Monthly Archives: May 2011

Orlando tourism industry looking good for the Summer

Summer is looking up for Orlando tourism industry

According to Sara Clarke’s recent artcile in the Orlando Sentinel, signs point toward a good summer for Orlando’s primary industry, as hotels look to fill more rooms and theme parks are riding on a wave of pent-up demand.

With Memorial Day weekend the unofficial start of the summer travel season, Orlando is expected to be one of the top spots on travelers’ minds.

“We’re doing great compared to the rest of the country,” said Abraham Pizam, dean of the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management. “The hospitality and tourism industries are recovering and are seeing some good times – I wouldn’t say the best of times.”

Pizam attributes the positive momentum to people giving into their desire for a vacation even though the overall economy is still struggling.

“Those who can afford … will dig into their savings and spend money in order to get away from all the bad news,” Pizam said. “The question that is the most important one: Is that sustainable?”

For this summer, at least, that appears to be the case.

Orbitz.com said in April that Orlando ranked top on its list of most popular summer travel destinations for 2011, ahead of cities such as Las Vegas, Seattle, Los Angeles and Denver.

SeaWorld Orlando said last week that it is expecting attendance growth this summer, while Universal Studios is awaiting the release of the final movie installment of the Harry Potter series in July, which could bump attendance at its already wildly popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Disney officials expressed more caution, saying recently that hotel bookings through the end of June are slightly behind those of last year, although they said their rooms are commanding higher rates than a year ago.

Tourism businesses will have to battle the continuingly sluggish economy and high gas prices to make this summer a success story.

With gas averaging $3.79 a gallon nationwide on Sunday, the federal U.S. Energy Information Administration has said it thinks prices have peaked. Still, the cost of a gallon of gasoline remains about a dollar higher than at this time a year ago – something that could have a psychological effect on travelers.

Orlando’s hoteliers say they’ve got their eye on gas prices but aren’t sounding the alarm yet.

“We’re monitoring the situation, but we’re not as concerned as it relates to gas pricing at this point,” said Richard Maladecki, president of the Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association.

One concern Orlando won’t have to deal with this year: the threat of oil on Florida’s shores. Leading into last summer season, tourism officials still had their eye on the millions of gallons of crude oil that had poured into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in April.

This year, Maladecki said, hoteliers are expecting to see a continuation of the positive performance they reported during the first three months. In March, hotels recorded their best occupancy rate in years and slightly higher prices.

“We’re seeing our advanced bookings at a considerably higher pace than they were last year at this time,” said John Brost, general manager of Mystic Dunes Resort & Golf Club. “Still not up to the 2007 years, but significantly better.”

For Orlando’s tourism market, looking past Memorial Day and into the summer isn’t an easy task. While many in the industry are feeling good about the upcoming leisure season, travelers are still planning their vacations with relatively short notice, making projections difficult.

“It’s still a very short-term-booking market,” said Gary Sain, president and chief executive officer of Visit Orlando, the local visitors’ bureau. “I think as we get into it, we’ll have a little bit of a better understanding.”

Happy (US) Memorial Day!

Sincerely,

Bill Cowie President

Orlando office 407 396 9914

Looking for a home in Florida? We do vacation rentals or can help with the purchase or finance of a Florida property. Request more information or submit a Custom Search Request for a listing of homes available in your price range.

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US Foreclosed Homes Sell at Big Discounts

Big Discounts on Foreclosed Homes in the US

In 10 states, average foreclosure discounts in the first quarter ran more than 35% below the average prices of non-distressed homes, says market researcher RealtyTrac in a report out today.

“There is massive discounting going on,” says Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac senior vice president.

Foreclosed homes in Ohio and Illinois drew the largest discounts, averaging 41%, followed by Kentucky at 39%. Other states with discounts of more than 35% were Maryland, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

In some of the big discount states, foreclosures are less numerous, so they’re less likely to pull down prices of non-distressed homes, says Celia Chen, Moody’s Analytics senior director. That makes the discount bigger.

In seven states with foreclosure discounts higher than 35% – Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin – foreclosed homes were less than 20% of first quarter sales, RealtyTrac data indicates. Foreclosures made up 28% of U.S. first-quarter sales.

In Nevada, foreclosures were 53% of first-quarter sales, the highest in the U.S. The average foreclosure discount was less than 18%. Foreclosures are more likely to drive down prices of non-distressed properties in Nevada because there have been so many, Sharga says.

First-quarter foreclosures were 45% of home sales in California, while the average foreclosure discount was nearly 34%. In Arizona, foreclosures were 45% of sales at an average 25% discount.

In states such as Ohio, foreclosure sales may be concentrated in lower-income neighborhoods while prices in higher-income neighborhoods are holding up better, Sharga says. That, too, creates a wider gap between prices of foreclosure homes and non-foreclosure homes, Sharga says.

Discounts are larger when homes have gone back to the bank. RealtyTrac says bank-owned properties averaged first-quarter discounts of 35%. Pre-foreclosure homes – often short sales, in which sellers and lenders agree to sell for less than what’s owed – averaged 9% discounts.

Florida “REO”s

Bank-owned foreclosed/repossessed properties are known as Real Estate Owned or “REO”s in US bank-speak.

BRITISH HOME SALES has a large selection of bargain-priced REO’s for you to choose from here in Orlando.

Let us help you choose one close to Disney!

Happy Bargain Hunting!

Sincerely,

Bill Cowie President

Orlando office 407 396 9914

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The BRITISH HOMES GROUP Florida

Orlando is now the Top US Tourist Destination

Orlando is first U.S. travel destination to draw more than 50M visitors in a year

Metro Orlando took a bite out of the Big Apple on Tuesday when the City Beautiful announced it had become the first U.S. travel destination to draw more than 50 million visitors in a single year.

With a record-breaking visitor tally of 51.5 million in 2010, Orlando easily beat New York City in the unofficial race to the 50 million mark. New York announced earlier this year that it was host last year to an estimated 48.7 million people, making it the only other U.S. city to approach the 50 million milestone.

“What great news to lead the entire nation,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said during a midday news conference. “Last year, everybody was still talking doom and gloom and [saying] it might be three or four years before the tourism economy comes back.”

Orlando’s tourist-based economy rebounded faster than expected: Last year’s visitor count was up 10.5 percent from 2009.

Observation

51,500,000 visitors to Orlando last year (almost equivalent to the entire population of the UK)!

Might be a good place to invest in a bargain-priced short-term rental property – while they last?

Sincerely,

Bill Cowie President

Orlando office 407 396 9914

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The BRITISH HOMES GROUP Florida

Central Florida Market Trends First Quarter 2011

Thank you to our friends at Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty for the latest Central Florida Property Market Trends.

Central Florida Market Trends First Quarter 2011

Signs of a stabilizing real estate market through out Central Florida are continuing to strengthen. Home buyers are steadily leaving the sideline and entering the home search process. Out of state and foreign home buyers are realizing that the Florida market has bottomed out and they are jumping in to purchase second homes, vacation homes and investment properties.

I am pleased to provide you with our Central Florida Market Trends for the first quarter of 2011.

First quarter 2011 single family homes sales were up 3.8% over the same time period in 2010.

Central Florida condominium sales were up only slightly at 1.28% over the same time period in 2010.

Overall, Central Florida sales were up 4.58% for the first quarter of 2011 over the same time period in 2010.

New contracts written have steadily increased since December 2010 with just over 4,500 new contracts written in March 2011.

In March, the median price of Orlando area existing home sales increased for the second consecutive month to $103,000. However, the March 2011 median price is 6.36% less than the median recorded in March 2010.

The increase in the overall median price is attributed in part to an increase in the number of “normal” homes sales which have higher selling prices than foreclosures and short sales.

In the first quarter of 2011, 72% of all homes sold were in some form of distress. It is anticipated that this number will decline as distress inventories are sold off and more “normal” home sales continue to rise.

The number of homes listed for sale was down to 12,533 in March of 2011, which is 22.75% below the inventory reported in March 2010.

There are currently 10,115 single family homes listed in MLS, which is 16.25% below March of 2010.

The current pace of sales translates into an average of just over 5 months supply, the lowest since December 2005.

Declining home inventories may have a positive effect on some home prices due to the supply and demand.

All cash sales have continued to stay above the 50% mark for the last year.

The sale of $1 million plus properties remains strong, although at a somewhat lower pace then what we say in the first quarter of 2010.

As we enter the Spring and Summer selling months we are forecasting that sales will continue to climb and home inventories will continue their decline, which will make the selling process more interesting with multiple purchasers pursuing the best properties that are well priced.

Bill Cowie President

www.britishhomesgroup.com

Orlando office 407 396 9914

Request more information or submit a Custom Search Request

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The BRITISH HOMES GROUP Florida

What’s new at Florida theme parks this summer?

ORLANDO – A theme park built with millions of Lego bricks, a cheetah habitat with a zero-to-60 mph roller coaster at Africa-themed Busch Gardens, and the first new killer whale show in five years at SeaWorld Orlando are among the big new attractions opening in central Florida this year.

The world’s fifth Legoland park, and the first one on the U.S. East Coast, is going up on the site of the old Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven, a 45-minute drive from the other large parks in Orlando. It is scheduled to open at an unspecified date in October.

Legoland Florida planners say 50 million of the iconic plastic building bricks will be incorporated into rides, statues and attractions geared toward children ages 2 to 12 and their families. The lineup will include four gentle roller coasters, but the park retains its famous botanical gardens and water ski show from Cypress Gardens, which was one of Florida’s first theme parks.

“Kids go crazy over Legos, and this is what kids anticipate seeing in a Lego world,” park manager Adrian Jones said recently. “It’s about rides, it’s about playing with Legos, it’s about building, it’s about interacting” with their surroundings.

The new environmentally themed Shamu show at SeaWorld called One Ocean debuted at the Orlando park in April, replacing the well-worn Believe show. Similar whale shows are scheduled to open at SeaWorld San Diego on Memorial Day weekend and at SeaWorld San Antonio in June.

According to SeaWorld, the show “features majestic killer whales as ambassadors of the sea, and the ocean as the center of the universe. … At the core of the show is the unifying message that both animals and humans are part of one world, with one ocean, and its future is in our hands to cherish and protect.”

One of the orcas that visitors to the Orlando park will see exhibiting his talents in the new show is Tilikum, the whale that killed drowned 40-year-old trainer Dawn Brancheau last year. Tilikum spent more than a year away from the exhibits but returned to the shows in April.

Trainers have not been in the pools with the whales since the accident in February 2010, but the parks are upgrading facilities with safety equipment and readying the animals for trainers to get back into the water. A firm date for that has not been announced, but SeaWorld officials said the new show was planned to incorporate “water work” with the trainers when the time was appropriate.

An hour away from Orlando, in Tampa, Busch Gardens is promoting its new Cheetah Hunt roller coaster that uses the force of repelling magnets to launch riders from zero to 60 mph in a matter of seconds, three different times during the ride.

Opening this summer, Cheetah Hunt will be the longest of the park’s coasters with 4,429 feet (1,350 meters) of track. It is the centerpiece of a new animal habitat area called Cheetah Run that will allow visitors to get up close to the lithe cats living there. They also can witness the world’s fastest land animal in action during daily sprints conducted by trainers.

Sticking with the Africa theme, new this year at Walt Disney World is an add-on experience at Animal Kingdom that allows guests to join a small group on a guided expedition to see the park’s wild animals on foot and by special vehicles. The cost of the Wild Africa Trek starts at $189 per person (in addition to park admission) and will vary seasonally. It is open to guests 8 and older.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios park reopened the venerable Star Tours ride this month with a new 3-D element and Star Wars-inspired story line for the deep space flight simulator. Also new at Disney World is a nighttime show during which photos of guests taken by park photographers during the day are projected in a huge slideshow on the outside of Cinderella Castle. The show is accompanied by music and fireworks.

Discovery Cove in Orlando debuts a new 2.5-acre (1-hectare) saltwater environment called Grand Reef, featuring white-sand beaches, underwater grottoes and a palm tree-lined island. Guests can don wetsuits and an underwater breathing apparatus to take an underwater walking tour along a path 10 feet below the surface through schools of tropical fish and past a 1 million-gallon (3.8 million liter) aquarium with 125 species of fish, rays, and sharks.

Florida theme parks have high hopes for 2011 after seeing modest attendance gains last year as the U.S. economy continued to recover from a crippling recession, said David Mandt, spokesman for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.
“Certainly the conditions and consumer confidence are improving, and that will drive attendance to parks and attractions,” Mandt said. “There’s a lot to look forward to.”

One attraction that hopes to maintain its initial success is The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which was an immediate sensation when it opened last year in the Islands of Adventure park at Universal Orlando. The mini-park, featuring Hogwarts castle and a state-of-the-art coaster ride that simulates flying on brooms with Harry and his pals, gave Universal a big attendance boost last year while the crowds at the other central Florida parks stayed flat.

For Universal visitors, Aug. 18 will be the last chance to ride the Jimmy Neutron Nicktoon Blast, which is closing to make room for a 3-D ride based on the Despicable Me animated movie. And the popular Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride at Islands of Adventure is closing soon for a state-of-the-art retooling. The 3-D experience will be updated with high-definition animation and other details riders will be able to feel.

Enjoy!
Bill Cowie President
www.britishhomesgroup.com
Orlando Florida
Kissimmee Office 407 396 9914
Direct (Mobile) 407 620 7777

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May’s Florida Property of the Month

THIS PROPERTY HAS SOLD.

PLEASE SUBMIT A: Custom Search Request

4 BEDROOM 3 BATHROOM POOL HOME WITH SPA & RESORT FACILITIES!

New British Homes’ “Best Buy” 4-Bedroom Orlando Villa!

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Approved for Long- and Short-Term Rental
Short drive from Disney and the other World-Famous “Attractions” as well as the Orlando and Millenium Malls, downtown Orlando and Orlando International and Sanford Airports.

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If you agree with the growing number of industry observers that the Orlando marketplace is, at long last, beginning to turn-around and rebound now could be the ideal time to invest in Florida property.

Happy Bargain Hunting!
This property would make an ideal second or investment home, or it can be used for short-term-rental vacation home.

Mortgages are available for British and other international buyers with a 30% down payment.

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4 Bedroomed, 3 Bathroom

Status: Available

Listing Price: $145,000
Bedrooms: 4
Baths: 3

Located close to Orlando’s World Famous Attractions, shopping, airports and restaurants and 15 mins from Disney. Take advantage of Orlando’s buyer’s market today.

Request more information on this home or submit a Custom Search Request

The BRITISH HOMES GROUP Florida

2960 Vineland Road | Info@britishhomesgroup.com or (+1) 407 396 9914