Dennis Norman
By:Dennis Norman
I met the wonderful woman that was to be my wife in 1998 in St. Louis. Prior to moving back to St. Louis she had spent the prior decade living on the gulf coast of Florida and loved it but came back to St. Louis to be closer to family.
We were married in late 1999 in Florida,and afterward took many trips and vacations to various destinations along the gulf coast of Florida. Every trip had one common element,my wife trying to “sell me”on the area she loved. Don’t get me wrong,I have don’t have anything against Florida…I was just very partial to southern California as a travel destination at the time.
Over the years I succumbed to the many positives of Florida;the close proximity to the Midwest,the water temperature of the gulf not being as chilly as the pacific,the nice powder-sand beaches and began overcoming my objections to the state; no-see-ums,alligators and really big bugs. Therefore back around 2003 we started looking at real estate there for an investment and place to vacation.
Our search included homes and condos but we settled on a condo as being the best choice for us since we wanted to make it available as a vacation rental while we weren’t using it and wanted it to be as hassle-free as possible. We scoured the market and looked at a lot of condos. I just couldn’t get over the prices though…they made no sense to me whatsoever and did not appear to be based on any sort of fundamental values. The price certainly had no relationship to the rental income the unit produced.
Everything we looked at would have been a money loser as a vacation rental for us. Fortunately we never bought anything there. Now,with what has happened in the market in the past couple of years,I think it is safe to say we have been blessed by this fact.
Now that,as I have been writing for a short while,it appears the market may,just may,be at or near the bottom,and prices in Florida have really plummeted over the past couple of years,I’m curious if now is the time for investors and people looking for a second or vacation home to move back into the Florida gulf coast market?
Bob and Viv Radigan
To answer this question I turned to a REALTOR(R) I met years ago during our personal search for a condo,Bob Radigan with VIP Realty Group. Bob impressed me with his professionalism,knowledge of the market and his approach to business. Bob and his wife Viv are a team operating under the slogan “REALTORS(R) in Paradise”,which when you see the sanibel and captiva isalnd areas is easy to agree it is an accurate description.
Bob shared an wealth of information with me through an E-View TM that was just completed. I also got a bonus with something I didn’t know about Bob;Bob is also an active agent in North Carolina in the Lake Glenville area of the Blue Ridge mountains. North Carolina has had some pretty hot real estate even in these down times and has also become a popular vacation/retirement destination for some people that are looking for an alternative to Florida so I decided to interview him about that market as well.
I will post part one on the Florida gulf coast market tomorrow.
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