Central Florida Real Estate
Florida is known as the sunshine state of the United States of America, and Central Florida is a part of that state. Central Florida comprises of nine counties the Lake, Seminole, Orange, Osceola, Highlands, Marion, Polk, Hardee and Sumter counties. These counties were considered to be gemstones of the real estate market in Florida. When one refers to the outdated editions of the Florida real estate listings, you will notice that a majority of the listings belonged to the Central Florida region. Noteworthy is the fact that the Florida real estate market did really well after the 1991 recession and it indeed peaked in the middle of 2005.
The boom can be termed phenomenal and one predisposing factor for such a good market of the Florida real estate investment is the Florida real estate law that loosened the noose on real estate loans. It was the Florida real estate broker who had been making money in attracting the Floridian property investors with several investor-friendly mortgage options including zero per cent interest loans, zero-down payment loans, sub-prime mortgages, and low interest ARMs.
No sooner did the Florida real estate news spread like wild fire and the realty there became a sellers' market. The property value appreciation there had turned to almost 35-50%. One Florida real estate broker among 10 created extra hype and buyers fell trap to such brokers and they paid more than worth. As the saying goes, 'whatever goes up must come down', markets did not sustain there at the raised values for long and they fell again to do the balance act.
The decline.....
If someone asked what single factor is responsible for the downfall of the Central Florida real estate market, then it is the devastating Hurricane Charley, which occurred during 2004. The devastation by the hurricane resulted in rise of real estate insurance in the Central Florida region. This meant additional burden to the property owners and buyers with high yearly
premiums. This discouraged people to invest in the market. Additionally, some counties of the state also increased property taxes as well as impact fees (for developing infrastructure to meet growing demands). These added to the price value of the properties in the region.
Other reasons for the decline include inflation, which was due to skyrocketing gas prices. The rise in inflation resulted in adjustment of interest rates and people had to pay more to buy a real estate property. High interest rates dampened the hopes of prospective property buyers.
These reasons and more resulted in several properties in the Central Florida area to remain unsold and thus began a downfall of this once glorious real estate market. After series of hurricanes and high cost of real estate properties, investors do not see Central Florida as a part of the sunshine state. The region lost its shine. We can hope that the new President will
take active steps to encourage Florida home buying and bring sunshine back to the region.