Monday, April 7, 2008

British Investors Find Opportunity in Florida

Florida Realtors tout sun to Brits
By SHELLEY EMLING
Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service
Sunday, April 06, 2008
LONDON — Waves of hurricanes? Cocaine warlords on every corner? Debunking misconceptions about Florida is one key to unlocking the state's troubled property market to prospective buyers from Britain, says John Mike, chairman of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches.

"But once they come to Florida, they love it," he said.
Mike and 13 other Realtors from Florida are in Britain until April 13 as part of a trade mission his association sponsored.
In addition to Realtors from the Palm Beach County area, the group also draws from Vero Beach, Destin(www.Destin-Florida-MLS.com), Naples and Fort Myers.
The Realtors are doing a bit of sightseeing, including tours of Windsor and Warwick castles, but Mike said their main goals are to learn about the market in the United Kingdom and to establish effective referral relationships with agencies here.
"We want to meet real estate professionals in the U.K. so that they can connect their clients to us," he said.
Ed Marks of Marks & Spencer International Realty in Boca Raton said the idea is to build communication channels with British agents.
"So far, they've seemed eager to work with us," he said.
If a British agent refers a client to a Realtor in Florida, Mike said, "We will send a portion of the commission to the agent in the U.K."
The group also will meet with representatives of British media outlets to find out how to advertise Florida properties overseas.
On both sides of the pond, the goal of boosting communication is to ensure that potential British buyers get the advice they need to make a sound decision.
"Thousands of U.K. residents come over and buy without any direction from someone with international experience," Mike said. "We think it's really important they have some guidance, so they don't make a decision they might regret later."
A team of 15 British real estate agents visited Florida last year to learn more about how the industry works in the United States, he said.
One major difference? Property taxes.
"Property taxes are low in the U.K. because they get more of their money from income taxes," Mike said. "A lot of the British buyers are thrown off by the property tax when they buy in Florida."
In general, many of the Florida Realtors say now is the best time for British buyers to buy in the Sunshine State because the market may have bottomed out.
Florida's real estate market has improved just during the past two months, Mike said.
"We believe the free fall has stopped," he said. "We think a stabilization is occurring."
Florida is a popular vacation spot for Europeans, and the strength of the British pound against the dollar has spurred an increasing interest in Florida properties among Britons for both investment and vacation purposes.
"They love the hot weather," Mike said. "The sun is novel for them. They also love the roads and driving in Florida. They like the food and the portions. And they love the prices of property."
Britons' favorite spots tend to be the areas around Naples, Orlando and Sarasota, he said, and Palm Beach also is starting to emerge as a popular locale.
"But there are still a lot of people who have heard of it but don't know where it is," he said.
On top of the dollar's decline, the U.S. housing market has been hit hard by the credit crisis, which has made properties in places such as Florida even more attractive.
A 2007 survey by the National Association of Realtors found that nearly one-third of its members had worked with an international client in the past year.
One-third of such buyers were from Europe, with 12 percent of the total from Britain. Florida accounted for 26 percent of all international buyers, leading the nation.
Teri McCall, a Realtor from Okaloosa Island, agreed that there has been a major spike in interest from British buyers.
"A lot of them are looking at buying property as an investment," she said.
McCall was in Britain plugging properties in the Destin area.(www.Destin-Florida-Condominiums.info)
"There's an international airport opening in Panama City in a year and a half, and a lot of people here don't know about it," she said.
(www.Panama-City-Beach-Florida-MLS.com)
Besides drumming up business, another key part of the Realtors' mission this week is to help educate their British counterparts.
In Britain, real estate is a loosely regulated industry with no system of compulsory licensing for agents.
Unlike the United States, Britain also does not make use of a Multiple Listing Service, which includes all homes listed by real estate agents.
"It's been a wide open field here, but the industry is trying to become more professionalized," Mike said.
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