Junior lien holders are taking Potential Orlando short sales hostage.
The truth is that bargaining with second and third-lien holders is tough and causes serious delays deals and even killing some Orlando short sales, even though banks embrace the whole Florida short sale trend in order to avoid costly foreclosures and help clear the market of homes that are worth less than the loans on them.
There are private mortgage collection firms out there that buy up distressed U.S. home- equity loans and other junior real estate liens, often for pennies on the dollar. If your 2nd lien was bought up by one of these companies, then chances are thatthey will be much tougher to deal with than the original lien holder would have been.
The ever improving Orlando Real Estate market creates a great opportunity for these second lien holders to get a nice chunk of their money back. They are aware thatyou need them to cooperate with you in order to get the deal closed. The problem is some of these junior lien holders get to greedy and the result is the deal falling through.
Orlando short sales are being held up by second liens
Almost 50%of all Orlando homes that enter into foreclosure have more than one lien attached. Any Orlando short sale realtor can tell you that short sales with multiple lien holders requires a lot more work to complete and typically can take longer to sell. You pretty much have to do twice or even three times the work depending on how many liens are attached.
It reminds me of a hostage situation “Give me the money or I’ll kill your deal”
When it comes to Selling Orlando Real Estate, there’s only one chance to Sweep potential buyers Off their Feet.
Top Orlando realtors know the importance of staging a house to get it sold. The truth is, with the exception of owner occupied homes that are furnished because the homeowners still live their, hardly any one wants to spend the money to have their house staged for showings. Even the houses that are owner occupied and fully furnished can work against you. Let’s face it, not everyone has the best taste to pick out furniture or decorating a home to look it’s very best.
I’ve entered many owner occupied Orlando homes and have been forced to have that ever so awkward conversation with the seller about removing some of their personal belongings, de-clutter and sometimes about just basic cleaning.
Have you ever had to tell a cat lover that they need to get the cat smell out of their house, or even better, relocate the cat so we can get the property sold? Not funnest part of my job!
As an Orlando Listing Agent it’s my job to do my very best at getting my clients Orlando Property sold, and sometimes sellers will get their feelings hurt. Usually, once I explain to the seller why we need to do certain things to their home sold for the highest price possible, they understand that ultimately it’s for their own good.
I also make them understand that as a Top Orlando Broker, people seek me out for quality Orlando properties and it’s my responsibility to show everyone of my listings in the best light possible.
Top Tips on making your Orlando Property look it’s best with little or no money
1-Cleaning and De-Cluttering– If you could only do one single thing to a house to make it look better, it would be to clean it and get rid of the clutter. Most potential buyers don’t have the imagination to see anything except what you are showing them. So in other words the perception is the reality. Start by removing everything that you possibly can into the garage or out front. If possible, remove any large pieces of furniture that can make a room feel small and uncomfortable. Also, you should remove as many personal items as possible and put them in storage. Next,… clean, clean and clean more. Make every surface of your house as clean as possible, I prefer the term “sparkle”.
Warning: Once you clean and De-Clutter your home like never before, you run the risk of falling in love with it all over again and not wanting to move anymore.
2-Lighting– To show a house in it’s best light possible, you start with light and lots of it. There’s nothing worse than showing a house that looks dim and dark when you first walk in [that’s what they’ll remember]. Ample illumination can make a home feel warm, inviting and even larger and open. Lightening and brightening a home can offer one of the biggest returns to sellers at resale next to Cleaning, De-cluttering and paint. To make sure you get maximum benefit from your lighting efforts here are a few suggestions
a. Use clear light bulbs instead of opaque for a cleaner look- Get rid of any mismatched bulbs, they are an eye sore and can make a room feel chaotic. Also, avoid using those energy efficient bulbs that emit a harsh glare, instead use standard incandescent bulbs for a warm soft white light that. b. Clean or Update old lighting fixtures- If it’s not in your budget to update old light fixtures, then clean them. It’s a huge turn off to a potential buyer to look up at light fixture and see dust, spider webs and dead insects. I know it’s a pain to get the ladder out if the garage and clean fixtures that haven’t been cleaned in quite a while, but well worth your time and effort. c. Take advantage of window lighting- Start from the outside in, clean the glass and the screens. If the screens look really bad, get rid of them. Old screens can make a window look awful and I’ve never seen a deal fall through because of a house not having screens on the windows. On the inside get rid of any curtains or other window dressings that can be keeping the light from getting into the house.
3-Fresh Paint- If you were able to complete my first 2 suggestions, then you are off to a great start and many times you don’t need this final step. However, if you have chipped, scratched and missing paint on some of your walls, or if the colors you have on your walls now are very personal to you then you should definitely consider painting. Some people will see a color on the walls that they don’t care for and for that reason alone not like the house and not make an offer. If your house is extremely colorful to the point where it might turn some potential buyers off my suggestion is to paint all the interior walls off white. You can’t go wrong with off white; it’s bright, soft and elegant all rolled in to one. My husband is an experienced Orlando Real Estate Investor/Re-habber and he paints everyone of his Orlando properties “off white” with the trim “bright white”. You really can’t go wrong with this combination. It makes the house look clean, spacious and elegant. Also, these colors are very easy to paint over for new homeowners wanting a more dramatic look.
I hope this information was helpful to anyone looking to sell their Orlando property. If you would like to see how much your house would sell for in today’s market, even if you have no intention of selling. Feel free to come see us for a Free Consultation or call 407-902-7750
Orlando Real Estate agents are trying anything to lure new sellers and get the listing.
It’s no longer enough just to send out a few thousand post cards and wait for the phone to ring. These days Orlando real estate agentsare getting more and more aggressive when it comes to marketing to new sellers. This is not only the case with Orlando realtors, real estate agents across the U.S. are doing their best to lure sellers into giving them the listing.
Some Orlando realtors host happy hours a local bars in hopes of picking up a new listing while others comb through public records to find out who has lived in their home for more than 10 years and may be ready for a change in scenery. Bank owned properties that were once hitting the market like wildfire are on the decline. In the first quarter of this year, foreclosure filings were at their lowest level since 2007.
Orlando Homeowners are waiting it out
The once plentiful sea of available Orlando Real Estate is drying up fast, but Orlando sellers aren’t budging. Sellers know if they wait out the slow rise in home prices, that they can sell their home for more than it’s worth at present, leaving them closer to the original price they paid or at least closer to what remains on their mortgage. Some homeowners are even hoping to make a nice profit when they sell their Orlando property.
Marketing Orlando Realty Consultants
Here at Orlando Realty Consultants we have just about all the business we can handle from referrals. We get referrals on a daily basis from either past clients that we’ve helped, other realtors that need help with a short sale and even banks that we’ve established good relationships with over the past 7 years.
Like most successful Orlando Brokerages, we started by using traditional methods of marketing for buyers and sellers such as postcards, newspaper ads, etc. but it just got to the point where we just didn’t need to do it anymore. As a matter of fact, the only form of marketing that we do is this blog which is attached to our website, and it was never intended to be about marketing for more clients. I started writing a blog so that people could easily get valuable information about Orlando Real Estate, which happens to be be one of my passions.
Jenny Zamora, Lic Orlando RE Broker. Ask me anything, I’m here to help.
Last week I picked up a beautiful $300,000.00 listing in Winter Springs. Less then a week later a man calling himself Dr. Andrew Cowley contacts me through my Orlando Realty Consultants website regarding this listing, it went something like this.. I am Dr. Cowley from the UK and I found my dream house on your website. I want to submit a full offer contract on it right away and I would like to submit an offer for $5,000.00 less than the listing price”. A day or two go by and Dr. Cowley sends in the offer for almost full offer price complete with his financial statements which showed a balance of $5,856,765.00 .
I thought to myself, great! This guy really wants the house and even more importantly he really has the money. Being the only Orlando agent involved, I stood to make an $18,000.00 commission and it was all supposed to be done within a week. I got my seller to sign the contract, collected a $195,000.00 deposit from Dr. Bs and submitted everything to my Title Co.
The next day I get a call from my title company that blew me away. My title agent informed me that as soon as he submitted everything to underwriting, about a million red flags went up when Dr. Cowley name was submitted. Apparently, this guy has been ripping off title companies throughout Central Florida, and now they were on to him.
When something appears to be “To Good to be True” it probably is, especially when it comes to Orlando real estate
Here is how his scam worked. First he finds a house to submit an offer on and contacts the Orlando Listing Agent. He then tells the agent how he is a successful Dr. from the UK and he has the financials to prove it. He also tells the agent how he has to have this house and is ready to buy sight unseen because he doesn’t want to lose it. The whole time, he goes back and forth the the agent on details of the contract to make himself more believable. Finally, after all thishe sends in a signed contract with a deposit of $195,000.00, when the contract only requires a $2,000.00 deposit.
Here’s the kicker…. A couple of days later, he contacts the title company and tells them that his wife had a miscarriage and he really can’t move forward with the deal and that he needs his full deposit back immediately. By doing this two days after he sends the deposit, he knows that his bad check is still being processed and requests the title company to wire him complete deposit amount immediately.
I know what you’re thinking… Do title companies really fall for this scam?! Thank God my Title company is on top of things and saw this guy coming a mile away. However, there was a title company that actually fell for this scam and he got away with it!
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.
