als92

Hi everyone, this is my first post so excuse me if I babble on!!

I'm looking at buying a holiday home in Florida preferably around the Lake Buena Vista area to rent out when I'm not visiting with family ect. Also how do you go about getting somewhere that is furnished? I understand from other posts I have read online that I shouldn't expect any profit from renting out due to upkeep fees ect.

I want to know how the mortgage systems work and how old you have to be to be able to buy a property as I am still quite young.

Any advice on anything about buying in Florida would be much appreciated!!

I'm not looking to stay out there very long at a time so not looking for a long visa or anything.

Thank you so much in advance for any help you can give me! It is all currently a pipe dream and will probably stay that way until I know how everything works!

md95065

You wouldn't believe how often this question is asked,

If you use the search feature to search the US Forum with the keywords "holiday", "home", and "Florida" you will get over 200 results some of which may be useful to you in making your plans.

als92

Thank you. I did take a look at this but can only seem to find posts for people who are retiring which isn't as helpful to me but will continue to look through!

lansbury

If you don't live in the US and have no credit history here don't expect the US banks and mortgage brokers to be very receptive to giving you a mortgage. There used to be a couple of brokers in Florida who specialized in expat mortgages, hopefully a Google search might find if they are still in business.

als92

Thank you for the advice. I have money for a deposit kind of thing but not enough to buy outright. Your comment is helpful because I did not realise this from my research.

Canveydave

I used to sell houses in Florida in a former life.

You will not make a profit. In fact if I am being 100% honest with you you won't break even.

When I was doing it (10 years ago) the stat was 90% of visitors to Orlando were Americans, and they generally do not rent houses, they rent condos.

My sister has an amazing house in the area, they pretty much bought it cash. It is a real dream home, and she struggles to rent it more than 25 weeks a year. The break even point with an 80% mortgage is about 30 weeks a year.

If you go into it thinking it is going to cost you money each year, but you can stay in your own home 3 or 4 times a year, then that is OK. If you go into it thinking you will make money, then you will have problems.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

als92

Thank you for this advice. I have got the mindset of not making any money as I understand there would be fees for everything that comes along with it. This is the reason I came on this forum to get honest advice! I really hope that I will be able to do this because it is somewhere I would like to stay when going on holiday but being young I need to know what to get out of it before nose diving straight in! Thanks again

Noorah101

You've mentioned being young twice now. How old are you?

Rene

als92

Early 20s

Michael

I suspect your biggest problem will be to get a mortgage for the following reasons.

• You don't have a credit score in the US.
• You don't live in the US.
• If you default, the US will have jurisdiction and foreign countries seldom want to take on civil matters since laws between countries are different. For instance, a clause in one county's mortgage agreement may possibly be unlawful in another country.
• If you default, only your US credit score will be affected which is relatively insignificant for someone living in another country.
• If you default, American mortgage companies are normally not familiar with debt collection in a foreign country.
• If you default, the mortgage company probably doesn't have a presence in a foreign country to pursue the debt.

als92

Thank you for this, another thing I haven't come across whilst researching!

Michael

Although I haven't heard of anyone getting a UK mortgage for a US home purchase, in some ways it should be easier for the following reasons.

• You have a credit score in the UK and they can easily check your credit history.
• You live in the UK.
• The UK has jurisdiction if you default since it is a UK mortgage.
• UK lenders know how to pursue UK debt.

The big disadvantages for a UK lender to offer a mortgage on a US home is they usually don't have a presence in the US to schedule and evaluate appraisals and inspections, make up a mortgage closing document that a title company would understand, and if you default, they would get the home after foreclosure but don't have a presence to resale the home.

lansbury

This is a link to one of the companies in Florida who arrange mortgages for Brits.

Florida Mortgages

Pulaski

Let me put a stop to that thought! Foreign banks don't have the processes to register a mortgage on a US property, so there is zero chance that that will work, unless a bank like Citibank, which operates in both the US and the UK would do such a thing. Unless you are a high net worth customer, I severely doubt even Citibank would do it.

To the OP, you should also be aware that the "round trip" cost of buying a home in the US is about 10% of the final selling price, most of the cost falls on the seller. So if you buy a house for $200,000 it will probable cost you about $6,000-$7,000 in up front fees; if you sell it five years later for $220,000 it will cost about $15,000 in fees. In other words your gain on owning has been entirely taken up in fees.

Also, be aware that most US houses need a new roof every 20 yrs (+/- 5yrs), at cost of around $10,000-$15,000. The same also applies to air conditioning, except AC systems rarely last beyond 15 years.

This has more relevance, but without an SSN, never mind a US credit history I don't think you'd get a regular "conforming" US mortgage, and would likely be looking for a bank loan, which has a higher interest rate and likely only a five year term, after which it would need to be refinanced (typically into another five year loan).

BerkshireBugsy

To the OP - are you aware that different areas have different restrictions on short term rentals (STR)? For example , in the Kissimmee area it would say the majority of areas allow these and in theory it would be possible to rent a property for 1 night although this may not be permitted by the management company due to changeover overheads

I know the OP specifically mentioned Lake Beuna Vista which is closer to Disney but I'm not sure what the rental restrictions are for this area.

kind regards

Dave