An article on Yahoo Finance was posted Oct. 4. It was titled “Foreign buyers see big opportunity in housing bust”. The gay community has long been recognized for its ability to discern real estate bargains and undervalued neighborhoods. Our international gay brothers and sisters are proving to be equally savvy.
According to the article, internationally the current US real estate market is viewed as a bargain. Prices have dropped so low that upper middle class foreigners, not just the wealthy, are actively looking for real estate here. Many are looking to invest in second homes rather than in our stock market.
I was not surprised by the article. I have two personal real estate websites, one generic and one gay. My generic site received inquiries last month from Germany, Columbia, Italy, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Canada and the Czech Republic. My GayFriendlyStPete.com site has recently been viewed from those searching in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and even Russia.
South Florida has long been thought of as a real estate market for foreigners, especially Latin Americans. But central Florida also has a significant draw for the international buyer. We have sizeable communities of English, South African and German ex pats. But the country that is especially well-suited to take advantage of our real estate market is Canada.
A gay couple from Toronto I worked with earlier this year certainly think this is a wonderful place for a second home. They had been planning on finding a winter place for some time and had originally focused on Fort Lauderdale. But when another gay couple who are close friends bought a place in Pinellas County, they discovered the west coast and came for a visit. They told me that they found this area t robe more welcoming. I found them a waterfront condo with stunning views for less than half what they had been selling for a few years ago. They now head south whenever possible, even in the heat of summer.
It is not surprising that the gay Canadian market likes what it finds here. Unlike all other countries who may only stay for 90 days at a time on a tourist visa, Canadians may stay for six months. There are several RBC (formerly Royal bank of Canada) branches in Tampa Bay. This enables Canadian citizens to directly wire up to $100,000 a day from their Canadian account to a US account.
Standard international wire transfers can take days. Now that the US and Canadian dollars are almost equal in value, this area can expect to welcome more of our gay cousins from the far north. The number of flights from Canada to Tampa and Orlando proves the point.
But it is not just foreign national gays who are coming here. Two other gay clients I have worked with this year include natives of Spain and India who have moved to the US. For both of them it was the friendliness of the gay community here that caused them to choose central Florida.
That sense of community also attracts American ex pats whom plan to eventually return to the states. One past client that comes to mind is a gay gentleman who teaches at a university in Dublin. Since he has both Irish and US citizenship he can stay here as long as he likes. He purchased a condo in St Petersburg that he currently rents. His plan is that when he retires he will spend his winters here and summers in Dublin.
Perhaps my most interesting international gay client was a lovely lady from the US who teaches English at a university in Tokyo. She wanted to buy a home in a gay friendly area that she could rent until she retired and returned here to live permanently. She came into my office with a pre-approval letter from Lloyds Bank of Hong Kong. We found her a single-family home in a “family” neighborhood. She then had to return to Japan. All communications and document exchanges were done by email. She signed the closing papers in Tokyo, the funds were wired from China, and the title was transferred in St Petersburg.
While my domestic real estate clients have included many straight men and women, my international clients to date have exclusively been gay or lesbian. And they have been different from domestic gays I have represented. They spend more time doing preliminary research on the internet familiarizing themselves with the market and searching for a gay Realtor who is experienced with international sales, immigration issues and international currency transfers. Once we have started working together they have been genuinely appreciative of any advice or suggestions I have made. The level of mutual trust and respect I have received from all the international clients I have worked with has been incredibly rewarding.
Despite the current political posturing and Islamaphobia, we remain a very welcoming country. Areas such as this that are genuinely welcoming can expect to attract more gays from beyond our borders.
