This afternoon I attended a block party. One of the ‘games’ was to estimate the number of M&M Chocolate-Covered Peanuts in a jar. Not jelly beans, I know. But I like M&M Chocolate-Covered Peanuts better, anyway.

I’ve played these games before and never came close.

This time, the ‘hostess’ held up the jar, and I immediately saw something I never saw before. Instead of getting lost in the whole jar, I saw only the rectangular area of M&M Chocolate-Covered Peanuts directly facing me.

I made a calculated guess of how many M&Ms were in that rectangle. Didn’t count each one, just eyeballed it and came up with ...

25

Then I guessed how many rectangles made up the circumference of the jar ...

6

Then I multiplied 25 x 6 =

150

Then I took a wild stab at the interior volume of the jar ... the part I couldn’t see. I guessed ...

½ of surface area = 75

Therefore total M&Ms in the jar should equal ...

150 + 75 = 225

Since my lucky number is 2, I made my official guess ...

222

The correct answer was ...

237

I didn’t win because someone else guessed 230.

Next time I’ll estimate that the center of the jar is halfway between 2/3 and ½ of the jar, or halfway between 75 and 100, which equals ...

87.5

Therefore, 150 + 87.5 equals ...

237.5

Think everybody, including me, will be freaked out?

What this has to do with real estate, I really don’t know, but one day I’ll figured that out, too!

These smart homeowners didn’t have to lose their house to foreclosure. Instead, they hired a real estate agent to help them sell their house as a Short Sale.

Properties have been listed and sold by various MLS members.

Data drawn from the My Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service.

Because the payoff of a loan will be ‘shorted’ by a significant amount, the mortgage lender must approve a Short Sale. Handled properly, the likelihood of successfully selling your house as a Short Sale is high. Once the Short Sale is behind you, you can often get on with your life with hardly a backward glance.

A Short Sale is nothing more than putting your house up for sale in the usual manner, waiting for a qualified buyer just like any other home seller would, facing a few extra hurdles, filling out additional paperwork, waiting a bit longer for the closing to take place, and finally moving out and moving on.

Real benefits come with selling your house as a Short Sale. Among them are: 1) substantially reducing or completely eliminating financial liability, 2) minimizing damage to your credit rating, 3) emerging from bad credit quicker than you would with a foreclosure, and 4) having a sense of satisfaction that you’re taking care of the problem proactively and responsibly.

These smart homeowners didn’t have to lose their house to foreclosure. Instead, they hired a real estate agent to help them sell their house as a Short Sale.

Properties have been listed and sold by various MLS members.

Data drawn from the My Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service.

Because the payoff of a loan will be ‘shorted’ by a significant amount, the mortgage lender must approve a Short Sale. Handled properly, the likelihood of successfully selling your house as a Short Sale is high. Once the Short Sale is behind you, you can often get on with your life with hardly a backward glance.

A Short Sale is nothing more than putting your house up for sale in the usual manner, waiting for a qualified buyer just like any other home seller would, facing a few extra hurdles, filling out additional paperwork, waiting a bit longer for the closing to take place, and finally moving out and moving on.

Real benefits come with selling your house as a Short Sale. Among them are: 1) substantially reducing or completely eliminating financial liability, 2) minimizing damage to your credit rating, 3) emerging from bad credit quicker than you would with a foreclosure, and 4) having a sense of satisfaction that you’re taking care of the problem proactively and responsibly.

These smart homeowners didn’t have to lose their house to foreclosure. Instead, they hired a real estate agent to help them sell their house as a Short Sale.

Properties have been listed and sold by various MLS members.

Data drawn from the My Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service.

Because the payoff of a loan will be ‘shorted’ by a significant amount, the mortgage lender must approve a Short Sale. Handled properly, the likelihood of successfully selling your house as a Short Sale is high. Once the Short Sale is behind you, you can often get on with your life with hardly a backward glance.

A Short Sale is nothing more than putting your house up for sale in the usual manner, waiting for a qualified buyer just like any other home seller would, facing a few extra hurdles, filling out additional paperwork, waiting a bit longer for the closing to take place, and finally moving out and moving on.

Real benefits come with selling your house as a Short Sale. Among them are: 1) substantially reducing or completely eliminating financial liability, 2) minimizing damage to your credit rating, 3) emerging from bad credit quicker than you would with a foreclosure, and 4) having a sense of satisfaction that you’re taking care of the problem proactively and responsibly.

These smart homeowners didn’t have to lose their house to foreclosure. Instead, they hired a real estate agent to help them sell their house as a Short Sale.

Properties have been listed and sold by various MLS members.

Data drawn from the My Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service.

Because the payoff of a loan will be ‘shorted’ by a significant amount, the mortgage lender must approve a Short Sale. Handled properly, the likelihood of successfully selling your house as a Short Sale is high. Once the Short Sale is behind you, you can often get on with your life with hardly a backward glance.

A Short Sale is nothing more than putting your house up for sale in the usual manner, waiting for a qualified buyer just like any other home seller would, facing a few extra hurdles, filling out additional paperwork, waiting a bit longer for the closing to take place, and finally moving out and moving on.

Real benefits come with selling your house as a Short Sale. Among them are: 1) substantially reducing or completely eliminating financial liability, 2) minimizing damage to your credit rating, 3) emerging from bad credit quicker than you would with a foreclosure, and 4) having a sense of satisfaction that you’re taking care of the problem proactively and responsibly.

If you own a Winter Park FL luxury home, how fast ... or s-l-o-w ... do you want to sell your house?

Given the current selling rate and the high inventory of luxury properties for sale in Winter Park FL, it could easily take as long as 2 years for buyer to come along.

Data drawn from the My Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service during a recent 6-month period in 2009.

Since only 8 buyers on average purchase a Winter Park FL luxury house during any one month, it’s pretty clear there aren’t enough buyers to go around for those homes currently on the market, not to mention all the other properties that will come on the market in the weeks and months to come.

Almost all Winter Park FL homeowners who currently have luxury properties on the market will have to wait at least 1 year to sell their homes, with some having to wait more than 2 years.

With only 8 homes being sold every month — and not taking into account that more homes will come on the market every day — it will take 22 months on average for homeowners who want to sell ... to actually sell.

That’s a very long time to wait waste.

Since there’s plenty of competition and very few buyers, luxury homeowners must make some very important decisions once they jump into the marketplace.

When setting the initial list price ...

• Do you test the waters with a generous price and effectively eliminate many serious buyers from contention?
• Or do you set the price according to prevailing market value?

If your property isn’t getting many showings ...

• Do you stick to your initial list price?
• Or do you progressively and consistently lower the price until interest picks up?

If you keep the above choices in mind, you may very well beat the odds!

These smart homeowners didn’t give their bank the chance to foreclose on their house.

Instead, they consulted a knowledgeable real estate agent who knew how to market and sell their house as a Short Sale.

By finding a ready, willing, and able buyer, they were able to curtail foreclosure proceedings and walk away with a relatively clean financial bill of health. In some cases, they may have had to sign a promissory note for a small percentage of their total obligation. In the end, these homeowners were able to salvage the ruinous credit rating they would have incurred with a foreclosure. Better yet, in as little as two years — or perhaps less — they can purchase a new home with a conventional mortgage.

Properties have been listed and sold by various MLS members.

Data drawn from the My Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service.  

If you want to sell your Winter Park FL Luxury Home, don’t be one of the late bloomers, not if you want to sell your house now!

Properties have been listed and sold by various MLS members. Data drawn from the My Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service. This report is valuable for estimating current market values in the designated community or subdivision.

The house on Lake Baldwin was originally listed in August 2007 by the builder. Two months later the price was increased by over $100,000. Then in January of 2008, the price was lowered to below 1 million. Another decrease came in October 2008. It finally went under contract in April 2009, and the sale was completed in September 2009, registering a total 23% discount.

Properties have been listed and sold by various MLS members.

 Data drawn from the My Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service.

The Upper Union property was another new-production house by the same builder as the Lake Baldwin house. I was privileged enough to tour this house while it was still under construction. Originally listed in June 2007, it was reduced to $2.6 million a year later, and finally purchased after nearly 2 years of being on the market. Any way you slice it, a 36% discount is substantial. In this case — as in all cases — the market dictated rather than the owner.

The house on Meeting was an REO/Bank-Owned offering. The very first owners purchased this new home in late 2005 for almost $1.4 million. A year later, they sold it for $1.6 million. Not quite 3 years later, it was taken over by the bank. Multiple offers garnered an extra $100,000 for a house that could now be had for a third less than its highest purchase price. At the end of the day, not a bad deal at all.

University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith reports that employment levels in Florida won’t return to pre-recession conditions until 2014.

In addition, Florida may be last in line to recover from the recession due to our severe housing downturn and 11% unemployment rate.

As a result, homeowners shouldn’t expect real estate prices to rebound anytime soon.

Orange & Seminole Counties

Single-Family Homes

Average Price per Square Foot

 Source: Trendgraphix, Inc. and My Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service.

Prices in the Greater Orlando FL market have leveled out since March of 2009. While this may feel positive, especially after the 40-50% price declines over the last 3 years, recent trends only mean an end to the agonizing pain every Orlando homeowner has been experiencing since 2007.

The general consensus is that house prices in Orlando are not going to make a V-recovery or a U-recovery, and will most likely stay tepid for months if not years to come before once again beginning to appreciate at modest rates. 

So if you’re one of those many, many homeowners who have been waiting for home prices to recover, you’ll probably have to wait a very long time.