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Sun setting on Florida mortgages?

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Florida lending halted - 29 October 2007

As stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic continue to feel the squeeze of public uncertainty with regards to the future of their investments, and further wobbles are reported in the domestic property markets, one leading mortgage lender for British buyers in Florida has taken the decision to cease lending with immediate effect.

The surprise announcement from British Mortgages Abroad came on Friday, and instructed US brokers that no new applications would be accepted after close of business on that same day, but that existing mortgages and customers would continue to be serviced as normal.

The business, owned by GE Money, emailed their network of brokers in the US and announced that the move was being taken in order to concentrate efforts on their UK lending business. Duncan Berry, of GE Money, said in his email announcement that existing customers and those with their applications in progress would not be affected by the decision, and that an internal review of operations had provoked the change of policy.

Although it is clear that there are issues in the domestic property market in the US, Florida is widely seen as still being a sound destination for a holiday home for British buyers. While the case for investment with a view to a quick turnaround is less strong now than it was some time ago, the reasons people loving to visit the Sunshine State and buy property there remain the same, and with the relative strength of Sterling, more tourists could be encouraged to visit.

Lee Weaver, Director of Operations for Orlando-based British Home Loans Florida, BMA’s top-producing mortgage brokerage company, was disappointed to learn of the decision, but maintains that Florida is still a great destination of overseas property buyers: “Now is the perfect time to buy, with property values dipping and the pound continuing to trade at a 26-year high against the dollar, a strong buyers market has emerged once again for British investors in the ‘Sunshine State’ - especially when combined with highly motivated builders and individual sellers.”

 

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