We're Losing Money on our Florida Property - help!!!

divadee

Please can we keep this thread friendly.

As Martin says please be nice to all moneysavers there is no such thing as a stupid question.

mr.broderick

PROFESSIONAL_LANDLORD wrote: »

Now., now, Mr B how would you like it if someone said the same thing about you , back in oct 2006

They'd have been right :rolleyes:

mr.broderick

meanmachine wrote: »

Why would anyone be jealous?

If I wanted I could "snap up" a 7 bedroom Floridian McMansion tomorrow for around 300K sterling.

I wouldn't own the place. I'd just have a big mortgage, a house I hardly ever saw, and in a year's time, potentially massive negative equity.

Anyone jealous yet?

Meanwhile, back in grey old Blighty I could use that 300K to buy a one bedder "luxury" sty in one of the less salubrious parts of South East London. Niiice.

Meanmachine where the hell have you been?

You bought anywhere yet sir?

HugoSP

One unfortunate aspect of this site as opposed to others that I visit is that people who have made decisions of this nature and need advice as a result, are ALWAYS WITHOUT FAIL rideculed.

What drives people to do it I don't know. Is it that some posters lack the ability to phrase a non contentious post in a way that won't cause offence, or do some posters simply like to bathe on a daily basis in other peoples' misfortunes?

The former can sometimes be forgiven but the latter type IMO simply need a life - they must be very bored, very lonely and have so many problems of their own that this site and its content is a sort of twisted escapism.

With regards to the OPs problem. S/he is facing a certain short term loss. I don't know whether they can afford to keep the place long term without renting it out, but if they can and they want to retire there in the long term, then that certainly is one option.

Option 2 is to sell at whatever price they can get. This will achieve a sale and solve the problem, but it will cause a loss and may destroy the OPs dreams about moving to Florida in the long term.

Option 3 is to keep struggling to rent it out but put it with a different management company. When we went to Kissamee, Florida a few years ago the management company we used seemed to be on the ball. There are forums specialising in Florida property where I'm sure you can get reccommendations for management companies in the area.

I know what it's like to consider that an investment could go down the pan. When we bought a flat in a nearby city some years ago we were plagued with bad tenants, useless agent and no rent. All our savings were tied up in it and we did lose a few nights sleep. We did more research and realised that the agent was the key denominator in all this.

We sacked the agent, re employed another agent (who we checked out) who helped us get rid of the latest bad tenant, worked to get some back rent paid, and for the first time since we bought the property it finally started to earn us money. We had one private tenant who looked after it very well for 7 months, he left then we've had another HB tenant in there for 9 years who's rent has ALWAYS been on time.

We are now looking to sell the place at a reasonable return. So those sleepless nights we had 10 years ago seem pretty petty by comparison. Even with the UK housing market as it is we are not unhappy about the likely price it will fetch.

So, my point is that what may seem like a mistake in the short term, may not be in the long term. Whatever decision you take, in time your life will move on. If you do keep it and are living there several years down the line, you will thank yourselves I am sure.

The only losers IMO are those that come on here to have a pop at you. They will be doing the same thing in 10 years time because they still won't have grown up and done anything for themselves, whereas you (the OP) will have long since managed your way out of this, and may have learned a thing or two in the process.

mr.broderick

HugoSP wrote: »

One unfortunate aspect of this site as opposed to others that I visit is that people who have made decisions of this nature and need advice as a result, are ALWAYS WITHOUT FAIL rideculed.

What drives people to do it I don't know. Is it that some posters lack the ability to phrase a non contentious post in a way that won't cause offence, or do some posters simply like to bathe on a daily basis in other peoples' misfortunes?

The former can sometimes be forgiven but the latter type IMO simply need a life - they must be very bored, very lonely and have so many problems of their own that this site and its content is a sort of twisted escapism.

With regards to the OPs problem. S/he is facing a certain short term loss. I don't know whether they can afford to keep the place long term without renting it out, but if they can and they want to retire there in the long term, then that certainly is one option.

Option 2 is to sell at whatever price they can get. This will achieve a sale and solve the problem, but it will cause a loss and may destroy the OPs dreams about moving to Florida in the long term.

Option 3 is to keep struggling to rent it out but put it with a different management company. When we went to Kissamee, Florida a few years ago the management company we used seemed to be on the ball. There are forums specialising in Florida property where I'm sure you can get reccommendations for management companies in the area.

I know what it's like to consider that an investment could go down the pan. When we bought a flat in a nearby city some years ago we were plagued with bad tenants, useless agent and no rent. All our savings were tied up in it and we did lose a few nights sleep. We did more research and realised that the agent was the key denominator in all this.

We sacked the agent, re employed another agent (who we checked out) who helped us get rid of the latest bad tenant, worked to get some back rent paid, and for the first time since we bought the property it finally started to earn us money. We had one private tenant who looked after it very well for 7 months, he left then we've had another HB tenant in there for 9 years who's rent has ALWAYS been on time.

We are now looking to sell the place at a reasonable return. So those sleepless nights we had 10 years ago seem pretty petty by comparison. Even with the UK housing market as it is we are not unhappy about the likely price it will fetch.

So, my point is that what may seem like a mistake in the short term, may not be in the long term. Whatever decision you take, in time your life will move on. If you do keep it and are living there several years down the line, you will thank yourselves I am sure.

The only losers IMO are those that come on here to have a pop at you. They will be doing the same thing in 10 years time because they still won't have grown up and done anything for themselves, whereas you (the OP) will have long since managed your way out of this, and may have learned a thing or two in the process.

Hugo that was a nice long and balanced post, some excellent points made.
Unfortunately i disagree with most of it and i can't be bothered to explain why, i'll leave it to nelly.

HugoSP

mr.broderick wrote: »

Hugo that was a nice long and balanced post, some excellent points made.
Unfortunately i disagree with most of it and i can't be bothered to explain why, i'll leave it to nelly.

Hmm I suppose that's a complement of sorts, Oh well you take what you can in this world - thanks:D

SleepWalker_2

Running_Horse wrote: »

Do you have a lot of children? If not it certainly is a bit of an oversight.

Fortunatley and unfortunately yes we have a lot of children! In fact, seven bedrooms is not really enough if we had the grand-kids with us too.

Running_Horse wrote:

Hope you find a solution appropriate to your situation.

Many thanks.

jyonda

OP - Sell for what you can get then buy it back for half that in a years time?

SleepWalker_2

Thanks Hugo, haven't got time to read all the threads right now but will try to after work over next few days. Wasn't expecting such a response! Thanks.

SleepWalker_2

jyonda wrote: »

OP - Sell for what you can get then buy it back for half that in a years time?

Would be a good idea!