GoVeroBeach.Com

Vero Beach, FL — At a time considered to be one of the most challenging for real estate companies, in contrast Dale Sorensen Real Estate saw a 25% increase in sales in 2007. What can explain it? The answer may be the power of observation and the ability to respond. Dale Sorensen founded his company thirty years ago, and he has always been able to adapt to change. So when he noticed a trend several years ago, he did not let the opportunity pass him by.

Traffic to the site comes from over 100 countries, displays more $1 million-plus properties than any other luxury real estate organization, and has grown to feature 100,000 of the world’s most remarkable properties - with an inventory totaling almost $20 billion! “I spotted the growing trend for European buyers being attracted to the East Coast of Florida several years ago,” said Sorensen. With a group of leading Brokers in Florida, he soon established an office in London to identify methods of attracting a wide range of buyers.

(more…)

Orlando, FL — Avested LLC launches the first ever online home auction site for the growing number of homeowners in the USA who face the misery of foreclosure. The company has launched its online auction site, www.avested.com, for the exclusive listing of homes in foreclosure, pre-foreclosure and those that are already bank owned. Using a similar sales format as eBay, Avested.com enables home owners to list their property for sale for as little as $199 with a number of options such as setting a reserve price, an immediate sales price, a fixed price or an auction date which is set to end prior to the homeowner’s foreclosure deadline. Not only can the homeowner list their property for just $199 but on the successful sale they pay only a 0.5 percent sales fee compared to the national average of 6 percent charged by Realtors. To coincide with their launch the company is offering sellers a special listing promotion during the month of December whereby they can list their property for sale for just $99.

First online home auction offers relief to homeowners facing foreclosure. Avested LLC launches the first ever online home auction site for the growing number of homeowners in the USA who face the misery of foreclosure. The company has launched its online auction site, www.avested.com , for the exclusive listing of homes in foreclosure, pre-foreclosure and those that are already bank owned.

The founders of Avested LLC dreamed up the concept after they had been bombarded by media articles about the escalating foreclosure problem and the hundreds of websites, advertisements and informercials that offer to show you how to take advantage of the foreclosure market and become rich. A spokesman for Avested said; “Every day you see something that offers to show you how to make money from foreclosures and bank owned properties. You read about the rising foreclosure numbers in the US and the forecasts that show it is only going to get worse but you seldom read about help for those facing the misery of foreclosure and perhaps even pending bankruptcy. We decided to develop a program to help the people who need it the most and to give them at least a fighting chance. Unlike other companies out there, our aim is to help those in payment difficulty at the lowest possible cost to sell their home prior to losing it by generating real buyers through the power of the internet and other advertising media. We are not looking to take advantage of those in financial difficulty, instead we wish to offer them another option.”

House Foreclosures in the US and Europe are at an all time high, so homeowners facing the same fate are certainly not alone. Foreclosure is a stressful and traumatic event in people’s life and their minds will often be filled with all kinds of thoughts and emotions and, unfortunately most of them negative. For many, the instinct is to do nothing until it is almost too late and then to think that it is too late to do anything to save their home or any equity they may have in it.

Compounding the mounting problem of mortgage default and eventual foreclosure is the severely depressed real estate market with homes taking longer than ever to sell in an already flooded market of almost 4 million existing homes for sale nationwide. This means that for many, even those with a good amount of equity, selling their home in time to head off foreclosure proceedings can be almost impossible leaving homeowners with few options. Many homeowners going into foreclosure with equity in their property will never see a dime after the property has been sold by the mortgage lender and may find they still owe money. The lender is only concerned with recovering what is owed to them and their costs regardless of the equity the homeowner may have in the home which is their money

Avested LLC has recognized the plight of the homeowners in financial difficulty and has launched the world’s first online real estate auction website listing for sale only properties in foreclosure, pre-foreclosure and those already bank owned. Avested offers a genuine lifeline to homeowners by providing a facility for them to sell their home prior to losing it through the foreclosure process and at a fraction of the cost that is generally charged by real estate agents. This provides the homeowner with a better chance of selling their home and retaining some equity or at least selling their home in time to head off foreclosure.

The website provides potential buyers with access to properties for sale anywhere in the US all of which are either in foreclosure, pre-foreclosure or already bank owned. This means that anyone serious about buying a property can do so at a bargain price and know that they have helped a homeowner in need. Avested.com also offers potential buyers with links to lenders who will pre-qualify them quickly for a loan to enable them to bid with confidence on a property. The power of the internet means that buyers from anywhere in the world who are looking for property have access to the listings and this makes the seller’s listing available to worldwide buyers, especially the growing number of Europeans, who wish to purchase property in the US.

It can mean different things to different people but this agent gives a legal definition.

Author: Charlie Pigeon

Well, the past few years has definitely been a bit of a hectic time in the real estate industry. Nowhere in the country did the rapid appreciation of the market affect buyers so as in sunny Florida. Can you believe that at one point properties were appreciating at 5% per month??!! That is a 60% return on investment per year. Can you imagine buying a home for $100,000 and having it worth $160,000 the next year? Well that is what was facing buyers in Florida. While home sellers were clocking up profits at a now legendary rate, home buyers were lined up to buy and some got rapidly priced out of the market by the appreciation alone! But as they say “all things change.”

This is indeed what has happened in Florida and this has made the possibility of owning a new home in Florida a much more realistic goal for people. Sellers who once has the run of the market are now finding themselves having to compete for buyers who are now able to be more choosy then they could a few short years ago. Florida , for a time experienced a real shortage of inventory as sellers were not too sure what was happening. Most had hoped that the market would revert to it’s prior favor of sellers but when that failed to happen many sellers panicked. Only recently have we seen the number of homes start to increase and finally we are seeing a great inventory of homes that are competitively priced and ready to sell.

Florida has once again become an area where buyers can find their dream homes. With the assets that Florida offers this new trend could revitalize the real estate market. Many years ago affordable homes and the beauty and style of Florida living made it one of the most popular areas to purchase a home in the entire world. With more affordable homes and even more assets than before is it possible that we will see another Florida housing boom? The conditions are certainly looking good for it. However it would serve us all well to remember the confusion and panic with which the market cool off was dealt with. Hugely inflated home prices never last as they quickly become un-affordable for the majority of society and when that happens the market suffers.

About the Author:

Charlie Pigeon is a real estate agent specializing in Fort Myers Condos . Fort Myers features some of the best waterfront and standard condominiums in the Southwest Florida Real Estate area.

Author: Calum MacKenzie

It’s a buyers’ market in Florida housing. That’s a fact that no one denies. Sales are slow. Prices are stagnant. The projections, if you believe people like Wayne Archer of the University of Florida’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies, are gloomy. The question, of course, is “Gloomy for whom?”

The fact is that when you step back from the housing sales figures and take a look at the big picture, what you see is far different. A healthy and growing job market, recent drops in mortgage interest rates and property tax reform combine to make Florida an excellent place to buy a home – note that word. HOME, not a house, not an investment property, not a speculative deal, but a HOME. Vero Beach, Florida real estate market continues to be strong, as does others like Cocoa Beach, Florida and Cape Canaveral.

Florida’s real estate boom of the last five to ten years has been driven in large part by two things – land speculation and sub-prime lending. Anyone can tell you that those are a shaky foundation for long-term growth. The recent slowdown in the real estate market is, likewise, due to the breakdown of those two factors – and it should come as no big surprise.

What Happened to the Bubble?

Real estate prices were driven higher and higher by investors who bought into the dream of flipping new construction and making a quick buck. They bought pre-construction and early construction properties with the intent of selling them at high profit when they were finished. According to some real estate analysts, close to 70% of real estate sales during the “boom years” were to investors.

At the same time, home buyers were seduced by the “creative financing” offered by many lenders. Promised fast gains in real estate value, many home buyers jumped at mortgage deals that were affordable in the short term. The first of those adjustable rate mortgages have hit the wall as they come up for interest adjustment, and those buyers who are unable to refinance are suddenly faced with mortgages that they can’t afford.

During the boom years, the real estate market favored investors. With prices rising as fast as you could record them, it made sense to buy with the intent to sell. Now that housing prices have stabilized and are even starting to drop slightly in some markets, the investment attraction has dropped. Those investors who bought with an eye to high profits from resales are ready to sell before prices drop. At the same time, many home buyers are faced with the prospect of a quick sale or foreclosure. The two market streams – investors unloading their properties to preserve as much profit as possible and homeowners who need to sell or lose their investment entirely – are creating a glut on the market.

Fewer investors and more houses on the market add up to a slow market. Buyers have been holding back, understandably. High property taxes and high interest rates had persuaded many buyers to wait for a better time to buy. For those home buyers who wanted to buy now, there is plenty of choice, and no urgency to close on a house before another buyer snaps up their dream home. In a soft market, a buyer who is in no hurry can afford to wait out a home seller in the hope that the price will drop, or try to negotiate better terms.

Florida is More than the Sum of Its Real Estate Market

Before we start mourning the death of the Florida real estate market, though, let’s take a look at the bigger picture. Overall, Florida’s economy is flourishing. The Florida unemployment rate continues at more than 1.3% below the national unemployment rate. Major companies – both national and international – are moving their headquarters and opening new offices in Florida cities, and account for nearly 150,000 new jobs in Florida since January 2006. In fact, the February issue of Forbes named six Florida cities in their top 25 “Best Cities for Jobs”.

Florida’s A+ Plan for Education is being touted as a model program for school improvement. Every school in the state is given a letter grade, so that it’s easy for parents to decide on options for their children’s education. The school choice program allows parents to move their children out of schools with bad grades, or provides incentives for them to work with those schools to improve them. Schools with poor grades are eligible for financial and technical aid to help them improve. Schools with good grades are eligible for monetary incentives as reward for doing well. In short, Florida has made providing excellence in education a priority.

Property taxes, which have been a major negative for many prospective buyers, are in the process of undergoing reform. Florida Governor Crist has committed not only to immediate tax cuts and savings, but to long term overhaul of the state’s property tax structure to make it more fair and equitable. In the meantime, there are several initiatives and methods to cut property taxes on the table.

Finally, for the first time in years, interest rates on Florida mortgages dropped for three consecutive weeks early this summer, and all indicators are that this trend will continue. Lower interest rates and lower home prices, combined with good schools, lower taxes and a strong economy – you can add up the numbers yourself.

Bad News for Speculators is Good News for Home Buyers

The doom and gloom sayers concentrate on falling home prices and the effect that those prices will have on investment value of housing. The fact is that most people are not buying real estate for speculation. Most people who buy houses are buying homes, not property. They are buying with the intent of settling in, raising a family, living in a community and creating a home.

Now is a perfect time for doing that in the Florida market. Today’s Florida home buyer will find a wealth of choices on the market, prices that reflect the value of their home, an excellent school system with a commitment to improving, a government that is committed to lowering property taxes while maintaining services and an economy that is attracting the biggest players in the world’s business market. Put all those together and shake it up with Florida’s stunning beauty, gorgeous beaches and balmy weather, and how can you lose?

About the Author:

Calum MacKenzie is Broker/Owner of Real Living Southern Homes, a leading residential real estate brokerage serving the Wesley Chapel real estate market. Calum and his wife Kathleen have lived and worked in the New Tampa area for eleven years and have extensive knowledge of the New Tampa real estate market.