<p>Saw this article. I don’t know Boca Raton. This place is cheap. 20,000 to own an apartment?</p>
<p>[Buy</a> Now, Move in Later: Rent Your Old-Age Home - Yahoo! Finance](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/news/buy-now-move-later-rent-160406020.html]Buy”>http://finance.yahoo.com/news/buy-now-move-later-rent-160406020.html)</p>
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I would strongly - <em>STRONGLY</em> - recommend you visit Century Village before you buy anything there, no matter how cheap.</p>
<p>I don’t think I can state that firmly enough.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t live there if someone gave me an apartment for free. It’s basically a ghetto for really old people. And the HOA fees are crazy.</p>
<p>DW had relatives who lived there. It. Was. Awful.</p>
<p>Ok…I guess I will pass…</p>
<p>We’ll be renting.</p>
<p>I’m not saying it’s a bad idea in general, in fact DW and I have a condo in Myrtle Beach with this in mind (although it hasn’t been a particularly good investment - we bought right before the crash).</p>
<p>But Century Village - bleh. Some facts from wikipedia on Century Village:</p>
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</p>
<p>We used to call it “Cemetery Village”.</p>
<p>Ha- Cemetary Village! I had never heard that one before. I have not been to the Boca CV but I have been to the West Palm Beach CV. I would highly agree with the suggestion to visit - it is not for everyone but it can be a cheap way to have a roof over your head in the Sunshine State. If unable to visit take a look at the documentary Kings Point (it can be found on HBO) - Kings Point is a community that is very similar to CV.</p>
<p>Interesting in Florida how large investment groups are buying up thousands of single family homes to rent out. Many mobile young families are maybe opting to rent now instead of buying after seeing their parents get foreclosed on in recent years, because of crushing student loan debt from college, and because of soft job market in Florida.</p>
<p>[Blackstone</a>, other investors snap up thousands of Tampa Bay rental homes | Tampa Bay Times](<a href=“http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/blackstone-other-investors-snap-up-thousands-of-tampa-bay-rental-homes/2110744]Blackstone”>Blackstone, other investors snap up thousands of Tampa Bay rental homes)</p>
<p>Lizard, great article. Thanks for posting the link.</p>
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This.</p>
<p>There’s going to be a lot of unhappy renters in a few years when these companies decide to dump these properties because the returns aren’t as high as they thought they were going to be, or because they want to take profits, or both, and people are uprooted and forced to move on short notice. Imagine having to rip your kids out of their school and putting them in a new one in the middle of the year because you’ve been forced to move with 30 days notice and there’s nothing to rent in the same area.</p>
<p>Or what about seniors who are on a fixed income, whose rents might double over the next 10 years. Think of the stress on older folks if they are forced to move every few years as their rentals get sold out from underneath of them.</p>
<p>These people will all be crying that they didn’t find a way to take advantage of the low prices and buy something when they had the chance.</p>
<p>Even after all the turmoil of the last few years, home ownership is still at 65%.</p>
<p>This statistic:</p>
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doesn’t make any sense to me. Where did all these new renters come from?</p>
<p>From an earlier article about TB:</p>
<p>[Blackstone</a> to buy $1 billion worth of Tampa Bay homes for rentals | Tampa Bay Times](<a href=“http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/blackstone-to-buy-1-billion-worth-of-tampa-bay-homes-for-rentals/1252624]Blackstone”>Blackstone to buy $1 billion worth of Tampa Bay homes for rentals)</p>
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It is impossible to make a 12% (or even 8%) profit when you are only getting 12% in gross income. Taxes, insurance, maintenance, agent fees, evictions, property management costs… If they are raising money from investors based on these projected returns, there’s going to be a lot of unhappy investors.</p>
<p>
What could go wrong here??? :eek:</p>
<p>Worst case scenario if things sour with these properties is if Chinese government is one of the investors in these trusts and they attack US cuz they get ticked off. How’s that work…are there limitations or many restrictions on foreign governments buying into these type of trusts gobbling up homes in US. Tenants might be surprised their landlord is Chinese government investing in these trusts.</p>
<p>We have considered buying a retirement home (not in FL and NOT in one of these senior communities) and renting it to one of our kids. For our family, it would be a win-win.</p>
<p>We have rented homes on beach fronts for vacation for many years now. I am so glad we did not buy. I go buy some of the places we rented 20 years ago and many of them look dumpy now. We are fickle renters and only like very nice, clean, new looking places. It’s virtually impossible to keep a place looking like that over time. I like enjoying the place and then ending the relationship with it when it gets a bit down on the heels. I have my own home that I am struggling to keep looking decent. Don’t need a second one.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t want to be a landlord and I think it would be worse being a landlord when you are renting to folks who are staying for the short time (i.e., vacation rentals). Maybe my aversion to being a landlord goes back to my childhood. My parents (who were immigrants to the US) did what many of the immigrants from their part of the world did–they scrimped and saved and bought rental properties. All I remember as a child was that my parents spent almost all of their free time (my Dad had a full-time job and my Mom a part-time job as well) dealing with renters and problems with the properties. </p>
<p>There was always, always something that needed upkeep or repair. Plus, for every wonderful renter there were two renters-from-hell who trashed the apartments. I suppose if one had a caretaker who could deal with repairs/upkeep and didn’t have to deal with tenants, renting a future retirement property might be less problematic. I’d make sure to have a large damage deposit.</p>
<p>Dstark, I don’t recommend ANYONE buying ANYTHING like that without checking it out thoroughly. Rent a unit for a week and see how it sits with you. Also, as I said in my earlier post, a lot of these properties can look very nice when new but they can go down hill rapidly. </p>
<p>I remember staying at a brand new Day’s Inn some years ago and thinking how nice it was, and it was when ti was brand new. It was a great bargain too. Now it’s a true dump. As a renter, i’ve gotten some nice deals on some inexpensive rentals that are very nice the first years on the market before the lack of maintenance and poor quality come to surface. As long as the location is not bad and the place is new, I’m game to rent, but buying is a whole other issue.</p>
<p>Cptofthehouse, I think you make good points as do other posters.</p>
<p>I own a vacation house that I also plan on retiring to. I rent it out to college students from September to May. I’ve also done weekly rentals for the summer which is a very big hassle from the standpoint of cleaning it up and getting it ready for the next group of people who move in. It makes us feel like maids. The past few years we have rented it out for the entire summer, again to college students who are making up classes during the summer as we have been taking extended summer vacations and can’t really use the house. The whole situation is a hassle and definitely not worth it. In a few years, we expect to be living there ourselves.</p>