Central Florida & metro Orlando real estate services

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Unlike a lot of years, I've had many people tell me they don't have much to be thankful for this year.  I certainly can't blame them for how they feel.  No doubt times are tough and most people and businesses are feeling pinched.

   

However I don't buy all this "not being thankful" stuff for an instant.  The United States of America is still the land of opportunity.  If you are still in business, then you have a whole lot to be thankful for because I know about 30 or so colleagues that have closed down or left the real estate business altogether.  The real estate business runs in cycles and right now if you want to prosper you need to be focusing on foreclosures, buyers, and buying and holding deals for yourself.  That way you can position yourself to prosper in the future.

If you still have your health, then be thankful because that is something that money can't buy back.  If you still have your family and friends be very thankful. I lost my Aunt to cancer about 30 days ago - yes she was 84 years old but still she is gone and there will be one less chair at the dinner table this year.

This current economy will pass, and all will be great again in time.  Hopefully all that is happening will make you stronger and wiser.  Cherish the things that money can't buy like your Faith, your health, and your family and friends.  I know I am truly thankful and blessed to have you as our customers and friends!

Please have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!

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(Copyright © 2008. Sand Dollar Realty Group, Inc. All rights reserved.)   Subscribe to my blog via RSS feed.

Rob Arnold - Your full service and investor friendly Realtor ® in Orlando and Central Florida.

ABR, CPL, CRB, CSP, GRI, Managing real estate broker, Licensed mortgage broker, Notary Public

407-389-7318 / 1-877-389-7318 www.SDRhouses.com/ We Buy Houses Florida

We sell foreclosures, short sales, and bank owned REO properties throughout Central Florida. We sell and list Central Florida real estate and Orlando real estate. Free list of foreclosure and short sale houses available.

I also provide flat fee MLS listings, For Sale By Owner, and menu-based services in most parts of Central & South Florida, the Space Coast, and the Treasure Coast including Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Apopka, Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Longwood, Winter Springs, Oviedo, Lake Mary, Sanford, Deltona, Debary, Deland, Mount Dora, Eustis, Clermont, Kissimmee, Winter Haven, Lakeland, Tampa, Sarasota, Bradenton, Miami-Dade, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Port Saint Lucie, Melbourne, Daytona Beach, Ocala, Gainesville, Volusia, Brevard, and more.   

 

Our office sells foreclosure properties in metro Orlando and the Central Florida area.  Every week we have new foreclosure, bank owned REO, and short sale properties coming online as new listings in Central Florida.  We handle full service listings in some 7 counties from Orlando to Kissimmee to Daytona Beach to Lakeland.

  

If you are looking for a great deal on a home, you have come to the right place.  Stop by our website at www.SDRhouses.com/properties.html and take a look at our inventory.  We have something for everyone.  With some 50+ real estate agents selling properties in Central Florida, we have what you are looking for and if we don't, we can find it.  We have relationships with many of the other agents in the area and a strong reputation of being able to dig up the deals.

Before you look for a foreclosure be sure to stop by our website or give us a call.  We are experts at negotiating foreclosure deals in the metro Orlando area.  We sell properties for many of the private lenders in town as well as institutional banks and private short sales.  Put us to work for you.

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(Copyright © 2008. Sand Dollar Realty Group, Inc. All rights reserved.)   Subscribe to my blog via RSS feed.

Rob Arnold - Your full service and investor friendly Realtor ® in Orlando and Central Florida.

ABR, CPL, CRB, CSP, GRI, Managing real estate broker, Licensed mortgage broker, Notary Public

407-389-7318 / 1-877-389-7318 www.SDRhouses.com/ We Buy Houses Florida

We sell foreclosures, short sales, and bank owned REO properties throughout Central Florida. We sell and list Central Florida real estate and Orlando real estate. Free list of foreclosure and short sale houses available.

I also provide flat fee MLS listings, For Sale By Owner, and menu-based services in most parts of Central & South Florida, the Space Coast, and the Treasure Coast including Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Apopka, Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Longwood, Winter Springs, Oviedo, Lake Mary, Sanford, Deltona, Debary, Deland, Mount Dora, Eustis, Clermont, Kissimmee, Winter Haven, Lakeland, Tampa, Sarasota, Bradenton, Miami-Dade, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Port Saint Lucie, Melbourne, Daytona Beach, Ocala, Gainesville, Volusia, Brevard, and more.   

This bank owned property is now sold to a very happy buyer.


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There was an interesting story in the Orlando Sentinel yesterday about how the City of Orlando will be using $6.7 million of federal grant money to buy, fix up, and re-sell approximately 20 houses and hold 11 others as low-income rentals.  This grant money was divvied up in the same law that raised the FHA buyer contribution to 3.5% and killed Nehemiah down payment assistance. 

          

Doing some quick math means that they will be paying approximately $216,000 per house.  Considering that the median price in Orlando is $180,000 as of October 2008, it sounds like they are targeting the fancier neighborhoods as opposed to the working class areas.  Of course maybe the city is simply doing what government is good at ... overpaying for things.  Who knows?

It does seem pretty interesting that the city is getting into the real estate investing business.  I hope the city doesn't end up getting stuck with 31 vacant eyesores like so many other Central Florida investors have done.

Orange County is planning on buying 28 homes with their share of grant money. Considering there are approximately 15,000 homes for sale in Orange County and probably 1/3 of them are in foreclosure in some way, this home buying venture seems like a very minor effort in the scheme of things.  Kind of like a band-aid on a gunshot wound. I guess the government has to make it look like they are doing something productive. 

Well they have to spend your tax money on something now don't they? Hopefully at least this will generate 31 + 28 commissions for area Realtors(R). I wonder if Mayor Dyer knows how to get a short sale approved?

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(Copyright © 2008. Sand Dollar Realty Group, Inc. All rights reserved.)   Subscribe to my blog via RSS feed.

Rob Arnold - Your full service and investor friendly Realtor ® in Orlando and Central Florida.

ABR, CPL, CRB, CSP, GRI, Managing real estate broker, Licensed mortgage broker, Notary Public

407-389-7318 / 1-877-389-7318 www.SDRhouses.com/ We Buy Houses Florida

We sell foreclosures, short sales, and bank owned REO properties throughout Central Florida. We sell and list Central Florida real estate and Orlando real estate. Free list of foreclosure and short sale houses available.

I also provide flat fee MLS listings, For Sale By Owner, and menu-based services in most parts of Central & South Florida, the Space Coast, and the Treasure Coast including Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Apopka, Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Longwood, Winter Springs, Oviedo, Lake Mary, Sanford, Deltona, Debary, Deland, Mount Dora, Eustis, Clermont, Kissimmee, Winter Haven, Lakeland, Tampa, Sarasota, Bradenton, Miami-Dade, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Port Saint Lucie, Melbourne, Daytona Beach, Ocala, Gainesville, Volusia, Brevard, and more.   

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For 10 years now, I have been telling people that the interent was going to greatly level the playing field against Realtors(R) and NAR.  Now we hear news of another chink in the armor of this once great giant. 

  

For Sale By Owner.com has announced that for an additional charge they will list your property onto all the Realtor(R) related websites like Realtor.com and others, but you do not have to pay a commission to buyer's agents unless you want to.  A pretty interesting idea.  You can read some of the bickering going on now between NAR and For Sale By Owner.com at Realtor.org .  This has caused a real stir with NAR. 

Of course websites like Zillow and Trulia have already been chopping away at NAR for a while now.  Then the U.S. Department of Justice settled their big anti-trust suit with NAR over the summer. You can read much of the details on that at the DOJ website.

After years of resistance, Realtor.com finally allowed more than one photo to show up on their free IDX listings.  Just a few months ago they changed to allow 4 free photos.  I say too little too late. Realtor.com has done such a rotten job of servicing its own Realtor(R) base that their site was almost on the verge of extinction.  What real estate firm in their right mind is going to spend several thousand dollars a year for maybe a few internet leads from Realtor.com, when sites like Postlets, Craigslist, Google, and Zillow let you do more things for free ?  It doesn't make sense.

Of course there are plenty of times that a full service Realtor(R) is needed to get a home sold, and I will say that most full service Realtors(R) work very hard to earn their commissions.  Especially in a buyer's market like most of us are experiencing right now.  But many experienced people don't need a full service agent.  I should know because right now, I currently have flat fee MLS listings for people that work for Exit Realty, Zip Realty, Watson Realty, and several other local prominent firms where the Realtor(R) listed with me instead of THEIR BROKER simply because they don't want to pay all that extra commission.

The bottom line is, that many people don't need a full service Realtor(R) to sell their home and don't want to pay several thousand extra dollars just to get listed on MLS and Realtor.com.   And fact #2 is that if you did not need to be a Realtor(R) to be a member of your local MLS, I can guarantee you that 80% or more of the current Realtor(R) members would drop their membership today and simply be a member of the MLS only.  Think about that real hard for a moment.  If joining your local Realtor(R) association was not the only way to get MLS access, would you still be a member???

Maybe the things I am saying stir people up.  But I am a "realist."  The internet tidal wave continues to wash up on NAR's shoreline.  Unless NAR and the local MLS's want to step into the modern 21st century and start changing their ancient structures, well what can I say.  They will eventually become obsolete.

Don't believe me? Ask your local travel agent what Expedia and Travelocity did to their firm.  Or ask your local stockbroker what ETrade and ScotTrade did to their firm.  Heck ask your local accountant what Turbotax did to their business. 

Whether you like it or not, the internet is here to stay.  Generation X and Y sell and buy things differently than the Boomers do.  For more information on how you can sell your property differently just click on over to our flat fee mls listing page.  If you decide to upgrade to full service, you can always upgrade at any time and we will credit you the flat fee listing charge at closing. 

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(Copyright © 2008. Sand Dollar Realty Group, Inc. All rights reserved.)   Subscribe to my blog via RSS feed.

Rob Arnold - Your full service and investor friendly Realtor ® in Orlando and Central Florida.

ABR, CPL, CRB, CSP, GRI, Managing real estate broker, Licensed mortgage broker, Notary Public

407-389-7318 / 1-877-389-7318 www.SDRhouses.com/ We Buy Houses Florida

We sell foreclosures, short sales, and bank owned REO properties throughout Central Florida. We sell and list Central Florida real estate and Orlando real estate. Free list of foreclosure and short sale houses available.

I also provide flat fee MLS listings, For Sale By Owner, and menu-based services in most parts of Central & South Florida, the Space Coast, and the Treasure Coast including Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Apopka, Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Longwood, Winter Springs, Oviedo, Lake Mary, Sanford, Deltona, Debary, Deland, Mount Dora, Eustis, Clermont, Kissimmee, Winter Haven, Lakeland, Tampa, Sarasota, Bradenton, Miami-Dade, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Port Saint Lucie, Melbourne, Daytona Beach, Ocala, Gainesville, Volusia, Brevard, and more.   

The federal government is talking about yet another $25 Billion bailout for the Detroit auto industry.  No doubt car manufacturers and dealers are hurting everywhere.  After all they are building and selling inefficient gas guzzlers at extremely high prices thanks to big union wages.  Is it any wonder the American people won't buy their product?  The Detroit fat cats and the auto-workers unions have finally sabotaged themselves out of existence. 

   Chrysler is so bad that Mercedes Benz held their nose last year as they sold Chrysler off at a big loss. Yet USA Today describes how the executives and union bosses still pocket millions.  Now the only thing keeping Detroit and the unions in business is the wallets of the American taxpayer.  Great!  I say let the chips fall where they may.  There is always demand for cars, so if these guys go down the tubes someone else will step right in and fill the void in no time.

Then we get to the $700 Billion bailout plan that I so vehemently opposed. Now Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has decided to reshuffle his cards and move the $700 Billion dollars away from troubled assets and into buying up stocks in the banks and credit outlets according to US News & World Report.  So we get sold one bill of goods and now we are getting a totally different bill of goods.  Surprise, surprise. 

Well the good news is that Paulson will be getting FIRED come January when the new administration comes in.  Granted President-Elect Obama did vote for the $700 Billion bailout and he will probably vote for the Detroit bailout, so as far as I am concerned he isn't looking out for Main Street either. (Just to be fair, McCain voted for the $700B bailout too.)

What I want to know is where is the Main Street bailout?  If Wall Street and Detroit can get their billions, why not send some into the small businesses of America.  To heck with trickle down economics, it is time for some trickling up for a change. Trickle down seems to make executives rich while leaving average Americans poorer than ever.

Maybe take the $700 Billion away from Wall Street and give it to the Small Business Administration, local credit unions, and local community banks with the requirement that the money be loaned out to business owners for all the credit lines that have been frozen.  (I've had $300K of mine frozen in just the last 12 months which has put a big damper on me buying and fixing up houses.)

Follow NAR's proposal and extend the $7500 tax credit to ALL homebuyers and make the credit not have to be repaid.  But don't let it be like the Earned Income Credit which is basically a welfare check.  Make it a credit based on money spent on buying a house - so if you don't use it, you lose it.  The government could create a similar tax credit on buying a new car. Let the consumer get the credit instead of the fat cats.

    That way Main Street gets the bailout and Wall Street and Detroit get their money through "trickle up" economics as opposed to trickle down.

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(Copyright © 2008. Sand Dollar Realty Group, Inc. All rights reserved.)   Subscribe to my blog via RSS feed.

Rob Arnold - Your full service and investor friendly Realtor ® in Orlando and Central Florida.

ABR, CPL, CRB, CSP, GRI, Managing real estate broker, Licensed mortgage broker, Notary Public

407-389-7318 / 1-877-389-7318 www.SDRhouses.com/ We Buy Houses Florida

We sell foreclosures, short sales, and bank owned REO properties throughout Central Florida. We sell and list Central Florida real estate and Orlando real estate. Free list of foreclosure and short sale houses available.

I also provide flat fee MLS listings, For Sale By Owner, and menu-based services in most parts of Central & South Florida, the Space Coast, and the Treasure Coast including Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Apopka, Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Longwood, Winter Springs, Oviedo, Lake Mary, Sanford, Deltona, Debary, Deland, Mount Dora, Eustis, Clermont, Kissimmee, Winter Haven, Lakeland, Tampa, Sarasota, Bradenton, Miami-Dade, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Port Saint Lucie, Melbourne, Daytona Beach, Ocala, Gainesville, Volusia, Brevard, and more.