Beachfront real estate in Florida has been treating us REALLY well.. The economy may still suck, but it sure isn't affecting the rich! You should have gotten into this 2-3 years ago, because the price of admission is way too high now, and with impending rate hikes on the horizon, it's no longer a sure thing.
To give you an example of how crazy things have gotten down there - We bought some beachfront land in Melbourne Beach about 20 months ago for $300K. A year later, we had offers in the $600-700K range. Just last week, we got an offer of $1.3Mil for the land, and we're pretty confident we can get the bid up to $1.5Mil. Ironically, you can buy an actually house, literally across the street, for $250K. But there's no more beach to be bought up, so prices have skyrocketed. Supply and demand.
We've been involved in real estate for 15+ years, and it's definitely never a sure thing.. We sold 3 of our holdings last year for a loss (not a huge loss, considering the tax benefits we reaped from them over the years), but it goes to show you, you never know.. Something to think about.
