Port Orange Real Estate : Low Ball Offers are not GOOD !

Often, buyers test the market when they first start looking for a home. When the Market first started to fall and there was an explosion of Short Sales and Foreclosures, Low Ball offers made sense. There were so many homes on the market that you had the time and opportunity to make the Best Buy you could.

With the Market starting to claw its way back up, the time advantage is not there. Short Sales are closing much faster, making them much more attractive to all buyers and not just investors. Banks have started refurbishing some REO homes with paint, carpet and some appliances. The investors are starting to get pushed out of the market, and the serious buyers are stepping in.

Homes that have been priced correctly in the Market, are going under contract quickly. The contracts are coming in much closer to the asking price, often with more than one offer. Is there room to negotiate? Yes. If the seller has priced the house above the market, it will be on the market longer and the Low Ball offer will correct the difference.

Suggestions :
Buyers-
1- Make a serious offer if you are interested in a property.
2- Watch the community you are looking in and see what the other homes are going for.
3-  Be prepared, have a preapproval letter from a Lender and know what price home you can afford.
4- When a home goes on the market in your area of interest, make an appointment and go see it.
Sellers-
1- Speak to your Realtor about a fair price.
2- If you have not gotten an offer in 2 weeks, consider a Price Reduction.
3- Keep track of the sales in your neighborhood.
4- Keep track of new listings in your neighborhood.

Keep track of Homes in your neighborhood of interest by Searching by Subdivision. Or Contact Us for a daily E-mail of properties in your neighborhood. We can also E-mail a list of homes that have sold. You don't have to log-in to use Our Website, so feel free to peruse listings.

Port Orange Real Estate : Short Sale Improvement Here !!

In the last week, there have been a few changes to the Short Sale Process that will be a welcome relief to buyers and sellers. Buyers won't have to wait months for an answer on a home they want to move into now. Sellers won't have to wait as long to know that they aren't getting foreclosed on, aren't damaging their credit more, and can move on.

First BOA (Bank of America) has made a few changes to the Equator System to try and streamline their already improved system. They have made response times shorter and provided forms for Realtors so that there is less confusion.

Second, the FHFA ( Federal Housing Finance Agency ) directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to streamline the process for : Short-Sales, Deeds-in-Lieu, and Deeds-for-Lease. Servicers will be required to do the following:
 review and respond to requests for short sales within 30 calendar days from receipt of a short sale offer and a complete borrower response package;
 provide weekly status updates to the borrower if the short sale offer is still under review after 30 calendar days;
 make and communicate final decisions to the borrower within 60 calendar days of receipt of the offer and complete borrower response package.

 Short Sales have become a part of Real Estate Business. The stress for Buyers, Sellers, and Realtors has been tremendous. Maybe, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

If you have Questions about Short Sales and how they can help you, Contact Us .

Source : © 2012 Florida Realtors® : Freddie Mac sets new short sale timelines, Fannie to follow

Port Orange Real Estate : REO "Gold Rush" in Florida ?!

       As of late, there has been comparisons of the REO Market ( foreclosure homes ) to the "Gold Rush" of California. Florida is one of the particular comparisons as our market has shown signs of recovery compared to some of the other areas inundated with foreclosures.
       I don't think that is a fair comparison. Yes there is a lot of opportunity for investors to make money, but it isn't throwing everything you have into the opportunity. Typical "Gold Rush" entreprenours left everthing to make their money finding gold with no amount of certainty inn their investment. The opportunity provided by the REO market has a lot more security. There are investors that are : buying REO's, renovating them, renting them, and selling them as a package to other investors. There are Real Estate companies that are buying the foreclosed homes and flipping them for small profit, but in large quantity. Most investors are buying the foreclosures and using them as income properties ( rental ).
      This is not a market that will benefit foolish or impulsive actions. Abusing purchase power provided by Lenders is why we have so many foreclosures now. Informed investors, are going to make informed purchases and not make "rush" decisions.

Search for Forclosures on our Website. Contact us and we can also provide an automatic update of Foreclosure properties in Our Area. You can also compare homes by searching by subdivision .

Port Orange Real Estate : Gas Prices Have Peaked !!

We can all breath a little easier ! I've been dreading going to fill the gas tank for the last month. We are lucky that they did not go as high as last year. ( National Avg of $3.99 in 2011 - only up to $3.92 National Avg this year )

"By the behavior of the market, things are just running out of steam," said Patrick DeHaan, senior analyst for price tracker gasbuddy.com. "Barring any major event — refinery problems, Iran — I think prices have peaked."

Typical peak is shortly before Memorial Day. Maybe we can all take the Vacations we were worrying about, and enjoy the Drive.

Searching for Foreclosures is a breeze on our Website. With the Market starting to slowly rebound, it is time to Start Looking for investments.

Source: "Gas prices, now averaging $3.92 a gallon, may have peaked" By Gary Strauss, USA TODAY

Port Orange Real Estate : Foreclosure Settlement Approved !!

The $26B Foreclosure Settlement over Foreclosure Errors that was announced over a month ago, has finally been approved by a Federal Judge.
What does this mean for you?

The settlement includes: guidelines for banks in compensating homeowners who may have been wrongfully foreclosed upon, mortgage modifications for delinquent borrowers ( including principal reductions), refinancing mortgages for borrowers who are current on their payments, compensation to borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure ( with errors in process ), paying federal and state fines, stricter standards in foreclosure processing.

The Banks that abide by the terms of the Settlement will also avoid future Fines related to Foreclosures from this time period.

If you think you may be eligible for any of these programs or compensations, contact your Bank.

For easy Subdivision Searchs in Port Orange and Foreclosure Searchs . No Signing in on our Website.

Source: “Court Approves $26 Billion Foreclosure Settlement,” CNNMoney

Port Orange Real Estate : Population increase in Florida !!

          Florida has long been known for Population Growth. This was not so the past few years. After the Real Estate Collapse, Florida was in a state of Contraction. As our economy has started to return to normal, so has our Population Growth. It may not be as dramatic as before, but growth is beneficial.

          Last Thursday , the Census Bureau reported that the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach area was the 6th largest increase in the Country with almost 92K residents (1.7% increase) moving into the area. Tampa-St. Pete was second in the State with an increase of almost 37K residents.
          Retirees seem to be returning as well with an increase of 4.6% in the Population of The Villages.

What does this mean for us? It means Home Prices start to increase. Gradually!! Rental Prices start to go up. Gradually!! New Construction, Jobs, Wages, and anything tied to our local economy starts to go up. Gradually!! A Controlled growth will be much more beneficial because our whole economy will grow together rather than one sector.

Parts of this were refernced from Florida Cities Rebounding .

If you would like to keep track of what other houses in your neighborhood are doing, Searching by Subdivision might help. For assistance, please contact us .

 Source: News Service of Florida, Michael Peltier

Port Orange Real Estate : Housing Market to Improve !?

In a new Semi-Annual survey of leading real estate economists and analysts, the prediction is given for an increase in the overall housing market. However, further reading of this article is not as cheery. These Analysts are making these predictions off of current economic indicators and explain that changes in the world economy could affect these predictions. They also indicate that areas hit hard by the Real Estate Collapse ( Florida, Arizona, etc.) may not have as dramatic an improvement.
The current trend locally has been one of an increasingly stable market with improvement in unemployment. Home prices have been increasing slightly, more so when not including distressed-sales. The local indicators are favorable for our economic future. This trend of market improvement should continue, though we may lag behind the national average.

sellingdaytonahomes.com is available for you to look at the Real Estate Market here. Compare prices of other homes in your neighborhood.  No log-in required.

Port Orange Real Estate : Keep an Eye on Your Credit!!

If you are considering buying a home, you need to start thinking about your credit. Your Credit Rating will effect your Rate and how much you can borrow. Not having Credit due to not using it is like having bad credit. You have to approach Credit wisely and keep track of your Rating.

-Check your Credit. You are allowed, under a law called the Fair Credit Reporting Act, to get a free copy of your credit report every year from each of the big nationwide reporting agencies noted above. Remember that getting a free credit report does not include your credit score. That may cost you a couple of Dollars, but it could be worth it.

-Fix your Credit. FICO is the Company that does the math for your Credit report, and they have a lot of tips for fixing and improving your credit raitng. They also have a link for help for disputing errors in your credit history.

Your Credit is important. It can take time to build Good Credit, but can be ruined very quickly. Develop good habits and stick with them.

You can view homes in PORT ORANGE on our Website without logging in. Or Contact us for an Automatic Mailing from our area.

Port Orange Real Estate : Go Tapeless for Hurricanes !!

Taping windows for Hurricanes has been reccomended by Weathermen and News Agencies for years. No More. The National Hurricane Center is now trying to persuade people to not tape windows. The fear is that by taping the windows, the glass is being held together making larger shards. These larger shards of glass could inflict much more harm on someone near the window. For more of this story, read the original posting by: Mike Schneider .

For more information on how to be prepared for the storm season, the Hurricane Center has lots of tips that will help to keep you safe.

For more Port Orange Houses, use Our Website.