Best places for house bargains
ORLANDO, Fla. – Feb. 12, 2008 – The best place to get a bargain on a home is an area where there is healthy job growth and more houses available than people to buy them.
These are markets “where you have high inventories but pliable borrowers, with lenders willing to deal,” says Anthony Sanders, a professor of finance at Arizona State University.
Forbes magazine went looking for markets where the damage from risky lending hasn’t been as dramatic as in some parts of the country and where employment growth will burn off an over-abundance of inventory quickly.
Here's the 3rd best city for bargain house hunters.
3. Orlando, Fla. This part of the state had fewer speculators than Miami and Tampa, and it’s adding jobs faster than those cities as well.
Brevard County, On Florida's East coast, and within an easy thirty minute commute to Orlando is home to Kennedy Space Center and is a home - buyers bargain paradise. Call La Cita Realty at 321-385-3121 and check it out. Planning to Retire to Florida? We can make your move smooth and easy with first class service. Our agents are eager to help you.
PENDING HOME SALES
NAR predicts soft home sales in the near term and a turnaround by summer - but Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the extent of an expected recovery hinges on better access to affordable loans. Pending sales edged down 1 percent in March.
Read the full story:
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/n1-050708.cfm
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HOUSING MARKET
Florida's housing market may have reached the bottom, according to the St. Joe Co., the state's biggest landowner. St. Joe CEO Peter Rummell points to stabilization in the residential inventory as a positive sign, adding that buyers must be "retrained" to recognize the importance of buying a home now.
Read the full story:
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/n2-050708.cfm
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FORECLOSURES
In testimony before a congressional committee yesterday, witnesses stated that mortgage lenders are making the current foreclosure crisis worse by pursuing unjustified foreclosures and charging questionable fees, with Countrywide cited as one of the worst. Countrywide admitted some mistakes but disputed the accusations.
Read the full story:
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/n3-050708.cfm
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DISASTER INSURANCE
The Government Accountability Office isn't keen on a House proposal to expand the federal flood insurance program by adding coverage for wind damage, saying that FEMA faces several obstacles. The GAO opinion could complicate efforts by lawmakers in hurricane-prone states like Florida to control the cost of homeowners' insurance.
Read the full story:
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/n4-050708.cfm
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HOUSING AID
The White House on Tuesday threatened a veto of Democrats' broad housing rescue plan, calling it a burdensome bailout that would open taxpayers to too much risk. Many House Republicans agree. The measure is "going to reward scam artists and reward those who were speculating in the marketplace," says Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader.
Read the full story:
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/n5-050708.cfm
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BEHIND THE STATISTICS
The U.S. Census Bureau recently reported that Orlando was the worst city in the nation for vacant housing, with 7.4 percent of the area's homes supposedly sitting empty. Tampa came in second with a 5.1 percent vacancy rate. But that's only part of the truth. First, a margin of error (1.5 percent) is a statistical admission that the numbers could be as high as 8.9 percent but as low as 5.9 percent - a pretty big difference - and the number itself only applies to homes for sale. Second, you must look at the reasons for empty listings, according to Census Bureau spokesman Bob Callis. Orlando and Tampa, for example, had a high number of condo conversions during the boom, and Callis believes that could be a major reason for the vacancies - a reason unrelated to job growth, housing demand or future economic stability. But incomplete statistic problems don't end there. Forbes magazine, for example, relied heavily on the "7.4 percent vacancy rate" when it ranked Orlando the "second-riskiest real estate market" in the nation, right behind Detroit. William Seyfried, a professor of economics at Rollins College's Crummer Graduate School of Business in Winter Park, takes issue with the Detroit-Orlando comparison. "I don't see Orlando going the way of Detroit, or anything close to that," Seyfried says. "Tourism is solid, health care is growing. There are a lot of underlying strengths" in metro Orlando. For other positive market news, visit FAR's Great Time to Buy Florida Web site at: http://buynow.floridarealtors.org
Source: The Orlando Sentinel, May 7, 2008, Jerry W. Jackson
© 2008 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® |
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