Due to market conditions and favourable exchange rates we sold the villa in July 2020. We are selling the website, domain, email, and hosting so please get in contact if you are interested.
Well, here’s a taster image for now, the rest will appear on the website soon. 2 weeks on renovations and updates to our Florida villa to hopefully turn it into one of the nicest Florida villas to rent out for vacations in the Orlando area.
The new nook dining area and kitchen
Tuscan Ridge – Looking very green and fresh for our renters
Fully booked – great news for our vacation rental but not so great for renters trying to make use of our luxury villa and pool in the 2013 summer months. We have some good availability in September and late November too, so Thanksgiving could be a good time to book the villa and escape the cold weather in Canada or New York.
This has had a knock on effect in our enquiries. Perhaps it is a quieter part of the year for holiday bookings, but we’ve almost stalled with enquiries recently, I expect due to the lack of availability in the popular months. Hopefully we can fill September with a lower rate.
The villa is looking excellent. We’ve added some luxury items – modern linen all around, a new TV, new pictures and better landscaping, plus we’ve had the lawn looked at more regularly and as you can see in the picture it is really setting the villa off in the sunny blue Florida weather.
It’s been a hectic couple of months for the villa. Small items are being maintained to make sure that our guests have the best of stays, but a big item failed on us in April – namely the pool heater. This was a big blow to our accounts but we got it fixed in less than a week and now have a brilliant new efficient 100,000 BTU heater thanks to Doc Deans Pools. We contemplated a solar heater but they just aren’t guaranteed enough in the winter months and if our guests pay for pool heat then they need to have a good service.
We’ve almost conquered the USA tax system. See some of our other blogs for more details. Not too much stress, but a lot of forms to fill in.
Our website goes from strength to strength; there have been some minor updates but the blog has helped break through to Google’s first page for the search phrase “Florida Villa” and “Tuscan Ridge”. This is in the UK – I would be interested to see how it fares in the Canadian and USA market.
In January 2013 an international driving permit (IDP) was indeed needed in Florida to drive legally for visitors outside of the USA.
However this law has now been backtracked (March 2013):
The DHSMV released a Statement on International Driving Permits, stating that the Florida law will not be enforced until a final determination regarding the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic can be made. Although the DHSMV states the law will not be enforced, theoretically this law still exists.
Internation Driving Permit debate
They are only a few pounds to buy, and the Post Office sell them, so it may be worth a quick visit before heading off to Florida. Get your IDP here.
Source: http://www.theaa.com/getaway/idp/index.html#florida
A law introduced in Florida, USA, on 1 January 2013 requires all persons who hold a licence issued outside of the US to carry an International Driving Permit along with their national driving licence. Without an IDP, a driver is therefore driving without a valid licence. If stopped, law enforcement has the options of – Arresting the driver and taking them to jail – Or giving the driver a citation with a mandatory court appearance. The AA strongly advises that you should obtain an IDP if you intend to drive in Florida. Although updates (below) indicate that a fine will not be given just for driving without an IDP, the law hasn’t been amended as yet and does still exist.
Family room next to the pool with brand new HDTV
Well, actually they have – but we thought it was time to show off the new linen and convince our vacation rental customers that we are not really stuck in the 90s floral era that a lot of the vacation rentals seem to love and insit upon. In the image above we have fancy new cushions and a large HDTV for watching the SuperBowl (and Disney movies of course).
Master vacation rental bedroom with new linen
Moving on to the master bedroom, complete with low maintenance swan and matching decor in the bathroom. For anyone wanting to know, the mattress is medium (we have been asked).
Bright and bold theme for the second twin room
The first of the twin rooms boasts bright and vacation-like bold comforters with funky pictures to match (hidden somewhere out of shot).
And the last of the twin rooms had to have a nice American flag-coloured theme (other nations’ flags are available and in no way do we bias our views on the American rental market – unless the American market want to rent from us of course, in which case we will bias as much as we possibly can!).
The second master suite’s update can be found on this blog: click here.
So, our vacation rental has kindly been updated by our management company, and it’s given our villa a fresh new look for all of our future potential customers. We can’t wait to get out there and take some professional photos of the villa.
As more snow hits the UK for one of the coldest March months in over 50 years, I take a look at the weather in Florida and see it’s hit 25 degrees Celcius and is rising. Most of the UK is covered in a blanket of snow. It’s almost April and I have no idea what’s going on with our weather.
Snow in Reading
Further north, drifting snow makes an appearance in Yorkshire, high up in the Pennines:
Snow in yorkshire
In other parts of the UK properties in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and north-east Wales lack power, as do more than 200 in west Cumbria: Power problems remain after severe weather cuts supplies, more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21914538
No wonder everyone wants to get away and book our villa in Tuscan Ridge, Florida! I think in 2014 Donna and I will book a Florida getaway in March, to escape the weather in the UK. This is what we are talking about:
ICE in southeast England, East Anglia, The Midlands, mid and north Midlands, northern England, southern Scotland and eastern parts of Northern Ireland.
Lying snow in many areas will melt on roads and pavements by day, refreezing by night to give icy patches. Also, snow blowing off fields in strong to gale force winds will affect some roads throughout Sunday and Sunday night, especially over high ground.
The public should be aware of the potential for disruption to travel due to icy patches and snow blowing back onto roads.
Mainly sunny. High around 70F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph.