About Marion County, FL

OCALA REAL ESTATE MARKET REPORT

Homes Sold January 2008 .........133*
$100,000.00 or less..........................51
$101 to $200,000.00........................54
$201 to $300,000.00........................16
$301 to $500,000.00..........................9
$500,000.00 Plus...............................3
Active Listings as of 2/2/08.......7596

**This does not count homes sold by builders that may not be listed on the MLS Number may be revised due to late reports from board of Realtors.

WHAT"S HOT IN OCALA REAL ESTATE
· New homes around $150,000.00
· Golf Course & 55+ communities.
· SE Ocala near but not in the Historic district
· Houses priced at or below $100.00 per sq ft of living area

I think the market is picking up. I'm getting about a buyer a week coming to my web site and using my Dream Home Finder to register for a Listing Cart on the Ocala MLS. I then send them listings according to their search criterea. About 90% are from out of the area, either from south Florida or some where up north. Most buyers are looking at a 3 to 6 month window, so I'm expecting a very good spring and summer.
I think the reason for this influx is buyers is partly people looking to retire to a warmer climate and the decrease in prices that we have experienced here in the Ocala market over the last year or so.
A note to sellers. Don't expect prices to go back up any time soon. We have 7600 homes on the market when we should have more like 2500. Price is the be all and end all of this market. Buyers don't even look at over priced listings.
In general I'm optimistic for the first time in a long time. I still think we'll see a lot of short sales and out right foreclosures but we are now in a time that is a real buying opportunity. If you don't buy very soon you'll be kicking your self in 5 years for missing out.

We`re attempting to close a home which is a "Short Sale" in Ocala,Florida. It hasn`t been easy. Ocala has been hard hit with massive inventory of homes that many investors walked away from. The offer was based on the last closed sales, we attached "Comps" to our offer to indicate where the market and prices currently are.

Everything seemed to be going well our attorneys were in contact with the lenders each step of the way.

Last Friday, we`re informed the BPO would be completed.Normally, this is the last step towards closing.

To our surprise we received a call from the lender yesterday, telling us the BPO`s opinion was $25,000 higher.The lenders want a counter offer.

I began to ask the processor questions about the BPO. They explained who completed the BPO,I reminded the "Processor" the BPO was completed by someone located 100 miles away. It was our opinion the Lender should select a local BPO,in our opinion having someone local conduct a BPO is a true indication of actual "Sales Price".

The "Processor" took that into consideration, they want the buyer to counter,which we`re discussing. The lenders are also taking into consideration the BPO may be incorrect.

It`s hard to understand why certain lenders select companies who are completely out of the area. It doesn`t help the process of the "Short Sale", nor do many of these BPO`s actually give a true indication of the "Comps" in the area. On Friday, the lenders and I will discuss the offer to see if we can "Move Forward", i`m positive we`ll be able to arrange a solution.

OCALA REAL ESTATE MARKET REPORT

Homes Sold December 2007 ...........180*
$100,000.00 or less..........................46
$101 to $200,000.00.........................88
$201 to $300,000.00.........................27
$301 to $500,000.00.........................15
$500,000.00 Plus................................4
Active Listings as of 1/2/08.............7496

**This does not count homes sold by builders that may not be listed on the MLS. Numbers may be revised due to late reports from the board of Realtors.

WHAT"S HOT IN OCALA REAL ESTATE
· New homes around $150,000.00
· Golf Course & 55+ communities.
· SE Ocala near but not in the Historic district
· Houses priced at or below $100.00 per sq ft of living area

Now the Holiday season is over I think we will see more buyers. Snowbirds are coming south for the winter. People thinking of either retirement or just moving are now faced with another winter, which should give them added motivation. Prices have come down over the past year and buyers are beginning to take advantage of these more realistic prices.

I'm seeing an up turn in hits to my highly ranked web site and I'm getting 2 or 3 buyer inquiries a week. Statistics say that 80% of buyers search for their house online. A good web site is a must in today's market.

Homes are selling every day. It's a competition and the best priced house with the most extras sells first. About 12 houses sell every day here in Ocala. There is no reason that your house can't be on of them.

CALL ME TODAY TO SEE WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TO SELL YOUR HOUSE !!

As you probably know I don't predict the weather I just give people from other areas an idea of what Ocala weather is like from month to month.

January is one of our coldest months. The first week of the month we had a cold front that brought us the coldest temperatures in 5 years. At my house in SW Ocala we had temperatures in the high 20's and a hard frost accompanied by 2 or 3 days where the day time temps were in the 50's and 60's.

Winter in Ocala is normally in the 70's except for cold fronts that drop our temps to the 60's and even 50's for a couple of days. Then we pop back up to the 70's again. I really like the winter because there is no humidity at all.