Brevard County Real Estate is hopping!

Hi Everyone!

I know I have said this before, but if you are really interested in buying a home in Florida, this might be the best chance you will ever get! Interest rates are at 5% and below with good credit. Home prices are back to 2002/2003 and sometimes a heck of a lot lower. I don't know anywhere else in Florida where you can buy a home for under $200k that is 2o minutes or less to the beach.

Currently our inventory is down from a high over over 7,000 single family homes to 6,000 single family homes. This means that homes are moving again and once the inventory is down to 3,000 homes or so, you can expect the prices to start back on the rise.

Here are the facts:

• Brevard County is the least expensive waterfront community in Florida.
• Beachside homes can be bought for under $200k and you can walk to the ocean!
• In Palm Bay you can find homes built around 2005 with 1800 sq. ft. and sometimes more for around $120k and less!
• There are 77 million baby boomers retiring over the next 10 years....we know some are coming here and the prices are going to rise.
• Some experts have said that they expect our homes to be back to 2004 levels by 2012.
• Are you looking for an investment? We have many areas of Brevard County that offer a great opportunities to buy, rent and hold for a few years while the market comes back. And they cash flow!

I really can't think of a better time for you to buy your new home, vacation home, retirement home or to get into investing. You can listen to the media and miss out on a great opportunity, or you can look at the facts and realize this isn't going to last very long and prices are bound to go up!

As always, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. We are always here to help. If you have been thinking about getting a great deal with a foreclosure, follow this link and we will send you a list of foreclosures and send you all new foreclosures that come on the market. Go to:

http://melbournehomesearch.com/index.cfm/Foreclosure_List

Have a great night and we will see you on the beach!

Mitch

Something has happened since the election in Brevard County Florida!

Hi Everyone!

Wow! It's like almost as soon as the election was over, the buyers started coming out in force! That's a good thing for us in the Real Estate industry. The best part for our buyers...the prices are very low! So far this month we have 23 new contracts with 11 of them being under $100k. Personally I never thought that the prices would come down this low again. We are pretty much at 2002-2003 pricing on almost every home. Crazy!

The foreclosure market, as we have all heard, is dominating our sales. We have become quite the experts on foreclosures and short sales. I'm still not a big fan of short sales for our buyers unless you have a lot of time to kill and don't need to make any plans. They are still taking 3+ months most of the time for the banks to respond. However, foreclosures are abundant in every price range. We are even doing a Luxury Foreclosure Open House shortly (contact debbie@mitchrealty.com for dates) and featuring homes in Brevard over $500k that are in foreclosure. One interesting note on foreclosures that is different from 2001 when I sold many of these to investors. Most of these are in pretty good shape. Of course when you get down in the $50k range the choices are in usually rough shape. This past month though, we closed on a home for one of our buyers that was 2100 square feet built in 2006 for $124,000 and it was in great shape. This home in 2005 would have easily sold for $250,000.

There is a down side to foreclosures. When buying these, you are at the mercy of the bank. They dictate the rules of how the transaction is going to go. It's one of the reasons you should be using a Realtor who is experienced in how to work these deals. They can be tricky. With that said, if you are using one of my Agents at Tropical Realty, you can be sure that they are experienced with these. You can also be sure that our Agents are working full time. Unlike most Real Estate Companies, we have continued to grow even in this down time and our Agents are busy. When many Agencies are packing it in and about 25% of Realtors have left the business or taken full time jobs, our Agents continue to work hard and full time taking care of our buyers.

The one other point I want to make on the foreclosure market is that fact of multiple offers. Almost every good deal has multiple offers...just like 2004 when things were crazy. Let's face it, those who have been watching our market the past couple of years know this is about as low as we can go on some of these homes. We had a couple in today from Canada who is also a Realtor there. She was shocked when she put an offer on a home and found out it was a multiple offer situation. I talked with a foreclosure company the other day and they said that on some properties they are receiving up to 30 offers.

With that said, if you are making an offer on a foreclosed property and you really want it, don't try to bargain for it. You most likely will not win. We recommend offering full price (which is very low anyway) and if the house is excellent, you might want to go $5k above full price. To the banks, it's all about the highest offer. Even on the homes that are not so great, the banks are only coming down 5% and sometimes 10% from their listings prices. These homes are already extremely low priced and the banks have lost so much money. They are going to try to get as much as possible.

So, it's time to get to bed because I need to get up at 5am to get ready for my every Saturday morning golf. It's going to be a little chilly this morning...I think it's in the 40's. Yikes! However, it will be in the high 60's this afternoon and absolutely beautiful! As always, if you need anything, we are here to help. Don't hesitate to call or email us.

Have a fun weekend!

Mitch

Just got back from a Tony Robbins Seminar!

Hi Everyone!

So yes, when I decided to take the plunge and go to a Tony Robbins Seminar, I couldn't believe I was wasting $500 to go to a rah rah session. However, when I left the Seminar on Monday, I couldn't believe it was ONLY $500!

Not only did I learn a lot about myself and learn certain things that were holding me back, but I walked on Fire on Friday night. It was quite amazing. Here I am, along with 3,500 of my new friends, steering down a 10 foot path of 2,000 degree embers. And then, without hesitation, you just walk through it as if you were walking through the shoreline of the beach. The only damage to my feet was the black soot that I had to wash when I got home on Friday night.

So now my thoughts are, if I can walk on fire, what can't I do! I did not go alone, 5 of my Agents also went with me and had the same awesome experience. In just the last few days since we have all returned to our daily lives of work and family, the energy these Agents, and myself have, is amazing. Basically you learn to put yourself into a "Peak State" which allows you to do anything. I did have someone tell me that 2,000 degree embers are not really hot...that's why they use them they said. However, I can tell you that when you see someone in front of you throw down fresh toasty flaming embers, it's hot has heck!

It will be interesting over the next few months to see how my agents and myself utilize and gain momentum with these new tools...or will they just disipate? I'm very confident in myself but can't speak for my Agents. If you have Sammi, Julie Cambe, Melissa, Charlies or Nick as your Agent, you might just see them float on air when you are with them. They are all excited as I am too!

One thing that Tony Robbins did say though is very important for our business and just as important for you, the consumer, is that this is the time to make money in Real Estate. Any good investor will tell you that you make your money on a home when you buy it. If you have been on the fence of whether or not you should buy, then it's time to drop those fears and jump in. Let us help you find some of the best deals that we haven't seen in years!

If you would like a current list of foreclosures, please just click on here and we will gladly send you a list of all the foreclosures...there are a lot and set you up in our automated listings update system so you get first shot at the great deals! Just go to:

http://www.melbournehomesearch.com/index.cfm/Foreclosure_Property_List

As always, we look forward to helping you!

Mitch

Brevard County July Stats

Hi Everyone!

It certainly appears that home sales are holding steady. Our inventory is at a new low with 6860 single family homes on the market. Currently there are only 2454 townhomes and condos on the market and 3445 lots for sale.

July Sales were:

Single Family Homes - 439 sales

Condos and Townhomes - 97 sales

Land - 36 sales

June Sales were:

Single Family Homes - 456 sales

Condos and Townhomes - 117 sales

Land - 41 sales

As you can see, sales remain steady and based on the number of people contacting us daily, it appears the market should remain steady in the near future. Prices seem to be stable and homes that are priced correctly are selling in quick fashion. We have had many listings selling within 30-45 days as long as they are willing to listen to us on our pricing to sell. We tell all sellers you can either be in the market or on the market. We are not interested in listings homes for the sake of listings homes. We will only list homes that are "in" the market! Last month only 439 homes were in the market.

The foreclosure market has definitely affected the resales of non foreclosures. With so many foreclosures (494) and short sales (1513) on the market, sellers are going to either not sell their homes or sell them competitively with these bank related properties.

Short sales remain a pain in the neck to deal with and time frames have not increased to get answers from the banks. Many times we are waiting 3 or more months for an answer and still less than 35% of these homes are actually going forward to closing. Our advice is still to stay clear of short sales. You are better off going after foreclosures or other resales. Of course if you have plenty of time to kill and are not in any hurry, short sales can be a good deal. Remember though, the listing price of a short sale is not necessarily the price the bank will take on the property. We still receive many banks countering our offers much higher than the asking price.

Interest rates are remaining stable also. It's just a matter of time until the rates start to go up, but for now, it still remains a great time to buy a home. As I have said many times, the only thing we know for sure right now are the prices and the interest rates. Even if prices stay the same or go down a little, interest rates have no where to go but up. Buy now and don't wait for the unknown. Keep in mind, we won't know that we are really at the bottom until the prices start going up again.

Hopefully you can see a snapshot of Brevard County Florida. If you have any questions or would like to see any properties, don't hesitate to contact us. Have a great night and good luck in your home search!

Mitch

Short Sales - Are they worth the wait?

Hi Everyone!

It's Sunday night and I should be sleeping, but there is so much happening in the Real Estate world right now it's hard to go to sleep. As most of you have seen, Short Sales have now become very popular. Currently about 25% of all our listings are Short Sales.

First, let's spend a minute and explain exactly what is a Short Sale? Let's say you bought your home in 2005 for $300k. Three years later the market has crashed and the home you went out on the limb to buy is now worth $200k. To make matters worse, you may have bought your home with zero money down and an adjustable rate mortgage to boot. Your rate has gone up and that hope of your home going up in value $100k like your friends did only a couple of years ago is gone. You now qualify as so many do these days, to ask the bank to let you sell the home for the current market value of $200k. Once approved by the bank, you can now list your property to sell. So, a short sale is selling a home for less than what you owe on it. The seller has to prove to the bank they are a hardship case.

The benefit as a seller is they have the opportunity to get themselves out of their bad investment. It will still hurt their credit, but not quite as much as a foreclosure. In many cases the bank will not let you out of the home unless you sign a note saying you will pay the difference back to the bank. Most of the people put in this situation will choose to foreclose because they don't have the money to pay the bank. However, most banks are not asking for a note and they realize, in hind sight of course, that they should have been a little more conservative when deciding who they should or shouldn't give loans.

The benefit to the buyer, or at least the perceived benefit, is they will get a great deal on a property. Granted, there are some great deals to be had through Short Sales. However, most of the banks are not going to take much of a hit below current market values. Many times the bank will receive offers, then do an appraisal on the property to determine if they will accept any offers.

The Problem

It all sounds so simple doesn't it? Well it isn't! Short Sales have proven to cause a lot of heart break and distress. Let me tell you about a couple that we have dealt with recently.

The first couple put an offer of the home of their dreams. They fell in love with this home from the moment they walked through the front door. Their offer was full price based on the advertised listing price. They were very excited. The offer was submitted to the bank the following day. At this point we hadn't done many Short Sales and when we had, they were handled within a few days at most. So we waited for the banks answer....and waitied....and waited. Six months later we finally heard that the bank would not accept the offer. Yes, you read correctly, six months later. After some quick thinking from my Agent, she was able to convince the bank to take the offer. Our customers were full of emotions going from depressed to very excited again. Everything from there until closing went great. Our customers had their home inspection ($300), Termite Inspection ($75), appraisal ($300) and survey ($350). The got to closing and the seller found out she was going to have to sign a note for the difference in the short sale...around $57k. She refused and walked out of the closing room leaving our customers with their mouths hanging down and the tears flowing. They were devastated. To make things even a little worse, the next day the seller said she would sign. Our customers emotions were doing what you would expect by now. The got to closing and the seller again refused to sign. They were destroyed. Don't worry, there was a very happy ending to the story. We found them another house they loved even more and they closed in 10 days through our mortgage company. Everyone was happy in the end.

The second story won't be as long. It's basically the same as the first story in the beginning. They fell in love with the home and put an offer $3k above the asking price. We thought for sure they would get this home. After waiting for about three weeks, the bank came back and said they wanted $265k. This is $8,000 higher than our customers offer and $11,000 that the other Realtor had it listed in the MLS. Our customer was extremely upset and thought it was a bait and switch by the listing Realtor. The reality is the banks will not give us the dollar figure that they will take until we bring them an offer. Realtors can only do their best at guessing what the bank will take and list it around that price. It's really a mess.

The point I"m trying to make here is that Short Sales sound good on the outside but you have to be prepared to wait a very long time and possibly not get the home or pay more than you had offered. The banks are understaffed trying to handle an ever growing number of homes coming to them for Short Sales.

Now let's go back to the beginning of the conversation when we talked about the situation inwhich one can try to sell as a Short Sale. The reality is that the bank is not going to take less than market value in most cases. You are going to pay the same price for this home as you might with a regular resale with no issues.

My Advice

So what happens if you fall for a Short Sale home? Keep looking is what I've told most of our customers. You can put an offer on the Short Sale home, but you should keep looking for your perfect home while waiting for the answer from the bank. Chances are, with the amount of homes on the market, you will find another home with not so much baggage as the Short Sale home. In the end you will pay approximately the same amount of money for either home.

I know that everyone wants to get the best deal they can get. That is human nature and the American way! However, there are better ways to get good deals then doing a Short Sale. For instance, there are so many builders who have homes for sales less expensively than most resale homes. Also, look at homes where the owner has bought their home before 2002. Chances are they didn't pay much for their home and even wtih the market crash, they still have plenty of equity. The more equity they have, the better chance you have of buying the home at a better price. Of course if they don't have to move, they won't be going down to much either. But if the do have to sell, they have the flexibility to lower than price.

Hopefully that will clear up any thoughts and or questions that you may have had on Short Sales. I know it can get quite confusing out there. Believe me, when this first started happening we were all confused and we sell houses for a living. Now that we have done so many of them, we can help you though with ease. However that doesn't make the bank go any faster. We can just prepare you better for the possible heartache you might feel. So take my advice...Make your Short Sale offer if you want, but keep looking for your ferfect home. I know we have one available for you right now.

As always, feel free to call the office at 321-259-9115 or email me to answer any questions you might still have on Short Sales or anything else that I can do for you.

Have a great night!

Mitch

What's the story with Foreclosures

Happy Monday Everyone!

Well as you all have heard the news...the banks are hurting and foreclosures are on the rise. We get tons of emails and phone calls from so many people wanting us to find them foreclosures. I figured it's a good time to set the record straight for those of you who don't understand how these homes are priced.

Flashback 5 or 6 years ago and foreclosures were a great deal. I sold many of them back then that were 50 cents or less on the dollar. Unfortunately this isn't the case anymore. Foreclosures are no longer the bargain they used to be.

For instance, if a home goes into foreclosure, the bank will hire a Realtor to evaluate the property. Our job as Realtors is to let them know the retail value of the property and the appoximate cost of repairs. At that point the lender sets the price. These days, unlike the past, the banks are taking the retail value and subtracting the approximate repair costs and that is the price. Keep in mind that most foreclosures have a loan amount higher than the value of the home and they were usually bought with zero money down. There just isn't any room for the banks to play.

So what does this all mean to you, the consumer looking to get a good deal on a foreclosure, there aren't many good foreclosures out there. Most companies that do this as a business have pulled back. They understand the current market. However, most average consumers or beginning investors don't.

Your best bet is to talk to your Realtor, hopefully here at Tropical Realty, and search for homes that have been on the market longer than 6 months. Then your Realtor can research what they paid for the home and if they have refinanced the home. I believe that is where you can get your best deal. If someone owes $100k on the home and it's listed at $200k and they need to sell, you have a lot more room to work than if someone owes $180k on the house.

I hope that helps a few of you understand the current foreclosure market. I know all those TV shows selling you kits are telling you that foreclosures are the way to go. However, keep in mind that this is one of the best buying opportunities we have seen in several years. If you are thinking about buying, this is the time!

As always if you have any questions or need any help with anything, don't hesitate to call or email me at mitch@mitchrealty.com.

Have a great day!