Second-Home Pimpin' Around The World

Thinking Beyond Exotic Locales Like Cape Coral and Parkland

In this week's "The Good Life" section, Newsweek freelance journalist Ginanne Brownell writes about the incredible deals that abound in the global second-home market. She begins stateside in our own backyard and gives high marks to "South Florida—Miami or Naples—where hot weather is guaranteed most of the year." But then, passport in hand, Brownell begins to explore the myriad fire sale second-home possibilities in exotic destinations like Mallorca (pictured), Tuscany, the Scottish Highlands and Cap Ferrat. Maybe this article will serve as a wake-up call to the next wave of second-home buyers who won't merely settle for EPCOT-esque second-homes: Florida gated communities named after foreign destinations. I mean which would you rather have: a genuine, old-stone Tuscan villa in Anghiani or a townhouse in a Tuscany-inspired gated community in a former tomato field next to I-75 in Collier County? Luxury market analyst Marc Cohen believes the second-home buyer profile and preferences are shifting away to more remote corners of the world, "If there is an active buyer, the type will have changed from the typical 65-year-old retiree who has sold his business or retired from a high-salaried job to one who is much younger who has seen this become more of an opportunity."