News from May 2005
E2 Visa surge
Increasing numbers of Brits are moving to the United States under E-2 Visas. According to latest figures from the office of National Statistics in London, in 2002 1,876 E-2 visas were issued for people from Britain.
In 2003 the figure rose to 2,266 and that figure rose again by 30% to 2,966 in 2004. To qualify for an E-2 visa a person must have at least $100,000 to invest into an American business. There are many other requirements, such as employing local staff, retaining a company at home, etc but an entire industry has grown up to match hopeful Brits and other foreigners with potential business opportunities and advise on immigration and business laws. Unfortunately, a number of these turn out to be fraudulent ways of parting uninformed foreigners from their money. Some of the businesses purchased don’t actually exist or are grossly misrepresented, and some of the immigration advisors are not actually qualified to give advise. People seriously interested in following this path should hire both an immigration lawyer and an accountant using personal recommendations when possible. When looking at potential businesses, if one is asked for non-refundable deposits or money up front – then look elsewhere.
Posted on 2 May 2005
Condotels and more
The stereo-typical image of a Florida Villa is a light colored single story detached villa with its own pool, surrounded by lush green grass, palm trees and perhaps over-looking a lake and/or golf course. The appearance of this type of villa next to any mention of Florida vacations purely reinforces the image. This is not though, the whole picture. Condominiums are legendary in America – in fact when Americans think of hiring a home to stay in, a condo is what they are thinking of in the same way as Brit’s think of villas. Increasingly townhomes are becoming a common sight in resort style developments, these benefit the developer by allowing more homes per acre than individual villas. Some developments have private pools, spas or splash pools attached to the townhomes bridging the gap between condos and villas. A newer concept, effectively forced on the developers by the price of land close to Walt Disney World, is Condohotels. We have mentioned these before and the concept is basically a condo development around a large top-brand hotel with elite resort facilities, run by the hotel management, but each condo individually owned.
All of these concepts have their place and their guest market but they tend to suit a variety of owners. Owners tend to fall into one of three categories: the second home owner who is often at their house, but lets family and friends use it when not in residence to help cover the running costs; the owner who buys a house hoping that rental rates WILL cover running costs and even make a profit as a small business. This group tends to be hands on and works hard to achieve that goal. Then there are those who view their house as an investment – a property portfolio and prefer to leave it to managers to run and to achieve the income.
This last group particularly suit the concept of the Condohotels, where units can be snapped up at a good price early on and then appreciate in value as the resort develops, benefiting from the enormous corporate presence of these top-brand hotels.
If one is looking about for a new place to be, the next big thing, or even your first purchase, we have received details of a few ideas in Central Florida around the Disney area. Ideally placed for convention trade is Pulte Homes new Vista Cay development of condominiums – on land bordered on one side by the new extension of the Orange County Convention Center and on the other by a fantastic golf course. Prices for these condo’s are between $200,00 and $300,000. Rental rights for these properties could potentially reach $200 - $300 per night as with the top hotels in the area. As Vista Cay will be centrally managed this is one for the hands off investors. Although this is Orange County, zoning for Short-Term-Rental has been given to this development.
A similar development is on the books for the western side of Disney. An as yet unnamed condominium development is planned off the Western Beltway to the west of Walt Disney World. The key to this development is access to Disney. A road is being cut through Disney property to meet SR 429 at the junction with Hartzog road just behind Orange Lake Country Club, and exit within Walt Disney World near to the Speedway at the Transportation and Ticket Center. This has implications both for the expected use of the Western Beltway from its southern end near Reunion resort and for the potential convention trade possibilities of the new development. Once again, early investors in this development will achieve the best prices, which should start below $300,000. At the moment interested parties can only register their interest, but to avoid missing these early prices that is worth doing. This development is not currently targeted for single management so could suit the more hands on owner seeking both investment potential and business involvement.
Park Square Homes have a new development at the former RV site of Secret Key, between Sunset Lakes and Emerald Island – to be named Encantada. The plan here is for more of their successful townhomes with pools on end lots and splash pools for the internal homes. Each private pool area is individually screened and the site already features a clubhouse and lake. Prices for a 4-bed end unit with pool are expected to start at under $300,000. This development would probably most suit a hands on owner seeking to keep close to Disney and perhaps upgrade an older home. These homes won’t be ready before 2006, and possibly later than that if this year’s hurricane season impedes construction.
To register interest for any of these developments please contact Tom Schmidt of Global Real Estate Services Inc who can be reached through our website here
Posted on 5 May 2005
Brevard County to Increase Tourist Tax
County Commissioners in Brevard County voted to increase the county tourist tax on 11th May to raise $1.4 Million for Space Coast tourism projects. Tourist tax is a percentage paid to the County of rates charged by hotels, motels and short-term-rentals.
The current tax of 4 cents on the dollar was raised to 5 cents on the dollar, and the estimated $7.4 million income will be ring fenced for: Tourism marketing (43%); Beach renourishment (25%); paying off a debt for the Space Coast Stadium (15%); and the remaining 17% split between the Zoo, promotion of cultural events, tourist information centres, and convention centre.
A tourist information centre on Interstate 95 is planned to help attract an addtitional $5 million to the local economy.
Posted on 13 May 2005
Driving License Bill Finished
The Florida driving license bill we were watching pass through the Florida Legislature with interest has died in a criminal justice committee. As we revealed in the May issue of Florida Homes and Travel, this bill could have given foreign owners of Florida Vacation Homes a driving licence that was valid for the length of their visa, rather than just the length of their current stay.
At the same time as the Florida bill died, a Federal bill passed through the US government that will bring all the States of the US into line with the current position of Florida. The outlook for any future attempts at granting foreign owners longer licenses looks a little grim just at present.
Posted on 13 May 2005
ChampionsGate markets Florida Villas
Owners of ChampionsGate Resort in Osceola County, Florida, have approached County Commissioners with a proposal for marketing the resort, villas and Osceola County to the top earning domestic vacation market.
Under the proposal the County would see a return of 22.2% for an annual contribution of $1.5 million to be spent on marketing ChampionsGate Resort in particular and Osceola County in general to a target market of households earning $100,000 plus per year with around $4,000 to spend on vacations. Adverts will appear in national travel and business magazines and special promotions in key metropolitan areas such as New York, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. The ChampionsGate Resort will ultimately contain 2,864 hotel rooms, 2,136 resort villas, condos, townhomes and apartments set around a luxury 1,500 acre golf course. The site will generate around $92 million in property taxes over 15 years for Osceola County. Commissioners have deferred a decision until May 23rd.
Posted on 13 May 2005
Short Term Rental Seminar
Dee O'Bryan, Senior Licensing Officer of the DBPR State Licensing, will be hosting one of her extremely informative seminars regarding Short Tem Rentals on May 25th. It will take place at the Clubhouse Theater, Windsor Palms Resort, Formosa Boulevard from 8.30am - 4.30pm. The seminar will be covering, The role of the Property Manager, New Pool Regulations, State Licensing etc and can be invaluable for the new vacation home owner. If you are interested in attending please contact Ms O'Bryan at obryand@bellsouth.net.
Posted on 16 May 2005
Allstate Insurance Drop Homeowner Policies
Allstate Floridian has announced it is dropping around 95,000 residential insurance policies and ceasing all commercial cover within Florida. Allstate will hold on to 663,000 homeowner policies within areas where it feels the risks are acceptable.
The decision comes as a direct result of last year’s hurricanes when Allstate paid out $2 billion in claims. Allstate will also just join the many insurance companies to have filed for an increase in premium rates. So far 15 companies have received approval for rate increases in premiums. There was a voluntary moratorium on further filing whilst the legislature was in session, to see what was the outcome of various insurance related bills proposed, and since then 3 more companies have filed for increases. Insurance companies cannot raise rates to cover losses from previous events but can file for increases based on increased risk. Here are some of the companies and their state wide average increases: (a * denotes still awaiting approval)
American Strategic Insurance 7.8%
Atlantic Mutual Insurance Co* 20.3%
Citizens Property Insurance Corp 23.2%
Cotton States Mutual Insurance Co 20.0%
St John’s Insurance* 14.0%
State Farm Florida Insurance Co. 5.0%
United Services Automobile Association* 10.0%
Posted on 19 May 2005
Florida wine bills
The Florida Legislative session ended on May 6th and here are some of the laws that may interest or effect you. Under the ‘Merlot to Go’ bill wine lovers who have not finished their wine with their meal may have it bagged up to take home, safely stowed in the glove box or trunk of course. (more)
Drivers in the left lane are now required to move to the right to let faster traffic pass – exceptions apply when there is a left exit or flooding on the right lane. The littering fine has been increased from $50 to $100. There will be a back to School sales tax holiday for the last 9 days of July as well as the hurricane provisions tax holiday, which runs for the first 12 days of June. In a shock development, the Orange has been declared Florida’s official fruit! Did you know that it wasn’t? Other developments which impact homeowners can be found in the Homes section overleaf.
Posted on 24 May 2005
Brevard bans short term rental
Brevard County Commissioners have voted to ban all rentals of less than 90 days commencing November 19th 2005.
Brevard County has no short-term rental ordinance and has faced heavy complaints from residents objecting to the continuing passage of strangers through their communities. Vacation homeowners who have more than $12,000 in recoverable costs may apply to a special magistrate before August 19th to qualify for a waiver.
Posted on 24 May 2005
