BUYING GUIDE FLORIDA
An interesting community is the vibrant downtown sector, where you can pick up a good two-bed, two-bath condo with balcony and shared amenities for about $500,000 (£310k). But most people go for one of the many high-quality lifestyle communities, such as Lakewood Ranch or Palmer Ranch where you can get a three-bed home for around $250,000 (£155k).
Tampa, Clearwater Tampa is only 1.5 hours south-west of Orlando, and the business hub of the Gulf Coast. So if you like urban vibrancy, or a location that is great for year-round business rentals, then maybe you should consider the Tampa Bay area. For a more laid-back holiday ambience, try Clearwater, a suburb from which you can commute into the city. In Tampa you can get a four-bed home in a good gated community for around $400,000 (£247k); or a two-bed condo at Clearwater for around $250,000 (£155k).
The Floridian property market T e real estate market in Florida has turned round aſt er several years of getting hammered, and every month the recovery gets stronger. Closed sales are up 14.6 per cent and
the median price for a single family home statewide has increased 5.2 per cent from 2013 so it now stands at around $185,000 (£112k). As far as the cities, prices in Miami rose 14.9 per cent in 2013, closely followed by
those in Tampa (14.1 per cent), according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index. To put this into context, these rises were less than those averages in Las Vegas, San Francisco. Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Diego and Detroit – but above the rest of America’s top 20 largest cities. Orlando’s overall median price has
now recorded year-to-year gains for 37 consecutive months and has risen 48 per cent since July 2011. But the speed of the price market is perhaps dropping off a little. Indeed, whilst Orlando home values have
gone up 10.8 per cent over the past year,
Zillow.com predicts they will (only) rise 4.9 per cent within the next year. T e Orlando Regional Realtor Association
(ORRA) report that Orlando home sales dropped more than 17 per cent in July 2014 from its July 2013 sales rate. Yet prices rose nearly 9 per cent in the same year-over-year comparison. T e overall median price for the month is $171,000 (£105k), an 8.92 per cent increase over July 2013 and a 1.49 per cent increase over June 2014. Foreclosures in the Orlando metropolitan
area are also down 3.6 per cent in a year – another positive sign that all the excess stock is being hoovered up.
Types of property Houses in Florida are generous in size, usually one or two-storeys, and they come in a number of styles ranging from colonial to Spanish Mission. If you’re buying a detached
house, you normally get a pool – and the good news is you don’t have to heat it with the high temperatures in the Sunshine State. Other typical features in a Floridian home include air-conditioning, galleried, open living areas, and large walk-in wardrobes. Many homes are in gated communities, which is useful in security terms – especially if you are only there some of the time. Condominiums, essentially apartments
clustered in one or more buildings - are popular in Florida. High-rise living, sometimes in Art Deco buildings, is more
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