Orlando No. 1 market in Florida (Miami, Fort Myers: for sale, real estate, insurance) - (FL) - City-Data Forum

pianogal · 01-08-2007, 02:07 PM

The Orlando area is Florida's strongest real-estate market as the state heads into the new year, while Fort Myers and Miami are the weakest, according to a new, three-year forecast that has mostly good news for the region.

Metro Orlando's advantages include strong population growth, driven by "robust gains in employment," and relatively low levels of new-home inventory, according to the report, which is to be released next week by Attorney's Title Insurance Fund Inc.

"Orange County's economy will grow strongly through 2009," and population growth "holds up well over the forecast horizon," said Orlando-based economist Hank Fishkind, who prepared the report for Attorney's Title, the state's leading title-insurance underwriter.

Fishkind said Friday that Fort Myers and Miami are the weakest markets in the state because of large inventories of unsold homes and lower rates of household formation.

Rhett_Butler · 01-09-2007, 05:52 AM

Translation: Home prices won't be coming down at all around here.

Nomoresubways · 01-09-2007, 06:19 AM

And that is precisely what several of us have been saying for over a month now

Dee2e · 01-09-2007, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nomoresubways

And that is precisely what several of us have been saying for over a month now

Which means, if you are thinking of buying, do it since prices will continue to rise.

There really is affordable housing in Central Florida. How about a 3/2 lake front in Lake County for under $180K? Or a 2-3 year old 3/2 in Volusia County for under 170K, or a 4/2 lakefront pool home in Volusia County for under $225K. Or a 2/2 condo in the heart of Seminole County for under $135K? Or a 3/2 with a heated enclosed pool in Osceola Countyfor under $210K? I could go one but I won't.

Of course there are many homes on the market for much more but you can find reasonable housing in the Central Florida market. You just have to look for it.

spunky1 · 01-09-2007, 06:40 AM

I agree, there are afordable homes now in Central Florida, despite everything that is posted on this site. There is still a surplus of homes on the market. There are homes that have been for sale without any nibbles for months. The sellers are still being stubborn and not willing to come down in price. But my guess is that they eventually will have to or stay put. They say there is still a back log of inventory of up to 7 months. I have a sneaky suspicion that if people made some of these sellers a reasonable offer they will sell!

Dee2e · 01-09-2007, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spunky1

I agree, there are afordable homes now in Central Florida, despite everything that is posted on this site. There is still a surplus of homes on the market. There are homes that have been for sale without any nibbles for months. The sellers are still being stubborn and not willing to come down in price. But my guess is that they eventually will have to or stay put. They say there is still a back log of inventory of up to 7 months. I have a sneaky suspicion that if people made some of these sellers a reasonable offer they will sell!

There are three things that affect the price of a home: location, condition and price.

Sellers need to remember that it is buyers that set the price, not sellers.

Nomoresubways · 01-09-2007, 06:47 AM

I think what hurt a lot of the resales in the area was the glut of "inventory" homes from the home builders. When I was looking to buy, I checked out all sorts of houses, and in the end, I found the best deal with one of the inventory homes. I found resales were asking too much, and my stance was if they were willing to bend so much in price, why were they asking so much in the first place? I think it will deter people from even making an offer if it's $50k more than they would like to pay.

Dee2e · 01-09-2007, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nomoresubways

I think what hurt a lot of the resales in the area was the glut of "inventory" homes from the home builders. When I was looking to buy, I checked out all sorts of houses, and in the end, I found the best deal with one of the inventory homes. I found resales were asking too much, and my stance was if they were willing to bend so much in price, why were they asking so much in the first place? I think it will deter people from even making an offer if it's $50k more than they would like to pay.

Good points!

Builders are not so much lowering prices but giving many kickbacks if you use their financing. However, builders will deal. Most don't realize this and just pay what the builder asks.

Many resales are priced to high because their Realtor or Real Estate Agent chose to let the seller set the price too high instead of walking away from the listing. It's difficult to honestly tell a client that their house is not worth more than it is worth. Often sellers just want to float the house on the market and see if it sells. And if it doesn't, they are ok with it.

If a seller truely wants to sell and prices the house correctly, it sells. The rest sit.

Nancy Lynne · 01-09-2007, 06:57 AM

Hi. Ok, those of you who have been sharing and repeating your pro-Orlando place to live for me....I guess you were spot on!!!

Now, could you please give me the specific surrounding towns, areas, communities, etc., to look at ---up to 45 mins from Orlando if need be -- with a 10 year old son --- or if it is simply a lovely town with not really great schools - please provide any private schools that you know of.

For everyone else...one of the reason Orlando was selected was because of the hot job market...and I don't think they were referring to The Mouse!

Looking forward to hearing from you!

It is YOUR time to brag, pro Orlandians!!!

Nomoresubways · 01-09-2007, 07:02 AM

Nancy did you get a chance to visit the Orlando area and see some of the surrounding towns? When I was researching the area, we were looking at it from the perspective of finding a nice area with good schools since we have a 13 year old ourselves. I found the best schools to be mainly in Seminole County, although there were parts of the downtown area that were very nice and had great schools as well. We also really liked Avalon Park, but what ended up deterring me from there was the single exit out of the entire community, which really scared the hell out of me.