Orlando Florida Real Estate Resource

Orlando Florida Real Estate Resource

Orlando and Seminole County Home Buyers - Title Insurance Is A Must!

Your Orlando Florida property has a unique past, present and future, and when you buy an Orlando Florida home, you become part of its recorded history. The record of your ‘free and clear’ home ownership protects you and future owners of your property from being deprived of rightful ownership.

As accurate as the recording system is, there are times when your home ownership may be challenged. Perhaps a ‘legally-dead’ previous home owner turns up and lays claim. Maybe a case of mistaken identity or even forgery occurred in a past Orlando Real Estate transaction and rises to haunt you.

The only way to be assured that your right to own your home or property cant be taken from you in some unforeseen way is to take out title insurance. Title insurance secures your part in the history of your home.

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Lake Mary Florida Real Estate Market Update -March 2008

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The Lake Mary Florida real estate market seems to be picking up this Spring. We are seeing more homes closing and more homes going under contract.  While this is much welcome to Lake Mary home sellers, there are still mixed emotions, as home prices are still falling.

For Lake Mary home buyers, this market is a dream come true.  It seems as though were finally reaching bottom, making it the ideal time for making your move.  Prices are low as are interest rates, but dont wait, as interest rates are definitely expected to rise.  If youre a gambler and wondering how best to time your purchase, youll definitely want to read the follwing:

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Orlando Florida Real Estate Market Update -March 2008

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According to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, Orlando’s monthly housing sales increased in March, as the median price dropped. Orlando Florida real estate experienced an increase in the number of home sales, an increase in the number of homes under contrace and a decrease in it’s housing inventory for sale.  These are all small, but much anticipated steps toward market equilibrium.  

The monthly statistical reports released by the Orlando Regional Realtor® Association revealed some additional interesting tidbits for the month of March:

• the sales of homes costing upwards of $1 million more than doubled in March compared to last month;
• the sales of duplexes, town homes, and villas have increased in each of the last three months; and
• the majority of condos sold have fallen into lower and lower price categories for each of the last three months.

The median sales price of a single-family home in the Orlando area decreased by 1.35 percent ($3,000) from $223,000 in February 2008 to $220,000 in March 2008. The median sales price for March 2008 is 8.33 percent below that of March 2007 ($240,000).

The decrease in the median home price to $220,000 means that the area’s affordability index increased in March to 102.35 percent. (An affordability index of 99 percent means that buyers earning the state-reported median income are 1 percent short of the income necessary to purchase a median-priced home. Conversely, an affordability index that is over 100 means that median-income earners make more than is necessary to qualify for a median-priced home.) Buyers who earn the reported median income of $51,506 can qualify to purchase one of 10,980 homes in Orange and Seminole counties currently listed in the local multiple listing service (MLS) for $225,170 or less.

The first time homebuyer affordability index held steady in March, at 72.78.

The number of sales in the Orlando area declined by 39.29 percent in March 2008 compared to March of last year (1,080 to 1,779), but the number of sales that took place in March 2008 increased by 13.56 percent compared to the number of sales that occurred in February 2008 (951).

There are currently 2,398 homes in the MLS with pending sales contracts (an indicator of future sales activity), up from 1,731 in January and 2,175 in February. The number of homes newly under contract increased by 142 in March, and the increase from January to February was 298.

The area’s average interest rate was 5.94 percent in March 2008, up from 5.87 percent in February but down from 2007’s high of 6.60 percent in August.

Homes of all types spent an average of 130 days on the market before being sold in March 2008; the average home sold for 93.53 percent of its original asking price. In March 2007 those numbers were 90 and 95.87 percent, respectively.

The majority of single-family homes (223) that changed hands in March 2008 were sold for between $200,000 and $250,000. Another 129 homes sold in March for between $250,000 and $300,000. Two hundred eighty-four homes sold for less than $200,000 in March, and 260 sold for more than $300,000. On the far ends of the scale, 31 homes were sold for $1 million or more (double the number sold in February) while only 10 homes sold for less than $50,000.

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Orlando Florida Real Estate Resource

Orlando, and Lake Mary Foreclosures

When reading or watching the news about Orlando Florida Real Estate, it’s easy to begin believing that everyone around you is losing their home to foreclosure.  Don’t be fooled by the media focus on a small fraction of the real estate market.  Here’s just a note on perspective for some of the foreclosure news you are seeing.  

Is it rough out there in today’s real estate market?  Well consider this, in a recent Bloomberg news article there are apparently frightening numbers on forclosure rates - ” U.S. Foreclosures Jump 57%” .  Awful state of affairs - right?  How about this headline for the same article - “99.8% of U.S. Households NOT in Forclosure”  Amazing? Can’t be true? Check the math.

Use the numbers provided in the article - “More than 234,000 properties were in some stage of foreclosure, or one in every 538 U.S. households… “.  Pull out your calculator and work out the percentage - .001859 or .1859% (1 divided by 538).  Yep - that is LESS than two-tenths of one percent.

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Orlando Florida Real Estate Resource

Orlando, and Lake Mary Mortgage Rates

Photo by Paul Moody

An Inverted Yield Curve:
What It Means to Mortgage Rates & Programs

The U.S. economy, interest rates, and the housing market are frequent topics on the nightly news. Viewers are told about leading economic indicators, how the stock market has performed, and whether the Federal Reserve is planning on changing interest rates. What isn't explained is how these items are interrelated and how they may impact which home loan is best for you.

The Federal Reserve attempts to keep the U.S. economy healthy through its use of monetary policy. As fears of inflation increase, the Fed will raise certain short-term interest rates such as the federal funds rate, which is the interest rate banks pay each other for overnight loans. Such an increase causes a ripple effect, with banks raising their prime lending rate. This, in turn, causes an increase in Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) rates and the indices they're tied to, such as the 12-Month Treasury Average (MTA), the 11th District Cost of Funds Index (COFI), and the 1-Month London Inter Bank Offering Rates (LIBOR).

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