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Buying A Vacation Home
Buying A Home
HIGHTOWER REALTY
Denis Le Marchant-Smith
hightowerrealty@gmail.com
407-922-3080


If you are going to buy a home in Central Florida and rent it out on a weekly basis when you are not using it yourself, you need to buy on a community that allows short term rentals (STR).

Only certain counties allow STR use (Osceola, Lake and Polk Counties), and only certain communities within each county will permit homes to be used for this purpose. Before you commit to buying a home that you intend to rent out for vacation use, make sure that both the county and the Homeowners' Association of the community will allow the home to be used for this purpose.

The most popular option is buying an existing home that is already used for short term rentals, and that is equipped and ready to go. Or you can buy a distressed property that needs to be restored and re-furnished before it can be put into a rentals program.

A third alternative is buying a new home directly from the developer, whether the home is under construction, completed, or still on the drawing board. This has its own advantages and disadvantages.


What sort of home are you looking for?

  1. An existing home (re-sale home) that may or may not already be furnished and equipped for rentals. Click here.

  2. A new home on a new community, which will be purchased directly from the developer. Click here.

What is involved in buying a home?

Buying a vacation home can be a daunting prospect, especially for overseas or out of state buyers who have no experience of what is involved. I have a whole section of this website devoted to a description of the buying process

so that you can get a feel for what is involved from start to finish. I describe how you negotiate an offer, how the contract works, about escrow deposits, the home inspection process, financing options, closing, and many other aspects of the purchase process.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this website is given in good faith as accurate and reliable to the best of the author's ability, but the author is not responsible for any errors or omissions. Please contact the author of the site at hightowerrealty@gmail.com if you believe anything is incorrect or out of date, or if any links fail to work correctly.