HANCOCK COUNTY MISSISSIPPI
RENTAL PROPERTY PROGRAM
Hurricane Katrina destroyed over 64,000 homes and 47,000 rental properties along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. While the need to rebuild the replacement homes provides an excellent investment opportunity in and of itself, the real demand for housing may exceed 100,000 units. As part of the legislature to stimulate recovery along the Gulf Coast, the regulations regarding casino development changed dramatically. Prior to Karina, casinos were built on barges anchored in harbor or back bay areas. The new legislation allows casinos to be built on land. To date, eleven Las Vegas style casino/resorts have opened including Harrah’s and Hard Rock. Nine more are scheduled to open in the next three years and several more are in the planning stages. These are world class resorts teeming with amenities, each employing between 2500 and 3500 people.
“Housing is our number one issue, no doubt about it, particularly if you consider there are going to be 30,000 casino employees by 2010. Every casino job creates 1.5 additional jobs. We need 70,000 housing units just to get to square one. The truth of the matter is we’re going to need 100,000 plus housing units.”
Rickey Mathews, Vice Chairman
Governor’s Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal
In addition to the vacation destination industry, Southern Mississippi is enjoying an employment boom never seen before in the Gulf Coast region.
- Stennis Space Center, located just 8 miles from Bayside Park plans to double their number of employees from 4,500 to 9,000 by 2010.
- The Port of Gulfport is undergoing a $600,000,000 expansion.
- Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding recently received a contract for over $1 Billion to build a new destroyer, which should add several thousand jobs.
- There is an already large Aerospace and Defense employment base in Southern Mississippi that continues to grow at a rapid pace. A short list of companies in the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor would include: BAE Systems, Pratt & Whitney, Rocketdyne, Applied Technologies, General Dynamics, ITT Industries, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Rolls Royce Naval Marine.
- Keesler Air Force Base, already employing over 16,000 people is one of the finalists to become the nation’s center for combating cyber-terrorism, which could result in an additional 10,000 skilled jobs.
“PER CAPITA INCOME ROSE 26% IN MISSISSIPPI IN 2007”
Why Bayside Park?
Bayside Park is centrally located between New Orleans and Biloxi. The cost of lots are reasonable and it’s located on relatively high ground. The proximity to both Highway 10 (the main East/ West artery running from Jacksonville to Los Angeles) and the beach are desirous.
Everything I hear and read is that the real estate bubble has burst and home prices are declining. Is it a bad time to purchase investment property?
There are many areas of the country that have experienced price declines in real estate after one of the biggest booms in history. However, virtually all of the areas in decline were grossly overbuilt. The key to investment real estate is to find an area where demand exceeds supply. The Mississippi Gulf Coast is currently under built with expected demand to far exceed existing supply.
If I invest out of state, how will I find qualified tenants and manage my property?
Management of property is easily achieved with the use of a qualified property management company. The local management companies we have interviewed will work for a fee of approximately 10% of the gross monthly rent. These professional companies will market your rental property, screen and contract tenants, collect rents and maintain your property. Additionally, most of these companies will provide you with year end reports and tax documents to streamline your accounting process.
Why does Tarpon Bay build on an Elevated Foundation System?
Although Bayside Park (one of the highest elevated communities south of Hwy 10) is not shown as Flood Zone A or B on the current FEMA map, we anticipate the adoption of new flood code by the end of this year. There is no way to know what new base elevation will be adopted by Hancock County. What we do know is that most of Bayside was under 3 to 5 feet of water (according to local building officials) after hurricane Katrina. Building on the ground (at street elevation) would not be a prudent decision.
Will I be able to finance an investment property?
Tarpon Bay has established excellent relationships with several quality lenders. The approval process is very simple and can usually be accomplished within a few days. |
