Category: Orlando Short Sales

Once considered a blemish on the Orlando housing market, short sales and REOs are a painful reminder to some people of the housing decline. Orlando Realtors say many real estate investors looking for big discounts are transforming these once unwanted homes into big paydays by using the fix and flip approach while others prefer to collect a monthly rent check.
Real Estate Agents in Orlando report that distressed sales are a strong indicator that many homeowners aren’t out of the woods yet. In fact, our own inventory at Orlando Realty Consultants consists of 35% short sale listings which are up 10% from July of 2015. It would also appear that lenders have recently released another load of REO listings into the Orlando real estate market.
So what does it all mean? It means that distressed saturation continues to be a defining factor in today’s housing market. Even the “traditional” housing market consists of a reported 30% distressed property listings. This tells us that Orlando’s short sales and REO listings are not a passing fad.

That’s why we need investors, both rehabbers and landlords in the food chain of real estate. Imagine what the Orlando real estate market would look like if all of a sudden if all the local real estate investors were to pull out and stop buying homes. It’s a scary thought because the majority of home buyers are retail buyers who want nothing to do with fixing up a property. Neighborhoods across Orlando would steadily decrease in value among a sea of ugly homes as far as the eye can see.

Orlando real estate investors like myself sometimes get a bad rap just because we come away from a deal-making a few bucks, but the truth is that without active real estate investors in Orlando or any other city in the US. The real estate market would be on a steady path of decline…

Orlando’s distressed saturation levels are in the upper 20th percentile of the nation. Of course, some parts of Orlando have a much lower percentage of distressed properties than others.

Short sales and REO properties in Orlando were once a big ugly stain on the real estate market reminding us all of the horrific market crash of 2007.

Savvy investors cleaned up as they bought properties left and right at massive discounts keeping them as rental properties or flipping them for a quick profit.

At one point in 2009 short sales and REO property sales accounted for more than 60% of all residential real estate sales in Orlando.

Since then however, the real estate market has made what many Orlando Realtors would consider a full recovery. Homes have been going up in value and new construction is once again in full swing throughout many areas of Central Florida. In the past couple of years, Orlando’s short sales have accounted for less than ten percent of residential real estate sales.

It’s become evident to us in the last quarter of 2015 that REO and short sale properties in Orlando are not at all a passing fad…not by a long shot. We’re only in the third week of 2016 and our company ORC has picked up 6 new short sale files!

Although it’s way too early in the year to check exact home sale statistics through the MLS, it’s obvious to us that short sales are once again on the rise.

Disclaimer: On this site, we only write about and discuss things that are happening or have happened within our own company, ORC. It’s never mattered to us what people are saying in the news or in local Orlando real estate forums because I’ve learned that a lot of information on the internet is inaccurate… what a shocker right!?  I believe that someone should only write about what they know about and what they’ve experienced in order to be considered credible.