Investing in Florida: A real estate agent who has handled sales for Donald Trump says that Florida is now a buyer's market with good bargains. Fiona Tyrrell reports
The slowdown in the US property market means that it's a great time to get bargains, according to a US-based property expert who is coming to Ireland to present a series of seminars about purchasing property in Florida and to promote two condo hotel projects to Irish investors.
Businesswoman and estate agent Brigitte Hunt, who has handled the sale of some of Donald Trump's property developments, will be offering her advice and assessment of the Florida property market where rising interest rates along with other factors have put a halt to the gallop of the once booming property market. Prices have fallen by as much as 15 per cent.
Weather, she says, has no impact on the market in Florida. "Everybody knows that the low season in September and October is the hurricane season. It's been like that forever and will remain so. People are still buying."
Property trends, investment turnover and site development in Florida will be some of the areas discussed in Hunt's property seminars, which will be held in Dublin, Galway and Cork next month.
The dramatic slowdown in the Florida market has been fuelled by interest rates and speculation, according to Hunt. This, however, she insists is good news for the smart investor.
"It's a much better time to buy now than last year because prices were really inflated. Now the market is very much a buyer's market and it is a good time to get bargains." Developers are offering great deals and if investors are willing to wait at least three and preferably five years they will see capital growth, she says.
While in Ireland, Hunt will be specifically promoting two projects, one outside Miami and the other in Orlando.
Both projects are hotel condo developments - serviced apartments within a hotel - which allow owners to place the room in the hotel rental pool when not using it themselves.
This is a form of property ownership - pioneered by Donald Trump, saysv Hunt - that has really taken off in the US in the last three years.
Developers of hotel-condos are willing to do deals with overseas buyer to give maximum rental flexibility to the hotel operator. For overseas buyers, she says, the hotel-condo concept means maximum security and peace of mind and the chance for rental income on a per night basis.
While in Ireland, Hunt and her Irish agent Luxury Hotel Homes will be offering Irish investors five-star hotel condos in Miami and Orlando.
Prices at the Hollywood Grande in Miami start at €180,000, while rooms are available from €215,000 at the Regency in Orlando - it is located in the Lake Buena Vista area, close to Disney.
Brigitte Hunt will be giving seminars in Cork on September 8th, in Galway on September 9th and in Dublin on September 10th.
Meanwhile, a condo development on the waterfront near Disney in Orlando, Florida, will be offered to Irish buyers at the Grand Hotel in Malahide, Co Dublin, this weekend. Prices at The Village at Town Centre start at €156,900 for one-bedroom apartments, and from €211,600 for two and three-bedroom units.
The company seling the condos is Emerald USA, an Irish-owned US development company. Features of the complex include a clubhouse, swimming pool, playground, business centre, and basketball and tennis courts. The properties are being sold here by Pivotal International, a company in Malahide.
• Luxury Hotel Homes. www.luxuryhotels.com
• Emerald USA/Pivotal International info@pivotalproperty.ie
