Florida foreclosures draw family of investors from Australia

The Tampa Bay area housing downturn has drawn the attention of investors Down Under.

We're familiar with the usual German, British and South American house hunters. But Australians, more than 9,000 miles and nine time zones away from Tampa and St. Petersburg, aren't usually players in local property.

Peter McNally is bucking the trend.

This week the semiretired Australian knocked on the door at the St. Petersburg Times to inquire about bargain real estate.

McNally used to own a string of fitness clubs called McNally's Weight Control in Brisbane, Australia. Wearing a muscle shirt, the fit-looking 70-something was eager to dive into the Tampa foreclosure market. His two adult sons, Jason and Damian, joined their father on the trans-Pacific journey.

The McNallys are scouting property with hopes of setting up a syndicate of Aussie investors interested in scooping up modest Tampa foreclosure homes available everywhere for less than $100,000 a pop.

From their vantage point on the east coast of Australia, Florida, along with Las Vegas, looked like a natural place to spend their money.

A direct flight from Brisbane to Los Angeles delivered them to our shores comfortably in a relatively brief 12 1/2 hours. The Australian dollar remains muscular against the American dollar. That stretches the family's buying power in a Florida housing market that's already much cheaper than Brisbane's.

"In Australia we're used to paying $400,000 for the average ordinary home," Jason McNally said.

Other U.S. housing markets, including Detroit's, initially caught their eye. But the McNallys quickly and accurately surmised that Autoland USA isn't Holiday Destination No. 1.

Australian real estate has held up better than America's. As the McNallys explain it, home construction in Australia is anemic compared to ours. That constricts supply and drives up prices.

Tough Australian credit laws ensure that people can't walk away from their homes and mortgages with near impunity as they do in the United States. Since lending there is "full recourse," banks can go after every last penny and asset to clear the mortgage debt. Needless to say, few Aussies take out such loans lightly.

On Thursday, the McNallys took a road trip down the west coast of Florida to the beaten-down Fort Myers market. They planned to race across Alligator Alley to see what's cooking among Miami condos.

"We're a little bit overwhelmed with the possibilities," Jason McNally said from his cell phone as the family skimmed Sarasota on Interstate 75. "We're sort of winging it."

If someone travels halfway around the globe to peek at your properties, I'd wager that g'days will return to the Tampa Bay housing market.