FHA Writes Record Number of Multi-Family Home Loans The saying, "blood is thicker than water" has never meant more to so many faced with the challenges that our new economy has brought forth. People of retirement age who find themselves with depleted retirement reserves find themselves needing to stay in the workforce for the foreseeable future but are at a loss for securing a new position "at their age." Dreams of moving to Florida full time are met with concern with outliving one's income and gray collar jobs often don't add enough to the income stream to warrant the time spent (the infamous Walmart greeter scenario), and as we have more years to look forward to than our ancestors, their is the concern of outliving our savings. Then there are the adult children and newly college graduated children of this group. For years, corporate jobs have taken younger Baby Boomers and Generation X-ers around the country and even the globe creating familial distances that are not always welcomed. But these jobs have dwindled and made competition for the existing ones unpalatable and even unattainable for many. Add to that the hard cold fact that many wide eyed (or already discouraged) legions of freshly graduated or soon to be graduated Generation Y-ers are coming into a job market that promises fierce competition for less than inspiring positions. Note: "interning" is NOT a job but a brilliant idea made up by cash strapped companies to get eager and bright kids to work for free. So how does this effect the Florida economy and the housing market here?
For quite some time now, major and mid-sized corporations have realized and utilized the concept of working in teams for maximum effectiveness and efficiency. While most of us do not work on the family farm any longer (if we ever did) we instinctively band together in hard times. Families are uniting in these difficult and uncertain economic times tending to want to be closer to one another and there appears to be a growing trend of multi-generational families wanting to live and work together and this trend is coinciding with the rise in demand and renovation of multi-unit housing here in Florida. The idea is this, cash in what is left of your home equity in the northern states and buy not a smaller, snowbird-esque home but rather a larger home ideally set up with two master bedrooms and rooms for the kids/grandkids or a multi-unit home that everyone can live in, share the costs of and maintain together. Then, buy or lease one of the many vacant commercial spaces that are everywhere these days and work together as a family building dreams, memories and wealth. Many are making a family business of buying and renovating other multi-family properties for steady rental income at a time when rentals are increasing in demand. This is a win/win situation for the families that are making this scenario a reality and a win/win for the Florida economy.
In the near future look for new construction trending towards homes designed for the multi-generational household and a thriving residential rental market.
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