Where does the real estate market in the area stand? (Orlando: HOA, condo)

[YesButAlsoNo]

Originally Posted by Bideshi

The shallow inventory is artificial. Mortgage houses are keeping foreclosed property off the market to prop up prices. How long can they keep doing it?

Yep.

[YesButAlsoNo]

Originally Posted by GregTraub

1. Kyle19125 nailed it. People aren't selling unless they have to and actually can. The fact is inventory levels haven't been this low since 2005 (height of the boom times) but this hasn't yet translated into higher prices as other factors are keeping prices from shooting up at 20%+ a year like in 05'. I'd say it's a sellers market for sure....but the best way I'd describe it is its a bankers market

2. Priced low because the majority of inventory out there is Bank owned or foreclosure, and many aren't in great shape or the short sellers just aren't motivated to sell so they keep their price high. SOME banks are holding onto their foreclosed inventory for a while, but the majority simply aren't foreclosing quickly because they don't want the liability, the big boys are getting sued left and right and yes, because they got bailed out and get to use fuzzy accounting when it comes to defaulted loans, they don't have the same motivation as normal to clear out their bad loans.
Plus while buying is VERY strong (most well priced good condition homes are selling in days with multiple offers) the majority of it are investors both foreign and domestic. While some well marketed developers are able to see 20-30% increases in value with localized (uninformed IMO buyers) most investors are actually investors this time around (not speculators) and they are not quickly bidding up prices.
Prices will only start to show significant gains when owner-occupants start coming to the table. That will only happen in mass when jobs stabilize. I am starting to see some of that come back right now, but sparadically and only from people with long-term very secure jobs. This is why some of the better area's that have gone through most of their foreclosure inventory are seeing some appreciation this year.

3. You got it! cheap condo's (<50K) boomed late 2010. Some that bought at the bottom in the 30K range actually are able to sell them now with a great profit because there is still a HUGE demand for properties under 50K, and that is an all cash market so no appraisals or financing issues to constrain true market prices.

Wrong. It is a buyers market with depressed prices and people underwater. That is why so many foreigners are buying up everything.

The banks are going to be dumping more foreclosures on the market to the tune of around 1 million homes before the end of 2012.

Banks are also being more cautious on mortgage loans making it harder for a lot of people to get one.

Jobs will be hurting for years to come. Housing will be hurting for years to come. Europe has "spent out" on their bailouts. Even China is feeling the crunch.

Good paying jobs have been replaced with low paying jobs. Things will get a lot worse in the next year than they have been so far.

[YesButAlsoNo]

Originally Posted by annerk

The "junk" houses can be a good investment if you can get them for a low enough cost and have the capital to make needed repairs and upgrades.

We have friends that bought a foreclosed production house in Winter Springs about two years ago for $60K. It had been absolutely trashed be the former owners, and the bank had just let it rot for almost two years.

They pulled out every piece of drywall (most had holes in it anyhow) replaced the windows, while the drywall was out they had all the plumbing and electrical inspected and made a few upgrades, re-tiled the bathrooms and replaced broken fixtures, put in new cabinetry, replaced the trashed carpet with tile and hardwood, the list goes on. Most of what they did was sweat equity--they had friends in various trades help them out with some things and hired a licensed plumber/electrician/HVAC company for those items. They spent about $55K on the work they put into it, including painting the exterior, fixing the irrigation, and resodding the entire lawn.

They had the house reappraised for insurance purposes earlier this year and it's now worth $210K!

But in todays market it is worth maybe what they put into it.

[YesButAlsoNo]

Originally Posted by chopchop0

Downtown Orlando is heating up...

Downtown Orlando condo: Downtown Orlando condo market boom - Orlando Sentinel

The press and realtors will try to make people believe the economy is getting better if one house sells for more than it cost.

[YesButAlsoNo]

Originally Posted by beckycat

Not that I see.

Nope. Expect an additional 1 million foreclosures by the end of this year. read and heed.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The time may be ripe for a shift in strategy as the foreclosure machine grinds on, and new foreclosure notices reach the troubling milestone of 10,000 per day.
A weak economy has added job losses and falling home values to the mix of toxic loans that prompted the crisis two years ago, making an already difficult situation even more severe. Government measures from foreclosure freezes to loan modifications have only served, so far, to stall the inevitable – and to create an ominous backlog of millions of pending foreclosures. Plus, more than one in five homeowners now owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, according to the real estate website Zillow.com. No one can predict with assurance whether those underwater homeowners will keep paying on their loans, or take a walk.

Half a decade into the deepest U.S. housing crisis since the 1930s, many Americans are hoping the crisis is finally nearing its end.
House sales are picking up across most of the country, the plunge in prices is slowing and attempts by lenders to claim back properties from struggling borrowers dropped by more than a third in 2011, hitting a four-year low.
But a painful part two of the slump looks set to unfold: Many more U.S. homeowners face the prospect of losing their homes this year as banks pick up the pace of foreclosures.
"We are right back where we were two years ago. I would put money on 2012 being a bigger year for foreclosures than 2010," said Mark Seifert, executive director of Empowering & Strengthening Ohio's People (ESOP), a counseling group with 10 offices in Ohio.
"Last year was an anomaly, and not in a good way," he said.
In 2011, the "robo-signing" scandal, in which foreclosure documents were signed without properly reviewing individual cases, prompted banks to hold back on new foreclosures pending a settlement.
Five major banks eventually struck that settlement with 49 U.S. states in February. Signs are growing the pace of foreclosures is picking up again, something housing experts predict will again weigh on home prices before any sustained recovery can occur.


Foreclosures locally and in New Jersey declined in 2011, which should be welcome news for a residential property market weakened by the availability of distressed homes.
But much if not most of the improvement came from court-required delays in the processing of foreclosures in reaction to instances of improper handling such as the robo-signing of reams of paperwork.
As those delays end, filings will increase in 2012 and more bank-owned houses will reach the market, resulting in a second peak in foreclosure activity, predicts RealtyTrac, a foreclosure information and analysis service in Irvine, Calif.
Filings were still declining for counties in the region in the most recent data, but mortgage delinquencies were increasing. LPS Applied Analytics ranked New Jersey among the nation's five highest states for noncurrent loans in November.
Daren Blomquist, director of marketing communications for RealtyTrac, described the groundwork for a second peak in foreclosures and its consequence to the property market in the firm's "Emerging Foreclosure Trends for 2012."

[kyle19125]

The bottom line is Americans are going to have to become transient/mobile again in order to move to where jobs fit their qualifications (and are actually hiring) as well as where the cost of living is in proper proportion to salary. I find it confounding that many are staying put in depressed markets after walking away from upside down mortgages and mortgage payments they can't keep up in order rent in what has become a disproportionately valued rental market (versus average salary). The writing is clearly on the wall...Florida cannot support the current working population let alone the tens of thousands who continue to move here each year.

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by YesButAlsoNo

The press and realtors will try to make people believe the economy is getting better if one house sells for more than it cost.

Of course. Realtors love doing that. They kept selling houses to people as the bubble got more and more inflated. I'm not a realtor though but I've kept an eye on the SW Orlando market (specifically Dr Phillips) for awhile, and I've seen supply in many of the nicer subdivsions drop and rental prices continue to appreciate.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Orlando is a very fragmented market, and while there may be plenty of depressed,stagnant areas, the places where people really want to be are starting to stabilize and, in some cases, take off again. It's that old adage "Location, location, location"

[rothesay]

Originally Posted by chopchop0

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Orlando is a very fragmented market, and while there may be plenty of depressed,stagnant areas, the places where people really want to be are starting to stabilize and, in some cases, take off again. It's that old adage "Location, location, location"

I could not agree more.

Since January of this year, after probably putting in 50 offers in Dr. Philips (32819) and Lake Nona (32832), I have finally managed to get a property under contract. And I wasn't lowballing either, all the offers that I made was cash offers, and they are either at or slighly higher than list price.

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by rothesay

I could not agree more.

Since January of this year, after probably putting in 50 offers in Dr. Philips (32819) and Lake Nona (32832), I have finally managed to get a property under contract. And I wasn't lowballing either, all the offers that I made was cash offers, and they are either at or slighly higher than list price.

32836 is another tough one, with lots of good properties in the 300-400K range.

[lovfl]

What about townhomes in a great location? Are they appreciating too? I prefer these over a condo.