Florida Homes and Properties

Archive for the ‘Real Estate’ Category

No doubt you’ve heard about the mess of the Florida real estate market with the sub-prime mortgage disaster. Many thousands of people are losing their homes, while entire new subdivisions sit vacant, yet ready for occupancy.

Thoughts of escape to the fun and sun, after five months of a cold and snowy Canadian winter, appeals to many, and now just might be the time to consider your Florida getaway or rental property

From now and for next couple of years, may be the best time to buy in Florida, price-wise. If you picture yourself sitting on your patio, entertaining business associates or friends on a balmy summer’s night, there’s no time like the present to educate yourself about the Florida market.

Buying a home in Florida can be a confusing prospect for many people, and this often stops them from making their move. The buying and closing process, getting a mortgage, income, death and property taxes are all part of the deal, and without help from qualified and knowledgeable agents, this can seem like a daunting task. However, help is available.

Closing a Florida Home

An important consideration on this topic is your knowledge of U.S. occupancy laws.

No doubt you’ve heard about the mess of the Florida real estate market with the sub-prime mortgage disaster. Many thousands of people are losing their homes, while entire new subdivisions sit vacant, yet ready for occupancy.

Thoughts of escape to the fun and sun, after five months of a cold and snowy Canadian winter, appeals to many, and now just might be the time to consider your Florida getaway or rental property

From now and for next couple of years, may be the best time to buy in Florida, price-wise. If you picture yourself sitting on your patio, entertaining business associates or friends on a balmy summer’s night, there’s no time like the present to educate yourself about the Florida market.

Buying a home in Florida can be a confusing prospect for many people, and this often stops them from making their move. The buying and closing process, getting a mortgage, income, death and property taxes are all part of the deal, and without help from qualified and knowledgeable agents, this can seem like a daunting task. However, help is available.

Closing a Florida Home

An important consideration on this topic is your knowledge of U.S. occupancy laws.

If you are a Canadian, you can be in Florida for up to six months only – without permission from U.S. authorities. Anything over the six months (even a single day) can have negative tax and health-care ramifications and you could risk losing your Provincial medical coverage. Tracking your whereabouts is not difficult since your comings and goings are now meticulously recorded at the border.

When purchasing a property in Florida, you will first write an offer and then give your deposit money, to an escrow agent when you cross the border (usually a lawyer or realtor). Your escrow agent is then legally obligated to hold your deposit until one of two things happen. Firstly, the seller hands him or her a deed conveying title and a “Guarantee” that you do, in fact, own the property. Secondly, if the deal falls through, the agent ensures that your deposit money is returned to you. When the escrow agent determines that all is in order, the deal will “close”. At this time your money is exchanged for the title to your Florida home, and you will receive the keys to your property.

There are “Title” insurance companies in Florida used to make these “Guarantees”. Your lawyer will supply you with a policy issued by one of these companies. Research is done to ensure that the company chosen is well known and solvent. Further research is done to ensure the Florida seller owns the property and that there are no claims or liens against the property. (In Canada this is known as a title search, rather than a guarantee)

Once there is confirmation that the property title is clear, you will be issued an insurance policy. An important clause in this type of insurance policy is that the insurance company you’ve used is liable if it is found that the seller did not, in fact, actually won the property you just purchased. This is a very rare occurrence, however this clause is a guarantee that you will not lose your money. The insurance company will refund your purchase, in this rare instance.

You may have heard that property insurance and taxes in Florida are higher than elsewhere. This is correct. However, what you save on the purchase price in the current Florida market should substantially offset higher taxes and insurance. You could also consider only homes built after 1992, as well as homes that are not situated right on the beach. Due to changing building codes, properties build after 1992 are able to withstand higher winds from hurricane activity, and thus are less costly from an insurance standpoint.

Currently property taxes are run around $1600.00 per year for every $100,000 of property value, and are assessed annually. Initially your taxes will be based on your purchase price. However depending on how you take title if you rent the property then it can be arranged so that your expenses including interest are deducted from your income on the property. That lower net figure will not be taxed by the State of Florida rather, only by the U.S. Federal government whose rates are much lower than in Canada. Now could be the perfect time for you to grab your beach towel and live in sunny Florida during the long, cold Canadian winter.

If you are interested in investing in Florida Real Estate, the following web pages contain articles that offer information you need to know. You will want to know about cross border trusts, tax laws, and estate planning before going ahead. You can find information for that by clicking on the link at the bottom of this article. It will take you to other appropriate articles.

It is important to get qualified legal advice from a lawyer experienced in cross-border real estate and planning. The advice of a knowledgeable tax advisor would also be a good idea.

Please note that the information on these pages is not to be construed as tax or legal advice, but rather as information only. One thing to remember: Revenue Canada and Florida Laws can change without notice, so current advice at the time of your purchase is essential.

This information has been collected from workshops we have attended and are in place to help simplify the buying process for you and to offer important information you may require before making this very important purchase.

It can be difficult for investors to make the numbers work on properties in Toronto or other parts of Canada these days with Canadian real estate prices at an all-time high. So if you are planning to invest in Florida, this is a great opportunity to build your portfolio and catch some good deals while the prices are favourable and the rental numbers can make you profitable.

If you’re seeking real estate in Orlando, Florida or surrounding areas, there’s never been a better time to buy a Florida home. There are many benefits of building a new home in Orlando as well. With a Florida new construction, builders and Realtors are finding creative ways to work with buyers. They are offering specials and new home rebates out of their own commissions to give you even more reason to purchase real estate or build a home in this beautiful part of the state.

A new home rebate isn’t the only reason to buy now, but it is a tremendous value-added service. Preconstruction opportunities, new home construction, and other types of realty in Orlando are abundant since Florida has been ranked as Top 3 in growth in the United States. It also ranks Top 4 in population and has about 18 million people.

Benefits of Moving to Orlando, Florida

Orlando has much to offer its residents. There is always plenteous sunshine, and the weather is great through much of the year. Florida has no state income tax so you’ll be able to keep more of your hard-earned money! Orlando is only about an hour to an hour and a half from several beautiful beaches, from the Atlantic coast to the Gulf of Mexico beaches. Also, Orlando is a center for attractions in Florida such as Walt Disney World, Universal Thrill Rides, Discovery Cove, SeaWorld, and many others. The area attracts many tourists each year and offers numerous employment opportunities.

Retirement Benefits of Moving to Orlando

New home rebates are a great reason to retire in Orlando. As a retiree, you can benefit by receiving up to 2% of your new home’s price as a cash rebate. This puts anywhere from $4,000 to $30,000 in your pocket! This also benefits you if you’re looking to buy Florida new homes for investments, a second home, or a condo. A Florida buyer’s rebate will give you an opportunity to do any needed repairs on the home, pay other bills, or just improve your cash flow after a new home purchase. Your retirement can be a great experience, and you’ll be able to make the transition more easily once you’ve worked with a helpful Realtor.

Search Tips to Find the Right Real Estate Property in Orlando

In Florida, new homes, condos, and new construction builders might seem difficult to find. A great way to explore the available real estate is to use online resources. You can specifically search for property in Orlando, locate a Realtor (be sure he or she offers the buyer’s rebate), and compare pricing and benefits of certain neighborhoods. The Internet also enables you to view photos of the homes, calculate your payments, and more. There are many helpful tools to make your real estate purchase go smoothly.

With these tips in mind, choose real estate in Orlando, Florida that will best suit your personal needs. With the new home rebate that is being offered today and other benefits of Orlando residence, you’re sure to find exactly what you are seeking.

Florida investment a revolution for the overseas buyer

Those who travel to Florida for a holiday from the UK are wasting well earned pounds on holiday homes and hotels rooms.
The regular Florida holidaymaker should seriously consider becoming a Florida home owner and have access to their very own holiday accommodation. UK home owners tend to be cash rich from retirement and the spoils of the generous UK property market. Sensible investment in Florida property can make investing in Florida real estate very profitable.

Buy a hotel

Instead of paying to stay in a luxury hotel with all the facilities you would wish for, why not buy one.Florida property investors are showing the overseas property investor a new way to make this dream come true. This dream is turned unto a reality via the condo hotel concept.

About Florida property investments and the Condo Hotels concept.

Property developers and Florida property investors can both benefit from the condo hotel concept. The arrangement provides a real estate investment for owners and gives hoteliers an increasingly popular vehicle for financing hotel projects. Property investors typically purchase an apartment being built in a prestigious hotel development. These apartments or condos can be fully fitted with furniture and all the trappings of a luxury apartment. The apartments are then managed by a hotel management group who will work to fill your hotel condo. The money raised from each hotel booking forms part of your income. The management company will expect to be paid for their service however in most cases investors are set to benefit from the arrangement. This type of investment property in Florida is going to make the property desirable and where there is demand their is capital growth.

This concept makes the location essential

The very fact that property investors buy hotel accommodation means that a good location is essential. Florida is ideal because of its many attractions. State of Florida.com provides the following information: “Florida tourism is increasing – with 76.8 million visitors in 2004 (a record number), Florida is the top travel destination in the world. The tourism industry has an economic impact of $57 billion on Florida’s economy” Florida is an ideal location for overseas property investors and very suitable for condo hotel opportunities. Some of the attractions the huge attractions in Orlando and central Florida include

Armchair investors get out of that seat

The condo hotel is ideal for the armchair investor. Investing in Florida busy tourists area is sure to make for a relaxing but profitable investment.

When homes go into foreclosure, the owners are often far more worried about the mortgage payment than anything else. There are numerous costs involved with owning a house, though, and all of these need to be paid before and during the foreclosure. If they are not paid, and the homeowners are able to stop foreclosure before losing the home, they can quickly find themselves back in the same situation, in danger of being sued again for delinquent property taxes, homeowners association fees, or find themselves owning an uninsured home. Even worse, the lender may impose an escrow account or forced insurance on the property. Thus, it is important for foreclosure victims to keep on top of as many of the payments relating to the house as they can.

The county and city property taxes work slightly differently from the other charges mentioned above, due to their higher priority in the foreclosure proceedings, but they, along with any other liens on the property, will be wiped off after the sheriff sale of the house. When the sheriff sale is conducted, the house will be sold for whatever the highest bid amount is. These proceeds will be used to pay off everything that is affecting the house. First to be paid is any delinquent or currently due property taxes. The county gets paid first if the homeowners do not postpone the sheriff sale or work out a solution to prevent foreclosure.

If the foreclosure victims can not save their house, there may be a possibility of delinquent taxes being added as a lien on the property before the foreclosure. The lender will try to prevent this, as they will want as much of their money as possible without a tax lien, which will include the costs for obtaining the lien, as well as the taxes themselves. However, this possibility depends on how the property tax is being paid, whether through escrow with the mortgage company, or if the homeowners are paying it on their own.

If property taxes are paid through the escrow account, then the lender will pay the property taxes as they come due. Of course, the amounts paid for taxes will be added to the total payoff needed to sell the house or refinance to stop foreclosure, but the taxes will be paid to the county on time. The bank will not let the house go into a property tax foreclosure while they are pursuing their own foreclosure, and this gives them the opportunity to add more interest and charges to the total payoff, as they can stack up more junk fees on a negative escrow balance.

If the homeowners are paying the taxes on their own, though, and they get behind, then the proceeds from the sheriff sale will be used to pay off the property taxes. When the sheriff sale is conducted, the sale price will be used to pay the taxes first, then the mortgage, then any second mortgage and other liens. But the property taxes will be paid, in order to prevent the county from taking possession of the house. The possibility of the county obtaining a lien on the house may be small, but it is usually enough for the bank to impose an escrow account on the homeowners. They simply pay the delinquent taxes and add that amount to the total payoff, along with related charges and interest, which drives up the amount needed to reinstate the loan or avoid foreclosure completely. The homeowners may not even know they are now paying extra every month to keep up a new escrow balance, until they have saved the home and are now making regular payments again — it is just that the payments may be much higher than they originally were due to the imposed escrow payment.

After the property taxes are paid off through the sheriff sale, the first mortgage will be paid off with as much of the proceeds as are left. If there is not enough to pay the first mortgage completely, then the Homeowners Association (HOA) and other lienholders will simply get nothing.

Now, the HOA could try to sue the homeowners after the foreclosure for the amount of fees that were owed up to the date that they were no longer the owner of the house. It may not be worth the time or effort for them to try to sue and obtain a judgment, though, especially as it is commonly known that most foreclosure victims do not have the extra resources to pay a deficiency judgment and little motivation to work out a payment plan or other arrangements. It is more likely the HOA will simply give up on collecting the fees, as they will not be able to cover the costs of the lawsuit.

Hazard insurance, the last of the costs most commonly associated with the mortgage payment, is usually paid with the mortgage in the escrow or monthly payment. If that is not being paid, or the owners are responsible for paying the insurance on their own, there will be no lien placed on the property for it; the house simply does not have hazard insurance. If anything happens to the house while the insurance is not paid, the insurance will not cover it, obviously. This is another charge that the bank can impose on the property, if they know that the foreclosure victims are not taking care of it. Mortgage companies certainly do not want to loan money on a house that, if it is destroyed, will be a complete loss to them; insurance is most often mandatory for obtaining a loan in the first place.

The longer the foreclosure goes on, the higher costs will climb and the more difficult it will be for homeowners to solve the crisis and prevent foreclosure. Various expenses will still have to be kept on time, including the property taxes, homeowners association fees, and hazard insurance, or else the danger of future foreclosures will be present, or the lender may impose a forced, expensive escrow account to make sure they are paid. Extra liens may be placed on the title, and the homeowners may be sued after foreclosure or find that their insurance has lapsed and will not cover any damages that occur to the property. Thus, homeowners may find that they are fighting foreclosure on numerous fronts at once, but they need to be aware of all of the possibilities of letting their housing payments go into default. Foreclosure is obviously the most pressing concern, but it may be all the little charges that cause them to lose their homes, unless they gain enough foreclosure information to understand the entire process and what is truly at stake.

Florida Investment Property – Why Investing is a Wise Decision
There are many reasons to purchase investment property in Florida, the foremost being value appreciation. Property values generally rise while debt decreases; making real estate purchases a good investment. Every year since 1968, the national median home price has risen. Usually, home values increase at around the rate of inflation, with a greater increase possible. In recent years, median prices have increased by as much as 9 percent, making purchasing investment property in Florida a wise long term investment. Building equity is an excellent reason to purchase investment property in Florida. Equity grows over time for owners while renters don’t see any return on their money. Purchasing property forces you to save, making you a wise investor without realizing it. Owning investment property in one Florida location may make it possible for you to expand, purchasing a second and third property as rental profits increase. Owning investment property in Florida gives you borrowing power, the ability to use your property equity to borrow funds for your own use, or for further investment. Owning investment property in Florida gives you a sense of stability, not only for the consistent rental income, but for the potential of it becoming a regular seasonal vacation home for your family. Imagine the pleasure and ease of knowing where you are going to vacation, there’s no need to decide on location and try to compete to make reservations, with prices changing every year. There is stability on owning an investment property in Florida that can also be used as a family vacation resort.

Why the Interest in Florida Investment Property?

Considering the myriad of investment property locations on the market, Florida investment property is one of the most desirable. Home to 11 of the country’s 100 fastest-growing counties, a Florida investment property has high potential as a profit-maker, unlike most other areas. Port St. Lucie, Miramar and Cape Coral are the fastest growing cities in Florida. It’s unlikely you will make a mistake investing in Florida real estate considering the vast number of tourists and new residents flocking to the land of sun and surf. The most difficult decision to make will be which location in Florida to purchase. Good investments abound in each area of the state, from Miami in the south to Clearwater on the gulf coast, going east to Daytona Beach and north to the panhandle. Selecting a location depends on your goals for purchasing Florida investment property. Carefully consider what you intend to do with your Florida investment property. Will your purchase be used mainly as a rental property for vacationers? Do you intend to have access to the property during certain seasons? Or is your goal rental of the property to local tenants? Some of these questions will help you in narrowing down your search. Once you have determined whether your Florida investment property will be used primarily for vacationers or for local renters, and whether you intend on using it as a vacation resort yourself, it is easier to choose the location.

Florida Investment Property Locations

There are so many location options of investment property in Florida, making it difficult to select just the right location. Let’s start from the top! Do you desire a beachfront location, or one close to the coast, or would you rather select property in a town setting. Tourist area or settled community, inland or beachside? Asking these questions helps you narrow down your search. Each area where an investment property in Florida is located has its own flavor, its own attractions. Let’s start with the Miami area. Miami is located in the southeastern corner of Florida and Miami Beach is a seven mile long island known as America’s Riviera. Home appreciation rate in the Miami area is about 11% with the median home price around $240,000. There are diverse offerings of single family homes, ocean front property and ocean view condominiums. Of course condo and home prices are offered in a vast range, with upscale areas bringing in up to $5 million. Condos and town homes may be cheaper, depending on location, but with price escalation and population density, even there it may be hard to find a bargain. Miami offers beautiful beaches with perennial sunshine but traffic congestion and the increasing population boom may be a deterrent to some. Just forty miles north of Miami, lies Boca Raton with five miles of coastline and gorgeous beaches. Appreciation rate here is around 11%. Clearwater, on the west coast of Florida borders Clearwater Harbor and the Gulf of Mexico. Indian Shores is a small historic community offering condos, gulf front property and Intracoastal Waterway homes and town homes. The appreciation rate for investment property in Florida, Clearwater is about 9%.

Investment Property in Florida – Daytona Beach, Jacksonville and Destin
Moving north in our search for investment property in Florida, let’s take a look at the Daytona Beach area. Daytona is known as a spring break and family playground on Florida’s east coast about 50 miles northeast of Orlando. Homes prices are surprisingly reasonable here in comparison with other popular Florida beach locations. Appreciation is about 10% with homes starting as low as $80,000. A large variety of housing choices exist, everything from inland or waterfront property, to townhouses and single family homes, ocean front or inland. Older homes abound but there are also several new upscale building projects. Let’s take a look further north at Jacksonville. Jacksonville is known as Florida’s River City due to the ever-present St. John’s River which flows through the city, ponds and lakes. A modestly priced investment property in Florida can be found here with a range from $60,000 to several million. Appreciation is around 9% with continual growing home construction. Unique to Jacksonville is its diverse neighborhoods and building styles. Destin is located in the Emerald Coast of Florida, sitting on the Gulf of Mexico. It is just south of Alabama and was recently voted as having the best beaches in the US. Destin boasts great seafood, and excellent golfing and fishing. Home appreciation here is around 12% with the median home price about $165,000. Condos and townhouses here begin at $100,000 and can go upwards in the millions for waterfront property.

Investment Property in Florida – Attractive Tourist Areas

Let’s play a little word association. I’ll say Florida and chances are the majority of people will say Walt Disney World, or something relating to the Orlando area. Orlando has a thriving tourist economy that attracts close to thirty five million visitors each year. Real estate is booming here with the median price taking a dramatic jump from $166,000 to $200,000, an appreciation of 27%, making investing near Orlando a great venture. Conway Belle Isle, east Orange County, Maitland/Winter Park and northwest Orange County have seen the most dramatic property value increases. There is a strong job market here without forecasts of a downturn, keeping prices strong. There are a large variety of properties to choose from, including starter homes, modest cottages, older homes and impressive new developments. Orlando is called the City Beautiful and owes part of that title to its cleanliness, newness and innovation and variety of lakes and nearby attractions. Whether you are considering investment property in Florida as a rental for locals, as a tourist rental or to rent and use yourself, Orlando is an excellent choice in location. Consider the varied options of attractions in the Orlando area. Walt Disney World would be foremost as a draw card, followed by Sea World, and Universal Studios. But along with these well-known attractions, a plethora of other hot spots exist. Wet-N-Wild draws a huge number of the sizzling summer crowd, a great place to cool down on a scorching Florida summer day. Kennedy Space Center makes a great day trip as well as Cocoa Beach, home of Ron Jon’s Surf Shop and Daytona Beach, a world famous family and spring break destination.

Investment Property in Florida – Locations near Disney World

Having established that owning investment property near Orlando would be a wise investment decision, the search now begins for a specific location. Disney World, Sea World and Universal Studios are located on the south side of Orlando. Condos, town homes and single family homes are commonly purchased for investment purchase in this area. Closest to the Disney area is the community of Kissimmee, Florida. Kissimmee was a sleepy cow town just a decade ago. It is now booming with tourist activity. A quaint downtown area still exists with a few cattle ranches on the outskirts but generally the flavor of Kissimmee now reflects its large tourist population. Close to Disney, within 30 to 45 minutes, lies the lesser-known town of Davenport, Florida. Surrounded by orange groves, it gives you the feel of old rural Florida, but is close enough to the major attractions to make this an attractive investment option. Looking to get into a ground floor investment opportunity? Bimimi Bay Resort, a brand new town home resort development is now offering purchase opportunities. The many amenities in the planning stages include a resort pool, 2 movie theatres, a major restaurant chain, club house, lazy river, food court and many others. For the price of principal, interest, taxes and insurance, the owner has the many advantages of using the property for a minimum rate while vacationing and letting Bimimi Bay take care of all the headaches of rental during the year, still receiving a reliable monthly income. It’s a no lose deal for investors.

In 2007 the number of home foreclosures aspired to almost 300,000 that was an increase of close to 300% compared to the number of foreclosures in 2006. People have had to pack up and sell whatever the can and move on. Now do you think that the banks want sit on all of these empty houses? Empty houses mean more expenses? This means that these foreclosed properties are going to be on the market and that there will be substantial savings for buyers that want a great deal!

Lenders and banks don’t like sitting on empty houses. These don’t produce money and they require a lot of maintenance. This means that there are lots of opportunities in the Florida real estate market and these are sold at great savings for buyers. This is a great opportunity for people that want to find investment property.

Actually there is a lot of property in Florida that can be picked up for a bargain! There is all kinds of property available for you to choose form, commercial real estate, land, homes, etc.

Fist let’s discuss what a foreclosure is, that way you can better understand why there is so much property for sale in Florida, and why its not a scam. When someone buys a home, they usually get financing from a bank or a lending institution. They then begin to make monthly payments. When you buy a home and get a fixed interest rate, then you pay the same amount month in and month out throughout the term of the loan. But there are many loans that are not fixed interest, but are variable interest rates. This means that you may start out paying small monthly payments, but as time goes on the payments will start increasing.

Many people got into these types of loans expecting the economy to continue to grow, and interest rates to remain low. And this did not happen. Now, they are left with very expensive monthly payments and no way to cover those monthly payments.

They have no other option except to declare bankruptcy. The lender has no other choice, but to confiscate the property, but this lender doesn’t want to be saddled with the property. A property takes maintenance and that means more money out of pocket for the lender.

The lender needs to sell the property off quickly and will sell it directly or through an auction, which means that they will usually sell a property off at a discount and this discount can even be up to 20% off.

This leaves you with a great number of opportunities available in Florida. And this why there are so many houses and properties at such great prices, and why it is a good idea to invest in these as an investment or just as a great deal on a home.

To secure yourself a Florida property for ?80,000, you’ll need a cool head and the patience of a saint. Many Florida property agents are currently displaying surprisingly attractive properties at super-low prices that positively scream value for money to those of us getting excited about the two-for-one exchange rate.

Unfortunately, there are a couple of drawbacks. Firstly, in many cases, the agents in question have absolutely no intention of selling you a Florida property for as little as ?80,000; they merely wish to introduce themselves to you before heading you in the direction of more lucrative Florida property options. The second is that the two-for-one exchange rate is currently slipping away; at the time of writing, the greenback is back with a vengeance, trading at around 1.83 against sterling. There’s still a long way to go before the dollar gets back to pre-credit-crunch levels, but it’s definitely heading in the wrong direction for buyers.

But just look at what comes with a Florida property: the delights of year-round sunshine; vast expanses of beautiful coastline; the world’s greatest theme and leisure parks (Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, Discovery Cove, and Epcot, to name but a few). And we haven’t even started on the golf courses.

But is the tide for Florida property now turning? Have Florida property prices now fallen low enough for us to consider taking the plunge? That’s difficult to gauge in a market that’s going through such unusually dramatic turmoil. The trouble is, while the bottom has famously fallen out of the market, the top remains in denial, pedalling furiously in mid-air like Wile E. Coyote. Whether or not the coyote will miraculously run right across the chasm this time and continue on its merry way, only time will tell, but Florida property at a less rarefied level has certainly taken a huge nosedive.

Lee Weaver of The British Homes Group, which specialises in providing a one-stop shop service for Brits searching for Florida property, says: “In all our 30 years helping UK buyers find Florida property, the market has never been so full of bargains. For example, Countrywide Financial Corporation, the US’s number one home lender, is currently marketing over 1,600 Florida homes with some houses listed at 40 per cent less than their market value two years ago.”

With this in mind, Homes Overseas has done some sleuthing and come up with Florida property on the market for less than the price of a new Jaguar.

Orlando, in central Florida, is far and away the most important destination for British buyers, who are lured by its unbeatable combination of family fun, top-quality golf courses and historically reliable rental returns. It is, in fact, the world’s biggest tourist destination, with more than 50 million visitors a year; yet surprisingly has been hit harder than most areas in Florida by the credit crunch. For example, a studio apartment is currently offered by Feltrim at Horizons at the Grenelefe golf resort. This attractive and substantial development boasts three golf courses (one of them Arnold Palmer-designed), as well as a huge water park, a marina, spa, sports and fitness facilities, bars, shops and restaurants. The apartment is newly-refurbished and is now on the market for just $80,000 (?43,500).

In Canary Island Circle, just 14 kilometres from Disney, Feltrim is offering a spacious family home with four bedrooms (yes, four) and two bathrooms, a heated and screened swimming pool and its own garden. The property sits within a gated community that boasts an 18-hole golf course and fishing lakes. This Florida property is currently on the market for just $125,000 (?68,000).

However, before you pack your bags (and your chequebook), it should be remembered that, when the price of a property seems too good to be true, it usually is. Residential appraiser Al Franks sounds this note of caution for overseas buyers: “In some places I see signs of stability, and in other places I don’t. A home may look good on paper, but then you drive by and a lot of the neighbouring homes have grass up to your knees.”

There are also pitfalls for the unsuspecting overseas buyer, such as a two-tier tax system, which is not favourable for non-residents; and the fact that, if you’re seeking a Florida property as a holiday rental, you must ensure it sits within an authorised short-term rental zone.

Golf development property is usually a good bet for those with rental returns and long-term growth on their minds, and another Orlando apartment from Feltrim, at the Southern Dunes Golf and Country Club, could prove a winner with singles and couples, as the development boasts one of the top-ranked courses in Florida. This upmarket development is well located for Disney and Orlando and has lots of on-site facilities and nearby sport and leisure amenities, including a large communal swimming pool and a fishing lake. All that, yet the one-bedroom condominium is on the market for only $115,000 (?62,500).

For those still wondering whether the time is right to jump into the turbulent waters of the Florida property market, it should be said that there are signs of change. Orlando’s residential resale market recorded its second-best sales month of the year in July, and local realtors are saying an improvement in the number of pending contracts bodes well for the rest of 2008.

Prices of property in Kissimmee are a touch higher, but in a very attractive area another large single family home on the market with the British Homes Group – and boasting four bedrooms, a luxury kitchen, swimming pool and large garage – could be yours for just $175,000 (?95,000). On the face of it, this is out of our price range; but let’s not forget that this is a buyer’s market and you should arrive ready to negotiate hard.

For confirmation that the Florida property market is truly being cut down to size, we move south down the coast, to Delray Beach, situated between the seriously upmarket resorts of West Palm Beach and Boca Raton. Here, an attractive two-bedroom apartment with vaulted ceilings is currently on the market, offering numerous facilities on the doorstep, such as a pool, gym, spa, clubhouse and tennis courts. Downtown Delray and the beach are a mere ten minutes’ drive away and the property is on the market for $145,000 (?78,800).

Of course, if you’re looking for something a little more luxurious for your ?80,000, you might want to consider vacation ownership (yes, it’s timeshare, but that’s not a dirty word in the States).
The high-end Starwood Hotels and Resorts has a Vacation Ownership arm that owns Sheraton Vistana Villages, a luxury resort with some 1,500 one-, two- and three-bedroom villas. The development boasts three pools plus a children’s pool, tennis courts, poolside restaurant, staffed recreation centre, two fitness centres and lavish tropical landscaping throughout, and buyers automatically gain access to Starwood’s international Vacation Network. Annual weeks at Vistana Villages can be purchased from around $10,000 (?5,450).

Those selling Florida property will always say now is the right time to buy. However, there does seem to be a groundswell of opinion pointing in the direction of at least a bottoming out of property prices by the end of the year. One thing’s for sure, if you love Florida and you can afford to throw ?80,000 at a Florida property, you’ve just about run out of reasons not to buy.

While for some, buying a home is a life changing event and big financial investment, surprisingly there is about one tenth of home owners that belong to the increasingly mobile upward class and look to invest in the real estate market beyond their first home. The attractive rates of interests, as well as, very strong home market scenarios and the larger incomes of this working class of people is prompting them to go for a second home.

Second home is a wealth building strategy for a majority of people. So, investing in these properties that might fetch some rental income could be a great deal in the long-term. In this case vacation homes are the best places of investment.

For those that are prompted to purchase a second home to use as a holiday retreat, looking to invest in vacation resorts or retreats is a beneficial task. They can be secluded or within a community and it is a personal choice as to which will best suit the interests of the buyer. Inquire about the prices of properties in secluded areas, as well as, crowded communities before making a final decision.

Purchasing a second home has never been so easy, thanks to federal laws. Having said so, one needs to make a smart decision. Approaching a real estate expert is not a bad idea as he can assist you on the financial as well, as technical considerations,of buying a second home.

If you have a plan of only investment, ask the expert for different options of property management. If you aim to have some standard rental income from your second home, location becomes very important. It is better to approach an expert in the place that you have decided to buy who knows the intricacies of the laws in that respective place.

Please bear in mind the tax implications of renting a home (even if the house is rented for 15 days in a year you need declare the income from rent, as well as, be ready to pay tax.) Approach a tax consultant and know its implication on your future finances.

Vacation retreats or vacation rentals, it entirely depends on you as to what purpose you want to buy a second home for. However, you need to take time and do diligence and need to look at every property that you may want to buy, with a what-will-it-be-tomorrow perspective and invest in one that promises appreciation.

If you own more than one home and are facing foreclosure, you are probably worried about the bank going after your second home if you are unable to save the first. Bank representatives and armchair foreclosure experts will threaten you with being sued again and losing your other home, having your other assets repossessed, and maybe even having your bank or retirement accounts stolen or wages garnished. Fortunately, however, many of these predictions will never turn into reality.

The issue of foreclosure does need to be taken seriously, though, and finding out your options should be the first consideration. The first thing you should do is consider various other solutions instead of just letting a house go through the foreclosure process. Try and get as much time as you can from the bank, even if a sheriff sale is coming up; the bank can postpone any foreclosure proceedings in the local courts or cancel an auction to give you more time to work on a solution.

You might want to consider trying to list your house for sale, even if you have to do it with a short sale and convince the bank to take less than the total amount you owe on the loan. Otherwise, if there is really no way to save the home and the lender is unwilling to do a short sale, you can offer the bank a deed in lieu of foreclosure, which will, upon the bank’s acceptance of the offer, stop foreclosure and allow you to give the house back to the bank instead of going through the entire legal process and seeing your house auctioned off by the county.

But if the house does go into foreclosure and you do lose it to a sheriff sale, this does not mean the bank can go after your other house or any other assets you still possess. A number of different requirements must be met for a bank to try and sue you again after the foreclosure. Most of these requirements are easy to meet, but the last one usually guarantees that the bank will not take the time to pursue another lawsuit to go after your other personal items or additional homes.

First, the house has to sell at the county auction for less than the total amount owed on the loan at the time of the sheriff sale. This is usually pretty easy to meet, since the bank will have added thousands of dollars in fees so that no one in their right mind (not even the bank) would pay that much for the house. Usually, it is the foreclosing bank that places the only bid on the property, and they bid the minimum amount, so the house is likely to sell for far less than the total amount owed. The bank will end up with the property and a convenient write-off for the lost portion of the debt.

Second, your state has to allow deficiency judgments in the case of foreclosure. Not all states allow this in their foreclosure laws, so make sure you look up your law and find out if they can sue you and under what circumstances. Even if the lender is allowed to pursue another lawsuit, the type of foreclosure used, whether judicial or nonjudicial, can also be a determining factor in how difficult it will be to start the lawsuit and how it must be pursued.

Finally, you actually have to have something of value that the bank would want, usually some highly liquid asset the bank can easily seize. That does not mean having another home, to be clear. If the bank got nothing back from you on this foreclosure, what makes you think it would be worth their time to go after your other home? Would they get anything for their time and money, or would they most likely just get stuck with losing even more money when the home sells for too little at an auction to pay off even the existing mortgages, let alone a deficiency judgment?

So, maybe the bank could go after your other house after you lose one. But, in practical terms, banks almost never do this, since it just is not worth their time. It costs them more to hire attorneys to sue you for the original foreclosure, then sue again after that for a deficiency judgment, then sue you again for foreclosure on your other home because of nonpayment of the deficiency judgment. And in the end, they will probably still end up with nothing to compensate them for their total expenses.

The average citizen and resident of the State of Florida knows little if anything about legislation and initiatives currently being proposed to greatly alter their lives. When I found out about the Save Our Homes Amendment, my first reaction was that on its face it sounds good.

That however is the danger as special interest groups (and the legislators serving them in return for…) often use clever language to conceal and obscure their true intent and what they desire to accomplish. Nowadays the powerful serve themselves, not we the people. Therefore we the people must be all the more knowledgeable, studied, and astute.

When I wrote the chairman of the Save Our Homes Amendment who pioneered the legislation, Lee County Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson, I was pleasantly surprised when he wrote me back within a day. What however was a bit disheartening was when I asked for the direct link to the legislative amendment itself, Mr. Wilkinson only provided me a link to the petition.

Nevertheless I read the petition, which on its face sounds good for Florida homeowners (especially those who would like to move elsewhere in the state and buy a new home). What troubled me however was the last sentence on the petition, which reads:

“Thereafter the new homestead property shall be assessed as provided herein.”

That being said, how come nothing else was written or provided therein pertinent to that clause? What is coming hereafter that we homeowners need to know about?

Omissions and distortions are the modus operandi of slick tongued legislators not desirous of letting we the people in on their true motivations. Purporting to serve the people, they talk sweet but the rest that remains to be seen is always yet to be discovered.

Here are some of my recent discoveries (and the search and rescue of the Florida homeowners continues).

John Sebree, Vice Pres. of Public Policy for the Florida Association of Realtors, recently wrote my sister saying:

“The calculators you are looking at are not taking into consideration the revenue cap on local govt ad valorem taxes that can be collected from this point forward. Personal income has increased an average of 4.2 percent each of the past ten years and the Gov just signed a bill that limits the amount of taxes a city or county can collect to that same personal income growth factor. That is a point the media refuses to acknowledge.”

So in other words there is a move to not “limit” property taxation to annual 3% increases, but move it up to the new Governor approved and permitted 4.2% now allowable.

Mr. Sebree further wrote: “The US Constitution would prohibit portability in the way we want it. It appears portability would violate the US Constitution’s ‘right to travel’ clause. We are working on a way to make it constitutional and that can be added in.”

The million-dollar question however is who is “we” — certainly not the taxpaying homeowner. I dare say “we” is the tax assessors and county property appraisers working for them.

Mr. Sebree assured my sister in her 50s who can’t afford to move and pay in an enormously increased tax bracket on a new home: “If you stay in your house forever you are still protected under this new language (as you said, assuming it even makes it on the balot and passes). The amendment as written grandfathers you in so you never lose your Save Our Homes if you stay.”

Why than is Save Our Homes not saying that? The “if you stay” part is huge for homeowners across the state on a fixed and limited income who can’t afford massive taxation increases on their home. Consider the retired elderly, ill, single-parent, and those who are unemployed. If the elderly or ill need to move closer to family for home health care; the single-parent marries and moves elsewhere; and the unemployed relocates to take a job—either of these scenarios means much higher property taxes and the elimination of the 3% cap.

This therefore becomes a huge deterrent for the above mentioned when economically, medically, occupationally, and maritally considering their options.

My guess is those behind this legislative amendment are preparing to move into a new home and/or relocate to their dream houses before the property tax cap is removed. While the “super exemption” may help a bit get folks into a home, after 5 years in that home expect the taxes to increase dramatically. That isn’t being understood by most people.

Other legislation less heard about to be aware of which further reveals the true intent of the state of Florida and where we are heading is:

ARTICLE VII FINANCE AND TAXATION, SECTION 4, SECTION 6

Homestead Exemptions shall be indexed, removed from Flood V Zones and Save our Homes repealed
07-04

Beginning in 2007, or the year after the property tax exemption was enacted, homestead shall be indexed. “Save our Homes” assessment cap shall be phased out over 10 years. Residual “SOH” cap shall be fully portable only during phase out period. Flood V Zones property shall not be available for property tax homestead exemptions. Properties in Flood A Zones shall have annual exemption increases limited by 1/2 index.

This is being sponsored by the Hurricane Insurance Creation out of St. Petersburg, chaired by John Jeffrey Lane. The sponsor of the initiative alone should be sufficient to alert you as to who are the beneficiaries of such an amendment.

The Hurricane Insurance Creation is pushing to get hurricane insurance incorporated into homeowner property taxes and thereby “flood the market” with their policies by reason of the private-public initiative. Interestingly, they are simultaneously pushing to pull the former Save Our Homes property tax cap. If this goes through, the insurance industry wins big and homeowners suffer monumental losses annually.

If you don’t read the amendment now and vehemently speak, soon we the homeowners will weep!

ARTICLE VII SECTION 9. SECTION 19. ARTICLE X SECTION 27

Hurricane Insurance as a Local Property Taxing Authority at Market Value
07-03

Create Hurricane Insurance with component flood and windstorm perils (FHW) that shall be written by the State on all Florida properties whether municipal, public residential or commercial, except in Coastal Barrier Resources Areas or other “Properties Ineligible”. All properties except “Properties Ineligible” shall have vouchers and separate accounts. Hurricane Insurance shall be a local property taxing authority and part of the annual property taxes.

Remember the government doesn’t love us as much as they say and ambiguity is the tendency of special interest groups (and the legislators they buy to favor their cause) proposing initiatives that really aren’t in the best interest of we the people.