Tight credit, the housing market meltdown and now, just as Florida property owners hoped prices were on the rise, the oil spill is doing its damage. The April 20 explosion on BP’s Deepwater Horizon killed 11 people, burst an oil well and continues to gush up to 60,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico every day. Reuters talked to property owner Chris Reid who had hoped to sell some beach front property, but now she’s likely forced to keep it since values are dropping. It wouldn’t be that bad except that Reid describes herself as a water person. “This is why we’re here,” she said to Reuters, pointing at the Gulf from a vacant 13th floor condominium unit she’s trying to sell for a client at the Portifino Towers on the east end of Pensacola Beach.
The summer is typically the busy season for this area, but it’s nearly vacant because of the oil slick. Some area experts say rental bookings have been cut in half. And some fear this is only the beginning since fishing could be significantly impacted by the oil spill for a long time to come. Fishing is a major draw for tourists.
Statistics show that home sales actually jumped in May compared to a year earlier. Condominium sales increased by about 40 percent in other parts of Florida, but those areas affected by the oil spill actually saw a decline. “We were all looking forward to the summer season,” Reid said to Reuters. “We were gearing up for what we thought was going to be a busy time. I was excited. We all thought, ‘Here we go.’”
Another Pensacola Beach real estate agent, Noel Faddis says he’ll be looking to BP to help him make up the money the oil spill caused him to lose. “It was just a nightmare from day one,” Faddis told Reuters. “What looked like a banner season has turned out to be anything but. If we come in around 50 percent of what we normally do this time of year we’ll be doing good.” Those property owners unable to rent out their condos to summer travelers may face foreclosure. “We have many friends here who own condos on the beach and they don’t have a booking all summer. I mean it’s killing them,” said Barbara Summermeyer to Reuters, a Pensacola summer resident. “They will lose the condos and end up going into foreclosure because they have mortgages and no rent.”
Tags: Oil spill, BP, Pensacola Beach, Florida, oil slick, Condominium
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