Where in Florida....

[LeonardL]

Hi we are totally new to this and looking to invest in 1-2 houses to start.

We are living in the UK but plan to cash in and move to the States, probably the Tampa/St. Pete area.

We are considering homes in either the Destin/North Gulf Coast area; Tampa/Clearwate/St. Pete or further down the Gulf Coast. (Is the oil spill much of a problem, is the perception of the spill effect having any impact on your bookings)

What would you recommend. This will be a business for us (we hope to self manage) and not our holiday homes, so we are looking for best rate of return and occupancy.

Are there other areas we should consider: Kissamee (Disney) or Cocoa Beach/Daytona, etc.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

[Londoner]

I read an article in the property pages this week about property prices in the states. They were predicting that the prices are at their lowest now and it seems there are some great deals to be had at the moment, good luck with your venture.

[LeonardL]

Thanks, can you cite the source... which paper?

Thanks!

[dbar]

I looked into buying in Florida a couple of months ago, but got put off by the zoning laws.

Put simply, if the house/apartment is used for short term (ie less than one month) rental, the property needs to be in the right designated zone or the authorities will shut you down.

Zoning laws vary town by town, so it was all a bit of a nightmare tyring to work it out without being there.

Also, I think you need a Green Card to live/work there, which are difficult to get (unless you start a business with $1 million value).

I could be wrong on both counts though, so perhaps a forum member from over the pond might be best placed to answer.

[Musetta]

Florida real estate prices do not follow the rest of the US BTW and, hysterically, can take much, much longer to recover...that said, prices are very low (not sure how low since Fl has always been fairly inexpensive and I've not researched it myself) and there are great deals. I would probable venture a guess that it is a better market right now if you are buying to live in rather than rent out...but just guessing. A dear friend of mine is in the process of buying a holiday rental outside Orlando - Haines City I think it's called. She mentioned that it is very heavily populated with UK owners and renters. I know two English groups who came to the New York area this Summer and stayed at my place did so after a stay in Florida. I think the rental market in Florida is tough though since there is SO much competition...not to mention loads of inexpensive hotels so, I'd research it quite a bit before you jump in. VRBO and HomeAway would give you an idea of what is out there. There is a Florida-specific forum (I don't know the name off-hand, but do a search), as well as a mainly-US--Based vacation rentals group on Yahoo and maybe some Florida owners can fill you in on the possibility of a positive rental return. You can see most properties for sale on realtor.com (in case you didn't already know that. Good luck!

p.s. and yes, David is certainly correct - you can't just arrive and have permission to live in the US just because you own a home if you are not a US citizen or visa holder (just as an American can't just pick up and decide to go live in Europe) so best to look into it and make sure you would qualify for permission to reside here.

[zarf11]

Route A1A is pretty much the closest thing to the Atlantic from Ft Caroline to Miami. It gets a lot of traffic, but the southern end of Daytona is a cul de sac and New Smynera Beach dead ends at Cape Canaveral, which you can not drive through, unless politically connected. I like the climate there, plus car and motorcycle race weeks at Daytona are automatic rents in both places. (or were)