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.
Are Orlando Short Sale properties being valued correctly?
The valuation of an Orlando short sale, as determined by the short sale lender, is probably the single most important factor of the transaction. The way it works is; we submit an offer to the bank, then the bank will order a BPO [Brokers price opinion] on the property. This person will usually be a local realtor that will go out and take photos of the property, record any damages that need repairing and after they put everything together they will complete their “BPO report” [their opinion of what the property is worth] to send to the short sale bank or the agency that hired them.
At this point there are three things that can happen that will dictate what follows.
1- The BPO comes in at a fair number that everyone is happy with and we proceed to closing.
2- The BPO comes in too low and the bank insists on another one being done. I hate when this happens because the 2nd BPO will almost always come in too high.
3- The BPO comes in so ridiculously high that the Orlando realtor has no choice but to insist that the short sale lender either order another BPO or walk away from the deal. [not on my watch]
Getting the Orlando short sale lender to order another BPO
Like an attorney presenting his case in court, it’s all about what you can prove to the lender.
We do this by preparing a report of our own called a CMA [comparative market analysis]. This report contains even more information than the BPO agent provided them with. Although reports can vary, from a two-page list of comparable home sales to a 50-page comprehensive guide, the length and complexity of the report depends on the Orlando realtor preparing it. What a CMA basically comes down to is a list of Active, Pending and Sold listings.
Active Listings- Active listings are homes currently for sale. These listings matter only to the extent that they are your competition for buyers.
Pending Listings-Pending sale homes are formerly active listings that are under contract. They have not yet closed, so they are not yet a comparable sale.
Sold Listings- These are homes that have closed within the past six months and are typically your best source for comparable sales.
In addition to preparing a CMA for the short sale lender we provide them with a contractors estimate for repairs, lots of photos and a detailed letter explaining our case and why our offer is what it is.
Here at Orlando Realty Consultants we take the Orlando short sale process very seriously because we know what’s at stake for everyone involved, especially the sellers that I am representing. I tell all my Orlando agents to treat these situations as if they were an attorney preparing for the case of a lifetime.
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
“All cash deal” is one of my favorite phrases to hear regarding Orlando Real estate. Real estate deals that are purchased with all cash actually account for two thirds of all Orlando Florida residential deals closed. Cash deals are usually done by private investors or a group of investors that pool their cash together to buy investment homes to either rent out or flip.
The ”All Cash “ trend started in 2008 and in my opinion was great for the once “troubled” Orlando real estate market. Cash buyers took care of a lot of the inventory causing residential real estate prices to rise.
I have several Orlando Investors that I’ve been working with for several years. They are great to work with because already know what type of Orlando properties they are looking for and we’ve established mutual trust. So much so that they’ve purchased many of our properties site-unseen.
Of course cash buyers make lower offers than retail buyers, but they make up for it in volume. The best part about selling a property to one of my investors… Guess who you think they will call when they are ready to sell it? That’s right, yours Truly.
Cash Deals are Dominating all Spectrums of Orlando Realty
Cash buyers don’t discriminate against high end properties either. Orlando properties from below 100k all the way into the millions are being bought up buy Cash buyers. Educated home buyers are aware that when a you make a cash offer on a property that your offer will draw more attention than an offer for the same amount using traditional financing.
57% of all my Orlando listings closed this year have been all cash. Buyers know that in order to get the best sales price possible cash is the best incentive that you can offer. No one likes to have to wait around for a potential home buyer to go through a long drawn out approval process where at the end of the day may or may not close. Also, lenders have a very strict inspection guidelines which are proven deal killers.
