Has anyone else noticed? (Orlando, Lantana: for sale, foreclosure, mortgage)

[pianogal]

Is it just my community or have homes suddenly disappeared from the market all over Orlando? For the last 18 months or so there have been at least 30+homes for sale in my subdivision. I remember driving down our main street and seeing 3 -4 homes in a row with for sale signs in the yard. This was the case up until about 2 months ago. Two weeks ago there were 11 homes - now we are down to 5 homes left for sale!

I noticed the signs disappearing and have been checking the MLS - it confirmed that only 5 homes are listed for sale in our community.

Perhaps some of the realtors on this board can enlighten me as to what is happening. My son was hoping to buy in the community. He had his eye on a certain floor plan and for months there were always at least a couple of that model for sale. All of a sudden - after he had saved a good down payment and was ready to buy - they disappeared!

He looked elsewhere and this past week put an offer on an REO in Woodland Lakes Preserve. His offer was accepted by the bank so unless something unforeseen happens - he will be closing on a beautiful Lantana model by deLucca next month.

He had put offers on 3 other homes but they all had multiple offers and the buyers the bank chose offered full price or above. There were 4 offers on this home and he offered 5K below asking - but the other buyers were FHA and he was conventional. The bank countered and he accepted to come in at 3K below asking price. He is getting a great deal. We saw the model today - the builder is asking 300K base price with a 35K premium on similar lots. He paid well over 100K less and has a number of upgrades.

However, I'm still wondering if inventory is falling that rapidly all over town and why?

[tworent]

I wonder how many just gave up trying to sell

[pianogal]

Originally Posted by tworent

I wonder how many just gave up trying to sell

Thought about that....however when my community newsletter came out - it listed about 15 pending sales.

[cmj_fla]

Pianogal, are the homes that were for sale still empty?
The same thing has happened in my neighborhood but the homes have been bought. Just last week we had 2 homes on our street that were foreclosed on that have been bought.
Maybe the banks have started lending again?

[Parrotrosie]

The banks never stopped lending to qualified applicants who were purchasing SENSIBLE HOMES IN THEIR PRICE RANGE WITH 20 PERCENT DOWN! FHA is now also a biggie back in the game as well , which is helping.

What the banks did stop doing was allowing borrowers to overleverage themselves and borrow more than the homes were worth. In our experience with the home we just purchased, the appraisal was KEY in getting the mortgage. If the appraisal came in higher, then you had to put more cash down.

We qualified for our home there, still with our mortgage here and our total debt load is still less than 35% of the hubbys pay. It's tight, we gotta sell this house, but the bank lent us the money. So, they ARE lending and have been. Our deal has been in the works (pre approval phase) for several months now, while we were searching for a home.

We put in an offer on a home, and the same week the home owners did get a second offer as well. We also wanted to look at an additional property while working on the price for this one, but it had been put under contract within days of a listed price change. I do believe the market is picking up....My opinion.

[dutchirishpride]

try living somewhere other than under a rock.

[Parrotrosie]

Who lives under a rock? Me?

[Silent1900]

My guess would be a combination of the market picking up some, and the fact that most lenders had placed a moratorium on foreclosure starts for a couple of months.

You may see the inventory pick up again now that most of those have been lifted, but I don't think it will be a flood like it was in the past.

[pianogal]

Originally Posted by dutchirishpride

try living somewhere other than under a rock.

Sorry...this comment escapes me. I will however, admit to being humor impaired.

I don't live under a rock - it is a hobby of mine to watch what is happening in my community and the surrounding area. I have tracked it religiously - and the difference between the last 18 months and the last 2 are day and night.

I was asking for the opinion of those who work in the business. Thank you to those who offered concrete ideas.

[Ellwood]

I have read several articles about foreign investors buying a considerable amount of foreclosed homes. I'm not sure if this is the case, but a possibility.