Florida Investing Issues

[Jeran F.]

I am an investor doing a round the nation trip in search of some RE deals that make sense. I am currently in Florida and I am stumped in many ways.

I own quite a bit of real estate and I am working on acquiring via a 1031 exchange a few different condos around FL. I have also been looking at purchasing through some traditional trustee sale auctions. I am amazed at some of the issues that have arisen while researching areas. Generally speaking a property looks to be a good investment by the cash flow. In FL cash flow is almost none existent on many properties even if the property was free.

This seems to be a huge issue in my eyes for the future of the State of Florida. Who in their right mind would purchase a home or condo with HOA dues that could potentially become a victim of a special assessment due to the number of foreclosures. I am assuming many HOA's will eventually go bankrupt, but with property taxes and HOA dues many properties have no cash flow potential with a value of $0.

Does anyone have any insight into these issue? I know property is still selling, but I don't see a bottom in Florida for many years to come and a recovery is even that much further off unless someone comes in with a genius idea to handle the maintenance of all these associations that will eventually go BK, but then of course you still have your property tax issues in the future.