No Joke! Hot Vacation Home Expo Panels

The first-ever vacation home expo starts in less than two weeks, and these panels scheduled for the Atlanta event sound like must-attends:


“What’s New in the Popular Self Drive Vacation Destinations,” moderated by Keith Sisson, associate publisher for Y’All Magazine. Speakers, ll execs from CVBs in Orlando, Panama City Beach, Hilton Head and Gulf Shores.



“Beyond the USA: Discovering Great International Apartments, Villas, Cottages and Vacation Homes,” moderated by John Newton, news editor for Travel + Leisure. Panelists: Simon Lehmann, CEO for Interhome, Mike Thiel, founder of Hideaways International and Dan Conaway, president of Elegant Adventures.



Dates: Fri/Sat/Sun April 11, 12, 13. Click here for more info.

Canada Shops U.S. For 2nd Home Bargains

Orlando, Las Vegas and other vacation home spots suffering fromt the burst housing bubble have newly interested buyers in Canada. "The combination of the strong Canadian dollar and plummeting real estate prices in the U.S. due to the sub-prime mortgage disaster has made buying property feasible again, especially in Florida and California where home prices had risen dramatically in recent years," says a column in today's National Post. Note to sellers: these are not just potential investors but snowbirds who have always wanted a warm getaway. For oil-rich buyers in Alberta, golf and gated communities in Arizona are a big draw.

KYT Rates Best Home Exchange Clubs

Worldwide exchange network JewettStreet's founder Ursula Godwin Niesmann, reading our post about home exchanges as money-saving vacation accommodations, notes that you can learn more about the many home exchange Web sites by visiting the the unaffiliated information site Know Your Trade, on which individuals rate the home swap club they have used. Ursula's own club is a community free to all, with helpful listings from Orlando to Buenos Aires and everywhere in between. It also helps novice swappers find out what to expect and how to find the best club or home for your needs. Ursula practices what she preaches -- she and her family landed in a restored medieval tower in Tuscany (above) last summer.

Hotels.com Plugs Condos, Vacation Home Rentals

The Website hotels.com is playing up vacation homes and condos more in addition to its usual hotel/motel listings, Steve Dumaine, director of specialty lodging, told me recently. A survey by hotels.com has identified a "huge untapped pool of travelers who have never rented a vacation home property," he said. Instead they tend to think exclusively about hotels. "From a value standpoint, it's important for them to understand that with a 3-BR condo, versus 2 or 3 hotel rooms, you're getting a lot more," Dumaine said. When travelers to a classic market such as Orlando or Hawaii try and enjoy the well-chosen vacation home or condo, they are very likely to become repeat customers.

Rich May Catch Break on Florida Insurance

Florida's home-insurance relief bill is not meeting with univeral approval. The state has OKed a plan that lawmakers say will lower rates across the state by an average of more than 20 percent. But according to the Orlando Sentinel, savings "will vary wildly from household to household."And columnist Scott Maxwell says rich second-home owners with beach houses will catch a break while costs will go up for millions of fulltime Sunshine State residents.

Intrawest Sale: Good or Bad for Second Homes?

Do you own any property at an Intrawest resort? Should you be concerned that a private equity firm, Fortress Investment, is in the process of acquiring the currently-public company? I think it's too early to judge. IDR was up for sale for months. But JMP Security's respected analyst Will Marks has downgraded his firm's rating of the stock from "strong buy" to "market perform." The resort giant has a piece of 10 mountain resorts including Whistler in British Columbia (an upcoming Olympic venue), Tremblant in Quebec, Copper Mountain and Winter Park in Colorado and Stratton in Vermont. It's building the new Snowmass Village near Aspen and has real estate projects in Las Vegas and Orlando.

The announced sale is a victory for a leading activist shareholder, Pirate Capital, which got its wish for a spike in the stock price. Fortress has valued its offer at $35 a share, a 32 percent premium over the recent stock price.