The Orlando FL January 2012 real estate statistics have been provided by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. Here is a direct link to the full MLS statistics details. Below is a summary breakdown of their numbers. This covers Orange and Seminole County Florida, including cities like Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Windermere, Apopka, Ocoee, Altamonte Springs, Longwood, Lake Mary, Winter Springs, and Sanford FL.

                     Inventory      New Listings       New Pendings        Closed         Days on       Median

                                                                                                                 Market         Price

Jan 2009        22,613             4340                   2282                 1050             103       $148,000

Jan 2010        15,911             4279                   3579                 1820              89        $103,000

Jan 2011        14,398             3478                   3747                  2041             96       $ 95,000

Oct 2011          9,973             2997                   3084                  2132             106       $112,500

Nov 2011        10,136            3045                    2887                 2027              99        $115,000

Dec 2011          9,732            2641                    2800                 2213             102       $119,000

Jan 2012          9,258             3318                   3375                 1677              96       $108,000

Inventory in Orlando continues to trickle down.  We saw another big jump in new sale pending properties in January which pushed inventory down another nearly 500 units.  November was the first time in almost a year that we saw new listings exceeded new pendings in nearly a year, but December and January were back in gear with more units selling then coming in. 

Closing in January were down from December but this is a general trend in that January is the first month after the holiday season.  In the meantime, prices have been relatively flat year of year since 2010 - they go up a little then go down a little but at least they are not plummeting like they were in 2008 and 2009.

You can read a detailed analysis from the Orlando Realtors here. Properties continue to sell quickly and multiple offers are often the norm and not the exception on the good properties.  If I can help you buy or sell, please contact me or one of our agents and we will get you on your path to buying or selling that home.

Although there are thousands of homes for sale in most real estate markets, it still seems that the good ones sell quickly (often with multiple offers) and the ones that are still available are priced too high, or junky garbage that nobody wants, or short sales that might make a good value for an owner occupant that is willing to wait.  So where can someone that truly wants a great investment property find the deals? 

Well below is a long list of ideas to put into place.  These ideas are also a great place for Realtors® looking to obtain new listings. Not all these ideas will work in every market and some may be out of date for certain marketplaces, but hopefully they will at least get your brain thinking. 

Most of these ideas boil down to 2 types of properties - (1) properties with motivated owners that nobody knows are for sale, and (2) properties that others have passed over or that nobody wants for whatever reason. So here we go with the first half of the list.  

1.  Place a classified ad or flyer in your daily newspaper.

2.  Place weekly/monthly ads in the Pennysaver or other local weekly city paper.

3.  Advertise in a newsletter -  homeowner’s association, church bulletin, school newsletter, chamber of commerce, specialized industry.

4.  Place an ad in the local Yellow Pages (print or online) - they even have targeted books just for certain cities.

5.  Place an ad in online classifieds - Craigslist, MerchantCircle, Ebay, etc.

6.  Advertise a website using free search engine optimization (SEO), backlinks, etc.

7.  Advertise a website using pay-per-click and ad words – Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.

8.  Advertise using online paid ads on various websites and mobile apps.

9.  Create a real estate blog site.

10.  Search the MLS for junker properties.

11.  Search the MLS for recently expired listings.

12.  Search the MLS for recently withdrawn listings.

13.  Search the MLS for old stale listings - listed for 90 days or more.

14.  Search the MLS for REOs and other foreclosures.

15.  Search the MLS for specific key words – “foreclosure, probate, fixer upper, etc.”

16.  Hire a Realtor® to help you find a great deal or one not yet in the MLS.

17.  Bandit signs (little cheapo signs by the side of the road or nailed to a phone pole) – signs may be illegal in some jurisdictions so check before putting them out.

18.  Drive neighborhoods looking for For Sale By Owners / FSBO's

19.  Call for sale by owner ads in newspapers, Craigslist, other classifieds.  (Watch the Do Not Call List.)

20.  Network on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin with people looking to sell.

21.  Contact landlords who are evicting a tenant.

22.  Contact landlords with properties for rent.

23.  Contact multi-family property owners - there are lots of tired landlords.

24.  Contact commercial property owners - there are lots of people looking to sell or close their business if they got the right offer.

25.  Pre-foreclosure and lis pendens lists.

26.  Foreclosure auctions.

27.  Sherriff sale auctions.

28.  HUD home auctions.

29.  Tax deed auctions

30.  Ebay and online auctions.

31.  Private auctions conducted by auctioneers – online, on-site, or in a hotel ballroom.

32.  Contact probate owned property owners.

33. Contact people holding estate sales to see if the house is also for sale.

34. Contact divorce forced sales.

35. Contact people holding garage sales and yard sales to see if the house is also for sale.

36. Properties with outstanding building, health code, or code enforcement violations.

37. Properties with insurance claims – fire, storm, sinkhole, earthquake, etc.

38. Contact out of state owners and absentee landlords.

39. Networking with professional people - attorneys, accountants, financial planners, surveyors, etc.

40. Network with service providers - lawnmower service, pool service, contractors, roofers, handyman, etc.

41.  Network with your sphere of influence - hand out your business cards to everyone you know.

42.  Join a local networking group - chamber of commerce, Kiwanis club, garden club.

43.  Network at your local real estate investment or landlord association.

44. Post ads with large employers, military bases, hospitals, relocation companies.

45. Bird dogs that scout for deals and bring them to you. (Paying a bird dog fee to unlicensed people may be illegal in some states, so make sure to obey the law).

46. Buy from a property wholesaler.

47. Magnetic car sign.

48. Bus stop benches.

49. Shopping cart ads.

50. Billboards and other outdoor advertising.

                                                                              Stay tuned for #’s 51-101 in Part 2 … coming soon.

Another month is behind us and more great deals sold in warm & sunny Central Florida.  Check out this sampling of the latest & greatest properties we sold in January.

           Brookway                                         Candlewood                          Stonebriar

1.  Brookway St, Orlando, FL 32817.  Bradford Cove in East Orlando.  Minutes from the University of Central Florida. 3 bed/2.5 bath 2-story home. Showed fantastic and sold for full price at $149,900.

2.  Wilowik Dr, Casselberry, FL 32707.  Fixer upper but a true bargain for a 3/2 with screened swimming pool.  Sold to a cash buyer for $69,000.  Someone got a great deal.

3.  Candlewood Ct, Apopka, FL 32703.  Located in beautiful Wekiva Reserve in Seminole County. 2 bedroom townhome in great condition.  Sold for all cash for $68,500.

4.  Fortunella Dr, Orlando, FL 32822.  Sun Vista Woods subdivision in South Orlando.  4 bed/2 bath in fantastic condition.  Sold to an FHA buyer for $107,500.

5.  Stonebriar Way, Orlando, FL 32826.  Short sale in the Stonebriar subdivision in east Orlando.  4 bed/2 bath home. Sold to a cash buyer for $136,000.

6.  Pale Horse Dr, Orlando, FL 32818.  HUD house in Hiawassee Hills in west Orlando.  4 bed/2 bath and sold for a mere $26,100.  Our office sells tons of Orlando HUD homes.

7.  Forestway Cir, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701.  2 bed/1 bath condo in Lakewood Park - lakefront gated condo community.  Sold to a cash buyer for $36,000.

We would love to help you on your next home purchase or listing.  Our office sells lots of homes around metro Orlando every month and we know how to negotiate to get you the best price whether you are on the buying side or the selling side.  Let us help you make your next real estate deal.

This is a great article on creating a niche in the real estate business.  You don't want your niche to be so narrow that you cannot generate enough business from it. But at the same time you don't want it so broad that you are "just another real estate agent."

The Orlando FL December 2011 real estate stats have been provided by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association.  Here is a direct link to the full MLS statistics details. Below is a summary breakdown of their numbers. This covers Orange and Seminole County Florida, including cities like Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Windermere, Apopka, Ocoee, Altamonte Springs, Longwood, Lake Mary, Winter Springs, and Sanford.

                 Inventory    New Listings    New Pendings  Under Contract     Closed    Days on Market

Dec 2010      14,993        3444                 3196                 8363                 2467            97

Sept 2011      9,931        3193                 3304                 9369                 2243           102

Oct 2011        9,973        2997                 3084                 8937                 2132           106

Nov 2011      10,136        3045                 2887                 8909                 2027            99

Dec 2011       9,732         2641                 2800                 8095                 2125           103

The year end inventory of homes for sale in metro Orlando plummeted to just 9,732 homes for sale.  This is the lowest level we have had since mid-2006.  As is typical of December and the holidays, new listings and new pendings were down from previous months of the year.  Additionally a larger number of properties always expire at year end because December 31 is often the expiration date on many listing agreements and thus 609 listings expired at the end of December. But sales remain steady.  We had almost as many sales last month as we did in October and February 2011 - that is great news. 

Home prices appear to be on the rise.  We have had 4 months in a row where the average home price went up.  December ended the year with a median home price of $118,000 (up from $106,000 in December 2010) and an average home price of $172,500 (up from $146,600 in December 2010).      

Here is an additional analysis put out by the Orlando Realtor Association for you to review as well.  Prices seem to be going back up slow but steadily despite what the media might have you believe.  I am actively buying investment property at the moment as well. Interest rates are extremely low, so do not wait for them to pass before they go back up.  Florida is still on sale but who knows for how long.

New Year's resolutions.  Yuck!  You set them. Then for most people before January even ends, you have already broken them.  I have never been one for making these resolutions.  If you are in the real estate business, then you need to be doing what normal business people do. 

Treat your business LIKE A BUSINESS.  Take the slow time during the winter months to work on your budgets.  Figure out what is and is not working.  Then set some goals, both long-term and short-term for your business. Develop a strategic plan of action to make those goals happen.  I call mine a strategic business plan, and I make sure to review and re-develop it at least once every quarter. 

Maybe that is all a little too deep for your average real estate person, but it should not be.  So here are a few tips on developing and then achieving your goals. 

Just remember the acronym S.M.A.R.T. Your goals need to be:

(1) Specific. Clearly defined and written. If a goal is too vague, it becomes too hard to measure and plan for.  If it is not in writing, then you probably are not serious about it anyway.

(2) Measurable. You need to have some way to determine how close you are to achieving your goal. That way you can make changes as necessary to continue moving forward.

(3) Attainable. A goal needs to be worthy of the time, effort, and expense involved to attain it.  It needs to be something that you can thrust yourself into so that you are motivated to get it accomplished as scheduled.

(4) Realistic.  A goal needs to be just out of reach but not out of sight.  If the goal is too simple to accomplish, you just need to do it and get it out of the way.  If the goal is too difficult to accomplish, you need to break it down into smaller goals.

(5) Timely and tangible. A goal needs a specific deadline to be accomplished by.  This creates a sense of urgency to get it done.

Break your goals down into the smallest denominator that you can. If you have never sold or bought a house before, then selling 50 houses in 2012 might be unrealistic.  However if you want to sell 50 houses in 2012, then that means just over 4 houses selling every month.  If your ratio of converting listings/prospects into a closing is 1 out of 3, then you need to be working on 12 solid leads every month to get 4 to close.  If 4 out of 5 leads are not good prospects, then you need to generate 60 property leads every month (or 15 per week / 3 per business day) in order to get 12 solid leads in order to get 4 to close. The numbers above are just for example, but hopefully you get the drift. 

I spend approximately 30 minutes every Sunday evening planning out my upcoming week.  This helps me get a jump start on Monday morning.  On the last Sunday of every month, I spend another 30 minutes or so setting my goals and plans for the upcoming month; I base these monthly goals on my yearly and longer-term goals for myself and my business.  Additionally every day before I close up shop, I spend about 10 minutes writing up a to-do list for the next day.  I am not a morning person, so if I do not do this I would end up spending 2 hours the next morning floundering around figuring out what I need to do.  Time management software like Microsoft Outlook can make keeping you on track very easy to do.

Regardless of what plans you have for the New Year, set a few goals.  Even if you only accomplish half of what you set out to do, that puts you way ahead of where you would have been otherwise.  I hope that 2012 brings you a fantastic and prosperous year. If you need help or advice with getting your real estate career on track, feel free to contact me.

*** This article was originally posted in 2011. ***

December and the year 2011 are behind us and while typically a slower month at most real estate offices it was busy and steady at Sand Dollar Realty Group.  Plenty of deals closed last month along with some nail biter short sales that the banks wanted off the books before year end.

          Sheeler Hills                                        Pine Sap                             Rouse Run

1. Indiana St, Haines City, FL 33844.  2 bed, 2 bath home built in 1929 with charming wraparound porch.  Great shape, but unfortunately a short sale for the owner.  Sold in December for just $40,000.

2. Ballard St, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701. 3 bed, 2 bath home remodeled nicely by one of our investor clients.  Sold for $77,900. 

3. Sheller Hills Dr, Apopka, FL 32703. 3 bed, 2 bath home fixed up nice and sold to an FHA buyer for very low down payment with seller paying closing costs.  Sold for $81,000.  Amazing what you can buy for that price.

4. Pine Sap Ct, Orlando, FL 32825. 3/2/2 with lots of upgrades.  Located in the Spring Pines subdivision of East Orlando.  Short sale that was negotiated by our professional negotiating team - no charge to you.  Sold for $87,650.

5. Garden Heights Dr, Winter Garden, FL 34787. 4/2/2 house in beautiful Garden Heights neighborhood. Short sale that we closed with Bank of America just before year end. Sold for $125,000.

6. Rouse Run Circle, Orlando, FL 32817. 3/2/2 block house in Rouse Run subdivision just down the road from the University of Central Florida.  House had a great lake view out the back too. $132,000 sales price.

7. Azalea Bloom Dr, Apopka, FL 32712. 4 bed, 2.5 bath house on a hill in Parkside at Errol Estates.  Bank owned REO was in fairly good condition with modern design and lots of square footage.  This foreclosure home sold for $155,000.

8. Hopewell Dr, Ocoee, FL 34761. Big 5/3 with 3-car garage in the Forestbrooke subdivision. Modern home built in 2006 with 2-stories and bonus room over the garage. Sold for $215,000.

9. Riverpark Ct, Longwood, FL 32779. 5 bed, 3 bath estate home off of Markham Woods Road in Springs Landing subdivision. This 2-story home sold to an FHA buyer for $292,500. 

This is just a sampling of the 36 homes we sold last month (the supposed slowest month of the year).  If you are looking to buy or sell in 2012, you have come to the right place.  We have agents that cover all areas of Central Florida from Daytona Beach to Lake Mary to downtown Orlando to Kissimmee to Lakeland and Tampa.  Give us a call and we will get you on the path to selling your home quickly for top dollar or for negotiating you a great deal to purchase.

The Orlando Florida November 2011 real estate statistics have been provided by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association.  Here is a direct link to the full MLS statistics details. Below is a summary breakdown of their numbers. This covers Orange and Seminole County FL, including cities like Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Windermere, Apopka, Ocoee, Altamonte Springs, Longwood, Lake Mary, Winter Springs, and Sanford.

                 Inventory    New Listings    New Pendings  Under Contract     Closed    Days on Market

Nov 2010      15,192        3346                 3243                 8998                 1936            96

Aug 2011     10,055        3264                 3466                 9502                 2500           101

Sept 2011      9,931        3193                 3304                 9369                 2243           102

Oct 2011        9,973        2997                 3084                 8937                 2132           106

Nov 2011      10,136        3045                 2887                 8909                 1950            99

Inventory is down dramatically (nearly 33%) in the last 12 months. It has somewhat leveled off with a very slight increase in units the last 2 months.  Some of this can be attributed to the number of new foreclosures and short sales hitting the market. November was record month for new foreclosure filings in Central Florida.  Also for the first time since December 2010, new listings exceeded new pendings.  There are a lot of elements at play with all this and and I'm not sure what all it means.  Hopefully it is just a temporary slowdown as we hit the Fall and Winter months. 

Prices have remained basically steady but year over year they are up about 9%.  The median price is at $115,000 and the average price is at $153,300 which is about the same prices as they have been since June.     

Here is an additional analysis put out by the Orlando Realtor Association and the Orlando Sentinel for you to review as well.  These analysis both discuss how short sales are actually making it to closing.  Our office has closed a dozen or short sales in the last few weeks, so this is a trend I see as well. We would love to help you buy or sell a house in the near future - nearly 30 houses closed last month.  I bought a great investment home in Casselberry just last month myself and have a few more in the pipeline. It is a great time to buy.  Rates are low and deals are plentiful.

            This is the third article in this series on negotiating.  Real Estate Negotiation Strategies - Part 1 -- Real Estate Negotiation Strategies - Part 2

             Negotiation is a set of learned skills with various strategies to help you achieve the upper-hand over the other party.  Sometimes negotiation can be easy and sometimes it can be quite difficult.  In the first article of this series, we covered win-win negotiating, using power to your advantage, personality types, and body language.  In the second article, we covered motivated sellers and buyers, asking for more than you expect to get, price bracketing, and some simple phrases to get the other side re-negotiating with themselves.  This third and final article will get into some advanced negotiating techniques to help you close deals so that they end up in your favor.

            Whenever you negotiate with someone, you want to make sure that you have all parties present.  If a husband and wife or several partners are involved you want to make sure that you get every decision-maker together when you negotiate.  Otherwise they most likely cannot make a decision and will end up re-negotiating with you in the future.  So before you get into any serious negotiating, always ask if there is anybody else that will be assisting them in making the decision.  On the reverse angle, when you negotiate you can often get the upper hand by having a second person on your team to assist in the negotiations.  You can use the strategy of a “higher authority” to put the blame on a partner or some other person as to why you cannot sell at a certain price.  Bank short sale departments do this all the time.  Their undisclosed “investor” is not willing to cut a deal to make the short sale happen and the bank will never let you speak directly with this party that they are supposedly negotiating for. 

This is one of the great advantages of having a 3^rd party negotiate on your behalf.  A real estate agent or attorney acts as a professional negotiator and can actually help you get a better deal than you could on your own.  This 3^rd party buffers out all the emotions from the transaction and allows you as a principal to only concentrate on the numbers and facts.  On the other hand though, this can greatly separate the parties from all the body language, personalities, etc. that can help you in a negotiation, so there are some pros and cons.  Also make sure if you do hire a 3^rd party to negotiate for you that this person has strong negotiating skills.  Many attorneys and real estate agents are poorly trained and can often do a worse job than you could for yourself.  Experience counts when we start talking dollars and cents.

Another classic negotiating strategy is “good cop bad cop.”  You will see this portrayed in movies and crime shows.  Two cops interrogate a suspect as much as they can. Then all of the sudden one cop (the bad cop) goes into a rage and starts yelling and threatening and storms out of the room.  Then the remaining cop offers to give the suspect some water or a cigarette and starts saying don’t pay any attention to that other cop.  I’m here to help you.  All we need to know from you is where you hid the knife and this will all be over soon.  The good cop goes easy on the suspect and gets him to open up.  The reality is that neither cop is on his side but they used the strategy to get the information they wanted.  In real estate two partners could very easily do this.  One partner storms out all emotional and rattles the cage of the opposing side.  Then the other partner sweet talks them into giving up the farm.  Watch out for this tactic because lots of people know about it. If they try it on you, make sure to confront them and let them know you are aware what they are doing.  Or simply tell the bad cop not to be getting all emotional about things and stick to the transaction at hand.

Once you have worked out the basic price and terms of a deal, the next step is putting it in writing.  Oh the fun of paperwork.  So many people hate it.  Even if you are not a paperwork kind of person, make sure that you (or your real estate agent or attorney) are the one writing up the contract regardless of whether you are buying or selling.  You can slip so many extra beneficial clauses into the deal simply by your side drafting the paperwork.  Why do you think banks force you to sign their 10 page addendum whenever you buy a foreclosure from them?  They want the closing to happen by their rules and not yours.  In fact the more you are in control of the deal, the better chance of it closing and avoiding all those surprise last minute mishaps that tend to pop up.  That means not only controlling the paperwork but also the various vendors like the lender, the title company, the home inspector, the insurance, etc.  You cannot force the other party to use certain vendors but the more you are in control the smoother your deal will go.

Have you ever gotten down to a few days before closing or even right at closing and the other party wants to renegotiate something?  It happens at car dealers all the time.  You find the car of your dreams and the price is right.  Then they sit you down to close and start throwing in all these add-ons.  (Dealer fees, extended warranty, financing fees, etc.)  Before you know it they have you paying an extra $1000 for a bunch of nonsense.  Same with real estate deals.  The seller gets a copy of the HUD-1 settlement statement and starts complaining about various fees.  To make the deal close, the title company knocks down some fees, the Realtor eats the cost of a home warranty, and the buyer pays more closing costs.  Things like this happen because the re-negotiating party knows that everyone just wants the deal to close.  People will end up paying an extra $500 or $1000 at the last minute when they would never have done so weeks ago when they were originally negotiating.  Or think of the tenant that knows they agreed to pay you late fees, but still pays the rent a week late and does not include the extra fees with their check.  Often when people are in a good mood that they are finally closing or getting paid, they are vulnerable to this sort of re-negotiating.  The easy way to counter-act this is to have an iron-clad contract and then stick to your guns.  Make them feel guilty for trying to re-negotiate or slip something by you.

Tradeoffs are another tactic to use when the other side starts asking for more concessions.  “If I do that for you, what can you give me in return?” is a great phrase to use.  A few years ago after I had already negotiated a deal, the seller came back to me and said that he needed to wait another 3 weeks until after December 31 to close so he could postpone income taxes.  So I asked the seller if I gave him an extension, what could he do for me?  He gave me $500 off the price.  When you ask for something in return, it does two things.  One is it puts value on that concession that the other party apparently did not believe was there.  Two it puts an end to the grinding away process because they know you will ask for something in return.

Occasionally you will reach a stalemate where neither party will budge on a deal.  Everything has been negotiated as far as it can go but an agreement cannot be reached.  If the stalemate is on a specific issue, the buyer insists on a new roof being installed and the seller refuses to install it, the issue can be set to the side and dealt with at a later time after the rest of the terms have been negotiated.  If both sides are truly deadlocked, the only solution then becomes to change something in the negotiations.  Make the parties separate for a few days and come back at a later time at a different venue after they have had a chance to reflect some more on the deal.  Or bring in a 3^rd party, preferably someone that appears neutral, to evaluate the situation and see if something can be changed or approached in a different way. 

There is a lot more to negotiating than I can write in three articles.  So if you have questions on the best way to negotiate a particular deal, please do not hesitate to contact me.

November 2011 is behind us and despite what the media says the Orlando real estate market is not slowing down.  Inventory may be down to 2005 levels, but sales are strong.  Check out some of these homes we sold last month.

     Westpointe                                     Hibiscus                                              Crosswind

1. Westpointe Blvd, Orlando, FL 32835.  This was a 2 bed/1 bath condo in Bermuda Dunes in the Metrowest area.  Located on the golf course and minutes from Universal Studios and the attractions.  Sold for $76,000 to a cash buyer.

2. Hibiscus Road, Casselberry, FL 32707.  A 3 bed/1 bath handyman special house in the Queens Mirror area right off of Red Bug & 436.  Inexpensive rental property that an investor snatched up for a mere $46,500.  Remember we do property management too.

3. Jennifer Jean Drive, Orlando, FL 32818.  3/2/2 beautiful home in the Beacon Hill subdivision near Pine Hills.  Remodeled with new kitchen and looking great.  Sold to a first time FHA buyer for just $75,000. 

4. Crosswind Circle, Orlando, FL 32825. 3/2/2 pool home in East Orlando. The Countrywalk subdivision is in a great location near the colleges and has community tennis courts.  Sold for $129,900.

5. Honey Road, Apopka, FL 32712.  4/2/2 block home in Spring Harbor.  Beautifully remodeled.  This was actually a house that one of our investors bought wholesale and then fixed up for an end buyer to live in.  They bought for $85,000 in the Spring and sold it last month for $131,000.  Yes, house flipping is back with a vengeance.

6. North Street, Longwood, FL 32750. 4/3 house in the Sanlando Springs neighborhood.  Sold to a new FHA buyer for $118,000.

7. Larry Drive, Deland, FL 32724.  4 bed/2 bath block home.  Bank foreclosure that we wholesaled to a landlord.  Great deal for a house this size.  Sold for only $28,000.

This is a just a short sampling of the 25 closed deals we had last month.  If you notice, only one of the above sales was a short sale or a bank owned home.  There are plenty of regular old deals out there that people are selling retail.  And the retail buyers are out there buying.  Interest rates hover in the 3s still.  More deals are headed for closing in December.  We would love to help you buy or sell.  Please contact us and we will get you started.