[mattw]

Hi... I love Florida!! I recently went to Vero Beach in March on inspection trip and liked what we saw in terms of properties available. Prices in terms of the initial capital investment are very reasonable in comparison with the UK, with the dollar currently trading at 2.05. It is also a definitely a buyers market, with a glut of properties and discounting encouraged.

However there are downsides and these are why I chose not to invest at the current time. Running costs seem extermely high in comparison with what you pay in the UK.

IE Property taxes are almost three times over here even with the strong pound.

Property insurance costs 10 times more than over here. Admittedly we don't get hurricanes very often!!! Older properties are impossible to ensure.

The above factors, coupled with the number of properties available, and the lack of employment opportunities (where I was looking in Vero) meant there was little rental market on a long term basis, and if you did manage to rent out it would be at a loss.

With no profitable rental market and the difficulty in obtaining a retirement or residents visa to stay for longer than 90 days, means there isn't much of market at the moment from UK potential investors, in my opinion.

Of course this is only my opinion from my experience. I would still like to own a property out on the coast in florida to spend the winter months, but the smart thing to do, is treat it as a possession rather than investment, so it'll have to wait until I can afford to buy, without expecting any rental return.