Orlando Short Sale Expert | Orlando Short Sales, Orlando Short Sale Realtor / Agent

Orlando Recently Sold Homes

The median sales price for homes in Orlando FL for Dec 08 to Feb 09 was $155,500. This represents a decline of 16.8%, or $31,500, compared to the prior quarter and a decrease of 30.9% compared to the prior year. Sales prices have depreciated 1.6% over the last 5 years in Orlando.

The average listing price for Orlando homes for sale on Trulia was $323,231 for the week ending Mar 18, which represents a decline of 0.4%, or $1,326, compared to the prior week and an increase of 15%, or $42,269, compared to the week ending Feb 25. Average price per square foot for Orlando FL was $95, a decrease of 33.1% compared to the same period last year. Popular neighborhoods in Orlando include Lake Nona, Metro West, College Park, Vista East, Baldwin Park, and Central Business District.

We are nearing the bottom. Yes, this is sooner than I expected. However, we fell quicker than expected. 

Where do we go from here? My opinion is we may fall just a little more. Perhaps 5-10%. Then we’ll drag along the bottom from several months before we start to increase. When we do increase we should be back to a normal market of 3-5% increases annually.

*************************************************************************************** 

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.

Orlando Housing is Headed Up

We received an important indicator of where housing is headed last week, when new mortgage applications for home purchases and refinances suddenly surged as they hadn’t in months.

Applications for FHA loans to buy houses were up by 10.4 percent. And overall home purchase applications jumped by 7.1 percent.

Meanwhile mortgage interest rates dropped to their second lowest level in nearly two decades, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Thirty year fixed rates averaged 4.96 percent and fifteen year rated dropped to just 4.5 percent.

Why’s this important? New financing applications to buy homes obviously point to rising purchase contracts and closed sales in the months ahead. They also suggest that prices have hit a level in many markets that is attracting once-hesitant buyers off the sidelines.

There’s still another factor that’s likely at work here as well: Congress’s recent improvements to the home purchase tax credit — pushing it to $8,000 from $7,500 and making it non-repayable. George Ratiu, research economist for the National Association of Realtors, says the big jump in loan applications could be tied to the improved credit in the stimulus package signed into law last month.

“Consumers may be responding to the stimulation” effect of the better credit for 2009, he said.

But let’s be clear here: A rise in home purchase applications does NOT suggest we’ve turned the corner in the cycle or have solved the multiple challenges facing markets around the country — high foreclosure levels, continuing domination in some areas of REO and short sales, and continuing increases in the unemployment rate.

Even amid these problems, however, there are some hints of possible improvements ahead. For example, a new study by research firm Realty Trac and USA Today found that despite the constant headlines about record levels of foreclosures, the more closely you look, the more you find that those numbers are highly concentrated in a relatively small number of counties.

More than half of the nation’s foreclosures in 2008, researchers found, were concentrated in just 35 counties in 12 states. You can guess where: California, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Florida.

But the really eye-opening finding: In more than 650 other counties, representing one fifth of all markets in the U.S., foreclosure numbers have actually declined since 2006.

Foreclosures are horrible no matter where they occur. But the fact is: Huge portions of the United States have NOT been seeing record foreclosures, short sales or even serious property value declines. They’re doing better.