Category: Orlando Short Sales

Orlando Home Buyers Buy Their House Back After Losing It To Foreclosure!

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Every once in a while we hear a story about something that inspires us and that reminds us that good things still happen in the world. In this case, it was about one of our clients, Jose and Mary Guadalupe had gone through some financial hardships due to loss of employment and ultimately ended up losing their South Orlando dream home located in the Meadow Woods sub-division to public foreclosure auction.

After it went through the foreclosure process another family bought it and just 2 years later, they hired our Company to complete a short sale on the property. And so we did then we actually ended up buying it ourselves as a re-hab property. We completely rehabbed the home installing new cabinetry, flooring, fixtures, etc. The day I went to put a “For Sale” in the yard was the day I met the Guadalupe family for the first time.

These Orlando Home Buyers Never Gave Up Hope

They went on to tell me their story about how they lost their dream house to foreclosure and about the deep depression the family went through because of that experience. Since going through that experience, Mr. Guadalupe was now employed as a local truck driver for over 2 years and their financial situation had really turned around for the better. As a matter of fact, the family had recently been house hunting in that same neighborhood for the past several months never finding one that interested them.

Mrs. Guadalupe claimed that she would drive by her old house several times per week just hoping that one day it would be for sale. Then one day came when they spotted me installing our sign in the front yard. After listening to their story, I was happy to show them around the newly renovated home. It didn’t take long for Mrs. Guadalupe to start getting teary-eyed as she walked into the kitchen where she had prepared thousands of home-cooked meals for her family. ” My kids were raised in this house,” she said. It was right then and there that we decided to do everything in our power to help the Guadalupe family get back the house that they had lost just a few years prior.

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Typically, it’s much harder to get a mortgage on a property after you’ve gone through a foreclosure or short sale and it used to be that you would have to wait 7 years before you could even apply for a mortgage but with the new lender guidelines in place it could go down to only 3 years for some people. Although buying back the same home that you lost to foreclosure is extremely rare, the Guadalupe family is among a recently emerging group of purchasers, that were able to get back into the housing market under new, more forgiving lender guidelines.

With these new rules in place, thousands of Central Floridians who have gone through foreclosure have the potential to make buying a home a reality again. Over 100,000 homeowners in Orlando have lost their homes to foreclosure or short sale since the real estate crash of 2007.

 

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Orlando Short Sales Decrease Due To Tax Implications

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

The debt relief act of 2007 has officially expired as of January 1st 2014. This situation creates huge tax burdens for Florida homeowners that are upside down and that have or will receive any kind of mortgage forgiveness such as a short sale.

This means that the IRS will consider any capital that was forgiven by a lender either in a short sale or even a foreclosure to be recorded as income to the homeowner and will tax that income accordingly. The “Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act” [MFDRA] of 2007 was established to allow homeowners with certain criteria to exclude this type of income from their tax returns. This act only applied to debts associated with someone’s primary residence.

Orlando Short Sale Realtors Concerned Over Tax Relief Expiring

Orlando realtors that specialize in doing short short sales are very concerned about homeowners no longer having the tax break incentive. Why would someone go through with a short sale if they knew that they would be taxed on the deficiency? It’s like jumping from the frying pan into the fire, you’re going to get burned either way.

We’re already seeing a sizable decline in Orlando short sales since the 1st of the year. I think that we’ll see even fewer short sales, fewer principal reducing modifications, and an increase in foreclosures as we get further into 2014. Homeowners aren’t seeing the upside to doing a short sale in many cases.

The truth is that without the assurance of tax being exempt on a short sale there’s much less incentive for distressed homeowners to agree to the voluntary sale of their home.

Lenders Are Foreclosing Faster Than Ever Before

There was a time shortly after the RE market crashed in 2007 where lenders were extremely overwhelmed with the amount of homeowners defaulting on their loans. This resulted in a foreclosure taking up to 2 years or more to complete in some cases.

Several Orlando homeowners that I’ve spoken to say that they’ll just stay in the house until the bank forecloses believing that it will take their lender years to foreclose on them because of the stories that they’ve heard in recent years.

This couldn’t be further from the truth and homeowners that feel this way will be in store for a rude awakening. Lenders have come a long way in streamlining there process for dealing with mortgage holders that fall behind. They now have systems in place that help to expedite the amount of time that it takes to process foreclosures, short sales, loan mods, etc. Certain lenders will foreclose within a matter of 3 to 4 months if the homeowner doesn’t take action.

What Are Other Alternatives To Foreclosure?

Homeowners are still offered the same alternatives from their lenders; short sales, loan modifications, deed-in-lieu, etc. It’s important to note that it’s not the lenders who want to tax homeowners on the deficiency amount, it’s the IRS. And, although congress is actively looking at several bills that would extend tax relief through the next year or two, it hasn’t happened yet and there’s no guarantee that it will.

 

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Median Prices of Orlando Real Estate Rise amidst Higher Inventory

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

According to an Orlando real estate industry report, the housing inventory for the city saw a 42 percent hike in February, just ahead of the much-awaited spring selling season. The increase in inventory however is not without an increase in median prices of homes – a phenomenon that Orlando Realtors are attributing to increased demands for residential properties in Orlando.

Orlando Real Estate- high inventory – high demand – high median prices

The overall median price of homes in Orlando for February 2014 stood at $158,000 – 18.80 percent higher than the median price during the same time in 2013 when it was $133,000. With the increasing prices, there has also been a rise in the number of non-distressed property owners entering the Orlando real estate market, providing the inventory a much-needed boost.

The nearly 19 percent increase in median price, despite a 42 percent increase in inventory is because desirable homes in Orlando continue to attract multiple buyers. As a result, these homes disappear quickly from the open market, tightening the inventory.

Considering consecutive year-on-year growth rates, the city’s overall median price has increased 36.80 percent in 31 months, registering year-to-year gains throughout the period. Further, the median price for February 2014 was 5.69 percent higher than in January 2014.

According to Orlando short sale realtors, the median prices increased 18.30 percent for short sales and 12.23 percent for “normal” sales. Condos registered a 16.40 percent hike in their median price, compared to February 2013 while single-family homes registered a slightly higher increase of 17.69 percent.

Short Sales, Normal Sales, and Pending

In February 2014, foreclosures and short sales accounted for 34.27 percent of all home sales. Back in 2013, they amounted to 46.01 percent of the total sales. The number of sales closed in February 2014 was 17.26 percent lower than in February 2013; however, the figure exceeded the number of sales closed in January 2014 by 1.48 percent.

Realtors hold that the slower rate of closure is because prospective buyers, especially first-time buyers, had to face the challenges posed by tighter credits, increased rates of mortgages, and higher prices.

Compared to the corresponding value in February 2013, “normal” sales of residential properties saw a 0.72 percent hike in February 2014. The rate of closure for short sales, on the other hand, saw a massive decrease of 63.53 percent and the sales-closing of foreclosed properties decreased by 15.29 percent.

The number of pending sales in February 2014 decreased by 19.72 percent as compared to the same period in 2013. However, it was recorded to be 9.67 percent higher than the number of pending sales in January 2014. Further, the report also found that homes came under contract or closed, faster in 2014 than they did in 2013. Homes typically spent 76 days, listed on the market in February 2014 as against 84 days in February 2013.

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West Orange County May See No New Residential Constructions for a Year

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

The School Board of Orange County may just cause all residential construction in the area to halt indefinitely. The board wanted to erect a new relief high school at the County Road 535, on Beck Property and was denied permission for the same by Orange County.

The School Board and Orange County entered into a dispute in the last week of February, when the Board shelved the impact fee payments of a developer, Windermere Development Co., of the west Orange County area indefinitely.

School Board tables impact fee payment

The payment, amounting to $27,000 was due on February 25, to be paid to the board as impact fees for the development of project Canopy Oaks – a 59-units residential complex to be built by Mason Simpson and his development company Windermere.

Orlando realtors hold the proximity of Canopy Oaks to the site where the new relief school is supposed to be erected, one of the primary reasons for the dispute. It was confirmed by the School Board later when a board member revealed that the board wanted to wait for the disputes over its petition in the circuit court.

The board had filed the lawsuit in December 2013 and insiders say it may take up to a year to reach a settlement. Joie Cadle, member of the board said the West Orange High School was already crowded and needed a relief. The lack of a proper relief plan was one of the reasons why Cadle and other members of the five-school board voted in favor of tabling the impact-fees payments.

Is the School Board trying to jeopardize construction in Orange County?

Cost of the Canopy Oaks project has been projected around $30 million and Orlando real estate industry-insiders are worried about the longer-term impacts of such a decision by the board. With Winter Garden regulators halting the processing of Canopy Oaks project’s engineering application, Mason Simpson stands to lose some big bucks.

According to Nathan Cross, the president of the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando, the situation is more grim than what realtors in Orlando have been contemplating. According to him, Lake Nona and West Orange were the only two places conducive for new construction projects in the Orange County and the School Board essentially cut down one of the them, for at least a year.

Chairman of the School Board, Bill Sublette, however, has something else to say. Sublette, who voted against shelving the impact-fee payments, says the board doesn’t intend to stop construction projects in Orange County. The board just wants to halt the project till the location of the new relief school is finalized.

The circuit court is scheduled to meet in April for mediation on the lawsuit.

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Orlando Home Builders Association Changes Name and Moves to a New Location

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

The Metro Orlando Home Builders Association wants to turn a new leaf and several changes are underway as part of its efforts to re-brand itself. The professional trade association that leads the Orlando real estate industry was established in 1953. Since then, it has governed and regulated several aspects of the city’s housing market including Orlando short sales, services of listing agents, and Orlando’s public-education programs to name a few.

The association revealed some of its re-branding initiatives on February 27, when it revealed plans to change the name from Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando to the Greater Orlando Business Association.

Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando moves to new headquarters

On the same day, the association also broke ground on what its new headquarters is going to be. The association is currently headquartered at 544 Mayo Avenue, Maitland but will ditch the 30-year-old venue and move to the new office in 1000 Sanford Avenue as soon as the construction work is done. The new headquarter will sit at the site donated by Charles Clayton III – the previous president of the Home Builders Association and also a long-standing member of the association. In addition to a changed name and a changed location, the association is also set to sport a more environment-friendly and greener office.

Word is, that the building at 1000 Sanford Avenue will file for a green certification with the regulatory bodies, including the Florida Green Building Coalition.

President Nathan Cross talks about right-sizing offices

Nathan Cross, President of the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando said the association wants to right-size its offices so that the changing needs of staff, as well as the real-estate business, could be better matched. Moving to a new office was part of the right-sizing efforts.

Ensuring construction projects will create new jobs for construction workers. According to listing agents in Orlando, new opportunities for the local material suppliers. With new infrastructure development projects underway in Central Florida, including the SunRail passenger system, the real estate market of Orlando is expected to bring in worthwhile opportunities for architects and engineers.

The Home Builders Association has been an important part of the real-estate scene in Central Florida – participating in and regulating important industry events and initiatives through its councils and committees. How the re-branding is going to affect its reputation and standing in the market remains to be seen. https://orlandorealtyconsultants.com/

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