anyone have any experience owning investment/vacation property on the coast? The plan would be to rent it out most of the year. Any pros/cons/things to look out for or consider?

Well I will say condos have issues with termites, roofing, and flood insurance in that adjoining units require all owners to be on board to pay for those things.

OTOH, if you go into it realizing you're probably not going to get much appreciation over time, maybe take a hit, but you're ok with that due to other benefits, then I'd say go for it.

I own a place in Port A. Where are you looking?

I have never been in a rental pool for a variety of reasons.

When the smoke clears from my recent move, I am considering a place in Port A vs. Port Mansfield.

Friends can use it . . . rent . . . NO!

Someone posted about this on RE board, I have to agree with the posters after doing some more research myself. These properties seem to be somewhere between mildly profitable to huge pita's with bad renters, mgmt companies, poor occupancies, etc.

I would say that if you're going to go the rental route, you need a place big and expensive enough that you price out the college/frat party crowd. I have family on the east coast and for years we have always gotten together and rented a beachfront house on the Outer Banks. The house is large and comfortably sleeps upwards of 12 to 15. But with off season rentals going for nearly $3,000 a week which isn't bad when 3-4 families are splitting the tab (compared to hotels for that number of people). Having been to the same house multiple years it has shown only nominal wear and tear through the years. In fact the case with this house the owners have enough renters that return year after year thy just recently got rid of the management company and are managing the bookings/maintenance/etc themselves.

Bottom line, if college kids can afford your place prepare for it to be trashed. If only upper middle class families (those that can afford a nice vacation, but not a place of their own) are renting you'll be better off.

I work for an insurance broker and I can tell you, you are going to pay up the pooper for property insurance to include wind/named storm. Companies are modeling to make up for all the losses from natural disasters this year

sunchaser: They are new condos at 2606 11th St. I believe it's called Royal Palms. Looks nice with a good price point- about $240k for about 1500 sq. ft.

have always had fun on Port A but it is a tourist trap, if you are looking to rent then thats an awesome place to have a condo.

My thoughts on utilizing rental to offset payments would not be much different than what Kenneth said. A lot of the larger condos will not rent to college aged people during spring break type weekends and those that do enforce the occupancy rates.

A couple of thoughts about Port A. The population is about 3000. That includes lots of retirees, guides, maintenance people, HVAC, plumbers, electricians, cleaning people etc. In the summer....damn near the whole summer....the population will swell to 60,000. That's when you have to make your money....also when your family and friends want to be here.

For the most part after that the ferry line is short, no need for reservations to eat, the golf carts are all being charged and so forth. Bottom line you have very few people servicing a lot of investments in a harsh atmosphere. If your AC is like the one I have in Flower Mound the salt atmosphere will destroy it in just a few years. To make it last you need to basically Rhino Line it. There is really only one good HVAC company in Port A. You have a problem....Howdy. No different for anything else...one plumbing company, two electricians, one hurricane shutter company etc. If you look in the yellow pages you will find more listed. The issue you face is you are back home and you have a plumbing and an electrical issue. You can't be there....you are at their mercy. You have to go with the establish people that do what's right and your place doesn't get looted.

In spite of that you will have a short list of things you need to do at the start of each stay. I just got here.I've got to water the plants....launch the Sunchaser and go hit a shrimp boat.

It's dead calm.....I sure wish I had someone to go with me.

Our family and friends love Port A.



[This message has been edited by sunchaser (edited 8/29/2011 1:09p).]

Sunchaser:

Could I have the name of the A/C company. My best friend has a condo at the Mayan Princess and although he is in good shape today, it is always nice to have a number handy for when you do need it.

TIA

I have rental property, both long and short term, in Port Isabel. It is a different market than Port Aransas. My parents owned a condo in Aransas for several years growing up and I always liked it up there. Here is what I would say:

The only way you will truly come out alright on the short term rentals is if you do it yourself and do not have to a management/maint. fee. Those services are going to take between 30-40% of the rental off the top and then along the way they are going to charge you to replace the toaster, fix the toilet, buy 3 new spoons, etc.

In a really good property you might break even off the yearly costs of ownership, key word might. But the Aransas scene is big time slanted to the summer time and now to a lesser extent Spring Break. I think the winter rentals are picking up around there, but it is nowhere near what it is on SPI/PI.

I do real well with my winter Texan rentals as I have private place and I also get some really good business from Mexico during the summer. I mainly do weekly rentals, so I craft my rental calendar in a way to keep some of the summer open for use.

The thing that always made me leery about the rentals in that area is that there is very little market for long term rentals. Thus, if you just wanted rent the place on a yearly basis it would be really hard. Doing short terms and not handling them yourself or via long distance is hard, thus you have to go with the rental pools or management companies. In thinking about it, it might be OK if you can do the summer rentals via the management company and then get a good 3-4 month winter rental directly.

Based on my limited and questionable knowledge, I would not look for much appreciation of condo's anywhere on the Texas Gulf Coast for a long time.

I wish you good luck and I hope it all works out well.

Wiggins AC 361 749-4310

I agree on the rentals. There are 108 units at Clines Landing. We have 60 that are lived in full time. It changes from year to year but averages around 10 units in a rental pool.

There are a couple of units that private lease to about 4-5 different families for a week at a time. That is the best deal. We usually have two different snowbirds every year that lease from Thanksgiving to Easter......pretty pricey.