Manc

sorry I thought you were planning on taking your lad over there with you for 6 months.........

you never said that actually. I put 2 + 2 together and got 5.

angie111

My Son would not be 14 if we moved for 6 months of the year. Short term we would buy a property and get a Managing agency to rent it out for us, but use it for our holidays as well. Then when the time comes we would hopefully be in the situation of spending more time in the USA, by that time My Son would be older.

Manc

180 days

Ray

Csrtaily no problem buying a place ..there are lot of brit owners selling up
or being repossessed the rental market is far overblown ..if you dont need the rental money its conceivable and stay away from Orlando

Bill_S

Bolded - it's a REALLY bad time to be planning something like this, ESPECIALLY in Florida. Be very careful.

fatbrit

The world and his wife are trying to rent out property in Florida at the moment. So don't take this into your calculations when figuring out whether you can afford it.

You are not good candidates for a B2 at the moment -- and a refusal will take you backwards rather than forwards.

There is nothing preventing you buying property in Florida. However, owning property gives you absolutely no right to visit it.

angie111

Thanks for your advise. Most appreciated. I will start looking at the Visa side of things now !!!!

englishinfl

I've seen the other posts about being beware of having a rental in Fl, and they're right to be sceptical.

May take on it is that honestly it depends pretty much on the location of the peoperty, where you try rent it, and with whom you list it and what connections they have. Some agencies are definately better than others, especially around the Orlando and Kissimee area, of course if you have a lot of mates and family there in the UK that want to go to Disney and get some off season sun for a week or two while they're here,then you may try renting it out directly by yourself too, but you need to be careful.
I wouldn't suggest doing it unless you have the cash to spare and aren't going to run into a financial problem if the place doesn't rent for a few weeks of the year, but it's an easy way to have a place for holidays, and I know plenty that do it here and in the UK and have no problem with it.
Remember there's more to it than just buying it and paying the utilities, you have to figure in a cost for emergency repairs, maintenance (house and lawn), cleaning (every time you change tennants), etc. You can do all those through an agency but you'll pay for it. Plus of course there's taxes and insurance etc too, no cheap way of doing that bit.
As for the visa you need for 180 days, there's plenty of other people know better than me on that.

meauxna

Who's going to rent a house for just 6 months of the year? You don't think you'll have it rented as a vacation rental for a solid 6 months do you? In the off season probably. And a stable local renter isn't going to want such a short term.

englishinfl

I suspect they were talking about short term vacation rentals- 1 or 2 weeks at a time. Not at all unusual here in FL around the "Disney catchment area", Meaux.

meauxna

I know.. but a few week-long renters won't pay the mortgage for 6 months. Was hoping to make it .. er, obvious.

englishinfl

It'll easily pay more than the mortgage if it's in the right location. We don't use the usual monthly rate "pro rated" for weekly rentals to holidaymakers from overseas. A months mortgage payment can easily be made from a weeks rent, and in peak times it's money for old rope with the mortgage paid 8 times in a month. Obviously the idea would be to rent the place for as many weeks as possible during the time they aren't in it, at least if they're sensible that's the way it would work. Who knows what their finances are or how much they'd need to borrow or make to cover the expenses.. without that information it's kind of hard to make a real guess to whether it'd work for them, so I'm allowing the best case scenario.
It's like any business venture, basically you have to get the math right, or you'll sink within a year. Easier not to have a mortgage altogether and then it's all cash in pocket, less the running costs.

Ray

I disagree ... I used to manage 8 houses locally to me ..for mainly UK tourists now down to one ...
the costs exceeded the income and they were all sold off ...

fatbrit

You're not a realtor, are you?

tamms_1965

I agree, in FL I think it would be difficult regardless of location given the current economic climate here and in the UK. On the US side of things, FL attracts mostly midwest/northern middle-class families, retirees, and Spring Breakers, and money is getting tight for vacations. People have higher priorities right now.

However, if you do not need to rent to pay the mortgage, you can something very reasonably priced.