No, I haven't gone mad - that really is the title of an article on south Florida property...
The Broward/Palm Beach version of the New Times, a local south Florida newspaper, gives more details on inventive approaches from realtors - and vendors themselves - to help shift property.
The article starts by mentioning a lady who's selling her rather plush home in Ocala (in northern Florida) - a house with a couple of 50-foot terraces and two acres of land that's worth $1.25 million. Or rather, she's not selling it - she's giving it away. That's right. Giving it away. This lady will give her home away to the winner of a contest that she's running, in which entrants must write a 100 to 300 word essay on a pet. Sounds crazy? Not really. All entries much be accompanied by a $200 fee, and if the contest doesn't draw 6,250 entries then the lady reserves the right to cancel the whole thing, refunding $180 to each person. And yes, $200 multiplied by 6,250 equals $1.25 million, the value of the house. If she gets more than that number of entries, it will be pure profit to her. Sounds pretty clever to me!
Real estate agents and developers are also offering extras in order to help sell their properties, from designer furniture to one year leases on cars (fancy a new Mercedes?) to spa memberships at up-market hotels. Some developers offer these extras because if they've already sold a number of units at a development, they don't want to lower the value of remaining flats. Instead of lowering prices, they offer purchasers additional benefits.
The article also mentions in particular how one agent, Zach Finn, is coping with the market downturn - he's marketing overseas, particularly in London and Paris. Finn states "the dollar is down and prices are down... Europeans are coming over to America on real estate spending sprees."
So put it this way - buy a property in Florida, and you could enjoy lots of additional goodies on the side!
Article: Look at That Pig in Lipstick (New Times, 8th May 2008)
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One Euro = 1.55 US Dollars and with the properties already at such a discount their picking up properties for 50 and 60 cents on the dollar. Not a bad way to go. I recently found out about a tool that a lot of them are using to find these Florida homes and distressed properties. They find a list of properties somewhere on the foreclosure path and pick them up at an already discounted rate. Pretty sly.
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