Jacksonville Beach, FL

Here are the August 2009 stats and August 2008 for comparison -

2009

• 6 Homes Sold
• Lowest price: $175,000
• Highest price: $475,000
• Shortest Days on Market: 8
• Longest Days on Market: 350

2008

• 13 homes sold
• Lowest price: $100,000
• Highest price: $459,900
• Shortest Days on Market: 0
• Longest Days on Market: 325

The number of homes sold year to year is flat, however, the days on market are consistent with last year, as is the pricing.

I've personally gotten two homes under contract in less than 10 days, with their contract prices being at 95-98% of list price, proof yet again that well priced, well presented properties are selling quickly.

If you are ready to list your home, call me for a comparable market analysis to see what price range you should list in, and to learn more about what sets myself and Prudential Network Realty apart from the competition.

Carol Zingone is a Broker Associate with a 100% Customer Satisfaction Rating in Jacksonville Beach, FL with Prudential Network Realty. She helps buyers and sellers throughout the Beaches, Intracoastal West and Greater Jacksonville, FL areas. She can be reached at 904/993-9048 or via email at carolzingone@clearwire.net

Yes, you read that correctly, I got a well-priced, well-presented listing into contract with a pre-approved, qualified 1st time buyer in 8 days.

How? Aside from market activity picking up, which we are seeing across all price points in Jacksonville, FL, my seller was HIGHLY motivated and followed my suggestions to have a pre-listing inspection as well as consult with a home stager.

I knew I would not have this listing for very long, but I was even happier to tell the seller the other offers I received were less than the offer she accepted, and that we can close by her target date of 9/30/09.

We are also down to 10 months inventory here in Jax, suggesting more market stabilization. I'm thrilled to see homes getting into contract in shorter time spans.

Here's a link to the MLS listing: http://pub.realtyweb.net/cgi-bin/mainmenu.cgi?cmd=url+other/run_public_link.html&public_link_tech_id=oua4kmm1x36&id=1&cid=1

Carol Zingone is a Broker Associate with a 100% Customer Satisfaction Rating in Jacksonville Beach, FL with Prudential Network Realty. She helps buyers and sellers throughout the Beaches, Intracoastal West and Greater Jacksonville, FL areas. She can be reached at 904/993-9048 or via email at carolzingone@clearwire.net

If you are ready to buy your first home in Jacksonville, FL, here is some good information about new programs available.

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) is a city program seeking to purchase bank owned foreclosures, rehabilitate them, and then sell them at moderate prices to homeowners. This program is specifically targeting the following zip codes:

• 32206
• 32208
• 32209
• 32244
• 32254

The program overview is available on this website: http://www.nspjax.com/

This is a brand new program. so there will be more info posted to the website soon.

The other program you may have heard about is the Florida Homebuyer Opportunity Program. This is another city program offering downpayment assistance for first time homebuyers. There is a limited amount of funding for this program, and this program requires a Home Buyer Education session, which is 8 hours long. It's important to know the buyers that will benefit from this program are motivated buyers who are ready to buy in the next 45-60 days. Each buyer prospect will be given a letter after the education session, and this letter is First Come/First Served/First Closed.

The max purchase price for a property on this program is $247,500, and the property MUST be owner occupied-not an investment property.

Carol Zingone is a Broker Associate with a 100% Customer Satisfaction Rating in Jacksonville Beach, FL with Prudential Network Realty. She helps buyers and sellers throughout the Beaches, Intracoastal West and Greater Jacksonville, FL areas. She can be reached at 904/993-9048 or via email at carolzingone@clearwire.net

If you are like anyone today, you believe there are fabulous deals in real estate, and all you have to do is FIND them.

Yes, Virginia, there are deals in real estate, especially if you have cash, and a terrific credit score.

Let's look at the online auction in Jacksonville, since so many buyers believe auctions are where the REAL deals are.

For the date of 6/9/09, there were a total of 40 auctions schedule on the online auction site:

www.duval.realforeclose.com.

Of these, 21 were canceled PRIOR to the auction, either by court order, the attorney, or the plaintiff. So, over 50% of the available auction properties were canceled. That's a fairly high percentage, and as you can imagine, if you had your eyes on one particular home that was canceled, you'd be frustrated.

When will that home be re-scheduled for auction, you ask? Good question - the plaintiff (owner) can petition the court for cancellations and continue to postpone the sale; not forever, but I have heard of some cases that have languished on for a very long time.

Many times, however, if there are bidders interested in a property for a "steal", it's good to keep in mind the bank has bidders themselves, to protect their interests. They may have lent $1,500,000 on the house, and they will not sell it for $500,000 - without at least trying to do so themselves. So remember, you are bidding against the bank.

If you are interested in purchasing a foreclosure, investment property, or first home, please contact me to help you navigate the process. I will help you find the homes that fit your needs, budget and financing.

Carol Zingone is a Broker Associate with living and working in Jacksonville Beach, FL with Prudential Network Realty. She helps buyers and sellers throughout the Beaches, Intracoastal West and Greater Jacksonville, FL areas. She can be reached at 904/993-9048 or via email at carolzingone@clearwire.net

This data is from March & April 2009, and details an improving real estate market. Pairing this with the recent news that California has seen 3 months of increasing sales, and the picture starts to look much better than what the doom & gloom media have been saying.

Florida existing home sales rose in April for the eighth consecutive month. Here are city by city numbers fo single family homes:

City Percent increase April 08/April 09

• Tampa-St. Pete-Clearwater 11%
• Orlando 38%
• Fort Myers-Cape Coral 81%
• Jacksonville -5%
• Fort Lauderdale 33%
• West Palm Beach-Boca Raton 3%
• Sarasota-Bradenton -12%
• Daytona Beach 10%
• Melbourne-Titusville-Palm Bay 17%
• Miami 98%
• Fort Pierce-Port St. Lucie 26%
• Lakeland-Winter Haven 22%
• Pensacola 16%
• Punta Gorda 2%
• Fort Walton Beach 2%
• Ocala -8%
• Tallahassee -28%
• Gainesville -40%
• Panama City 11%

The majority of these cities have impressive year over year sales increases leading all involved to believe the state is reaching and may have well reached bottom, and inching up.

Now is the time to get moving in on the great pricing, and the fabulous homes for sale in Jacksonville, and use your $8K first time homebuyer tax credit. Contact me to get the process started!

Carol Zingone is a Broker Associate with a 100% Customer Satisfaction Rating in Jacksonville Beach, FL with Prudential Network Realty. She helps buyers and sellers throughout the Beaches, Intracoastal West and Greater Jacksonville, FL areas. She can be reached at 904/993-9048 or via email at carolzingone@clearwire.net