Residential Real Estate

Residential real estate in Florida is heavily influenced by tourism and corporate investment. Florida’s standing as the “Tourism Capital of the World” attracts international investment in residential properties used by purchasers as second homes with short term rental income, theoretically, offsetting the cost of owning and operating the property. In most instances, the inexperienced property owner learns that short term rental property management programs do not work for the property owner. A lot of individuals and companies make a lot of money from the short term tenant’s rent payment but, the property owner is typically left out of the distributions. Developers, real estate sales organizations, property management companies and service providers feed on short term rental cash flows and leave little or nothing behind for the property owner. This can be a hard lesson to learn. LAM has converted short term rental property owner operators to long term rental landlords for decades. The cash flows are far better and much more reliable. LAM puts the property owner’s interests first. That’s how successful real estate and asset management companies grow.

When the 2008 Great Recession happened, Wall Street companies and venture capital companies poured into Florida buying up undervalued real estate because undervalued residential real estate outperforms traditional corporate investments and serves as a hedge against market volatility. This infusion of corporate capital into residential real estate has changed the housing industry indefinitely and now places home ownership by humans, who must have shelter, into the crosshairs of the purely financially motivated publicly traded corporations and venture capital companies. Today, property values in Florida are well above the values recorded in the 2005 housing market boom and bubble, with current values inextricably linked to interest rates. When housing prices are high and interest rates are low, the down payment and monthly payment continuum is manageable. With mortgage interest rates rising into the high six percent range for most borrowers, the down payment monthly payment continuum is no longer financeable for most purchasers. Median household income families cannot afford housing in Florida regardless of the buy verses rent calculus. The number of housing units sold in 2024 compared to 2023 is down by over thirteen percent. If you think you may need to sell your Florida residential real estate investment, now is a good time to do it. Unless the Federal Reserve decides to lower interest rates, housing sales will continue to decline in 2025. The Federal Reserve Chairman warns that lowering interest rates is an inflationary stimulus. Is it better to lower interest rates so real estate purchasers can overpay for housing, and everything else we purchase with credit, or is it better to allow interest rates to rise as a hedge against inflation? Either way, LAM will manage you through the choppy water.

LAM will sell your Florida residential investment property at the highest possible price, in an optimal marketing period with as little inconvenience to you as is absolutely necessary.