Boca Raton Rental Homes | A Boca Real Estate Investors Guide
Whether looking to live full time, seasonally or simply invest in our explosive Boca Raton housing market, there are significant factors to consider when making your investment - especially as a landlord. Our rising prices, prime real estate, and a seemingly unyielding quantity of new candidates flocking to rent your home are substantial contributors to our overall buyers' boom. Still, there are many unique challenges that we face in our Boca Raton real estate market. Here are 5 of those challenges, as part of our rental home investor's guide, learn and adapt - as we've done over the years in South Florida.
Consider Flood Insurance
Hurricane Andrew was our (no pun intended) watershed moment. Building codes were updated, new preparedness measures were adopted, and the entire real estate market was forced to adapt from breaking ground to final sale. A plurality of South Florida real estate from Homestead to the Palm Beaches is less than 30 years old, with much of it post-dating Hurricane Andrew's landfall in 1992. With wind damage largely mitigated, we now turn our attention to some of the most deleterious elements of hurricanes, and our summer storms in general - flooding. Whether it be a massive storm or days of ongoing subtropical downpours, did you know most homeowners insurance doesn't come with flood coverage? This simple, specialized insurance could save you thousands, and maybe even your entire home.
Invest In Good Pest Extermination
Knowing the difference between a German cockroach infestation and our horrifying, yet very much native palmetto bugs is a start. However, our subtropical clime is much more than a palmetto bug's hovel. Our local homeowners face more than just these scary critters, like mosquitos, rats, and wasps. While the fire ant population has declined noticeably over the years, South Florida still provides the perfect cultivar for creepy crawlies - ensuring you'll have plenty of choices when selecting your pest control provider. We highly recommend a plan that includes month-to-month coverage.
Respect Our Local Flora & Fauna
Like our unwelcome palmetto bugs mentioned above, as the only subtropical state in the United States - we provide a welcoming home for the world's biodiversity. The closer one gets to the equator, the more life teems and biodiversity expands. While we can't throw our hat in for the many pythons, iguanas, and curly-tailed lizards that have taken up residence, we can state unequivocally that raccoons and opossums, in particular, have gotten a bad rap but are very much our native neighbors and deserve our respect. These animals in particular provide essential roles to our local environment, most notably through the opossum's diet of ticks and other human-host parasites.
Materials Matter!
Due to the onrush of development that truly hit its full stride in the '90s, we've seen high-end developments fall prey to shady practices and cut corners. While much of our housing market has moved beyond the myriad of lawsuits and mandatory repairs that marred the early 2010's, it's intrinsic to your investment - whether developing or buying, to know the materials used to build your home. For instance, while wooden floors seem like a means to add natural class to your beautiful new Boca home, wood warps and splinters far faster in high-humidity environments. In cases like these, you may not endanger your renters with unsafe practices, but you'll depreciate your investment and be forced to make repairs and replacements sooner.
With Great Locations, Comes Great Responsibility
Location, location, location. The greatest cliche in all of the real estate industry. Nowhere does that ring truer than a state like Florida, with our miles of shimmering coastline and white sandy beaches. This "responsibility" doesn't always apply in extreme situations like hurricanes. Though our seasons have been relatively benign over the past decade, with the lone exception being Hurricane Irma, owning a property anywhere in Florida comes with the responsibility of emergency preparedness. Beyond the extremes, closer proximity to the beach means higher costs and higher rent. The salinity in the air on its own can lead to depreciating assets inside and outside the home. While far from acrid, the otherwise rejuvenating salt spray and bold sunshine can take a toll on your property.
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