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Why it’s time to buy, Orlando Foreclosures are for sale right now

June 9th, 2011 No comments

Orlando Short Sales, expert, specialist, Realtor, Keller Williams Realty, agent, broker, short sale, stop foreclosure

Back in June 2006, when the housing market peaked, the prospect of a five-year national housing bust seemed unimaginable to most people. And yet here we are, with the latest Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index showing that prices hit new bear-market lows, falling back to 2002 levels nationally and to 1990s levels in some battered regions, such as Orlando, Florida. Despite all the gloom, however, there are growing indications that it is a good time to buy. Mortgage rates, which fell to 4.55% for the week ending June 2, according to Freddie Mac, are near 50-year lows.

Homes have become more affordable than they have been in years: According to Moody’s Analytics, the ratio of home prices to income is now 20.9% lower than the 15-year average through 2010, and 12.5% lower than the 1989-2004 average. A historic glut of homes, meanwhile, has created a buyer’s market: There were about 15 million vacant homes in the U.S. last year, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting, Inc.—some 3.1 million more than normal.

Such conditions might not last long. Moody’s Analytics predicts that the number of distressed sales will begin to fall in 2013, and that prices will begin to edge upward then. Home building is at a virtual standstill, so the supply overhang isn’t likely to get much worse. Meanwhile, demographic indicators such as “household formation”—the number of new households each year—are on the rise, and promise to take a bite out of the glut in coming years.

The upshot: “While we might not see rapid growth in the next couple of years, there are a tremendous number of positive signs that could lead to a rebound,” says Anthony Sanders, a real-estate finance professor at George Mason University. The short-term outlook isn’t encouraging. Job growth remains weak, foreclosure sales are making up more of the market, and economists are predicting that home prices will fall more in the coming months.

But the long-term benefits of homeownership remain very much intact. For now, at least, you can deduct the mortgage interest on your taxes—a big perk for people in higher tax brackets. You get to paint your walls any color you wish, without having to clear it with a landlord. And assuming you can buy a home for about the same price as you can rent one, buying will give you the ability one day to live rent-free. Come retirement time, a paid-off mortgage means your monthly expenses are significantly reduced, and you have a chunk of equity to play with.

So what might the next five years look like? Once the foreclosure mess begins to clear up, say housing economists, the traditional drivers of the housing market—demographics, affordability, loan availability, employment and psychology—should take over. Here is a glimmer of what the future may hold: While overall home prices fell by 7.5% in April over the same period a year earlier, according to CoreLogic, a Santa Ana, Calif., provider of real-estate data and analytics, if you exclude distressed sales, prices were off just 0.5%. So if you are in a market that isn’t battered by foreclosures, you may be close to a bottom already.

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Jerry LaRose is an Orlando Area Residential Real Estate Expert and Foreclosure Specialist who can assist you with the purchase and/or sale of Real Estate in Orlando, Windermere, Winter Garden, Kissimmee, St. Cloud, East Orlando, Longwood, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, Winter Park, Oviedo, Apopka, Lake Mary, Clermont, Ocoee Florida or any place in the country. Jerry has created a team of professionals throughout Orlando and the country to ensure that you enjoy a smooth transition to your new area.
Please visit:
Avoid Foreclosure / Short Sale Help http://OrlandoShortSaleExpert.com, or http://ShortSellMyOrlandoHome.com
Our Website http://JerryLaRose.com or www.JerrySellsOrlando.com, or http://OrlandoRealEstateVoice.com ,
If you’re a Buyer looking for Great Deals – http://InvestmentPropertyDealsOrlando.com
Please give me a call if you have questions about the Orlando and Central Florida real estate market.
P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Orange, Seminole, Polk, Lake, Osceola and Brevard County Florida and Orlando, East Orlando, St. Cloud, Davenport, Clermont, Longwood, Windermere, Winter Garden, Kissimmee, Winter Park, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, Apopka, Lake Mary, Oviedo or Ocoee Florida make sure you hire an agent and realtor who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. The short sale process is complicated and we can help simplify it.
We also have now expanded to help homeowners to Stop Foreclosure in Brevard County Florida. Servicing Melbourne, Coco, Coco Beach, Satellite Beach, Palm Bay, Indian Harbour Beach, South Patrick Shores, Palm Shores, Rockledge, Cocoa West, Merritt Island, Port Saint John and Titusville Florida
Call us at 407-580-7011 or email at jerry@JerryLaRose.com to find out more about Orange County Short Sales and Orlando Area Short Sales.
Orlando Short Sales, expert, specialist, Realtor, Keller Williams Realty, agent, broker, short sale, stop foreclosure

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Bargain prices help reduce glut of foreclosures in Orlando, Fl

April 28th, 2011 No comments


A wave of foreclosures is forcing down home prices in most major U.S. cities. But economists and real estate agents are noticing what they call a key first step for any housing recovery: a drop in the glut of homes for sale in markets hit hardest by foreclosures.

Low prices are leading investors to snap up foreclosed homes in Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, Phoenix and Tampa. Those cut-rate sales are reducing prices in the short run. Yet they’re also thinning the supply of homes – clearing the way for higher prices in the long run.

For some buyers, the deals are now too good to pass up. A studio apartment on the Las Vegas strip that cost $500,000 at the height of the housing boom is now selling for roughly one-third that price. Half the homes listed in the Tampa Bay area are selling for less than $100,000, not far from some of Florida’s top Gulf Coast beaches.

Such sales have helped shrink the combined supply of unsold homes in those five cities by 13 percent over the past year, according to local listing data analyzed by The Associated Press. Home prices in each of those markets are at or below 2002 levels, according to the latest reading of the Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller 20-city home price index.

“If we were to see several consecutive months of supply getting smaller, it would point to an improving housing market,” said Celia Chen, senior director at Moody’s Analytics. “Even if it is investors buying them, they are renting them out in hopes that prices in the next several years will rise.”

Economists caution that a second wave of foreclosures, those that have been delayed by banks and backlogged courts, could throw the housing market back into turmoil. And few see home prices rebounding before the end of this year.

Home prices fell from January to February in 19 of the 20 metro markets tracked by the Case-Shiller index. At least 10 major metro areas are at their lowest point since the housing bubble burst. The index, released Tuesday, is slightly above the level reached in April 2009, the lowest point since the downturn began.

Getting rid of foreclosures and other risky properties is necessary for the market to turn around. When foreclosures and distressed properties are sold, home prices fall.

But as the supply of cheap homes shrinks, prices stabilize. Homeowners who had put off moving because they didn’t want to sell during the downturn grow confident that they can fetch a decent price. That prompts more buying and selling. Prices rise more.

Most of the current foreclosure sales involve investors: Private equity firms; foreign and out-of-state buyers seeking vacation houses; individual investors hoping to rent out or quickly sell properties for a profit.

Many are scooping up cheap homes with cash, said Andrew Duncan, a Realtor who runs a Keller Williams franchise in Tampa. In March, 35 percent of previously occupied homes sold were bought entirely in cash, according to the National Association of Realtors.

“When the bargains do hit, there’s more than one buyer looking for that bargain,” Duncan said. “Buyers are losing out left and right when they bid because it’s just so competitive.”

Foreclosures have flooded the market in Miami. Three out of five homes sold there are foreclosures or short sales. (Short sales occur when lenders allow homes to be sold for less than what’s owed on the mortgage.) Such sales have helped lower the median home price by 19 percent in the past year, to $159,800 in March.

At the same time, the supply of Miami-area homes for sale has dropped nearly 24 percent. It would take just seven months to clear those homes at the current sales pace. That’s down from a 17-month supply just six months ago.

In Tampa, it would take just six months to clear the supply of unsold homes off the market. That’s down from about eight months a year ago and 25 months in January 2008. Detroit’s inventory of homes for sale has fallen 17 percent in the last year.

In Phoenix, the number of homes for sale has dropped nearly 10 percent over the past year. The median sales price of a single-family home sold last month was $118,500 – down more than 12 percent from a year ago.

The supply of homes in Las Vegas could be cleared in less than seven months at the current sales pace. That’s down from a 26-month supply in December 2007.

“It’s like a feeding frenzy when a home goes on the market now,” said Mike Shannon, a Detroit real estate agent who specializes in foreclosures. “We’re getting a few dozen offers on some homes in a matter of days.”

The thinning supply is due, in part, to a lull in foreclosures. They’ve dropped more than 56 percent in Tampa and nearly 64 percent in Miami. In those areas, the number of homes receiving an initial foreclosure notice has plummeted.

That could change quickly. Many banks are revisiting thousands of foreclosure cases. They’ve been spurred into action by federal regulators who have ordered reviews of how foreclosures were carried out over the past two years.

The logjam has been compounded in states such as Florida, New York and New Jersey, where a judge must approve foreclosures.

There are 1.2 million foreclosures expected this year nationally, according to foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac Inc., and the decline in foreclosure filings is only temporary, said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo.

“The problems are still there,” Vitner said. “There are fewer early-stage delinquencies, so we are moving in the right direction. But the slowdown in foreclosures is just drawing the process out.”

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Jerry LaRose is an Orlando Area Residential Real Estate Expert, who can assist you with the purchase and/or sale of Real Estate in Orlando, Windermere, Winter Garden, Kissimmee, St. Cloud, East Orlando, Longwood, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, Winter Park, Oviedo, Apopka, Lake Mary, Clermont, Ocoee Florida or any place in the country. Jerry has created a team of professionals throughout Orlando and the country to ensure that you enjoy a smooth transition to your new area.
Please visit:
Avoid Foreclosure / Short Sale Help http://OrlandoShortSaleExpert.com, or http://ShortSellMyOrlandoHome.com
Our Website http://JerryLaRose.com or www.JerrySellsOrlando.com, or http://OrlandoRealEstateVoice.com ,
If you’re a Buyer looking for Great Deals – http://InvestmentPropertyDealsOrlando.com
Please give me a call if you have questions about the Orlando and Central Florida real estate market.
P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Orange, Seminole, Polk, Lake or Osceola County Florida and Orlando, East Orlando, St. Cloud, Davenport, Clermont, Longwood, Windermere, Winter Garden, Kissimmee, Winter Park, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, Apopka, Lake Mary, Oviedo or Ocoee Florida make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. The short sale process is complicated and we can help simplify it.
Call us at 407-580-7011 or email at jerry@JerryLaRose.com to find out more about Orange County Short Sales and Orlando Area Short Sales.

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Final Walk-Through Tips for your Orlando Home

July 28th, 2010 No comments

There will come a time during your home buying process when you’ll need to do a final walk-through of the home before closing.

Around a week before you close, take the time to visit your “new” home again. When you’re there, check to be sure that the terms of your contract have been met, and that the condition of the property has not changed significantly since talks began.

As your reference guide, be sure to bring your purchase contract with you for this walk-through. This will help you look for little details, without having to remember each item.

What are things you should be on the lookout for?

1. Major appliances: Be sure that any items that were to remain in the home are still there, and that they are in good working order.

2. Major systems: Do the air conditioning, heat, and plumbing still function?

3. Walls and floors: Has any damage occurred to the floors or walls during the sellers move? Were rugs, artwork, or carpets covering water damage that was not disclosed?

4. Repairs: As part of your purchase contract, the seller may have been required to make specific repairs. Be sure that these have been completed, or that the seller has a written timeline for when the repairs will be done.

5. Screens and Storm Windows: If it is the season for these items to be in storage, be sure they have been left behind and that they are in good shape.

6. Remotes: Garage doors, alarms, sound systems, and the like all use remotes, some of which can be very expensive. If any of these components were part of your agreement, be sure they have been kept with the house.

7. Cleanliness: The home should have been cleaned and all debris removed. You don’t want to spend the first week living in your new home cleaning up other people’s junk.

8. Landscaping: It may seem ridiculous, but yes, some sellers may try to run off with your shrubs and plants. Refer back to your contract to see what should have stayed. If plants were taken, let your agent handle the situation.

9. Fixtures: Light fixtures, curtains, and other items that were agreed upon should still be in the home. If they are not, let your agent address the conflict.

10. Exterior: Has there been any damage to the home since your inspection or first visit? If there have been storm with high winds or hail, be sure to visually inspect the exterior of the house for damage. Once you have signed on that dotted line, the house is yours. Hail damage and all.

Closing time can be very hectic. Be sure to make time for your final walk-through. It’s a smart way to bring to completion a long, but joyous, process.

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Jerry LaRose is an Orlando Area Residential Real Estate Expert, who can assist you with the purchase and/or sale of Real Estate in Orlando, Windermere, Winter Garden, Kissimmee, St. Cloud, East Orlando, Longwood, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, Winter Park, Oviedo, Apopka, Lake Mary, Clermont, Ocoee  Florida or any place in the country. Jerry has created a team of professionals throughout Orlando and the country to ensure that you enjoy a smooth transition to your new area. Please visit http://OrlandoShortSaleExpert.com or www.JerrySellsOrlando.com for your real estate needs.  Please give me a call if you have questions about the Orlando and Central Florida real estate market.

P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Orange, Seminole, Polk, Lake  or Osceola County Florida and Orlando, East Orlando, St. Cloud,  Davenport, Clermont, Longwood, Windermere, Winter Garden,  Kissimmee, Winter Park, Altamonte Springs, Maitland,  Apopka,  Lake Mary, Oviedo or Ocoee Florida make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. Call us at 407-580-7011 to find out more about Orange County Short Sales and Orlando Area Short Sales

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Shopping for an Orlando house? Now is THE Best Time!

April 16th, 2009 No comments

Buy Now Orlando's On-Sale!

Buy Now Orlando's On-Sale!

 

 

OK, I’m going out on a limb here!

After more than a year of free-falling sales and prices, Orlando’s battered housing market is getting support from both first-time home buyers and investors taking advantage of record foreclosures and distress sales across the region.Sales and how they work.Orlando area sales.Orlando market, and bankers are saying yes more often to short sales, which spare them the expense of a full-blown foreclosure.

With mortgage-interest rates at record lows and an $8,000 tax credit for buyers who haven’t owned a home for at least the past three years, existing-home sales in the region have started rising again compared with a year ago. And half the deals involve bank-owned foreclosures or “short sales” — properties for which the bank has agreed to take less than the amount owed on the mortgage. Throughout this blog you can find much more information on Short

Who’s buying them? Anecdotal reports and a few surveys indicate that first-time home buyers, who don’t have to worry about selling an existing property, and investors venturing into the second-home market for the first time or searching for bargains to add to their inventory, are responsible for most of the

Bulk auctions of both homes and condominiums are creating buzz in the local

 

Lenders are becoming more responsive. However, the short-sale process still remains slower and more cumbersome than a regular, open-market sale between a willing seller and a qualified buyer. The timing even though is better still encompasses a 4-6 month time frame in general. Therefore, Now is the time to buy. We are at or near the bottom of this cycle and there is little room for prices to continue to drop. Yes, prices in some area may continue to fall but as a general market I feel prices are ready to start stabilizing. Now, that doesn’t mean they’re headed up any time soon. I feel that we are at or near the bottom and we’ll drag along the bottom here possibly for several months before we start showing a modest increase. When price start to grow, I feel that the new growth will be at a 2-5% rate in general. Some areas more, some area less. So, Orlando buyers let’s BUY some property.

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Jerry LaRose is an Orlando Area Residential Real Estate Expert, who can assist you with the purchase and/or sale of Real Estate in Orlando, Windermere, Winter Garden Florida or any place in the country. Jerry has created a team of professionals throughout Orlando and the country to ensure that you enjoy a smooth transition to your new area. Please visit http://OrlandoShortSaleExpert.com or www.JerrySellsOrlando.com for your real estate needs.  Please give me a call if you have questions about the Orlando and Central Florida real estate market.

P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Orange County Florida and Orlando, Windermere, Winter Garden,  or Ocoee Florida make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. Call us at 407-580-7011 to find out more about Orange County Short Sales and Orlando Area Short Sales.

 

 

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Should a Buyer consider an Orlando short sale?

October 16th, 2008 No comments

If you have patience then buying a short sale is the way to go. If you can wait the 3-4 months that it takes to negotiate a short sale then your patience should pay off. A short sale is another word for pre-foreclosure. You are purchasing from a motivated seller and negotiating with a motivated lender. The seller want to sell to avoid foreclosure and the lender also wants to avoid foreclosing. Foreclosing on a property is very expensive to a lender, sometimes costing the lender up to $40,000 to foreclose on a property. The savings can depend upon many factors like condition of the property, location of the property, the motivation of the lender and seller. A buyer normally can purchase the property for approximately 10%-20% below market value.

So, if you have the patience and are looking for a great deal on an Orlando area property please give me a call.

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Jerry LaRose is an Orlando Area Residential Real Estate Expert, who can assist you with the purchase and/or sale of Real Estate in Orlando, Windermere, Winter Garden Florida or any place in the country. Jerry has created a team of professionals throughout Orlando and the country to ensure that you enjoy a smooth transition to your new area. Please visit www.JerrySellsOrlando.com for your real estate needs. Please give me a call if you have questions about the Orlando and Central Florida real estate market.

P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Orange County Florida and Orlando, Windermere, Winter Garden, or Ocoee Florida make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. Call us at 407-580-7011 to find out more about Orange County Short Sales and Orlando Area Short Sales.

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Buyer Advise for an Orlando or Windermere Fl. Short Sale

September 3rd, 2008 No comments

Buyers:

1. First understand that this process may take 90 days after you’ve submitted your offer. Don’t go into a short sale if you have a specific timeframe that you must have the home closed.

2. Understand that there are no guarantees in a Orlando short sale.

3. The lender may require more cash or a higher price up to the actual moment of closing.

4. The lender will most likely not allow the seller to pay any of your closing costs or give allowances for repairs. Typically, all deals are “AS-IS”.

5. There is likely no certainty of the final price or closing date until just before closing. When the final word comes down from the lender that they’ll accept the offer, typically they’ll want to close in a week or less. Have your inspectors and lender ready to move forward.

6. Be sure there’s an out for the buyer if the contract is not approved by a certain date. You don’t want to be stuck in limbo waiting for the lender. Make it contingent upon some reasonable date.

7. Don’t pay for inspections or any other expenses until you know the lender has accepted your offer.

Short Sales could be a great way to purchase property at a discount as long as you have patience.

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Jerry LaRose is an Orlando Area Residential Real Estate Expert, who can assist you with the purchase and/or sale of Real Estate in Orlando, Windermere, Winter Garden Florida or any place in the country. Jerry has created a team of professionals throughout Orlando and the country to ensure that you enjoy a smooth transition to your new area. Please visit www.JerrySellsOrlando.com for your real estate needs. Please give me a call if you have questions about the Orlando and Central Florida real estate market.

P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Orange County Florida and Orlando, Windermere, Winter Garden, or Ocoee Florida make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. Call us at 407-580-7011 to find out more about Orange County Short Sales and Orlando Area Short Sales.

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