If you have a damaged house and are thinking of selling, we need to talk. I buy houses that have serious damage. Fire, storm, wind, flood, sinkhole, mold, and more.
Florida has not seen many storm damaged houses since the 2004-2005 hurricane season, but during that period I purchased several houses in Central Florida with damaged blue tarp roofs, fallen trees, flooded houses and garages, toxic mold caused by all the water intrusion, and more. Florida also has tornadoes, heavy storm surges along the coast, and is the lightning capital of North America.
Fire damage can be a huge mess. Black smoke staining the walls, ceilings, and fixtures, ugh! If a fire burns long enough it can cause structural damage to studs, roof trusses, electrical wiring, PVC plumbing pipes, and more. If the damage is severe enough, the fire marshall might require special building permits to be pulled and reviewed before a new certificate of occupancy can be approved by the building department.
Sink hole damage and sinkhole activity is a problem that occurs everywhere in the world but is more common that you think in Florida. Central Florida and North Florida see more sinkholes than anywhere else in the USA. We have bought dozens of unrepaired sinkhole homes in Florida. Sinkholes are the result of shifting underground conditions. Typically mud and sand underneath a home falls a few inches or a few feet and cause the structure of the building to crack and settle.
Regardless of your home damage, I buy them. I have great relationships with contractors from plumbers to electricians to roofers to structural engieneers and know how to get the house fixed properly.
If you are a real estate agent and come across a home damaged by storm, sinkhole, fire, mold, or just a regular old fixer upper, please contact me. I will make sure you get your full commission without all the hassles involved with listing it, covering your tail with disclosures, and trying to figure out how to even price this sort of property with all that damage.
( Below is a settlement/sinkhole damage house we bought in Volusia County just so you can see how severe the damage is on some properties I buy. I am not afraid of fixer uppers. )
If you are a seller, I can help you deal with your insurance company if they are giving you trouble. I have connections with public adjusters and local sinkhole attorney to help you settle your claim. Don't go it alone if they are giving you a hard time.
Sell your fire damage house to me. Sell your sinkhole damage house to me. Sell your storm damage house to me. Sell your mold damage house to me.
Here are just a few locations I have bought or reviewed properties in over the last few years: Orange County, Seminole County, Osceola County, Polk County, Sumter County, Hillsborough County, Pinellas County, Marion County, Lake County, Volusia County, Brevard County, Alachua County. Cities include Orlando, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Apopka, Winter Park, Kissimmee, Davenport, Lakeland, Tampa, Saint Petersburg, Tarpon Springs, New Port Richey, Spring Hill, Clermont, Leesburg, Mount Dora, Eustis, Ocala, Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Winter Springs, Longwood, Sanford, Deltona, Deland, Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach, Debary, Titusville, Melbourne. Yes, I've been busy.
20 years experience buying and selling fixer uppers and damaged homes in Central Florida.
Another month is behind us and we even got an extra day thanks to leap year. The Orlando weather has been warmer than usual this Winter and buyers are back. Inventory continues to fly off the shelves and interest rates are at record lows. Below is a sampling of some of the great deals that we sold in February 2012.
Yellowood Mainsail Holbrook
1. Yellowood Ct, Altamonte Springs, FL 32714. Big 3/2 townhouse in Oakland Village. Bank owned foreclosure. Had roof issues and bad smells. But sold cheap enough. $45,000 to a cash buyer. Cash is king!
2. Lake Of The Woods Blvd, Casselberry, FL 32707. 2/2 condo in Ashwood condos near Fern Park. Spacious unit with lots of upgraded features. Walking distance to shopping. Community pool and more. Sold for $32,500 - are you kidding me - what a steal!
3. Mainsail Ct, Orlando, FL 32807. 3/2 pool home in Englewood Park in East Orlando. Quick drive into downtown Orlando and the airport. That sparkling pool made somebody's Winter just a little bit warmer, didn't it? Sold to a new FHA buyer for $118,000.
4. Holbrook Cir, Lake Mary, FL 32746. 3/2/2 block home in Lakewood at the Crossings. Top Seminole County schools, convenient to everything, and right near our local high-tech jobs corridor. Updated and remodeled to the 10s. Sold for $165,000.
5. Miranda Cir, Orlando, FL 32818. 3/2/2 in Hiawassee Meadows. Short sale property that we successfully negotiated and got it done. Seller's loss was an investor buyer's gain at just $47,000.
6. Fountain Rd, Deltona, FL 32738. 4/2/2 in Deltona Lakes. Beautiful home in great condition. Sold to a new FHA buyer for $75,000.
7. Stratemeyer Dr, Orlando, FL 32839. 4/2/2 pool home in Lake Jessamine Estates in beautiful Edgewood. REO bank foreclosure property. Sold to a new homeowner for $120,000.
Notice above that only 3 of the 7 were foreclosures or short sales. Although Florida was ground zero for much of the foreclosure mess, most of those properties have sold and a smaller and smaller amount are still left available - meaning more traditional sellers and easier negotiating between buyer & seller. We would love to help you buy or sell your next home in Central Florida.
The Orlando FL December 2011 real estate stats have been provided by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. Here is a direct link to the full MLS statistics details. Below is a summary breakdown of their numbers. This covers Orange and Seminole County Florida, including cities like Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Windermere, Apopka, Ocoee, Altamonte Springs, Longwood, Lake Mary, Winter Springs, and Sanford.
Inventory New Listings New Pendings Under Contract Closed Days on Market
Dec 2010 14,993 3444 3196 8363 2467 97
Sept 2011 9,931 3193 3304 9369 2243 102
Oct 2011 9,973 2997 3084 8937 2132 106
Nov 2011 10,136 3045 2887 8909 2027 99
Dec 2011 9,732 2641 2800 8095 2125 103
The year end inventory of homes for sale in metro Orlando plummeted to just 9,732 homes for sale. This is the lowest level we have had since mid-2006. As is typical of December and the holidays, new listings and new pendings were down from previous months of the year. Additionally a larger number of properties always expire at year end because December 31 is often the expiration date on many listing agreements and thus 609 listings expired at the end of December. But sales remain steady. We had almost as many sales last month as we did in October and February 2011 - that is great news.
Home prices appear to be on the rise. We have had 4 months in a row where the average home price went up. December ended the year with a median home price of $118,000 (up from $106,000 in December 2010) and an average home price of $172,500 (up from $146,600 in December 2010).
Here is an additional analysis put out by the Orlando Realtor Association for you to review as well. Prices seem to be going back up slow but steadily despite what the media might have you believe. I am actively buying investment property at the moment as well. Interest rates are extremely low, so do not wait for them to pass before they go back up. Florida is still on sale but who knows for how long.
The Orlando Florida November 2011 real estate statistics have been provided by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. Here is a direct link to the full MLS statistics details. Below is a summary breakdown of their numbers. This covers Orange and Seminole County FL, including cities like Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Windermere, Apopka, Ocoee, Altamonte Springs, Longwood, Lake Mary, Winter Springs, and Sanford.
Inventory New Listings New Pendings Under Contract Closed Days on Market
Nov 2010 15,192 3346 3243 8998 1936 96
Aug 2011 10,055 3264 3466 9502 2500 101
Sept 2011 9,931 3193 3304 9369 2243 102
Oct 2011 9,973 2997 3084 8937 2132 106
Nov 2011 10,136 3045 2887 8909 1950 99
Inventory is down dramatically (nearly 33%) in the last 12 months. It has somewhat leveled off with a very slight increase in units the last 2 months. Some of this can be attributed to the number of new foreclosures and short sales hitting the market. November was record month for new foreclosure filings in Central Florida. Also for the first time since December 2010, new listings exceeded new pendings. There are a lot of elements at play with all this and and I'm not sure what all it means. Hopefully it is just a temporary slowdown as we hit the Fall and Winter months.
Prices have remained basically steady but year over year they are up about 9%. The median price is at $115,000 and the average price is at $153,300 which is about the same prices as they have been since June.
Here is an additional analysis put out by the Orlando Realtor Association and the Orlando Sentinel for you to review as well. These analysis both discuss how short sales are actually making it to closing. Our office has closed a dozen or short sales in the last few weeks, so this is a trend I see as well. We would love to help you buy or sell a house in the near future - nearly 30 houses closed last month. I bought a great investment home in Casselberry just last month myself and have a few more in the pipeline. It is a great time to buy. Rates are low and deals are plentiful.
November 2011 is behind us and despite what the media says the Orlando real estate market is not slowing down. Inventory may be down to 2005 levels, but sales are strong. Check out some of these homes we sold last month.
Westpointe Hibiscus Crosswind
1. Westpointe Blvd, Orlando, FL 32835. This was a 2 bed/1 bath condo in Bermuda Dunes in the Metrowest area. Located on the golf course and minutes from Universal Studios and the attractions. Sold for $76,000 to a cash buyer.
2. Hibiscus Road, Casselberry, FL 32707. A 3 bed/1 bath handyman special house in the Queens Mirror area right off of Red Bug & 436. Inexpensive rental property that an investor snatched up for a mere $46,500. Remember we do property management too.
3. Jennifer Jean Drive, Orlando, FL 32818. 3/2/2 beautiful home in the Beacon Hill subdivision near Pine Hills. Remodeled with new kitchen and looking great. Sold to a first time FHA buyer for just $75,000.
4. Crosswind Circle, Orlando, FL 32825. 3/2/2 pool home in East Orlando. The Countrywalk subdivision is in a great location near the colleges and has community tennis courts. Sold for $129,900.
5. Honey Road, Apopka, FL 32712. 4/2/2 block home in Spring Harbor. Beautifully remodeled. This was actually a house that one of our investors bought wholesale and then fixed up for an end buyer to live in. They bought for $85,000 in the Spring and sold it last month for $131,000. Yes, house flipping is back with a vengeance.
6. North Street, Longwood, FL 32750. 4/3 house in the Sanlando Springs neighborhood. Sold to a new FHA buyer for $118,000.
7. Larry Drive, Deland, FL 32724. 4 bed/2 bath block home. Bank foreclosure that we wholesaled to a landlord. Great deal for a house this size. Sold for only $28,000.
This is a just a short sampling of the 25 closed deals we had last month. If you notice, only one of the above sales was a short sale or a bank owned home. There are plenty of regular old deals out there that people are selling retail. And the retail buyers are out there buying. Interest rates hover in the 3s still. More deals are headed for closing in December. We would love to help you buy or sell. Please contact us and we will get you started.
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Full service and investor-friendly Realtor - Sand Dollar Realty Group. Serving Central Florida / metro Orlando for rentals, foreclosures, short sales, REO, wholesaling, creative finance & flat fee MLS
Since 1996 when we opened for business, we have been a real estate brokerage specializing in creative problem solving for all sorts of real estate situations. We offer creative ideas, investor-friendly services, flat fee discount MLS, and short sale & forelcosure assistance throughout Central Florida (metro Orlando) and the Space Coast as well as South Florida and the Treasure Coast including Miami and Tampa. Your full service and investor friendly realty office.
We also have sister companies that specialize in real estate investing, wholesaling, developing, rehabbing, real estate referrals, rental properties, and private mortgages.
Rob Arnold is a full-time Florida licensed real estate broker and real estate investor.
I was born and raised in Central Florida with family roots going back some 3 generations in the Orlando area. I graduated from the University of Central Florida ( UCF ). I presently live in Altamonte Springs, FL with my wife and 2 daughters. Outside of selling properties and investing in real estate, I enjoy traveling, going to our many local theme parks, watching movies, reading, fishing, and spending time with my family.
I've seen many changes in Central Florida over the years. I know much about the history of the area and most of the neighborhoods. While still in college I began working at Attorneys' Title Insurance Fund and eventually became a Senior Title Examiner and later the Statewide Education Manager. I obtained a very strong background in searching/examining residential and commercial real estate titles during this period. It was also during this period that I began my career in real estate investing and obtained my sales associate license and later my real estate broker license.
We work with buyers, sellers, and landlords in all types of residential, vacant land, and smaller commercial transactions. We also work with investors who are looking for foreclosures, fixer-uppers, rentals, hard money loans, seller financing, subject to, lease purchases, short sales, and other creative real estate deals. We know how to structure win-win transactions, and we have lots of local contacts to help make even the toughest deals go through. We offer full-service, menu-based services, a la carte services, and flat fee MLS listing services.
Personally what I do is 4-fold.
(1) I work with investors (including myself - yes I am one of those We Buy Houses guys) looking to buy or sell their properties. This was my original intent when I opened the brokerage back in 1996. Since that time I built an email list of some 2000+ investors, Realtors, and buyers looking to purchase Central Florida properties. These are investors who actually requested that I put their email address on my list. I also have a handful of investors that I work with on an ongoing regular basis to help them find and sell deals. Many of these investors eventually got their real estate license and now I am their broker as well. My website for buying properties is at http://www.webuyhousesflorida.com/ . Over 15 years experience in real estate investing.
(2) Along with my lead sales associate, Sylvia Carraway, together we team up and work on short sales, bank and lender-owned REO listings, HUD properties, foreclosure listings for short sale mitigators, broker price opinions (BPO's) and property preservation for asset managers, as well as regular buyer and seller full service listings in Central Florida and metro Orlando.
(3) Flat fee listings, discount MLS listings, flat fee MLS listing, fixed fee MLS, for sale by owner services, a la carte real estate, it is known by several different names in the industry. We are a pioneer in the flat fee listing industry in that we started offering this service back in the late 1990's when transaction brokerage in Florida was in its infancy, and nobody had even heard of this type of service. Basically it is a concept that came in to play with the invention of the internet, the switch over from paper MLS books to computerized data, and the outlawing of dual agency (and for the mostpart sub-agency) in Florida. We input your listing data and photos into the Realtor's MLS computer. This uploads onto internet sites like http://www.realtor.com/ and http://fl.living.net/ . Realtors and consumers find your listing and deal directly with you instead of the listing broker. We get paid a fee of a few hundred dollars to input your listing and do basic servicing of it. This is a great savings for the seller as long as the seller is comfortable representing themselves. If not, we have menu-based services in which we can assist the seller in various parts of the transaction from listing to contract to closing. Or a seller can simply upgrade their listing to a full service listing and have us develop a personal marketing plan for the property. The important thing to remember is that we offer you a choice of services and the option to obtain more help if you need it.
(4) Brokerage management. Our office has many sales associates / Realtors and staff that I get to manage on a day-to-day basis. I am the owner, operator, and managing broker for 3 brokerages, Sand Dollar Realty Group, Inc., our Realtor-member real estate brokerage, and Sand Dollar Referrals, L.L.C., our non-Realtor referral company brokerage, Sand Dollar Property Management, our property management brokerage. We presently have 4 different commission split plans for sales associates to choose from. If you are not an investor but want a Realtor to work with, we have many associates in our office to work with that service the entire Central Florida area, Daytona Beach, Brevard, Ocala, Tampa, and Miami. Our associates are not just investor focused. Many of them work the new home, resale market, condos, regular retail buyers and sellers, business sales, etc. We also have Realtors that specialize in foreclosures, REO's, short sales, wholesaling, rentals, and more. We have some 70+ agents in our office with a big diversity in ethnicity, and one of our associates will make a good fit for you. We have associates that speak English and Spanish.
References and testemonials are available upon request. Hundreds of satisfied customers over the last decade. We love referrals.
Accredited Member of the Better Business Bureau of Central Florida (BBB). Business Member of Central Florida Realty Investors (CFRI), Investors Resource Center (IRC), Lighthouse Landlords Association, the Seminole County Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Orlando Regional Realtor Association (R), the Florida Association of Realtors (R), the National Association of Realtors (R), the My Florida Regional Multiple-Listing Service (MFR MLS), the Daytona Beach Area MLS, the New Smyrna Beach Area MLS, the Brevard County MLS, the Ocala/Marion County Association of Realtors (R), the Greater Fort Lauderdale Association of Realtors (R), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) brokerage program.
I am or have been involved as a committee member, focus group leader, board member, officer, speaker, presenter, and author for several of these investor and Realtor associations. I believe it is important to give back to the community and the industry.
We can do flat fee MLS listings and For Sale By Owner services in most of peninsular Florida including Orange County, Seminole County, Osceola County, Volusia County, Brevard County, Flagler County, Lake County, Sumter County, Marion County, Citrus County, Polk County, Hillsborough County, Pinellas County, Pasco County, Hernando County, Hardee County, DeSoto County, Alachua County, Duval County, Putnam County, Clay County, Bradford County, Union County, Baker County, Nassau County, St. Lucie County, Martin County, Palm Beach County, Broward County, and Miami-Dade County including Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Apopka, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Saint Petersburg, Clearwater, Tarpon Springs, New Port Richey, Dade City, Tampa, Brandon, Brooksville, Spring Hill, Lakeland, Winter Haven, Bartow, Lake Wales, Davenport, Kissimmee, St. Cloud, Clermont, Groveland, Leesburg, Mount Dora, Eustis, Tavares, Lady Lake, Sanford, Altamonte Springs, Lake Mary, Oviedo, Longwood, Casselberry, Winter Springs, Deltona, Deland, Debary, Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach, Port Orange, Palm Coast, Flagler Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater, Gainesville, Amelia Island, Jacksonville, Paltaka, St Petersburg, Titusville, Cocoa Beach, Rockledge, Palm Bay, Melbourne, Vero Beach, Port Saint Lucie, Fort Pierce, Okeechobee, Stuart, Jupiter, West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Boynton Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Coral Gables, Homestead, Hialeah, Pembroke Pines, Miami, Kendall, and Miami Beach.
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