Potential new owner in Aruba

[RobM]

Hello everyone, I have just joined this forum and am happy to be here. While my wife first started going to Aruba over 25 years ago, I had my very first trip here this past February and fell in love with everything about it. (Well no surprise, I should have listened to her earlier when she kept telling me how I just had to visit the island and experience all it has to offer. Well we liked it so much that we currently are in the midst of buying at O Condominium for us to use 4-5 months / year.
I just had two questions for the group:

1-With all the travel concerns going on these days which I do believe, will slowly get back to normal at some point, do those that know the Aruba market better than we do anticipate a drop of any significance on the island to real estate pricing?

2-We are struggling with whether we go for the 2 or 3 bedroom unit. There is a significant price difference between the two (and the three bedroom has a much better view) so tempting to pay the higher price. That said, we would need to rent out some times (so the three might be that much easier) and are interested in hearing anyone's thoughts on this. ie: Did you buy a 2 and wish you had gotten the 3 bedroom or possibly given the price variance, vice versa etc.?

Thanks all,

[Andrea J.]

Welcome to the Aruba.com community forum.
as I tell my husband ALL OF THE TIME.........."you should have listened to me!"

I believe that you need to speak with a number of Aruba realtors and get a good feel about pricing.

Regarding a 3 bedroom.........if you can manage the cost and the monthly maintenance, a 3 bedroom really is very desirable to families or for 3 couples.
A 2 bedroom is quite popular and I think is pretty much the norm.
Location is also very important.
If you are only able to manage ownership of the condo counting on rental income, think 2x.
People who "need" to rent theirs in order to maintain it are now suffering financially.

I hope some of the condo and home owners chime in!

[WaltVB]

Hi RobM, welcome to the forum. Good luck with your purchase.

[RobM]

Thank you for the great feedback and agreed on the comment about renting challenges currently to offset the monthly fees. A difficult time for many I am sure...

[LisaGrn]

Welcome to the forum, Rob! Can't offer any assistance with condo purchase but always glad to see a new "face" !

[RobM]

Thank you!!

[B Likes To Travel]

Welcome to the Forum!

[hineskl]

Rob,

We purchased at Gold Coast about 6 years ago.

I am not certain if the pricing in the market will go down or up. I can tell you that buying not from the developer is what I would recommend. We purchased from the developer. Financially was the only way we could at the time make it work and spread out the building and purchase over a couple of years. With patience I think you can get a much better buy from seller. You can always change furniture and such to make it your own.

Do the extra room. We purchased a 2 bedroom condo. Yes, I wish we would have purchased a 3 bedroom.

The purchase is very front end loaded with taxes and such, so make sure you are buying what you really want, because it is a pain and you don't want to do it again unless you enjoy that sort of thing.

My 2 cents.

Kevin

[coldsteel337]

Welcome to the forum.

[robin]

Hi and Welcome. Just over 3 years ago we purchased a 2 bedroom condo at Oceania. We did look at a three bedroom, but wanted to have a place that we could afford without having to rent it out and in today's climate, I am happy I don't have to worry about lost income and being able to manage the monthly cost. We do rent it out when we are not there, but do not want to "have to rent it", especially since we are there Jan.-Mar. Our second bedroom is my husband's office because he works while we are there, which does not give us a space for guests, which is both good and bad. I find that the 2 bedroom is easy for me to clean while we are there-it is about 1500 sq. feet and the three bedroom we looked at was about 2,000 sq. feet and seemed very big. I can tell you that there are units for sale at Oceania and you may be able to get a deal. We got a very good deal when we bought because the owners were eager to sell.

If I can help in anyway, please let me know.