
A view of Marco Beach Ocean Resort. SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Gary & Sandy Elliott
www.marcoislandcondoguy.net
www.SandyElliottInteriors.com
Today’s Marco Island condo buyers tend to look for a great location, competitive price and an opportunity to rent their condo to help offset the annual cost of ownership including condo fees, taxes, utilities and insurance.
The median price of the 282 condos for sale this week is $549,000, but this price varies widely between inland and beachfront condos. Half of these condos are located on the beach with a median price of $675,000. Owning a condo anywhere on Marco Island satisfies the need for great location, and once you’ve identified your price range, number of bedrooms, inland, on the water or beach location and other desirable condo characteristics, your realtor can create a short list of what’s available. A visit to each

A view of the Emerald Beach.
Traditional investors are generally disappointed with the return on equity and cap rate for condos on the market today, according to Skip Lee, a fellow realtor, who helps investors with their purchase. Skip has an extensive financial background and has developed an awesome investment model to determine investor returns and sensitivities. Skip concludes that given today’s list prices and corresponding rents, traditional investors are reluctant to commit from a strictly business sense. Taking their place are quasi-investors who want to be here for a few weeks or months themselves, and rent out the condo to recover the costs of

A view of the Princess from the beach.
As an example, many beach condos allow 30-day minimum rentals, 12 times a year. Rental policies vary from condo to condo, and that makes a difference to today’s buyers. The Marco Beach Ocean Resort (a condo hotel) allows daily rentals 365 times per year. The upscale Madeira only allows one rental per year for a minimum of 365 days. A few condos like the Apollo, Seawinds and Somerset allow minimum seven-day rentals, 52 weeks a year. Others like South Seas Towers 3 and 4 allow minimum seven-day rentals, but only 36 times a year. The Admiralty allows

A view of the Prince.
This condo report was written with Skip Lee at Keller Williams Realty. Contact Skip by email at skiplee@kw.com.
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