Ocala Real Estate Talk

Archive for September, 2010

Rolling Hills is a large sub division of homes on acre plus lots that is in both Ocala and Dunnellon Florida. Rolling Hills was developed in the 80′s when land was cheap. Today developers avoid acre lots preferring to pack homes together on smaller lots in order to maximize profits. The interior lots in Rolling Hills are 1.16 acres and the corner lots are usually 1 acre. There are a few homes on double lots too.

Many of the roads in Rolling Hills are not paved. The primary roads are Lime Rock which is a hard packed road but they can be bumpy and dusty. Many side roads are dirt roads which can get muddy in heavy rains. Homes on the few paved roads sell for a premium. In our area when the county paves a road the owner pays for the paving either in a lump sum or as part of their tax bill over a 10 year period. Road improvements such as paving require a vote of the land owners in that sub division.

Rolling Hills is a great area for foreclosures. This was an area full of spec homes that investors bought at pre construction prices hoping to flip them on completion. This scheme seldom worked and most of these homes eventually went into foreclosure. Rolling Hills is a great place to find a large foreclosed home on an acre lot built in the last 6 years.

I really like Rolling Hills because of the large newer homes on acre lots and the location which is close to SR 200 and SW corridor shopping, restaurants and health care.

If you are interested in buying or selling a Rolling Hills homes call me, email me or use my Dream Home Finder. I’ll set you up a Listing Cart to show homes in Rolling Hills. I know this area well and I’ve sold several homes here.

Below is my Google Map of Rolling Hills and a few images

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If you follow my monthly market reports, all of which can be accessed in the right side bar, you’ll remember that last month we saw a substantial decline in sales. In April we had 382 sales, May had 369 and June had 372. Then July dropped to 319. I am relieved to see that August is up to 375 home sales and that July was an abnormal month.

Inventory is still high with around 5,400 homes and seems to be inching up over time rather than declining. To roughly determine the months of inventory you divided 5,400 by 375 and get 14.4 months. A buyers market is defined by over 6 months of inventory.

Foreclosures and short sales are still a big part of our market. For some reason foreclosures are high than usual and short sales are lower.

Interest rates are at historical lows with the 30 year fixed below 4.5% for buyers with the best credit. Banks here in Ocala are giving loans. Don’t believe what you see on TV it’s way too negative.

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 or by auction that were not  listed on the MLS, commercial properties or vacant land.

September is a summer month here in Ocala. If you’re reading this up north some where then you probably think September is the beginning of fall. Here in Ocala the temperatures in September will stay around 90 for the whole month. There is a little less humidity than July and August but it’s still plenty humid by most peoples standards.

August was even hotter than usual here in Ocala. Many days were in the mid 90′s. We seldom actually get above 95 here but the humidity makes it feel hotter.

September is the peak of hurricane season. It’s the warm ocean waters that feed the hurricanes and the ocean doesn’t begin to cool down until about November. Ocala isn’t a hurricane free zone, no where in Florida is but it’s about as safe as you can get.

For more about Ocala weather check out my web site for average temperatures and precipitation by the month.