Purchase or Long Term Rentals

[chorse]

Hello Divers,
Recently retired at 60. Like diving Curacao and Bonaire each year. With the newly found time I would like to know opinions on Long term rentals at those destinations as opposed to taking on a new mortgage. My gut tells me long term rental is the way. Anyone been down that road?
Regards,Chorse

 

[dirtfarmer]

I rented for many years before I bought my own gear. Now that I dive about 50 days a year it was a good investment to buy my own gear.
I will have paid for my gear at the end of this year, with the rental fees i would have paid over two years time. Start watching prices it's about time for the deals
to come out.
I'm glad I waited to buy my own gear as I knew exactly what I needed, ie long wetsuit as opposed to shorty, BCD with metal rings, fins with booties as opposed to full foot.

 

[eelnoraa]

How often do you think you will dive? If once or twice a year, you are better off with rental. If you plan to dive every week, or even once or twice a month, I think getting your own gears may be wiser in long term.

Now, I don't think dive gears for tropical destination cost anything remotely comparable to a 2nd mortgage. You don't need a drysuit, that is majority of the cost for most rec divers. You don't need high end regulators unless you insist. If you are looking at a decent BC, an entry to mid range reg, a simple dive computer. I am thinking it can be done with ~$1000 +/- change. Just keep thing simple, buy what you need, not what advertised to you as what is cool.

 

[boulderjohn]

So far everyone seems to be assuming you mean renting or owning gear. As I read it, you are talking about renting or owning a place to live. Is that correct?

I go to Florida every winter for a long term rental--this year it will be two months. My wife and I have talked about owning instead--one of the reasons we go there is because her sister owns a seasonal condo nearby. We enjoy visiting her there, and many of her friends have become our friends, too. We see the attraction. Our discussions about owning v. renting, however, have concluded with renting as our best option.

Our decision is colored in part by the fact that we spent several decades as part owners of a cabin on a lake that we inherited. I loved the place--I hated being an owner. Here's why:

1. In our case, it was much more expensive to own it than to rent it. In fact, the taxes we paid on it each year were more than it would have cost us to rent a similar place at the same location. You would have to do a comparison of the relative costs for your situation. (The value of the property also depreciated during the time we owned it, so there was no benefit there.)
2. My wife and other relatives enjoyed the visits more than I did because most of the time they were lolling in the sun or sailing on the lake, I was doing the annual maintenance on the cabin. I spent most of each vacation doing home repairs. I have been to a lot of rental properties, and not one has expected me to take care of the leaky plumbing.
3. Owning that property greatly limited our vacation options. In order to justify the cost of owning the place, we had to vacation there every year. I actually started a thread on this topic a while ago. Some people own places in dive sites like Bonaire, Curacao, Cozumel, etc., and they delight in going back there year after year after year after year after year after year after year. That would kill me. I want to go to new places and see new things. Right now some friends, my wife, and I are starting to plan a trip to Bali, as a followup to our delightful trip to Australia last year. We would be doing neither if we owned a place somewhere else.

Those are the things I would weigh out if I were you and were making that choice.

 

[chorse]

Boulderjohn, When posting I was thinking about owning verses renting vacation property. Thank you for the information. Totally forgot about the taxes and maintenance obligations at the time. Regards, Chorse.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Boulderjohn, When posting I was thinking about owning verses renting vacation property. Thank you for the information. Totally forgot about the taxes and maintenance obligations at the time. Regards, Chorse.

I kinda thought use of the word "mortgage" made that clear. Anyway ...

I don't have any personal experience with owning a vacation home in Bonaire, but I know a couple of retired people who do own them. They say they have no difficulty keeping them rented by vacationers and using it for a couple of months each year themselves. They say renting it out has been profitable. If you intend to dive in Bonaire and/or Curacao every year anyway, I don't see why owning a home there would not make sense. Take my hearsay information for what it is, though. Really, you should talk to people who live there. And real estate agents. A question like this would get more attention on a local's forum like bonairetalk Activity Stream - BonaireTalk than SB.

 

[dirtfarmer]

Boulderjohn, When posting I was thinking about owning verses renting vacation property. Thank you for the information. Totally forgot about the taxes and maintenance obligations at the time. Regards, Chorse.

I thought that you were talking about equipment in my first response!

Property is a whole other deal. Years ago when I was getting certified on Utila I met an older couple who spent 5 months every year on the island. I asked them why they didn't buy a place, their reply was "if it changed to where we didn't like it no problem, just find another island. They also didn't like the problems involved with caretakers and renting a place out.
Many places the legal system favors the locals over expats. So if your caretaker is a crook you just might get taken for a ride. Do your due diligence and talk to people that own places not real estate agents, I place real estate agents just under attorneys in people I want to professionally deal with.
Everyone always dreams of owning a place when they are on vacation in some tropical location but I always dream of being able to move around from place to place.

 

[Scared Silly]

I think Boulder John gave some good thoughts. I have had the same as my wife has wanted a place near the water. I think #3 - variety of places is really important. Bonaire is great. But so are so many other places.

If one has the money and can invest for the long term then it might be worth looking property as an investment - not as a vacation home.