Brazilians continue to be among the nationalities that have invested most in real estate in Florida, especially Orlando, motivated by the economic changes, the optimistic market, the opportunity to diversify assets, among other factors. The cost-benefit ratio is an attractive factor and, once it is understood that with the guidance of a qualified professional, the investor is in good hands, the recipe is simpler than you might think and the obstacles are almost non-existent.
In this article we focus not on an emotional choice - for a family home - but on a pure investment decision, whose main objective is simple: better value for money.
There are many options for real estate, and the market is still hot, so that in Orlando alone, 3,127 properties were sold in March. Of the properties that were on the market as resales, it took an average of 62 days for them to be sold; that is, from the date of publication to the actual date of sale. We are therefore talking about excellent liquidity if the investor chooses to sell or do what we call recycling; this way we can use the equity received from this sale and reinvest the capital in another property at a favorable time for good appreciation. The idea is to have the capital working for our investors and not the other way around.
The big decision always comes down to the profile of the property to invest in: opting for residential properties, renting annually to a tenant, or so-called vacation properties, where the investor can rent for shorter periods, even per night, and still use the property when visiting Orlando, if desired.
For the former, we have a 12-month rental contract, stability and a tendency for the property itself to appreciate in the medium and long term. Less fluctuation in income, less risk, and if we're talking about houses in the US$300,000.00 to US$320,000.00 range, we're thinking of net returns estimated at 5 to 6% per year, a must for more conservative investors or those looking for passive income and testing the market to start a diversified portfolio.
In the second option, these are houses that can be rented out for shorter periods and therefore allow investors to benefit from high seasonal rates, as well as the possibility of using the property. The return value, which is directly linked to how much the house has been rented out in a one-year period, can vary; there are even houses with 3 to 14 bedrooms. In this case, it's important to bear in mind that it would be a more challenging investment, since we need to understand, ideally together with a management company, a little about the behavior of the hotel industry, seasons, consumer habits and expectations, etc.
The occupancy of these homes continues to rise and understanding the market, the return capacity of these investments is very promising and, unlike residential real estate, tends to increase as time goes by, with the main focus of this investment being to maximize short-term income, rather than short-term appreciation of the property. Depending on the size of the property, decoration and other factors, the investment returns have been pleasing the boldest investors and they have been following through with multiple properties.