Category: Florida Real Estate

Things to Check for when Viewing Different Homes

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

When viewing different homes in Orlando, it’s important to look for signs of trouble. Although you’ll want to find a home that is aesthetically pleasing, you’ll also want to ensure that it doesn’t have any problems below the surface. A house should be properly inspected from basement to rooftop before you decide that you want to make it your home.

Foundation’s Condition

Cracks in the basement can indicate foundation damage. Tilted basement walls may show signs of foundation sinking due to soft ground or poor soil composition. Termites may destroy the wooden parts of a home’s lower levels. For example, the beams of a basement’s ceiling may appear to be chewed up in the presence of termites.

Water Damage

Musty smells and water stains in a basement imply the presence of mold. This is often a result of previous flooding or some sort of leak from the surrounding soil or plumbing. Mold causes various respiratory hazards and it can spread quickly in humid conditions. Colored stains on the walls of a basement indicate the previous existence of mold that can return. Water damage can also ruin some of the electrical wirings that is often installed in the lower levels of a home. Even if the water has been properly cleaned out, this could be a sign that it could easily flood again in the future.

Climate Control System

A home with a central HVAC system needs to be checked thoroughly because it provides both heating and cooling and it’s used all year long. The outdoor A/C unit should be checked along with the indoor furnace. Unusual sounds coming from the vents and ducts in an HVAC system indicate problems with the air filters, fans, and other mechanical components. The thermostat should be tested to ensure that the HVAC system responds immediately to heat up or cool a home. If there is a problem with the system, a company in Orlando can diagnose the problem and estimate how much it will cost to repair. Knowing repair costs in advance can help you determine if you are willing to buy the home “as is.”

Rise to the Rooftop

A leaky roof is a very serious issue that needs to be inspected before buying a home. Old shingles may have significant wear and tear that causes leaks to all upper levels of a house. Inside a home, a leaky roof can be detected if bulges or pockets of water are seen in the ceilings and corner walls. Roof replacement is expensive, so it’s important to negotiate this into the cost of the home.

Pest Problems

A home inspection should also look for signs of pests. Rodents, raccoons, and squirrels can make themselves comfortable in the attic or crawl space of a home. These creatures leave droppings that carry disease. Additionally, such pests can destroy the structure of a home such as insulation and wooden studs or beams. The presence of pests also indicates major openings and cracks in the exterior of a home.

There is an array of possible problems that can exist in a home. Prospective buyers should carefully consider looking at the interior and exterior of a house that’s for sale. Don’t fall in love with a home until a throughout inspection. You want to make sure that your investment will house you and your family for years.

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Orlando Home Builders Association Changes Name and Moves to a New Location

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

The Metro Orlando Home Builders Association wants to turn a new leaf and several changes are underway as part of its efforts to re-brand itself. The professional trade association that leads the Orlando real estate industry was established in 1953. Since then, it has governed and regulated several aspects of the city’s housing market including Orlando short sales, services of listing agents, and Orlando’s public-education programs to name a few.

The association revealed some of its re-branding initiatives on February 27, when it revealed plans to change the name from Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando to the Greater Orlando Business Association.

Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando moves to new headquarters

On the same day, the association also broke ground on what its new headquarters is going to be. The association is currently headquartered at 544 Mayo Avenue, Maitland but will ditch the 30-year-old venue and move to the new office in 1000 Sanford Avenue as soon as the construction work is done. The new headquarter will sit at the site donated by Charles Clayton III – the previous president of the Home Builders Association and also a long-standing member of the association. In addition to a changed name and a changed location, the association is also set to sport a more environment-friendly and greener office.

Word is, that the building at 1000 Sanford Avenue will file for a green certification with the regulatory bodies, including the Florida Green Building Coalition.

President Nathan Cross talks about right-sizing offices

Nathan Cross, President of the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando said the association wants to right-size its offices so that the changing needs of staff, as well as the real-estate business, could be better matched. Moving to a new office was part of the right-sizing efforts.

Ensuring construction projects will create new jobs for construction workers. According to listing agents in Orlando, new opportunities for the local material suppliers. With new infrastructure development projects underway in Central Florida, including the SunRail passenger system, the real estate market of Orlando is expected to bring in worthwhile opportunities for architects and engineers.

The Home Builders Association has been an important part of the real-estate scene in Central Florida – participating in and regulating important industry events and initiatives through its councils and committees. How the re-branding is going to affect its reputation and standing in the market remains to be seen. https://orlandorealtyconsultants.com/

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Growing Real Estate Trend of 2014 – Owners Buying Their Properties Back

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

 

 More and more businesses are opening up to the idea of purchasing an office space of their own or regaining the buildings and office spaces they had, before the global financial crisis of 2008, rather than leasing office spaces from investors or other sellers.

During the 2008 crisis, which hit the US economy rather hard, the trend among many businesspersons was to sell their owned buildings to investors and raise cash. Now that the US economy is well into recuperation, it is witnessing another trend – businesspersons buying their properties once again.

What is driving the trend?

Two reasons at the forefront of this growing trend are the decreased availability of vacant spaces and increased options for financing.

According to Mark Gallagher, the senior strategist at the Los Angeles-based CBRE Group’s Investment Strategy Services Group, the number of owners who are repurchasing their properties for occupancy has significantly increased. He remarks that property owners and users still fall into the “net sellers” category but the trend is steadily shifting towards purchasers.

Data from another noted real estate company, CoStar COMP, reveals that corporate users and owners who bought properties, outweighed the number that sold properties in 2013. Compared to 5,125 owners and users who were sellers, there were 5,577 corporate buyers who purchased property worth $500,000.

C-level executives want more flexibility and agility

The trend is also being driven by the clients’ desire to have agile and flexible work spaces – something they cannot achieve in rented offices. According to Christian Beaudoin, the director of Jones Lang LaSalle’s corporate research department, top executives from C-level are pressing their corporations for buy-backs. He reasons that leaseback sales allow their occupiers more flexibility and a large gain on the asset-value. They also give the purchaser a tenant with stable credits – a win-win situation for both.
What Top Orlando Realtors have to say

For growing markets like Florida, where the government is keen to provide additional incentives in an attempt to get more businesses to set their offices up in the state, the trend is welcome news for the real estate industry.

Property values in central Florida have picked up, especially during the last year. The number of foreclosed properties, as well as distressed loans, has reduced and banks are now more confident in lending owner-occupied loans to corporations. In the 12 months that ended on September 30, 2013, U.S. banks hiked their owner-occupied, commercial real estate loans by 1.7 percent.

Industry experts note that most of these loans are relatively short-termed- 3 to 5 years only. Real estate agents in Orlando, especially the Orlando short sale specialists say they are hopeful that the growing trend will help the Orlando real estate market recover faster than expected. https://orlandorealtyconsultants.com/

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Orlando Real Estate Joint Venture to Bring 800 Luxury Apartments to Central Florida

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

  Orlando real estate developers, the Del American Real Estate Group Inc, have ventured into a partnership with the BentleyForbes LLC from California to build around 800 new apartments in Central Florida. Their development partnership goes by the name BentleyForbes Del American.

The BentleyForbes Del American Projects

BentleyForbes Del American was created to build high-end apartment communities in California, Florida and Texas. These apartment communities would constitute of luxury, resort site multifamily apartments.

Chairman and CEO of the Del American Real Estate Group, Chris DelGuidice revealed that a letter of intent of their first project as a partnership had already been submitted for two Central Florida sites that the state had approved and zoned for housing construction.

These two potential sites include one in the Winter Park or Maitland sub-market and another in Orange County. DelGuidice also reveled that, if approved, the apartment communities on both sides would be constructed like the Pure Living apartment complex in Heathrow.

Constructed by the Del American Group in 2008, Pure Living Heathrow complex was put up for sale in 2010 and has since, become the symbol of luxury living.

According to DelGuidice, both deals can be expected to come through, by the second or third week of February. If approved, the BentleyForbes Del American would begin the design and engineering work by March and the actual construction work is to begin in the fall of this year.

Apart from the construction of Pure Living apartments on these two sites, the joint venture is also working on sealing other deals the details of which haven’t been revealed by CEO DelGuidice yet, because of the lack of any “definite agreements” as he puts it.

Support to nearby businesses

Construction on the first, two-site project is projected to cost anything between $108 million to $132 million for the joint venture. Real estate agents in Orlando and Central Florida have welcomed the news since the project has opened up several opportunities for them. The project would bring new high-end apartments – boosting the growth of the Central Floridian sub-markets. Additionally, local businesses – shops, restaurants and so on would see higher traffic and the possibility of the emergence of new businesses.

Additionally, the project is expected to create temporary construction jobs for over a thousand workers as well as subcontracting opportunities for other Orlando real estate developers.

Considering other new projects that have been creeping up all over Central Florida, like the 330-unit apartment community near Orlando International Airport, Orlando Realtors are convinced that 2014 is going to be good year for the housing market.

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Confidence in US Economy Rising Among Floridians

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

 According to the findings of a new consumer confidence survey by the University of Florida, Floridians are now slightly more confident about the improving US economy than they were the last year. Released on Tuesday, January 28, the report found consumer confidence in Florida rise to 78, one point higher than the previous sentiment index.

The Florida Consumer Attitude Survey

For this statewide survey, the University surveyed over 400 residents over a two-week period from January 14 to January 28. The monthly survey conducted by the Bureau of Economic and Business Research of the University of Florida measures the mood of Floridians towards buying Florida real estate.

Survey takers have to answer two questions about the current financial scenario and three questions about the future exceptions they have about the financial condition of the state. These questions are repeated by the University of Michigan in its national (telephonic) survey.

Findings

To the first question of how the respondents (and their families) were getting along financially in the recent days and if they felt in a better financial position than their position a year ago, respondents revealed their sentiments were slightly lower – their sentiments fell a point below to 68.

The second question in the survey asked citizens their views about buying major commodities like stoves, televisions, refrigerators and so on for their homes. Their sentiment on whether it is currently a good time to make such purchases fell six points, from 91 to 85.

When asked how they perceived their financial situation to be, a year from now – the same, better or worse, respondents’ sentiments remained unchanged, at 78. They were however, clearly optimistic about the business conditions in the US as a whole, over the next 12 months. Their confidence that they would have good times financially jumped three points from 73 to land at 76 this time around.

Their confidence in the larger US economy for a five-year period was even higher. Jumping nine points, Floridians sentiments that the nation’s health would get better and better over the next five years measured at 83.

Implications

Chris McCarty, the director of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research’s Survey Research Center says 2014 is set to be a different year all-together for consumers. Since the real estate crisis of 2007, consumers have faced loss of homeowner equity, declines in stock market and crunchy budgets, but with the stock and housing markets recovering recently, the Federal Reserve is in a better position to purchase securities and treasuries to support the US economy.

How This Affects Orlando Real Estate

Orlando is one of the biggest housing markets in Florida and because of the improving economy in Florida, Orlando real estate agents are expecting a substantial boost in the Orlando real estate market. Even if the market continues on a positive trend,  I don’t believe that we’ll see a market with overinflated home prices to the extent of what we saw in 2006 or at least I hope not.

 

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