Orlando Vacation Homes Rentals

posted by orlandovacationhome on Jul 19

Regardless of how you feel about social policy, recently proposed tax and economic policies could be doubly hurtful to the domestic vacation home industry.

As many real estate markets are beginning to work off excess inventory, the new higher tax policies for the higher income earners might not be good for vacation home owners.

Collectively the vacation home industry has a substantial impact on our national economy. In fact, according to the National Association of Realtors, there are 8.1 million vacation homes and 40.5 million investment properties in the United States.

First, the newly proposed tax policies would push the average state and local tax rates over 50% for the higher income earners in many states according to the July 20th, 2009 edition of Barrons Magazine.

Moreover, the top five highest combined taxed states would be Oregon, Hawaii, New York, California and Rhode Island with a potential combined tax rate over 56% on taxable income for their top income earners. Other than Florida, Utah, Colorado and North Carolina, these states represent some of the highest areas for second home/vacation home ownership. In other words, as people leave these states to seek lower taxes vacation home owners and the vacation home industry will be effected disproportionately hard as housing inventories swell. In addition, taxing higher income earners (prime second home home buyers) will decrease their level of disposable income and ability to buy vacation homes.

Second, look at unemployment in these five states. According to the latest US Bureau of Statistics, the average unemployment rate for these five states is 10.5%, a full point above the national average. In fact, Oregon, California and Rhode Island are also in the top five for highest unemployment. The vacation home industry has been a source of high paying jobs for some time. Again, raising marginal tax rates will not only sting areas with high vacation home ownership, these actions will only likely cause the employment situation to get worse.

Regardless of your political stripes, raising combined marginal tax rates could hit the vacation home industry hard in a time when market conditions showed some signs of improvement.

As always don’t rely on an opinion, always consult a CPA before making a tax decision of any kind.

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Nov 11

If you are visiting Orlando Florida and looking for a vacation villa rental, there is great news. There is a huge oversupply of Orlando luxury vacation homes for rent. This means deals to be had abound for your Orlando vacation. For about the price of a mid-market hotel room, you can rent a fully equipped vacation villa home with your own private pool and do as much self-catering in a full kitchen as you like.  This would certainly help you cut down on your dining and entertainment bills. Thousands of homes were built over the last ten years, and now many owners need to rent them. On any single night in Orlando, many of these homes sit empty.

Occupancies Dropping

In Orlando, the hotel industry will be the first to tell you their occupancies plunged in September 2008 over 2007, with room revenues dropping by as much 20-25%.

Many Owners Need to Rent

Many vacation homeowners are now feeling the pinch of the housing crisis, and many of the speculators who bought now need to generate additional income to the pay the mortgage.

What does this mean to you, the renter?

1. Shop around. There are thousands of Orlando villas and hundreds of vacation home rental management companies. Make sure you rent a good home, get a great deal and stay in a great location for your Orlando vacation.
2. Always pay by credit card.
   

   Orlando Vacation Homes - Great Deals for Renters!

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Nov 5

Regardless of what side of the political aisle you are on, we can all agree that Obama’s win is historic. America needs to feel good again about its special place in the world and Obama, at least temporarily, gives us that feeling.

His ascension to the presidency should also have a positive impact on how those in other nations perceive the country as well. According to news reports, Illinois is already banking on the Obama buzz to boost tourism to the state and to the city of Chicago as well.

Barack Obama President - Impact On Orlando Travel

It’s no secret that since 9/11, international travel to the United States has fallen about 10 million visitors per year according to the Travel Industry Council. However, this has mainly been due to customs travel issues. As far as Orlando is concerned, about 3.5 million visitors to the area are international travelers, with half of those being European travelers. International travelers account for 17% of local economic impacts.

Our thought is that it will be now much easier to export American culture due to the star status and “International Panache” that Obama embodies. He will make it cool to be American again after several record years of low international perception of the United States. Interestingly, Obama also has small children in his home, and it will the first time since Kennedy that this is the case. With Disney being a premier pop icon of American culture which captures the imagination of millions of children, we can infer that international travel to the area might get a boost from his Presidency. Obama is also a “feel good” story which is what the Disney “brand” is all about. The two would be a nice match to boost tourism in the area. Local theme parks and vacation home owners would certainly get their fair share of this traffic. Let’s hope that is the case.

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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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