Florida Real Estate, Tourism and Immigration News

With a slowdown in US Housing, investors are seizing the chance of a weak dollar (particularly for British and Irish buyers) and snapping up Florida property!

There has been wide publicity on this issue with the injection of cash being welcome news to the doom and gloom publicity about US housing in the press. The dollar is on sale and home prices in the US have fallen back to affordable levels for foreign buyers.

For instance one property that the British Homes Group has listed is a 5 bedroom 3 bathroom pool home 15 minutes from Disney and it is up for $225,000 (As of today) -at the current exchange rate of $2.05 to £1.00 a British buyer would be able to snap this bargain up for £109,750! European buyers with a strong Euro will equally be able to snap up this property at a great price.

Maybe it is a Florida home you are after? Or Florida mortgage? We can assist with both! We have a dedicated team of Real Estate professionals waiting to serve you and find you that perfect Florida home of your dreams. Maybe you have been fed up by the rained out British Summer this year? Or have seen the gorgeous property for sale on A Place in the Sun or Real Estate TV? – Which we have been featured on!

What ever your reason, Florida is a fantastic place to invest, with a high quality of life coupled with cheap property, gorgeous weather and the cheapest dollar in over a quarter of a century it really is the place to be!

However… you ask.. how can I afford it? Well, our team of Mortgage Brokers cajn look at the options right for you, whether what we are most famous for, the British Sterling mortgage (where your repayments are in pounds) or a US Dollar mortgage or even a Multi-Currency Mortgage they can look at what is right for you and quote you on the product you like best all at no obligation.

Wait! The system is unlike the Uk in that Realtor’s (Estate Agents as they are called in the UK) here have access to all the properties in the area, so it saves you doing the leg work and takes out the need to shop around and if you chose one of our agents to look for property for you they are acting in your interest! Similarly, with the finance side our brokers are experienced in a range of products and have a choice of lenders to look for products, again taking out the need to shop around and allowing you to concentrate on the more important things in life…like what day to go to Disney or the beach!

FAR (Florida Association of Realtors) reported that the worst of the houseing slowdown may be over with UCF’s Economics Professer Sean Snaith reporting that the market will grow in the near future through 2009. He said the may be a "slow upward climb through 2009"
This news come amongst figures of unemployment nationwide, however locally as reported previously CNNMoney picked the Orlando Metro area top in its forcasted job grow poll for cities.

All great news for the area…

This very blog has now been viewed by people in 40 countries! This is the highest number of countries since the blogs creation back in 2006. This is very exciting news as it clearly shows that the interest in Florida property is at an all time high! With a weak dollar and a housing market just turning around now amy be the best time to buy a Florida property!

Contact us today and we will help you find your dream Florida property and we can help secure you finance for the property with as little as 20% of the purchase price down! We will also be more than happy to give you a free loan quote so you can see how affordable it really is to own your own Florida home!

With the sterling trading so high against the dollar, a Real Estate Market on the cusp of a turnaround with rock bottom pricing coupled with fabulous deals and fixed rate sterling mortgages now could really be the best time to buy a Florida Villa!

Take advantage of the situation and use your holiday time wisely and Fly over and look at some great property for sale in the Sunshine State!

Contact us today and we can help look for a suitable property through our in house Realtors and help arrange finance with our in house Mortgage Brokerage service!

3 reports which were released yesterday show bad news on the national housing market front, however, in Florida, interestingly the median home price in the Orlando area had risen in the first quarter of 2007 by 2.5% to $267,000 This is even higher than the Orlando Regional Realtors Association previously estimated!

This is fantastic news, the signs of a market turning around. For a Brit looking for  Florida Villa vacation Home it is great news, with the strength of the exchange rate coupled with the soft market which is now on the turn it means that now may be the best chance for years to take the plunge and own your own dream villa in the sun!

An article in the Orlando Sentinel today from a newspaper in Pennsylvania is aimed at Americans showing the virtues of renting a vacation home rather than a hotel/motel room.

If you are going on holiday with the whole family a 250 square foot hotel room is going to feel cramped to anyone – after all aren’t vacations supposed to be fun!! Contrast this to a nice 1800-2000 square foot villa with pool in the case of the Orlando area then the villa wins hands down! As the article goes on to stress that the price of a couple of hotel rooms for a week often is far more expensive than a villa for a week.

Vacation homes offer the privacy and amenities that guests want without the restriction of a hotel room. It is your temporary home from home.

Americans are slowly coming around to the idea of renting a vacation home, Europeans have been doing it for years but the American market is untapped however this is set to change as they realize what they are missing!!

Why not own your own vacation home in the Orlando area?
CONTACT US TODAY! Fill in our online form and someone will get back to you.

For the first time ever, Orlando is having to promote the area in the UK – the ‘once robust market’ has waned in recent years in a post-9/11 world.

There are two hits in the campaign to help the area – a domestic campaign focusing on the south western US (dubbed "Endless Summer") and the international one focusing on the UK. Both are part of a 2 year $68million marketing blitz promoting the area. The project is tagged "Orlando. Built for Families. Made for memories."

The UK ads are still in the testing stage but are likely to be similar to US ones. Though the numbers for 2006 aren’t available yet, the visitors bureau research projects a 2.8% decline decline in travelers from the UK last year to 1.03million people. However they predict a 3.4% increase this year to 1.07million.

One issue is that in a post-9/11 world Brits are subconsciously feeling it is difficult to travel to the US when in fact Briton’s have it easier than a lot of the world to visit the US as most UK residents can take part in the Visa Waiver program. One downside to visiting Florida is the 9 hour flight!However there is nothing that can be done about that! The area has so much for everyone to enjoy! Now is the time to visit! Get in before the crowds!!

A survey whose results were posted Wednesday by Zillow showed that home values in the Orlando Metro area showed a 6% year over year increase. The four counties that make up the Orlando Metro area showed year over year gains in the first quarter but Osceola and Lake counties showed small increases in Q4 of last year.

Reported in the Orlando Sentinel:

"According to the Zillow index, or "Zindex," Lake County’s median home value — half were higher and half lower — was $208,047, up 17.06 percent for the year and 2.52 percent from the last quarter of 2006."

Realtors say that homes are selling but just a bit slower than previously. The high double digit gains are a thing of the past the market is now set on a period of slow steady growth.

A recent article on HomesGoFast.com written by Jeanette Cox detailed the current buyers market in Orlando coupled with the strong pound and weak dollar.

She detailed how there are incentives at the moment such as credit towards closing costs, bonus Realtor commissions, free cruises etc! The time for grabbing a bargain is running out…the strong pound and weak dollar combined with a buyers market will not last long. Things are already picking up and Florida Villas are as popular as ever, also and disturbance in the World economy could knock the current exchange rate for six!