Rehab and Flip

Author: Rehab and Flip

  • Signs You Shouldn’t Be a Landlord

    Signs You Shouldn’t Be a Landlord

    A couple of years ago, Kathy Kristof of CBS MoneyWatch wrote an article called 6 Signs You Should Never Be a Landlord. This is an updated version of that famous article.

    2014 is turning into a great time to invest in real estate. The real estate market is steadily improving and confidence in the market is at a 7 year high. So does this mean that you should invest in real estate and start purchasing some rental properties? That’s a question that requires SELF analysis, rather than MARKET analysis.

    If you don’t have the patience of a saint, the ingenuity of MacGyver and the moral turpitude of a New York mafia boss, then maybe you shouldn’t be a landlord.

    Are You Strong Enough?

    Buying the right investment property at the right price can allow a person to generate long-term profits and even short-term income with a minimum of cash. That can equate into a great little return on investment or a little return over an indefinite period of time. There are tax benefits involved in owning rental real estate, too. (See Kathy Kristof’s related CBS MoneyWatch story: Become a Rich Landlord in 7 Simple Steps.)

    No matter how tempting the economics though, there are some people who just don’t have the temperament to be landlords. Being a landlord is the kind of investment where your personality can kill your profits, so it’s important to be realistic. Otherwise, you can lose your investment and your credit rating all at the same time.

    “If you can’t roll with the punches, this is not an investment for you,” says Mark Brandemuehl, vice president of marketing at the San Mateo-based real estate site Movoto, who happens to be a landlord himself. “This is the type of investment that literally wakes you up in the middle of the night–and not just because it’s losing money.”

    Warning Signs You Shouldn’t Be a Landlord

    1. You’re a soft touch.

    – You’ve been renting to a darling young couple named John and Sue for three months and are just thrilled that they’re expecting their first child. You’ve hidden their shower gift in the trunk of your car. Then John sheepishly explains that their rent is going to be a little late this month because he lost his job. “Don’t worry,” he says. “I’ve got some good job leads.” He gives you the sad puppy eyes.

    If the notion of evicting this darling young couple is something you can’t stomach, you’re too sweet to own a rental. You can love your renters, but you can’t let your personal feelings get in the way of your business judgment. If your contract demands rent on the 1st of the month, you should start eviction proceedings on the 5th of the month, says Adam Leitman Bailey, a New York real estate lawyer. That’s because the wheels of justice move slowly. The faster you file the paperwork, the sooner you can replace the cute freeloaders with somebody who can afford your rental unit. (You are, however, perfectly welcome to give John & Sue the shower gift while you help them move back in with their parents.)

    2. You think a “cushion” is what goes on the couch.

    Let’s just say that John and Sue can’t make the rent, but they are not going to move out without a fight. Guess what? You’ve got what bankers call a “non-performing asset.” Worse news: You are still on the hook for the mortgage, taxes, insurance, repairs and other costs, even when there’s no income coming in. You may even have to hire a real estate attorney.

    Before you buy a rental, you need to amass an economic cushion amounting to at least six-months of housing expenses, plus a few thousand dollars to pay attorneys. That gives you the staying power required to manage most worst-case scenarios.

    3. Semi-annual payments always come as a surprise.

    Sure you know that your auto insurer bills you just twice a year, but you have to scramble — or borrow against credit cards — to pull together the money every time you get the bill. When you own a rental, ordinary/extraordinary expenses are a common occurrence, says Brandemuehl.

    To be a good landlord, you have to be a master of cash flow, planning ahead for everything from property taxes and insurance to major repairs. “Maintenance expenses come in big chunks,” he adds. “You’ll have nothing for a while, then all of a sudden, you’ve got to fix the roof or the air conditioner and it’s $4,000. You’ve got to be prepared for that.”

    4. You love to decorate and know just how to trick out that rental.

    If you’re a master at inexpensive home decorating, you may be fine. But if you’re thinking designer tile and a Wolf stove, you’re pricing yourself out of the rental market. Decorating should be light, bright and inexpensive, unless you want to have the prettiest vacant rental on the market.

    5. You’re a heavy sleeper.

    Mutual funds won’t call you in the middle of the night to tell you what’s going wrong in your portfolio. Renters, on the other hand, can have a broken water pipe at any hour of the day or night. If you don’t have a 24-hour handyman to call, you are the 24-hour handyman. It’s the kind of nightmare you can’t just roll-over and ignore.

    6. You hate technicalities.

    If you’re going to become a landlord, you need to get intimately familiar with tenant’s rights laws in the area where you buy, experts agree. The reason: If you don’t know the rules and follow them fastidiously, you can be sued by your tenant and your tenant could be allowed to stay in your home — rent free — almost indefinitely. “I’ve seen it take years to evict a tenant,” says Bailey. “If you don’t follow the rules, there are times when you can’t evict them at all. It can be a living nightmare.”

    Most importantly, before you rent to anyone, you need to pull their credit report; get their criminal record, if applicable; talk to their personal references and their former landlords. Pay attention to the details and collecting the rent will be a relative breeze, but lose sight of the checklist that ensures you rent to responsible, well-adjusted people, and your rental can become a nightmare.

    If you’re having second thoughts about being a Central Florida or Tampa Bay landlord, or are wondering if there’s a better way to care for your Tampa area rental property, call Jessica at Palm Island Property Management. They manage rental properties all over Central Florida, Tampa Bay, and the West Coast of Florida.

  • Tampa Bay Foreclosure Rates High, But Dropping

    Depending on what side of the table you’re on, the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater market ranked second among Top 20 metropoltan cities in foreclosures during the first quarter of 2014.

    1 in 122 houses filed for foreclosure, according to a report issued by RealtyTrac. The official total of foreclosure filings was 11,092. However, the foreclosure rate is down 17.78 percent from first quarter 2013, nearly 4 percent from last quarter.

    “I think Florida, and Tampa Bay, have turned the corner in terms of foreclosure activity,” said Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac vice president. “It’s headed in the right direction, but it’s coming off a very elevated level.”

    Florida still leads the nation in foreclosure filings, though. In metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more, the top eight foreclosure cities in Florida are: No. 1, Port St. Lucie (one unit in every 99); No. 2, Miami (106); No. 3, Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville (112); No. 4, Orlando (120); No. 5, Tampa Bay (122); No. 6, Lakeland (127); No. 7, Ocala (130); No. 8, Jacksonville (134). They were followed by Rockford, Ill. and Atlantic City, N.J.

    Florida foreclosure activity has decreased annually for the past three consecutive quarters, as the market recovers

    Blomquist also thinks that the banks and courts in Florida have “caught up” with shadow inventory — distressed properties that are not yet listed — but added a cautionary caveat:

    “Foreclosure is the first stop in disposing of shadow inventory. The second is to see the properties listed on the market.”

  • 4 Real Estate Opportunities Near SunRail Station

    If you’re an Orlando SunRail follower — and a real estate junkie — you’re familiar with something known as TOD.

    And no, it’s not the brother of SunRail’s safety mascot, Tie, the Squirrel. It stands for “transit-oriented development“, a buzzword in urban planning circles that describes compact residential and commercial development with a pedestrian-friendly design that is centered around some kind of transit.

    4 Real Estate Opportunities Near SunRail Station

    Orlando Business Journal talked with Aecomassociate principal Blake Drury, the $1.3 billion commuter rail’s TOD facilitator, and he shared with us some opportunities not only for new development and redevelopment, but a way to use these real estate opportunities to market the region to a bigger audience. And that could help draw more big businesses, talent and jobs to Central Florida.

    “At its core, TOD is really based around the pedestrian,” Drury said. “When you marry that with transit stations, that’s where you find the best development opportunities. And we’re a big enough market that there’s going to be a chance for all sorts of different kinds of development.”

    SunRail will launch its first phase on May 1, including 12 stations, from DeBary in Volusia County going south to Sand Lake Road in Orange County. And while most of the municipalities have put plans in place to encourage private development around those stations, not all stations are seeing the fruits of that labor. Places that are already developed — such as the  downtown Orlando stations, the stations near Florida Hospital and Orlando Health, and Winter Park — have already seen more investment and activity from not only new development but existing landowners.

    And some stations that aren’t even part of the first phase are seeing additional activity. For example, Tupperware Brands Corp. is starting work on a  new $60 million shopping center near its headquarters and neighboring Osceola Parkway SunRail station on the border of Orange and Osceola counties.

    Some more suburban cities are slower to see that kind of investment, possibly because developers are waiting to see whether SunRail’s ridership will justify spending the money to build near those stations.

    But for pioneers with a vision for TOD success, here are a few development opportunities near some SunRail stations that you may not have known about:

    • Most municipalities have put in necessary infrastructure or overlay plans to allow for more dense development around the stations. So, sites near stations might be the best shovel-ready pads you can find.
    • Though the traditional way of commuting is living in the suburbs and driving downtown for work, SunRail offers a chance at a “reverse commute.” Downtown Orlando is quickly becoming a great place to live, but companies that want to expand into our area may want to capitalize on lower commercial real estate leasing rates in the suburbs. With SunRail, companies can have their offices in places like Lake Mary or Longwood, and the young talent can live in a vibrant downtown with a train station just steps away for their commute.
    • You won’t be able to walk to existing shops or apartments from every station when SunRailfirst starts running. But with sites near the platform that are ripe for new construction or redevelopment, the retail and homes can come to the stations.
    • Although development might be a more exciting option, some stations have existing industrial opportunities — remember, this used to be a freight corridor. So, businesses looking for a spot in existing industrial space that want quick and convenient commuting options for workers can capitalize on some of the available space at stations like Sanford or Sand Lake Road.

    Want to know more? Be sure to check out all our  previous SunRail coverage and come back as we continue to offer more updates.

  • Vacation home purchases on the rise

    Salem Solomon, Contributing writer- Tampa Bay Business Journal

    The U.S. saw a jump in the vacation home market in 2013, which is particularly good news for Florida’s real estate sector and businesses that rely on tourism.

    Sales of vacation homes rose 30% to 717,000 homes last year, the National Association of Realtors reported. Overall, vacation home sales accounted for 13 percent of the market, which is the largest percentage since 2006.

    The median price of vacation homes rose to $168,700, a 12.5 percent increase, CNN said. The market for second homes was aided by the strong performance of the stock market. In 2013, the S&P 500 rose by 30 percent, its best performance in 16 years, CNN said.

    The reasons given by buyers for purchasing a vacation home varied. About 5 percent sold the properties before the end of the year and the same amount reported planning to do so within the next 12 months. But about 31 percent of buyers said they plan to use the homes as a primary residence after retirement, CNN said.

    About 25 percent also said they would rent out the house at least for part of the year.

  • Home Values in More Than 1,000 U.S. Cities Expected to Be More Expensive than Ever Within the Next Year

    Home Values in More Than 1,000 U.S. Cities Expected to Be More Expensive than Ever Within the Next Year

    527 Cities that Experienced Home Value Declines of 10% or More Now at or Close to Peak, According to Q1 Zillow Real Estate Market Reports; Affordability Problems Could Spread as Interest Rates Rise

    -U.S. home values climbed 5.7 percent year-over year in the first quarter, to a Zillow® Home Value Index of $169,800. National home values have climbed year-over-year for 21 consecutive months.

    -Rents rose 2.7 percent year-over-year in the first quarter and 0.9 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2013, to a Zillow Rent Index of $1,315.

    -Inventory fell in March for the first time in six months, down 0.5 percent year-over-year.

    SEATTLE, April 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Declines in home values experienced during the recession have already been, or are close to being, erased in almost 20 percent of metro housing markets nationwide as values continue to rise, according to the first quarter Zillow Real Estate Market Reports[i]. U.S. home values climbed 5.7 percent year-over year in the first quarter, to a Zillow Home Value Index[ii] of $169,800.

    Home values nationwide rose 0.5% from the fourth quarter of 2013, the ninth straight quarter of increasing home values. U.S. home values are expected to rise another 3.3 percent through the first quarter of 2015, according to the Zillow Home Value Forecast[iii].

    Nationally, home values remain 13.5 percent below their 2007 peak, after falling 22.6 percent during the recession before bottoming in 2011. But the housing recession is almost entirely in the rearview mirror in 1,080 of the more than 8,700 cities and towns covered by Zillow, with home values already at or expected to reach pre-recession levels in the next year, including in many hard-hit areas. Among 6,781 cities and towns that experienced home value declines of 10 percent or more during the recession, values in 527 have either fully recovered or are expected to recover fully by the first quarter of 2015.

    Among the more than 300 metros covered by Zillow, home values in 60 have already exceeded or are expected to exceed their pre-recession peaks in the next year, including in Dallas, Houston, Denver, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, San Jose and Austin. In a majority of metros, housing affordability is and will remain strong even as prices continue to rise. But homes in a handful of metros – including San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose and San Diego – are already unaffordable, with the share of residents’ incomes currently devoted to monthly mortgage payments exceeding historic norms.

    “The lows of the housing recession are becoming an increasingly distant memory as home values reach new highs and homes become more expensive than ever in many areas. This is a remarkable milestone coming only two and a half years after the end of the worst housing recession since the Great Depression, and is a testament to just how robust this housing recovery has been,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “So far, this steady appreciation has not created affordability issues in the majority of places. But there are a handful of markets where affordability is again a challenge, even with mortgage interest rates incredibly low. Mortgage interest rates won’t stay low forever. And rents have also been marching steadily higher for several years. As a result, the housing affordability issues we’re already seeing in select markets could become a much more widespread concern a few years from now. As affordability worsens, more residents will be forced to search for affordable housing farther from urban job centers, and home values in some areas may have to come down.”

    Nationally, rents rose 2.7 percent year-over-year in the first quarter and 0.9 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2013, to a Zillow Rent Index[iv] of $1,315. U.S. rents have risen year-over-year for more than two years straight.

    The inventory of homes listed for sale on Zillow[v] at the end of the first quarter fell by 0.5 percent year-over-year, after showing annual gains in each of the past six months. Inventory fell month-over-month in each of the three months of the first quarter.

    Metropolitan Areas Zillow Home Value Index Zillow Rent Index Zillow Home Value Forecast
     Q1 2014 Year-Year % Change  Q1 2014 Year-Year % Change % Change in ZHVI, Q1 2014-Q1 2015 At Peak/ Expected to hit peak in next year?
    United States $      169,800 5.7% $    1,315 2.7% 3.3% No
    New York/Northern New Jersey $      371,200 6.4% $    2,311 1.8% 2.8% No
    Los Angeles, CA $      508,400 15.2% $    2,365 2.5% 6.0% No
    Chicago, IL $      178,800 8.3% $    1,624 6.6% 1.5% No
    Dallas-Fort Worth, TX $      143,200 7.0% $    1,387 3.9% 4.2% Yes
    Philadelphia, PA $      192,700 2.0% $    1,521 1.8% 1.2% No
    Houston, TX $      156,100 3.9% $    1,419 4.4% 3.7% Yes
    Washington, DC $      345,900 7.7% $    2,068 -0.6% 1.4% No
    Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL $      189,100 16.9% $    1,744 6.8% 5.8% No
    Atlanta, GA $      138,300 14.2% $    1,190 3.5% 4.8% No
    Boston, MA $      350,000 6.0% $    2,071 4.5% 0.3% No
    San Francisco, CA $      655,400 16.6% $    2,711 6.7% 5.3% No
    Detroit, MI $      107,300 16.5% $    1,062 3.1% 3.6% No
    Riverside, CA $      262,300 23.3% $    1,600 0.9% 12.0% No
    Phoenix, AZ $      188,000 8.9% $    1,174 1.1% 1.6% No
    Seattle, WA $      316,000 10.3% $    1,750 7.0% 6.1% No
    Minneapolis-St Paul, MN $      197,300 6.4% $    1,521 3.8% 0.3% No
    San Diego, CA $      447,900 13.8% $    2,214 4.4% 3.9% No
    St. Louis, MO $      131,500 -2.2% $    1,097 0.5% 2.2% No
    Tampa, FL $      136,200 14.4% $    1,231 2.8% 6.2% No
    Baltimore, MD $      235,400 3.9% $    1,696 1.3% 1.0% No
    Denver, CO $      245,200 7.0% $    1,674 7.1% 1.7% Yes
    Pittsburgh, PA $      118,900 5.3% $    1,074 8.7% 2.5% Yes
    Portland, OR $      263,200 10.4% $    1,489 4.6% 4.2% No
    Sacramento, CA $      308,500 18.2% $    1,572 2.9% 7.2% No
    San Antonio, TX $      153,700 4.6% $    1,255 3.2% 3.9% Yes
    Orlando, FL $      156,800 17.3% $    1,291 5.4% 8.2% No
    Cincinnati, OH $      130,000 1.8% $    1,179 9.6% 0.9% No
    Cleveland, OH $      115,800 1.4% $    1,131 2.0% 1.2% No
    Kansas City, MO $      144,200 0.2% $    1,133 2.8% 2.0% No
    Las Vegas, NV $      170,900 22.4% $    1,177 2.1% 6.0% No
    San Jose, CA $      759,100 13.4% $    2,856 7.5% 5.0% Yes
    Columbus, OH $      137,300 6.8% $    1,225 3.6% 1.5% No
    Charlotte, NC $      147,700 4.8% $    1,170 0.6% 2.0% No
    Indianapolis, IN $      135,300 6.5% $    1,187 5.5% 2.3% No
    Austin, TX $      221,300 8.2% $    1,576 7.6% 3.6% Yes

    About Zillow:
    Zillow, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z) operates the largest home-related marketplaces on mobile and the Web, with a complementary portfolio of brands and products that help people find vital information about homes, and connect with the best local professionals. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow’s Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. Dr. Humphries and his team of economists and data analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow Home Value Index over the next five years. Zillow also sponsors the bi-annual Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI) which measures consumer confidence in local housing markets, both currently and over time. The Zillow, Inc. portfolio includes Zillow.com®, Zillow Mobile, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, Zillow Rentals, Zillow Digs®, Postlets®, Diverse Solutions®, Agentfolio®, Mortech®, HotPads™ and StreetEasy®. The company is headquartered in Seattle.

    Zillow.com, Zillow, Postlets, Mortech, Diverse Solutions, StreetEasy, Agentfolio and Digs are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc. HotPads is a trademark of Zillow, Inc.

    [i] The Zillow Real Estate Market Reports are a monthly overview of the national and local real estate markets. The reports are compiled by Zillow Real Estate Research. For more information, visit www.zillow.com/research/. The data in Zillow’s Real Estate Market Reports are aggregated from public sources by a number of data providers for 928 metropolitan and micropolitan areas dating back to 1996. Mortgage and home loan data are typically recorded in each county and publicly available through a county recorder’s office. All current monthly data at the national, state, metro, city, ZIP code and neighborhood level can be accessed at www.zillow.com/local-info/ and www.zillow.com/research/data.

    [ii] The Zillow Home Value Index is the median estimated home value for a given geographic area on a given day and includes the value of all single-family residences, condominiums and cooperatives, regardless of whether they sold within a given period. It is expressed in dollars, and seasonally adjusted.

    [iii] The Zillow Home Value Forecast uses data from past home value trends and current market conditions, including leading indicators like home sales, months of housing inventory supply and unemployment, to predict home values over the next 12 months for the nation and for more than 250 markets across the country.

    [iv] The Zillow Rent Index is the median Rent Zestimate® (estimated monthly rental price) for a given geographic area on a given day, and includes the value of all single-family residences, condominiums, cooperatives and apartments in Zillow’s database, regardless of whether they are currently listed for rent. It is expressed in dollars.

    [v] Each week, a count of the number of single-family, condominium and cooperative housing units listed for sale on Zillow is taken. The median of these values within a month is calculated as the monthly value. Because inventory can be seasonal, a seasonally adjusted value is reported using a standard STL procedure. This seasonally adjusted series is then smoothed using a three-month rolling average. More information is available at www.zillow.com/research.

    SOURCE Zillow, Inc.

    Bay to Gulf Holdings is a seller of Tampa Wholesale Properties.

  • Zillow: Tampa home values to outpace national average

    Zillow: Tampa home values to outpace national average

    TAMPA, Fla. (TBO.com) – Although home values in the Tampa metropolitan area remain 37 percent below their July 2006 peak, home values are projected to increase 6.2 percent over the next year, outpacing the projected 3.3 percent U.S. increase, the Zillow Real Estate Market Report says.

    The median home value in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties rose 14.4 percent year-over-year to $136,000, compared with $169,800 nationwide, data scheduled to be released this morning showed. The median price of houses listed for sale in the Tampa Bay region was $169,000, up 9.4 percent from a year ago, while the median price of sales was $141,100, up 20.1 percent.

    “The lows of the housing recession are becoming an increasingly distant memory as home values reach new highs and homes become more expensive than ever in many areas,” Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries said about the U.S. picture.

    “This is a remarkable milestone coming only two and a half years after the end of the worst housing recession since the Great Depression, and is a testament to just how robust this housing recovery has been,” he said.

    Nationwide, home values in 527 cities have either recovered or are expected to recover fully by the beginning of 2015 among 6,781 that Zillow reported had lost 10 percent or more of value during the recession. Mortgage interest rates won’t stay low forever and rents have marched steadily higher for several years, Humphries said. More residents may be forced to search for affordable housing farther from urban job centers.

    SOURCE: 
    tjackovics@tampatrib.com
    (813) 259-7817
    TBO.com

    Read the original article here: http://tbo.com/news/business/zillow-tampa-home-values-to-outpace-national-average-20140422/

  • Best Time to Buy Real Estate?

    Best Time to Buy Real Estate?

    Real Estate is a great investment for either long-term or short, because the population is GROWING, and all of the new people coming into this world are going to need a place to put their stuff. To make this news even juicier, more people are likely to move to Florida than 45 other states.

    So when is the best time to buy real estate?

    Now.

    In a down-trending market, real estate is a great place to park your money, because every purchase on the way down is a bargain. In an up-trending market, real estate can get you a quick return.

    The Right Timing

    A great way to look at timing in the real estate market is to assume long-term, but prepare for short-term. In other words, buy real estate with the intention of holding on to it for a while, but if a bubble starts to grow, be prepared to sell. Never look at previous market bottoms or tops. The real estate market is alive and fickle. It’s as unpredictable and moody as a pregnant woman, with all of the promise and potential that comes with a new baby.

    Prepare for the worst and plan for the best, but relax with the knowledge that there is ALWAYS a return on your investment, if you’re patient.

    At BTGH, we purchase houses with the goal of quick turnaround. We buy distressed properties from banks, municipalities, and private sellers and sell them at wholesale prices. That means that ANYONE can get into real estate right now.

  • Florida’s key position attracts investors

    Florida’s key position attracts investors

    Seen as the gateway to Latin America, the US state is also drawing keen interest from Hong Kong and the mainland as property prices slump

    Florida’s strategic position as a gateway to Latin America is one of the factors attracting mainland Chinese and Hong Kong investors to buy real estate in the southeastern US state.

    “Investors from around the world, including China, consider Miami’s relationship with Latin America as a significant catalyst for growth. This, combined with the fact that property prices are 40 per cent below their peak, is the main reason why investors are buying property in Florida,” said Charlie Rosier, a director of Blackfish, a consultancy which helps Asian clients invest in US property.

    Rosier said Florida was a gateway to Latin America in the same way as Hong Kong was for mainland China. “As such, it is the third-largest wealth management centre in the world after New York and London.”

    Chinese investment in Miami, Florida’s biggest city, accounted for 3.7 per cent of the city’s property sales, he said.

    This was the same as Brazil in 2010, which more than doubled its property investment in Florida in 2011, he said.

    “We expect similar increase from Chinese investment in 2014 and 2015,” Rosier said.

    “Miami has been described as the Hong Kong of Latin America. South Florida has a huge advantage for Chinese businesses looking to locate their headquarters for Latin America,” said Gray Swoope, the chief executive of Enterprise Florida, the state’s economic development organisation.

    There were more than 1,000 corporate headquarters and logistics facilities serving Latin America in south Florida, including Miami, said Manuel Mencia, a senior vice-president of Enterprise Florida.

    Florida handled 40 per cent of US trade with Latin America and the Caribbean, said Bill Johnson, a director of Miami Port, in a report by Blackfish.

    Miami had more flights to Latin America than all the other US cities combined, Swoope said.

    Florida has 15 deepwater ports, while Miami airport is the largest international airfreight hub in the US.

    “It’s natural for us to trade with China,” said Swoope, who is also the state’s commerce secretary.

    Seen as the gateway to Latin America, the US state is also drawing keen interest from Hong Kong and the mainland as property prices slump

    China is the third-largest trading partner of Florida, after Brazil and Colombia. Last year, China’s trade with Florida grew 7.9 per cent to US$9.65 billion, close to Colombia’s US$9.95 billion but far behind Brazil’s US$20.5 billion, according to official US data.

    China was Florida’s largest import source, accounting for most of the trade worth US$9.65 billion between the two sides, Mencia said.

    Florida’s exports to Hong Kong surged 41 per cent to US$1.3 billion last year, making the city the top Asian destination for the US state, according to Enterprise Florida.

    Swire Properties is one of the biggest developers in Florida and is constructing the tallest building in the region, the 80-storey One Brickell City Centre.

    The US$1.05 billion mixed-use development in Miami has a gross floor area of 5.4 million square feet and will house office, residential, hotel, shops and entertainment facilities. The project is scheduled to be completed next year.

    Fortune International Realty, property firm in Florida, has sold 25 properties in the state since November last year.

    Six were sold to mainland Chinese and two to Hong Kong buyers, said Fernando De Nunez, the company’s international vice-president, in the Blackfish report.

    “Mainland China will be the most important market,” De Nunez said.

    Not all Asian investors are enjoying smooth sailing with their projects in Florida.

    In 2011, Malaysian gaming company Genting paid US$400 million for an old-waterfront site and a nearby commercial complex to develop a US$3 billion hotel resort with 5,200 rooms and 8,000 slot machines.

    This project was at least a year behind schedule, the Miami Herald reported in January.

    Last year, Genting sued the US government in an effort to continue using foreign labour for its casino ship in Miami. In January, a US judge ruled against the request.

    Genting did not reply to queries from the South China Morning Post.
    This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Florida’s key position attracts investors

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