The quick answer to why I would sell my American property is . . . . Americans!
I’ve spent my winters for the past seven years in Deerfield Beach Florida, in a quiet golf course community known as Deer Creek Country Club.
It was one of my all time favourite properties, with lush gardens, cool porcelain floors, a huge outdoor screened room that formed a magnificent extension to the house and another indoor/outdoor dining room for those infrequent rainy days.
The place was great, but the people, especially those who got involved in running the place were just so offensive that I simply didn’t like being associated with them in any way!
For a few years I volunteered to help the board of directors but no matter how much we would do, the dysfunction of the intellect of the people would just break down the enjoyment of the place and the integrity of my investment.
I found a very nice buyer (single father with 3 kids) and with a little logistical gymnastics managed to get it away from another buyer and get it sold to him and his kids. He was just so right for the house.
His Realtor wrote up the agreement of purchase and sale without the contingency (in Canada we call them “conditions“) on finance and when his financing fell through, he appeared at my door hoping that I would be a reasonable man (he stood to lose his $30,000 deposit the following day at “closing”).
We managed to work out something agreeable with me trusting him to come up with some money down the road (which he did right on time).
It was kind of a shame to come across this guy only when I was leaving but I can tell you, the other people in that community of 121 townhouses were the literal flip side of the coin and in a net sum total assessment I was very, very pleased to get rid of the property.
Now, I just read a poll by a credible source in U.K. that shows that 35% of Americans would leave America! That’s one in three! And when it comes to “Millennials” (those between 18 and 34) that percentage jumps to 55% (1 out of every 2)!
You wouldn’t get that kind of ratio up here in Canada. Why may pay a heavier tax burden and we may have miserable winters, but I can tell you, all the sunny days from January through April can’t make up for the tolerance needed to co-inhabit around this type of people!
During my stay there I terminated 2 different boards of directors, saw one corrupt lawyer terminated, 2 incompetent and dishonest property management companies get terminated and the newest lawyer and two board members showed themselves so unethical and unlawfully calculating, that any hope of me endorsing Wildwood at Deer Creek would be simply out of the question.
Granted, it was a working class neighbourhood and there’s always the assumption that living amongst people of means may introduce an elevated level of intellect but, after spending so much time amongst Americans, I can tell you where my bet lyes when it comes to why one in three people (or one out of every two Millennials) would leave their own country the answer is glaringly obvious . . . “to get away from the people“!
I won’t be buying in Florida again!
I’m Charles
