Orlando Real Estate

I have three home listed right now ranging in price from $299,999 to $819,900, and they are getting more looks than just about anything else I have on the market. The only other home I have that is getting more attention is priced at $169,900 which is below recent appraisal. To check out these four homes just click the address: 3810 Marsh Lilly, 705 Conesus Ln, 3650 Lower Park Rd, 124 Pine Arbor. The two most expensive homes 705 Conesus and 3650 Lower Park are getting the highest traffic on all of my websites, and they are getting showings as well. They are both in terrific areas and offer five bedrooms and four bathrooms. The home on Conesus Lane is located in Tuscawilla in Winter Springs, and the home on Lower Park Road is in Baldwin Park directly across the street from Blue Jacket Park. Both are in excellent school districts and highly sought after neighborhoods.

If you would like to see either one, give me a call directly at 407-924-7670 or e-mail me at sellmyhome@davidwelch.com.

Orlando Real Estate, David Welch Real Estate Optimist

It is July 1st, and we are half way through the year. So far we have seen house prices as measured by the median sales price drop pretty significantly. At the same time we have see interest rates at historic lows, and tax credits for first time home buyers. The result of the low prices, low interest rates and first time buyer incentives has been a dramatic increase in sales. The sales don't even paint the whole picture because the number of pending sales has skyrocketed. There are currently over 7,000 contracts pending, and I know they will not all close. If only half of them closed our sales numbers would be better by about 500 transactions each month. The banks' inability to get short sales approved, REO's cleared to close and loans finalized has been a big impediment to closing deals. Add to this the new HVCC regulations, and getting contracts to closing has been the single biggest hurdle.

In the next six months, I expect to see the pace of contracts and sales to continue at a fairly high pace through the summer before slowing down in the last quarter of the year. We should see a big push in October as first time home buyers take advantage of the tax credit before it expires at the end of November. I do not expect to see prices moving very much in either direction for at least the next six months as inventory has continued to drop. Interest rates however, will begin to climb by the fourth quarter as the Fed's policy of buying up mortgage backed securities begins to slow. I don't know that they will have to begin raising their rates before the year is up, but it is likely. The economy will almost certainly begin to improve, although employment numbers will not begin to improve before next summer. In a nutshell, the next six months is probably not going to look much different than the last six months in a lot of ways. I am hopeful that banks will begin to loosen up a little, so that we can get transactions closed. The sales pace will probably slow a bit as the great deals get bought up. If interest rates begin to go up, watch for the sales pace to improve as well. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it is still a long tunnel.

Orlando Real Estate, David Welch Real Estate Optimist

Guess what I was doing today. I was shooting a few segments for the show House Hunters on HGTV. I can't say too much about it, except to say that is was a lot of fun working on this part today. It was great meeting the producer Josh and the cameraman Wayne and soundman John. Wayne and John both attended Full Sail here in Orlando. I thought that was pretty cool. I hope I did OK. We still have to shoot the scenes of the home search, but that may be a while. I don't expect the episode to air for several months. It will be fun trying to figure out which house they will choose.

Orlando Real Estate, David Welch Real Estate Optimist, @RealtyOptimist

Check out my site www.FirsTimeBuyer.info for information about a statewide bond program that offers up to $10,000 for qualified buyers. I also placed my demo video for the show House Hunters on the page with my opinion of what is going on in the Orlando real estate market. If you qualify for the bond program, you could get $10,000 from the state to help you get into your first home, and still get the $8,000 from the federal government as a a first time home buyer. That is a total of $18,000 of free money. It is actually possible to get into your first home with no money down and actually get paid $8,000. Prices are half of what they were at the peak, there are still a lot of homes for sale and interest rates are very low. Prices and interest rates won't stay low forever, and the number of homes for sale has already dropped significantly, and the $8,000 credit is set to go away November 30, 2009.

Orlando Real Estate, David Welch Real Estate Optimist, @RealtyOptimist

The number of sales pending in Orlando continues to climb. We are over the 7,000 mark right now, and adding to that total each month. In the past the pending sales were the best indicator of future closings. That is still true, but the relationship between the two is getting skewed by a number of factors. First, short sales are a large percentage of the the total number of pending sales. They account for close to half of all the contracts pending, but only a small number are closing each month. Second, bank owned properties are often difficult to close because of title issues and difficulty in obtaining estoppels from home owners associations and condominium associations. Finally, issues with closing purchase loans have lengthened the time to close by about 50% compared with our typical 30 day closing.

I try to keep up with the number of closed sales more closely, and as of this morning there were 1,104 closed sales posted with a median sales price of $130,000 which is right in line with the past two months. The total number of active listings is just over 18,300. The banks ability to approve short sales in a timely manner, clear title on their REO's and close loans is at the core of the build up of pending sales due to delays. If you look at the number of contracts written each month, I think you will see a far greater indicator of the demand for Orlando Real Estate. New contracts have risen each month since November: 11/08 1,644; 12/08 1,871; 1/09 2,282; 2/09 2,434; 3/09 2,956; 4/09 3,412; 5/09 3,455. The number of contracts written is running almost double the number of closed sales each month.

Orlando Real Estate, David Welch Real Estate Optimist, @RealtyOptimist