Central Florida & metro Orlando real estate services

This Part 3 in this series. You can read Part 1 of the series here What is working successfully for today's real estate market? -- Part 1 and Part 2 of the series here What is working successfully for today's real estate market? -- Part 2.  Parts 1 & 2 to the article included (1) Anything to do with foreclosures - short sales, bank owned REO, foreclosure assistance, foreclosure rehab and cleanup, (2) Loan rates are low, (3) Working with investors, (4) Buying some good deals for yourself, (5) Property auctions, (6) Property management, and (7) Foreign national buyers.

  

I know it is a jungle out there and even using these ideas is often a struggle for me too.  There are some signs that the market has bottomed out, but I don't get my hopes up and figure it is time to be working hard and planning what you are doing every step of the way.  So here is the rest of what appears to be working out there ...

(8) People leaving the business. As in any downturn, investors, Realtors ®, mortgage brokers, appraisers, title companies, home inspectors, etc. are forced to drop out of the business, not pay their dues, get a regular full-time job, things like that.  This is one of the reasons why in 2008 I formed Sand Dollar Referrals LLC as a real estate brokerage for licensed sales associates who do not want (or cannot afford) to be dues paying members of the local Realtor ® association. They can still earn commissions from referrals to our firm, but don't have to pay dues.  But this article isn't an ad about my business. 

      Regardless of what niche of the real estate world you are in, I am sure you know people that are leaving the business.  Contact them and nicely ask them for some referrals.  You might be able to set up 3-way meetings with these referrals and with the person you know who is dropping out.  You could offer to buy their prospect list or pay them something when income gets earned. Or you could offer to buy or merge with their company.  I know many business people that are consolidating offices with colleagues.  

(9) Creative financing techniques. If the seller of a property is willing to offer creative financing terms to sell their property, there are plenty of buyers out there that would all of the sudden qualify.  I have seen many people sell their property by using a lease option, lease purchase, wrap-around mortgage, "subject to" the existing mortgage, seller-held first or second mortgage, property trades, and similar techniques.  Granted the seller is not typically going to get all of their money out of the property upfront when they do this, but they will get a vacant property occupied and their monthly mortgage payment paid.  Hopefully by getting a reasonable down payment, working with a good mortgage broker or lender, and addressing various credit and financial issues, the buyer will eventually refinance and get the seller's underlying loan paid off.

(10) Speaking opportunities. I know quite a few people that are going around giving seminars or webinars on all sorts of real estate topics.  Of course you need to know what you are talking about and you probably need to have closed a few deals to have any credibility.  But heck if it earns some extra income to help pay the bills or generates some leads, then go for it.

There are lots of good ideas out there.  The important thing is to network with others, do you research, and get back to the basics.  Deals are still closing every month.  They just seem to be more work for less income. If you have any ideas of your own, feel free to post them.  We all need a little help right now.  

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(Copyright © 2009. 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, 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.   

That's right here they come again.  Barely 2 months after they came begging for a $25 Billion bailout, now they say they need more.  Don't say I didn't tell you so.  In December, I thought it was a good idea to just let them file Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  Well GM and Chrysler are begging for yet another bailout.  Here is a Detroit Free Press article (their hometown newspaper), and even they didn't have much good to say about the auto industry.

  

It really is sad to see these once great companies floundering.  The United Auto Workers Union needs to dissolve and head off into the sunset, because it has basically killed GM and Chrysler. 

I don't know what the answer is for these companies, but throwing good money into these two bottomless pits is a giant waste on the back of the American taxpayers.  Congress and the White House need to stand up to Detroit once and for all and say enough is enough.  If GM and Chrysler can't fix themselves either by re-organizing in bankruptcy court, merging into other car makers, or some other drastic changes, then the only solution is to close up shop and go out of business.  It will devastate the economy when this happens, but spending more money on these 2 dying giants simply does not make economic sense anymore.

Contact your Congressman today and tell them to just say NO to giving Detroit another handout.

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(Copyright © 2009. 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, 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.   

Tomorrow morning at 9am at the Orlando Airport Mariott, the Florida Surgeon General's office is having a public hearing regarding the Wekiva Septic Tank issue.  A few of us got briefed on this at the ORRA view from the trenches luncheon this afternoon.  The State of Florida is talking about increasing the cost of a septic and drainfield system to the price of $15,000 to $30,000 for anyone replacing, doing a repair to an existing system, or selling a property.

    The Wekiva River Basin region covers a huge area including the western half of Orange, western half of Seminole, and Northeastern Lake County including areas like Ocoee, Winter Garden, Pine Hills, Windermere, Apopka, College Park, Orlando west of I-4, Altamonte Springs, Longwood, Lake Mary, Heathrow, Mount Dora, Tavares, and Eustis. Additionally the State is looking at implementing this same septic system in 29 other areas of Florida near river systems. 

This was an emergency meeting without much notice being provided, so sorry for the short notice being provided. If you can't attend the meeting (which I can't myself), consider calling or emailing the governor, your state representative and senator, and the Florida Surgeon General on this issue.  The more people the better.

You can find more info on this critical subject at the State of Florida Department of Health's website: http://www.doh.state.fl.us/environment/ostds/wekiva/wekiva.htm  and on the Orlando Regional Realtor Association's website: http://www.orlrealtor.com/Main/Main.asp?CategoryID=21&SubCategoryID=905&

Surgeon general: Gerald_Briggs@doh.state.fl.us and Dale_Holcomb@doh.state.fl.us   Phone#: 850 245 4070

Your state representative: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/SECTIONS/Representatives/myrepresentative.aspx

Your state senator: http://www.flsenate.gov/Legislators/index.cfm?Mode=Find%20Your%20Legislators&Submenu=3&Tab=legislators&CFID=113271414&CFTOKEN=68326640

Governor Crist: http://www.flgov.com/contact_governor

Update 2/20/09: A State advisory panel temporarily postponed the implementation of this rule yesterday, however the Florida Department of Health has the final say.  So please continue to contact your governing officials and ask them to put a halt to this.

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(Copyright © 2009. 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, 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.   

I read this article in USA Today and was downright appalled.  During the City of Orlando tax protest I assisted with last fall, one of the big arguments that I and others made was that the city employees are living high on the hog with all these unrealistic retirement and medical benefits.  The USA Today article continues to drive this point home.

  

Government sponsored retirement and medical plans whether they be municipal pensions, federal pensions, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, or whatever are in deep trouble.  25 years ago when I was just a teenager, we all knew this was the case.  Now with the latest economic news, is there really any doubt? The taxpayers can no longer fund these bloated benefit plans for any sustained period.  The money simply isn't there.  The numbers don't work.

Medicare supposedly will be basically bankrupt by the year 2018 according to many credible sources.  That's just 9 years from now.  I am trying to be optimistically hopeful that President Obama will do something to avert the current medical crisis and fix not just the Medicare shortage but also the overall healthcare problem facing much of America.

Social Security is a whole other story, but it is in pretty much the same downward spiral.  The American people need to quickly wake up and realize that if you don't plan on retiring within the next 10 years or so that the government is not going to fiscally be able to afford to pay for your retirement or your medical care.  The only person looking out for you right now is you.  Do not stick your head in the sand and continue to think that political bureaucrats are looking out for your best interest on this matter.  They are not.  These outdated pension and medical plans are going to vaporize right beneath your feet.

Although I question a lot of Robert Kiyosaki's writings.  One of his books, Prophecy , goes into great detail about how the retirement of the baby boomers is going to devestate the U.S. economy.  He makes some very good arguments in this book. 

I am writing this blog not to preach doom and gloom, but to point out that your success or failure together with your long-term security is truly up to you and not up to the government or some employer pension.  You are responsible for your own future! If you think otherwise, you are kidding yourself and need to do a serious reality check.

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(Copyright © 2009. 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, 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 Part 2 in this series. You can read Part 1 of the series here What is working successfully for today's real estate market? -- Part 1 .  Part 1 to the article included (1) Anything to do with foreclosures - short sales, bank owned REO, foreclosure assistance, foreclosure rehab and cleanup, and (2) Loan rates are low.

    

I write a regular column for the Investors Resource Center club monthly newsletter and so I updated these articles for the 2009 real estate marketplace to help fellow investors out.  The club meets once a month at a general meeting in Winter Park and has several smaller group meetings at various locations throughout every month.  Networking with colleagues is always a beneficial thing to be doing.  So here we go with Part 2 of what is working out there ...

(3) Working with investors.  I've been advertising for over 10 years that I work with investors, and because of this I have been able to sell some of my regular customers literally 30-40 great deals over the last decade.  Right now it is a great time to have a few investors that you work with.  There are so many great deals out there and investors are snatching many of them up.  I have several investors right now that are regularly buying properties and thus this is repeat business that results in a few closings every month for myself and my sales associates.

Investors can also be of great benefit to you when working short sales because often they are willing to submit very lowball offers and then patiently wait (sometimes for months) to hear back from the bank - worst case is the bank doesn't accept the offer, but hopefully gives you a counter-offer price that they will accept.  Then you can at least advertise a price that the short sale is bank approved for.

(4) Buying some good deals for yourself.  I have never seen so many good deals out there as I do right now.  And they all aren't just in the marginal high crime neighborhoods. I'm seeing plenty of good deals in middle class locations with great school districts.  I just sold a 3/2 block home in Altamonte Springs in December for $40,000 - yes it was a bank owned junker with code violations but it was also located in the coveted Lake Brantley A+ school district.  If you are short of cash and credit, maybe you can partner with someone else - that is exactly what my customer did on this deal.  Maybe you can pick up 4 or 5 good deals over the next year, rent or lease option them to a tenant, and then ride this market out.  Heck in another 3 years you might be able to cash those deals out and pocket 30K per property.  That isn't a bad thing at all.

(5) Property auctions.This won't work on every property, but especially in short sale and distressed situations there might be some opportunity here.  At auctions the buyers all want great deals, so you are not going to get retail prices but hopefully you will get reasonable prices if you market the auction well.  To hold an auction, you either have to have an ownership interest in the property or you can hire a real estate broker or a licensed auctioneer and work with them to sell your inventory.  In fact if you are thinking about an auction in Central Florida, I would certainly consider teaming up with you to do a bigger style auction on some of our short sales and REO listings.  Some of the bank REO departments I work with send properties to auction on a regular basis.  Not all of them sell at the bank's price, but some do.

(6) Property management. Personally I don't want to go down this road, so I only manage my own properties and those of my family members. But I know many people who have.  You do need a real estate broker's license to manage properties for other people. The money is not big, but it is steady income if you can get 10 or 20 properties to manage.  I am all for obtaining more residual income.  That is a good thing as long as it is not too management intensive.

(7) Foreign national buyers.This is something a little more specialized.  It would help if you or someone on your team spoke their particular language or knew something about the country you are marketing to.  The exchange rate of the dollar is still great for foreigners.  To Europeans, Middle Easterners, and many others that means that properties in the U.S.A. are on sale even more so. I take my kids to some of the local theme parks regularly, and they are packed with sun-loving foreigners.  Some of them will want to buy here.  That is an opportunity for sure.  Many of the properties (especially condos and townhomes) our firm sells in the areas near Disney World and Universal Studios are being sold to foreign nationals as vacation homes.

Hopefully these ideas are getting the wheels turning in your head.  There are plenty of positive things about this market.  You just need to be focusing on them until the economy stabilizes.  Stay tuned for Part 3 coming soon.  Until then, put some of these ideas to work for you.

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(Copyright © 2009. 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, 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 Orlando Regional Realtor Association ® released the latest market statistics for the month ending January 2009.  These stats cover Orange County and Seminole County, Florida including Orlando, Winter Park, Ocoee, Apopka, Altamonte Springs, Longwood, Oviedo, and Sanford to name a few places.

Surprisingly some of the numbers actually appear like the market is improving.  I've been saying for over a year now that inventory levels have basically flattened off for quite a while.  These latest numbers show a clear decrease in inventory which I found to be pretty interesting.  You can read the full details at the ORRA website and the abbreviated version below.

The really telling numbers are (1) the number of new listings for January which is always typically a high month but not this January, (2) the days on market and the continued downward trend, and (3) the number of new contracts which is at the highest level since May of 2007.  The number of Solds for January is typically much lower than in other months because during December people are concentrating on the holidays and not focusing on buying properties so thus the January closings are nearly always lower than other months.

The more frightening numbers are the median and average sales prices.  The median price in January 2008 was $221,500 compared to January 2009 of $148,300.  The average price in January 2008 was $312,100 compared to January 2009 of $190,200.  Those are very dramatic decreases and the market prices are still decreasing in many areas.  I've heard a few smart people say prices are close to the bottom, but who really knows for sure.

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(Copyright © 2009. 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, 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.   

Congress is in a real hurry to pass a $790 Billion stimulus package or as President Obama calls it a "spending bill."  At least the President has the guts to call it what it is.  He should have added the words "pork barrel" onto the name so that we could all truly understand what Washington is doing to us.

Here are some articles on the subject: USA Today article.    Wall Street Journal article.

 

I do realize that the government needs to look like they are doing something. However, I personally believe they are doing the wrong thing for the mostpart with this bill.  The reason I believe this is because the bill fails to address the underlying root problems to this whole economic mess.

The root problems are (1) real estate property values have dropped (plummeted in many places) and thus people with big mortgages cannot refinance and cannot sell thus putting people into foreclosure, and (2) the credit markets have tightened (or frozen) up so most lenders are not lending money except under much more rigid conditions. 

Much of the spending bill is going towards government infrastructure projects that may take years to complete and nearly always come in way over budget.  Other big portions of the money are going to state and local government to funds their budgets and keep courthouses and schools open.  All that is great mind you. However for the 80% of the people that don't work for the government, it doesn't help much except provide services which may or not even be used by most folks.

There are some tax credits (which is often just a fancy name for a welfare check) of $400 per individual or $800 for couples (oooh wow a whole $400 - thanks so much).  Then there is all the ridiculous spending for Hollywood movies, Planned Parenthood condoms, global warming research, etc. which have nothing to do with fixing the economic woes of this country.

Honestly, this bill smells rotten to the core in my opinion.  Let's stop wasting billions and trillions of dollars on crazy spending and get to the root problems which are the negative real estate equity and the frozen credit markets.  If they are going to throw money at the problem, then why not actually buy up some of these troubled assets and help get that monkey off of people's backs.

It is kind of like if you run over a nail with your car tire.  Then instead of taking the nail out and patching the tire, you go get an air pump and start pumping more air into the tire.  What happens? The tire continues to lose air and deflate. 

I certainly don't claim to have all the answers, but simply spending money on all types of pet projects is not going to fix the economy.  Attacking the root causes of the economic meltdown is a much better solution to me.  But what do I know???

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(Copyright © 2009. 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, 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.   

I was reading my colleague Andy Tolbert's blog last week and came across this new article regarding Fannie Mae expanding their investor loan programs.  So I did some independent verification of my own on Fannie Mae's website and sure enough, there it is.

According to new guidelines effective March 1, 2009, Fannie Mae will again allow investors to have conventional loans on up to 10 properties.  This is FABULOUS NEWS because currently they are only letting you have 4 mortgages in your name.  And if you had several rental properties like I do, you were pretty much are stuck.  You couldn't buy anything new of refinance what you had unless you did so with creative financing, subject to, or brought in a partner.  Not anymore. Now you will be able to get regular old conventional financing, that is assuming you have acceptable credit and financials ... and from what I read those standards are pretty high right now.  But at least this is a step in the RIGHT DIRECTION for a change.  Here is the website with the Fannie Mae guideline so that you can read up on it yourself. 

It is really about time these bureaucrats in Washington actually did something that makes sense.  Somebody needs to buy up all this excess inventory and that somebody isn't your Congressman or local government bureaucrat.  That somebody is smart real estate investors.  Now get out there and buy something!

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(Copyright © 2009. 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, 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.   

I wrote some articles similar to this last year.  This is an updated version of those articles.  If you are still successfully in the real estate business right now, you need to give yourself a big pat on the back because I know first-hand how brutal the marketplace is.  Especially here in Central Florida where we are #7 on the nationwide foreclosure high list.

But I do not want to talk about gloom and doom.  I want to talk about what is working successfully in today's real estate market.  I certainly don't have all the answers, and I am thankful for every customer and colleague that I have past and present.  In a market like we are having, only the strong survive and change is constant.  These are my observations of what is working successfully for people. Personally I am using several of these ideas, and I encourage you to do the same.  So, here is what I see working in this crazy market.

 

(1) Anything to do with foreclosures.  Obviously there are lots of foreclosures in today's marketplace.  So that means opportunity.  Someone has to clean up the foreclosure mess and it is not going to be the banks or the government though they will have plenty of involvement in it. Currently the most successful Realtors, investors, and mortgage brokers I see are the ones focusing on the foreclosure industry.  There is still another several years worth of foreclosures on the horizon, so this trend is not going away anytime soon.

             Short sales, though they are often frustrating, are resulting in sales and profits.  There are tricks to getting them to go through.  Not all people in foreclosure will qualify for a short sale so screening out the bad ones is a must.  It is a volume business plain and simple.  The more you work, the more that will result in a closing.  Last year my lead Realtor®, Sylvia Carraway, and I obtained our Certified Short-Sale Professional (CSP) designation from Realty U because we recognized that although short sales can be long and stressful, they are here for the next few years so why not profit from them.

  

         Bank owned REO properties will eventually increase to more than the number of short sales.  As some short sale negotiations fail or the thick-headed bank doesn't approve them, the property eventually goes back to the lender.  These bank repos will eventually have to be sold to someone either through a Realtor®, through an auction, or through a bulk sale.  From my observation these properties actually get approved much faster and sell for a much lower price than the short sales.  Before I started listing REO's for banks, I thought that nearly all bank owned properties were nasty and disgusting.  But that is definitely not the case.  In fact I just sold a foreclosure property last month that the prior owners left in spotless condition (they even left the garage door remotes in a bag on the kitchen counter), and it sold for cheaper than any similar house within 2 miles of its location. And with the income from doing BPO's for the lenders I am able to help pay for my full-time administrative assistant.

         Foreclosure assistance for homeowners. While this is a more undefined subject, it is definitely a need that someone will have to be fulfilling.  Whether the person performing the service is an investor, a Realtor®, a mortgage broker, an attorney, or a non-profit organization, there is a definite need.  These people will be helping homeowners modify their loan, somehow sell or refinance, file bankruptcy, negotiate with their lender for a forbearance or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, negotiate with lien holders and code enforcement boards, or something similar.

         Foreclosure rehab and cleanup. Somebody has to secure, board up, winterize, trash out, clean up, and fix up these vacant and bank-owned properties.  The lenders and Realtors® are not going to do the work (and actually get their hands dirty).  They will hire contractors and other service people to do the work.  For example, with 5-10 vacant or REO properties being mowed each month my lawn guy loves me right now.

(2) Loan rates are low. 

        It is time to refinance your loans and restructure your debt. Whether you are a homeowner with higher interest loans or an investor with rental properties or lines of credit, interest rates have dropped significantly in the last year.  The federal government has made some big changes to FHA and also Fannie/Freddie.  If you can refinance, you can significantly lower your interest rates.  Personally I refinanced 3 of my rentals in the last year and locked in much lower fixed rates.  Also because the Fed has lowered the federal funds rate so much, HELOCS have very low rates.  I have paid off all my high interest credit lines (8-11%) and rolled them into my HELOCS which are around 3-4%. (I have some rehab projects that I have turned into rentals and the rehab money is borrowed from credit lines. $58,000 in credit lines adds up to only $161 per month in interest!!!)  This has lowered my payments by roughly 70% each month.

       Mortgage brokers and lenders need to take advantage of this opportunity. You need to be helping people refinance into these better rates or bail out of their ARM's using the FHA Secure, HOPE for Homeowners, and other new mortgage programs.  There is plenty of money to be made in helping people lower their monthly payments.  Several mortgage brokers have told me they are now certified to do mortgage modifications.  I don't know all the details of that, but I do see plenty of opportunity there.

Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 of this article.

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

ABR, CPL, CRB, CSP, GRI, Managing real estate 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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