Property running costs in Florida

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Lysos

New Member
Specifically, the Gulf Coast. I know it's a "how long is a piece of string ?" type question, but does anyone have real up to date experience of the total annual running costs of owning say, a three bed detached house on a gated community ?. Maintenance, service charges, local & national taxes, utilities etc.

Thanks in advance.
 
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Lysos

New Member
Interesting. Any number of agents keen to tell you that now is the time to buy 'bargain' properties in the USA but not so keen to tell you the true costs of ownership, which I suspect can be quite high.
 
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Spyglass

New Member
running costs

Hi,

Here is a real illustration of fixed running costs versus income on a 2 bed townhouse in Florida, this townhouse has just undergone a refurb and the figures dont include maintenance, id estimate $75 a month conservatively. Hope this helps.
 

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Lysos

New Member
Thanks, Spyglass, it's a starting point. I think if you add on Club membership (on a gated community) cable TV etc. the costs soon mount up. I think you could easily get to $1000 per month so while the actual purchse prices are relatively low at the moment, maintaining that 'dream holiday home' could be prohibitively expensive.
 
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Spyglass

New Member
ah I misunderstood you are talking about a holiday home. I only deal in investment property, which is obviously a different set of costs, as utilities etc are on the tenant. $1k a month for a holiday home costs seem a bit high. When I recently lived full time in Florida my total running costs on a single family home were about $700. You do however mention the club fees which are included in the figures I mentioned. For point of reference the property which costs I detail above sold for $34k. I think the real deals in Florida are when you buy as an investment, as because of the low price you can get a strong net yield with good medium term capital gain prospects.
 
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Spyglass

New Member
I agree with Lysos's point - $1000 per month will get added eventually.
The real deals are for investment properties rather than for second homes. But $1000 seems far too high, I personally own a 4 plex in Kissimee and its total cost is $755 and that includes property managment.
 
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propcare

New Member
I owned a 4 bed pool house in Florida until recently the annual running costs were: (this is without renting it out).

HOA $2000
Property Tax $1400
Insurance $600
Pool care $1200
Alarm system $ 1100
Electricity $1800 (it cost $100 per month when empty just to run the pool pump)
Management co $1200
Repairs $1200
Cable
 
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propcare

New Member
I own a 4 bed holiday home in the US here is a breakdown of the annual costs:

HOA $1600
Property Tax $1400
Insurance $600
Pool Care $1160
Alarm system $1000
Electricity $1800 ($100 per month just to run pool pump)
Property Management $1200 (including pest treatment monthly).
Repairs $800
Cable $ 900

These costs are for personal use only, with 8 week a year usage with air con off when not occupied.

if you let the property out then add at least another $100 per week it is let for increased electricity use ( air con) and $300 per week if they use the pool heater. Also double the property management charges. Do not allow a management company to let it for you as they will only pay a very low rate and will often let it without informing (or paying) you. Also expect repair and replacement bills to be high as a lot of things seem to break down when it is let out.
 
r1ch1e

r1ch1e

New Member
hmmm I was thinking about getting a property and letting it out but that last post has put me off a little!
 
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