Tag Archives: Brits in Florida

Florida Flights: Orlando International Airport to benefit from extra flights from British Airways

With 973,000 visitors from the UK to Orlando last year it is no wonder that British Airways want to increase the number of flights to Central Florida. The number of Brits visiting the area made up about a third of all international visitors.

Orlando International Airport is one of the major hubs for flights in the state and is currently spending millions of dollars on refurbishment and expansion to cope with the influx of visitors.

Beginning on March 30th the airline will add three flights a week to its already impressive number taking its total of 10 nonstop a week – this will mean twice daily flights Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays and a once daily flight the other days.

Of course this is coupled with Virgin Atlantics number of routes to Orlando from Gatwick and Manchester.

This is of course in addition to the new Frankfurt route by Lufthansa as well as Aer Lingus’s direct flights to Dublin starting at the end of October.

This is definately exciting developments as it feeds the huge demand for access to Central Florida!

Florida Property Breaking News: Vacation Home Ownership is up 5% in Florida

Vacation home sales rose by 4.7% in Florida in 2006 to a record 1.07million! It seems that although there was a small decrease in the Median Price sales remained strong. Brits who lead the pack in Foreign National investment were scared off by Hurricane Katrina which hit south Florida and then went on to flood New Orleans in Louisiana, in 2005. However things are picking up nicely, people are choosing to own their own vacation home as a lifestyle choice as the demographics of the USA and the UK are changing, the wartime baby boomer are growing older and looking for a nice retirement nest egg.

After all a vacation property in the Orlando area covers most bases well, its a nice lifestyle choice (you can have your vacations there) it is a good capital investment as well as providing income through rental.

The Orlando Sentinel Reported today

Breaking News: Sterling Vs. Dollar Update

This is it, the moment Brits have been waiting for, the £1 has reached a 15 year high against the $ Dollar.
The current rate is trading at….

£1 = $2

This incredible rate has not been seen since September 1992 just before the UK exited the ERM (Exchange Rate Mechinism) This rate means that Florida property is now at its cheapest for British Buyers and it means that those wishing to refinance into Sterling Mortgages from US $ Dollar mortgages are getting the best deal around! Time to nab that Florida property deal before its too late..this won’t last forever!

None of the information contained in this blog/blog post constitutes, nor should be construed as Financial Advice.

Alan Ravenscroft’s “A House in Florida”

This programme has been around now since around 2001. It focuses on the Lyne family from Bishop Stortford in Hertforshire. Rob and Carol Lyne and their daughter Joanna made the move from rainy Britain to the sunny Florida Keys.

They made the move on an L-1 Business Visa and purchased a run down Motel on Conch Key with the plan on restoring it all in all for about $1.2million. The Bay View Inn, they spend the next few years renovating it with occasional help from Alan Ravenscroft who, when not lending a hand is gallivanting around Florida showing what other Brits around the state have bought and showing potential emigrant’s and visitors what else Florida has to offer.

After a couple of bad seasons and sinking all they had into the motel they actually decided to try to sell the motel or find business partners.The motel has its own dock and view out to the ocean and the Lyne’s introduced a convenience store! UKTV on Sky Television in the UK re-run the show quite often, it ran for many episodes.

The Lynes love the keys and have enjoyed the experience so much. They definitely felt it was a better place for their daughter to grow up. The Florida Keys are recognised as having some of the best views of a sunset in the world…

Brit’s BBC 2 Programme “Get A New Life” Struck a chord with the nation

In 2002 BBC 2 embarked on a series which would have effects throughout the nation. The created a series whereby they helped people leave Britain for a new life abroad.

Fronted by two property and relocation experts, Melissa Porter and Scott Huggins Get a New Life struck a cord with the nation. Amazingly some 150,000 people a year leave Britain permanently. Each week 3 million people tuned in to watch eight families relocate abroad often to a new life in the sun.

In 2004 the series made a comeback this time on a grander scale, 12 episodes helping 12 families relocate. This programme had such a rippling effect that a dedicated programme about it and relocation was made giving the staggering statistic that 47% of people in Britain would like to relocate abroad within the next 3 years.

The programme offered people the chance to try the relocation for a month with their living expenses paid and then had the option to return home or stay at the end of it. There were many far off places including Australia, Spain, New Zealand and even chilly Canada.

However, there was 2 episodes across the series featuring Florida. One which involved a family who had Green Card’s through the mother who was born in Florida. They rented a place on the Exclusive Deer Island community on the boundary between Clermont and Oakland (nr. Winter Garden). However at the end of the month they went back citing that it was difficult for them to find work and that they missed friends and family.

The other episode featuring Florida had a family, Dad and Mum; Robin and Sarah and their 2 daughters who emigrated on the E-2 visa after puchasing an E-2 Qualifying business, they chose a landscape gardening business and set up shop in New Port Richey on the Gulf Coast, about an hour north of Tampa. At the end of their monyth they stayed. About a year or so after the show my parents in fact met up with them to ask them how they were finding their new life in the sun. They expressed how much they were enjoying the Florida lifestyle.

All in all it shows that Florida offers something for everyone, many people want a dream holiday home in the sun..and why not!

Check out BBC Worldwide’s press release on the publication which accompanies this series.

British Homes Group Blog Keeps you up to date

We offer the opportunity to keep in touch with the Florida market, however our focus is specifically Florida, other websites do offer RSS Feeds for other parts of the US or even national Real Estate News. One, RSS blog feed which comes to mind if the Orlando Sentinel’s ‘Across the Pond’ Feed, which is written with Brits in mind. Like British Homes Group, it is at the forefront of reporting in all things Florida.