But when markets are in decline, that's when every little thing can become a big problem. A thousand here, two grand there?

This was never an issue when there was the big prize at the end of the process. But who really wants to be giving up even more money when there is little to be made in the first place? Or, worse, when the little charges add up to push the overall deal into negative equity? I know. I've been there.

It should be little surprise to note that this particular cautionary tale took place on the edge of the swamps of South Florida. Naples, to be precise, a destination marketed as a millionaire's playground. Millionaires who, it would seem, did not become millionaires by spending a lot on property.

I am not a typical investor, nor am I a particularly gutsy speculator. In fact, the whole escapade started for the right reasons. We were planning to move to Naples. Sure, the property wasn't especially cheap, but it was large (enough) for a family, and, in any case, the market was booming. When we bought, there were 25 houses left in the development.

More than 200 people turned up at the lottery to choose which lucky recipients could actually buy the properties. And this was no fake lottery. There were people in tears at the end when their numbers didn't come up.

And for the first year, while we waited for our house to be built, things were looking up.

House prices in our development rose by at least 25%, sometimes more. Not that it mattered . . . we were moving there, not speculating. But then our own circumstances changed, and we decided not to move, instead opting to trade up in Dublin. We decided that we would sell the property when it was built, which would not be for another year. And then the market wobbled. And then it tumbled.

And still our house was not built.

We could have tried to assign our contract to another buyer, but that would have entailed certain legal and real estate costs, not to mention the fact that the developer would have kept 25% of the profits. And everyone on the ground spoke of a recovery in the market, which would coincide with the completion of our house.

This recovery never happened. Instead, by the time the house was nearing completion (four months earlier than we had been told), the houses were again selling for the same price that we had paid two years previously.

In fairness, we had lost nothing, while others had paid perhaps 30% more than we had. But losing nothing means losing something when it comes to closing, especially in America.

Closing costs alone totalled about $8,000, in legal fees, etc. Add another $3,000 or so in bank costs. Then you have a condo fee (these sorts of developments require constant security and maintenance . . . it's what Floridians want) of around $3,000 per annum. So breaking even is not really breaking even. And we are still not nearly there.

In Ireland, we complain about stamp duty.

But Americans have to pay tax on the value of their property every year. Naples is situated in Collier County, which has, thankfully, the lowest ad valorem tax rate in the state. But, at 1.2%, you are still talking about paying the bones of 5,000 every year, starting at the point at which you close the deal. So, all things considered, you would have to be making about $20,000 on the deal (more, in actuality, considering the 20% CGT) to even break even.

And then there is the mortgage. Breaking even assumes that you can sell immediately.

But the problem in Naples is that it can take more than a year to sell a property. Even if you could let the thing (and the by-laws in the development mean that seasonal letting is not encouraged), the rental market is such that you would be barely covering a half of the monthly mortgage. The best rate that we could have achieved without putting a substantial amount of money down was 7.5% over 30 years. That would have cost us in the region of $2,500 per month interest only.

Un-let, that would be around 30,000 per annum. In addition to the money already spent on closing the deal. In a market that was depreciating (quick sales were being offered at $20,000 below our purchase price, and they still weren't shifting).

So we forfeited. In an uncertain world, it seemed to be the prudent thing to do. It has cost us a deposit. But it has perhaps saved our sanity. The developers barely batted an eyelid when we informed them of our decision . . .

I suppose it is indicative of a market in decline when forfeiture is an everyday occurrence.

And, at least we lost nothing to CGT . . . in fact, we actually gained on the relative strength of the Euro.