June 2012 
There are 6 blog entries for June 2012.
Central Florida's Market Report for April 2012 (Part 3)
Tuesday, June 26th, 2012 at 8:14am. 207 Views, 0 Comments.
The final statistics that we can get from ORRA's April report (that I have covered in Part 1 and Part 2) regard homes under contract and properties that were either expired or withdrawn.
The number of properties that have gone under contract has remained about the same since April of 2011. In 2011, 9,955 homes were under contract. This year, in April 2012, there were 10,078 homes under contract - an increase, but a slight one. If I had to guess, based on how the market is right now, I would say that the majority of those homes are probably short sales.
More encouraging is the fact that the number of expired and withdrawn properties has been cut almost in half since 2011. With so many other numbers remaining consistent, this means that in…
Central Florida's Market Report for April 2012 (Part 2)
Friday, June 22nd, 2012 at 8:16am. 239 Views, 0 Comments.
Once again, the Orlando Regional Realtor Association (ORRA) recently released a report on the Central Florida real estate market in April (May is still on its way). As I mentioned in my previous blog, the numbers are encouraging.
Over the last year, the number of homes that go under contract has remained pretty consistent with the number of new listings. In April of 2012, there were 3,432 new listings and 3,497 new sales contracts written. These numbers have remained nearly constant over the past year. This means that homes are selling at close to the same rate that new homes are coming on the market.
There are more encouraging numbers. The average amount of days on the market for homes has dropped from 104 in April of 2011 to 87 days…
Central Florida's Market Report for April 2012 (Part 1)
Tuesday, June 19th, 2012 at 10:06am. 363 Views, 0 Comments.
The Orlando Regional Realtor Association (ORRA) has printed the real estate activity report for the Orlando area in April (May's report is coming soon). This report covers residential properties in Central Florida, not vacant land or commercial property. The report is encouraging. It shows that the number of homes on the market continues to drop - down to 8,642, almost 3,000 fewer homes for sale than the same month last year.
Obviously, this is great news for sellers. Fewer homes on the market means less competition and a little more power when selling your home. But buyers aren't missing out either. There are still enough homes out there (including foreclosures and short sales) that there are many deals to be found. The market has…
Be Prepared: Emergency Essentials for Your Home
Tuesday, June 12th, 2012 at 10:05am. 587 Views, 2 Comments.
Your home is your castle and your castle needs to be defended from disaster. Unfortunately, disaster strikes when you least expect it so you have to try to prepare for everything. Here are a few tips to help keep you safe in your home.
Detecting the Threat
The best way to handle any emergency is to respond quickly. For that, you need to make sure that your home tells you when it's in trouble. Luckily, there are a number of great detectors that you can install for this purpose.
Of course, it's extremely important to have smoke detectors installed in your home and make sure that the batteries are changed regularly. It's especially important to make sure that you have one in the kitchen, where the vast majority of house fires…
When It's NOT a Good Idea to Low-Ball
Tuesday, June 5th, 2012 at 2:54pm. 282 Views, 0 Comments.
Though it's not as one-sided as it was a year or two ago, buyers still have the upper hand in the market right now. Many buyers use this as an opportunity to low-ball their offers, hoping that the combination of a tough market and a desperate seller will be enough to get a great deal. Of course, this does work in many cases and many buyers have gotten wonderful houses for lower prices this way. But it doesn't work every time and there are some times when you really shouldn't even try it.
Newly Listed Bank-Owned Property
There are a few reasons you don't want to low-ball an offer on one of these homes. For one, bank-owned properties often get a lot of attention when they're put up on the market. These homes are seen as great deals…
Wells Fargo Planning to Invest $30 Million to Boost Florida Market
Friday, June 1st, 2012 at 9:11am. 420 Views, 2 Comments.
There may be some help coming to Orlando's hardest hit neighborhoods in the form of Wells Fargo's NeighborhoodLIFT program - a plan to offer homebuyers downpayment assistance and support programs, and reduce the flood of empty foreclosure properties on the market.
This weekend, in Miami, Wells Fargo, along with the City of Miami and NeighborWorks America, are putting on a large, free homebuyer workshop at the Miami Airport Convention Center. This workshop is meant to introduce the NeighborhoodLIFT program to potential homebuyers.
The program will offer up to $15,000 in downpayment assistance for buyers who qualify. There are a number of different criteria that buyers will have to meet to receive the assistance, including having an annual…