BUYING GUIDE FLORIDA
beaches. It’s a workable city of great restaurants, good schools, independent shops, art galleries – and another of the |“Ten Best Small Towns” [of America]. T ere you might buy a four-bed golf fronted property for $300,000 (£181k) or a two-bed oceanfront condo for $325,000 (£196k).
Neptune, Atlantic and Ponte Vedra Beaches are great beach communities with restaurants and shops on cobbled roads, and property from $250,000 (£158,000) upwards. Amelia Island is another lovely seaport
community. One of the main attractions is the combination of Floridian palm trees and shimmering beaches with four seasons normally associated with Blighty. T ere’s a little bit of everything here on this small island measuring only two-and-a-half by 13 miles, from history (pre-Civil War Fort Clinch), the inter-coastal river, theatres, restaurants, golf, fi shing, and most of all, a good sense of community. T ere’s also a sprinkling of ‘foreigners’,
including the British that love the small- town vibe of this older resort. Amelia Island generally attracts the kind of folk that don’t want to eat sausage and mash on the beach, preferring the annual shrimp festival. ‘Regular’ families come here alongside celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and John Grisham. You can get a traditional three-bed clapperboard house for $200,000 (£120k) or a two-bed, tow-bath condo with sea views for around double that.
Miami, Fort Lauderdale T e Miami area – including West Palma Beach, Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale – is a very diff erent market to the north-east coast, and ever popular. Miami tourism for 2013 broke all records, with 14.2 million visitors, and the city continues to reinvent itself as an artistic and cultural centre. T e recovery of the Miami property market – the epicentre of the US property crash - has surprised everyone, but now the “Latin American capital” is at the forefront of the recovery. Prices of prime property fell 60 per cent but are now back to their peak levels. Private-equity fi rms hovered up all those discounted condos and condo rents are up 40 per cent since 2009, so don’t expect a bargain. Expect to pay $300,000 (£185k) plus for a two-bed condo in Miami Beach, although you’ll pay slightly less for one on the intracoastal in nearby Fort Lauderdale. Boca Raton is a quiet, laid-back city, Fort Lauderdale more of a holiday resort, whilst Miami is a buzzy metropolis named by one local author as the “Insane City”.
WEST/GULF COAST Naples, Fort Myers, Sanibel Naples, with its sun-drenched white sandy beaches on the Gulf of Mexico, great shopping, restaurants and golf courses,
is popular with retirees and families. Once a small fi shing village, Naples boasts the calmest seas and best ‘sandboxes’ (beaches) in these parts, and comes with good shops, restaurants, golf courses, boating and fi shing. It’s also close to the untamed wilderness of the Everglades, which is ideal for days out. Appearing in any number of top 10 lists
(such as the 10 best undervalued places to live, the 10 best American beaches ranked in National Geographic Travel magazine, and the top 10 healthiest hometowns in the USA), it’s also one of the wealthiest cities in the US with the 6th highest per capita income in America. So this is not an area famed for its
aff ordability, although you can better value at nearby Bonita Springs, Fort Myers and Cape Coral. T at said, you’ll have plenty of choice in Naples if you are shopping for a condo with $100k; but expect to pay $500,000 plus for a three-bed villa in a sought-aſt er community. T e 50-mile stretch of white-sand beaches
and 100 coastal and barrier islands draws people to the Fort Myers & Sanibel area, and the region is also brimming with historical sites and culture – for examples the art galleries and craſt shops of downtown Fort Myers. Meanwhile Captiva island is a hotspot for celebrity visitors such as Cindy Crawford and off ers trophy homes to accommodate them. Expect to pay around $335,000 (£207k) for a Gulf-front one-bed condo In Sanibel, or for a similar amount you can get a three-bed villa in Fort Myers.
Sarasota We have the Scots to thank for the Gulf town of Sarasota, 50 miles south of Tampa. Scottish families set sail in the mid-1800s to this once sleepy fi shing village in search of fresh air, citrus groves and aff ordable housing. Scottish lawyer John Hamilton Gillespie built America’s fi rst golf course and the DeSoto Hotel here, as well as becoming Sarasota’s fi rst mayor. Today, Britons still head out to art-meets-
nature Sarasota County, (population: 386,147) with the US number one beach, Siesta Key, as rated by ‘Dr Beach’ coastal scientist Stephen Leatherman, and cultural pursuits a plenty (opera, ballet, theatres and a symphony orchestra for starters) not normally associated with the Sunshine State. Émigrés will also be pleased to hear that Pine View is in the top 10 of American high schools. T ere’s something for everyone in
Sarasota, from private and 40 ‘pay as you play’ public golf courses, to beaches, walking trails and lectures from the likes of Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and Maya Angelou. Equally, there’s housing to suit most every wallet. Although prices dropped by 40-50 per cent in the recession, the market’s recovered.
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