Mike Norvell Sr / Norvell Consulting Group

Hello Active Rain, I have an announcement again!

Effective Feb 28, 2008, a new Real Estate Brokerage is now in business in Leesburg, Fl. The new brokerage is called Developers Capitol Reality, LLC.

Developers Capitol Realty, LLC will focus on larger acquisition projects in the State of Florida. One of it's primary clients will be Blount Development Group, LLC. Rick Blount is the Corporate President of the Brokerage, and Rob Arrington is the Lic Broker. Mike Norvell Sr will operate as a buyers agent for the Brokerage, and will seek out Motivated Commercial listings as well.

Blount Development Group, LLC is actively seeking financially troubled subdivisions and platted raw land developments. It is also currently seeking Fl based mobile home parks located in the central part of the State. Developers Capitol Realty will act as a buyers agent for this developer.

The new brokerage will add to the ability of the firm to be able to buy, list and sell Commercial Real Estate, financially distressed subdivisions, and large land tracts. In Fla, there were many developments that got started during the boom, but have not been able to finish the development due to the market slowdown. Developers Capital Realty will seek to represent large investment firms in the acquisition of these types of distressed properties.

Mike Norvell Sr has been recently hired by Developers Capitol Realty LLC to work out of the Leesburg Office. He will handle the day to day business for the firm, under the Broker Rob Arrington. Mike Norvell Sr is a Fla native, with a detailed knowledge of the Central Fla area. Mike will work to find projects within your firms criteria, and handle the bid process with confidentiality.

Developers Capitol Realty LLC, and Blount Development Group are currently representing large investment firms that have decided this is a great time to invest in Fla. Any Realtors that would refer potential clients to our firm will be protected with a standard referral agreement, as well as a non disclosure agreement. Opportunities are available for Investors and Joint Venture Partners. Call today for bid packages on currently available projects. Also, call for a free consultation on bringing potential deals to us to present to our investors.

Blount Development Group, LLC is based out of Leesburg, Fl. From this base of operations, this company has continued to expand across Florida and into the Southeastern US. The company specializes in locating housing developments that have stalled due to financial issues and then acquiring them for themselves or their investor partners. They also aquire large land tracts suitable for future development.

I have known the Rick Blount, President of Blount Development Group for nearly 20 years. Recently, we have been discussing the pursuit of local subdivisions in the Lake County and Sumter County area that are failing. For those who don't know, over the last decade, Blount Development has successfully purchased and resold millions of dollars worth of land in the area, and has been expanding to other areas of Florida, Georgia, Texas, and a fairly large development in Tennessee.

Rick Blount, President of Blount Development Group, LLC explained that his company's success has caught the eyes of many financial investment firms, and raising money is no longer an issue. He went on to say that most of the investment firms that are backing his firm are looking to invest heavily in Florida Real Estate, and are very actively seeking primarily pre approved subdivision projects in the 5 to 25 million dollar range. The consensus is that the right projects in Central Fla are quite a bargin and these investment firms have huge resourses to buy now and hold for the future market rebounds.

Jason Blount, Vice-President of Blount Development Group LLC, is also heavily involved in Project Research and Acquisition. He also explained that finding troubled projects is getting easier due to the market slowdown, but choosing the correct ones to invest in what has made Blount Development Group successful. Our job is to Find, Fund, and Finish these projects. So site selection is extremely important. At this level, making mistakes is not an option! We have to determine why the first developer failed, and research the data to determine if the project can be turned around with a profit. That is our goal on every project. Once you have proven your company can find and fund some larger projects on your own, from start to finish, then other companies will want to be involved with you in the future.

Blount Land Development, LLC is growing rapidly. Recently, Rick Blount called me to discuss if I thought my expertise in finding and performing deal analysis on distressed homes would transition over to doing the same with whole subdivisions. After careful examination of the business model, I have made the decision to accept this challenge, and will actively seek the support of my Active Rain Associates. This is a big step for me, and I am very focused on making this transition. The stakes are much higher at this level, but till now my biggest hold up was in finding the money to get deals done.

That apparently will no longer be a problem....We will make the move officially by March 1, 2008. I will need a few weeks to get up to speed, but from what I have seen, Blount Land Development Group is soon to be a very recognisable name in Land Acquisition Business in the Southeastern States.

I am proud to have been chosen as part of their growing team...

Hello to all from The Home State of the Daytona 500!!

We live in Lake County,Fl about 40 miles away from the track. My brother and I have been to many of these races. My sons, for some reason, never picked up on Nascar, but we do enjoy football and basketball together.

We made the decision not to go to the Daytona Race Week again this year. Reasons are varied, but it basically centers around unbelievable traffic and crowds. When picking a place to live, isn't it nice to know that here in Lake County, we are just an hour or less from Orlando. We are in normal times about an hour from the beach in Daytona. Yesterday, there was a 20 mile back up leading to the track!! What a terrible thing for those who aren't going to the race.

Daytona Beach is a wonderful place. I love the beaches. I grew up there. I have a lot of great memories from there. I still go over may times thru the year. But on Race Week, there in only one place I would ever want to be:

ANYWHERE ELSE!!!

In Lake County Fla, which includes Leesburg, Tavares, Mt. Dora, Fruitland Park, Clermont, and The Villages, we have the benefit of being close to many great destinations, without the traffic of Orlando or Daytona, or Ocala. We have every major store, restaurant, and motel chain to service the area. So, why live in the middle of all that congestion when Lake County, Fl has a wonderful family atmosphere and none of the traffic.

So did I watch the race. Absolutely!!! My brother in law is a general contractor, and our whole family that enjoys the race went to his house. Why..because Tom Lowrance has a huge HD TV screen. In this day and age of bid TVs, what size does it have to be to be considered HUGE??

How about 9' ft wide and 6' ft high...Tom has a theater room with great chairs, and a superb built in Dolby sound system that makes it better than being there. Anyone who has been do Daytona Speedway knows you don't get this kind of comfort. We did greatly enjoy the race, and when it was over, Lake County, Fl has no traffic jams on the way home.

I think it means that living in Lake County, Fl is better than living in many other places. We do have plenty to do, did I mention that Lake County, Fl gets its name from all the lakes?? Anyone considering making a move to Central Fl should consider Lake County. We are growing, but we really have a nice pace of life here.

Give me a call if you know of someone needing a second home, or primary residence. I deal in foreclosures and distressed properties, and have a handle on all the local gated communities...Deals, deals, deal...just bring cash and we can get it done quickly....

Mike Norvell Sr Specializing in Below Market Properties.... Even New Homes......

I am working for a super great buyer/investor right now. He is a retired commercial broker that did very well buying and leasing huge commercial projects in the midwest. Now he plays golf , day trades, and has chosen me to represent him on a number of investment properties. He has freinds with cash and believe this is a great time to get out of the stock market and into something more stable. At long last, after all this time, Investors are coming off the sidelines and want to play again.

Its about time...

We have been busy working on finding deals. Deals are everywhere, but they are not simple. There are some with serious complications, some that look sooo good and then you see the hidden traps...Ohhhh, thats why it won't sell.. Others have appraisals, and well written, beautiful CMA's that I now see were using very flawed, loan fraud type comps even then. Many of these deals are in foreclosure now, and with good reason..

We have to be very careful. Tax issues, and other clouds on titles don't go away. We must know how to make them go away, and it will take time and money. Thats where the rubber hits the road..What seems an insurmountable problem for some is just another day at the office for others....Thats what experience will tell you. Our job is to know the difference between difficult and impossible..

My latest issues are all the people who spent good money on appraisals for the property they are attempting to sell. My crystal ball has very good backward vision, and is looking pretty clear on the 60-90 day forecast as well.

But I am now experiencing a negotiation with a lender who is using a two year old commercial appraisal as a weapon. I know they read the paper. I know they see a nightly news cast every once in a while. Every other person I meet on the street is willing to tell me how bad the market is, but this lender rep is sticking to his story like I might convert over if I hear it often enough. Its a perfectly done, $ 3000.00 appraisal that is good for making paper airplanes now. thats it. Its 26 months old...It has no bearing on current situations..

I had the lender tell me, what do you know, you are only a Realtor. This is a Certified Appraisal!!

My buyers group is having a ball with this one. They are all retired from big business, this is fun for them. I went on a fishing trip with some of our investors and learned more about what they really are interested in. Some of these guys made really big money, and playing Real Life Monopoly with a few hundred thousand is not a big deal..Some are really needing to recover back their positions lost in recent stock crashes.

All of them are looking at me, as the proffessional, to do my job.

In this market, we need to do our homework. We need to make it our business to know with certainty what is a good deal, and why. We have to power to change lives, and we need to be more careful with our customers money. We don't have to look back very far to see what happens when we get caught up in the hype.

Its time for us as professionals to act like we are proffessionals. Its only then that the public perception will change toward us in this business.

How much is your time worth...Is sitting on the phone on hold, or burning up the fax lines to some lender who cna't find your faxes worth the effort..I have my doubts some days...

As we acquire more and more short sale listings, it becomes more apparent that we will have to improve on our communication skills with the lenders.

We need a hot-line after the tenth call to get the same person back. We need a way to charge the lenders for dropping our calls as they transfer us to India. For those of us doin short sales, I am here to tell you that having less than 20-30 listings is very similar to having tons of overpriced listings. You have a very high percentage of working your butt off and not selling a thing.

I am seeing some surprising issues though...We are tracking over a hundred good equity properties thru the process, and like clockwork, most are going to auction and being retained by the lender. The homes are coming out the other end for less recently than they were when we first began our tracking analysis. One in particular turned down our "lowball" bid for 129k in November, just got placed on the market for 109k...Yes we sent in a new bid.

SO, is this what the lenders want...They must want to go to auction. There is no other explanation for all the road blocks, I am making changes to my game plan with our investors.

My time is valuable, I for one have decided not to spend our time talking to India any more. We have the banks seeing us fighting over all these shorts sales, we are doing all their advertising, all the leg work....This will end up with the lobbiest's for the banking industry using the present situation to go directly into the sales business and-into direct competition with us...You watch...I give it less than a year...