Ocala Real Estate Talk

Archive for January, 2011

Ocala 55+ Community HOA Fee Chart

Sometimes I think buyers want to shop for a 55+ homes here in Ocala by looking for the lowest HOA fees that they can find. Although I think that the wrong approach, I did create this HOA fees chart. Buyers have to look at what you get for your HOA fees and not just the fees themselves.

What do HOA fees cover? Maintaining the common areas such as the club house and pool. Mowing the drainage areas and along any roadways. Any buildings would need to be insured. Trash pick up is almost always included. Basic, and by that I mean very basic, cable TV is often included. Most communities have a management company to over see daily operations. Communities that are gated would need to pay the guard at the gate. Utilities for the clubhouse and entry. I’m sure that you can see that things can add up quickly in these types of communities.

The 55+ retirement communities are not condo’s. You maintain the home like any single family home. Lawn care is not included in HOA fees but every 55+ community has several lawn care companies and prices are cheap do to their volume. Exceptions are On Top of the World which offers total outside maintenance. Summerglen includes lawn mowing in their HOA fee. Oak Run has homes on maintained lots for a $216- per month HOA fee.

The quality of the amenities will vary from one community to another. Newer communities like Stone Creek boast an almost resort style pool, clubhouse and fitness center. While other communities might have more modest amenities do to the communities age or price point.

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 in Ocala and surrounding Marion County were up in December.  Sales were up by about 10% over October and November. Although December sales appear to be during the holidays, contracts take 30 to 45 days on average to close, so December sales are based on contracts written in October into early November.

I’m not going to get into new years predictions BUT I’m pretty sure prices won’t be going up any time soon. I am concerned that interest rates will go up. The Fed is artificially keeping interest rates low and it can’t last forever. Higher rates will hurt buyers who need financing by wiping out gains from lower prices. However if interest rates go up enough to force prices even lower cash buyers could benefit.

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.

I always like to begin my weather reports with a look back at the previous month. December 2010 weather in Ocala was the coldest December on record, breaking the previous record that dated way back to 1917. If you read my December weather report you’ll see a link predicting a warmer and dryer than normal winter. Well I guess that report was about as accurate as the hurricane predictions. One thing that was correct was that it has been extremely dry here in Ocala. Since October we’ve only had a little over 2 inches of rain. The temperatures did get closer to normal from Christmas through New Years, back to the low 70′s.

January is traditionally our coldest month with a high of 70 and a low of 46. After December 2010 that will seem warm.