View Full Version : Rent or buy?
appinlad
06-04-2009, 16:20
My wife and I are thinking of spending 3 months of the year (probably winter) out in Florida. Is it better to rent a Condo/villa as opposed to buying in the current climate? Also is it possible to get car hire for that length of time? Thanks in advance.
You'd have to stay a lot of three months worths to break even on a purchase, not only for the purchase price. There are utility bills to pay whether the home is occupied or not (although less obviously) so you'd be paying them for 9 months when you weren't there, not to mention property taxes, insurance, etc, etc.
If you're thinking you could rent it out yourself for nine months a year, be prepared for a lot of hard work, bearing in mind that most of the best advertising sites are currently closed to new joiners. There are also constant upgrades/improvements/repairs/replacements to be taken care of, not to mention customer service which means never being away from the PC for more than five minutes at a time!
Yes, you can get car rental but the max is 56 days on one voucher so you would have a voucher for 56 days and then another one for the remaining amount of time.
Katys Grandad
06-04-2009, 16:41
Some many individual factors to take into account. I can't see any advantage whatsoever in buying a property and incurring the related costs if you're just going to be in it for 3 months a year. However, you might have plans for the other 9 months which change that. I really think you'd need to give more information for anybody to give you useful advice.
I'm sure you can rent a car for long periods but I'm not aware of any significant discounts from regular rates by doing that. To be honest, the real question might be whether it's worth buying a car!!
If you have spare money then yes buying maybe an option right now, the market is depressed, but there is signs it maybe starting to pick up.
As already said, there are lots of other costs involved in keeping the house for the other 9 months.
Management fee's, utilities, insurance etc.
If you bought a house with a pool, you have to keep the pool pump running or the water goes green.
You have to keep the AC running or the house gets mold.
Having said all that if you bought now and the price goes up over the next 2 years, then it would be looked at as a solid investment. The thing is no one knows whats around the corner.
AS for a car, i wouldn't buy, the insurance rates out here are crazy, it wouldn't work out doing it that way. Long term renting would be the option.
chrizzy100
06-04-2009, 18:33
It costs me about $9k a year to keep a second home in FL without a pool..which even being in FL about 4/5 months of the year we never would have time to use..a friend of our is buying up homes in the Orlando area and is finding the prices going up...that is in the last 3 weeks..he has lost the last few in biding wars..
steph_goodrum
06-04-2009, 20:07
If youu don't want the hassle of letting it out when you aren't there then I would say definitely rent. That way you aren't tied to the same place each trip but if you find a house and area you really love then as long as you book early enough you can probably get the same place most years.
There are so many places to explore and you will have your pick (and cheaper than buying), without spending your trips doing maintenance.
We bought a munfactured home 7 years ago with the sole reason being spending at least 3 months a year in it which we have been able to do since last year. I try to rent it out for the months we are not there to help with the running costs but pottering around doing bits in the house are all part of the vacation.
As far as buying a car is concerned it is touch and go. Its costing me almost $2500 this summer for 91 days, insurance is not that expensive but you do have all the upkeep so its hard to decide on whether it costs in or not.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by wrpac00
We bought a munfactured home 7 years ago with the sole reason being spending at least 3 months a year in it which we have been able to do since last year. I try to rent it out for the months we are not there to help with the running costs but pottering around doing bits in the house are all part of the vacation.
As far as buying a car is concerned it is touch and go. Its costing me almost $2500 this summer for 91 days, insurance is not that expensive but you do have all the upkeep so its hard to decide on whether it costs in or not.
[/quote]
Out of interest, what do you class as not expensive for car insurance?
Our car insurance is around $950 per 6 months. That allows any driver and covers both our cars (that were brand new when purchased 2 years ago but age of car doesn't seem to make too much difference from what I can tell).
If I recall correctly the insurance for 1 car was around $650 per 6 months so adding the second car didn't double it. That's the best policy we could get. You can get lesser coverage but not worth the risk.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Frosty
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by wrpac00
We bought a munfactured home 7 years ago with the sole reason being spending at least 3 months a year in it which we have been able to do since last year. I try to rent it out for the months we are not there to help with the running costs but pottering around doing bits in the house are all part of the vacation.
As far as buying a car is concerned it is touch and go. Its costing me almost $2500 this summer for 91 days, insurance is not that expensive but you do have all the upkeep so its hard to decide on whether it costs in or not.
[/quote]
Out of interest, what do you class as not expensive for car insurance?
[/quote]
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by roger
Our car insurance is around $950 per 6 months. That allows any driver and covers both our cars (that were brand new when purchased 2 years ago but age of car doesn't seem to make too much difference from what I can tell).
If I recall correctly the insurance for 1 car was around $650 per 6 months so adding the second car didn't double it. That's the best policy we could get. You can get lesser coverage but not worth the risk.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Frosty
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by wrpac00
We bought a munfactured home 7 years ago with the sole reason being spending at least 3 months a year in it which we have been able to do since last year. I try to rent it out for the months we are not there to help with the running costs but pottering around doing bits in the house are all part of the vacation.
As far as buying a car is concerned it is touch and go. Its costing me almost $2500 this summer for 91 days, insurance is not that expensive but you do have all the upkeep so its hard to decide on whether it costs in or not.
[/quote]
Out of interest, what do you class as not expensive for car insurance?
[/quote]
[/quote]
Yes thats more or less what we have.
I think thats expensive, especially if you wanted to have a car doormant in the garage for most of the year.
So as per my original quote, i think the OP would be better of renting than buying.
I was asking wrpac00 what he considered "not that expensive" as per his advice.
steph_goodrum
08-04-2009, 21:15
I think if you are going out of town you can reduce insurance from what I've read and then reinstate it when you come back.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steph_goodrum
I think if you are going out of town you can reduce insurance from what I've read and then reinstate it when you come back.
[/quote]
Here in Germany quite a few people have a second, fun car (like a convertible, or an oldtimer as they are called here) that they only want to drive in the summer. The insurance companies are quite flexible on this and you can get insurance that is fully comprehensive from April-Oct (for example) and then it drops to just Fire & Theft. Of course you can't drive it on the roads Nov-Mar but it's covered in case it gets damaged.
I bet there is something similar you can get in the USA
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Frosty
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by roger
Our car insurance is around $950 per 6 months. That allows any driver and covers both our cars (that were brand new when purchased 2 years ago but age of car doesn't seem to make too much difference from what I can tell).
If I recall correctly the insurance for 1 car was around $650 per 6 months so adding the second car didn't double it. That's the best policy we could get. You can get lesser coverage but not worth the risk.<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Frosty
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by wrpac00
We bought a munfactured home 7 years ago with the sole reason being spending at least 3 months a year in it which we have been able to do since last year. I try to rent it out for the months we are not there to help with the running costs but pottering around doing bits in the house are all part of the vacation.
As far as buying a car is concerned it is touch and go. Its costing me almost $2500 this summer for 91 days, insurance is not that expensive but you do have all the upkeep so its hard to decide on whether it costs in or not.[/quote]Out of interest, what do you class as not expensive for car insurance?[/quote][/quote]Yes thats more or less what we have.
I think thats expensive, especially if you wanted to have a car doormant in the garage for most of the year.
So as per my original quote, i think the OP would be better of renting than buying.
I was asking wrpac00 what he considered "not that expensive" as per his advice.[/quote]About what Roger quoted.
You can put your car on 'vacation leave' when you are not in Florida. The reason the insurance starts high is they don't take any 'no claims' you have in UK so you start at the high level and it gradually decreases. It took us 3 or 4 years - can't quite remember to get down to the reasonable rates.
If you need to rent out your home in order to pay for it then having a car in the garage for 9 months of the year could be a distinct disadvantage. What do you do about it when you have guests in your house? So it might be easier to hire one.
appinlad
09-04-2009, 21:50
Hey thanks guys for the advice.
when you are not using your car you just keep the minimum legal required insurance, ours costs us $14.72 per month and then you just up it to fully comprehensive when you plan to use it. We find it very economical much cheaper than renting for periods of more than a month at a time.
Andrena