Ever the inquisitive, opportunist and basically a bit of scottish accountant, we set out this week after months of sleuthing to find out what the deal was with depressed real estate prices in Florida. Looking to explore your “inner snowbird”…. this is the place of course as hundreds of thousands of Canadians before us have considered a southern “cottage” of some kind. So off we went, chequebook in hand, seeking a sweet deal and a place for granddaughter stella to come visit.
Internet sites like foreclosures.com had promised great deals and through a client, we found a top notch agent who spent 2 weeks viewing more than 40 properties with our usually cryptic instructions to come up with 18 potentials all seen in 2 days, one offer, accepted as filed and we be owners come Sept 28th!!
I strongly urge anyone who plans on coming this way in the next 5 -10 years to giddyup down here before the market turns up (and will, cause remember, its NEVER different) and buy some real estate at 2005 prices, maybe better. You will need to decide if your a high rise person (were not) if your a beach person (we are) if your a golf person (were not, and if you played with me, you know that!) and basically we came down to three good options and we chose the beach over the killer deal. I had lots of help from friends and strangers along the way, and of course there is the tax and estate planning questions as well. So if you need a realtor, see the web site below, if you want some advice, call me in September.
j
http://lynnatkinson.com/
