Orlando Real Estate News on Interest rates, Mortgage Rates, Foreign Investment Opportunities and Foreclosures

GREAT TIME TO BUY: 02/13/2008 Potential homebuyers hear a lot of criticism about today’s market, but there are a lot of good reasons to invest in Florida real estate. Here’s how some Realtors respond to negative comments. Read the full story:

REAL ESTATE INVESTING:02/12/2008 Two of the top 10 areas ripe for investment are in Florida, according to Forbes magazine. In Orlando (No. 3) and Jacksonville (No. 8), editors say, buyers can find profitable deals as employment growth burns off an over-abundance of inventory.    Read the full story:

MORTGAGES: 02/12/2008 At-risk borrowers with all types of mortgages, not just high-cost subprime loans, will be eligible for help under a new plan involving six big home lenders, HUD and the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury. Read the full story:

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT: 01/29/2008
While there are many ways to get rich, authors Catherine McBreen and George Walper Jr. in “Get Rich, Stay Rich, Pass It On,” identified just two definitive ways to ensure lasting wealth: own income-producing real estate or invest in an innovative company. Read the Full Story

 MORTGAGE RATES: 01/18/2008 Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped for a third straight week to 5.69 percent – the lowest level since the summer of 2005 – as worries intensified about the current economic slowdown, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly nationwide survey. Read the Full Story

FHA MORTGAGES: 12/14/2007 The pullback in subprime mortgage lending created a vacuum that could be filled by an expansion of the FHA loan program. The U.S. Senate reached a deal yesterday on a bill that lowers the downpayment requirement to 1.5 percent and increases the maximum mortgage amount to $417,000.Read the full story:

INTEREST RATES: 12/12/2007 In its third rate cut in three months, the Federal Reserve dropped a key interest rate by one-quarter of a percentage point Tuesday, bringing the federal funds rate to 4.25 percent. Fed officials signaled that further cuts were possible if the downturn in housing and a crisis in mortgage lending get worse.Read the full story:

MORTGAGE RATES:  11/30/2007

WASHINGTON – Nov. 30, 2007 – Mortgage rates fell sharply this week with rates on 30-year mortgages dropping to the lowest level in more than two years.Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.10 percent. That was down from 6.20 percent last week and was the lowest rate since the week of Oct. 13. 2005, when rates stood at 6.03 percent.     Read the Full Story:

INTERNATIONAL: 09/07/2007
Looking for a ray of sunshine in today's overcast housing market? Here's one: foreign buyers. The rise of the euro, combined with the decline in U.S. home prices, allows Europeans to buy a U.S. home at the equivalent of 2002 prices.Read the full story:

HOME SALES: 08/27/2007
With positive economic conditions such as low mortgage interest rates and job growth continuing in Florida, statewide sales of existing single-family homes totaled 11,674 in July and were closer to activity in July 2001 and 2002 – before the housing boom years, than the July 2006 figures, according to FAR. The statewide existing-home median price was $237,500 last month.Read the full story:

COMMERCIAL: 08/22/2007
Commercial real estate continues its strong showing: NAR's leading index for the commercial real estate market recorded its ninth consecutive improvement in the second quarter and now stands at 120.7, the highest on record. The index is 1.1 percent higher than the second quarter of 2006.Read the full story:

REAL ESTATE INVESTING: 08/14/2007
It sounds easy: Invest in foreclosed properties with little or no risk of losing your own money, then grow rich. But in reality, just like other forms of investing, profitably buying and selling real estate takes research, knowledge, experience, money and time.Read the full story:

8/10/2007 Stop panicking – the market's great if you look at a five-year span.
Dear Editor,
My, my, we have never seen the likes of this market in all of history. Well at least not in South Florida.
Fact is, South Florida is similar to the Arizona/Las Vegas markets, which also had an unprecedented rise in market value, and an unrealistic one at that. The rest of the nation enjoyed hefty property value rises while we here in So-Flo refinanced the profits out of our homes and went on our merry way. Read Full Story:

MORTGAGE RATES: 08/09/2007
Good news for people thinking about buying a home: Rates on 30-year mortgages sank this week to an average of 6.59 percent – their lowest point in two months, according to Freddie Mac's weekly nationwide survey.Read the full story:

HOME VALUES: 08/09/2007
Only 5 percent of Florida homeowners surveyed by UF expected home values to fall during the next five years. The median respondent expected a gain of 18 percent, or a little more than 3 percent a year.Read the full story:

REAL ESTATE FORECAST: 08/08/2007
NAR's latest outlook predicts that existing-home sales will continue to be stable over the next few months. Long-term fundamentals of the housing market remain favorable, says NAR Senior Economist Lawrence Yun, who expects a modest upturn for existing-home sales toward the end of the year.Read the full story:

BUSINESS: 07/12/07 Orlando is number ONE to start a Business.

We're No. 1 – and No. 2 and No. 3. A ranking of the best places to grow a small business looked at the nation's 75 largest metropolitan areas and created a top 10 list. Orlando ranked first followed by Sarasota-Bradenton and Miami-Fort Lauderdale. Jacksonville came in at No. 5. Read the full story:

INVESTING IN ORLANDO 07/03/2007 : British investors still choose Florida first

LONDON – July 3, 2007 – Although British investors in American property are exploring a broader range of locations, Florida remains the favorite, says Adrian McDermott, managing director of Escapes2, a property investment company.

McDermott says California and Las Vegas have attracted interest in the last few years, but "the vast majority of people are looking in the Orlando, Fla., area because that is where you can get rental return." Ultimately, he says, Florida is hard to beat as a vacation destination.

"I'd say 50 percent of buyers are people looking primarily for a holiday home and getting something that can contribute toward the running costs, and the other 50 percent of our buyers are investors."

CREDIT SCORES: 07/03/2007 With foreclosures on the rise, lenders are tightening their qualifying standards for home loans. At the same time, higher interest rates mean that even qualified borrowers are likely to pay more for a mortgage. For buyers, keeping their credit score in good shape is more important than ever.Read the Full Story.

MARKET WATCH: CENTRAL FLORIDA: 07/02/2007: Job creation, population growth and personal-income growth are holding up well in the Central Florida area, Orlando-based economist Hank Fishkind told a group of the region's leading real estate professionals last week. "It's really remarkable how robust the economy really is," he said. Read the Full Story:

PROPERTY TAXES: 06/20/2007 The first phase of property tax reform crafted during the Florida Legislature's special session is now law after Gov. Charlie Crist signed it this morning. The first phase offers savings of about 6 or 7 percent to all property owners, both homesteads, second homes and commercial property.                    Read the Full Story:

ECONOMY: 02/27/2007 Restrained by a worse-than-expected slump in housing, the economy will grow at the slowest pace in five years in 2007, according to a survey of 47 top forecasters. Stronger consumer spending will help offset the housing drag, the analysts said. Read the Full Story FLORIDA LEGISLATURE: 02/26/2007  Gov. Charlie Crist heads into his first regular legislative session with an ambitious agenda and difficulties his predecessor, Jeb Bush, didn't face when he took office. Crist has vowed to bring down property tax rates; the availability and affordability of property insurance will continue to be a concern; and he has to pay for constitutionally required class size limits at a time when the budget has stopped growing. Read the full story:

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT: 02/27/2007 Want to find a great real estate investment to sell in five or 10 years? Look where artists live now. Sociologists say that artists are often an early sign of neighborhood gentrification – the advance guard of what's hip and cool.  Read the Full Story

30-year fixed mortgage rates slide: 02/23/07 WASHINGTON – Feb. 23, 2007—Rates on 30-year mortgages fell this week to the lowest level in six weeks.The mortgage company Freddie Mac reported on Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.22 percent this week compared with 6.30 percent last week.The decline was only the second since early December. It pushed rates to the lowest level since the 30-year mortgage was at 6.21 percent the week of Jan. 11.Read More:

LAKELAND, FL: 02/05/07 LAKELAND It comes as no surprise that a city like Los Angeles ranks first in the country for absorption and vacancy rate for industrial and warehouse space. Read the Full Story

INTEREST RATES: NEW YORK – Jan. 29, 2007 – More and more investors are coming to accept the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will make few, if any, interest-rate changes in 2007.Many had been hoping for a quick rate cut, which would reduce borrowing costs and foster increased consumption throughout the U.S. economy. Lehman Brothers chief U.S. economist Ethan Harris states that there is a greater chance that the Fed will actually hike rates this year, especially if the present supply of fairly cheap cash throughout the global financial system results in higher inflation at home.If the central bank does manage to keep rates unchanged for the entire calendar year, it would be the longest such pause since the late 1990s, when the dot-com boom was in full swing.Wall Street Journal (01/29/07) P. C1; McKay, Peter A.

FORECLOSURES: 01/17/2007
Florida documented 8,321 properties entering some stage of foreclosure
in December, according to RealtyTrac -- 11 percent below the number
reported in November. The foreclosure rate of one new filing for every
878 households kept the state above the national average but no longer
in the top 10.Read the Full Story>>

HOUSING FORECAST: 01/16/2007
Housing experts, speaking at a recent Real Estate Connect conference,
said stabilization or improvement in mortgage rates, residential prices
and household incomes will spark a rebound in the housing market by
the middle of the year.Read the full story:

MARKET WATCH: ORLANDO 01/08/07
Due to strong population growth and relatively low levels of new-home
inventory, the Orlando area is Florida's strongest real estate market as
the state heads into 2007, while Fort Myers and Miami are the weakest,
according to a new, three-year forecast from Attorney's Title Insurance
Fund Inc.Read the full story:

HOUSING MARKET: 06/17/2007 Florida's housing market, thought to be stabilizing earlier this year, deteriorated in the latest quarterly UF survey, a situation likely brought on by uneasiness about lending practices, insurance rates and the state's property tax structure, according to UF analysts.Read the Full Story

REAL ESTATE FORECAST:03/09/2007 It's official: Now is the time to buy a house, according to a UF study, noting that the market has probably bottomed out, and "there's not much to be gained by holding out at this point." Read Full Story

ECONOMY 03/09/2007 While real estate wasn't the nation's strong suit in the fourth quarter of 2006, it didn't impact the net worth of U.S. households, which climbed to a record high.Read the full story:

MORTGAGE RATES : 03/09/2007 Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to the lowest level since mid-December, 6.14 percent, as investors scrambled to the safety of bonds following last week's stock market turmoil. Read the full story: