renting costs

[caramel]

hi everyone,

i have 2 questions:

what is the general cost of renting a single family home or town house in florida?

if i was to buy a condo, what are the annual costs for living in a condo?

[florida4sun]

As with anywhere it depends in where it is, do you want to be by good schools? I would say allow 1500 - 3000 depending on area, plus utilities. You have to be very careful with location.
Condo running costs, again how long is a piece of string, depends on the facilities. Maintenance fee anything up to 350 per month, plus utilities.
Health insurance is the thing to concentrate on. If you have existing conditions it is near impossible to get coverage.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by caramel
hi everyone,

i have 2 questions:

what is the general cost of renting a single family home or town house in florida?

if i was to buy a condo, what are the annual costs for living in a condo?
[/quote]

[caramel]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by florida4sun
As with anywhere it depends in where it is, do you want to be by good schools? I would say allow 1500 - 3000 depending on area, plus utilities. You have to be very careful with location.
Condo running costs, again how long is a piece of string, depends on the facilities. Maintenance fee anything up to 350 per month, plus utilities.
Health insurance is the thing to concentrate on. If you have existing conditions it is near impossible to get coverage. [/quote] my god!!![msnoo] this seems expensive. how does the average american afford to live with rent costing this much and with cost of living being as it is?

[SDJ]

I think you would find a condo cheaper than $1500 per month and with lower HOA fees especially in this climate. You can get a 3/4 bed house for the same amount, but it is the running costs that mount up especially with a house. There are several homes for rent near us that only charge $1200 per month as the owners are desperate for anything and these are beautiful villas with upto 3,400 sq.ft of living area!!!!

You need to do a lot of research as Martin suggests about areas and schools - you could probably get a Condo for $700/$800 per month but you need to be very aware of where it is situated and it probably would not be where you would wish to live!!!

Sandra.

[florida4sun]

Yes sorry I was thinking of houses rather than condos.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by SDJ
I think you would find a condo cheaper than $1500 per month and with lower HOA fees especially in this climate. You can get a 3/4 bed house for the same amount, but it is the running costs that mount up especially with a house. There are several homes for rent near us that only charge $1200 per month as the owners are desperate for anything and these are beautiful villas with upto 3,400 sq.ft of living area!!!!

You need to do a lot of research as Martin suggests about areas and schools - you could probably get a Condo for $700/$800 per month but you need to be very aware of where it is situated and it probably would not be where you would wish to live!!!

Sandra.
[/quote]

[anorak]

Don't know about condos but I just rented out an immaculate 6 year old spacious 3 bed 2 bath house with a nice garden and good location near shops and elementary school for $975 a month, on a 1 year lease.

Remember this includes any property taxes (owner pays "council" tax here) and the building insurance, but the tenant is responsible for water and electricity, cutting the grass and contents insurance.

This was in St Cloud,and a decent residential area.35 minutes from OIA and plenty of good stores in town.

I had 3 families wanting to rent this after advertising for 2 days, it may have been a little underpriced but thats how we keep tenants longterm.

I have older/smaller homes for as little as $550 per month, all have been foreclosures purchased at a good price, so the owners can afford to offer low rents and still make a decent return.

[Osceola]

This is a difficult question to answer. When you say "in Florida", what part of the state are you talking about? Rents in Orlando, for example, will be different from a similar property in Jacksonville. Number of bedrooms, estate amenities, location etc and so on will all have variable effect on amount of monthly rent. As Martin, says, the rent could vary quite dramatically.

Cheap rent is not necessarily a "good thing". You have to be very, very careful (especially if you are not a resident) in renting property. Investors who have been buying property very inexpensively may have no interest in adequately repairing and cleaning up a property after buying it from the foreclosure rolls. Many of these properties have been months unoccupied, with no air con functioning, so you need to inspect the property thoroughly to ensure no mold problems, plumbing issues etc.

Also, tenants are finding that their Florida landlords are not telling them that the property is being foreclosed. The landlord is simply trying to collect as much rent without paying the mortgage before the roof falls in. Tenants are then being surprised by being served with foreclosure/eviction lawsuits and have to find other accomodations which can be very inconvenient.

Finally, very careful attention to the lease is an absolute must. Many Florida owners have suffered huge drops in value or increased estate or [edited out - this is a family forums]inium dues which they are having trouble paying. I have heard of some owners inserting provisions in leases requiring tenants to pay any special assessments which could be an ugly surprise for someone signing the lease without carefully reading it.

[anorak]

osecola says:

"Investors who have been buying property very inexpensively may have no interest in adequately repairing and cleaning up a property after buying it from the foreclosure rolls."

This is mere speculation, I am not aware that that is the case, anymore than any landlord can be a bad landlord with a decrepit property.Perhaps Osceola can quote his source for this?

From my experience recently the low prices paid by owners have left them with money to spend on the property to bring it up to an excellent standard, and everything I rent out is a safe secure and wellmaintained property. Also almost all the foreclosed homes I am now renting are only 5 years old or less so are in basically sound condition anyway.

He certainly has a valid point about rented homes being foreclosed on, this does happen. Any decent property mnanager will check every 3 months to make sure the loan payments are up to date.

We use a standard Fl lease which does not have any nasty surprises for either side, and is fair to both parties and so straightforward that no lawyer is needed to interpret it. In fact I spent 30 minutes yesterday explaining the lease to a new tenant to make sure they understood every aspect, and they were easily able to do so.


Not all property managers are so helpful though, so take Osceola's advice and be careful.

[Osceola]

Personal experience Anorak. I have also looked at many, many rental properties and yes, some of them are obviously only "cosmetically" cleaned up. Nothing like the old black mold stain in a bedroom closet to sound an alarm bell or two.

There is no such thing as a "standard Florida lease" such as a "standard" purchase and sale agreement prepared by the Florida Association of Realtors or the Florida Bar. Leases come in all shapes and sizes. While it is a good business practice to discuss the lease with a tenant, I would raise my eyebrow at someone saying "oh you don't need to talk to a lawyer".

[anorak]

We never tell a renter he doesn't need to talk to a lawyer. I didn't say we did.
They usually decide they do not need to do so however once they realise how straightforward our leases are.

Black mold in a property being offered for rent? Disgusting. No decent landlord would offer that, and no property manager worth anything would take it on. If you can see it on a wall then its usually worse behind the drywall in the cavity. A sign of the AC being off during a summer or two letting the humidity get too high. I've even seen the veneer on a door peel like a banana due to this.

In our litigious society I would expect a law suit by the renter alleging all sorts of health problems originating from exposure to the mold.

You seem to have had some bad homes to view, don't know where you have been finding them but perhaps you should try a decent property manager with good homes.