3 Ways Your Property Manager Could Be Keeping Your Vacation Home From Selling

When it comes time to sell your Orlando vacation home the last thing you want to deal with are those little hiccups that might prevent your property from selling or complicate the transaction. One of the biggest problems we often run into when selling a fully booked and turnkey vacation home is property managers who are not cooperative. Because they are the ones controlling most of the access and information about your home, they often have the power to make or break your sale. You can hire the most established, wonderful and highly recommended Realtor in the great town of Orlando but if your property manager isn’t on board with the sale than you can count on it sitting on the market a very long time. Over the years we have seemed to narrow down some of the reasons they might fight against this and what you can do about it in advance so you don’t run into issue:

Subscribe to our site for more free articles just like this one!

1. They are Worried They Will Be Losing the Home to a Different Management Company
It’s natural for a property manager to become insecure and concerned about losing your home from their portfolio and naturally so. They have bookings already in place that they will have to move around if your home is removed from their program after it closes. The best thing you can do is to ensure your property manager understands that you and your Realtor will provide an excellent recommendation to the future buyers and that your Realtor makes sure that the home is advertised as a turnkey property and all bookings stay as long as the management company stays. What sometimes happens is, in a desperate attempt to convince the current buyers to stay with them, the property managers will over promise and exaggerate the homes future bookings and past performance. This only misleads the buyer and causes problems later on during the transaction.

Top Five Most Common Complaints From Kissimmee Vacation Home Renters That Could Cost You Money 

2. They Are Offended You Didn’t Use Them To Sell Your Home
Most property managers also have a real estate license and are able to sell your home. If they don’t they are usually affiliated with someone who is. This doesn’t mean that it is the best choice for you to use. Because they are property managers and their main business is property management, not real estate, they usually do not have the facilities, experience or infrastructure in place to effectively market and sell your home. Any agent can slap your home on the MLS but a true vacation home Realtor will go 10 steps above that with a proven sales system that they have used time and again. Property managers should manage property and Realtors should sell property. To do both is to become half as effective and that is not fair to the customer, which is you. Sometimes, the property manager becomes non-communicative with the Realtor in hopes to prevent their efforts of selling the homes. It sounds crazy and unprofessional but we run into these road blocks all of the time! Be sure your property manager give 100% access to any and all marketing materials that your agent needs to place inside your home in order to help facilitate the sale. Sometimes they will not allow Realtors to advertise that the home is for sale both inside and outside of the home. Your home loses tons of exposure from this.

15 Quick Fix Tips For Getting More Bookings on Your Orlando Vacation Home

3. They Are Afraid of Being Exposed
This is the rough part that your Realtor faces when trying to sell your property. They cannot lie or exaggerate how many bookings are in place to try and attract potential buyers however, the only way they can know how much income is being brought in from that home or its past performance is by relying on what your property manager says. Your Realtor is going to have to provide documents that prove this income is actually coming in and has in the past. Without the booking history and future booking documents for your home most buyers, who want something turnkey, will walk away as your home has no credibility at that point. By not providing those documents your property manager can kill your sale during the due diligence period. If your property manager will not provide these documents to your Realtor or you that you than it might be time to question whether they really have as many bookings in place as they are claiming to. It’s also a great marketing tool for your agent to be able to quote how much income your home produced the past two years.

As much as it sounds like property managers are the bad guy, it’s not the case with all of them. There are hundreds of property management companies in the  Disney area and about a handful of them provide a high level of service, are professional and most important honest. Our job is to seek those companies out and align ourselves and our clients with the most honest and ethical companies. Not the companies who want to pay us to refer them homes. The Flamingo Group never accepts referral fees from any management company for sending them business as we feel it’s a conflict of interest. We’re also experienced in dealing with difficult property management companies and are prepared to do what it takes to get your home sold regardless of the road blocks that may pop up ahead. To find out more about how we can help sell your vacation home and our one of a kind marketing system, please contact us today for a no obligation consultation.

Five Things To Consider Before Buying a Kissimmee Condo

Condo investments are the most popular investment choice right now in the Disney and Orlando areas. Many people are flocking to them due to their very inexpensive price tag and convenience with upkeep and maintenance. There are factors you need to consider before you just jump into bed with a condo community here in Orlando. The last thing you want to do is wake up with regrets when you get slammed with a huge special assessment shortly after the closing and you find out your condo association is broke!

1. Know the Vacation Rental Restrictions Up Front!
Most people read the condo association bylaws after they are under contract to buy a property. . . this is not the best time to be reading that heaping piles of rules and regulations. You always want to get a copy of the bylaws before your due diligence period starts so you have one less thing to worry about. What are you looking for in the bylaws? Rental restrictions of course. Some of the most common are short term rental restrictions, just because the community is zoned for short term renting doesn’t mean there still aren’t restrictions on the minimum time period a renter must stay. You also want to make sure you aren’t buying in an age restricted community if you plan on being able to rent to all ages!

View Exclusive Condo Private  Inventory Not Found on MLS

2. Condo Association Stability!
Orlando, Kisimmee and Davenport Condo associations are going bankrupt left and right due to the foreclosure epidemic. What that means to you is you could be buying into a community that is not financially stable and you may end up having to pick up the slack for other people who aren’t paying, what do I mean by slack? SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS!!  You need to make sure the association is not in debt, they have a healthy reserve fund, all major renovations such as new roofs, landscaping projects or structural issues such as elevators have been recently replaced and when the last increase in the fees were.

Watch Quick Video Tip on Condo Association Stability

3. Do They Have a Private Management Company?
Many condo associations outsource their property management to larger companies who handle several associations and they are not present onsite. It’s always good to live in a condo community that has an onsite property management company for both the homeowner’s and the renters. This means they will be able to address your concerns faster, deal with any emergency issues quicker and you can walk right over to the office and speak with them if you need anything.

Top Three Recommended Disney Area Condo Communities For Vacation Rental: Windsor Hills, Windsor Palms, Bahama Bay.

4. How Vacation Rental Friendly is the Condo Community?
Many vacation rental zoned condo communities are a large mix of both long term renters, owners, snowbirds and vacation renters. If your goal is to book, book, book than you really want to stick with he communities that are vacation rental friendly and have the resort style amenities such as fitness centers, convenience stores, move theaters, fancy clubhouses with restaurants and extravagant pool areas. Those are the communities that are going to attract more short term vacation renters than long term.

Search All Condo Communities For Sale in the Orlando Disney Areas

5. What type of  Vacation Rental Rates Can You Expect To Get?
That’s the million dollar question right there. In most cases you get our of it what you put into it. If you’re buying in a cheap, run down condo community and there are very little amenities for guests you’re not going to be raking in the big bucks on rental revenue. You’re going to get discounted rates for a discounted place. With condos being so inexpensive right now, it makes sense to spend a little more for the nicer community  because you will be earning more with rental rates. Always check the rates that other owners are asking for condos in the community you are looking. You can do that on VRBO.

Did you find this information useful? If so, consider subscribing and get our Free Report: Top 20 Most Critical and Frequently Asked Questions About Buying and Owning an Orlando Vacation Rental Home

Legacy Dunes Condos- Expect To Pay More in Kissimmee’s Best Value Vacation Condo Resort

I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries on Legacy Dunes this past week from investors that are just looking for a solid, inexpensive investment in the Disney area.  Many of the investors who are buying property in here don’t have any intention of using it for short term.  Some plan on renting it for a year and then trying to flip it, some just want to rent it full time and live in it for retirement and some are just buying it because it’s cheap and they will figure out the details later.  Whatever the case may be there is one thing that is certain. . .

If you plan on investing in a Legacy Dunes condo in Kissimmee you can plan to pay above asking price!

The comps don’t lie.  I’ve comped out every sold condo recorded in the MLS for the past six months and 70% of them sold for over asking price.  Some were a mere thousand over asking and some were as much as $16,000 OVER ASKING PRICE! What this tells me is that if people are willing to continuously pay over asking price for these condos that our market has absolutely hit a rock bottom and the comps are reflecting that.  

Legacy Dunes Bank Owned Condos For Sale

Legacy Dunes used to be a place where the average investor who just wanted a cheap vacation rental condo in Orlando could get a great deal.  Now it’s turned into a feeding frenzy for investors looking to cash in on the rock bottom short term rental investment that is still in decent condition.

If you’re up for the challenge of trying to buy a condo in Legacy Dunes, here are the new rules of the game:

Rule #1: Don’t underbid or you won’t get the condo!

Rule #2: Submit your highest and best offer.  In most cases, you only get one shot of submitting your bid so make sure it’s the highest you’re willing to pay.

Request the Full Legacy Dunes Sold List For 2009

Rule #3: Be ready to jump on the listing right away! Time is of the essence when you have 20 other hungry investors trying to buy the same condo.

Rule #4: Have your rental strategy mapped out ahead of time.  If you plan on renting it, make sure it’s rental ready asap so you don’t get stuck with it too long! Those condo fees are high and will start to eat a hole into your bottom line.

View All Condos For Sale in Legacy Dunes Kissimmee

The Villages at Legacy Park Homeowners Association in Davenport Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

“Hi Comcast? This is the The Villages at Legacy Park HOA and um, we just wanted to know why you shut off the cable to the entire community?”

How would you like to owe your cable company $105,305? That’s how much the Legacy Park Town homes Homeowners Association owed to Comcast for an unpaid cable bill before they filed chapter 11 on June 16. Back in the boom the developers had to use whatever advantage they could to try and compete with other communities selling short term rental properties in the Davenport area and including cable as part of the HOA seemed like a good sales pitch at the time. Fast forward to the dreary days of the foreclosure epidemic and now what we have is alot of people with no cable and a broke HOA.

This is not an uncommon practice in this market.  So many Orlando Homeowner’s Associations are facing bankruptcy due to thousands of dollars of unpaid assessments from owners and high default rates due to foreclosures.  There’s no guarantee that filing chapter 11 will solve all their financial problems though, if the delinquency ratio stays the same or gets worse problems can still arise in the future.

Legacy Park Bank Owned Properties For Sale

How does this affect the homeowner? With less money in the HOA pot for things like community maintenance and paying bills owners can expect cutbacks such as the lawns being mowed less frequently, sidewalks and the clubhouse being pressure cleaned less frequently and even higher assessments for structural things like roofing.  This could result in the community not looking as polished and maintained and in turn could affect bookings or possibly even sales.  It appears the worst is over for The Villages at Legacy Park however owners now have to pay for their own cable.

Top 5 Kissimmee Vacation Home Neighborhoods and How Their Booking Revenue Compares

When thinking about investing in a vacation home in Kissimmee close to Disney World one of the most important factors to consider, if you want to offset your expense as much as possible, is which neighborhoods generate the most income.  As a vacation home specialist my recommendation to you is to work backwards. Don’t be like so many Orlando vacation home buyers that just  jump into this process, pick random houses to view and then worry about the revenue later.  Start backwards to achieve the income goals you desire.  The first backward step is to compile a list of  Kissimmee neighborhoods in your price range that earn top dollar on bookings and have a stable booking history and start focusing on those communities.  There are really two main ways to obtain a list like this.  The first is the easiest and that would be to hook up with a qualified, vacation home specialist Realtor who works the Kissimmmee/Davenport market and monitors this activity.  The second would be to shop vacation home management companies and ask them for booking records but management companies are not so keen on divulging their property information to potential owners as this information often contradicts what they quote you in terms of rates.  Lets take a look at average revenue in five of Kissimmee’s most popular vacation villa neighborhoods.

All information compiled is based on a standard single family 4 bedroom pool home.

Windsor Palms
Location To Disney: 3.5 Miles
Average Nightly Rate Low Season:   $145
Average Nightly Rate High Season:  $173
Average Weekly Rate Low Season:   $931
Average Weekly Rate High Season:  $1193
Windsor Palms Homes For Sale

Lindfields
Location To Disney: 4.4 Miles
Average Nightly Rate Low Season:   $115
Average Nightly Rate High Season:  $133
Average Weekly Rate Low Season:   $763
Average Weekly Rate High Season:  $911
Lindfields Homes For Sale

Emerald Island
Location To Disney: 3 Miles
Average Nightly Rate Low Season:   $163
Average Nightly Rate High Season:  $194
Average Weekly Rate Low Season:   $963
Average Weekly Rate High Season:  $1194
Emerald Island Homes For Sale

Read Also: The 9 Best Kissimmee Gated Communities to Own a Vacation Home In

Windsor Hills
Location To Disney: 2.1 Miles
Average Nightly Rate Low Season:   $193
Average Nightly Rate High Season:  $270
Average Weekly Rate Low Season:   $1201
Average Weekly Rate High Season:  $1445
Windsor Hills Homes For Sale

Lake Berkley
Location To Disney: 6 Miles
Average Nightly Rate Low Season:   $106
Average Nightly Rate High Season:  $125
Average Weekly Rate Low Season:   $825
Average Weekly Rate High Season:  $973
Lake Berkley Homes For Sale

For a free one on one over the phone vacation home consultation please Contact The Flamingo today!