Orlando Real Estate -

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

Posted on February 10, 2014May 17, 2022 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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Florida Water and Land Conservation Bill to be Put up for Voting on November Ballot

Posted on February 3, 2014May 17, 2022 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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Why Do Some Lenders Take Longer Than Others To Sell Foreclosed Homes?

Posted on January 29, 2014May 17, 2022 by Jenny Zamora

A community’s chances of a speedy recovery from a hung-over Florida housing market not only depend on how many foreclosed homes they have in the neighborhood but even more importantly on which lenders own those properties.

Working as a short sale realtor in Orlando, I can tell you exactly what banks are the best ones for doing short sales as well as which ones make me cringe as soon as I hear their name in a conversation. Now, things tend to change a bit when are talking about bank-owned homes. This is when the lender takes a home through the foreclosure process and ultimately ends up owning the property after it goes to public auction. Once they own the property, it becomes an REO [real estate owned] which they will then list with a local realtor to try and get it sold.

You would think that lenders would try and get the property sold as soon as possible to avoid any further losses that they’ve already suffered. However, this is not always the case. Many times a bank-owned property will sit vacantly and abandoned with no sign at all of an attempt on the bank’s part to market it and get it sold.

Some realtors believe that it’s a strategy by the lenders to avoid flooding the market with properties again which would cause a dip in prices so they only release a certain amount of properties over a pre-determined amount of time. Others will tell you that it’s because the banks expect the Florida real estate market to continue improving and they want to hold out in order to try and capitalize on higher sales prices.

If that truly is the case then I believe that lenders are taking a huge risk in holding out to sell in a hotter market. For one thing, you should never ever depend on the appreciation. This is something that I learned a long time ago when I first started investing in Orlando real estate. Getting into a real estate investment for the sole purpose of expecting the market to get hot then cashing out is what got a whole lot of folks into trouble in 2007.

Not only that but houses that just sit vacant will continue to rack up homeowners association fees, property taxes, risk of vandalism, as well as code enforcement fines if the home is in some way in violation of county code enforcement or safety issues. Also, the longer a house sits unattended the deeper it will fall into disrepair.

For some reason, the smaller lending institutions appear to be a bit more nimble when they deal with foreclosures. It’s probably because they’re only dealing with a fraction of the number of properties that the big lenders are.

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Median Orlando Home Prices in Shoot 24 Percent Up at the Close of 2013

Posted on January 27, 2014May 17, 2022 by Jenny Zamora

Wednesday reinforced positive sentiments among Orlando realtors as the Orlando Regional Realtor Association released its yearly report about the Orlando real estate market. The report revealed that the average Orlando Home price for properties in the city saw a 24 percent hike in the previous year. This 2013 rise in median home prices marks an all-time high since the economic downturn of early 2006 that took the housing market down with it.

Key takeaways from the report

The median home price in the core Orlando real estate market was $149,625, in 2013. Back in 2012, the corresponding figure stood $28,000 below, at $121,000. The last time Orlando real estate agents had seen such a hike was just before the housing bubble in 2005.

Median house prices rose by more than 33 percent that year. The same upturn of events was seen in 2013. The report holds that 2013 saw the sale of 6.54 percent more homes, than the previous year. Compared to the 28,765 homes that were sold in 2012, 30,645 were sold in 2013, showing just where top Orlando realtors had been busy the year.

Comparing the statistics for December alone, aggregate median home prices were up by 20.87 percent compared to the previous year. In the December of 2012, the aggregate for Orlando was $132,500. The 20.87 percent boost brought up aggregate median house prices for all of Orlando to $160,150 in the December of 2013.

The Christmas month also saw a 3.32 percent hike in the median home price of Orlando real estate properties from the previous month. Compared to the median price of $155,000 in November 2013, December registered the median price of $160,150. Real estate agents in Orlando sold 2367 homes in December – 11.55 percent more than their November tally.

Prime reasons attributed to the up-turn

Orlando Regional Realtor Association’s chairman, Zola Szerencses remarked that the competition between investors and buyers helped reverse the sunken-mortgaged conditions for many property owners.

Industry experts list low inventory during the first two quarters as a positive influence. The second and third quarters presented prospects with low-interest rates – boosting confidence and increasing sales.

Despite the promising upturns, the median prices in the Orlando real estate industry remain considerably low compared to the peak Orlando realtors saw in July 2007. The real estate bubble was about to burst and median prices for the Orlando neighborhood homes peaked at $264,000. For 2014, economists have predicted a flattening up of the sales and price increase to about five percent.

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New House: What to Check Before Moving Day

Posted on January 25, 2014May 17, 2022 by Jenny Zamora

It’s an exciting time, with moving day to a new house creeping up. As you look forward to the new house, it’s important to have a checklist of things to do to prepare. Preparations can be extensive, so a checklist really helps. These tips will help you as you begin your new home adventure.

Call to Turn on the Utilities

It’s important to have the phone, electricity, and other services turned on. Though it sounds like a pain, calling to have them put into your name is relatively easy and straightforward, with a simple call-in to service providers serving as the activation for these services. Set aside perhaps an hour to make these calls.

Hiring a House-Cleaner

Having the house cleaned ahead of time makes a lot of sense. Working with the realtor to arrange the house cleaning makes sense if you set it up for the closing day, or just afterward, as you make the final transition from your previous house or apartment. Be sure to hire someone who can do the work thoroughly, and up to standard. Simple interviews don’t always indicate the level of a person’s work. Ask for recommendations through the realtor.

Change Address

Sending out change of address cards makes sense, and will aid in making the transition smoothly. You can either make these or buy them. These cards simply announce your new mailing address to friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances.

Having a Key Made

After closing, you are going to wish to have keys made, perhaps right away, to ensure that you have backup keys available to you to avoid locking yourself out.

Meet the Neighbors

Before you move into a new house, it’s important to meet the neighbors, so you may wish to set aside time before closing, to pop over with a friendly face and some good cheer. This relationship will be central to your life while you live there, so it makes sense to take it seriously.

Take Care of Formalities

You’ll need to have your address changed, and that is something you can do ahead of time with the postal service offering change-of-address forms that make moving a cinch. Ask for their moving package, which has the form and some coupons included in it. Make sure you are ready with your finances and mortgage payments from Orlando Mortgage Companies as well. You’ll want to have everything set up formally before you move.

Last, be sure to have a good attitude. Moving doesn’t have to be boring or exhausting if you have the right attitude and break the work into manageable chunks. Look into the formalities and change addresses at reputable places like Orlando Low Mortage Rates dot com to avoid a hassle later on.

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Category: Orlando Real Estate