Short Sale Success - 08/31/10 01:49 PM
What does it take to have success in a short sale? The lawyers advertising on television would tell you that you need a lawyer. Frankly, I recommend the counsel of an attorney to every short seller. Having a lawyer does not insure success. There are many agents in our market who specialize in short sales, and they would tell you that you need to work with them to be successful. You do need a competent agent with experience in short sales to help you, but that does not guarantee a successful closing either. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet or magic … (5 comments)

Orlando Home Prices - 08/24/10 04:25 PM
Believe it or not home prices in Orlando have actually been pretty stable over the last six months, although the median price declined last month and will take another drop this month. How can I say that prices are stable when the median price appears to be dropping? It is not the prices that are unstable but the mix of buyers in the market that has changed. I have written a few posts this year that I believe the market is getting back to normal in terms of sales trends. In other words, there are busier times of the year and … (0 comments)

First Day of School - 08/23/10 07:29 AM
Today is the first day of the school year here in Orange County, and that means early hectic mornings followed by almost complete silence. Hopefully, that will translate into more coherent blog posts. There is always something exciting about the first day of school, even when you are not the one going back. I guess as long as you have children in school, you keep that feeling alive. There is certainly an impact on sales trends in our real estate market in Orlando. Historically, August and September are marked with a bit of a slow down. The shift in the school … (2 comments)

House Size Does Matter - 08/20/10 10:47 AM
There was an article on Yahoo today declaring the McMansion dead. I don't think I would quite agree that the large home is completely dead based upon the real estate sales data I found here in Orlando. There is definitely a strong preference for smaller homes with nearly 60% of the sales in the first six months of this year falling in the 1001 to 2000 square foot range. By the way, these numbers include all housing types, and also include distressed sales. When I look at the makeup of the active listings compared to that of the sold homes there are … (0 comments)

Jobs are the Key to Home Sales - 08/19/10 10:31 AM
It should be obvious, but I find that sometimes the obvious is not. You can forget about reading about the real estate market until jobs begin to return. At its core it is really quite simple; you need a job to afford to buy a home. Where it gets more confusing is when you consider that you need a job to rent a home too. I cannot speak for other markets, but here in Orlando rentals are quite strong. This is where some of the psychology of economics comes into play in my opinion. Economics is based upon the mathematical relationships … (2 comments)

Cash Still Flowing into Orlando Real Estate - 08/18/10 05:31 PM
I have posted in my blog several times about the number of cash sales closing here in the Orlando real estate market. So far this month, cash deals are pushing ahead with over 56% of all the closings recorded as all cash transactions. August and September, traditionally are slower months as the school starts back up. These home buyers may be slowing down a bit, but investors are continuing to snap up bargains here. Look for the median price to edge down a bit more as the investor influence makes a bigger impact over the next couple of months. Of course, … (0 comments)

My Orlando Real Estate Business - 08/14/10 12:02 PM
I write a lot about what is going on in the marketplace overall here in Orlando and about specific transactions I am working on, but I don't always share what my business looks like overall. That is probably because it does not look a whole lot different from the rest of the market. My average sales prices may be a little higher, but the breakdown is remarkably similar to what is going on in Orlando. I took a look at my most recent six months of sales data and two thirds of my sales have been distressed properties. Most of that … (2 comments)

Distressed Orlando Real Estate - 08/11/10 11:19 AM
I am working with a few investors that are actually finding it more difficult to find properties in the areas where they have been buying. Despite what you read or may believe about the real estate market here in Orlando, it is not a bottomless well of foreclosures and short sales. There are a lot of each, but some areas seem to be running a little lower on available inventory. This made me wonder how many properties have turned over in these particular areas. In the ones I have looked at, around a third of all the properties have turned over … (1 comments)

The Real Estate Double Dip - 08/10/10 03:09 PM
The Orlando Sentinel article about July's sales statistics of course had to mention the dreaded double dip. I have to disagree with the conclusion that the drop in prices from June to July portends the dip that some economists have been predicting. What we actually saw earlier in the year were false positives created by the home buyer tax credit. If you read my blog regularly, you know I don't really credit the tax credit (pun intended) with creating any new sales. Most of the buyers taking advantage of the credit would have bought regardless of the incentive. What it really … (0 comments)

Orlando Real Estate July 2010 Statistics - 08/05/10 11:28 AM
There are 16,597 active listings on the market in Orlando with 2,317 bank owned and 5,975 short sales accounting for half of all the homes for sale. Homes with contracts pending continue to be dominated by distressed properties with 2,103 REO and 5,796 short sales making up a whopping 86% of all these properties. Only about 8.9% of the pending short sales are turning into closed deals, so distressed property closings represent only 69.3% of the sales. As I had predicted a couple of weeks ago in my Orlando real estate blog closed sales for July dropped significantly from June. There have … (0 comments)

Tourism on the Rise in Orlando - 08/03/10 11:54 AM
The Orlando Sentinel ran an article yesterday http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-tourist-tax-june-20100802,0,1325715.story about the increases in the local tourism tax. This also made the local news on television last night, because this is a positive sign for Orlando economy. Expectations are that July will be even better. At least part of this is the opening of the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure. The international homebuilders conference is here again this year, and though it is not expected to be as big, it will still bring a lot of money to the area. The new Amway Center is also poised to open … (2 comments)

 
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David Welch, Orlando Real Estate Optimist

Orlando, FL

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Remax 200 Realty

Address: 954 S. Orlando Ave., Winter Park, FL, 32789

Office Phone: (407) 629-6330 x 399

Cell Phone: (407) 924-7670

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Orlando Real Estate Blog, news, statistics, marketing reports, insight, opinions. Orlando real estate includes, Winter Park Windermere, Apopka, Ocoee, and Winter Garden, as well as Conway and Dr. Phillips areas of Orlando.


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