Homebuyers What's In & What's Out 2006

What's In

• Smaller square footage homes. After years of sprawl, new construction buyers want less space with better finishes.
• Quality kitchen cabinets. With the kitchen/greatroom the center of family living, buyers today are looking at furniture style cabinets.
  Bamboo wood floors. It could overtake maple as the favorite light-colored wood flooring in 2006.
• Wall space for flat screen TV's. Specify power and cable boxes close to locations where homebuyers want to place the latest in visual technology. The popular location for installation in new construction is over the fireplace.
• Multiple and high-powered phone lines. With modems, dsl, wi-fi moving into mainstream use, tech-savvy homebuyers want "wired" homes.
• Separate shower stalls and bathtubs in master bathrooms. The growing divide among "soakers" and "showers" is increasing. Not having one of each in a master bath could quelch a purchase.
• Built-in home stereo systems are a must-have for many audiophiles. Wireless hasn't quite made the pre-wired audio system home obsolete, at least not in 2006.
• Balconies and decks wider than 3 feet. Homebuyers want usable outdoor space. Big enough for a bistro table and chairs and a couple of pots for container gardening.
• Guest parking. With the rise in condominiums, lofts and zero-lot line subdivisions, homebuyers want their guests to have a hassle-free experience when they arrive at their new home. Buy or lease an extra space for family or friends.
• Dog Parks. Dogs and home ownership go hand-in-hand. The new way to meet neighbors in the hood is to interact with them at the dog park. Before buying a home, check out the nearest one.
• Ranch or one level homes. The baby-boomers are discovering their utility in droves.
  Second Homes. The baby-boomers are also keeping this market segment strong. Demand for second homes was still on the upside in 2005, but if primary home demand weakens, the second home market will historically follow.
• Seller give-backs. With a more balanced market in most metro markets, requests by buyers to pay closing costs have increased, and some sellers are paying them.
  Carbon Monoxide detectors. Home inspectors red flag homes that have only smoke detectors. Inexpensive and lifesaving, install one on every floor of a home before opening to homebuyers.
  

What's Out

• The real estate bubble. It's a correction with a soft decline in prices.
  Ebony-stained hardwood floors. You're better off tearing it out than trying to sand the ebony out to refinish.
• Single-rod closets. Buyers want the most storage in the least amount of space. Organizers accomplish this.
• Dark rooms with small windows. Natural light can overrule a lot of other problems in a home.
• Wallpaper. Buyers never have the same taste as decorators. Take it down (carefully) and paint.
• Builder grade light fixtures and interior fixtures used outside. The right fixtures say quality to buyers.
• Mid-century awnings on exterior windows and doors. Buyers want to let the sun shine in.
  Mirrored backsplash's in kitchens and everywhere else. Mirrored walls and ceilings say 1980's hedonism.
• Commitment (strong, bold trendy) colors. They look great in magazines, but as one buyer said to me "I don't live in a magazine".
• Gas grills that need their own tank. Buyers prefer the gas piped from the house so they don't have to replace tanks.
• Dropped ceilings. It might have updated a bungalow in the 1950's, but buyers want as much vertical space as possible.
• Flipping. Increasing inventories of unsold homes is increasing, signaling weakening demand by all buyers. If you are holding properties to flip, prepare to place them on market after the holidays.

On the Way Out

• Stainless steel appliances. Word-of-mouth says the cleaning requirements aren't for everyone.
• Laminate flooring that looks like hardwood. Not only can buyers tell it's not wood, the noise it makes with high-heel shoes is the deal killer during property showings.
  
  About the Author: Mark Nash's fourth real estate book "1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home" (2005) and a real estate broker in Chicago are the foundation for his consumer-centric real estate perspective which has been featured on CBS The Early Show, Bloomberg TV, Fidelity Investor’s Weekly, Dow Jones Market Watch, MSNBC.com, The New York Times, Universal Press Syndicate and USA Today.

Osceola County Home to Disney is Booming

Osceola County led the four-county Metro Orlando area in the growth for existing homes sales in October-a 52 percent increase over the same month one year ago. Please click link for the full story.

New Vacation Hot Spot on the Horizon in Kissimmee

A developer will break ground today on a $4 billion resort development in Osceola County. Legacy Resort will include hotels, retail, condos, vacation rentals and a golf course. Please click on link for details.

Study says Orlando Condo Conversion the Busiest

According to Orlando Sentinel, "Orlando turned out to be the busiest of the 20 big condo-conversion markets studied by the company -- bigger than Miami, bigger than Manhattan." See link for full story details.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-condos0205dec02,0,2785745,print.story?coll=orl-sports-headlines-knights

Irish investor snaps up lots in Parramore

The buyer isn't discussing plans, but officials say he wants to mix retail, office or residential space.

Mark SchluebSentinel Staff Writer December 1, 2005 Orlando Sentinel

An Irish hotelier and real-estate investor has been quietly buying land in Parramore, another indication that the troubled neighborhood is becoming the next frontier in downtown development.Sean McElvaney of County Kildare, Ireland, bought 20 mostly residential lots scattered throughout Parramore three weeks ago for a combined $3.2 million, records show. That follows six months of purchases totaling $1.7 million in 2003 and 2004 that left McElvaney the owner of nearly an entire block.McElvaney isn't talking about his plans, but city officials say he envisions a mix of retail and office or residential space. And like others, he may be banking on the possibility that Parramore's land values and development opportunities will climb, just as they have on the other side of Interstate 4 in downtown Orlando's central business district."It's location, location, location. We are downtown," Parramore landowner David Van Gelder said. "Everybody knows it is going to be worth a lot of money."The 1-square-mile community is Orlando's poorest, mired in crime, poverty and low rates of homeownership. Parramore has long resisted City Hall's efforts at rejuvenation, but Mayor Buddy Dyer has repeatedly said the success of his administration should be measured by the success of Parramore.Though many see Parramore's redevelopment as inevitable, it has lagged behind the booming pace just to the east. At the same time, some residents worry about the neighborhood's eventual gentrification -- and whether there will still be a place for them as land values rise.McElvaney, who owns commercial buildings in Jacksonville and Atlanta and a hotel west of Dublin, Ireland, bought the residential property, including some with run-down houses, from two corporations controlled by Parramore landlord K.D. Lewis.Because they are mostly scattered, the residential lots don't lend themselves to new development of significant size. McElvaney's attorney, Terry Delahunty of Orlando, said his client is taking a "long-term view" of his land holdings and has no plans to eject tenants."Sean is very concerned about the availability of affordable housing," Delahunty said. "Anything he does there will take that into consideration."McElvaney's commercial purchases cover most of the block bounded by Central Boulevard, Pine Street, Terry Avenue and Parramore Avenue. That land is presumably large enough to accommodate a mixed-use building, though high-rise development such as that found in downtown's core wouldn't be allowed under the zoning that covers most of Parramore."He's talked about a mixed-use development there, but there is nothing firm in the works that I'm aware of," Downtown Development Board Director Frank Billingsley said.The future of that project may also come down to location. The land is just across Central Boulevard from the Coalition for the Homeless shelter."That is a major stumbling block toward redevelopment," Billingsley said.City officials for years have pushed the coalition to move its campus out of Parramore, saying the homeless people who congregate there discourage developers from investing in the neighborhood. In 1999, the City Council adopted a policy that prohibits new social-service agencies from moving to Parramore and bars existing ones from expanding.Homeless-coalition leaders say they are willing to move, but only to a site close to the area's homeless population and the charitable services they use. The search for a new location has often left the homeless coalition at odds with City Hall and the community. Most recently, black politicians blasted an idea to move it near Jones High School.This week, five members of a real-estate advisory group who have expertise in homeless issues have come to Orlando to study the coalition's needs and identify potential sites. The Counselors of Real Estate is expected to issue a recommendation to the city and the coalition in a few weeks.Van Gelder, the Parramore landowner, said development won't take off in Parramore unless problems with the homeless and crime are solved."Until they get rid of the coalition and enforce the law and get rid of the crackheads and drug dealers and prostitutes, nothing is going to happen," he said.McElvaney met with Dyer months ago and is expected to discuss his plans Friday with city Commissioner Daisy Lynum, who represents Parramore. But he hasn't submitted any development plans.Hughes Supply, a Fortune 500 building-supply company with headquarters in Parramore since the 1920s, has also made big land purchases in the neighborhood recently. A block southeast of the homeless shelter, a Hughes holding company bought two adjacent parcels for a combined $2.5 million in May and July. The company spent an additional $3.21 million in July to buy two large tracts on Mercy Drive.City officials said the company has discussed expanding its operations in Parramore. A Hughes representative did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

Real-estate market cools in October

Sales decline more than expected as a backlog of unsold homes multiplies.

From Wire and Staff Reports November 29, 2005, Orlando Sentinel

WASHINGTON -- Sales of existing homes fell a bigger-than-expected 2.7 percent in October, a fresh sign that the red-hot housing market is cooling. The decline would have been worse without increased demand from displaced hurricane victims.

Though prices rose at the fastest clip in more than a quarter-century, the number of unsold homes rose to the highest level in 19 years. Analysts forecast that this backlog will dampen future price gains.

The findings build on a report last week on Florida's housing market. Signs of cooling are showing up throughout the state, though sales are still good and median prices continued to rise in October.

Statewide, October sales fell 5 percent from October 2004, though Florida Association of Realtor officials attributed most of the decline to disruptions from Hurricane Wilma. The statewide median price in October was $241,000, up 28 percent from $188,800 a year ago.

And in Metro Orlando, a ballooning inventory that hit the highest level in eight years was a clear indication of a cooling market.

Sales in the Orlando market slipped in October from September, the second consecutive monthly decrease, though sales were up from October 2004 and activity for the year is ahead of last year's record pace. Orlando's existing-home median price in October rose to a record $246,790, after falling in September for the first time in a year.

In its report Monday, the National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing homes and condominiums fell by 2.7 percent in October. Analysts expected a 1.1 percent decline. It left sales at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.09 million, down from a sales rate of 7.29 million units in September, which was the second-fastest pace on record.

The decline in sales pushed the number of unsold homes to 2.87 million, the highest level in more than 19 years. It would take 4.9 months to deplete that inventory level at the current sales pace. The median, or midpoint, price of an existing home sold last month rose by 16.6 percent to $218,000, compared with October 2004.

Economists said Monday's report appeared to be a signal that the booming housing market was beginning to slow under the impact of rising mortgage rates.

"The housing sector has likely passed its peak. The boom is winding down," said David Lereah, chief economist for the Realtors. "I expect continued softening in housing if rates remain at these levels or go higher."

Economists predicted the buildup in unsold homes would help dampen the surge in home prices that saw 69 cities report double-digit gains in prices this summer.

Condo craze is headed for crash and burn

Mike ThomasCOMMENTARY November 29, 2005, Orlando Sentinel

Call it "condo-mania" uncontrolled condominium construction and high prices. It hit the Tampa Bay area in the early 1980s. The area is just beginning to recover from that condo glut . . . If you're shopping for a condo, the best deals are to be found in foreclosures or resales by investors.

This history lesson is from a 1987 story in the St. Petersburg Times.

I bring it up as I drive around Orlando, looking at the increasing number of "For Sale" signs in front yards, taking note of those that have had their "Price reduced.

"The number of homes on the market is at an eight-year high. We are shifting from a seller's market to a buyer's market. The speed at which this is happening is remarkable, given that interest rates remain low.

But despite all these warning signs about a slowdown in housing, downtown condo builders remain bullish.

We've got thousands of inquiries!

We can't build them fast enough!

The empty nesters all want to move downtown!

The young, single crowd wants to move downtown!

It all sounds good. But what is it that makes condos immune from market forces affecting the rest of the housing market? My guess is that as we saw during the dot-com bust, speculators hate to let go of a good thing.

And speculators remain active in the condo market.

Downtowns in neighboring St. Petersburg and Tampa have more than 50 condo projects planned. Even cities such as Sarasota and Jacksonville are planning for thousands of condos.

Miami-Dade has a staggering 70,000 units in the works.

Add to this the coastal condo craze and the condo-conversion craze.

Are there really enough empty nesters, second-home buyers and young professionals to go around in the next few years?

There is an army of speculators and investors who think so.

Buying Florida condos at "pre-construction" prices has become a national phenomenon. Try typing "preconstruction" and "condos" and "Florida" into an Internet search engine and see all the Web sites devoted to helping you get rich.

Condo-flipping is the new day-trading. History says that this creates an artificial demand and jacks up prices.

As inflated as the cost of traditional housing has become, at least that market has one toe dipped in the waters of Lake Reality. A much larger percentage of buyers plan to actually move into their purchase and stay awhile. Or they plan to put big bucks into restoration before flipping the property. This requires a commitment and more thoughtful analysis.

This is why you see the traditional housing market begin to cool while the frenzied condo market booms on. A lot of people who put down contracts on condos have no intention of ever making the first payment.

If that day comes because they can't flip the units, they're in big trouble. So are the developers and lenders.

The longer it takes for a correction to occur, the more painful it becomes. And we have been through painful condo corrections before.

"When I came here in 1975, they gave you a Cadillac if you would buy a condo in Pompano Beach," says economist Hank Fishkind.

If Orlando's market is out of whack, it will correct itself in the normal manner -- when growth and price adjustments produce enough buyers actually looking for a place to live.

When getting a mortgage, steer clear of 7 mistakes

Don't focus just on the home you want -- consider how you will pay for it.

Jim DebothSpecial to the Sentinel November 27, 2005 Orlando Sentinel

Buying a home is probably the biggest financial decision any of us ever makes, especially if it's our first house. Though you might focus on finding the perfect house, you also should spend time thinking about how you will pay for it.

We'll look at the seven costliest mistakes consumers make when shopping for a mortgage.

No. 1: Talking to lenders before checking your credit report for mistakes. If you find mistakes, give yourself time to get them corrected. You are entitled to one free credit report every year from each of the big three credit reporting agencies. To order, go online at annualcredit report.com.

No. 2: Dealing with the wrong lender. Ask friends and relatives about their mortgage lenders and whether they were satisfied with the service and the loan. Talk to at least three lenders and ask them the same questions about interest rates, points and the cost of the loan. Compare their answers. Compare their personalities. Do you like them? Do you trust them?

No. 3: Looking for a home before you look for a mortgage. In fact, you should get pre-approved for a mortgage and then go looking for a home that the mortgage can buy. Some real estate agents won't even take you house hunting until they see your letter of approval.Getting pre-approved, however, means a lender has examined your required paperwork and approved you for a loan for a specific amount of money. When you couple that amount with the down payment you plan to make, you will know how much house you can afford.

No. 4: Borrowing either too much or too little money. Just because you're approved for a loan of $250,000, for example, doesn't mean that you must borrow all $250,000. The approval amount simply is a ceiling limit.The key point to remember is that you determine how much -- or how little -- you want to spend for a house and how big a monthly payment you want to make. The lender wants to loan you as much money as possible, and the real estate agent wants to sell you the most expensive home possible.You, however, set the limits, so be realistic. Tell the real estate agent what price range you are interested in, and if you don't like what the agent shows you, find another agent.

No. 5: Failing to plan for the unexpected. Tornados and other natural disasters such as floods, tsunamis, earthquakes and wildfires, can strike without warning. So can illnesses and injuries, job lay-offs and other physical and fiscal disasters. One of the first questions you should ask yourself is how long you and your family could manage without a paycheck.How much money do you have in savings, stocks, bonds or bank certificates of deposits? Financial planners suggest you have at least enough money on reserve to cover you and your family's expenses for three full months if the paychecks suddenly stopped or you had to cover a medical or other emergency.

No. 6: Not knowing everything you should about your specific loan. That includes why you obtained this loan instead of another. For example, with a traditional 30-year fixed-rate conventional loan, your monthly payment will be the same for the life of the loan. You also can get similar loans for 15, 20 and even 40 years. Adjustable-rate mortgages start with a lower interest rate that later can adjust up or down.No one buys a home without examining it thoroughly, from top to bottom. You should do the same with your mortgage.

No. 7: Not knowing the full cost of home ownership. If you always have been a renter, you might be in for a few surprises. As a renter, the landlord is responsible for maintenance, upkeep and repairs. The landlord also pays the property taxes and special assessments. Once you sign the final papers, those responsibilities are all yours, and they can be expensive. So you should make a list and estimate these costs when you are figuring how much you can pay toward your home each month.

Housing inventory balloons

Number of homes for sale in Metro Orlando leaps 32.5%

Jack SnyderSentinel Staff Writer November 23, 2005, Orlando Sentinel

The number of homes for sale in the Orlando area ballooned by more than 2,200 properties last month to hit an eight-year high -- the clearest sign yet that the region's red-hot housing market might be about to cool off.

Orlando's existing-home sales remained strong in October, a local trade group reported Tuesday. Completed deals in the four-county metro area were up more than 27 percent from October 2004, and the median price of those sold in the market's core crept up for the first time in three months to set another record.

But the bidding wars are subsiding, and the inventory of available homes jumped from 6,786 at the end of September to 8,992 at the end of October, according to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. That's the largest inventory since 9,129 homes were for sale in May 1997.

With the completion of 2,841 resales in October, the metro area was still running 12.4 percent ahead of last year's record sales pace. And after stalling in August and falling slightly in September for the first time in a year, the median home price in the market's core rose in October from $243,900 to $246,790.

That's an appreciation rate of nearly 36 percent since October 2004, when the median (the price at which half the homes sold for more and half for less) was $182,000.

But area real-estate brokers said Tuesday that they are seeing clear signs of an easing in the region's record home-buying activity, with some sellers now willing to reduce their asking prices as the available inventory grows.

Jack and Jancey Craig, who recently bought a home after moving here from Baltimore, were able to consider more than two dozen houses in the Oviedo area before settling on a prime candidate.

"We were choosy," Jack Craig said. "We looked at a lot of homes, and we knew right away we wanted the one we bought."

The home's seller reduced the price from $375,000 to $358,700 and agreed to pay for certain repairs to close the deal, said Troy Hensley, the Craigs' agent and a partner in ERA Breese Craft Hensley LLC.

"Even three months ago you couldn't do that," Hensley said. "The inventory just wasn't there then. It's still a very good market. It's just not a crazy market."

The September-to-October increase in available inventory of 2,206 properties, or 32.5 percent, was the biggest one-month leap in the local Realtors' Multiple Listing Service records, which go back to January 1997.

The group measures existing-home sales from throughout the metro area -- Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties -- but most of its other statistics, including inventory and median price, are for the core of the market only -- primarily Orange and Seminole counties.

The average time on the market for homes sold in October was 33 days, the second consecutive month in which that statistic has risen, leaving it at its highest level since March.

Some of the properties pumping up the inventory in recent months -- the month-end total also grew more than 20 percent in July, 23 percent in August and 22 percent in September -- is coming from condo conversions that have flooded the Orlando market, said Lydia Pisano, a broker with Keller Williams Realty and immediate past president of the local Realtor association.

Pisano noted another sign of a possible slowing in activity: New-home builders are back to actively courting Realtors to bring prospects to their subdivisions and developments."The waiting lists and the lotteries [for new homes] are gone," she said.

Still, buyers continue to compete for certain properties, said Ronald Mesplay, the broker at Exit Realty Preferred in Lake Mary.

Mesplay said one of his sales associates just sold a condo in Lake Mary after it drew nine offers. "The listing sold for $8,000 over the asking price," he said.

But brokers said that is happening less and less as the inventory continues to grow by double-digit percentage rates. A wider selection gives buyers "room for negotiation, as opposed to a bidding war," noted Beverly Pindling, president of the local Realtor association.

Frank Filippelli, president of Southern Realty Enterprises, said sellers are starting to realize that what their neighbors got for their houses as recently as three months ago doesn't necessarily mean much these days.

"They have to look at what the market is today," he said. "We're still strong, but it's not like it was."

Local existing-home sales set a record last year, despite disruptions brought on by the three hurricanes that raked Central Florida in August and September.

Home sales appear to be on track to set records locally and nationally again this year, even though mortgage rates have been edging steadily upward for weeks.

The national average for a 30-year home-loan rate last week was 6.37 percent -- still at historically low levels but up considerably from a year ago, when the average was 5.74 percent, according to national home-loan buyer Freddie Mac.

In the third quarter of this year, Orlando ranked second in the nation in existing-home price appreciation, with growth of nearly 45 percent from the third quarter of 2004. Only Phoenix did better. The Orlando area's third-quarter median price -- calculated by the National Association of Realtors using a broader database than the one used by the local Realtors -- was $261,300.

Windermere Real Estate

The home WOW factor

A 7,104-square-foot home built near Orlando to show off everything green and glam awaits peer approval.

Carrie Alexander Special to the Orlando Sentinel November 20, 2005

Wow. Orlando home builder Alex Hannigan did it. Fourteen months ago, when he was preparing to start on The New American Home '06, he said he wanted his showcase house to have the "wow factor."Despite the project's many challenges, this 7,104-square-foot home in southwest Orange County should easily elicit that response when it opens for tours early next year. The house, which is expected to have a price tag significantly higher than $3 million, boasts a view of Lake Burden from nearly every room. Amenities include five fireplaces, a second-story library and an outdoor living space with a vanishing-edge pool, a spa and gas-fired tiki torches.The demonstration home is expected -- no, required -- to be fabulous. Each year since 1984, the National Association of Home Builders has constructed a house at the site of its convention to showcase state-of-the-art materials and techniques.In January, Orlando hosted the International Builders' Show for the first time, and the show's centerpiece was a Mediterranean home in Baldwin Park built by Goehring & Morgan.This January, the show will return to Orlando, giving Hannigan, president of Hannigan Homes, the chance to show off a stellar Florida-style home to thousands of building professionals. About one-tenth of the more than 100,000 attendees typically tour the showcase home. After the show, the house will be open to the public.The mission of the builders group is to demonstrate design ideas, products and technologies that can be replicated in houses across the country at various prices."Nobody's going to replicate the entire house," but builders and homeowners can walk away with a few ideas for their own projects, says Bill Nolan, a past president of the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando and co-chairman of the national builders' New American Home committee.Every home-building project has its challenges, but try constructing a demonstration home by a committee in less than a year with groups of manufacturers lobbying to have their products included.Add to that a set of circumstances particular to this home project, such as the lack of electricity, water and passable roads.The site chosen for the home is the first to be carved out of a new subdivision known as Lake Burden at the Lakes of Windermere. When Hannigan broke ground for the home, the land was raw, and generators had to be hauled to the site to power up tools. Water had to be pumped from the lake to mix the concrete."I knew going in, this was going to be difficult,'' Hannigan says. "We knew we'd have to start with generators, and we didn't have roads and there was no power. And power, water and roads are three key ingredients in starting a home."In June, Hannigan says, the constant rain produced so much mud that he would lose an entire week of work at one time."I couldn't get to the house. Nobody could," he says. "It was really a challenge. I said, 'Someday, we'll look back and laugh about this but not today.' I have never in my wildest dreams thought we could complete this house under these conditions."The crew expected to have power sometime in July, but it didn't happen until the first of this month -- about the same time running water arrived.Plus, Hannigan was expected to build the home to be "green," or environmentally friendly, which was breaking ground for The New American Home program and for him."I think it's [green building] the wave of the future,'' he says. "I think that we should all start looking at that and taking it seriously."The show house, which is Energy Star-rated through the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America program, will receive green certification that verifies the house is energy-efficient and uses environmentally sensitive materials and principles in its construction.Hannigan says the decision to build green is part of the reason for choosing WCI Architecture & Land Planning of Coral Springs to design the home. The company has been a state leader in green building.As homeowners catch on to the benefits of building green, more houses will be built with some of the same principles used in The New American Home '06, says John Orgren, WCI regional design manager and co-designer with Flavio Coronel on this project.The reason, Orgren says, is that the concepts just make sense. Using wood from sustainable forests, for example, means resources have been saved for the next generation. Placing the air-conditioning system in a semiconditioned space means "it doesn't have to cool as much, and there's less chance of mold," Orgren says.

Pre-approval for a loan isn't same as prequalified

Don't confuse the two. One gives you an estimate, the other guarantees the money.

Jim Deboth Special to the Orlando Sentinel November 13, 2005

Few things are more embarrassing or frustrating than picking out something you want to buy, taking it to the cashier and then discovering you don't have enough money -- or credit -- to pay for it. It's even worse when that "something" is a home.

One way to avoid the problem is to get pre-approved for your mortgage loan. This means your lender has verified all the information you provide -- salary, credit history, down payment amount, etc. -- and gives you a letter showing you are pre-approved for a loan up to a certain amount.

This is not the same as being prequalified, however, says Chantell Myers, a loan processor for Kimberly Financial Services, in Gurnee, Ill. Although some lenders hand out letters saying someone is prequalified, those letters usually are considered useless because they are based solely on the borrower's word rather than on verified fact.

No lender will loan you a dime until your information is verified. In fact, many real estate agents won't even show you a home until this is done because they don't want to waste their time showing houses they aren't sure you could afford to buy.

You might as well obtain the approval before you start house hunting.

To be pre-approved, you will have to back up everything you tell the lender: your credit history, pay stubs or W2 forms, bank statements, brokerage or investment accounts and other paperwork. If you are self-employed, the lender probably will want to see your past three tax returns.

If a large amount of money recently "appeared" in your bank account, the lender might want to know where it came from. If you say it was a gift from family, for example, you likely will have to provide a letter from the giver saying that it is a gift and not a loan.

If it was a loan, you will have to pay it back, which changes your debt load. Lenders also will want to know how large your down payment will be, how long you have been at your job, how long you have lived at your current residence, what your monthly bills are and so on.

The pre-approval "letter will state what the conditions are, or what's been verified," Myers adds.

The letter will say how much the lender is willing to loan you. But that doesn't mean you have to borrow the full amount. You should focus on the home you want to buy and the size of the monthly payment you comfortably can afford to make.

The letter also will tell you how long you have to access the money. With some companies, the letter is good for 120 days. For others, it is less.

"The biggest hang-up in getting pre-approved is usually the credit score -- the FICO. And that's based on the credit report," Myers says. If there are mistakes in your credit history, you have to ask for a correction. You have to deal with the credit-reporting agency and, sometimes, with the company that made the mistake. In any case, it can take 30 days to get a mistake corrected.

Because you can never be sure which of the three major credit reporting agencies a lender will use, it makes sense to check your reports with all three companies and make sure all three are accurate.

You are entitled to one free copy per year of your credit report from each of the reporting agencies. To order, visit annualcreditreport.com.

Once you are pre-approved, do not make any major purchases until after you sign the papers for the house, and try not to change jobs. Lenders sometimes will do a final credit check before the loan closes to see if you made any big-ticket purchases that would make a major change in your monthly bills. They also might check to see if your income has remained stable.

Orlando's median home hits $261,300

The past quarter's sales are the nation's 2nd-hottest, but the peak may be past.

Jack SnyderSentinel Staff Writer, November 16, 2005, Orlando Sentinel

If the nation's housing markets level off next year as expected after their record-setting run-ups in price, Metropolitan Orlando will be much closer to the front of the pack than when it started.

Orlando was the second-hottest market in the country for existing-home sales during the third quarter. The median price of a single-family home soared to $261,300, a jump of nearly 45 percent from a year earlier, a national trade group reported Tuesday.

Only the Phoenix metropolitan area outpaced Orlando during the three months that ended Sept. 30, with price appreciation of more than 55 percent compared with the same period in 2004, the National Association of Realtors said.

Metro Orlando was ranked fourth in the nation during the second quarter, when its median price rose more than 36 percent, and six of the top 10 markets were in Florida. In the latest report, Orlando moved up two notches -- and this time seven of the top 10 metro areas were in the Sunshine State, including Daytona Beach and Titusville-Melbourne.

Nationwide, existing-home prices surged an average of 14.7 percent in the third quarter -- their biggest year-over-year increase since the second quarter of 1979. But back then, inflation was running at more than 10 percent a year, while these days it's less than half that, which makes the current appreciation rate all the more astounding.

Can it last? Well, no. The party may soon be over for homeowners who have watched their properties soar in value for a half-decade or more.

"Get ready for a dose of reality," said David Scott, an economics professor at the University of Central Florida. Double-digit gains in home prices "are not sustainable," he said, noting that economic growth overall is running far below 10 percent.

Orlando's median price in the third quarter was up from $180,500 a year earlier. Nationally, the third-quarter median was $215,900, and the 14.7 percent year-over-year gain was the second-greatest on record for the Realtors association, a spokesman for the trade group said.

Strong population and job growth have fueled not only Orlando's new- and existing-home markets but also those of all the major metro areas in Florida.

But the state's third-quarter figures got an extra boost because they were competing with July through September of last year, when three hurricanes crisscrossed peninsular Florida and a fourth hit the western Panhandle, disrupting home-buying activity and real-estate closings.

David Lereah, the national Realtors' chief economist, noted that the historically high price gains in Orlando and in dozens of other markets throughout the country have been the result of historically low mortgage rates and of demand for homes outstripping supply.

The number of homes available for resale in the core of the Orlando market, for example, fell from 10,000 a decade ago to 5,000 a year and a half ago before hitting bottom this past April at 2,947 properties.

Since April, however, available inventory in the Orlando Regional Realtor Association's Multiple Listing Service has ballooned to more than 6,700 homes -- the most in two years.

"The good news is that inventory levels are improving, and housing supply will come close to buyer demand in 2006," Lereah said. "We expect a healthy and more balanced market next year."

The national Realtors president, Thomas M. Stevens, noted that the previous lack of inventory had spurred bidding wars for the most desirable properties, pushing prices up wildly.

Since 1968, home prices have generally risen 1 to 2 percentage points faster than the country's overall rate of inflation. In the future, Stevens said, sellers should expect annual price increases to be much closer to those historic levels.

Mortgage rates have been rising along with Realtors' inventories: The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage last week came with 6.36 percent interest, according to the giant home-loan buyer Freddie Mac -- the ninth week in a row that the average nationwide rate has risen.

"If we get interest rates above 7 percent, we'll see a significant pullback on housing valuations," said Scott, the UCF economist.

Suzy Sanderson, of Jackie Sanderson Real Estate in Orlando, said many home sellers are now willing to reduce their asking price to close a deal. Six months ago, that was not the case.

"We're definitely seeing more of that these days," she said.

The median price of existing homes sold through the Orlando Regional Realtor Association -- a geographically smaller database of resales than the one used by the national Realtors -- was unchanged at $245,000 in August and fell in September for the first time in a year to $243,000.

But signs of a slowdown nationally were hard to see in the third-quarter figures released Tuesday.

Existing-home sales nationwide reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.24 million units during the quarter, a record pace and a 6.5 percent increase from the third quarter of 2004.

Statewide, third-quarter resales were up 7 percent from last year. In Metro Orlando, third-quarter sales were up 23 percent, and the Orlando Regional Realtor Association anticipates setting a 13th-consecutive annual sales record this year.

Lereah, the national Realtors economist, said he's "fairly confident" the nation's third-quarter sales total will mark the peak of the five-year boom in housing.

Still, he's predicting that sales in 2006, while slower, will wind up being the second-best on record.

Winter Garden braces for growth explosion

One expert says the city needs to ramp up services to support a population that will double in 15 years.

Sandra MathersSentinel Staff Writer, November 13, 2005, Orlando Sentinel

WINTER GARDEN -- It took Linda and John Morris three years to find their perfect piece of paradise. It took another year to build on it.

The Morrises moved into their four-bedroom home in Fuller's Landing two months ago -- part of a housing boom expected to double the city's population within 15 years.

"We're as happy as pigs in slop," quips Linda Morris, who operates a concrete-pumping business with her husband. "We wanted a two-story with a two-car garage, and we didn't want to [be able] to spit into our neighbor's home."

Fuller's Landing, a development of 61 homes by Maronda Homes on spacious lots, fits the family's description of "home."

The Morrises aren't the only folks looking to move into "quiet and quaint" Winter Garden.

Every builder in America, it seems, is throwing up concrete blocks on as many lakes as they can find in one of Orange County's last rural outposts.

Nearly 20 home builders and several local corporations have more than three dozen subdivisions in development. They are expected to yield 6,700 single-family homes and town homes at prices ranging from $280,000 to more than $500,000.

Those homes translate to 16,700 new residents for a city that already boasts 25,000 people -- a population jump of 67 percent.

And that's not all.

Winter Garden -- the fastest growing city in Orange -- is working with the county to annex another large tract of mostly undeveloped land from the city's western boundary south of Florida's Turnpike to the Lake County line.

Known as the Hartwood Marsh area, the pristine tract lies in the county between John's Lake and Lake Avalon.

It contains 1,300 developable acres that could add 3,600 homes and 9,800 residents to the subdivisions already in the works. That would more than double Winter Garden's population during the next 10 to 15 years, according to a 2002 planning study authorized by the McKinnon Corp., the majority property owner.

"It's definitely a flood [of people]," said Joyce Levine, assistant professor of urban and regional planning at Florida Atlantic University in Fort Lauderdale. "It's an awful lot of growth for a city this size."

But Levine said the issue is: Does the city have the resources to pay for the infrastructure upgrades needed to support all the growth? "The city has to ramp up services . . . more streets, police and firemen," she said. "Their new [property] tax base doesn't come in right away, so communities are always behind in doing things they need to do."

Officials weigh in

City officials, however, say they have all their growth bases covered. But one county commissioner says she isn't so sure.

Winter Garden City Manager Mike Bollhoefer said impact fees and property taxes will be adequate to fund the city's infrastructure needs, bolstered by a "good" city reserve fund of $9 million.

A new City Hall is planned, and a third fire station south of State Road 50 could eventually be built on land donated by M/I Homes, the developer of Stone Crest, Bollhoefer said.

Winter Garden, which has its own water plant and wells, is planning a bigger sewage-treatment plant. And the city has just renewed its water permit from the St. Johns Water Management District that will provide enough drinking and irrigation water to serve 35,000 people in 2013.

If the population increases to that level in less than eight years, the city can apply for a permit amendment as long as certain conditions are met, St. Johns officials said.

Still, there's an ominous caveat.

"We have a water plan that shows not enough groundwater for all the needs [in the 18-county district] in 2025," said James Hollingshead, a St. Johns hydrologist. "We've been telling people that for five years."

Improving roads

Another thorny problem for the city is finding adequate parkland in south Winter Garden, which has no parks.

But the biggest quandary in west Orange is how to pay for multimillion-dollar road improvements needed to support all the growth on the area's county and state roads.

The portion of S.R. 50 that runs through Winter Garden and Ocoee, for instance, isn't included in the state's five-year improvement plan, Bollhoefer said. It needs to be widened from four to six lanes to accommodate all the growth.

The cost of widening S.R. 50 is still $26 million short, Bollhoefer said.

Homes aren't the only source of clogged roads in west Orange. The downsized -- but still huge -- 1.15 million-square-foot shopping center known as Winter Garden Village at Fowler Groves will bring hundreds of outsiders to the south end of the city, where development is the heaviest, when it opens in July 2007.

"We're not keeping pace with demand," said Orange County Commissioner Teresa Jacobs, who has adopted traffic as one of her key issues.

She said the state has given County Road 535 -- also known as Winter Garden-Vineland Road -- a failing grade because traffic already exceeds its design capacity.

The north-south road, one of just two main arteries serving Winter Garden south of S.R. 50, will be redirected to cut through Fowler Groves as a six-lane extension of Daniels Road before the center is built. That extension is being paid for by the center's developer, The Sembler Co. of St. Petersburg, Bollhoefer said.

But the county has no plans to widen Winter Garden-Vineland, the current C.R. 535, which will remain a two-lane road hugging the shopping center, Jacobs said.

Residents of numerous subdivisions on the road across from Fowler Groves who lobbied to downsize the shopping center say traffic already is a rush-hour nightmare. More traffic will make northbound left turns impossible, they said.

Jacobs sees only two options for crowded county roads: Slow down growth when there's no gas-tax money to improve them, or shift the cost of improving them to developers.

"No one's challenging them," Jacobs said of developers. "There's no watchdog."

Region's housing market still hot

New-home starts are up 6%, but analysts expect a cooling trend

Jack SnyderSentinel Staff WriterN

November 12, 2005, Orlando Sentinel

Area home builders worked at a furious pace during the third quarter of the year, launching 8,347 single-family homes, or 6 percent more than during the third quarter of 2004, according to market data released Friday.

Population and job growth are feeding the market, along with second-home buyers, retirees and investors, said Anthony Crocco, Central Florida director for Metrostudy, a national housing research company based in Houston.

"The Central Florida housing market is still very strong," Crocco said, though the third-quarter growth rate was down markedly from just two years ago, when new-home starts for the same three months surged nearly 20 percent from a year earlier.

"Some signs of an overheated market are appearing, along with a good bit of speculation," Crocco said, "primarily in the condo arena, to a lesser extent in the area's town-home projects, and in the short-term rental/investor corridor near the attractions."

The market area surveyed includes Orange, Osceola, Lake, Seminole and northeast Polk counties.

Crocco said that, during the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, builders started 28,792 single-family homes, up 6.7 percent from the same year-earlier period.

Sales of single-family homes that closed during the third quarter totaled 6,541, or 8.1 percent higher than a year earlier. Closings during the 12 months that ended Sept. 30 totaled 24,935, or 8.2 percent higher than a year earlier.

Crocco said most builders have "significant" backlogs of houses sold but not yet built, and the pace of sales remains strong.

Mortgage rates have edged up steadily for weeks now to more than 6 percent. The giant home-loan buyer Freddie Mac said this week the national average rate for a 30-year loan was 6.31 percent -- still low by historical standards, however.

Existing-home sales in the Orlando area have shown clear signs of slowing down a bit. The median home price fell in October after remaining flat in September, and there are indications that homes are taking longer to sell and the some sellers are reducing their asking prices to close deals.

It's unclear if the pace of new-home sales is also on the verge of slowing.

"I have a sense things may start to slow a bit," said Sam Morrow, president of Florida's Preferred Homes Inc. in Orlando. "But at the moment, we're selling everything we can build."

Fred Schaub, president of Arlington Homes Inc., a Winter Park-based luxury builder, said he's seeing no slowdown at all.

"If anything is happening, I believe it's simply the market moving from white-hot to red-hot," he said.

Schaub said he has 18 houses under construction "on spec" -- meaning he started building them without having a buyer -- including nine priced at more than $1 million. He said he has been selling the houses before completion at full price.

"Sales are not a problem," he said. "The challenge is getting them built."

Schaub said labor and some materials are in short supply.

"I can't get roof tile, and there are other material headaches, too," he said.

Jack Snyder can be reached at jsnyder@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5094.
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New Condo Project College Park Orlando

According to the Orlando Sentinel a rise condo complex being project in the quaint neighborhood of College Park in Orlando. "Hoping to build on the success of The Wellesley, developer Jim Kersey has unveiled preliminary plans for a second mixed-use project in the heart of Orlando's College Park neighborhood.The project, called The Ivy, would go on about 1.5 acres between Yale and Harvard streets, opposite the Publix supermarket on Edgewater Drive.Tentative plans call for a six-story, L-shaped building and a four-story parking garage. The first floor would have about 12,000 square feet of retail space. The second would have about 15,000 square feet of condo-office space; the other floors would contain 82 condo lofts." College Park has some the most desireable real estate due the charm of the older homes and close proximity to downtown Orlando and downtown College Park.

Orlando Buyers Agent

We are exclusive buyers agent, which means we represent only home buyers 100% of the time. We go where the buyer wants to buy, which means we cover counties covering different lifestyles throughout Central Florida Real Estate. Click on the link for more information on Buyers Agent.

Central Florida Real Estate

Central Florida Real Estate incorporates the counties of Orange, Seminole, Lake, West Volusia, East Polk, Osceola. Each of the counties have unique characteristics. For instance, Lake County has more rural areas with hills not seen in this area. Seminole county is known for its natural resources with lots of vegetation and springs, as well as, west Volusia. Osceola County is home of Disney, while Orange is home to metro Orlando. East Polk is known for second/vacation homes for close proximity to Disney and the attractions.

Orlando Million Dollar Real Estate

Yesterday in Orlando Sentinel defined million dollar homes are no longer meaning golf frontage or water frontage, they mean big homes 4000+ sq. ft. There are more million dollar homes in the outer edges of Orlando such as East Orlando. More buyers are able to afford these homes due to various loan programs that offer smaller monthly payments and buyers are receiving inheritance and making more money.

Orlando Experiencing Growth Vacation Homes

Condo Hotels are on the rise in Orlando area near attractions. Condo Hotel are condos that rent out like hotels where you have a guest check in with access amenities, room service or onsite eateries. A management program is a seperate fee that will handle all the property management for you and your guest, from guest check in to maintenance. Loan requires are different and many lenders require 30% down.

Orlando Exclusive Buyers Agent

What is an exclusive buyers agent? An "EBA" is a licensed realtor in which their only business is to help home buyers find an Orlando home. Because they exclusively represent you through out the entire real estate transaction, they have no conflict of interest and will give you honest advice that will benefit only you. You may see ads say "buyers agent". These real estate agents flip flop between selling homes or buying homes, they are not specialized in the home buying market like an exclusive buyers agent.