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A beginner's guide to buying property in Florida

Malcolm and Jackie Hodges are part-owners - along with Malcolm's brother, Stephen, and his wife, Vivien - of a pool-house on the Superior Group's Highlands Reserve, and are now buying a second property, this time off-plan on the Superior Group's new Oakmont Resort and Spa complex."Our previous experience of buying a re-sale property really helped when it came to buying the second house," Jackie explains. "Maybe other people can learn from our experiences!"

"First, it's important to spend time investigating before you go out to view," says Jackie. "It's also useful to get a basic understanding of the buying process and real estate terms. We started doing our homework in February, 2004, by reading overseas property magazines and books (we found the Sunday Times' guide to buying a property in Florida particularly useful), going along to overseas property exhibitions, trawling the web, and speaking to people who already owned houses in the Orlando area."

We gained a thorough knowledge of the area and the facilities on offer, so we knew that Highlands Reserve is a sought-after community within 10 minutes' drive of Disney World, and that short-term rentals are permitted here, unlike many areas."The next step is sorting out finances.

"We had a budget of $260-270,000 plus closing costs, and we knew we wanted a fully furnished 4-bedroom property with a south or south-west-facing pool area, with "curb appeal" and a feeling of space," says Jackie. "We contacted a local financialadvisor, weighed up a sterling mortgage versus a US$ mortgage, and got a decision in principle in writing so we could take it out to Florida with us.

We tried to understand closing details and costs, and to establish any extras we would have to pay, like property tax (the equivalent of our council tax), home and hazard insurance plus public liability insurance (required in the US for rental purposes) and HOA fees (the Home Owners' Association for the community you are buying into). "We arranged a 5-day inspection trip through the Superior Group in May 2004," Jackie recalls. "We saw 6 selected re-sale properties, although they were moving so fast that 2 were actually sold while we were on our way to see them! When we saw the Oxford Drive house, we immediately knew it was the one for us. Once you put in an offer, you are committed to buy, so you do need to be sure at this stage!

We put our offer in, and went with the Superior representative to open a US bank account. This is quite straightforward and takes about an hour; you need to take extra US$ or travellers cheques with you to put into the account so you can writecheques immediately such as the initial deposit ($1000), house inspection fee ($300) and termite inspection fee ($100)! The next day we had a meeting with the Superior mortgage and finance people, and were told that our offer had been accepted! Closing date was set for 5 weeks time. We went to Disney Marketplace to celebrate with a meal and drink.

The only thing left to do before we flew home was to meet with Superior Management & Rentals to arrange for them to look after certain aspects of the purchase process and take over the day-to-day running of the home after the sale."Once back in the UK, the Hodges completed their mortgage application form, while Superior arranged the Home & Hazard and Public Liability insurances.

They opened an account with MoneyCorp and bought US dollars to cover the 20% deposit and estimated closing costs, and organised an appointment with a Notary Public when the documents and contract arrived from Florida. "It all became a little crazy in the last week," laughs Jackie. "We received the closing and contract documents, got them signed, sent them back via FedEx, and wired the dollars over to the closing agent in Florida. We closed a few days after the set date, but the whole process from offer to owning took just under 6 weeks!"

"We didn't really have any bad experiences to relate, and a lot of the experience was very positive," says Jackie. "For example, the speed of the sale, and the fact that the buyer and seller have to complete once an offer is accepted - unlike here in England! It's also good not havingsolicitors in the middle to hold things up; the Title Company takes the place of a solicitor.

All real estate businesses in the US have to be licensed, unlike in the UK, and that's reassuring when you're dealing with an unfamiliar system. The realtor and management company have to ensure that everything proceeds quickly and efficiently to meet the closing date.""We like the security of dealing with a large but friendly and professional company like the Superior Group.

All the people we've dealt with there have always been extremely helpful," Jackie is happy to confirm. "The Superior Group has provided a full, professional service right through from viewing properties and helping us with the purchase process to managing andmaintaining our new home, and providing rentals.

They had guests in the villa within a few days of us taking ownership, and their bookings have been regular over the first 6 months. This has allowed us time to market the villa ourselves, and we've already generated 13 weeks bookings for 2005, and 5 weeks for 2006! "Superior Management have maintained the villa to a high standard," she continues, "And carried out work we've requested to upgrade or replace existing items.

We get a monthly statement detailing utility, maintenance and service charges, and when rental payments come through they are credited to our account. The whole set-up is working extremely well, and we can hardly believe we've only had the villa since July last year!" In fact, the Hodges have now bought a second villa off-plan at the Superior Group's Oakmont Resort and Spa complex for use as a holiday home and as a good long-term investment.

As they have one property already, they can afford to wait for the second to be finished in 2 years' time. "It also gives us time to save like mad so we don't have to go in with a huge mortgage!" says Jackie. "We plan to keep it for a year once it's completed, and rent it out with the Superior Group's One Year Leaseback Plan if the monthly income is financially viable. After that first year, we should be able to generate our own bookings.""Finally," she says, "We would love to move out to Florida using the E2 Visa and set ourselves up in business. I guess this is a bit of a dream, but then so was owning our own villa a year ago!"