Florida Real Estate, Tourism and Immigration News

Florida Property Auction Updates.

May 16th 2009
 
Blue Springs Auction: (Scheduled)

    * Large Acreage Lots
    * Opening bids of $25 K to $29 K
    * There are two homes for sale too.
    * There are 28 lots to be sold.
    * 10 of the lots will be sold “Absolute”
    * The event will be held on site.
    * Register: http://www.britishhomesgroup.com/florida-property-auctions.php

Town Homes in Melbourne: (In process)

    * Numerous “fee simple” town homes.
    * Two car garages in each of the units.
    * Previously sold in the Mid $400′s
    * Opening bids of $95,000 for each.
    * Luxury finishes (granite and crown moldings)
    * Adjacent to the Intracoastal Waterway
    * Auction tentatively scheduled for May 30th
    * Register: http://www.britishhomesgroup.com/florida-property-auctions.php

Future auctions to include condos on both the east and west coasts of Florida, as well as some single family homes near the Disney World location.

Resgister to receive auction updates: http://www.britishhomesgroup.com/florida-property-auctions.php

DEAL OF THE WEEK

20% Deposit for International Buyers

Bank owned move-in condition! IMMEDIATE OCCUPANCY! Ready to move in. Spacious two story with bonus room (ideal for office). All bedrooms on 2nd floor, nice master suite with walk-in closet, large master bath with garden tub and double vanities, gourmet kitchen with all appliances, lots of cabinetry and counterspace, separate tiled breakfast area overlooking backyard. Formal living and dining rms, great family room that opens to kitchen, inside laundry room with access door to side yard, double car garage, close to shopping and restaurants.

Enquire About this property: More Information

Request a customized property search

If you are currently considering buying a home in or around Orlando, recent statistics and an article in today’s Orlando Sentinel reveal that the ‘Timing is looking Good’.

Auctions, short sales, foreclosures and just plain and simple ‘too good to miss bargains’ are attracting investors, hedgefunds and first time buyers from all areas of the globe. Lenders are being more responsive with their short sale process and some are even offering 100% financing if you buy their own bank owned properties.

Existing-home sales in the region have started rising again compared with a year ago. And half the deals involve bank-owned foreclosures or “short sales” — properties for which the bank has agreed to take less than the amount owed on the mortgage.

48 percent of sellers nationally are now getting multiple purchase offers for a single property, nearly double the 25 percent rate during the same period last year.

The Orlando Realtors’ foreclosure analysis, released Monday, showed for the first time the extent of distress sales in the local market. Of the 1,653 homes sold by the association’s member agents in the core Orlando market last month, 700 were bank-owned.

Read the full article here…

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-bizdistress16041609apr16,0,4691113.story

According to a recent article on Forbes.com, buyers are returning to the British property market.

Low interest rates, great property prices and a general feeling that the bottom is reached or very close, is motivating action before sales prices start to climb.

In a recent survey of the sector, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said buyer enthusiasm increased for the fifth straight month in March, with London picking up particularly sharply.

This pickup in inquiries is feeding through into sales, RICS said, even though they remain at historically low levels.

“Buyer interest is starting to gain real momentum but will remain frustrated while mortgage finance is scarce,” said Ian Perry, a spokesman at RICS.

The RICS survey adds to the evidence that the British housing market may have bottomed out. The Nationwide building society said house prices actually increased in March for the first time since October 2007, while the Bank of England revealed that the number of mortgages approved in February rose by 19 percent to their highest level since May 2008.

Read the full article here…

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/04/15/ap6291961.html

Home prices in and around Orlando are down, interest rates are down and for the seventh straight month in a row sales are up.

Some recent statistics from the Orlando Business Journal in an article by Anjali Fluker are very encouraging for sellers and buyers alike…

• Home sales in the Orlando market jumped nearly 48 percent, but values fell by nearly 40 percent, according to the March report from the Orlando Regional Realtor Association.
• Association members reported 1,653 existing home sales in March, compared with 1,120 in the same month a year prior.
• Realtors also put 2,956 homes under contract last month, a far cry from March 2008’s 1,679.
• Association members also reported 4,906 pending sales — considered a leading indicator of future sales — in March, more than double March 2009’s 2,398.
• March home resales in the Orlando area — Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties — jumped nearly 58 percent, from 1,354 homes last year to 2,139 homes this year.
• Osceola County saw the biggest increase in sales at 112 percent, from 466 homes sold in March 2008 to 989 sold last month. Orange County saw the next largest jump at nearly 61 percent, from 1,667 last year to 2,681 this year, followed by Lake County’s 21.5 percent increase, from 657 last year to 798 this year, and Seminole’s nearly 5 percent jump, from 679 to 713.
• The association reported that 49 percent of the homes that were sold being bank-owned or distressed homes. There were 700 bank-owned home sales last month with a median price of $95,000, along with 111 distressed home resales with a median price of $143,500.
• Homes of all types spent an average of 104 days on the market before being sold last month, down from an average of 128 days in March 2008.
• The average home sold for nearly 92.6 percent of its listing price in March 2009, slightly down from the 93.1 percent posted in the same month last year.
• March inventory of homes available reflects a nearly 13-month supply at the sales pace, down from the nearly 17-month supply recorded in February 2009.
• Orlando-area condo sales saw a huge increase 228 percent last month — from 90 in 2008 to 295 this year.

If you are considering buying a home in Florida, please complete this short form for a customised porperty search  – http://www.britishhomesgroup.com/floridaforeclosures.php or call 0800 096 5989.

Read the full article here…

http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2009/04/13/daily7.html

UPDATED APRIL 16TH 2009 – THIS PROPERTY HAS SOLD.

DEAL OF THE WEEK 

20% Deposit For Foreign Nationals

Bank owned move-in condition! Spacious 2 story, family size kitchen with abundance of cabinets and counterspace, pantry, separate breakfast area. Family room opens to kitchen with glass slider opening to patio area. Large master suite with walkin closets, garden tub w/large shower, double vanities. Bonus room is ideal for office or children’s play room. All bedrooms on 2nd floor. Close to shopping.

Enquire About this property: More Information

Request a customized property search

The coaster is scheduled to open in May and will feature a Manta-ray theme coaster in which guests will fly face-down in horizontal position.

SeaWorld Orlando guests might catch their first glimpses of the new Manta roller coaster in action when its three trains are tested on the rails already snaking through the theme park.

The trains, which seat 32 passengers apiece and are fronted by a 12-foot manta design overhead, are tucked away in a maintenance building on the site. Construction of Manta, an inverted flying roller coaster that incorporates an enormous aquarium in its queue at SeaWorld, is on track for its official opening May 22.

“It’s like the homestretch for us we’re about 2 months away from wrapping it up,” said Brian Morrow, director of design and engineering, during a walk-through of the area Wednesday. The sea life including 3,000 animals will be moved into the aquarium in about three weeks, Morrow said. “We’re putting in landscaping, so that’s an indication that we’re very far along in our attraction,” he said.

Manta, very visible from the park entrance, will be a major addition just before a peak tourism season threatened by difficult economic times. The ride has been planned for years. “We just keep trucking ahead because we’re really looking for this ride to be an important asset to SeaWorld Orlando,” Morrow said.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will open the floodgates for new H-1B visa petitions today, 1st April 2009.

The USCIS announced additional requirements for employers, who receive funds through the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP) or under section 13 of the Federal Reserve Act (covered funding), before they may hire a foreign national to work in the H-1B specialty occupation category.

The new ‘Employ American Workers Act’ (EAWA), which was signed into law by President Obama as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on 17th February, has been designed so that companies receiving covered funding do not displace US workers.

Under the EAWA legislation any company that has received (covered) funding from the government and seeks to hire new H-1B workers is considered an ‘H-1B dependent employer’. Such employers must make additional guarantees to the US Department of Labour (DOL) when filing a Labour Condition Application.

For more information, visit the USCIS website www.uscis.gov or sign up for our immigration newsletter on www.eb5investmentvisas.com

Do you have an expiring H-1B visa? Please contact us about the EB-5 as an alternative pathway to continue living and working in the US.

info@eb5investmentvisas.com