Browsing Posts in Florida Real Estate

From today’s: Wall Street Journal

Condo Buyers Find Escape Clause

Court Ruling in Manhattan May Help Unhappy Owners to Break Purchase Deals.

A decades-old federal law initially intended to reduce fraud in sales of Florida swampland was applied for the first time to help dissatisfied buyers of Manhattan condominiums.

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled on Tuesday that a company controlled by property developer Africa Israel, a unit of Israeli-based AFI Group, had to return deposits to three buyers of condos in a downtown apartment building because of inadequate disclosure in the condo’s offering plan.

The judge referred to the obscure federal law known as the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act, or ILSA, as the basis for allowing the three buyers of units at 111 Fulton St. to get out of their contracts and receive refunds on their deposits.

Officials at Africa Israel didn’t respond to calls seeking comment.

Judges in other states have cited ILSA when ruling on behalf of home buyers but lawyers say this decision marks the first time in New York that a developer hasn’t prevailed in an ILSA case.

The ruling comes at a time when hundreds of New York condo buyers have been trying to escape contracts signed around the market’s peak and whose units have since fallen significantly in value.

Lawyers have pored through piles of documents and arcane laws in an effort to find something that would enable buyers to invalidate their contracts. Starting in early 2009, many buyers have based their cases around interpretations of ILSA. Some attorneys suggest that Tuesday’s ruling could make way for pending cases and new appeals based on the act.

“It’s quite significant,” says James Schwartz, partner at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, a New York law firm not involved in the case. “It opens the door for wholesale use of the act to get out of contracts.”

U.S. District Court Judge George B. Daniels ruled that the developer failed to comply with ILSA, which requires that buildings with more than 100 units provide buyers with documents that include a long list of disclosure details, from information about the condo association to zoning regulations.

If the developer fails to meet the disclosure requirements, buyers under the act have the right to tear up their contracts and receive refunds on their deposits within two years of their contract signings.

In previous New York cases, developers have argued successfully in court for exemptions from ILSA, such as saying that even though their buildings were marketed as having more than 100 units, fewer than 100 were actually sold. The law was initially intended to protect consumers from fraud on sales of Florida swampland and Arizona desert land.

Bruce H. Lederman, an attorney with D’Agostino, Levine, Landesman & Lederman who has represented developers in other ILSA cases, says that Tuesday’s ruling wouldn’t have a far-reaching effect. “The judge decided that the very specific language of that condo offering plan did not qualify for exemption,” he says.

But Lawrence Weiner, a Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer attorney who represented the buyers in the case, said developers had sometimes said that ILSA does not apply to high-rise condonimums. “This case reconfirms that it does apply,” says Mr. Weiner. He added he has about nine pending ILSA cases related to New York buildings, involving more than 50 purchasers.

He is also appealing two other ILSA-related cases, one in Harlem and one in Long Island City, where the court ruled on behalf of the developers.

Recent federal court rulings in Virginia and Florida that sided with buyers in ILSA cases had given hope to New York lawyers working with condo owners that their state would follow the same logic. “Even though it’s a different jurisdiction, the ruling was persuasive and supports the purchaser,” Mr. Weiner said of the Virginia case.

The 163-unit Fulton Street building began selling condos in June 2007, and three condo owners in the case signed contracts in 2007 and 2008. Their combined deposits totaled about $300,000, and the purchase price of their apartments ranged between $800,000 and $1.485 million, court documents said.

Africa Israel is headed by Lev Leviev, an Uzbekistan-born diamond merchant who immigrated to Israel and in recent years has bought up trophy properties in Brooklyn and Manhattan. That includes the historic Apthorp on the Upper West Side which is being converted into a high-end condo from a rental.

————————————–
 
 
Hopefully this U.S. legal precedent may help at least some our subscribers looking for ways to unwind their Florida property purchase contract.

Alternatively, of course, British Homes Sales, your “one-stop shop” estate agency in Orlando, can help you find your bargain-priced dream home in the Sunshine State – without problems!

Sincerely,

Bill Cowie  President

Looking at buying a home somewhere in Florida? Use one of our easy contact links below. 

Request more information on this home or submit a  Custom Search Request

BHG Logo 

The BRITISH HOMES GROUP Florida
2960 Vineland Road
Info@britishhomesgroup.com or (+1) 407 396 9914

THIS HUGE HOME IS AT A BANK APPROVED PRICE…

5 Bedroom, 3 Bathroom Pool Home in Kissimmee, FL

July’s Hot Property – click on one of the links below to make an offer or request more information on this home.
 
 
 July's Florida Property
 
5  Bedroomed, 3 Bathroom, Golf View, Pool Home Close to Disney World
Status: Available 
Listing Price: $239,900
Bedrooms: 5
Baths: 3
Sq.ft: 3636
Built: 2002
 
This month’s featured property is in a lovely golfing development in Kissimmee, just south of the 192.  Located on 8th green. Home features oversized heated pool with brick paver deck and completely screened with safe screen. Two story ceiling; wrap around kitchen 42 cabinets; walk in pantry gourmet workspace island; second floor laundry; and loft. Great location near major roads, airport, shopping, hospitals and the attractions.
 
Request more information on this home or submit a  Custom Search Request
 
 

BHG Logo 

The BRITISH HOMES GROUP Florida
2960 Vineland Road
Info@britishhomesgroup.com or (+1) 407 396 9914
 
 

5 Bedroom, 3 Bathroom Pool Home in Davenport, FL

June’s Hot Property – click on one of the links below to make an offer or request more information on this home.
 
June's Florida Property
 
5 Bedroomed, 3 Bathroom, Corner Lot, Pool Home Close to Disney World
Status: Available
Listing Price: $229,000
Bedrooms: 5
Baths: 3
Sq.ft: 2222
Built: 2006
 
This month’s featured property is in a small development of 96 executive homes in the Davenport area. It is on a corner lot that backs onto a conservation area. There is a sun balcony and a large screened in pool and patio area.
 
THE HOME IS GREAT FOR an investor or a buyer that wants to feel comfortable with costs for the first year – there is an existing tenant in the house that has renewed for 1 year!
 
The owner will also consider holding financing with considerable amount down. Great investor or second home opportunity – close to attractions and major roads.

Request more information on this home or submit a Custom Search Request

BHG Logo

The BRITISH HOMES GROUP Florida
2960 Vineland Road
Info@britishhomesgroup.com or (+1) 407 396 9914
 
 

If you or any of your friends or family members are “under water” here in Florida, that is, your Florida property is currently worth less than the mortgage on it, please let us know – we may be able to help!

From Today’s Orlando Sentinel:

Mortgage meltdown

With Orlando No. 3 in nation in underwater mortgages, homeowners ponder leaving.

Mark and Susan Stone are weighing a decision being echoed across Central Florida: Should we stay in a home worth less than the mortgage – or walk away?

Orlando now leads Florida and most of the nation for underwater mortgages, according to a report released last week by CoreLogic Inc. Only Las Vegas and Phoenix surpass it. The California-based researchers determined that 55 percent, or 285,004, of the area’s mortgaged homes are worth less than their outstanding mortgage.

Industry experts describe the properties as being a “shadow inventory” of bank-repossessed properties and mortgages facing foreclosure.

Central Florida’s home-loan burdens come as no surprise in a metro area where housing stock has lost half its value in three years. Not only did buyers who purchased during the peak get stuck with upside-down mortgages, so did homeowners who refinanced based on values before the housing bubble burst starting in mid-2007.

That has led to more people walking away from their homes. But that decision comes with risks. The homeowner’s credit can be marred, and it could raise thorny ethical questions.

The terms “short sale,” “negative equity” and “strategic default” weren’t part of the Stones’ vocabulary a few years ago. Now, the Wall Streetish terms have become the creaking rafters of their lives.

“That was my dream kitchen. But it’s just a kitchen,” said Susan Stone, who lives in the home with her husband and two sons, ages 7 and 3. “Both kids were there since they were born. It’s all they’ve ever known. … We just want an affordable payment, or they [the bank] can have the house. It will sit vacant for who knows how long.”

Last week, the scales seemed to tip slightly toward struggling owners sticking it out in their homes. Existing-home sales prices for Orlando were up for the third straight month, with a median of $115,000, and foreclosure filings were down by a quarter from the previous month and the previous year.

It wasn’t all good news, though. Though the legal foreclosure filings for homeowners just entering the process had fallen, the pipeline of houses in the latter phases of foreclosure – when banks have taken over properties – had swollen for the fifth straight month.

“The fundamental issue still facing the fragile housing market is that backup of underwater mortgages,” said Daren Blomquist, spokesman for RealtyTrac, which researches foreclosure activity. “In our minds, those are definitely much more susceptible to foreclosure.”

The path leading to the Stones’ possible abandonment of their longtime canal-front home in the Isle of Catalina community in south Orlando took several sharp turns in recent years.

Mark Stone, 42, bought the home 12 years ago for $93,000. Then, about two years later, he took equity out of the appreciating house to open a bar and grill, but the 2004 hurricanes closed the adjacent hotel for six months, and the bar and grill was a casualty. The Stones then took out more equity to launch a vending business, which also failed.

The couple rallied, sometimes working back-to-back jobs, and refinanced their debt in 2006, but their adjustable-rate mortgage soon climbed to $1,850 a month. Even when Deutsche Bank agreed to modify the payments to $1,250 a month, they were slapped with higher premiums for flood insurance.

The payments became insurmountable, even when they cut their cable and necessities such as prescription medications. Finally, in January, their lender denied them any chance at a permanent mortgage modification.

Bottom line: They owe about $208,000, and the midcentury, three-bedroom house is listed for sale at $229,000, which would cover the debt plus real-estate costs. But even with the boat dock and granite counters, the house is unlikely to fetch that price because similar houses in the neighborhood have sold for about $160,000.

“Basically you have to look at it like a business would,” said Susan Stone, 37, a longtime corrections officer. A corporation would not continue to continue pay top dollar for an asset that had lost half its value, she added.

She has her list of pros and cons of walking away.

The case for walking away: She said the house is likely worth about $40,000 less than they owe on it. If they stayed, they would have to face some big-ticket expenses, such as a new roof. After the lender denied them a mortgage modification in January, they stopped making payments, and she estimated they could soon save $10,000 for a down payment on another house.

The case for staying: She said they would lose more than $30,000 they sank into the house for mold remediation and repairs after the 2004 hurricanes. And, most importantly, their credit would be damaged. But Stone noted that the house is in her husband’s name and her credit is intact, allowing her to buy their next house.

Rocky Stubbs, vice president of Homeownership Preservation for JP Morgan Chase, said homeowners need to explore their options before they undertake what he called a noncontested foreclosure. Homeowners who just walk away are still responsible for paying the debt, the lender’s legal bills, unpaid taxes and insurance.

“You start to traverse the ethical obligations of someone trying to keep, to the best of their ability, the terms of the contract,” said Stubbs, who oversees the lender’s Florida market, including two offices in Orlando. “But at the end of the day, there are cases when it’s ultimately unaffordable.”

Homeowners could pursue a short sale, in which the lender agrees to sell the property for less than the mortgage. The owner may still have to pay the debt, but that’s often negotiable. Another option is a deed in lieu of foreclosure. That alternative can relinquish borrowers from debt and allow them to avoid the public notoriety of a foreclosure.

Both of those options save lenders the time and expense of repossessing a house. Another course allows borrowers to lease their house from the lender, at market rates, after they surrendered the deed to the lender.

Mentally, Stone said, she’s ready to move on. She said they could purchase a house with lower monthly payments, higher-rated schools, fewer maintenance costs and closer to family in east Orlando. She said her family would miss living on the canal that feeds Clear Lake.

But what’s the point of living on the water, she asked, when you can’t afford any of the toys to enjoy it?

 
Please let us know if we or any of our Advisory Panel can assist you with any legal, sales, financial or other Florida property related advice.

We have, as you may know, a highly active Orlando-based Estate Agency specialising is assisting UK home owners in Florida.

Sincerely,

Bill Cowie  President

www.BritishHomesGroup.com

Kissimmee Office: 407 396 9914

4 Bedroom, 4 Bathroom Pool Home in Kissimmee, FL

May’s Hot Property – click on one of the links below to make an offer or request more information on this home.
 
 
4  Bedroomed, 4 Bathroom Brand New Pool Home Close to Disney
Status: Available 
Listing Price: $150,000
Bedrooms: 4
Baths: 4
Sq.ft: 2200
Built: 2009
 
This month’s featured property is brand new , has 4 bedrooms including a huge master suite and 4 bathrooms, a private pool and is 2200 sq ft. The area is zoned for both short term and long term rentals.  There is a superb clubhouse with a fitness room and community pool. The developer will pay 3% towards closing costs.
 

The property is unfurnished but does come with all kitchen appliances and washer/dryer. The development is within a 20 minute drive of Disney. The price is an amazing $150,000!

Great investment or second home opportunity – close to all attractions. 

Request more information on this home or submit a  Custom Search Request

BHG Logo 

The BRITISH HOMES GROUP Florida
2960 Vineland Road
Info@britishhomesgroup.com or (+1) 407 396 9914
 
 

BRITISH HOMES GROUP

April 30, 2010

From today’s Orlando Sentinel…

University of Florida survey: Florida’s real estate has bottomed out

Are things about to turn around for real-estate properties both private and commercial, such as in downtown Orlando? According to 1 study, that is a real possibility even if it is far from a certainty at this point.
 
Florida real estate has hit bottom and is in the process of stabilizing, according to results of a quarterly survey by the University of Florida.

Private capital – both foreign and domestic – continues to enter the state in search of high-quality investments, said Timothy Becker, director of UF’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies. As banks start to deal with their problem assets, more deals will come to market, he added.

Also, life insurance companies have started to reinvest in commercial properties after backing off for the past year and a half. Because those companies invest premiums from customers’ policies, they are not deterred by the lack of available bank financing, he said.

While most of the real estate professionals surveyed predicted the market probably won’t get any worse, few said it has actually begun to improve, Becker noted. “One of our respondents summed it up by stating that, ‘If anything, we will get less bad,’ ” he said.

“So if they think things aren’t going to get worse and they may actually get better, it follows that they’re going to want to start investing again,” he said.

While South Florida is one of the state’s strongest areas with its diverse economy, steady migration and influx of foreign capital, Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville are also picking up.

“Florida’s big cities – those four areas – are less bad off than the rest of the state, and they’re going to be quicker to recover than other places,” Becker said.

The retail and office markets are in the worst shape and will likely continue to struggle until job growth improves and frees up more discretionary spending by consumers, the survey concluded.

Apartments continue to be the strongest sector in the state because of high demand from people moving out of foreclosed homes, Becker said.

Statewide, Florida’s new-home market will continue to be slow as more and more foreclosures become available on the existing-home market, Becker said. “That competition makes it very difficult for new homes to get built and purchased, because buyers can often get an equal or nicer home for a much cheaper price on the foreclosure market,” he said.

The report is more optimistic than some recent economic forecasts, which have predicted the market may further soften through at least the end of the year.

David Stiff, chief economist for Wisconsin-based Fiserv Inc, predicted in March that Orlando residential prices would fall by double-digit percentages through the third quarter and then increase by less than 2 percent from late 2010 until late 2011. Fiserv’s report predicts that housing prices in Florida will fall in all 22 of its largest markets, with prices in Miami falling by one-third through the third quarter of this year.

Mary Shanklin can be reached at mshanklin@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5538.
———————-
 
Thank you for your business – please tell your friends!

Sincerely,

Bill Cowie  President

www.BritishHomesGroup.com

Kissimmee Office: 407 396 9914

Member: British-American Chamber of Commerce

Our Email Address: Info@BritishHomesGroup.com

Quick Contact Request

http://www.britishhomesgroup.com/contactus.php

Customised Property Search Request

http://www.britishhomesgroup.com/floridaproperty.php

BRITISH HOMES GROUP

April 22, 2010

From today’s ORLANDO BUSINESS JOURNAL

Orlando home, condo sales up in March

Existing home sales in Florida rose 24 percent in March, with 16,294 homes sold statewide compared to 13,090 homes sold in March 2009, said Florida Realtors.

In addition, while March’s statewide existing-home median price of $137,000 was down 3 percent from $141,300 a year ago, it was 4.3 percent higher than February’s statewide existing-home median price.

Florida Realtors also reported a 63 percent increase in statewide sales of existing condos in March compared to the previous year’s sales figure, with 7,148 units sold compared to 4,387 in March 2009.

March’s statewide existing-condo median price of $96,900 was down 11 percent compared to the year-ago figure of $108,500, but it was 5.1 percent higher than February’s statewide existing-condo median price.

In metro Orlando, 2,489 existing home sales took place in March, a 36 percent increase over 1,828 in March 2009.

The median price for homes in March 2010 was $132,200 in the metro area, a 12.7 percent decrease from $151,500 in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, 790 condo units sold in March compared with 364 a year ago, a 117 percent increase. However, the median price fell 11 percent to $49,700 compared with $55,700 a year ago.

Sincerely,

Bill Cowie  President

www.BritishHomesGroup.com
Kissimmee Office: 407 396 9914
Member: British-American Chamber of Commerce

Our Email Address: Info@BritishHomesGroup.com

Quick Contact Request

http://www.britishhomesgroup.com/contactus.php

Customised Property Search Request

http://www.britishhomesgroup.com/floridaproperty.php

BRITISH HOMES GROUP

April 21, 2010

Time ripe to buy US homes before prices rise – poll

By Lynn Adler

NEW YORK, April 21 (Reuters) – Most consumers think U.S. homes are affordable and the time is ripe to buy as many expect prices to rise in the next year, a new survey showed on Wednesday.

U.S. home buyers remain worried about the economy. But with average home prices down about 30 percent nationally from 2006, mortgage rates low and federal tax credits still in play, more than 80 percent of buyers see this as a good time to purchase, a Century 21 Real Estate LLC poll found.

The First-Time Home Buyers and Sellers survey by the Realogy Corp. unit polled consumers who bought or sold their first home within the past year or planned to do so within the next year.

“Today’s market presents a generational opportunity for home buyers and current home owners looking to leverage their market position,” Rick Davidson, president and CEO of Parsippany, New Jersey-based Century 21, said in a statement.

The housing market is showing signs of stabilizing after its deepest plunge since the Great Depression, though a rapid recovery is highly unlikely with unemployment hovering just below 10 percent.

Recovery will be sporadic and slow, most analysts agree, constrained by restrictive lending standards and a stockpile of foreclosed properties that must also be sold.

Almost half of first-time home buyers and sellers expect home prices to increase over the next year, the survey found.

Such indications of improved sentiment have been in short supply and eagerly sought in the midst of the important spring home sales season. Spring sales are especially important this year as some major government backstops are yanked.

The Federal Reserve on March 31 ended its purchases of more than $1.4 trillion in mortgage-related securities aimed to hold down mortgage rates, rejuvenate housing and the economy.

Meantime, buyers eligible for an $8,000 first-time home purchase tax credit or a $6,500 repeat-buyer credit need to sign contracts by the end of this month and close on loans by the end of June.

Eighty-four percent of first-time buyers surveyed by Century 21 are aware of the credit and 64 percent of those who are in the market for their first home said they qualify.

The same percentage of sellers were aware of the move-up buyer credit, though just 33 percent said they qualified.

Home prices, the tax credit and low interest rates were the top three reasons first-time buyers decided to enter the market.

Personal/family reasons and home prices were the main factors leading owners to sell their house for the first time.

Home prices also drove about half of the sellers surveyed to move up to bigger homes, and about 37 percent to change neighborhoods.

Losing money and getting offers near their asking price were the main concerns for sellers.

About 40 percent of those polled were more worried about the economy than a year ago, Century 21 said, and market conditions generally favor buyers. However, about half of first-time buyers see prices rising by next spring, helping reestablish a balance between buyers and sellers.

Almost 80 percent of those polled said mortgage rates are either somewhat or very affordable. Low rates influenced 46 percent of owners to sell for move-up reasons and another 43 percent to change neighborhoods.

Thirty-year mortgage rates have averaged around 5 percent through the first three months of this year, rising slightly in April, according to home funding company Freddie Mac.

But as many banks have tightened lending practices, the vast majority also said that getting a home loan is either somewhat or very difficult.

Century 21 said that most of those who moved or plan to move are staying between 10 and 50 miles of their current homes, suggesting market conditions may be spurring the transactions rather than demand for big geographic changes or job relocations.

The on-line survey was conducted with 708 respondents from March 12-16 by MarketTools, Inc.

Sincerely,

Bill Cowie  President

www.BritishHomesGroup.com
Kissimmee Office: 407 396 9914 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              407 396 9914      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Member: British-American Chamber of Commerce

Our Email Address: Info@BritishHomesGroup.com

Quick Contact Request

http://www.britishhomesgroup.com/contactus.php

Customised Property Search Request

http://www.britishhomesgroup.com/floridaproperty.php

BRITISH HOMES GROUP

April 9, 2010

From today’s Orlando Sentinel – Mary Shanklin

Home prices edge up in March
 
Sales of existing homes in Orlando increased and prices rose about 5 percent from February to March, signaling the approaching April 30 deadline for a federal homebuyer tax credit.

Anxious for a recovery in the recessed market, the association noted that closings for March had increased more than 40 percent from a year ago. And it reported that its members filed 4,662 new sales contracts during March, bringing the area’s pending sales more than 10,000.

“The record number of pending sales confirms the strong increase in demand as buyers try to take advantage of the tax credit before the April 30 deadline,” said the association’s Chairman of the Board, Kathleen Gallagher McIver, RE/MAX Town & Country Realty.  “If homebuyers want this tax credit, they must act now.”

Buyers must have a contract signed by April 30 to qualify for the credit, which is worth as much as $8,000. The sale must be closed by June 30.

Prices, meanwhile, had improved from February to March but were still down 19 percent from a year earlier. The median price for an existing home in the Orlando area last month was $110,000, with “normal” sales prices increasing 2 percent to $166,500 and short sales prices rising 10 percent to $105,000.

Homes of all types spent an average of 92 days on the market before coming under contract in March 2010; a year early they were on the market for an average of 11 days longer. The average home sales prices was 94.36 percent of its list price, up from 92.74 percent a year earlier.

And, in another indication of how the market has changed during the last year, the current pace of sales translates into 7 months of supply; a year earlier the region had a 12-month supply.

Long road back home

Forecast: Housing prices in Orlando, Miami won’t return to 2006 peak until after 2039.

Orlando’s single-family home prices are unlikely to return to their 2006 peak for the next three decades, according to a newly released survey of more than 370 U.S. cities.

Prices have fallen 60 percent during the past four years in Metro Orlando, one of seven markets not expected to recover until some time after 2039, according to the analysis of Case-Shiller historical home-price trends released Thursday by Fiserv Inc.

The study went on to predict that Central Florida housing prices would fully reach bottom during the second quarter of 2011.

“The difficulty with Orlando and the other markets that got caught up in the housing bubble is that prices fell by more than 50 percent,” said David Stiff, chief economist with Fiserv. “Even if you have average appreciation of 3 percent annually, … it takes 30 years to get back to the peak.”

Another challenge facing Orlando is an oversupply of housing built during the boom, Stiff added. Federal home-buyer tax credits have been attracting buyers in recent months, but that demand may subside once the credits disappear this spring, he said.

Investors are rushing in and purchasing properties in Orlando and other markets, but that kind of activity isn’t likely to further “destabilize” the market – as it did during the housing run-up – because speculators now are largely cash buyers with mortgage payments that reflect local rental rates. Four or five years ago, investors used easy financing and then could not get charge enough in rents to pay off their mortgages.

Sean Snaith, who directs the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness, said the Orlando area’s recovery from the housing slump is likely to take some time. But he said the national Fiserv survey may not be taking into account employment forecasts that show relatively strong job creation for the region. The university, he added, foresees Orlando’s job market growing faster than that of other cities in the state.

“A lot can happen in three decades. This is one of the fastest-growing parts of the state. It will still have high growth again,” Snaith said. “We’re in a deep hole – we’re not buried alive.”

Bradley Hunter, a Florida economist for Metrostudy, a real estate research firm, said it’s “fanciful” to even poise the question of when prices will return to the peak of the buying frenzy. Speculating investors drove prices to levels that were inflated far in excess of the rental market and of what buyers could afford based on their incomes.

“I do agree it’s going to be a long time,” Hunter said of the recovery. “Some areas will begin to improve this year and other areas, next year. But getting back to peak levels? That’s asking for a lot, because those were unsustainable and unrealistic.”

Within Florida, the Fiserv/Case Shiller indexes showed Miami, Naples, Punta Gorda and Orlando all taking until at least 2039 to rebound to their peak prices. Other parts of the state would recover sooner: Gainesville, 2017; Jacksonville, 2020; Polk County, 2026; and Brevard and Volusia counties, 2027. The data economists analyzed originated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Moody’s Economy.com.

“Nationally, Fiserv Case-Shiller data point to a further, 7 percent decline in home prices through the end of this year, with a prolonged recovery beginning early in 2011,” Stiff said. “In many markets, the emphasis is on the word ‘prolonged.’

Mary Shanklin can be reached at mshanklin@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5538.
 
Thank you again for your business!

Please tell your friends!

Sincerely,

Bill Cowie  President

www.BritishHomesGroup.com
Kissimmee Office: 407 396 9914
Member: British-American Chamber of Commerce

——————-

If you already own a home here and you are considering short or long term renting the home, or if you are considering buying a home (anywhere in Florida) please use one of our contact options below – The British Homes Group

We are located on the NW Corner of 535 and US highway 192 above the Edwin Watts Golf Shop and across the road from the Publix super market. Please feel free to visit anytime Monday through Friday, 9 – 5pm.

Our local number is: (+1) 407 396 9914

Our Email Address: Info@BritishHomesGroup.com

Quick Contact Request

http://www.britishhomesgroup.com/contactus.php

Customised Property Search Request

http://www.britishhomesgroup.com/floridaproperty.php

April 6, 2010
 
From today’s USA Today:

Surprise: US Home Sales Spring Forward

8.2% gain in February home sales was best since 2001

By Stephanie Armour, USA TODAY

Home buyers rushed to purchase previously owned homes in February, a shift hailed as the long-awaited start of the spring housing market.

The seasonally adjusted index of sales agreements jumped 8.2% in February to 97.6 from 90.2 in January, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said.

Although many economists had expected a decline, it turned out to be the second biggest monthly rise on record behind October 2001.

After an anemic winter, home sales are now likely to continue showing steady increases, economists say, as buyers rush to complete purchases before a tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time home buyers expires April 30. They cite other factors, including more jobs and economic growth, that could continue to propel a housing recovery.

“What we’re starting to see are people who have their eye on the tax credit make some moves,” says Joel Naroff at Naroff Economic Advisors. He predicts home sales will continue growing: “Job growth, the economy is coming back; Realtors are listing – everything seems to be working in the positive side of the cycle.”

Pending sales rose the most in the Midwest, at 21.8% in February from January. In the West, the index fell 4.8% in February. The Northeast rose 9%, and pending home sales in the South increased 9.2%. The data reflect contracts. Closings usually occur one or two months later.

Cheap home prices could also be drawing bargain-hunting buyers. Home prices in January fell 0.4% from December on an unadjusted basis, according to a report last week from the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index.

Anecdotal reports suggest March may also show gains in home sales, says Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR. That would be critical in helping reduce the overall amount of housing inventory. High levels of inventory dampen prices by reducing competition for homes.

Yun says that there may be some decrease in home sales in June through August, after the tax credit expires, and that higher interest rates near the end of the year could depress sales. Currently, the average interest rate on a 30-year, fixed mortgage is 5.08%, Freddie Mac says. “I’m optimistic,” Yun says. “By year end, interest rates could be closer to 6%. But with the improving economy and buyer confidence, that shouldn’t be a hindrance.”
If you already own a home here and you are considering short or long term renting the home, or if you are considering buying a home (anywhere in Florida) please use one of our contact options below – The British Homes Group

We are located on the NW Corner of 535 and US highway 192 above the Edwin Watts Golf Shop and across the road from the Publix super market. Please feel free to visit anytime Monday through Friday, 9 – 5pm.

Our local number is: (+1) 407 396 9914

Our Email Address: Info@BritishHomesGroup.com

Quick Contact Request

http://www.britishhomesgroup.com/contactus.php

Customised Property Search Request

http://www.britishhomesgroup.com/floridaproperty.php