Why not try the Florida Keys

I spent quite a few years in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and I found that there any many great places to travel around in that area: The Everglades, Miami, Tampa and Orlando if you don’t mind the drive. One of my favourite places though in Florida is the Florida Keys.

The Keys are an absolute must in my opinion, if you visit Florida. Just the drive if amazing and it must surely be one of the most scenic drives in the world, as you drive down the two lane road across bridges and waterways, past mangroves and palm trees.

In Key West there are some great attractions and one which is especially popular is the home of Ernest Hemingway’s house. The Keys are also excellent for diving, fishing, sightseeing and simply for hanging out and enjoying the beaches, bars and cafes.

One of the best way’s to get to The Keys is by flying into Miami or Fort Lauderdale and then hiring a car for a few days or a week and driving down. You can find Florida Keys accommodation for your stay and flights can be found on expedia.com and expedia.co.uk

ART: Vibrant Miami!

Pulsating, vibrant Miami! Its very name conjures images of golden beaches, high fashion, high energy and glamour. Maybe it is the result of the constant media glare on visiting celebrities to this glamorous city or the influence of watching endless reruns of Miami Vice, the attraction of Miami to visitors is probably next only to that of New York and Los Angeles.

South Florida is great region to take a vacation for a multitude of reasons and one of them certainly is Miami, nestling between the Everglades and Atlantic Ocean on Miami River. It is towards the southern tip of the peninsula and practically surrounded by water.

Rent a car on arrival at Miami International Airport as driving is the best way to get around the city. Rental companies offers cars at very competitive rates as public transport in the city is pretty unimpressive. You can also land at Fort Lauderdale which is less crowded and offers cheaper fares and in just twenty minutes you can be in downtown Miami.

A large city divided into several districts each with its unique flavor, Miami is very multicultural. Over sixty percent of the population of Miami is Hispanic and it is not for nothing that Miami is called the Gateway to Latin America and the Capital of the Americas. Cubans, Nicaraguans, Colombians, Venezuelans, Puerto Ricans, Argentineans, Ecuadorians, Brazilians, Dominicans, Haitians, and Mexicans make up the cosmopolitan mix. Castro’s takeover in 1959 brought a change not only to Cuba , it changed Miami forever. A steady influx of refugees from Cuba changed the ethnic composition of the city entirely. Now there is a neighborhood in Miami called Little Havana.

South Beach with its famous beachside promenade lined with Art deco buildings is not actually within Miami, but Miami Beach is just as glamorous. Celebrity spotting is big pastime here. The city is not just about glitzy expensive boutiques and restaurants and scintillating nightlife. You can just as easily have a great Cuban meal for a song and shop at down to earth places.

Home to several major international political and trade events and Awards ceremonies, Miami’s Coconut Grove Expo Center has something going on all the time. Yes Miami is a big business center too!

Despite its image as a playground for adults, kids can have great time here at its several animal parks and science museum and of course enjoy the water sports! The Parrot jungle is a private collection of over two hundred varieties of colorful parrots, parakeets and macaws. Not to be missed is the seaquarium with its extensive collection of marine life including dolphins and whales. The Deering Estate at Cutler is a little known nature park in Miami which hardly a hundred people visit a day. This unspoiled retreat in the heart of the city is a haven with a number of rare plants, tropical hardwood hammocks, and the endangered Rockland pine.

FORUM: 7 Pitfalls

The Pitfalls of Short term letting your holiday home -

If you are lucky enough to own a farmhouse in Tuscany, a villa in Florida or an apartment in Paris, then you might be thinking about turning this property extra income earner by renting it out to holiday makers. There is many sites including Holiday Velvet that enable you to advertise your property in a cost effective way to a global market. As long as the price, quality and the advertising is right you could turn this initiative into a profit earning enterprise.

But how do you avoid the pitfalls of short term letting?

Always be cautious about whom you choose as a holiday maker into your home but, apart from that, here are a few basic rules to follow.

1. Always keep your book keeping in order. This is where you can ensure that your property turns itself into a profit generating business.

2. Make sure that you have a contract with attached terms and conditions related to short-term or long-term leasing. It’s possible to get contracts fairly cheaply and make sure that it gets approved by a lawyer. This protects your rights as well as the tenants.

3. Always provide a welcome pack including easy to read instructions on how to manage your home. This should include details of where the fuse box is, how to manage the hot water boiler, satellite TV instructions (if you have it) and whatever else you think would be helpful to make your guest feel at home.

4. Make an inventory of everything in the property. When you let your holiday home, you will go through this with the new tenant and ensure they sign the contract. This way, there will be no dispute as to what should be in the place when they leave.

5. Always take a security deposit that is returned when the tenant leaves the property. This will be returned at the end of the stay as long as there are no debts or damage to the property.

6. Always take a fixed amount of the overall booking fee as confirmation of the reservation. An invoice should be sent before and receipt after the payment has been made to your potential guest. Make sure you always attach your terms and conditions.

7. Make sure that you keep your calendar up to date. It’s easy to forget a reservation and make a double booking – remember that you are dealing with people’s holidays where some people only get one vacation a year.

Care to share your thoughts on the topic?

FORUM: 8 Golden Rules

Golden rules for vacation rental letting -

Buying a second property as a holiday home and renting it out to holiday makers is a shrewd investment for many people. There are many pitfalls that stand in your way so a decision like this should never be taken lightly. Below you’ll find 8 golden rules to turning your disposable income into a sound invest for the future.

1. Location is everything - Choosing a good location is essential but it doesn’t automatically mean looking at the most visited destination as many of the properties would tend to be overpriced and the area too competitive. Destinations like Florida and Spain have, over the years have become highly competitive with thousands of holiday villas available for rent. Look for areas close enough to major cities for those wanting long holidays or weekend breaks that also offer facilities close to the home - restaurants, bars or shops, particularly since holidaymakers will be catering for themselves. Many letting agents recommend targeting the weekend break market, as demand for this segment as been rising steadily over the past 5 years.

2. The best properties to buy are with two or three bedroom because most holiday homes are booked by small groups of young friends who share a property, or young families with children. Also avoid big properties - only 15 per cent of holiday lets require more than three bedrooms. If you decide to target couples, make sure that it’s in a prime location as size won’t be as important to this customer segment.

3. Fund your purchase through an interest-only mortgage because the interest payments can be 100 per cent offset against tax. If you have a lump sum following the sale of your buy-to-let, pay off a chunk of your main home loan and rely on the largest possible interest-only mortgage for the holiday property.

4. No company can guarantee you 100% occupency for your holiday home. You can make a good start to your research by checking out the competition on www.holiday-velvet.com and see what other similar properties are retailing at. Then look at exactly how how many bookings you need a year to break even which is crucial if you plan on making a profit on your investment. You’ll have costs such as management fees (15 to 30 per cent of the rental income), insurance, repairs and upkeep. Some of these costs can be set against tax and offset against non-property tax bills.

5. Hire the right letting agent to advertise your property, find tenants, manage turnovers and arrange maintenance. These can be costly or if you choose to do this by yourself, choose the best rental company for your area and property. You could do no better than start at www.holiday-velvet.com

6. Maintain the property and ensure that it’s up to date with the best appliances and technology. Satellite TV, dishwashers, DVDs and CD players are no longer luxuries. Due to strict fire regulations, you will also need to put extinguishers throughout the home and ensure that there is easy exit from the property incase of an emergency.

7. Insure your property and most agents will require you to have public liability insurance.

8. If you’re not good at book keeping, learn how to do it and keep it all in order. Keep your finances in order as much of the costs may be set against your income.

Care to share your thoughts on the topic?