The Daily Soak - April 27

From Russia with Love...Florida Real Estate Love

Florida, Nevada and California are three of the hottest housing market destinations. No, this is not a typo. Florida, Nevada and California are three of the top 4 markets where Russians look to buy property in the U.S.; the fourth is New York. With the domestic buyer pool shrinking, Florida developers of such projects as Icon Brickell and Trump Hollywood have been making presentations to Moscow's elite. Familiarity with the Florida market for Russians is reflected in the large number of Russian-Americans residing in South Florida. Florida brokers attending a recent event at the Phillipe Starck-designed Bon Restaurant in Moscow pitched Florida condo developments ranging in price from $400,000 to over $4,000,000. The videos projected of Florida's beaches and sunny skies presented a nice contrast to the interior of Bon, described by one reviewer as "a dark shrine to the Moscow excesses of sex, violence and food."


British Tourists Discover Life Beyond Disney in Central Florida

A valuable editorial for any Florida real estate professionals who are targeting buyers in the U.K. and an entertaining commentary for anyone who enjoys cross-country cultural differences. A journalist with England's Birmingham Post spends two weeks in the Orlando area with her family, stays at an International Drive timeshare resort and visits tourist attractions like Aquatica and Kennedy Space Center. Most of the writer's culture shock stems from size issues like our cars: This is the land of BIG cars and even bigger roads. We’d paid to hire a full-sized Dodge Charger, but Dollar upgraded us to a Jeep, which is bigger than any car I have ever driven. It was naturally automatic, with the driver’s accoutrements on the "wrong" side. Despite the shaky start, the author confesses at journey's end, We had to admit, we were beginning to warm to Orlando ourselves.


"Very good people" hurt by Florida mortgage and housing situation

A new survey released by a Coral Gables bank rating firm shows that 25% of the banks in Broward and Palm Beach Counties are dealing with significant increases in overdue loans. Not surprisingly, many of those borrowers took out loans during the go-go housing days from 2000-2005 and started having difficulty making their payments in 2006. The CEO of Grand Bank & Trust in Palm Beach summed up the average borrower profile as not being that of a careless speculator: There are some very good people who are being caught up in this economy. Want to see where your Florida bank ranks in the Bauer Financial survey? Simply visit this link and choose "Florida" from the dropdown menu.