Ocala Real Estate Talk

Archive for May, 2010

Rainbow Lakes Estates

Rainbow Lakes Estates is a huge sub division of approximately 13,000 acres that was first developed in 1961 by the American Realty and Petroleum Corp. At the time AMREP was one of the largest developers in the US mostly developing large tracts of land in southern states to be sold as vacant lots to northern snowbirds. Land was really cheap in Marion County in the 60′s and 70′s and several huge projects like Rainbow Lakes sprung up around the county at that time. Like several similar sub divisions many lots were never built on and even to this day there is a huge number of vacant lots.

Rainbow Lakes Estates has all paved roads. It also has 3 lakes, Tiger Lake, Lake Bonable and Little Lake Bonable. Lots are either 1/4 acre or 1 full acre. Homes range from smaller, under 1,000 sq ft of living area to quite large homes built in the last few years. Homes date from the 1960′s through  the building boom of 2004-08 to the present. There are all methods of construction with the majority being concrete block. There are very reasonably priced homes here in Rainbow Lakes Estates including a number of foreclosures.

Although there is no HOA or HOA fees there is a community center in Rainbow Lakes Estates with various clubs and activities.

Rainbow Lakes is peaceful and quiet but only a few minutes from Dunnellon and around 40 minutes from Ocala.

If you would like to see listings from Rainbow Lakes Estates email me or use my Ocala Dream Home Finder . I can set you up a Listing Cart which is a custom MLS search for Rainbow Lakes or any surrounding community.

See images below

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Ocala home sales in April, with 382 sales were pretty similar to March.That comes out to about 19 sales every business day. Although 45% of sales were foreclosures the other 55% were traditional sales by motivated sellers.

A recent Ocala Star Banner article noted that median home prices plunge in the Ocala area. Comparing the 1st quarter of 2010 to the 1st quarter of 09, the Ocala area median home price fell 14.5%. This was the 2nd largest drop in the country exceeded by only Orlando.

Now I think in some ways these statistics are a little deceiving because they show what is selling and not what you get for your money. The median home prices in Ocala are being brought down by a lot of sub $50,000- home sales. A lot of these houses are selling to investors mostly for cash. More importantly these sub $50K sales need work and often a lot of work. They also suffer from functional obsolescence, a real estate term that means out dated in a way that’s either impossible or very expensive to correct. These are often 2 bedroom homes, small square footage, maybe only 1 full bath and not CBS construction. Also included in the sub $50K category are older mobile homes. In total there were 63 sub $50K sales in April or about 16%.

This is not to say that there aren’t great deals here in the Ocala area. In fact I think we have the best homes prices in Florida. It’s just my job to add perspective.

Statistics used for this blog post are from the Ocala Marion County MLS and are deemed to be accurate at the time this blog was written but are not guaranteed. All information is time sensitive and subject to change without notice. Home sales are for Marion County only and do not include FSBO, homes sold by builders not listed on the MLS, commercial properties or vacant land.

Wild Flowers SW 80 Ave Ocala FL

April was cooler than normal but the first week of May has been unseasonably hot! I look forward to the first 3 weeks of May as still dry and in the high 80′s. So far this month we have been above 90 and the humidity is here early. I like to finish up my yard work by the end of May and sit by the pool for the rest of the summer.

May should be in the high 80′s with the nights in the mid 60′s. That the average any way. You can see average weather statistics at Ocala Weather on my web site.