move on and offer for the larger top floor unit.

If someone else gets that too, then we will go back to saving more for a year or two. That’s not so bad, as we might then be able to make a cash offer....or look at doing something larger.

I’ll post links to the specific units later this week. If this deal goes through, next item will be decisions on what, if anything, to go ahead and update immediately versus a list of things to do over time.

Also, Hoop Dee Doo was great!!! We took brother’s family plus the 3 of us, then stayed for Chip & Dale song along. Fun, busy night.

Congratulations on reaching your decision so quickly! Best of luck with the offering stage!

[tomandrobin]

Originally Posted by MinnieMomofOne

We are going to offer $105 for the smaller ground floor unit.

Fingers crossed!!!!

[Joeli]

So much fun reading about it....good luck...whatever happens!

[MinnieMomofOne]

It's time to play the waiting game...actually, once I realized what time it was when we made a decision, we opted to hold off till tomorrow to ask agent to write up the offer. Agent is a personal friend helping us look as a favor, so I don't want to impose on the friendship too much. I still think the seller will counter when they get the offer tomorrow morning, then we follow the same game plan I typed here last night.

Our budget going into this was $160, so either of the units we liked at BB leaves us room to comfortable do a few upgrades if we want. After lots of discussion, it became clear that the first choice should be the ground floor unit because (1) snowbirds and (2) thought of carrying luggage & groceries up 2 flights of steps with no elevators myself. But #s also side with the smaller unit as our starter in the Orlando market. Monthly fees, not including property management, are $537 for this unit and include everything but electricity. The larger top floor unit monthly fees are $757, with monthly electricity bills also expected to run 140% or more of the smaller ground unit. So while I personally like the larger top floor unit much more, DH convinced me he is right that smaller ground unit is more practical for our first FL condo.

Something I didn't think about was that owners want electricity in their name, with bills going directly to them. It's a control feature. If power usage does not align with occupancy, that's a good indication to dig deeper. Evidently, shadow renting is a thing here.

Given distance, we need property management. I've found 4 options so far.
(1) Wyndham - they are on-site, known brand name & are easiest for guests. 24/7 maintenance is included with an additional required $100/month fee & covers such minor things as plugged toilets, air filter change, light bulbs and whole host of other things spelled out in the two pages on the maintenance in the contract. There is also a 30% fee for Wyndham in addition to the $100 per month for such things as linen service, housekeeping, access to spa/gym, ability to receive packages at the front desk, etc. The kicker is the additional travel agent fee on top of those costs, which has not yet been disclosed. So that's on my list of items to track down, along with getting an answer in writing regarding fees (if any) of bookings I generate myself.
(2) Real estate agent recommended property managers - this would be my go-to choice, as I trust my friend's recommendation. But neither of these two referrals have called me back. I get it is a holiday week, but if you don't call me when I'm offering business, will you call me once you have it?
(3) Property manager focusing on BB units. This guy called me back & I had a good conversation with him. One thing I liked was he could take what was (in hindsight) a bad idea, then figure out how to make it work for marketing purposes. His fees are basically $250 per month plus $80 housekeeping fee per guests. Any bookings he generates also get him 15% of that booking.
(4) Local friend who grew up in the rental industry & has time to manage it for me. This would be the lowest cost option....but I'm really hesitant, because while she is currently between jobs and available, that could change at any point. Plus, there's the whole risk of something going wrong and this is a close friendship I do not want to risk.

All of which really boils down to I need to run some scenarios & see just how much of a cost difference there might be in the apples-to-oranges comparison between Wyndham and BahamaBayResortDirect property management. Either way, at the end of the day the fees roughly match what I was anticipating, which is 50% of income gets eaten in management fees.

One thing to note - going Wyndham means committing for a minimum of two years, with a very short and specific window to opt out before getting caught in a 3 year minimum renewal. That by itself worries me some, not least because my only experience with Wyndham has been timeshare pitch & trying the equivalent of their one-time-use points as a discovery package. DVC does timeshare ever so much better.......but on the other hand, the employees I met at Bahama Bay while spending time there this week were simply great. From the bar tender who served us lunch at one of the on-site restaurants to the front desk agent, they were professional, friendly and long tenured. I don't think I spoke with anyone working there who had less than 5 years at the resort.

Several have commented on thinking about the rental game in FL. There's a lot of truth in many of the posted comments. I've been looking at the numbers for a long time. Some places (cough....worldq....cough....) can easily wind up more like 70%-80% of the income once that travel agent booking fee is added on top of a 30-50% management fee. Getting those documents is one of the best reasons to work with a local real estate agent. I've read through more of them in the last couple of months than I care to remember, but that's the only way I know to get a reasonable feel for fees before signing the dotted line.

As an aside & to some of the comments posted on this thread - there are some interesting occupancy laws in Florida. I don't know the details because I don't want to be in that market, but evidently there is a really good reason Disney won't let guests stay in the same unit for more than 30 days.

So back to the bright side. Here's hoping we snag one of these units. I'm already planning future trips in my new Orlando home, looking forward to enjoying that Margaritaville vibe for about 1/3 the cost. I'll keep posting as we keep progressing.

So thanks for the good wishes! I'm sending warm hugs to everyone who's taken the time to comment. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

[BWV Dreamin]

Thanks for posting! Love reading about Florida ownership and the various neighborhoods. Best of luck on your offer!

[jrm1504]

This is pretty interesting stuff. Like everyone else...I wish I had a place to escape to down there...

So in those places, did they have a place where you could keep your stuff there locked up?

[MinnieMomofOne]

Originally Posted by jrm1504

This is pretty interesting stuff. Like everyone else...I wish I had a place to escape to down there...

So in those places, did they have a place where you could keep your stuff there locked up?

Yes, all the ones we looked at have owners closets. The one we are making an offer on has both the inside closet & outside closet. I expect to use that one for pool toys & whatnot.

I'm looking at all the stuff available at Margaritteville online today. They've got a nice water park with $70 annual passes. For a 5 minute drive, I might well sign us up for that if this deal works out. (waiting, waiting....)