I recently had a rental listing in Century Village, Pembroke Pines, Fl. that was a real eye opener for me & the unit's out of state owners. The owners were surprised & disappointed, as the listing went on, at the lack of showings & offers & at the continued need to reduce the monthly rent. We had started out somewhat high ($850) & had reduced it to $700 when I luckily found a motivated tenant. The place will rent for $650.
So, what has happened with these communities? The local paper recently ran an article on these communities & noted that these condo units are experiencing huge price declines for several reasons. Demographically, communities down here (Southeast Florida) aren't drawing the number of retirees they used to; newly retired folks have a lot of choices when it comes to retirement homes, i.e. in other parts of FLorida. Arizone, Nevada, etc. Further, condo heirs often opt to sell at what could be described as 'fire sale' prices rather than continue paying high monthly HOA fees. One huge seniors' only community down here (Sunrise Lakes) was badly damaged 3 years ago by Hurricane Wilma; many condo owners there couldn't or didn't want to rebuild; many units there were sold super cheap, hurting resale values for the remaining, undamaged buildings.
Perhaps in 10 years, when the new wave of newly retired are in their low 70s, they'll be more inclined to move to one of these communities. Or perhaps the communities could lower the minimum age when you can move in, to 50 years (from 55), to expand the pool of potential tenants/buyers. Meanwhile, the financial pain is real for many condo owners that wish to sell.
Comments(1)