All Forum Posts by: Shawn McCormick

@Eddy Wehbe To maximize the benefits of an STR in the Orlando area, you will need to be as close to the parks as possible. Most of the communities are in Osceola County, but Polk and Lake also are friendly and have some communities. There are different 'levels' of communities, those that allow it (but HOA could change that), those that allow it and are zoned and those that are built specifically for STR and the zoning won't change..these communities are guard gated, have resort amenities like lazy rivers, restaurants, arcades, volleyball, flowriders and a couple have golf.

Inventory is very tight and prices are high right now, so picking the right community is your first step. Depending on your strategy, picking the right type of unit will also matter (condo, townhome or single family). Virtually everyone of these properties come fully furnished and have bookings that you could take over if you choose, so you can hit the ground running.

Good luck!

@Alex F. Storey Lake is about sold out, I believe. It has full-time homeowners and STR also and is considered one of the elite STR communities due to age of community, reputation, style of home, amenities and proximity to the parks. It is always in the top recommendations that I make. Prices are a bit higher in there comparatively to similar communities, but you should make up for it with rates and full calendars.

@Annette Wanamaker I sent you a message with a contact.

@Christle Stezskal do you have any specific questions to your search about STR's in Kissimmee?

@Salvatore Cataldo @Rishi Desai certainly open to meeting up. Just need a few days notice typically so I can block of time on my calendar. Just PM me with what would work. 

Welcome @Rishi Desai I'm in Clermont and would be happy to connect. If you are not part of CRFI (the local REIA), I would look at joining it. The general monthly meeting is tonight near downtown.

@Ryan Cotterill the majority of these home come fully furnished and with future bookings in place, so really a turn key opportunity. You don't have to keep the bookings and may do better if you rebook, that is up to you. You don't get the previous owners reviews, so building your home's reputation to get on page one is going to take time and should be considered.

Trades and contractors of all types are extremely overloaded with work and finding someone to do a honey-do list is quite difficult from OOS. Cleaners, handymen etc can pick and choose what jobs they take as there are so many to choose and they are (unfortunately) unreliable. How do you handle that from OOS? If you are using a good Realtor or PM, they should be able to connect you with contacts to do those types of fixes based on your calendar of bookings.

@Ryan Cotterill to help answer some of your questions, let me see if I can help. 

Yes, housing prices have gone up considerably. We just got numbers for November of 2021 and inventory is down 45.4% over a year ago, median price is up 20%, volue of sales is up over 30%...so it is very active and prices are continuing to rise. With the new Fannie Mae rules going into effect, this will curb some of the investors buying and allow homeowners more of a chance, but I don't see prices coming down.

For looking on Zillow, I think 25 miles out from Disney is way too far. First off, you can't airbnb in Orange County (for the most part), so you have to stick to Lake, Osceola and Polk and I would stick to 10 miles out if you want a high performing unit. More than that and the traffic is a nightmare! I see that the bigger homes are likely out of your budget, my advice is always buy as big as you can afford, you can always rent it out as a 'smaller' unit in non peak times, but there are simply less of the bigger units and you won't be competing on nightly rates with smaller units that want to rate cut their competitors.

For self managing, there is a big learning curve. Unless you have the time to learn everything and have contacts for all the trades and apps and software you will need, I think it is best to hire a PM until you get a grasp on how it all works and let them build your reviews and presence.

Hope this helps, Good luck!

@Darius Stanczyk There are a couple trains of thought on this. If you go to a particular spot with your family and get good use out of the property, than why not use it when you want and let other people pay for it. That is highly dependant on when you want to use it, you could be taking away revenue from yourself if you want to come during peak times. The bonus to this strategy is you could use a 10% loan and purchase as a second home.

You could go conventional route and do 20%+ down and use it strictly as an investment, possibly replacing an income with the revenue. Then you could use the profits to vacation where you want. Depends on where you enjoy going.

With the new Fannie rules going into effect very soon, the interest rates are going to be a bit higher regardless, but I don't think they will last long anyway. But Orlando is a year around, globally recognized destination. How many people in Brazil or Dubai or Hong Kong know Ft. Lauderdale?

Best of luck to you!

@Alex F. Sounds like you have a few differing opinions. I am definitely on the side of a full resort style community. As @Tyler Gibson mentioned, the things you get for that money go beyond a simple junk fee that many associate HOA's with. The cable/internet could be a 200-300 value alone. It is proven over and over that simple things like a house with a pool vs a pool/hot tub will get you more money per night.

Since most people use reviews to purchase, the resort communities that are fully amenitized with lazy river, arcade, movie theater, restaurants and even Flow-riders are a big draw and compliment your themed house. Not everyone comes just for the theme parks. Many are here for youth sports tournaments, tour groups, conventions and want to be in a community that offers more. You will simply see a better nightly rate and higher occupancy in these types of communities.

The biggest things you want in one of these types of homes is 1. proximity to the theme parks, 2. highly amenitized community and a well themed home. Keep in mind, the homes here are really not that special, most are quite cookie-cutter, we have no moutain views or isolated cabins or roof top penthouses. They are coming for the excitement for the kids and the amenities of the community help to enrich that experience.