Florida Real Estate -

Orlando Real Estate remains strong, despite a dip in prices at the end of summer

Posted on September 27, 2012February 21, 2022 by Jenny Zamora

Summer’s gone and Orlando Real estate takes a drop

Prices of Orlando real estate dropped slightly last month for the first in a year. Don’t panic Orlando homeowners, this happens every year at this time. The reason for the drop is mostly due to the end of the peak of the summer buying season. Two facts remain true, Orlando real estate inventory is low and demand for great Orlando properties remains high. As long as these factors remain a part of the Orlando real estate market, sellers will be able to get top dollar for their Orlando Home.

Other factors indicating a strong Orlando Real Estate market

Orlando homes are selling faster and for more than they did a year ago. Studies show that Orlando homes are spending less than 80 days on the market before coming under contract and selling for almost 97% of the listing price. A year ago, Orlando Realty was selling for less than 95% of the listing price, and these properties were listed on the MLS for over 100 days.

Great mortgage interest rates are still being offered by lenders. The average interest rate currently being offered for Orlando home buyers is at 3.78 percent as opposed to a year ago when homebuyers paid an average interest rate of 4.26 percent. This is a huge incentive right now for potential Orlando home buyers and anyone interested in buying real estate in Orlando should definitely take advantage of these historically low-interest rates.

There are more regular listings in the Orlando real estate market than has been in years. Although Orlando’s short sales and REO’s still rule Orlando’s real estate inventory right now, there is another quieter group that is not desperate to sell their Orlando properties. Believe it or not, everyone one in three homeowners owns their house “free and clear”. This group as well as homeowners with very small mortgages on their home are able to ask for top dollar on their Orlando home and they don’t care if it sells or not. Their way of thinking is “I will sell for the right price and if not then I’m not selling”. I’ve had several clients like this over the years, and homeowners like these actually help to maintain property values up in their neighborhoods because their listing prices remain high and they really don’t care how long it takes to sell.

Right now is a great tome to sell your Orlando Home

Considering all the factors in play right now with Orlando Real Estate, it’s a great time to sell your home. Whether you need an Orlando short Sale done or you’re o of the few and fortunate people that own your property Free and Clear. If you’re interested in seeing how much your Orlando property will sell… click on “How much is my Orlando property worth?” or you can come and see me for a free consultation and I would be happy to sit and talk with you.

Let's Keep In Touch!

New ORC Form Lead

"*" indicates required fields

Fannie Mae Making great Strides in the Orlando Short Sale Process

Posted on September 25, 2012February 21, 2022 by Jenny Zamora

Fannie Mae is taking the Lead on making short sales move even faster for Orlando homeowners

It’s amazing to see how far certain lenders have come in the way of helping homeowners to get their Orlando short sales approved. In the not-so-distant past, some of the major lenders were hell bent on making the short sale process a nightmare for not only the homeowners but also, the short sale realtors that had to work the entire process. Then even after you’ve submitted the complete package to the lender dotting every I and crossing every t, you would then have to re-submit the entire short sale package several times over either because it needed to be updated or the lender had lost it or claimed to have never received it. I know this may sound absurd to some of you but believe it or not, this used to happen on just about every single file at least once or twice.

It’s only been in the last year or so that we’ve seen a drastic change in the way that lenders handle Orlando short sales in General. There are systems in place such as HudHomes.Gov that some lenders use which make short sales move along a lot faster. And with systems like these in place, no longer can negotiators claim to have never received certain documents or that they’ve lost them. It’s as easy as logging into your account and uploading every page that they request. This was just one of the steps which began to streamline the short sale process.

Since then, there have been laws implemented by congress which require lenders to respond within 60 days of a short sale offer being presented, this was Huge! Even bigger, was when Lenders started giving homeowners large “Cash for Keys” incentives to complete short sales. Not only were homeowners able to get their debt forgiven, but they were able to receive enough cash at closing to start over in a new life.

Most recently, Fannie has come out with new guidelines for loan servicers to follow. The new guidelines are a part of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Servicing Alignment Initiative. The idea is to prevent more foreclosures and help neighborhoods to stabilize.

Fannie Mae’s new guideline changes

• Hardships. Servicers will now be permitted to approve a short sale for borrowers who have certain kinds of hardships but are still current on their loans. Also, in order to reduce paperwork, no documentation of hardship will be required for borrowers who are 90 days or more delinquent and have a credit score lower than 620.

• 2nd-lien payments limited to $6,000. Before, 2nd lien holders often attempted to negotiate higher payments. The loan servicer will be able to offer the maximum payment of $6,000 in order to facilitate the transaction. By setting a standard payout amount and a limit for every transaction, Fannie Mae is removing the guesswork in order to accelerate the short sale process.

• Servicers will have more authority to approve and complete short sales. All servicers will have the authority to approve and complete short sales that conform to the requirements without receiving individual approval from Fannie Mae. Sometimes this part of the process added several months to short sale negotiations.

Jenny Zamora Lic RE Broker, Orlando

Let's Keep In Touch!

New ORC Form Lead

"*" indicates required fields

Avoiding the Orlando Loan Modification Mine Field

Posted on September 17, 2012February 22, 2022 by Jenny Zamora

Loan modifications have helped thousands of Orlando homeowners to keep their homes.

However, you must be aware of the fine print and know exactly what it will mean to you. Sometimes the terms of a loan modification are often worse than the original mortgage. The best loan modifications are when you are able to not only reduce your payment but reduce the principal balance of the loan. Many loan mods are structured so that your payment gets reduced but you still have to pay off the entire amount of the original mortgage plus penalties. In my opinion, these types of loan modifications are just not worth agreeing to. If your house is only worth $100,000.00 and your loan amount is $200,000.00 why on earth would you want to end up paying that entire amount?

Push for a loan modification with principal balance reduction

Banks will always try to get you to agree to what suits them better, this is why you have to be a tough negotiator, don’t just agree with the first proposal that they put in front of you. You have to remember that banks also want to come to an agreement. It costs lenders a lot of time and money to take someone through the foreclosure process. The best thing you can do is hire an Orlando real estate attorney that specializes in loan modifications. If you try to go at it alone with your lender, it could end up costing you a lot more money in the long run. Sure, a good Orlando real estate attorney may cost you a couple of grand upfront, but you’ll have a much better chance if you have an experienced negotiator in your corner.

5 things to watch out for when negotiating an Orlando loan modification

1- Your lender has the option of dropping all penalties. Don’t be bullied into a take-it or leave-it trap where they give you the option to pay off the penalties upfront or have them roll the penalties into the balance. You should demand that they wave all penalties as part of the deal.

2- Sometimes lenders will try to get you to agree that if they lose the original loan documents, you must assist the lender in reproducing them. As ridiculous as this may sound, it’s true and you should never agree to something like this. It comes down to the lender having additional legal protection if they screw up. A clause like this has absolutely no benefit to you.

3- Step by step rate increases that are too steep for you to afford or balloon payments that become due before you have time to be prepared for them.

4- Don’t agree to payments that you really can’t afford. When doing a loan modification, the idea is to make the loan affordable to you and your family. Be realistic, don’t put yourself into a position where your budget is soo tight that you’re only one major car repair away from being in default again.

5- Don’t agree to an interest rate that can automatically adjust based on an index over which you have no control.

An Orlando Short Sale may be your best option

As you can see, there are a lot of things that you need to watch out for when entering into a loan modification with your lender. The fact of the matter is that even when you have the bank’s best offer on the table, it still may not be good enough.

You may be much better off doing an Orlando short sale. At the end of the day, it’s just a house, it’s not part of your family. By doing an Orlando short sale, not only will you be free of your lender forever, but you can get enough cash back to start over and get yourself into a much better situation than you would be agreeing to the terms of a loan modification.

As always, if you have questions about anything to do with Orlando real estate. Call us and set up a free consultation with an Orlando real estate expert.

Let's Keep In Touch!

New ORC Form Lead

"*" indicates required fields

Homeowners Insurance Prices discourage people from buying Orlando Real Estate

Posted on August 28, 2012February 22, 2022 by Jenny Zamora

Florida Homeowner Insurance companies are having a negative effect on Orlando Real Estate Sales

Even though the real estate market in Orlando is recovering in leaps and bounds, homeowners are not happy about the high price of Florida homeowners insurance. As a matter of fact, for some potential home buyers, it’s proven to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

There are still great real estate deals in Orlando, but even if the price of the property is affordable as well as property taxes, etc., the homeowners insurance in some cases can be almost as much as a mortgage payment. That’s insane!

Citizens Insurance raising it’s premiums on Florida Homeowners

The main reason for the high cost of homeowners insurance in Florida is the recent increase that Citizens has made to it’s premiums. Many times this will cause potential real estate deals to fall through or even worse, it puts the new homeowner in a position to fail because he went over budget, and potentially cause him to default on his payments.

The state run Citizens claims that the had no choice but raise the premiums because they are supposed to be a last resort for people and now they are covering many more homes than the program was designed for. That’s not all, if massive hurricane were to hit Florida and deplete all the company’s reserves, all Floridians would get taxed thus hurting the state economy in a big way.

Read the fine print when Buying Orlando Realty

When it comes to buying Orlando Real estate, there’s more than just deciding which homeowners insurance company you’re going to commit to. You have to read the fine print and be aware of everything that you’re committing to. So many first time home buyers end up in hot water because the fail to understand exactly what they’re signing. Then there is another type of buyer, the type that wants to get into that new house so badly even though deep down they know that it’s beyond there budget.

That’s why you need an experienced Orlando realtor to walk you through the complexities of buying a home in Orlando. I personally will not allow a client to make what I know will be a bad decision for them. As Orlando real estate agents, we have an obligation to look out for the best interest of our clients and help them in any way that we can when it comes to buying or selling Orlando real estate.

Jenny Zamora. Lic. RE Broker

Let's Keep In Touch!

New ORC Form Lead

"*" indicates required fields

How to Invest in Orlando Real Estate in 2026

Posted on August 22, 2012August 5, 2026 by Jenny Zamora

Orlando continues to attract investors from across the country looking for long-term appreciation, rental income, and portfolio diversification. Whether you’re purchasing your first rental property or expanding an existing portfolio, investing in Orlando real estate can be an excellent opportunity when you understand the local market, evaluate properties correctly, and have a clear investment strategy.

Quick Answer: Investing in Orlando real estate can provide long-term appreciation and rental income, but success depends on buying the right property at the right price. Investors should evaluate cash flow, neighborhood demand, financing costs, insurance, taxes, HOA restrictions, and future resale potential before purchasing.

Why Invest in Orlando Real Estate?

Central Florida remains one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. Orlando benefits from population growth, a diverse economy, world-famous attractions, expanding healthcare systems, higher education, and major infrastructure improvements.

Unlike markets that depend on a single industry, Orlando has multiple economic drivers including tourism, healthcare, technology, aerospace, logistics, education, and professional services. This diversity helps support long-term housing demand.

For investors, that means opportunities for:

Long-term rental income
Property appreciation
Vacation rental opportunities in approved areas
Retirement investing
Portfolio diversification

Is Orlando Real Estate a Good Investment in 2026?

Yes—but not every property is a good investment.

The best investment properties produce consistent rental demand while offering long-term appreciation potential. The numbers should work before assuming future appreciation.

Successful investors purchase based on:

Current market value
Realistic rental income
Operating expenses
Cash flow
Location
Property condition
Exit strategy

Best Types of Investment Properties

Property Type	Best For	Pros
Single Family Homes	Long-term rentals	Strong resale demand and stable tenants
Townhomes	First-time investors	Lower maintenance
Condominiums	Cash buyers and retirees	Lower purchase price
Vacation Homes	Short-term rentals	Potentially higher income in approved areas
Duplexes & Small Multifamily	Experienced investors	Multiple income streams

Popular Areas for Orlando Real Estate Investors

Lake Nona

Lake Nona continues to attract professionals working in healthcare and technology. Newer construction, excellent schools, and growing employment make it attractive for long-term rentals.

Winter Garden

Known for its historic downtown, family-friendly neighborhoods, and strong appreciation, Winter Garden remains one of Central Florida’s most desirable communities.

Kissimmee

Kissimmee offers both residential investment opportunities and vacation rental communities near the attractions. Always verify local zoning and HOA restrictions before purchasing.

Davenport

Davenport provides a variety of investment opportunities with relatively affordable purchase prices and continued residential growth.

Downtown Orlando

Professionals seeking walkability, entertainment, and convenient commutes continue to drive rental demand in many downtown neighborhoods.

How to Analyze an Investment Property

One of the biggest mistakes new investors make is focusing only on the monthly mortgage payment.

Instead, calculate every expense before making an offer.

Include:

Purchase price
Closing costs
Property taxes
Insurance
HOA fees
Property management
Maintenance
Vacancy allowance
Repairs
Capital improvements

Once these costs are included, compare the property’s expected rental income to determine whether the investment meets your financial goals.

Long-Term Rentals vs Vacation Rentals

Long-Term Rental	Vacation Rental
Stable monthly income	Higher income potential
Lower turnover	Higher operating costs
Less management	Frequent cleaning and bookings
Year-round tenants	Seasonal occupancy

Vacation rentals are not allowed everywhere. Many cities, counties, and homeowners associations have restrictions that should always be verified before purchasing.

Financing an Investment Property

Investment properties typically require larger down payments than owner-occupied homes.

Financing options may include:

Conventional investment loans
DSCR loans
Portfolio loans
Cash purchases
Private financing

Getting pre-approved before shopping helps establish a realistic budget and strengthens your negotiating position.

Common Investment Mistakes

Buying based only on appreciation
Ignoring insurance costs
Not reviewing HOA rules
Overestimating rental income
Skipping inspections
Failing to budget for repairs
Not maintaining cash reserves
Making emotional buying decisions

Pros and Cons

Advantages	Challenges
Rental income	Maintenance expenses
Long-term appreciation	Vacancies
Portfolio diversification	Insurance costs
Inflation hedge	Interest rates

How Orlando Realty Consultants Can Help

Buying an investment property is different from buying a primary residence. Every purchase should be analyzed using realistic market data, rental comparables, operating expenses, and resale potential.

At Orlando Realty Consultants, we help investors identify opportunities throughout Central Florida, compare neighborhoods, evaluate rental potential, negotiate favorable terms, and avoid costly mistakes.

Whether you’re looking for your first rental home, a vacation property, or multiple investment properties, we’re here to guide you through every step of the process.

Why Work With Orlando Realty Consultants?

Local Central Florida market expertise
Experience helping buyers, sellers, and investors
Neighborhood-specific market knowledge
Strong negotiation skills
Guidance before, during, and after closing
Se Habla Español

Contact Orlando Realty Consultants

Orlando Realty Consultants
Serving Central Florida
Phone: 407-902-7750

If you’re ready to invest in Orlando real estate, contact us today to discuss your investment goals. We’ll help you identify properties that fit your strategy, evaluate potential returns, and make informed decisions based on current market conditions rather than speculation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Orlando a good place to buy rental property?

Yes. Orlando’s growing population, diverse economy, and consistent housing demand make it attractive for many real estate investors.

How much money do I need to buy an investment property?

It depends on the financing program, but investors should budget for the down payment, closing costs, inspections, reserves, and any immediate repairs.

Can I buy a vacation rental anywhere in Orlando?

No. Vacation rentals are subject to local zoning regulations and HOA restrictions. Always verify that short-term rentals are permitted before purchasing.

Should I buy a condo or a house?

Both can be excellent investments. The best choice depends on your investment strategy, maintenance preferences, HOA fees, and expected rental income.

Do I need a Realtor when buying investment property?

Working with an experienced Realtor can help you evaluate comparable sales, negotiate effectively, identify potential issues, and make better investment decisions.

Let's Keep In Touch!

New ORC Form Lead

"*" indicates required fields