[2hot4U]

Originally Posted by Big Fish

We live in Canada and own a villa in Playacar. It entirely depends on who you get to manage and look after your property in PDC. Our PM's charge a 20% commission on all rentals they bring in, and any money they handle. For example if they have to pay your taxes and condo fees and do any maintenance repairs etc, they will tack on 20% on top of what they paid out on your behalf. So for the big stuff, (taxes/annual condo fees) we tend to time a trip there and do it ourselves. If we have friends staying there, ie rentals we as owners have booked in not people from the internet, they they just charge a basic "babysitting fee". They take care of any fees associated with website advertising, and set up the websites and take pictures also.

We are really fortunate to have the team we have as, they provide quite a superior service compared to lots of property managers. Instead of just handing the key over on arrival and the guests not having any more contact with the PM for the rest of the stay, ours pop in daily or every other day to see if they need anything, book any trips, arrange for cook etc. They also provide maid and maintenance service, bottled water and whatever else is needed.

Renting it out?....depends on your advertising, your PM's ability to rent it out and how many friends appear! Some owners handle their own rentals from home base, but the package deal for us works well as we are so far away. When you think about people that own condos in for example ski resorts up here, often the commission is 40% with no extras provided - just a key to get in. So 20% isnt so bad for what we get.

Hurricane Insurance runs at around US$1000/yr. We didnt have enough damage to need to claim on that this yr - which is good! You do have to get a Fideicomisio (Trust) set up in order to own....but ours is only just coming to fruition 1 1/2 yrs after buying the place, and many people who have owned for 5+ yrs still don't have it and are still trying! By not having it in hand does not mean you cannot rent it out in the meantime, but to avoid legalities down the road you do need it. Most importantly, you MUST get the Title to the property which can be tricky sometimes - so check on that.

Hope this helps a bit.

That helps Alot your the right person to talk to. I was also thinking of buying a property down there and renting it out while I'm not there . Do you find that it's rented out most of the time or do you find that it sits empty alot. I have people that want me to get a place down there but for there own reasons lol....I too am from Canada Vancouver BC. Right now we are staying at a friends down there at a great deal . But I would love to have my own place.The only ones I hear from are agents and you can't always believe them. Playacar is a great area that is where I would like to look awell. Thanks for all your info.regards





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