Orlando Real Estate

You can go to www.DavidWelch.com anytime for a list of foreclosures in Orlando near downtown. I update the list every week. You don't have to do a lot of searching, just click. I also keep an updated list of properties for sale under $200,000. If you would like to search for properties yourself that is available on my home page as well. The search is tied directly into the Orlando MLS, so you get the latest information.

www.DavidWelch.com, www.OrlandoAreaRealtor.com

Coldwell Banker of Central Florida reported, in the Orlando Sentinel today, their best sales month since March of 2007. They reported 520 sales transaction sides in April compared with 502 in March of last year. 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-realestate0808may08,0,998093.story

This is just more evidence of what I have been saying in my Orlando Real Estate blog. Sales are picking up. That is the first step in a recovery or turnaround. Prices always lag sales, so we will see prices continue to decline somewhat.

www.DavidWelch.com, www.OrlandoAreaRealtor.com

The expectation is that pending sales for existing homes in March will be down. That report is due out today for the nation. While real estate markets around the country and the world do have an effect on our local market, real estate is far more dependent on local economics. Certainly, if someone has to sell their home in LA to purchase a home in Orlando, it has an impact. That accounts for a percentage of home sales, as do the investors that are picking up steals in areas that have been hit hardest by downturns. If the investor finds better buys in Las Vegas, they may not buy a rental in Orlando.

Locally, we are expected to continue growing and adding jobs. Prices have come down quite a bit since last year making homes more affordable. The median wage will buy the median priced home in Orlando. These are the factors that are fueling the rising pending sale in our market. While nationally pending sales have been on the decline, our pending sales have increased each month so far in 2008. The number of new contracts written as well as the total number of pending sales has increased each month through April. Closed sales have also increased each month so far this year. So, when you see the headlines be thankful that the Orlando market is actually doing better than many others.

www.DavidWelch.com, www.OrlandoAreaRealtor.com

Zillow numbers came out, and the Orlando Sentinel jumped on the "bad news". They tried to make Zillow sound like they are some kind of authority on real estate values. They have an algorithm that estimates values based upon publicly available information. I will say that there are times when the number Zillow comes up with is in the ball park, but there are far more times when it is not even close to reality.

Please don't get me wrong, I am not bashing Zillow. I am just not praising them either. I advertise my listings on the Zillow website, and I always check to see what their estimated value is. When I sit down with a seller, there is a good chance they have already seen the Zillow estimate of their home. If I am working with a buyer, they almost certainly have checked the house out on Zillow. It is a great resource for publicly available information on properties. Unfortunately, it is only as good as the public information and their algorithm.

The article today created a lot of comments about the state of the Orlando Real Estate market.

www.DavidWelch.com, www.OrlandoAreaRealtor.com

Well today is the day that the association statistician cuts off the data coming in. I hope everyone has registered their sales from April. I have a feeling folks are getting things in the MLS in a more timely manner. As of today there were 1,161 closed sales for April that is up 81 sales from March. Of that number 206 were showing as either a pre-foreclosure or foreclosure making up 17.7% of the total sales. The current inventory is 26,960 with 4,512 showing up in one of the foreclosure categories or 16.7% of the total inventory in the tri-county area. We had a couple hundred listings expire at the end of the month, but not as many as we have been seeing. The pendings remain very strong with 2,998 contracts and a huge 965 of them in a foreclosure status representing 32.2%.

The distressed properties are definitely having an impact on the median price. Today I show the median at $210,000. That is a big drop from March's $220,000. It seems prices have really come down and it should effect our sales numbers favorably. About 25% of the homes that sold last month had no price changes and had contracts on them in 45 days on average. It looks like pricing is coming in line with buyers expectations. The 75% that did have a price reduction saw contracts with 36 days of the price change on average. The homes with price changes spent about 90 days longer on market overall compared with the homes that were priced well from the beginning.

www.davidwelch.com, www.OrlandoAreaRealtor.com

Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where politics over powered good sense. We have so many legsilators here in Central Florida who have worked to get this through, but some other Senators saw this as just a "nice to have" when it is a real need. The day this died in the Senate a report came out ranking Orlando as number four in worst traffic. Tens of millions have already been spent, and a lot of local effort to prepare for commuter rail has been put forth. Now, thanks to some of our neighbors to the south we stand to lose out on $300 million in federal money to get this done.

As a Realtor, I see the importance of this in improving the lives of everyone in the Orlando metro area. It reduces traffic congestion and reduces emmissions so we can enjoy cleaner air. It also makes life more affordable for those who have to spend hours on I-4 everyday in addition to hundreds of dollars a month in gas to sit in traffic. This project may only be 61 miles long to begin with, but it would serve as a backbone for a public transit system that could directly improve the lives of probably a million people.

Central Florida contributes more to the state's revenues than probably the rest of the state combined. I know that  Orange county is the largest net "donor". Unfortunately, I believe there are politicians more interested in the next election than the long term health of our state's citizens and economy.

www.OrlandoAreaRealtor.com

Sales overall are up, but prices are down. When April numbers are reported we should see better than 1,200 closed sales which is up from 1,080 in March. The median price, however, is continuing to float down. I expect April's median price to be about $5,000 less than March. It is just part of the economic dynamics we are dealing with right now.

I did a study on last month's closed sales and found that about 3/4 of the sales had price reductions, and the contracts came within 36 days on average after the price change. The homes without price changes had contracts within 45 days of the listing on average. The second group on average was priced about $6,000 less but
sold 90 days sooner than the homes with price changes.

www.davidwelch.com    www.OrlandoAreaRealtor.com

Please contact your state legislators, and let them know how important this is to our community. This issue has been voted on so many times, and is facing yet another vote. Check out the www.OrlandoSentinel.com article about this important issue. This really will have long term implications toward our quality of life in the Orlando area. It also affects our economy as gasoline becomes such a budget hog. The benefits of this will not be obvious immediately, but there will be benefits for everyone in the Orlando area. Less congestion on the main arteries, I-4, 417, and 429. East - West travel will be affected too because it will be able to flow better at the I-4 interchanges.

www.OrlandoAreaRealtor.com