It's not all doom and gloom! (Tampa, Fort Myers: sales, real estate market, foreclosures)

[London Guy]

Southwest Florida real estate market attracts Canadian investors, other international clients | news-press.com | The News-Press

I must confess to having got my cheque book out recently too! One less foreclosure to worry about

Spending a small fortune remodelling as well

[faithfulFrank]

Good luck, welcome to the forum.

Let us know of your experiences, good and bad, as we can all learn from them. Congrats!

Frank

[Sunny-Days-in-Florida]

Anytime someone spends money it is a great added plus to a community.

People do not realize just one person purchasing things to remodle and how they can impact a towns economy.

Congrats and good luck.

[justNancy]

Wow! Did you read the article?

"They're not going to be foreclosed on if they lose their job," Mark Washburn, an agent with Island Coast Realty in Fort Myers, said of foreign investors. "They're a safer bet for the market as a whole than, say, someone local here who has a lot of risk in the economy right now."

I am not being negative ~ really!! However, how can anyone get excited about this? It's saying that foreigners can afford houses that local residents cannot. It says that foreigners won't be facing foreclosure and are a better risk because of our economy. This is a positive statement?

London Guy, I wish you a lot of luck, happiness and good health. After all, you didn't cause the recession or force people to move. When people buy foreclosed homes it helps the community. They purchase new furniture, appliances, window treatments and often hire people to landscape, remodel or paint their investments. However, let's not forget that we are still experiencing the worst economic crisis in our lifetime (unless you're over 80) are still fighting 2 wars, and it will be a long struggle to recovery. I know we can do it, at least I hope so, but burying our heads in the sand isn't going to help.

America is a land of diversity and I'm proud to be part of that. However, reading articles about foreigners coming here to buy up the houses that people lost after being laid off isn't comforting to me.

[paulapoo]

"However, reading articles about foreigners coming here to buy up the houses that people lost after being laid off isn't comforting to me."

It's true that some foreclosures are due to homeowners losing their jobs and other hardships like an unexpected illness. BUT others are due to: speculative house flippers not being able to find a buyer for their property since the price has been inflated way too high by the bubble, people being granted a home loan with little to no income/asset verification(in the olden days, these people would be denied a loan) and subsequently can't keep up with the payments, people who tap into the equity of their new home by getting an additional HELOC to buy more stuff (like boats, furniture, motorcycles) which eventually catches up with them, etc.

[justNancy]

Well, I don't want to take a positive thread started by a new member and turn it into a debate. It's nice to hear from new people all the time and get their points of view. I hope London Guy finds a nice home!

I was commenting on the article and the way it was written. I realize some people got greedy, because I know a few of them personally. However, the banks want people to blame the homeowners so they're not the bad guys. It's just like blaming the sick people who can't get health insurance. It's never the fault of the big corporation, only some lazy bum who made foolish choices, that is, until it happens to you.

Read the first line in the article which says, "They come from Toronto, London and Dusseldorf, and they're all here for the deals." Without turning this into a political debate, since this isn't my intention, let me ask others who have traveled a lot how many foreign cities they've visited that would be excited about an article that reads, "They come from Cleveland, Dallas and Tampa, and they're all here for the deals." We're already deep, deep in debt to China and Russia. Most of our jobs have been shipped overseas. This is why I questioned why anyone (except Realtors) gets excited about foreign investors buying up the real estate. Maybe we should change the "A" in USA to "Auction."

[seain dublin]

Nancy has a very valid point. America is on track to becoming a third world country. Something is out of whack when Americans are losing jobs and homes and foreigners are benefiting from it.

Nothing against foreigners, but our economy is not getting better and China pretty much owns us.

Thirty something years ago China said "we will own you", and now they do.

BTW today is Dec 7th.

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

BTW today is Dec 7th.

Thank you. **God Bless Our Troops**


http://bestsmileys.com/usa1/25.gif (broken link)

[hiknapster]

Because of greed - by buyers, sales staff and corporations - there was an inflated housing bubble. Southwest Florida has never been an employment mecca, but was more known for a retirement enclave for the working class, in general. With the artificially inflated prices of homes and the out-of-control building we were bound to end up with a crash and an excess of empty homes.

Yes, the area has a very high unemployment rate, but once again jobs were always based on a low-wage service economy.

No, I wouldn't want the entire area to be filled with foreigners. But having some come in and buy up some inventory, boost the economy and create some jobs is not a bad thing, either.

Ultimately, it would be nice to have our patriots coming in droves and boosting the economy, but right now we, as a country, are limping along and some additional buyers surely aren't hurting things. The more people that buy, the lower the unemployment rate will become, and the quicker our people will recover.

[Suncoaster]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

Nancy has a very valid point. America is on track to becoming a third world country. Something is out of whack when Americans are losing jobs and homes and foreigners are benefiting from it.

Nothing against foreigners, but our economy is not getting better and China pretty much owns us.

Thirty something years ago China said "we will own you", and now they do.

BTW today is Dec 7th.

Beautifully said, and Nancy's point is a good one.

Sure, there were some very greedy buyers, and those who indulged in taking out "liar's loans." Also the ones who used equity for spending sprees. But there are so many decent people out of their homes due to loss of jobs, loss of health - victimization by a cruel economic system. The shipping overseas of American jobs is probably the worst culprit, not only hurting workers, but hurting the country as a whole. And no one's doing anything to stanch the flow.

Another tragedy in the housing "bubble" was that the overvaluing of homes kept many working people out of the housing market - there simply weren't enough affordable homes.

As Hiknapster pointed out, foreigners coming over and buying up some of the housing inventory could definitely revitalize communities. As long as it doesn't drive the value up out of working people's reach, the way the "bubble" did.