The internet is a great way to search for Orlando Realty
According to several research groups, Orlando was the #1 city for online home searches for the second quarter in a row. Potential Orlando home buyers are scouring the internet looking for their own little piece of Orlando Real Estate.“The City Beautiful” is a place that is extremely desirable for young families because of the abundance of family-friendly activities, amusement parks and beautifully planned neighborhoods.
Orlando is also home to some of the top schools in the state. When you put all of these factors together, Orlando is the perfect place to raise a family and it doesn’t surprise me at all that it’s one of the most sought after places to live in America.
Orlando Realty Consultants enables you to search for Orlando property quickly and easily like a pro
It’s never been easier for potential home buyers to search for Orlando Realty online. By using state of the art property search tools, people are able to quickly and easily search the entire state of Florida for their perfect home. As a matter of fact, many of my potential home buyers already have a list of Orlando properties that they are interested in because they used our Florida property search tool located on our ORC website.
I think that people really appreciate the property search tool because the are able to search for their potential Orlando property at their own pace for free without ever having to contact an Orlando realtor or complete some online registration form that is designed to capture your contact information. Of course, once they find a few properties that they like, they will need a licensed Orlando real estate agent to physically see the properties, but by using the property search tool it saves the potential buyer as well as the real estate agent a lot of time.
Orlando Mansion Officially the largest house in North America
Orlando real estate currently has the record for having the largest singe family residence in North America. At 90,000 square feet David and Jackie Siegel have nicknamed their Orlando property “Versailles” after the royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. This mansion will officially be the largest house in America when [or if] completed. The would-be Versailles will reportedly feature nine kitchens, a bowling alley, three swimming pools and a full baseball diamond.
Here are some other interesting facts for you; 45 foot ceilings, 13 bedrooms, 23 full bathrooms, a 6,000-square-foot master suite, a banquet kitchen plus 8 satellite kitchens, a 20-car garage, three pools, a two-story wine cellar and a grand hall with a 30-foot stained glass dome. Of course, a home doesn’t get named after a famous French palace without a few more obscene extras. There’s also a boat house, formal gardens, a baseball field, two tennis courts and a rock grotto with a waterfall, a fitness center, a two-lane bowling alley, a roller rink, a video arcade and a theater.
The unfinished Orlando mansion is listed right now for $75 million. If you want it completed, it will only cost you a additional $25 million. Mr. Siegel, the chief executive officer of Orlando-based Westgate Resorts, began building the enormous, resort-like mega mansion for himself and his family in the town of Windermere, Fl. in 2007 right when the market crashed. The 76-year-old billionaire and his 46-year-old wife had to stop construction on the home three years ago when the market crashed and financing for Westgate Resorts slowed.
It appears that Mr. Seigel is trying to do the right thing. Instead of putting his extra money into this home, it is reported that he’s putting it back into the company to save the employees. Mr. Siegel has had to cut some of his 12,000 employees at Orlando-based Westgate Resorts.
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
The Income and business of Orlando Realtors is said to be growing after many years of decline, according to the 2012 national association of realtors member profile the median income of a realtor rose 2.3% to $34,000.00 in 2011, which is the first overall gain in over nine years. Licensed brokers typically earned $48,400.00 in 2011, while the median for a sales agent was $27,200.00.
My first reaction when I read this was shock and disbelief. Then I realized that many Orlando realtors only work part time as realtors. Agents that earn such a low income from buying and selling Orlando real estate have other obligations and other employment that has nothing to do with being an Orlando Real estate agent.
In my opinion, there is no way that you can be an Orlando Real Estate Broker part of the time and be successful. To be a successful Orlando realtor you have to absolutely love what you do. And if you don’t love it, guess what, your clients will know.
Personally, I can’t see myself doing anything else but being an Orlando Real Estate professional. I love Orlando and I love helping the people of Orlando with all their housing needs both Sellers and Buyers, especially distressed sellers that need are in need of an Orlando Short Sale Expert. There’s no greater satisfaction in this world than to know that you’ve helped someone to get out of a huge problem and get on with their life.
If you love being an Orlando Realtor, you’ll never work a Day in your Life
NAR [National Association of Realtors] members that have been in business for 16 years or more are averaging $50,200.00 per year…[16 years!!?]. To be a broker for 16 years and only making $50,200.00 doesn’t make much sense to me either. If you put all all of your effort into being a great Orlando realtor for that many years you should be making a much larger yearly income.
I think what happens to some agents is that they start losing their love for being a top realtor and they just stop trying their best. Once this happens in any occupation it starts getting to the point that you actually start hating your job and just kind of go through the motions as opposed to doing your job with passion and enthusiasm.
I personally have had agents working for me that I’ve seen this happen to. It doesn’t mean that they were bad people, it just means that they weren’t cut out to be a top Orlando real estate agent. Life is just too darn short to do something that you really don’t like to do.
Top Orlando Brokers and Agents
Orlando real estate Brokers and agents putting in over 60 hours per week earned around $81,000.00 per year with only 17% of realtors earning over $100,000.00 per year. These are the go-getters that put 100% of themselves into what they do and love every minute of it.
Being a super successful Orlando Realtor means living your life at a frantic pace and it seems you are being pulled in a hundred different directions because everyone wants a piece of you… It truly is a Great feeling!
