This is a handy service to find the best gasoline prices by zip code. It’s updated daily so   use it before your next fill up. Let’s reward the gas stations with the lowest prices with more business so they can continue to offer the lowest price. Please pass this along to friends and family so they can afford thier mortgage payment, God knows we don’t need more forclosures!!!

http://autos.msn.com/everyday/GasStations.aspx?m=1&l=1&zip=34761&x=10&y=15

It’s also got traffic reports to make your commuting easier! Gas prices don’t have much to do with the Orlando Real Estate market but if you can save a few cents a gallon you might be able to afford a home, or keep the one you have, so it’s all related, right?

Today I have a moment, finally, to sit down and post some of my thoughts about today’s current  housing market situation in Orlando. Lately I’ve been extremely busy with buyers. Not that that has been particularly a great success, but I’ll write more about that later. I’ve also been quite busy talking to a lot of prospective sellers. A sellers view of this market is completely different than a buyers.

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I have the opportunity in my line of work to speak with a great deal of people, some experts, other Orlando rea estate agents, and prospective sellers and buyers.  I’d like to share my collective thoughts with you from each of these groups of people in this posting so that I can convey what is actually going on here today.

Let’s start with Buyers and Sellers. Buyer’s are from Mars and Sellers are from Venus. Yes, like the famous well known book written by bestselling author, Dr. John Gray, I have observed, over the years, that this set are in fact worlds apart. In this market, however, the distance between the two is growing further apart. Some are getting lost in space. Sometimes an expert can bring the two worlds together, bridging the gap between millions of miles of empty outer space Not without a few thousand approaching asteroids and space storms along the way. I believe the public’s opinion of a real estate agent is way over simplified. I recently read a blog by some Real Estate Radio talk show host who was bashing agents because they could not tell them how they justify their commission. I wrote a long response, which he posted but he replied with an expected smug reply. This guy makes bashing agents a hobby and a business. Normally I’d link to his blog article, but I really don’t think this guy is an expert, so not only won’t I link to the blog, but I won’t bother to mention his name. There seems to not only be a simplified view of an agent’s role in transactions these days. My opinion on that is that these bashers are throw backs from the boom which recently crashed. A very lucky bunch of people who call themselves experts and who now write blogs were able to successfully sell without a Realtor and buy home. Of course it was much easier then, when there was a shortage of homes for sale. I’m always happy to hear success stories, who wouldn’t want to save thousands of dollars?, I sure would. Unfortunately, an easy and swift transaction is most often times, not a common thing in the world of a private seller. With our current situation of over inventory, a private seller is having a much harder time of it.

Lately, it seems, prospective sellers are still way out in the depths of space, not quite realizing how difficult it is going to be to sell a home in today’s current market. When I interview with prospective sellers to list their homes, I tell them that roughly 3% of the total M.L.S. inventory is selling each month in the Orlando area, yet they are still resistant to comply with today’s wave of buyers. Today’s buyer is lost in the endless ocean of real estate inventory. Buyers have so many choices today, which is great for them but bad for sellers. This over inventory is creating extremely competitive pricing that some sellers are not able to deal with. I tell them that their house must be the best deal, must be in the best condition and certainly has to offer more than the other lowest price listings with the type offerings within their area.  As an experienced agent, having weathered the storm of a soft market already, I know exactly how to sell a home in this market. When people listen to my specific advice, they sell.  Most sellers listen to some of my advice while ignoring other important tips, which usually ends up costing them more. I am often surprised that they call on experts and often completely disregard advice. I, like the words, of the Rolling Stones hit, Tears Gone By, sit and watch as tears go bye. Tears from the sellers, that is. Admittedly, I too get upset when a listing languishes on the market, sometimes forgetting that the real reason is that the seller failed to take some or all my advice in the beginning. What’s driving prices down further is the rash of foreclosures and prospective sellers are having a hard time excepting that buyers want the cheapest home for their money. Many buyers tell me they only want bank foreclosures. After talking with many other fellow Orlando real estate professionals, like me, the consensus is the same everywhere. Everyone wants a deal.

My greatest hurdle in today’s market is bridging the gap between the buyers and the sellers to bring deals together. Buyers are generally offering way too low and sellers are still trying to cling on to thier equity as best they can. They’re resitant to hearing the truth about just how bad the market is for sellers. It’s difficult to make a seller realize that next month, their home will be worth less than today in a declining market. Granted, most buyers are low balling sellers, but the counter offer strategies must be more proactive to keep that buyer interested. Judging by the actions of the last 7 buyers I’ve worked with over the past month, and hearing what other agents are telling me, most buyers are making low offers and refuse to take even a slight counter offer from the seller. Traditionally, it’s wise to counter, less the buyer feel that they might have gotten a better lower deal if the seller quickly accepts their intial low offer. To make a buyer feel like they’ve gotten a deal psychologically, the seller must counter something. Today’s buyer’s who are not sitting on the fence, are out there making several offers. Can you blame them? Some have time restrictions, and give up low balling after the first few failed attempts. We have to remember that buyers still do have particular tastes and needs, so even with more listings to choose from, they still can narrow it down pretty quickly, especially if they have an agent working for them. So by the third or fourth low ball offer, they realize that this house isn’t one of their favorites, so they often give up at this point and decide to rent. Their fear is that the market will continue to decline, so they want to be sure to get a very good deal today.

This point is extremely hard to convey to a seller. I am advising a proactive pricing strategy because I know that this will work. I work with buyers, so I know what they want. I’ve sold many listings in this market climate so I know the recipe for success. A seller must first have their want and need in parallel. They not only have to merely want to sell.  In my previous post I wrote about Short Sales. A great deal of the sellers today in our market cannot list their home at market value simply because they owe more than it’s worth. If these people need to sell, it’s definitely worth trying to avoid a foreclosure. I work with a third party Short Sale processor who handles my short sales. They have contacts established with the lenders and banks and can most often speed up the process. I market the property and once a contract comes in I hand it over to them so that they can coordinate it. Too many agents are touting themselves as Short Sale Experts. It’s impossible to be an expert with so many different banks and lenders, each having their own processes and requirements and those requirements change too quickly. As time goes by, there are more short sales offered and lenders are so inundated with requests that they can take as long as two months to respond. Certainly for someone who’s got a shorter time frame a bank owned foreclosure, one that’s already been foreclosed can be a better bet. I have a list of bank foreclosures that I give to my buyers. I give them this list and try to convince them to shy away from the short sales because of the extra time and the probabilities of the seller not qualifying for the short pay off in the first place. A seller who can successfully negotiate a short sale must prove to their lender that they cannot pay.

Weather you decide to buy a short sale/pre-foreclosed home, bank owned foreclosure, or a regular non-distressed type listing (many of the non-distressed listings can be a better deal), many real estate experts agree that now is statistically the best time to buy. Inevitably prices will go up again. If you’re a millionaire and can hold your real estate portfolio for a few years, you’re going to be rolling in it when the cycle comes around again. If I were rich, I’d be very rich, for sure! If you’re buying a principle residence or second home in any price range it’s still a great time to buy. You won’t be able to flip the house and turn a tidy profit in a short time like we saw a few short years but you’ll be buying at the right end of the cycle and there are truly great deals out there as sellers are forced to compete with many other listings, which have driven the prices much lower. We’re seeing prices reflect those found before the boom equivalent to the prices seen in 2004.

What a great time to be a buyer. I just hope you don’t have to sell first! If you do call an expert, you really should in this market. There will always be a great distance between the buyer and seller planetary systems but using an expert can guide you in the right direction so that you’re not lost in space.

Here’s a You Tube video I found on avoiding forclosure…

http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?video_id=o2ZsbBxeyxs&rel=1&eurl=http%3A//scotttaylor.wordpress.com/%3Fp%3D43%26preview%3Dtrue&iurl=http%3A//i.ytimg.com/vi/o2ZsbBxeyxs/default.jpg&t=OEgsToPDskKK9xFyCVjaw0GntrL_traS&hl=en%22%3E%3C/param%3E%3Cparam

What is a buyer to think? Everywhere you look, Foreclosures, Pre-Foreclosures, Bank Owned, Auctions, etc. I would like to share some personal experiences in this field to clear some clouds of doubt for buyers who may be interested in a Pre-Foreclosure. I would like to write this article to educate buyers on some of the benefits and pitfalls of a pre-foreclosure. There are many aspects to a pre-foreclosure sale that an average person may not know.  I heard an expert in this field talk recently about the subject of Short Sale Pre-Forclosures. 

A short sale is one where the lender has agreed to accept less than what’s owed on the mortgage in order to avoild a foreclosure. Certainly there must be a bunch of buzz out there about short sale pre-foreclosures because everyone is talking about it. He said that roughly 50% of pre-foreclosure, short sales are not qualified to sell with a reduction of the mortgage balance. The seller must be able to show and document that they are in financial duress and are unable to pay the mortgage payments. They must also, with the help of their Realtor, show that the property is not worth what is owed or that there is no way to sell it for what is owed. 

I am seeing an over abundance of short sales in the MLS. Untrained agents are submitting listings in the MLS in rapid form to grab some of this action. It would seem that many are untrained in dealing with this complicated and time consuming process. What’s in it for the seller? They can avoid as many as 10 years of derogatory credit if they foreclose. With a short sale, their credit is effected, however they may be effected for as little as 12 to 18 months.

 Is this short sale process being abused? I’m sure it is, but most are abusing it without even realizing it. Sadly, it is effecting the normal seller. Many short sale listings in the MLS are priced way lower than all the others which grabs the buyers attention. Most buyers right now are only looking at the largely discounted prices. Most are not aware, however, that a good portion of the short sales are not priced at a price in which the bank will accept.

 The bank’s pre-foreclosure process is intense and buyers are forced to wait as long as 2 months to get a response to their offer from the bank. The bank will not counter an offer if it unacceptable. Usually the bank will generate a few other offers and they will choose the best one. So a buyer may wait that long only to find out that they did not get the house.

” Buyers are forced to wait as long as 2 months for response from banks for thier offer”

Bank owned foreclosures are certainly easier and less time consuming however there are always certain risks involved with buying a bank owned foreclosure. The bank doesn’t give you a regular deed and there may be unpaid liens on the house which the buyer may have to pay in order to buy the house.

 In the past, bank underwriters would allow between 10 to 15% less than what the property would appraise for. We are seeing that number increase however over the course of the last few months to as much as 20%.  Many buyers are dead set against paying more than 20% below appraised value for anything right now, however in a short sale, they may not get that.

Sellers who are needing to sell in this market must compete with the short sales and bank owned properties in order to get a shot at receiving an offer. Currently, less than 3% of homes in our local MLS are selling each month. Many listings are expiring and many sellers are blaming their agents inability instead of looking at the market and how bad it actually is for a seller. Great market for a buyer, however. So many homes to choose from and certainly more than a bunch of motivated sellers out there.

If you would like to know more about short sale pre-foreclosures, please contact me on the contact form provided in this blog or call me at (407)925-2526

 Do sellers really know just how bad the market really is in Central Florida? I have to believe that they don’t, based on my recent phone conversations and listing interviews with potential home sellers. There is only a slight chance that their home will sell at an average price, yet most home sellers still are demanding higher prices still. If they go ahead and list at the higher price, they’ll most likely have to reduce and sell for a much lower price in the end. Buyers, afraid that prices may still fall, are proactively seeking out homes which are great deals.

There is currently a 28 month supply of listings on the market in our M.L.S., (Orange, Lake, Seminole and Osceola counties), over 28,000 available listings which doesn’t include new home builder inventory or For Sale By Owners. If we added those together we’d have somewhere close to 40,000 available homes for buyers. Over the past few months in this same area, only 1,000 or so are selling each month. Sales in September were down 53.6 percent compared to September 2006. With roughly 4% of the M.L.S. inventory selling each month, what is happening to the rest of these listings? They are reducing their prices.

Are the real estates properly coaching the sellers on pricing? I’m not so sure. I mention the bleak statistics to potential sellers, yet I’m sure, what I’m saying is not quite sinking in because they always seem to want more than my recommended price. The fact is, if they really need to sell, they will have to price less than anyone in the area, be in the best possible condition and offer great terms. I’ve been through a down market before as a Realtor, I’m familiar with fierce competition and what it takes to get a home sold in this climate.

Are we at the bottom of the cycle? I can’t be quite sure, but for the first time in months, the Orlando Association of Realtors reports that the inventory did not raise this past September, however the decrease was small. Only 3 less homes listed.  In preceding months inventory was growing each month. More listings were taken and less were selling.

Also troubling, is the fact that the average price differential is 93 percent. That is. A home which is listed for $250,000 should expect an average discounted price to be about $232,000. We as agents need to coach our would-be sellers who are thinking about listing their homes to not do so, so that this unprecedented over-inventory will decrease. Certainly there are more sellers who have their home on the market currently, who really need to sell. I realize that there are currently a great deal of sellers who purchased during the peak of the sellers market, who now must sell.

Many people of them cannot afford to list lower than what they’ve paid. Some have taken their homes off the market and placed them for rent, usually not covering their monthly expenses. I speak to many home owners that are now in this predicament. Still some of these people have their homes on the market. When I look at most of the larger subdivisions and their inventories in the M.L.S., I see a bunch of homes sitting on the market. A number of homes, which are approximately the same size as the higher priced listings, are offered for much less. Do the sellers not realize the competition? They must be complaining to their listing agents,

                    “My house wasn’t shown to any buyers in over 2 months!”

Some sellers who fail to sell with one agent will go ahead and re-list with a new agent. As a top selling agent in my area, I tend to list a lot of these previously listed properties. The sellers always seem to be very unhappy with their previous agent. Most times, the price was the reason that their home failed to sell. The agent wasn’t responsible, less you consider negligence on the pricing consultations. Many who list refuse to lower their price to keep up with the declining market around them. They will blame the inactivity received on their house on their agent. If the agent didn’t coach them regarding the pricing decreases around them while their home was listed, or if he failed to take the listing at the correct price in the first place, he is certainly to blame and should be yelled at.

If you don’t have to sell, don’t. If you must sell, sell at a competitive price. Don’t waste any precious time testing the market, you will surely fail. If you must sell, be sure to set a competitive price and be certain to insist that your agent consult with you on a weekly basis to check the pricing regularly. A lot of the listings priced too high are undoubtedly the outcome of listing agents and sellers not keeping tabs on the declining prices around them.

           For Sale By Owner or Realtor?

Sellers often find themselves asking the question,  “Why should I pay thousands in commissions when it seems so easy to sell myself?”  Are agents guilty of making the task of selling a home look too easy?, You bet! There are many self help books published for people who want to sell their homes themselves.  I would have to write my own book, or at least recommend a few good books myself, if a seller was adamant about trying it themselves. I think its a smart idea to read one or two, even if a seller had already at some point sold their home successfully without the help of a real estate agent. It might be harder then ever in a buyers market to save all this money, however.

In this crazy uncertain market I’m continually amazed when I see a home that was previously listed with a broker which failed to sell become a for sale by owner without a price drop. Certainly, a price drop equal to the amount of the commission is what most buyers expect. Is it advisable to try to sell your home yourself if you have a limited time frame?

As an agent myself, I certainly advocate a seller who would like to save the commission so long as they have patience and a knowledge of the real estate transaction process. In the absence of a good Realtor, I would advise that they also seek out a good real estate attorney.

An astounding percentage of privately sold homes end up in some kind of legal action, usually arising from some sort of failure to disclose certain latent defects or misrepresentations.  I read a report published by researchers from the National Association of Realtors which stated that in a certain year there were as many as 40%. Another staggering statistic, which most sellers are unaware of, is that nationally, for sale by owner sellers net 16- 20% less without an agent.  If your wondering why, read on…

When a seller tells me that they’d like to try selling their home themselves, I certainly can’t blame them. The real estate commissions can be astronomical.  I do advise them of the surprising statistics, however, especially if they have a limited time in which to sell. Over 90% of F.S.B.O.’s end up selling with a professional real estate agent. The 10% of homes which do sell may still involve an agent. The more fortunate sellers who do sell without some sort of agent participation are normally the ones who sell to a relative or some sort of arms length transaction. In most cases these arms length transactions, sell for much less than market value. The lack of advertising a private seller would have versus that of an agent who is affiliated with a major national real estate brand company and the lack of expertise are two other large contributing factors that make selling for top market value much more difficult for him.

Do they have the time to show the home at a moments notice? I ask this because I know how fickle and impatient buyers can be, especially when there are 1000’s of other homes available to view at a moments notice.  Some sellers are not able to stay at home to be ready for a spur of the moment showing. Understandably, the seller has a job and is unable to take the day off to show the house.  Even if you do have a flexible job it can be frustrating to drive all the way home and clean your home quickly and furiously only to learn that the buyer fails to show up. (This happens all to frequently in my line of work. Buyers blow off their appointments without regard on a regular basis.) 

Selling a home yourself might seem like a good idea at first. Just thinking about all those precious dollars that will be saved is certainly an intoxicating thought. “Just think what I’ll do with all this extra cash!”

Some sellers who’ve had bad experiences with agents in the past are very resistant to repeat a bad experience and believe that the only way to avoid that again would be to go it alone. I have spoken with many F.S.B.O.’s  where I have a buyer that would like to see their home and they are not too receptive in participating with an agent. They really don’t want to pay, so I can’t blame them. They are overly optimistic, especially at first, that a buyer will knock on their door and want to buy directly from them without an agent.  Many times, I’ll have a qualified buyer in my car who I’ve been working with for several weeks. I’ve shown them several homes and none seem to meet their exact specifications, yet one home, according to information supplied by the private seller on his brochure, looks like an exact match. The seller tells me that they will not participate with me and will not pay me a commission. Maybe my buyer will go around my back and deal directly with the seller since they know that he won’t work with me. This does happen from time to time and it can be very frustrating for the agents.  It’s is a chance that we take every time we invest time working with buyers. We’d all like to think that our buyers will be loyal and would only buy if we were sure to be paid for all the time we’d spent with them. Realistically, many buyers don’t think that way and will do whatever is in their best interest. Though it’s always a crushing blow when this happens, it’s a part of this job that is a certainty from time to time and we have to accept it. I believe most buyers feel we make a lot of money and won’t mind losing a deal. Little do they know just how many deals never happen. If every buyer that I’ve ever worked with purchased a home and closed on it through me, I’d have been able to buy a private island in the Caribbean somewhere with a full staff of servants and a private luxury jet and runway to fly me anywhere. Of course I’d have a pilot on staff as well!  Agents don’t get paid until we’ve found the buyers a house, successfully negotiated a contract, guided them through the closing process, and not until after it closes. No wonder agents charge such high commissions! Fortunately, I block these bad memories out of my mind, less I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning. If I dwelled on the many times this has happened to me personally, I would certainly not be able to continue in this field for so long. My survival instincts dictate that I completely block these memories out, so that I can maintain a positive and professional outlook on my business. Therefore I will go on to the next thought without sharing the many horrible stories that I could with you.

In these cases where buyers circumvent the agent, it’s usually the Realtors ads that generated the buyer lead. The agent may likely have been referred by another agency in another city or state prior to the buyer visiting town to look at homes or perhaps they had viewed an ad from a mailing list or a website or a national print publication. Could this be the reason that commissions are so high? Can we place a blame directly on the private sellers who are just trying to sell without an agent??? Maybe not, but it’s an interesting thought.

 The private seller may not want to spend thousands of dollars to put their home out there in front of potential buyers. Collectively agents and brokers have a finger on this. An ad placed on another property will likely be the result of a sale on another listing statistically. Very few homes are sold as a direct placement on a single real estate listing.  Cross advertising is how most properties are sold. Private sellers, don’t have this cross advertising advantage.

Most buyers prefer to deal with third parties such as Realtors when looking at homes.In fact, I can tell you from many personal experiences that buyers often ask that the seller not be home when the home is viewed by them. The thought of having to deal directly with a seller can scare some people. If the seller is home during the viewing, the buyer usually feels apprehensive.  Agents usually have a better understanding about the buyers likes and dislikes and, unlike an unknowing seller, will not likely spend too much time (or any time, for that matter),  pointing out a feature that the seller might think is a great selling point. I have seen this happen too many times while showing homes. While most sellers feel that being present for the showings would be better, since they know more about the house, most buyers, (excluding rare, outgoing overly extroverted personality types), prefer that the seller not be present whatsoever.

I have one story that I will share on this subject that happened to me while showing a listing years ago which we were having a hard time selling. I brought the buyer through the home and the buyer loved it. Previously, he had mentioned to me, that he wanted a home with a small lot because he didn’t want to spend too much time on yard work. Of course, the seller did not know this.  The buyer told me after we were done viewing the house that he would like to go back to my office to write an offer. Just then the seller came in from the back yard after mowing the lawn. He thought that his large 1/2 acre lot would be a huge selling point. He placed his soiled gardening gloves down on the table so that he could grab a clean paper towel to wipe all the sweat that was dripping off his forehead. He then went on to tell the buyer how much he loved his huge lot and proceeded to tell him that it only took him a few hours to mow it on his new lawn tractor. UGH! Needless to say that offer never transpired, we continued to look at several other homes before the buyer found another that he liked.

Is this why a seller has a harder time selling on his own?

Certainly that is one of the contributing factors.  The fact that buyers feel uneasy with the seller being present while viewing the home and the lack of understanding the buyers particular likes and dislikes which are usually shared with the agent beforehand. The private seller also has the disadvantage of inexperience.  Keeping deals together is one of most time consuming aspects of my job as an agent and certainly one of the hardest parts of the job. Many many deals fall through the cracks unknowingly to inexperienced sellers.  Even brand new agents benefit from their association with their helpful experienced brokers.

Apart from the lack contractual knowledge and loopholes contained in lengthy real estate contracts, private sellers may not be aware how to enforce them. It’s harder for a private seller to be firm with a buyer.  It’s difficult to adhere to the rigid guidelines which are set forth in writing for both parties to follow without a third party. I’ve sold my own home myself, so I write about this from experience.   After all, a contract is a contract, a legally binding documen. Each party is required to perform certain aspects of the sales contract within specified time frames.  It’s too easy to be lax with a buyer if they do not meet their deadlines, which in many cases forces the transactions to extend past the original closing date. The seller wants to be kind to the buyer to make sure they’re happy and will generally bend over backwards to ensure that the buyer is made to feel like everything is fine. This is a horrible situation to face for a seller when they have another contract written on thier next home which may have stiff penalties for non performance or specific time frames.  All too often this is the case, most sellers don’t have the luxury of closing on thier next home unless their current home is sold. Many contracts are written with “home sale” contingencies. 

Many buyers feel akward about dealing directly with the seller especially when it comes to contracts. Who writes the contract? Is a lawyer going to be involved? If it’s the seller’s lawyer should the buyer have his own representation? Buyers most often use the Realtor because it costs them nothing.  In some areas there are Buyer’s Agents who will charge regardless of whether or not a contract closes, but in this area it is extremely rare. Do buyers feel like they might save thousands if they deal directly with sellers? I believe they do but unfortunately the seller, on the other-hand, most times, will not use an agent because the want to save the money, not give it away to the buyer.  Occasionally you’ll see a seller who will reduce the price of the home in the same amount that it would have cost them for the commission but to the surprise of most buyers this is actually a rarity. If you think about that fact for a while, it’ll start to sink in. You may want to re-read that a few more times. In most cases, if a private seller would offer his home for much less without a Realtor, he would have normally listed with a broker in the first place.

Most private sellers will participate with agents, some even post that fact on their signs. At least they’ll save the listing side of the commission. I believe that is a great idea considering the odds of them selling without some form of assistance from agents. Since most F.S.B.O.’s involve participation, and will normally pay a 3% commission, most end up doing just that if they don’t break down and list with an agent first. You might wonder if the percieved savings is really worth all the extra work and time. It is extreemly hard to sell a home. I am guilty myself as an agent, making it look too easy. To those of you determined private sellers who are still optimistic, I do wish you the absolute best of luck. My intent was not to make you think it won’t happen, It is certainly not an impossiblility. When I sold my own home myself, I did have other listings nearby so for me to take advantage of that cross marketing was a bit unfair. A buyer was looking for a certain type of two story floor plan which mine had, the others did not have this. I told the buyer that I was going to be placing my own home on the market in just a few weeks, but would agree to show it to them. As it turned out, they loved the house and put a contract offer together with me. It was a truly difficult experience even though I am an experienced agent. 

In writing this article I tried not to sound too defensive. I merely wanted to write an article on this subject that tells it like it is. Take it or leave it. I certainly welcome your comments and I enthusiastically encourage you to post them here.

 If you are interested in selling your home and would like a no obligation consultation to see how your home would fare in this market, please call or e-mail me. I can expertly tell you if your home would sell and at what price it should sell for. In many cases, sellers are unable to sell if the value is less than what they payed. I will determine a market analysis and consult with you either over the telephone or will visit your home, (within the Greater Orlando Area).

This weekend, Oct. 6th and 7th, Century 21 is sponsoring a national Open House Weekend where registered guests can be eligable to win free gasoline for a year*

I will be hosting an open house on a special home at 316 Sterling Lake Drive in Ocoee, located in the desirable Silver Glen Subdivion on Sun. Oct. 7th between 1-4 pm. The home is a 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath with formal living room and dining rooms, large kitchen  with breakfast bar and eat-in nook opens to a generously sized family room. There is a solar heated pool which is screened and a large covered lanai for hours of relaxation. This home is perfectly located on a large corner, tree shaded lot with a gorgeous manicured lawn. Silver Glen subdivision is easily accessable via the East West Expressway and Florida Turnpike. Located approx. 25 minutes north of Disney and 20 minutes to Universal Studios.  This home has been impeccably maintained and is better than new!, Whole house replumbed in 8/07! And the roof has been recently replaced with superior 50 year shingles! Hope to see you there!

Please vistit my real estate website at http:/www.MyOrlandoAgent.com foradditional information on this and other homes, more photos and a 360 degree virtual tour of this property. You may also schedule an advanced showing by calling me at the number below if you are unable to attend.

*Full details regarding gasoline giveaway will be available at the open house or you may call me at (407)877-7627, Scott Taylor, REALTOR,P.A., Century 21 Elite Properties

Throughout the years I’ve wondered what makes a top producing agent a top producing agent. Is it the car they drive? Many people choose thier agent based on this, (not the best determining factor). Could it be that the top agents all have some common thread? Do they have a higher level of education than thier peers?

One top agent I know is a Soccer Mom, another a retired nurse.  When comparing these two it’s really hard to find any similarities in personality or lifestyle, hobbies. They are both very different.  What is the ingredient that these two and many other top agents share in the main dish?

After reflecting on this for quite some time, I decided to get to the bottom of it and interview and question some top agents that I’ve met throughout the years to find the common element that makes a top agent a top agent.

What I’ve found after all this time is one common thread that all agents of top producing caliber seem to share. They all seem to have focus, a plan, an actual business plan.  They set production goals, and treat thier real estate career like a business, a business where they are the CEO.  Most of the top agents I’ve spoken with work five days a week and take two days off, just like a real job. They set income goals and lay out detailed plans of how to get there, how many transactions they need to do.  As consumers we are programmed to think that all top agents work 7 days a week and sleep with thier cell phones on, yet none of the top agents that I’ve met do this. Picturing an agent with his or her cell phone next to their bed  seems kind of desparate, don’t you think? Do we really want someone so desparate for business that they sleep with their cell phone on thier night stand?

With so many agents and companies to choose from does it make sense for me to hire an agent based on the typical questions that we’ve been taught to ask during an agent interview? Hmm???

Maybe we should be asking about their goals. How many homes are you planning to sell this year? What is your goal for this quarter?… Etc…

If we’re interviewing agents for the position of marketing/listing our homes, should we be concerned about the car they drive when they visit us at our home for the interview or should we be more concerned about what car they are planning to buy next time?  Perhaps the most loaded and important question of all should be, “Where do you put your cell phone when you’re sleeping?”

Orlando, Florida: Buyer Beware! There is always something very special about buying a brand new, newly built home. The home smells so nice and everything is so clean and pretty. Buyers who buy from builders sometimes buy new homes like one would buy a new car, trading thier used homes in every few years for a newer models. Sometimes the good outweighs the bad which is good for the builder considering that builders have been pulling the wool over buyers eyes for so long now. Undoubtedly the hazy cloud from the frenzied new home buyers is smoothing over the rough spots that most buyers experience throughout the process of buying and building a new home with a builder. Certainly few buyers realize how one sided the builder’s sales contracts are, favoring the rights of the builder over the buyer in most clauses of the contract. Who could blame the builder, right? But does the average buyer know this? Should they have a lawyer or a real estate agent looking over the contract to point out and interpret for the buyer what they are signing?, you bet!

Did you know that most new home contracts include a clause which states that if the home does not appraise for the contract price, that the buyer is still reponsible for closing and if there is a mortgage the buyer won’t be allowed to finance the new increased balance in most cases with thier lender?  I will write more about this later in the article, you won’t believe what happened to this buyer. Sadly, this is not an isolated case. The majority of the builders have this clause in the contract. It gets worse…Most of the builders were asking for a 5% non-refundable deposit, (pause for a moment and go get your calculator). In many cases, with home prices declining, builders are taking buyers deposits who cannot close simply becuase they don’t have this extra cash on hand. Buyer beware!

As a residential real estate agent who’s worked with many new home buyers throughout the years, it troubles me deeply that there aren’t some kind of special interest groups governing these horrilbe one sided contracts. I have worked with a lot of buyers who went to the builder without me bringing them in. (A builder will normally not pay a buyer’s agent if he/she does not accompany and register the buyer on thier first visit. If you demand buyer agent representation through your agent, he/she cannot represent you if you do not have them register you on your first visit.)

A certain buyer, (names not mentioned to avoid  law suit), and a certain builder recently entered into a contract for the purchase of a to be built new home in a certain subdivision. The buyer was delighted that the builder offered so many enticing inscentives, 10% of the purchase price toward closing costs if they got financing through the builder’s special lender. Why not?, sounds great!, where do we sign? About 12 months later, after the market tanked and property values declined, the home was finished and the buyer was finishing up the details with the lender and builder. Suddendly, the builders reccommended interest rate for this buyer was at 9% and the buyer would have to pay 3 points (up front interest to lower rate) to get this 9% rate. The buyer checked with an outside lender and he was able to get a 6.1% fixed rate for the same mortgage amount. His credit was good and he felt that he was being taken advantage of. This buyer was fortunate enough to get a second opinion. He did not have to pay any points with his own lender.

Most buyers who are not represented by a real estate buyer’s agent, also are not aware that when the builder says they will pay a percentage of closing costs they are not pointing out that they are including the closing costs which are typically paid for buy the seller as well. Hmm. Something fishy is going on here, right? Read on, it gets worse…

As I mentioned earlier in this article, this buyer’s contract with the builder also had a clause in the contract which states that if the home should not appraise that they would have to close anyway. They would have to come up with the difference. When a buyer has a mortgage, as is usually the case, their lender will not finance the difference, forcing the buyer to come up with the extra cash or forfiet thier entire deposit!

What’s scary for most people to learn here is that the builder’s lender always seem to have a not so conservative appraisal. In most cases if you are to hire another outside appraiser, one who does not have any affiliation with the builder’s loan company, they will not be coming up with the higher values that are often found on the builders loan companies appraisal. In this particular case ( Unfortunately this is happening throughout the industry way too much) the builder’s loan company came in with a (try not to look too surprised) a much higher appraisal. Hmm? What exactly is going on here? Could it be that the builder’s appraisers are feeling pressure to come up with higher evaluations for fear that if they should not, they won’t be recieving any future orders?? Believe what you will, but I’m going to put 2 and 2 together.

If you’re buying a new home, remember to call a seasoned Realtor, one who’s familiar with new home contracts so that they can at the very least point out some of these things to you. Buying a new home is a great thing, but it could be a nightmare. Many new home buyers are forfieting thier large deposits and walking away from thier contracts lately, they simply do not have a choice, they do not have the extra cash.  This is causing a larger inventory of available homes that builders have which are ready to move into so the buyer does not have to wait for the home to be built.  Rememeber to bring your Realtor with you and make sure that they register your name and themselves as your representative. It doesn’t cost you more, builders factor in the cost of paying agents a 3% commission, If you choose not to include your agent in the sale you should be certain to ask your builders sales representative for a copy of the entire contract so that you can review it at your leisure and submit the contract to your attorney and have them explain the contract’s pitfalls before you sign.

    October 5, 6 & 7 Downtown Winter Garden, Florida. Mark your calenders for free concert open to the public. Experience downtown in a festive atmosphere with featured local entertainers. The featured musicians will represent several music genres including Jazz, Blues, Urban Jazz, Southern Rock, Big Band, Swing, Zydeco, Dixie Land, Country, Blue Grass, Classic Rock, Pop, Folk, Classical, Japanese Taiko Drums, Christian Pop, Gospel, R&B, Ragtime, African, Mariachi, Celtic and Thai. Local vendors, restaurants are sponsoring this celebrated 3 day event. Read more at: http://www.WinterGardenMusicFest.com . I hope to see you there!

According to figures supplied by the Greater Orlando Association of Realtors Mulitple Listing Service for July, 2007, only 4 percent of all homes listed in the M.L.S. actually went into pending status for the month. What is happening to the other 96%? Wow, if you’re a motivated seller, you’d better price more competitively than most are.

One thing that most buyers have in common in this current market is that they all want the best deals. They don’t look at the houses that are priced higher. Sellers often make the mistake of not looking at thier direct competition. If their Realtor is not providing them with the comps, they should at least visit sites like www.Realtor.com, or a real estate agents web site that has all the MLS listings like my own site www.MyOrlandoAgent.com to view other homes that are similar to thiers. It’s not enough to price homes at the same as others for size, area, amenaties, etc.. You have to be the best deal to get the buyer to even look at the house let alone make an offer. As a full time agent here I’m amazed that the sellers don’t get this. It’s really just basic supply and demand, marketing 101.

I do feel that the general home seller public are not quite aware how bad the market really is right now. On the other hand, a buyer should be delighted, so many choices and favorable interest rates which are returning to the lowest we’ve seen in over 50 years again. The rates dipped as low as 5.5% 2 years ago when the market was hot. Feds are meeting again next week to discuss lowering the rates again, so we could see rates go below 6% on a 30 year fixed rate which would make the homes even more afordable to buyers. Most of the buyers that I’ve been working with and talking to lately are reluctant to move forward for fear that the market may dip further. I believe there are 1000’s of buyers out there right now just waiting to hear the word that the market has bottomed out. Well, I’m going to say it here and now…. The market has bottomed out. There, I said it. 

All the signs of a market bottoming out are present, an influx of investor buyers who are low balling listings. Honestly, there may be some more down turn before the upswing if the we start seeing more preforclosure and forclosure listings. Mike Pappas, owner of Keyes Real Estate in South Florida has seen many preforclosure listings hit the market in the Miami area. Miami has much more inventory and thier market dropped about a year or so before Orlando’s. Miami, like Orlando, has an over supply of listings because of over building over investing.

 ”Flippers”, as they are called, fueled the past frenzied sellers market creating an oversupply of availabilities. Now that most of the contracted new constructions starts that investors bought to flip are now completed by the builders and the investors have or will close on them and place them on the market for the general public. The condo conversion developers were ramant with conversions in the past 4 years. When Miami started slowing down on thier condo sales, the same conversion develpers made their way to Orlando and created the same problem. I have seen way too many condos for sale here.

The unfortunate sellers who purchased at the peak and must now sell are sometimes forced to offer their condo for a lesser price than what they purchased for just a few short years ago.  If they don’t do that, their listing will sit on the market for months and months. Up until now, the M.L.S. inventory has risen every month forcing more and more sellers to be more competitive with thier pricing than the prior months, again, forcing prices even further down.  I believe that we’ll see a bunch of listings drop off the radar because there is a huge segment of sellers listings in the MLS that are refusing to lower thier price. Inevitably these sellers will not sell, thier listings will expire and they’ll wait until the market will bear a more favorable price for them to sell.  Sure, some of these sellers who are not merely trying to test the market and those distressed sellers who can not afford thier payments will fall into forclosure. Once their listing reappears into the MLS as a bank owned forclosure listing, the price can be higher becuase buyers seem to gravitate to anything that is marketed as “bank owned” or “forclosure”. I’ve seen this so many times, buyers will inadvertantly pay more for a home just becuase of those certain marketing catch phrases.

New England, where the housing market crash hit first, has seen a turn around already. Prices have risen as much as 4% in the last several months, signaling a tell tale sign that the market may turn here as well soon. Orlando’s job market is even better than it was 3 years ago, more jobs are being created and more baby boomers are moving down to buy a home near Disney.