With the market as slow as it is, people often ask me what areas and properties in Central Florida are still selling. The properties that are struggling the most are (1) the areas where sellers are competing directly with builders, (2) the low income areas where buyers need all the help they can get, and (3) anything that is not a single-family house. I will address these 3 items one-by-one.
(1) It is hard for existing home-sellers to compete directly with a builder. The builder has many properties for sale. Some of the national builders have thousands of properties throughout the country. The builder can sacrifice some of their properties by slashing the price by tens of thousands of dollars or offering fantastic options and incentives. The average homeowner cannot do that (especially if they just bought their house pre-construction last year).
(2) The low income areas struggle even during the good times, but even more so during the tough times. Buyers who want to live there normally don't have good credit, steady income, or down payment money. Sellers have to often be very creative to get the deal done. It definitely pays to have a good Realtor and a good mortgage broker on your side. Often the sale will involve special financing programs, down payment assistance, paying off old debts, and seller held 2nd mortgages to name a few things. Areas like Pine Hills, Orlo Vista, Washington Shores, Parramore, Holden Heights, and westside of Sanford always struggle. The people that have the ability to buy a house just don't want to live there.
(3) Regarding condos and townhouses. I hate to sound pessimistic. But most big complexes have 10, 20, or more identical units for sale. So if you are not in the bottom priced 2 or 3 units for your complex or your zip code, you are not going to even get a showing more than likely. Why would anyone look at yours when there are 10 others for sale at a cheaper price? If you are competing against the builder, you might be better off just renting it out for a while.
The areas in Central Florida that I see struggling the most are the following:
- Brevard County: Port St John, Palm Bay, any condos on the beach.
- Lake County: Clermont and Groveland (the newer areas).
- Orange County: Hunters Creek, Southchase, Meadow Woods, Avalon Park, Lake Nona, and the newer neighborhoods around Apopka, Winter Garden, and Ocoee.
- Osceola County: BVL, Poinciana, Celebration, and most of the newer areas around Kissimmee.
- Polk County: Davenport, Poinciana, 4 Corners.
- Seminole County: The newer neighborhoods around Sanford and Oviedo.
- Volusia County: Deltona, New Smyrna, any condos on the beach.
The areas in Central Florida that I still see some decent activity (at least a fair amount of closings) are in the established areas with good schools and low crime. Basically places like Winter Park, Maitland, College Park, Delaney Park, Altamonte Springs, Wekiva, Winter Springs, Lake Mary, Deland, Mount Dora, and Lakeland to name a few places. Things are still slow everywhere though.
I am not saying to give up if you are in the struggling areas. What I will say though is that if you are not aggressively marketing your property and are not aggressively pricing your property (meaning you are pricing it 5-10% below the last sale), then you need to get realistic with yourself and face the cold hard facts of this market. Odds are very high that it is not going to sell unless you do.
Copyright © 2007. Sand Dollar Realty Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Rob Arnold, ABR, CPL, GRI, Full service and investor friendly Realtor, Managing real estate broker, Licensed mortgage broker, Notary Public
407-389-7318 http://www.sdrhouses.com/ http://www.webuyhousesflorida.com/
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