I live in downtown orlando and housing has come off considerably and the rental market is flooded with bagholders trying to earn some cashflow. They only built half of what was planned here and there are very few lights on in the buildings at night. Also, palm coast was one of the fastest growing spots in the nation especially in scattered lot development when I was working in residential consulting a few years ago. Theres still nothing there its no surprise its cratering.
Good info. Too much going on now to buy so far away though. I would feel most comfortable buying 1 hour from home at most.
on the bright side, condo conversion prices are getting back in line with apartment rents. However, HOAs can be an arm and a leg because underwater investors dont pay them. Im not sure what happens when a home owners association goes BK, but its keeping me from buying down the block anytime soon. Plus Id rather have more cash laster and maybe get some new construction. However, asking prices for rents are one thing and what you can get may be something completely different, so theres that to think about too.
look into Alexandria, VA (next to DC), the area next to the Dept. of Defense and the US Patent Office, they are still hiring about 1000 people a year for the next few years despite the recession. It's very hard to find a decent place to rent here....
there are two areas in alexandria, a nice white one (zip codes: 22314, 22304) very desired... much of the rest is shitty, if you know what I mean
At the bottom of the last cycle a guy offered a Condo to me for free. It had a mortgage but not too outlandish. Another guy had a house given to him, not once but twice!! The second one had only 11 years left on a tiny mortgage!! None of those were in great areas for sure but the prices were right...
Best bet is to buy close to the Treasury building. Should be a boom in hiring of maintenance people needed to keep the printing presses running 24/7.