Hot Sales for Avalon Park & Spring Isle Townhomes

Where are the best townhome deals on the east side today? Clearly, it’s Avalon Park & Spring Isle where 19 sales closed in the past 60 days (only two were normal sales). That’s nearly as many as the 26 single family home sales in the same period.

What’s happening here & why is Avalon Park & Spring Isle so hot? Simple…great location…great value. These communities are nearly new with desirable community amenities like pools, tennis, parks, basketball, dog parks all within a mile to shopping, dining & the YMCA.

Even more proof of the strong demand for townhomes in these communities – there are 66 homes under contract & expected to close in the next several months. Check out available homes while you can still get them.

Tight Home Inventory in Waterford Lakes

Waterford Lakes is experiencing low levels of inventory & high levels of homes that are under contract, but awaiting close. What does this mean to a buyer or seller? To a buyer, it means being ready & waiting for new homes to come on the market & to be prepared for the likelihood of multiple offers yet again. To a seller, it represents high demand for this great family community & heck, maybe it is time to sell again.

Though Waterford Lakes is a sprawling community with thousands of homes across many price levels, presently there are only 32 homes available for sale from $140,000 to $345,000. Active homes here

Also important to consider is the number of home presently under contract, but awaiting close. Presently, there are 30 homes under contract from $96,000 to $330,000 and expected to close over the next several months. Pending homes here

Year of the Short Sale

Homeowners who are underwater and struggling to offload their homes through a short sale may get relief soon through Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA). Part of the government’s Making Home Affordable program, HAFA is designed to incent borrowers & lenders to avoid foreclosure. It takes effect 4/5/2010 -12/31/2012 and is aimed at homeowners who are eligible for a loan modification, but unable to complete the process.

Read the whole story from smartmoney.com.

10 Things Home Inspectors Won't Say

If you’re buying a home, you will most likely be hiring a home inspector once you’re under contract. Want the inside scoop…

Read the whole story from smartmoney.com.

Rybolt Park: Voted Down

Rybolt Park could have been a $1.2 billion development in East Orlando, a little city to accommodate UCF's booming population. The 1,440-acre cattle ranch would have been developed over 10 years into 5,000 homes, 150,000 square feet of retail, 922,000 square feet of office space, 1.1 million square feet of research park and 335 acres of parks and trails. But commissioners voted against submitting the project's plan to the Florida Department of Community Affairs, essentially killing the project.

Read the whole story from East Orlando Sun.

Precautions For Buying 'As Is'

An ‘as is’ clause in your sale contract means that the seller will not make guarantees as to the property's condition and will not make any repairs. Buying ‘as is’ means you are agreeing to shoulder the costs for any obvious defects from ripped screens to stained carpeting.

Read the whole story from wsj.com.

Want a Short Sale? Best to Wait

Effective Apr 5, the current frustrating system of buying a ‘short sale’ home will change. That's when the federal government will begin to provide financial incentives to lenders to do more short sales. The rules also help standardize the process, so your chances of negotiating a distressed-property bargain will increase.

Read entire story from wsj.com.

Foreclosure Counseling

Lending a helping hand to homeowners facing foreclosure, a local program offers counseling and mitigation services to East Orlando in an attempt to keep roofs over its residents' heads.

The Helpful Hands Foundation Foreclosure Counseling Assistance program, which works to raise financial awareness through education and foreclosure assistance, has helped more than 500 homeowners save their homes with an additional 450 currently working with them.

From one-on-one, case-specific counseling to workshops open to the public, Helpful Hands counselors work to educate local residents on the process of foreclosure and help them understand that they have options.

Read the whole story from East Orlando Sun.

SunRail in East Orlando?

East Orlando won't be getting any stations in the first wave of SunRail funding, but that doesn't mean local leaders aren't anxiously waiting for the rail to branch out to this end of Orange Co.

Gov Crist signed the $1.2 billion SunRail legislation into law on Dec 17. Local politicians have said that they would like to see SunRail stations at the airport, UCF and the new UCF medical school in Lake Nona, which will have a new veterans hospital in the spring.

Read the whole story from East Orlando Sun.

HOA Strong-Arms Homeowners

As many east Orlando communities deal with delinquency rates of 30% to 50% in HOA dues from homeowners, the Stoneybrook HOA took a drastic measure to penalize homeowners who are behind on their HOA dues.

Read the whole story from OrlandoSentinel.com.