condos in Miami

[Glen Rosen]

Hello,
I know that most people say SFR are the way to go, but I have some questions on condos in Miami. I see what appear to be nice condos in Miami, on Trulia.com, that are one bedrooms selling for about $100,000. What scares me is some of them have HOA fees of $500 plus and the property taxes paid on them are often in the range of $5000 - 7500. I also heard that some HOA rules prohibit you from renting your condo out. Is it possible to find a nice condo, 1 bedroom, in a part of the Miami that has good schools and a low crime rate, for about $100,000. Another question is can you find one that has HOA fees of about $250 per month and property taxes of about $2500 per year, and lets you rent it out. As I mentioned in some previous threads, I'm a teacher living in China, but I want to relocate back to the U.S. and live there for a few years, then rent the condo out. I have a master's in special ed. and recently found out I shouldn't have too much difficulty finding a job in Miami. Am I realistic about what I hope to find, or living in a dream world, I mean regarding the condo.

[Jeff B.]

Right now in South Florida you can find thousands of condos at reasonable prices because of the economy and people up North are unloading them since most are 2nd homes.

If you are looking for an investment to buy and hold you should realize that there are a lot of vacant condos in certain parts of South Florida right now.

As for the HOA fees you must realize that most of the Board members who run the associations have very little business experience. To run an HOA properly it's best most times to find someone who has run a successful business in the past and knows the ends and outs of managing expenses and has a lot of experience with contracts. So Yes, you may be able to find one with HOA fees of around $300 a month but realize that all it takes is some new board members who have no business experience and next thing you know the HOA fees have increased 30% or more.