The Daily Soak - September 5

Canadianflux: Number of Canadian Buyers In Florida Has Doubled

Renting has always been a popular option for our neighbors to the north, but falling condo prices in markets like Tampa Bay are convincing more and more Canadians to buy. With Meet the Nouveaux Neighbors, June Fletcher of the Wall Street Journal reports the 7,200 Canadian buyers this year is more than double the 3,500 buyers last year. The change is evident in some Tampa Bay condos where unit owners watch hockey games together, order Bloody Caesar's at local watering holes and greet each other with the occasional Bonjour on the condo elevator. Even HOA documents and monthly newsletters are being translated into French to accommodate the influx of French Canadians in condos like Hawaiian Gardens in Lauderdale Lakes. And while U.S. banks are making it more difficult to secure financing, Canadian banks are doing just the opposite. Toronto-based RBC recently slashed its down payment requirement for Canadians from 50% to 25% and the number of condo loans has doubled.


Class Dismissed: Enrollments Down at Florida Trades Schools

Bradenton-based Manatee Technical Institute offers several career prep programs for aspiring home and boat builders. The Residential Carpentry track is a 1,200 hour program covering all aspects of rough, trim and finish carpentry, while the Boat Building program promises students will "learn the fabrication process for immediate employment in the industry or continue their studies." But with "immediate employment" no longer a guarantee in Florida's bruised boating and housing markets, many students are opting to pursue other careers. Sarasota County Technical Institute Instructor David Stinnette understands the hesitation: "I think parents are a little bit reluctant to let kids go into it when the newspapers are full of stories about companies moving away." Manatee-based Chris Craft is moving several jobs out of Florida which worries Boat Building students like Alana Kochno. "So far, looking around, here there's not a lot of work," Kochno said, "I'm trying as hard as I can."


Raise Your Hand If You Were Duped By the Condo-Hotel King

A fascinating story in The New York Times about the King of the Condo-Hotel, Robert Falor, who partnered with celebrities like Nicky Hilton and claimed to be developing $1 billion in projects. The Times describes Falor as a great storyteller and a professional name-dropper with an "almost flawless appreciation of the currency of celebrity." Like many developers during the boom, Falor turned to celebrities to bring instant cachet and lure buyers to his projects. This "Heartbreak Hotels" graphic charts the rapid rise and fall of Falor's celebrity partnerships and high-profile developments like the Royal Palm on South Beach and the Hilton-endorsed Nicky O. (formerly the Edison Hotel). But alas, Falor's promise to deliver the units was as shallow as the Nicky O. press release back in 2006, "The lobby of the hotel will include a giant chandelier and lots of marble which Nicky has already called 'hot.'" Squatters ended up moving into the Edison last year before the building was finally auctioned off this spring. Like, that's so not hot.