British couple the Hollandses bought a Florida vacation home in May 2021, completing the first part of their master plan for their perfect retirement. That was during lockdown, which meant they had to wait some months before stepping inside the property for the first time.
Andy and Karen Hollands should find their final years in busy city jobs especially enjoyable, now they have a second home in Florida they can look forward to visiting. The couple, who are in their early fifties and live in Kent, completed the purchase of their townhouse in Kissimmee on 14th May, after making a successful offer of $255,000 a month earlier.
Planning for retirement
Both plan to retire from careers in the financial services in seven years’ time. Until then they
will offer their Disney home for vacation rentals throughout the year, keeping it free for a few
weeks for holidays for themselves and their
two grown-up sons.
“Then, once we retire, we want to be like snowbirds,” said Andy. “So we’ll go out for four
or five months over the winter months. But we won’t spend all of our time in Florida. There are
so many other places we want to visit in the USA,
so we’ll use the house as a base, returning there
in-between trips. For starters, we fancy trying
out some American ski resorts. Meanwhile, we’ve booked our first two-week trip to the house for
the end of February 2022.”
The right realtor!
The Hollandses are seasoned visitors to the Sunshine State and have enjoyed family holidays there every other year since 2003. Being so familiar with the Orlando area meant that once they found a realtor they liked, they were comfortable with buying without actually flying out to do viewings.
“We started looking seriously on-line at the start of 2021,” said Karen. “We made contact with a realtor who was a British expat, so was able to explain the differences between buying in the UK and US really clearly. We talked through our requirements and budget with him and he went and found us options.”
The couple also made use of a contact they
had made when they rented properties for their holidays.
Continued Karen: “We used to rent vacation villas in Lake Berkley Resort in Kissimmee. The owners were British so we got to know them and they were useful to tap up for information when we were researching for our own purchase. In fact, the property we bought is in the neighbouring resort
of BellaVida and our house backs onto the access road for Lake Berkley!”
After a failed first attempt at securing a property and aware of how competitive the market was,
the couple knew they needed to act fast when
they saw the listing for their townhouse. After sending their realtor a message expressing their interest, without delay he sent them more information, floorplans and photos.
“Meanwhile, we went on-line and found YouTube videos of other very similar properties in BellaVida,” said Karen. “Not being able to visit the property in person combined with the fast pace of the market did add a sense of urgency. But with our realtor’s support we felt confident enough to go for it We wanted our bid to be strong and for the vendor to be happy,
and on 7th April 2021 we made a successful offer, which was in fact $3,000 over the $252,000 asking price.”
Perfect for Disney rentals
Today the Hollandses are the happy owners of
a four-bedroom, three-bathroom end-of-row townhouse, complete with private pool.
BellaVida Resort appealed to them for a number
of reasons, including its location in the popular Highway 192 area, making it just 15 minutes from Disney, half an hour from Orlando International Airport, and close to shopping outlets, including Walmart, and restaurants.
They also liked it for its communal amenities, which include a clubhouse, large pool with spa area, fitness centre, cyber café, games room, basketball courts, volleyball, trails with picnics areas, children’s playground, lakes and Italian gardens.
“The listing for renting our house is already live!” said Karen in June 2021. “We’re using the management firm Vacasa to take care of everything, from maintenance and advertising to bookings and changeovers. We wanted a hands-off service, given we’re both working full-time. Meanwhile, we’ve spoken to the tax advisor referred to us by our realtor, to ensure we’re following all the right procedures.”
To visit the rental listing for the Hollandses’ property, click here.
