Orlando Vacation Homes Rentals

posted by orlandovacationhome on Jan 5

We often get asked how many bedrooms will we need when renting an Orlando vacation home? The answer is simple. How many people are in your party and how friendly are they?

Lets say you have two families of four travelling together with a total of four adults and four children. You most likely want to rent a home with two master bedrooms and two additional bedrooms (with two beds each). A four bedroom Orlando vacation home would, in most cases, easily take care of such a party.

Some Orlando vacation homes have as many as eight bedrooms and can sleep as many as 16 people or seventeen if you include a pull out couch in the living room or an extra rollaway bed. Try doing that in a hotel room!

No matter how many people are in your party, an Orlando vacation home can offer 2,3,4,5,6,7 and even eight bedrooms comfortably sleeping from 2 to 17 people.

Four Bedroom Orlando Vacation Home Rentals

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Oct 29

In what many consider to be a bold prediction, the U.S. Deprtartment of Commerce vis-a-vis the Office of Travel and Tourism Industry (OTTI) projects that international travel to the United States will increase 3% in 2010. This prediction of international tourism growth in 2010 may come as a surprise to many industry insiders. For 2009, a decline of 8% in international travel to the United States is expected. Click here for the full report.

The consensus among industry leaders is that leisure travel appears to be stabilizing, but business travel is still very much of a concern going into 2010. Air travel costs to Florida have also moderated which is of interest to this Florida oriented travel reviews site. Several new venues in Florid are slated for 2010 which should help boost regional travel.

Further trends culled from the OTTI report indicate that the largest country of origin declines in 2009 are projected to be from Taiwan (17%), Ireland (17%), Sweden (12%), Mexico (12%) and the United Kingdom (12%).

The Irish and UK tourism declines are especially troublesome because these areas add many guests for Florida hotels and vacation homes. Other notable contributors to the local economy include Canadian visitation which is expected to be down 6% for the year. On a previous post, we identified the importance of Canadian tourism to Florida hotels and for the Florida travel market in general. 

As we indicated on a previous post in early 2009, bright spots for travel to the United States continue to include South America. As a region, South America is expected to rise 1% in 2009 with Brazil setting the bar with a 6% increase.

Consult our travel site for Florida travel reviews and coverage of Orlando vacation home news. The upcoming Florida holidays are a great time to enjoy sunshine and some great values on entertainment. In particular, Orlando has some great new venues opening in 2010 including Harry Potter World at Universal.

Orlando Tourism 2010

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Oct 28

There are some extra amenities that are provided by some, but not all vacation homes. The top five we have identified are:

1. Private Pool – Not all Orlando vacation homes come with a private pool. If this amenity is important to you, be sure to request it during the reservation process..
2. Game Room  – Many homeowners have converted the garages into game rooms that often include a pool table, dart board and air hockey. This is a great way to keep the kids (and some adults) entertained.
3. Internet Access / Computer – The career demands of many people require that they stay in touch with their e-mail even when while on vacation. In addition, internet access allows you to surf the internet in the comfort of your own vacation home.  The internet can also be a valuable resource tool for planning your vacation. 
4. Hot Tub – After a hard day walking around the theme parks, relaxing in a nice hot tub is a great way to the end the day.
5. Great View – Most vacation homes typically offer a residential view of other houses. Some Orlando vacation homes offer spectacular views of golf courses, lakes or natural conservation areas that allow for maximum privacy. Once again, inquire about these special features during the reservation process.

Orlando vacation homes provide a great way to enjoy a full vacation experience. With thousands of homes to choose from, don’t be scared to be selective and request homes with all the full service amenities you desire.

Orlando Vacation Home Amenities

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Oct 19

Some Orlando area vacation rentals offer extensive community pool facilities. This benefit is exclusive to rental guests staying within resort type communities. 

Although many people rent an Orlando vacation home with a private pool, some vacation home subdivisions do have outstanding resort community pools with extensive water features. Renting a vacation home with resort amenities is ideal for days when you don’t want to visit the parks and you simply feel like relaxing in a resort style setting. For this post, we’ll take a look at some of the best area resort pools available to vacation rental guests.

The most elaborate area vacation home community pool we have reviewed is an actual water park. The Reunion Resort community has numerous pools, a kid’s zone and large a lazy river. The water features at the resort are fabulous.

Number two on our reviewed resort list is Regal Palms which again offers a lazy river. This resort has water features that any kid would love. 

Third on our list is Windsor Hills. Although the resort does not have a water park, it does offer a great pool with a decent water slide.

Other communities with great community pools include: Aviana Resort, Oakwater Resort, Windsor Palms, Solana Resort, Encantada Resort and Vista Cay. Check out our reviews and locations of these vacation home communities on the right hand side of our main page. Many of the best resorts near Disney have outstanding common area amenities.  Use our community reviews to check them out.

As a final note, if you want to enjoy a major water park while in Orlando, the best water park in Orlando is Aquatica at Sea World in our opinion. The water features and level of entertainment is world class.

Reunion Resort Orlando - Lazy River

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Jul 12

It is no secret that the current economic climate has afforded a significant housing price decline in Central Florida over the last two years. The Orlando Realtor Association statistics page show that the median home price in Central Florida has declined 39.26% +/- (1) June ‘08 - June ‘09. However, this is a median and each individual area and community will obviously differ.

As foreclosures now impact many of the vacation homes near Disney including the Orlando, Kissimmee, Davenport and Clermont areas, some communities have understandably struggled to maintain Home Owner Association (HOA) fee collections. 

As a result, some communities have suffered operationally. Most typically you might see:

1. Overgrown lawns in some common areas and around individual homes.
2. Some gated communities with gates left open some or all of the time.
3. Some vacation home communities with guard towers at the entrance, but no guard.
4. Some vacation home communities could have had abrupt development stoppages exemplified by significant overgrown vacant lots and incomplete homes.

The good news is there are many HOAs who are doing a great job at maintaining their communities.

As a result, we have found it necessary to visit each of the communities on a regular basis. This allows us  to keep up with those that are maintained, as well as monitor improvements or deterioration in terms of overall quality.

A Well Maintained Orlando Vacation Home Community

Now more than ever, it is important for the Orlando vacation home consumer to do their research and book a community that will meet one’s expectations. As always, we recommend booking with a credible and professional vacation home management / rental company that can remove the guesswork when booking a vacation home reservation in Orlando.

Some Vacation Home Communities

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Apr 1

Orlando Vacation Homes Go Mainstream – A Force to be Reckoned With?

Hotels in Orlando have gone into shock. In February 2009, hotel revenues were reportedly down dramatically (1).

Orlando vacation homes, although affected by the economic downturn, have some very powerful factors now in their favor.

1. Of the 200 +/- hotels in Orlando, there are as few as 400+/- full time sales managers at the property level promoting their product.
2. With 30,000 +/- vacation homes in the Orlando market, each owner becomes their properties’ best sales manager. You could argue there is an army of 30,000+/- part time sales managers/owners promoting Orlando vacation homes all over the globe on a daily basis.
3. Tour operators are now selling Orlando vacation home product with as much fervor as they do hotels. Such premium accommodations as Emerald Island Resort and Windsor Hills Resort are well know for their quality amenities.
4. In Orlando, there are hundreds of vacation home management companies aggressively promoting vacation home rentals for owners. The databases of management companies also include thousands of satisfied consumers who refer potential renters.
5. Orlando vacation home rentals have become very competitive in rate, and can often offer a better value proposition than a traditional hotel. Hence, their popularity with travelers.
6. Once the domain of Europeans, the domestic American consumer is becoming very educated on vacation homes and the benefits they offer including the ease with which the homes can be booked.

Orlando vacation home marketing has become organically powerful and has so much “hidden” muscle that a significant gain in market share against the hotel industry looks inevitable. The Orlando vacation home idustry segment is  now a force to be reckoned with.

Orlando Vacation Homes

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Nov 20

Let’s be clear, no one can predict the future. If we could, we wouldn’t be writing a blog. This post is  just an opinion. DISCLAIMER. As with any economic opinion, take it with a grain of salt. The authors of this blog are not professionals and do not give out professional advice.

The Orlando vacation house market has been hit hard, especially for many buyers who purchased vacation homes around the years 2005-2006. Prices have dropped in some vacation home subdivisions over 30% from their peak 2 to 3 years ago. For the metro Orlando area as whole, prices appear to have dropped. Click HERE STATISTICS(1).

There are arguments that prices will continue to DROP(2):

Vacation homes are much harder to finance than primary homes, and in the current market even primary homes are now hard to finance (2A).

Foreclosures are piling up. As people struggle with their primary home mortgage, they may give up their second homes.(2B)

There are large inventories (2C).

A few vacation home subdivisions struggle with upkeep of resident exterior areas. Vacation home managment struggles to keep this under aesthetic control for vacationers.(2D)

Banks will begin to compete against each other to sell foreclosed homes, and this could negatively effect vacation home pricing (2E)

Tourists are cutting back big time on Orlando (2F).  Thus, the demand for vacation rentals is also dropping. This means that owners have less income to pay the current mortgage which increases the risk of foreclosure.

In a depressed economy, the last thing people often want to do is buy a vacation home, but the first thing they may want to do is sell if they own one (2G).

Homeowners unable to refinance their vacation homes (they may owe more than the home is now worth) might let the home foreclose if they are unable to modify the loan terms (2G1)

When the world is facing an economic crisis (2I), discretionary items such as vacation homes are no longer in demand. If the USA enters a severe recession, the demand for some vacation home products could dry up.

There are arguments that prices will STABILIZE(3):

It would appear that the rate of price decline in some subdivisions is SLOWING(4) down, but prices are still dropping.

Some subdivisions are making the transition from primarily a short term rental market to subdivisions that cater to full-time owner occupiers as the prices drop, and the vacation homes become affordable relative to regular homes.

The government is reacting on a massive scale to solve the problem(4A).

There are some SIGNS(5) that the number of home sales has been increasing.

In conclusion, vacation homes in the Orlando and Kissimmee area face a unique set of circumstances that has allowed for significant price drops from their peak prices over the last 2 to 3 years. Forecasting the future with absolute certainty is an impossibility.

Subscribe to our blog for in depth graphical analysis and forecasts scheduled to be released next month. Click here to subscribe.

As always, please consider the people writing this post/bog to be unprofessional and incompetent at all times. Due to your own due diligence at all times.

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Nov 1

We started this blog with this tagline promise “… the inside scoop”. We never thought good news would be this hard to find much less discussed publicly.

Although it’s no large consolation for Orlando villa homeowners who are losing their homes to foreclosure, the recent 50%+ slide in petroleum prices

Gas / Petrol Prices Down

should be a big boon for the Orlando vacation home industry/market. This would include both the domestic and international travel market that is desperate for some good news. This drop in fuel should help bring about firmer occupancy demand for the Orlando vacation home market. We have established in another blog that vacation villas in Orlando can present a great value to consumers in general when purchased at a distressed level from a bank. Those on the ground in Orlando estimate that transient occupancy demand is now off by as much as 15% year over year due to the recession. Disney attendance by all accounts is off as well.

As stated in another area of the blog, one cannot be sure where the bottom is for actual vacation home pricing. There are many factors that come into play in evaluating this. However, one can be sure that lower costs for petro should eventually help turn the travel market in the right direction to the benefit of vacation home owners and consumers. Demand in the vacation home rental consumer market does play a role in the valuation equilibrium which is played out in the form of net rental revenues to the home owner. Let’s hope that will be the case moving into 2009.

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Oct 31

We think good Vacation Home Management includes, but is not limited to:

1. All rental mark ups are fully disclosed to owners
2. All repair costs are fully disclosed in detail
3. Accounts can be accessed on line at anytime to see all bookings, fees and revenues
4. Any conflicts of interest are always fully disclosed by the managing entity
5. The cost of property maintenance is clearly broken down
6. The ability to opt out of the management agreement at any time
7. Quality assurance scores and complete inspection photos are disclosed monthly
8. Quarterly contacts to go over the scores by the manager
9. Realistic estimates formulated on the level and type of rental income the home can generate
10. Enabling owners to escrow for capital (major repairs) in an account the owner controls

Please see our other blog posts for additional tips and suggestions for choosing a vacation home management company.

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Oct 28

Foreclosures Effect Orlando Vacation Home Market.

The level of foreclosures in the Orlando vacation home market are now at or near record levels. As many vacation homes in the Central Florida are second homes and many were bought by speculators, the prices in many communities have dropped significantly. It would seem that many owners have simply walked away due in part that the rents from such homes are not enough to cover their expenses.

Some of the communities hardest hit are those that saw the greatest appreciation. Unlike regular homes, vacation home communities tend to have less permanent resident owners that can help stabilize the area or neighborhood.

Many banks are also being tough when lending on vacation homes which can further hold demand down. In effect, this means that many homeowners who bought a property over the prior three years could now face significant losses they sell today.

We are not real estate professionals, as we had to go through online public records, and methodically pull sales along with calling a few local realty offices in the Orlando and Kissimmee area. Our information may not be perfectly accurate so, as always, consult a real estate professional in the area and have them pull the data for you.

So what will happen to the Orlando vacation home market in the future? No one knows, and it is pure opinion and speculation at best. If we knew, we would be sitting on an island in Tahiti sipping a beer rather than worrying about the general state of the market.

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