Ocala Real Estate Talk

Archive for June, 2010

A recent article in the Ocala Starr Banner states that home sales in the Ocala Marion County area for May 2010 are up 39% compared to May 2009.  That’s because the median home price here in Ocala is down 13% from the same period in 2009. The current median home price is $96,700.00 down from $111,600.00 a year ago. The median home price is the point where half of the sales are more and the other half are less and should not be confused with the average.

The median home price in Ocala is the lowest in the state of Florida. If you are interested in Ocala homes email me, call me or use my Ocala Dream Home Finder. Be specific we have over 5,000 homes for sale & I can’t send you them all.

Once again we had a pretty good month here in the Ocala area with 369 sales for the month of May. That’s a huge improvement over May 2009 when we had only 253 sales.

Inventory is still high at about 14 months. The Ocala Marion County MLS  has had over 5,000 homes for about a year now. Inventory is actually down from June 2007 when there were 7,167 homes for sale on our MLS. We will have a buyers market until inventory drops well below 6 months or around 2,500 home listings. By the way, a buyers market is more common than a sellers market historically.

There were 146 foreclosures and 41 short sales in May. It is these distress sales that keep prices down. Traditional sales have had to drop their prices in order to compete.

If you’re a buyer, interest rates are at historical lows and prices can’t drop much more. If there is a bottom, this is it.

If you are a seller you can either sell at market value or stay put for the next 3 to 5 years because prices aren’t going up any time soon.

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.

Date Palm Flower

It’s June here in Ocala and it’s hot and humid. After all this is Florida. Every day will be in the low 90′s and real humid. When I first moved to Ocala some one told me that after a year or two my blood would thin out and I’d get used to the heat. Needless to say I thought that person was full of it. Much to my surprise it’s true. I moved here from Maine where it seldom got above 80 and now I’m cold when it goes below 70!

The summer here in Ocala lasts from mid May to about the end of October. That means around 90 during the day and the 70′s at night and humid.

You have to realize that every where in Florida is air conditioned, your house, your car, every store and your job. It’s just like every where you go up north in the winter is heated.

The summer heat and humidity is a very small price to pay for no winter.

For more info on Ocala Florida weather see my web site for average temperatures, precipitation and more.

Ocala swimming pool

This is a series of blog posts about living in Ocala Florida. Being from out of state myself I feel the need to try and educate people about various aspects of life here in Ocala. For example I was just talking to a buyer who didn’t want a pool home because he thought pools were too expensive and too much work.

The average Ocala area swimming pool is much like the one pictured above. Around 12 feet wide by 24 feet long. About 6 feet deep just over the drain, surrounded by a cool deck and covered by a screen cage. You do see larger pools but I’d guess that 90% are like the one I describe. A pool like this is about 10,000 gallons.

In Ocala you can use an unheated pool from about early to mid May to the end of October. A heater would of course extend the season. A solar heater is the way to go if you feel the need for a heater. There are gas and electric heaters but they are expensive to operate. The solar heater has only a small circulating pump.

Chemicals aren’t a big deal or all that expensive. I put a 3″ tablet in a floating dispenser once a week. Eight tablets cost me $17.99, that comes out to $117.00 per year. I also dump one half a jug of liquid chlorine shock treatment in every week in the summer and I slack off and only do it every few weeks in the winter. A whole jug of liquid chlorine costs me $4.50. I’m also supposed to put in algaecide but I seldom remember to and my pool never turns green. If you followed the directions a bottle of algaecide is $20.00 and you’d need 2 to 4 a year. I get my water tested for free at Pinch a Penny. The only other expense is the electricity to run the pool pump. Being in Florida you don’t winterize your pool.

The screen cage keeps leaves of of the pool. The screen cage also cuts out a lot of the suns rays that give you a sun burn. I don’t know how it works but you can spend 2  hours in the sun under the screen cage and just get a little pink but if you were in the full sun for 2 hours you’d get a good burn.

If you don’t want to vacuum, like me, then you need a pool cleaner. They aren’t cheap at around $400- but all you do is plug it into an outlet in the pool and it drives around vacuuming all day. I do this once a week in the summer and every few weeks in the winter.

The 55+ communities have large community pools. You will find very few 55+ homes with a private pool and f you do it will be in the upper price ranges by that I mean over $200,000.00

There are plenty of pool homes in the Ocala area but be aware of the following. Most newer foreclosures do not have pools. Most pool homes below $100K will be smaller older homes with a pool and no cage. Most 55+ homes (98%) do not have a private pool.

If you’d like to see listing of Ocala area pool homes call me, email me or use my Ocala Dream Home Finder. I can set you up a Listing Cart which is a custom MLS search for pool homes.