Dear Florida villa owner:

It would appear that UK-owned holiday homes here in Orlando may be becoming increasingly targeted by local thieves and vandals.

This week’s Orlando Sentinel, for example, reports that “British tourists and investors have become targets of yet another wave of crimes: vacation-home burglaries.” Break-ins have doubled in the past year (see the following article for details).

British Home Loans is advising its UK clients to contact their Florida management companies as soon as possible to make sure that their Orlando villas not only have effective burglar alarm systems but also that the management companies diligently turn them on whenever renters or owners leave the premises.

Please let us know if your villa management company is either unwilling or unable to provide you with this crucial service and we will try to assist you in improving your Florida home security system.

In the meantime the British Homes Group is contacting a selection of security companies in Central Florida (Brinks, ADT, etc.) to determine the best security system for our UK customers – some even have remote internet access from the UK!

Please let us know if you would like to receive the results of this survey.

Sincerely,

Christine Doran
General Manager
www.BritishHomesGroup.com

Orlando Sentinel

Orlando-area vacation homes draw tourists – and thieves

Eloisa Ruano Gonzalez | Sentinel Staff Writer

November 11, 2008

FOUR CORNERS – British tourists and investors have become targets of yet another wave of crimes: vacation-home burglaries.

Jean Crichton and other homeowners are facing problems with thieves ripping down pool screens and breaking down doors to get into the short-term rentals — even during the daytime. They are targeting well-furnished vacation homes in neighborhoods near Disney theme parks, which have been popular among British travelers, to snag computers, flat-screen TVs, gaming systems, iPods and money.

Law-enforcement officials have tried to handle the growing problem for nearly a decade. But the number of burglaries is back on the rise. Osceola County sheriff’s spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain said burglaries more than doubled last year. More than 180 short-term rental homes were burglarized in the Osceola portion of Four Corners in 2007. In 2006, there were only 83 burglaries. So far this year, there have been 157, she said.

Likewise, Polk County sheriff’s officials say they’ve seen a nearly 31 percent increase in residential burglaries in the Four Corners and the growing corridor around Interstate 4 and U.S. Highway 27, Davenport and parts of Haines City.

Most break-ins occur when guests and residents aren’t home.

Most Four Corner vacation homes are in Polk and Osceola counties.

“It’s not only worried me for the security of my home but for the guests I’m renting to,” said Crichton, 63, of Scotland. Travelers from Australia, Brazil, Canada and New Zealand often stay at her rental home near West U.S. Highway 192, which has been broken into twice in less than a year. Two 42-inch flat-screen televisions, liquor and pillows were among the items stolen.

Burglars this year have hit about 30 vacation homes in Indian Creek, a 462-home community off West U.S. Highway 192 in Osceola County. In 2006, burglars broke into 17 homes, former homeowners association vice president John Abrahamsen said. And there were 23 burglaries in 2007.

“I see it [the problem] escalating because of the state of the economy,” said Abrahamsen, who resigned from his post with the association in September. “Desperate people do desperate things.”

The Indian Creek Common Facility District, which is in charge of maintaining the community, plans to set up cameras this week, said Fran Brown, district member and Indian Creek homeowner. She said license-plate numbers will be recorded on vehicles entering and exiting the complex, in an effort to deter thieves.

But the best deterrent, she said, is setting house alarms.

Karen Gilson, former president of the Indian Creek homeowners association whose rental home also was hit by thieves, said breaking into one of the community’s homes is a “field day” for burglars.

“We stock the houses so they’re better equipped than hotels,” Gilson said.

With new tourists often coming in and out, she said it’s easy for burglars to go undetected. And even though most homeowners installed alarm systems after previous crime waves, Gilson said many vacationers don’t set them.

But even that might not help.

After her first break-in a year ago, Crichton said she had an alarm and bolts put on the front door. That didn’t stop burglars from kicking down the door in June.

Crichton worries the increase in thefts will drive away tourists. So do other homeowners.

“I don’t want to lose [my] rental-home business,” Gilson said. “I know if I can’t rent this home, I lose it.”

Recently four representatives from the Florida Association of Realtors visited London with a message for British second home buyers – the Florida market has some incredible real estate steals.  According to Tallahasse-based Florida Association of Realtors Vice President, John Sebree,

"The British are extremely important to the Florida real estate market.  We’re here to tell people that prices in Florida have never been lower and that there’s a huge inventory to choose from."

Right now Britons have very strong buying power with the offset of the pound to weak dollar.  This is the second British trade mission initiated by Florida Realtors in the last four months.  They are meeting with media outlets to pitch Florida real estate stories as well as trying to forge trade and referral relationships with British real estate companies.  The group is also focused on working with the US government to help loosen visa restrictions prohibiting foreigners from living in Florida second homes for longer than six months of the year.

Some Brits are concerned about the high property taxes in Florida, but as compared to several other US states the taxes are relatively low.  Insurance is also higher than anyone would like, but has stabilized in past years.   

According to the group, "buying in Florida is pretty much a no-brainer"! 

We agree!  The Orlando real estate team at British Homes Group is unique in that they employ British and American professionals who are experts in both UK and US property purchase and financing procedures.  Through co-brokerage arrangements and the availability of the Florida Property Multilist, they have access to one of the largest property databases available in Florida.

The British home loan division can also help the British home buyer with access to fixed and flexible mortgages in a variety of currencies.

Call British Homes Group Today for help with purchasing or financing your Orlando area dream home!

Orlando Area MLS Search 

Lee Weaver, Director of Operations for the British Homes Group in Orlando, Florida,  has lived in Central Florida for the last 14 years. He is an ex-pat, owns a vacation home in The Manors at Westridge on Highway 27 and has been involved with thousands of British investors buying or financing property throughout Florida.

We asked Lee for his opinions on the current Real Estate market in Florida and what are some of the options available to existing owners…

As you have mentioned I have lived in and around Orlando for the last 14 years. The past 4 years have been dedicated to providing real estate, mortgage and other related property services to fellow Brits buying anywhere in Florida. I own a buy-to-let villa myself in the Westridge community, close to Walt Disney World. It was originally mortgaged with a U.K. Sterling home loan from GE Money’s U.K. subsidiary, British Mortgages Abroad, but it was recently re-financed to the innovative Lloyds TSB multi-currency mortgage. The home was previously used as short-term rental villa but now has a 2 year tenant.

Our company, The British Homes Group (www.britishhomesgroup.com) and staff members are well respected throughout the industry, both in the U.K. and in Florida and our General Manager, Chris Doran, appears in the ‘Buyers Guide to Florida’ on Real Estate TV’s home page.

Our customer philosophy has always been to ‘advise in the best interest of the client’. This basic principle, along with our British backgrounds, local Florida expertise and genuine concern for our clients’ satisfaction has enabled us to be recognized as the UK’s favourite one-stop shop for British villa owners in Florida since 2001.

The current market condition for Florida, quite simply put, is – great if you are a buyer – particularly if you are buying with British pounds at a current 26 year high against the U.S. dollar – but not so great if you NEED to sell.

One of the strongest factors driving this market turnaround has been inventory levels. 23,500 homes were on the market for sale in March of 2007. Compare that with the 2,500 available in March of 2005, and it’s easy to understand how this huge swing in the supply and demand ratios has influenced current market conditions.

For the buyers the benefits are readily apparent – greater flexibility in negotiations with the sellers, contributions towards closings costs, upgrades and incentives from builders and (although mostly from U.S. owners due to high loan to value ratios) foreclosure opportunities from defaulting borrowers.

Add in a 2 to 1 exchange rate and a settling (or in some cases a reduction) of prices and you can see why purchase enquiries are even stronger than ‘normal’. The scenarios are almost returning to that of about 2 years ago where you could buy a 4 bedroomed pool home for about £125,000. By the time you have paid the 20% deposit, payments can be as low as £600.00 per month and the costs are much more manageable.

Of course the flip side of ‘all that is good’ for the Florida buyer creates an unfortunate condition for the seller.  Nearly all of the owners we talk to want to retain their Florida asset and therefore should not be affected in this short-term lull. At the very least they want to be able to maintain ownership for at least the next couple of years and then re-assess, and there are a number of ways to achieve that goal:

Evaluate your current mortgage position

If you currently have a U.S. mortgage consider a U.K. Sterling home loan while the exchange rate is so strong – you can always switch back to a U.S. product at a later date.

Don’t forget, with the new multi-currency mortgage, you can go through these same currency conversions without paying recurring switching fees and/or closing costs!

Don’t just leave it up to your management company for rentals

Get more involved with the booking of your villa. We consistently talk to owners who are booking to capacity and the underlying element is always that they are actively involved in the marketing of their Florida rental property themselves – not just through U.K. papers and outlets but also through U.S. ones. Americans are increasingly warming to the idea of spending their vacations in a private villa, just as we Brits have done in Europe for years, and there are hundreds of free online and print listing opportunities when you start to consider the U.S. holiday maker. The British Homes Group also has an online rental programme to help our customers rent their properties as well.

Be different

Be creative in your property fixtures and fittings to encourage repeat bookings – use the latest ‘Accreditation Services’ for an independent assessment and rating of your property – find out how you compare to other villas and what you can do to improve the guest’s experience during their stay.

Think long term as well

Long-term rentals are becoming more popular – Kissimmee, Davenport, Clermont and Haines City are the four most popular areas for British short-term rental owners – all four also have large residential communities that provide 1 to 2 year long-term rental options for property owners.

Assess your management company

What are their average number of bookings per year? How do they advertise their homes for rent? Do they have a lot of add on fees? What do they charge to process your bookings? How do they compare with others?

There is a wealth of information on our website to keep all of our customers updated with Florida news and information – our Florida Blog (blog.britishhomesgroup.com), Property Sales and Rental Portals, Advisory Panel contacts and Newsletter subscriptions are all free and are excellent Florida resources.

We have established a freephone number from the UK to Florida – 0800 096 5989 – and welcome questions, comments and enquiries from existing Florida property owners or anyone that is considering entering the Florida real estate market.

Needless to say, all calls are in confidence and without obligation, and our advice, estimates and recommendations are always unbiased and free.

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Phone within UK: 0800 096 59 89 (Freephone)

Phone within US: 407 396 9914 (8 lines)

Email: Info@BritishHomesGroup.com

Web: www.BritishHomesGroup.com

Blog: blog.britishhomesgroup.com