Gulf Coast Investing
A Top Market for Real Estate Investors
Gulf Coast Investing might be the best opportunity of a real estate investor’s lifetime. A unique set of circumstances exist right now on the Mississippi gulf coast like none we have ever seen. All of us know what happened to the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005…Hurricane Katrina. Katrina caused a horrific level of destruction to the Louisiana and Mississippi gulf coast especially the neighboring towns of Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi.
90% of coastal Biloxi/Gulfport was Completely Destroyed during Hurricane Katrina
When we hear the word Katrina, most people think New Orleans, not Biloxi/Gulfport. New Orleans has a larger, more dense population and received the majority of media coverage compared to the more sparsely populated Biloxi/Gulfport area. Yet the damage was just as devastating.
Biloxi/Gulfport, however, is a different story. The coastline is being completely rebuilt and the local administration has a plan for a bigger and better community. The outlying affordable housing communities are just beginning to expand and the rebuilding is moving very quickly. Fifty-five thousand homes needed to be rebuilt in the Biloxi/Gulfport market. Less than 10,000 of them are complete right now, leaving 45,000 to go. We are on the very front-end of the rebuild. Right now we have a situation where there is a huge amount of DEMAND with a very limited amount of SUPPLY. This has created a circumstance where there are not nearly enough homes available to live in. This shortage is why we believe that gulf coast investing is a great strategy. Homes are renting in just days on market at 10-20% above market rent.
What else is pushing the Biloxi/Gulfport area to rebuild so much faster than New Orleans? Casinos.
Biloxi/Gulfport receives 10 million annual visitors and they are coming for the casinos. Prior to the hurricane, there were 12 casinos in operation in Biloxi/Gulfport. All of them sustained damage from Hurricane Katrina. Just 4 months ago, only three casinos were reopened. Today, eight casinos are open. Soon, 10 casinos will be open for business.
You can tell what is happening. The casinos have had over a year and a half to rebuild. The rebuild has reached critical mass and over the next several months one casino after another will begin reopening.
© 2007 by Wendy Patton & Justin Ryan of Investing Tours, Inc. Contact us for more information about Gulf Coast Investing.