Category: Florida Real Estate

Domestic Tourists Agressively Buying up Orlando Realty

Publicado el por Jenny Zamora

Record numbers in Orlando Tourism is contributing to the shortage of Orlando real estate.

 

Increasing numbers of domestic tourists are buying up Orlando properties creating a noticeable decrease in nice Orlando homes. Who could blame them? This is a great place to live and even better place to visit. It seems everyone wants their own little piece of Orlando Realty. The majority of tourists that buy Orlando Real estate, intend to use these properties as vacation homes or second properties.

Orlando is considered to be the world’s top destination for families.

The theme park capital of the US attracted over 55 million visitors last year.  As a matter of fact, Orlando beat out New York to be the first tourist destination to attract more than 50 million visitors in a single year.
Thriving tourism means more demand for quality Orlando properties, especially for the neighborhoods located close to the theme parks like Disney World.  Although some people choose not to rent out their vacation home most people do. Homeowners are cashing in on the Orlando short term rental market. Since Orlando never really has a low season, savvy out of  state landlords are able to pull in a steady stream of income all year round.

So what does these mean for the future of Orlando real Estate?  Increased sales means a continued stabilization in Orlando realty and I really can’t think of a downside.  We can only assume that this will translate into an even higher sense of urgency for potential Orlando home buyers.

 

 

Jenny Zamora, Lic Orlando RE Broker

 

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Orlando Realty Sales being affected by Bad Appraisals

Publicado el por Jenny Zamora

Orlando Real Estate Sales are being affected by appraisers who fail to recognize appreciation

With the current Bienes raíces en Orlando market on the rise, appreciation has become an actual factor again. It’s very common these days for an Orlando property to receive multiple offers on it thousands of dollars above the asking price, especially in the more desirable Orlando neighborhoods. One of the problems we are seeing here is that appraisers rather than taking into consideration the recent appreciation of a property, are just looking at the original listing price and are trying to get as close as they can to it.

The big problem with that is, if the house doesn’t appraise for the contract price, then the bank won’t finance the deal. At this point, there are three things that can happen.

1- The buyer can make up the difference by bringing cash to the transaction  [This hardly ever happens]

2- The buyer will want to change his or her offer to the “appraisal value”, however the seller now believes their property is worth more than the original listing price and will refuse to go down on the price.

3-The deal falls apart and the process starts all over again unless the buyer can get a different lender or appraiser or both to try and make the deal go through.

Any way you choose to look at it, bad appraisals are affecting Orlando Realty sales.

Are Orlando Appraisers afraid of history repeating itself?

Back in 2004 through 2006, many appraisers ended up in deep trouble because of overinflated appraisal values.  Things were soo crazy back then that it was common for Orlando Real Estate Investors to tell their appraisers what value they wanted the property to come in at and that’s what it would come in at. Everyone was making soo much money that nothing else seemed to matter.  Fast forward to 2007- The doo doo hits the fan. Appraisers among other people in the industry such as mortgage brokers, etc. ended up in serious legal trouble for fraud.  Inflated appraisal values, bad loans, illegal kickbacks, you name it, and any real estate professional with a license was getting in trouble for it.

I don’t blame appraisers for being extra cautious about not turning in inflated appraisals. That being said, I think that some appraisers are going to the opposite extreme now and are under appraising properties which are having a negative effect on Orlando Home sales.

Here’s a tip on dealing with the appraiser

Make sure the agents on both sides of your transaction have created a CMA [Current Market Analysis] that demonstrates how the market has changed in the past six months or less. Then make sure the appraiser gets a copy.

Your sale or purchase doesn’t have to be jeopardized simply because the appraiser doesn’t have — or chooses not to collect — all the relevant recent facts.

Jenny Zamora Lic Orlando RE Broker

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As the Unemployment Rate Falls, Orlando Real Estate Sales Improve

Publicado el por Jenny Zamora

Orlando Realty sales improve partly because of less unemployment

 

 

The unemployment rate in the state Florida dropped one tenth of a percent in May. That is the lowest we’ve seen it since 2008. It makes perfect sense that this is having a positive effect on state tax collections, and Florida real estate transactions are leading the way. With less unemployment  things are moving forward again. Not just in the Orlando real estate market, but across everything else the board.

 

Florida banks are lending money again.  This not only helps people get loans to buy property, but since the beginning of 2012 financial institutions have created fifty seven hundred new jobs in Florida.  In fact, Florida’s financial institutions account for 1 out of every 10 new jobs created in Florida since the first of the year.

 

The fact that pending sales in Florida are up thirty five percent is proof that people are back in the market ready to buy. It’s a fact that if your making enough money to pay your bills and support your family, your happy.  If you’re happy you will spend more money and feel good about it, it’s just human nature. This is why the Orlando market is improving at the rate that it is. People feel like the recession is behind them and there is hope again. Fact: the #1 cause of divorce in our country is financial problems. I’m not certain but I would guess that the divorce rate in Florida overall has also dropped together with the unemployment rate.

 

Foreign nationals Purchasing 1 out of every 6 Orlando Properties

 

With Orlando Realty prices being what they were, foreign nationals are making some serious home purchases. Whether it’s for a vacation home or to move in as a primary residence to escape the cold once and for all. Orlando Real Estate is a hot commodity for people oversees. I have been working with some English investors for several years now which have purchased at least a dozen Orlando properties from us since 2008.

 

New Construction in Orlando Still Suffering

 

Although we’re seeing dramatic improvements in the Orlando real estate market lately, new construction still remains one of the hardest hit areas in Florida’s economy, losing about 20,000 jobs within the last year. Orlando Real estate Developers are going to have to come up with some even bigger incentives in order to compete with the rest of the market.

 

Jenny Zamora, Lic RE Broker/ Orlando Real Estate Expert

 

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New rules set to improve turn around time for Orlando Short Sales

Publicado el por Jenny Zamora

 Orlando Short Sale Process should be much faster with new rules in place

With the new rules regarding short sales taking effect this month, federal regulators are hoping to streamline the entire Orlando short sale process from beginning to end for residential properties.

The new regulations which will regulate both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,  forces the agencies to give short sale buyers a yes or no answer within a 60 day time period. The rule is supposed to go into effect on the 15th of this month.

The rules also force the agencies to respond to initial requests for short sales within 30 days of receiving a buyer’s offer. For Orlando realtors, this is great news! No longer will they be able to take their own sweet time to respond, which sometimes meant waiting  a couple of months to see if they even considered the offer. And most of the time the buyer would get frustrated and walk away from the potential deal.

What is an Orlando short sale?

For those of you who don’t know, a short sale is when a lender agrees to accept a contract price for less than what is owed on the mortgage.  Bienes raíces en Orlando values have dropped an average of 35 to 45 percent since 2007 leaving many homeowners with more debt than their home is worth.

Orlando short sales are very popular right now. It’s the perfect solution for the sellers, the buyers, Orlando realtors and the lenders. Lenders get to recoup some of their money back, Sellers are able to get rid of an enormous debt and avoid Orlando foreclosure, Buyers get a great deal on an Orlando property, and it gives realtors an opportunity to earn their money. Any Orlando short sale realtor can tell you that negotiating a short sale is no walk in the park

I believe that with the new short sale rules in place will benefit the entire Florida housing market.

Lenders prefer short sales because they are much more efficient than foreclosures. Although many homeowners have become casualties of lengthy and unpredictable time frames that it takes to process a Florida short sale.

We’ve closed thousands of Orlando short sales over the years and I can tell you from experience that unless you’ve worked with certain lenders before, there’s no way of knowing how it’s all going to play out. We’ve worked some that have taken 60 days from start to finish and some that have taken two and a half years to complete.

 

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The HARP Program is a Real “Life Changer” for Orlando Homeowners

Publicado el por Jenny Zamora

 What Is The HARP Program?

HARP is the Home Affordable Refinance Program. It was an initiative by the Obama Administration begun in 2009 to allow underwater homeowners to refinance their homes at today’s low mortgage rates. The program is currently available to homeowners through June 30, 2012.

If you are current on your mortgage, with or without equity, then you are eligible for this program and there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t apply for HARP. It doesn’t cost anything to apply and it could the answer to your mortgage problems.

The government continues to purchase mortgage backed securities and rates continue to fall and are near record lows.

HARP allows you take advantage of current market rates even if you are “underwater”. These programs are Financial “Life-Changers”. They are also available for a limited time as determined by congress so people need to act now to take advantage of this stimulus program, and lower their monthly payment and/or term.

We’ve helped many Orlando homeowners to qualify for the HARP program since 2009 when it began. Sometimes people will come into my office thinking that their only option is to sell their Orlando property by way of short sale or by bringing money to the closing table. When I sit down with a client I like to know why they are selling. If an Orlando homeowner tells me that they would love to keep their Orlando property and they’re only selling because they can no longer  afford the payment, I will usually recommend that they apply for HARP before trying to apply for any other programs.

For clients that truly want to keep their Orlando homes, we explore every option available to them to achieve that result. It’s only after we’ve exhausted all means to try and keep the house do we resort to selling it.

Recent HARP applications Surge

According to a recent article in National Mortgage News, the five largest mortgage servicers have seen approximately 400,000 applications for refinancing under the new program. People are starting to become more aware of HARP but for some reason 9 out of 10 of eligible Homeowners still fail to take advantage of this government program.

Many people that are upside down in their mortgage automatically believe that they can’t re-finance. With the HARP you can!

Doing an Orlando Short Sale may be your best option

If you decide that an Orlando short sale is the best option for you, we then try to get you qualified for programs such as HAFA which allows the seller to leave the closing table with a minimum of $3,000.00. Depending on who the lender is, we’ve been able to get some of our clients up to $30,000.00 back in some cases. How’s that for a bailout package?

 

 

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Jenny Zamora Broker

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