BEST ANSWER
FIRST ANSWER
Hi Neil,
HOA fees are easily addressed, as we don't have them in the UK. This basically covers the community facilities and can be more expensive depending on what is provided. Some of the services provided by HOA fees are, community clubhouse, community pool, fitness centres, gated community, grass/garden service, television cable, internet cafe, pest control etc. Not everyone covers everything and generally the resort communities are a lot more expensive than short term rental communities which only provide clubhouse and community pool. It is good to check what is included in the HOA fee for any given community.
With regard to the taxes, you are right, they are a lot more expensive than in the UK - you can't say that about many things here! My taxes here are twice the amount of my UK home. In the UK we have a banding system based on property value. Here, there is no band but it is based on property value and is assessed on an annual basis. There are also discounts such as Homestead Exemption and Save Our Homes Exemption which does not apply to rental homes owned by overseas investors. This can significantly reduce the property taxes for US residents but sadly would not apply to you. Apart from that everything covered here is pretty much the same as we have covered in the UK.
If you need any further assistance or information please don't hesitate to contact me. I will be happy to give you a call in the UK.
Kind regards
Helen
Helen Fair-Mensik
Property Locator - Orlando/Disney Area
Tel: (407) 403 5656
Thu Jun 11 2009, 17:22
Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity