Florida or Bust
People have flocked to the 'sunshine state' for years attracted by the climate, the proximity to the coast and numerous theme parks. Most of all by the fact that they could buy a large property with a garden and a swimming pool for half the price of a considerably smaller house in the UK.
And if you bought your retirement house or holiday home back then, it is still doing exactly what you bought it for. Giving you a nice retirement lifestyle or somewhere to take the grandchildren to see Mickey.
The value of your house is irrelevant if you do not need to sell. In the long term, property will always be a sound investment.
"Most people bought as a mid to long term investment, to live in, have as a second home or as a retirement fund", says Lee Weaver, director of the British Homes Group in Kissimmee, "Unless you really have to sell, the advice is 100% to sit tight."
For those who have to sell their homes however, the situation is bleak. The slump caused by the US sub prime crisis has sent repossessions soaring and prices dropping.
For the investor this presents an opportunity.
A 3 bedroom home in Kissimmee that sold for $240,000 a year ago can now be snapped up for $198,000, a 17.5% decrease. And in Miami, where prices were rising by more than 20% annually as recently as 2005, house prices showed a 19.3% decline last year, according to the Case-Shiller home price index.
In parts of southern and central Florida particularly near Orlando, there are many vacant properties available.
So will the Florida market recover?
Eventually yes, because the sun still shines, the beaches await, they have great healthcare and Mickey Mouse is alive and well. It's those good old fundamentals again!
"When the pendulum swings that far to the right, it has to swing that much more to the left to even things out again" according to Kimberley Kirschner, chair of the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches, "Prices went much higher than expected and although the drop is significant they're getting back close to normal".
She believes that parts of the Miami housing market are already on the road to recovery, helped by overseas buyers taking advantage of the weak US dollar.
In good times or bad, there's always a property deal to be found somewhere!
And if you bought your retirement house or holiday home back then, it is still doing exactly what you bought it for. Giving you a nice retirement lifestyle or somewhere to take the grandchildren to see Mickey.
The value of your house is irrelevant if you do not need to sell. In the long term, property will always be a sound investment.
"Most people bought as a mid to long term investment, to live in, have as a second home or as a retirement fund", says Lee Weaver, director of the British Homes Group in Kissimmee, "Unless you really have to sell, the advice is 100% to sit tight."
For those who have to sell their homes however, the situation is bleak. The slump caused by the US sub prime crisis has sent repossessions soaring and prices dropping.
For the investor this presents an opportunity.
A 3 bedroom home in Kissimmee that sold for $240,000 a year ago can now be snapped up for $198,000, a 17.5% decrease. And in Miami, where prices were rising by more than 20% annually as recently as 2005, house prices showed a 19.3% decline last year, according to the Case-Shiller home price index.
In parts of southern and central Florida particularly near Orlando, there are many vacant properties available.
So will the Florida market recover?
Eventually yes, because the sun still shines, the beaches await, they have great healthcare and Mickey Mouse is alive and well. It's those good old fundamentals again!
"When the pendulum swings that far to the right, it has to swing that much more to the left to even things out again" according to Kimberley Kirschner, chair of the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches, "Prices went much higher than expected and although the drop is significant they're getting back close to normal".
She believes that parts of the Miami housing market are already on the road to recovery, helped by overseas buyers taking advantage of the weak US dollar.
In good times or bad, there's always a property deal to be found somewhere!
Labels: base rate, below market value, buy-to-let, florida, no money down, property investing, respossessions, sale and rent back
posted by Juswant & Sylvia Rai at
10:49 AM
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