Category: Florida Real Estate

New Consumer Protection Rule Requires Lenders to Disclose Appraisals and Valuation Data to Mortgage Applicants

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

January 18th saw the kicking in of new appraisal disclosure regulations – strengthening the sentiment of prospective property buyers and sellers alike. This new consumer protection law may help the Orlando real estate market to bloom further and listing agents in Orlando and other emerging US real estate and property markets are looking forward to witnessing the change.

Under the new rule, prospective buyers have the right to demand and receive a free copy of the appraisals, reviews, and details of computer valuations used for their mortgage applications from their lenders.

And what does this mean for consumers? They can make use of increased information and insight about the processing of their mortgage applications to their advantage. For instance, homebuyers who feel they were unjustly denied an appraisal would now have better proof, more time, and stronger ammunition to challenge the erroneous appraisal.

Key aspects of the new disclosure rules

The new rules currently apply only to first loans. Home equity loans or second mortgages are not covered under the appraisal disclosure rule but reverse mortgages and construction loans fall in its jurisdiction.

Central Florida and Orlando realtors are hopeful the new rule will help buyers contest wrongful processing of mortgage applications and increase their purchase power.

Key features of the new rule include:

* Lenders must inform mortgage applicants that they would promptly receive a copy of any appraisal that is valued for them, within three days of receiving the mortgage application from the consumer.

* Consequently, lenders must provide free copies of such appraisals and valuations.

* They have until three days before the closure of the loan, to provide the free copies of appraisal reports, valuations, and other proceedings. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau however suggests reports to be sent as soon as they are completed, or three days before the loan is due to close, whichever comes earlier.

* This essentially means, home buyers are entitled to receiving their copy of the valuation and appraisal report, even if lenders fail to close their loans.

The Bureau provides lenders the option of asking a consumer to opt-out of the 3-day deadline. A consumer who agrees would thus receive his copy of the report at the time of closing of the mortgage. On the other hand, a customer who does not waive the deadline must be provided with his copy, within the stipulated time.

Orlando real estate agents feel the new law will help Orlando residents review the data used by the appraiser and contest faulty appraisals – increasing their confidence in seeking mortgages to purchase the property.

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Florida Water and Land Conservation Bill to be Put up for Voting on November Ballot

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Voters from Florida are now going to decide whether or not the Water and Land Conservation constitutional amendment should be passed, during the November 2014 ballot.

On January 16, the Water and Land Legacy of Florida – the group seeking to push through the proposed amendment, announced that it had received the number of signatures required to put the amendment proposal up for voting on the November ballot.
About the Water and Land Conservation constitutional amendment

The amendment seeks to set aside $10 billion from Florida’s state funds for the purpose of land and water conservation, over a period of 20 years. Conservationists began pushing for the amendment after the government slashed funding reserved for the Florida Forever program.

The program, which aims to purchase and manage critical pieces of land that are environmentally endangered, received most of its funding from taxes on real estate purchases and leases before the slashing of funds. The proposed amendment makes no attempts to increase the real estate spending tax and has revived the approval of a majority of the real estate agents in Orlando and Florida.

Florida’s Division of Elections website mentioned that the Water and Land Legacy had in fact overshot the required number of signatures by 2,822 by submitting an impressive 685,971 signatures on Thursday morning.
Improving land and water quality will have various positive implications

Water and land quality issues impact multiple areas of Florida’s economy, including the real estate market. In booming markets like that of central Florida and Orlando, environment-friendly campaigns like the protection of natural areas and water sources go on to boost consumer sentiments in real estate investments.

These programs also attract prospective home buyers to the neighborhood, and Orlando realtors expect to see increased activity in the Orlando real estate market. With the Water and Land Legacy group surpassing signature thresholds in 15 of the 27 Congressional districts of the state of Florida, it is clear that residents are growing increasingly concerned about the water quality issues in the state.

Will Abberger, Chairman of the campaign launched by the organization said the amendment would focus on spending funds to acquire new pieces of conservation or recreation lands, manage the existing ones and protect land and water sources that were critical for freshwater supply, in a bid to restore degrading natural systems in and around the state.

The Senate has already started working on a $220 million funding package that would be used to improve the water quality of the Lake Okeechobee and Everglades. There also exist several other spending programs in the pipeline and come November 2014, the people of Florida will put the Water and Land Conservation Amendment in action if 60 percent of the total voters pitch their votes in favor of the bill. https://orlandorealtyconsultants.com/

 

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Four of the Biggest Investment Sales of 2013 in Central Florida

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

2013 has ended and realtors all over Florida, including Orlando realtors, are looking forward to a stronger market in 2014. The previous year saw some very reassuring investment purchases by major private equity firms. Apart from bringing immediate dollars to the Orlando real estate market, these sales also helped boost the confidence of investors and top Orlando realtors believe Florida can expect more investment in 2014.

Here’s a look at four of the hottest deals in the Central -Florida real estate sector that shone brighter than the others in 2013.

Hyatt Hotels Corp. shells out nearly $600 million to purchase Peabody Orlando

The biggest deal of 2013 was signed on October 1, when the Peabody Exchange LLC bought the Peabody Orlando off UST Hotel Joint Venture Ltd.’s hands for an impressive $591.7 million.

The 1,641-room sporting luxury hotel located on the International Drive changed hands and flags in 2013 from the Memphis, Tennessee owner to one of Chicago’s biggest hotel brands – the Hyatt Hotels Corp. 

Peabody Orlando is especially famous for its Peabody ducks and though the ducks remain, the hotel’s name doesn’t anymore. It was renamed and is now known as the Hyatt Regency Orlando Convention Center.

  DDR Corp. purchases Winter Garden Village for around $200 million

 

The DDR Corp has already carved a niche for itself in property acquisition and July 2013 saw the Ohio-based property investment trust shell out $196 million in favor of Phoenix’s real estate investment firm – the Cole Real Estate Investment agency.

 Winter Garden Village located in Beachwood, at the Flower Groves lifestyle center is generously spread across 1.1 million square feet and this retail development, signature of West Orange County has now been put up for lease.

  Downtown Orlando’s relatively new apartment complex changes hands for close to $60 million

This deal was finalized three days prior to the sale of Winter Garden Village. Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc. purchased the newly constructed SteelHouse Orlando apartment on July 16.

The Chicago-based private equity firm paid $59 million to the developer, Pollack Shores and became the owner of downtown Orlando’s new 326-unit apartment complex, which was only about 60 percent occupied at that time.

Post Properties Inc. becomes the new owner of an apartment complex near Disney World

 

The 300-unit apartment complex, Crosswater, at the Lakeside Village saw a shift of hands-on on May 29 and its eventual renaming to Post Lakeside. Post Properties – a real estate investment trust based in Atlanta paid $48.4 million to developers Boyd Development Corp, and Greenfield Partners LLC, based in Orlando and South Norwalk respectively.

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Florida’s Housing Market Recovery Still Intact After October Hesitancy

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

 Florida’s housing market has been seeing great development in the recent past, even though this recovery process paused in October. According to Florida real estate agents and builders across the state, the underlying trend of recovery is still improving despite October’s setback.

The October setback for Florida’s housing market

Prices and sales were slowly scraping their way back to normality from the housing market collapse. The lower interest rates were doing well to lure buyers looking for their first home. Price appreciation was also doing a great job to boost move-up purchases from buyers who could sell existing homes that were bought in the last few years, without incurring any losses.

However, October presented a few obstacles in this steady recovery process. The partial shutdown of the government that lasted for two weeks seemed to have affected the confidence of consumers. The recent spike in flood insurance costs also hit the desire for customers to buy homes in coastal communities. Along with these reasons, seasonal trends of home-buying injured the number of sales when compared to the buoyant market in summer. Even though sales percentages were up from last October, the pace was slower than a 36% year-to-date growth recorded by the Florida area president of David Weekly Homes.

The housing market is recovery still recovering strongly

Recovery had taken a rapid and noticeable growth spurt in May, though October made itself a nuisance due to dramatic cost spikes in insurance as federal subsidies fell away. There were insurance bills that topped $10,000 which easily scared off prospective buyers. Such insurance bills effectually took away a large provision of inventory from the market. However, even though October was regarded as a small “hiccup” in the recovery progress, buyers are now focusing on newer homes that are less affected by these insurance premium increases. Thanks to this, November sales were off to quite a good start.

Price appreciation has started to bring move-up buyers and sellers back onto the market as their home equity returned. One-time homeowners that were subject to Orlando short sales and foreclosure have now repaired their credit enough to enable them to buy again. Even though it is quite normal for the market to dip at this time of the year, the government shutdown did not help. The biggest problems that are being faced right now are the job markets and consumer confidence. Builders are also not producing as fast as they once did. However, there are many Orlando realtors that remain very optimistic concerning the industry.

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Are Florida Real Estate Prices Set to Plummet with the Onset of Global Warming?

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Global warming is not an unfamiliar topic of discussion; every day we move closer to a very grave situation, that of the steadily melting polar icecaps. The water from the melting of these icecaps is slowly resulting in a rise in the sea level, and it’s not just scientists that are keenly studying this phenomenon; Florida real estate agents have also begun to consider the fact that rising sea levels may start to eat into the desirability of real estate in low lying areas.

If reports are to be believed, the onset of the first dramatically noticeable effects of global warming is just a decade away, and anxious real estate owners are looking to sell their land in a bid to avoid losing money due to the predicted drop in Florida real estate prices in areas that are low-lying, with respect to their altitude above sea level. In a situation like this, the only measure that would offset this price drop is preventive action on behalf of governments, to reduce practices that contribute to an increased rate of global warming.

Some buyers are still unaware

According to a statement given by one of the directors at the Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Environmental Studies Florida real estate agents are discretely in contact with the university in order to gain an approximate idea of how much the sea level is expected to rise over a certain time frame. What scientists are puzzled about is the small number of realtors that have actually thought of this possibility.  People are still buying waterfront property at premium prices, unaware of the possible threats they face a decade down the line.

Rising sea levels are the cause of concern

According to the calculations of the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, the price drop on account of a one-foot rise in sea level are approximately four million USD, with a three-foot high rise in sea level exponentially increasing this value to thirty-one million USD. Real estate agents are speculating on how much longer such waterfront properties are going to remain desirable.

According to the projections generated by the Army Corps of Engineers, South Florida is expected to see a three to seven-inch rise in sea levels by the year 2030 and anywhere between nine and 24 inches by the year 2060. According to the Florida Atlantic University, the change in these real estate prices will be clearly visible when the region experiences a natural calamity, post which rebuilding initiatives will determine which areas are worth rebuilding and which aren’t.

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