Orlando Real Estate Market: Time to buy?
February 21, 2010 by Joey Guest · Leave a Comment
Interest rates are still low, there’s a glut of houses on the market and now even high-end custom homes are seeing prices slashed.
Is it time to buy a house?
No way. The economy has yet to turn around, and prices are going to keep falling.
Close, but not quite. If the market hasn’t bottomed out already, it’s [...]
Renters Get Relief from Foreclosure
February 6, 2010 by Joey Guest · Leave a Comment
Many of the households affected by the foreclosure crisis are actually renters, and a federal law is designed to keep them from being evicted with little or no notice.
A federal law enacted this year offers renters more protection from eviction if their landlord loses the property through foreclosure. The law has some fuzzy requirements, but [...]
What to Know Before You Turn Your Home into a Rental Property
February 4, 2010 by Joey Guest · Leave a Comment
Here’s what you need to know about taxes and insurance if you turn your home into a rental property.
Q: I will be transferred to a new city soon for my job, but housing prices have dropped so much since we bought our house that we can’t afford to sell it. Our only real option is [...]
Time to Invest: Rents Now Cover Mortgage Costs!
February 2, 2010 by Joey Guest · Leave a Comment
Few investors have noticed that rents are finally covering mortgage payments again in residential real estate.
In many regions for the first time in years, rental income can pay the mortgage on smaller residential properties. We’ve waited a long time for this opportunity.
We have several friends who steadily became “high net worth investors” while creating significant [...]
15 Market Positives: Reasons to invest in Orlando Florida real estate
February 1, 2010 by Joey Guest · Leave a Comment
Let’s take a look at some of the opportunities and positive indicators for the future of Florida’s real estate market.
1. Great prices. Statewide, home prices have fallen about 20 percent in the past year. Florida Association of Realtors® statistics show the existing-home median sales price was $185,400 in the third quarter of 2008, compared with [...]
Fear losing your home? Foreclosure tips, myths & facts
February 1, 2010 by Joey Guest · Leave a Comment
Hispanics got some of the worst loans during and after the housing boom, making them more susceptible to foreclosure and mortgage fraud, experts said Saturday.
They found it impossible to keep up with their subprime mortgages.
Even as the market began to soften two years ago, Hispanics in Central Florida ended up with about one-third of the [...]
Orlando rental units at a high 28% vacancy
January 31, 2010 by Joey Guest · Leave a Comment
Orlando had more vacant houses, condos and apartments than any other major U.S. city during the third quarter, driving down rents and sparking landlord concessions just five years after finding an apartment was virtually impossible.
The four-county metro area had a vacancy rate of 28 percent for all housing in the late summer months of [...]
Orlando may feel pinch from falling property values
January 31, 2010 by Joey Guest · Leave a Comment
Among the landmarks seeking lower assessments — and, the owners hope, smaller tax bills — are the new Paramount on Lake Eola condominium, the Bank of America building, CNL Plaza, even the Orlando Sentinel, records from Orange County Property Appraiser Bill Donegan’s office show.
Owners of the Paramount, assessed at $101.5 million, argue its true [...]
