David Welch, Orlando Real Estate Optimist

There are 8,811 homes of all types available for sale listed with Orlando Realtors. That is a 38.8% decline from last year's 14,398. Based on last month's sales pace that is only a 4.8 month supply of inventory. Of the homes still available, 798 or 9.0% are foreclosures, 2,809 or 31.9% are short sales and 5,204 or 59.1% are equity sales. While the inventory has declined, the number of contracts pending has been climbing. There are 9,675 homes with contracts. Of the homes under contract, 1,229 or 12.7% are foreclosures, 7,009 or 72.4% are short sales and 1,437 or 14.9% are equity sales.

Sales last month dropped compared to December and compared to last January's 2,041. The 1,825 closed sales last month represented a 10.6% decline in the number of sales last January. While the number of sales dropped, prices rose 10.5% compared to last year. The median price last month was $105,000 compared to $95,000 in January 2011. The home sales broke down like this: 497 or 27.2% foreclosures with a median price of $82,000; 688 or 37.7% short sales with a median price of $90,000; and 640 or 35.1% equity sales with a median price of $145,000. The 688 closed short sales accounted for 9.8% of all pending short sales, which is back in the 8-10% range I have observed for the last few years.

Cash continues to reign as king with 1,009 or 55.3% of all sales closing for all cash. Only 816 sales or 44.7% closed using financing. The median price of the cash sales was $72,500 while financed transactions had a median sales price of $136,000.

David Welch Real Estate Optimist, Orlando Real Estate, Any Home-Any Phone

December 2011 real estate search results are in and Orlando, FL was the #10 most searched market in the country in December 2011, based on data released today by Realtor.com, the #1 homes for sale real estate web site.

Median list prices for homes in Orlando, FL hit $155,000 in December 2011, a 0.71% increase from one year ago this month, and -2.52% decrease from November 2011. The national median list price in December 2011 was $188,000, a 5.03% increase compared to December 2010.

Active for sale inventory of homes in Orlando, FL in December 2011 leveled out at 11,159, a -43.26% decrease compared to December 2010. National inventory counts for December 2011 were 1,893,528, a -22.29% decrease as compared to a year ago.

The median age of inventory in Orlando, FL in December was 80 days, a 8.11% increase compared to November 2011. Nationally, the median age of inventory was 122 days, a 7.02% increase compared to November.

For details on all 146 MSAs monitored by Realtor.com in December 2011, click here:

http://www.realtor.com/data-portal/Real-Estate-Statistics.aspx

Contact us if you’re interested in a custom report detailing real estate trend data by county or zip code.

Each month, Realtor.com surveys up to 250 Metro Service Areas (MSA) throughout the nation and monitors real estate trends including consumer search behavior, median list prices on for sale homes, active inventory counts and median age of inventory. The information is released to local markets to help consumers and real estate professionals as they work together to successfully navigate their local market.

According to Realtor.com, the top 10 most searched real estate markets, identified as MSAs, in the United States in December 2011 include:

Chicago, IL 1^st
Detroit, MI 2^rd
Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 3^rd
Phoenix-Mesa, AZ 4^th
Atlanta, GA 5^th
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL 6^th
Philadelphia, PA 7^th
Dallas, TX 8^th
Las Vegas, NV 9^th
Orlando, FL 10^th

In addition, the top most searched real estate markets in Florida in December 2011, and the national searched rank included:

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL #6
Orlando, FL #10
West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL #13
Fort Lauderdale, FL #16
Miami, FL #18
Fort Myers-Cape Coral, FL #31
Sarasota-Bradenton, FL #38
Jacksonville, FL #42
Melbourne-Titusville-Palm Bay, FL #46
Fort Pierce-Port St. Lucie, FL #52
Naples, FL #54
Daytona Beach, FL #56
Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL #62
Pensacola, FL #110
Tallahassee, FL #113
Ocala, FL #124
Punta Gorda, FL #129
Gainesville, FL #130

Realtor.com is the most searched real estate web site today, and displays more than four million for sale and for rent property listings fed directly to the site for free by more than 933 multiple listing services (MLS) across the nation. More than 75 percent of all listings on Realtor.com are updated every 15 minutes with important information including price changes, sold data and property status changes, with the remaining properties updated every one to 24 hours. All homes tracked in these monthly reports are single family homes, condominiums, co-ops and townhomes.

For more information or commentary on local market trends, please contact:

Julie.Reynolds@move.com
Jennifer.DuBois@move.com
Jill.Kipnis@move.com
Candice.Cerro@move.com
Move@accesspr.com

This was definitely a December to remember when it comes to Orlando real estate. The number of homes available for sale continued to decline in the last month of 2011. There are 9,101 homes currently on the market with Orlando Realtors. Of that number 863 or 9.5% are foreclosures, 3,081 or 33.9% are short sales and 5,157 or 56.7% are equity sales. The total number active is down nearly 400 over the last month. Another number that has started to drop is the number of pending sales. While the pending sale index is up nationally, ours I believe has peaked and is settling back down. In our situation the decline in pending sales is not a bad thing, but an indication that short sales appear to be closing. Currently, there are 8,939 homes with contracts pending. Of those, 1,031 or 11.5% are foreclosures, 6,770 or 75.7% are short sales and 1,138 or 12.7% are equity sales. The biggest drop has been in short sales that stood at 7,088 a month ago.

Sales and prices did not disappoint with 2,287 closings posted for December with a median sales price of $115,000. The price remained steady from November, but is 15% higher than December 2010's $100,000. December marked the fifth month in a row with year over year price increases. Looking more closely at the sales, there were 555 or 24.3% from foreclosures with a median sales price of $79,400. That is an increase in November's median foreclosure price of $75,300. Short sale made up 836 or 36.6% of all sales with a median price of $105,000, slightly lower than November's $106,000. The 836 closed short sales pushed the sold to pending ratio to 12.3% which is by far the highest I have seen since I started measuring three years ago. It could be the dwindling inventory has left buyers with little choice but to wait out the short sales, so more are getting to closing. Finally, the plurality of the sales 896 or 39.2% came from equity sales with a steady median price of $150,160. Cash sales remain strong with 1,167 or 51% of all sales closing without financing and 1,120 or 49% closing with some form of financing. Cash sales posted a median sales price of $75,000 while financed sales had a median price of $147,000.

David Welch Real Estate Optimist, Orlando Real Estate, Any Home-Any Phone

Actually, cash sales have dominated the Orlando real estate market for the last three years, and cash continued to be king in 2011. There were over 29,000 sales closed in Orlando in 2011 - Wow! Of those sales that closed last year 53.4% (over half, one in two, the majority) were cash deals. I ran the numbers and that means nearly $1.7 billion in transactions closed without financing. That is a lot of greenbacks flowing into the Orlando area.

I broke things down a little bit, because a lot of the cash transactions take place in the lower price ranges as investors continue to snag deals. Of all homes priced below $50,000, 5,212 or 94.4% were all cash deals. Many of these are condos, and there just is no financing available for the vast majority of condominiums here in the Sunshine State. The prevalence of cash sales drops off considerably above $50,000. Of the homes priced between $50,000 and $100,000 65% of the sales last year were still all cash. Homes priced from $100,000 to $200,000 drop off quite a bit more with only 35.8% being cash transactions. Even among homes priced above $200,000, 28.1% still closed without any financing.

With prices rising the last several months, and the lower inventory of properties for sale I am curious to see if cash continues to flow so swiftly into our market. With an affordability index around 200 and rents 30% higher than owning, Orlando continues to provide a good return on investment for real estate investors. Did somebody say show me the money?

So, you caved in to the persistent Florida sunshine a few years back and built an in-ground pool. You loved the days of fun in the sun, but now it’s time to move on, and there’s still that pool in your yard, a legacy of an investment of over $30,000 and months of construction. Hopefully you decided to build your pool for the right reasons: to make building a pool worthwhile, you must genuinely enjoy (and have time for) swimming, sunning, and all aspects of lazing around in the backyard. You heeded the advice to never buy a pool solely for the resale value. You also know that after you did build your own private paradise, you can’t expect to recoup all of the cost of building a pool in the resale of your home.

Like it or not, your pool can have a huge effect on how potential buyers view a home. Many will look at your pool and see clear water and attractive landscaping, but some will only see maintenance expenses, and still others just see a hazard for their young children. Obviously the proportion of each kind of buyer will vary with the local climate and relative number of home pools in your area— a pool in Florida will obviously gain more admirers than a pool in, say, Maine. In Florida, a pool usually adds value to a home, particularly a high-end home that already has a lot to offer. Typically these buyers are willing to pay more for the privilege of owning your former poolside retreat. The relative desirability of a pool is reflected in the monetary value of reselling a home with a pool.

What can you do to make your pool an asset? Research indicates that it’s the little things that make a big difference when reselling a home generally, and this advice applies to pools as well. The good news is that you can control what buyers see when they look at your pool. To that end, it’s time for a pool check-up. Does the stone or tile seem worn or eroded? Water not sparkling? Fountain running slowly? Fixing these issues will go a long way toward dressing for success for buyers. Remember that your home is competing with the best new homes in your area, and emphasize the advantages of inheriting a pool from previous owners. A beautiful, inviting pool will win over buyers and make them more willing to pay those few extra dollars.

Of course, sprucing up your pool is most helpful for persuading truly undecided buyers, the people who are flying in from Buffalo and have never even thought of owning a pool in their lives. These buyers may be put off at the thought of the pool initially, but once they see the raft floating near the spa or the towels out to dry in the sunshine, they may be seduced. However, those who are more familiar with what it takes to buy and maintain a pool, but haven’t decided if such an investment is right for them, can be the trickiest to persuade—yet another reason to be sure your pool looks its best when real estate agents come calling. When shown to its best advantage, your favorite weekend hangout can become a great reason for a buyer to choose your home.

reprinted by permission from Katherine McKenzie