Orlando Real Estate’s Perfect Storm

In 2014, the Orlando real estate market recovered significantly. Home sale prices rose and continue to rise and at the same time, mortgage interest rates remain relatively low. These conditions created the perfect storm of opportunities for those looking to buy or sell Orlando real estate.

Different real estate markets across the nation are typically labeled as being either a “buyer’s market” or a “seller’s market”, which is what makes the Orlando real estate market so special right now. It’s both a buyer’s and seller’s market! More and more buyers are being attracted to the market yet the number of Orlando homes for sale remains low compared to the demand. The low-interest rates allow homes to remain affordable while the supply and demand still help sellers to get top dollar for their homes.

New Homes Expected To Drive Down Prices of Older Homes

The bad news is that these market conditions won’t last forever. Moving into 2015 more and more Orlando homeowners are expected to put their homes on the market and home builders are busy developing brand new neighborhoods throughout Orlando and Kissimmee. These new homes will create a lot of competition for homeowners that have older homes thus driving prices downward, especially when builders/developers reveal the incentives they will offer buyers to move into one of their brand new homes. Given a choice of buying brand new or used, I can’t think of anyone that would prefer to buy a used home or anything else for that matter, especially when the homes are in the same price range.


No matter what your situation has been over the past few years, chances are that it’s changed. Lately, when I’m asked to provide a potential seller with a free home valuation report, they become both shocked and happy when I show them how much I can sell their Orlando home for. I also express to them how the real estate market is ever-changing and home values can drop just as easily as they can rise.

My advice to homeowners that are serious about selling is that they should explore their options sooner than later. Homeowners should beware of trying to convince themselves of holding off on selling a home solely because they believe that their home’s value will continue to go up.

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Retired Couple Buy Their Orlando Dream Home!

Couple Finds Their Orlando Dream Home in Hunters Creek

Living in New York most of their lives this retired couple had had enough of the cold and ready to live out their golden years in “The City Beautiful”. After spending time with their nephew who lives in Hunters Creek FL, and after several months of searching in other Orlando neighborhoods they decided that Hunters Creek is where they wanted to live and they were finally ready to shift into buying mode for that specific area.

When a buyer is only interested in one specific area it can be both good and bad from the realtor’s standpoint. The good part is that it doesn’t take long to do a search for all the homes that are available for sale in the area. The bad part is that it usually takes longer to find the perfect home for someone who is only interested in seeing homes in such a relatively small area due to a lack of inventory.

However, it seems that these buyers were being helped by some kind of divine intervention. Just days into showing these retirees homes that were for sale I received a call from a Hunters Creek homeowner needing to sell their home quickly. These distressed homeowners were six months behind on their Wells Fargo mortgage and have exhausted all means of trying to keep their home.

They were in need of completing an short sale on their home and with an approaching foreclosure date, they needed to get it done A.S.A.P. After Googling “short sale experts in Hunters Creek FL”, they found our company and hired us to complete their short sale. The next morning we met with them at home to collect paperwork, get measurements, photos and everything else we needed to get the ball rolling with the short sale. Although the home needed some work I felt it may be a good fit for our retired couple from New York so I brought them to see it that same night.

They fell in love with the Lakefront home in Calabay Cove. My concerns over the needed repairs disappeared when I found out that the buyer was a handyman and actually loved the idea of having something to do! We explained to the buyers that a short sale can sometimes be a lengthy process but they were willing to stick it out in hopes of getting a great deal on their dream home.

Although it was a bumpy road like most short sales, after three months of negotiating with Wells Fargo we received the short sale approval letter and the buyers were able to close on the home just 10 days after we received the approval. The final short sale price that was agreed upon by the lender was $278,000.00. Considering that the full payoff on this 4 bd rm 3 bd rm home was $470,000.00 the buyers were elated to finally close on their dream home….. I must admit that it was also pretty nice to make a double commission.

 

 

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The Time To Sell Your Orlando Home Is Now!

If you’ve been wanting to sell your Orlando home but keep putting it off, you may want to stop procrastinating. according to the NAR National Association of Realtors, the housing inventory in the Orlando real estate market is way below average when compared to December of 2013.

When the supply of homes on the market is this low, it puts the seller in a great position for negotiating. Right now, homes that are priced accurately and nicely staged don’t last very long in today’s market. The truth is that if want to make an offer on an Orlando property, you should act fast.

Lately, we’ve been getting multiple full as well as above asking price offers on properties in as little as 24 hours after listing them on the MLS. It’s painfully obvious that right now sellers are in the driver’s seat and have very little competition due to the lack of inventory in the Orlando real estate market. However, with inventory slowly but surely rising, homeowners should act now in order to enjoy the reduced amount of competition that they will have while their home is on the market.

Low mortgage rates are also a big contributing factor to the current real estate market favoring sellers. Interest rates are still low and there are many incentives for those who want to buy now.

Sellers Who Wait Run The Risk Of Losing Thousands

As the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end. This also holds true when talking about real estate. I remember back in 2007 when the real estate market crashed Nation in what seemed to be from one day to the next. Homeowners and especially investors that were holding on to Orlando real estate thinking they would eventually sell for a huge payday were suddenly scrambling to sell. Then when the banks stopped lending, it all came crashing down.

It wasn’t long before home values in nice Orlando neighborhoods were cut in half and in some cases even less. I don’t believe that we’ll see another market crash as we saw in 2007 anytime soon but I do think that this seller’s market we are currently experiencing will eventually cycle back around to being a buyer’s market. 

Orlando homeowners should keep this in mind if they’re on the fence about selling. Sure it’s possible to eke out a few more thousand if you wait a little longer but it’s also possible that you’ll end up selling your home for much less than you expected by waiting too long.

Find out how much your Orlando Home is Worth

 

 

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Free Orlando Home Value Tool

The Orlando Realty Consultants team is now offering a free Orlando home value tool for homeowners that are considering selling their homes. This tool determines your property’s value by factoring in various details about the home including the current condition of the home, the square footage, upgrades, etc. All you have to do is fill in the fields on the home value estimator and within 24 hrs you’ll receive a free report prepared by a top Orlando realtor of what your home is worth in today’s real estate market.

This tool is a great way for both experienced homeowners as well as those people that just want to test the waters and aren’t really looking to sell. With new construction once again on the rise in certain neighborhoods, it’s the perfect time to find out what your house is worthwhile Orlando is still in such high demand.

Selling a home can be a very complex process and there are several factors that can affect your home’s value. For anyone in the Orlando area, our free home valuation tool is a convenient and very effective way for potential sellers to find out the true value of their home. These tools will also tell you what adjustments can be made by the potential seller to increase the home’s selling power.

Home Value Reports Prepared By Top Orlando Realtors

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The biggest thing that sets our home valuation tool apart from other home valuation tools in the industry is that the report you receive from us is created by highly experienced Orlando listing specialists that work for us as opposed to receiving a generic report as you would get from Zillow and other similar companies.

The information that you submit goes directly to one of our Orlando listing specialists for completion. The agent then takes all of the info that was submitted and researches comparable properties in that same area. That’s why it’s important to submit as many details about the home as possible. Once the report is complete, it gets sent to the homeowner with absolutely no charge or obligation.

We also realize that some homeowners just aren’t ready to speak to a realtor which is why the agent will not contact the potential seller unless the seller requests to be contacted. Find out what your Orlando home is worth.

 

 

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ORC Closes Another Orlando Short Sale

  ORC closes another Orlando short sale. Jenny Zamora, Listing Specialist/short sale expert known for getting her listings sold in record time for top dollar has beaten the odds once again. Now…  I don’t write about every short sale listing our company closes [or I wouldn’t have time to write about other stuff] but I felt that this one is worth sharing.

This Orlando home was originally listed by an investment group that claimed to be short sale experts and promised to get the job done fast and efficient, and of course… free of charge. In reality, they were actually wholesale flippers that ended up dragging the homeowner into deep water.

The strategy of a whole sale flipper is to submit a low offer to the bank on a distressed home in hopes that the bank will accept the offer so that they can flip the deal to another buyer without having to close on it themselves. If it works, the flippers make a few thousand bucks the seller gets rid of their problem and everyone’s happy.

However, if the bank rejects the offer the homeowner is then left holding the ball. Once the wholesale flipper realizes that they can’t make money on the deal, they will typically move on to the next potential seller [or victim] at this point leaving the homeowner in a bad situation to fend for themselves.

Getting back to our story…The lender set a foreclosure date just 30 days away and the investment group bailed on her when they couldn’t get the short sale approved. After reading our online reviews, the homeowner came to us thinking that all hope was lost and her home would surely be foreclosed on.

After consulting with distressed homeowner, we accepted the file and Jenny Zamora went to work immediately on the short sale. By using all our marketing tools as well as blasting the property details to our network of active home buyers from around the world, she quickly got the word out and managed to get serious investor interested in the property for a price that lender was happy with.

By getting all necessary documentation to the lender quickly in an organized and efficient manner, they stopped the foreclosure process allowing ample time for the new buyer to close on the property. As a result, the lender issued a new short sale approval letter that gave the buyer 30 days to close on the property even though the buyer only needed 10 days to close. 

If you’re in need of completing a short sale on your Orlando home, please, please, please beware of so-called “short sale expert investors” that promise to save you from foreclosure. Be sure to research anyone you plan on working with extensively. Many of these companies are only out for their own financial gain at the expense of the homeowner. 

It’s important to know that unlicensed investors aren’t bound by a code of ethics nor are they subject to follow the same laws that licensed realtors are. An Orlando realtor is sworn to put the best interest of the homeowner first and if they don’t, they can be prosecuted and potentially lose their license.

 

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