Ocala Real Estate Talk

Posts Tagged ‘Ocala Foreclosures’

No it’s not a crazy come on or infomercial. Fannie Mae the huge federal agency is offering incentives to buy Fannie Mae owned foreclosures.

Here is how it goes.

You must buy and close on a Fannie Mae foreclosure between Jan 28 and April 30, 2010.

Fannie Mae is offering 3.5% of the sold price that can be used for closing costs or to buy Whirlpool appliances through Fannie Mae or the buyer can do a combination of closing costs and appliances. Buyers must be owner occupants.

According to the Fannie Mae web site. Lenders may impose their own limitations on the use of the 3.5% incentive, so buyers should consult their lenders for guidance.

Many foreclosures in the Ocala area are either homes that never had all the appliances or the homes were burglarized and the appliances were stolen.

If you are interested in foreclosures in Ocala and surrounding Marion County email me or use the Dream Home Finder in the left column of my blog.

The median home price in Ocala has dropped to $87,800.00 edging out Ft Myers to become the cheapest place to buy a home in the state of Florida according to an article in the Ocala Star Banner.

Median home prices mean that half of all homes sold for more and half of all homes sold for less than $87,800.00 I think this is a little deceptive especially to those looking at this online from outside the area.

There are great deals in the Ocala area. I just think the median home price is a little misleading. It reflects what is selling more than what you get for your money. The Ocala area has a high unemployment rate and a low wage structure and local people are buying what they can afford.

In addition, I suspect investors are buying up really cheap houses looking to fix them up and rent them for positive cash flow. A huge percentage of below $50,000- foreclosed houses are selling for cash, which to me indicates an investor.

Most houses on the Ocala Marion County MLS sell for under $200,000-. In my opinion the real sweet spot in our market is in the $125-200,000- range. It is in this range that you can find a really nice house, in a nice area that needs very little or no work at all.

I specialize in helping people from outside the area find a home here in Ocala and surrounding Marion County. If you have a question email me or use the comment feature below. If you’d like to receive listings email me about what you’re looking for or use my Dream Home Finder in the right hand column.

Property taxes in Ocala, as in the rest of Florida, are pretty confusing. A lot has to do with the Save Our Homes initiative, also know in real estate as amendment 10. Save Our Homes was supposed to keep seniors from getting taxed out of their homes by capping tax increases on homestead properties by 3% or the rate of inflation, which ever is lower.

The problem with amendment 1o is that you can buy the exact same house as the guy across the street, who has been there for 10 years, and pay twice the taxes that he does. Another example of politicians helping one group at the expense of another.

Now that property values have dropped like a stone here in Florida a new issue has come up with Save Our Homes.  This is called the recapture rule. The recapture rule states that tax assessors must increase the assessed value of a house by up to 3% as long as that it  is less than the homes market value.  This is why most peoples taxes are not going down even though their homes value has gone down.

Now here’s some home work. Below are 2 great links. One is to the Marion County property appraiser. Read the FAQ and check out the tax estimator. If you live in Florida read the portability calculator because you can bring your Save Our Home exemption with you to a new house. The other link is to an article from the Ocala Star Banner which has a detailed explanation about why taxes aren’t going down.

Marion County Property Appraiser

Ocala Star Banner

If you buy a foreclosure or short sale in the Ocala area it is important to understand that you will be assessed at market value and not the amount you paid for your house.

Finally, when you see the taxes on a real estate listing be aware that it is not the amount that you will be paying. Taxes adjust every time a house is sold.

This is an update to my very popular Highest and Best Offer post.

I found a really nice house for buyers I was working with for several weeks. After making our offer the seller came back and asked for the highest and best offer. I gave my buyers recent sold comps that showed the asking price was very aggressive. That combined with the fact that this foreclosed home had never been lived in led the buyers to make an offer $10,000- above the asking price. The listing agent came back the next day to say that the bank had accepted a cash offer.

The actual sale price of a house can’t be determined until closing. Agents never reveal the pending price. That would place the seller at a possible disadvantage with the next buyer should the deal fall apart.

I will publish an update to this little story in a few weeks. The moral to this story is that cash talks. A cash sale has no finance contingency and can close faster than financing. Banks like a sure thing.

Yes that’s right, Ocala foreclosures are getting multiple offers, even in our extreme buyers market. There are lessons here for both buyers and sellers of Ocala real estate.

Buyers need to understand that really prime or unusual properties can get bid up beyond the asking price. It’s supply and demand. There seems to be a never ending supply of foreclosed homes in The Shores and Marion Oaks but houses on large lots and mini farms are much harder to come by. Foreclosed homes that were never occupied might also fit into this category of especially desirable foreclosures.

When ever a bank gets more than one offer they ask the buyers to submit their “Highest and Best Offer”. Foreclosures that get bid up above the asking price are usually still a bargain. It’s all about comparable sales in the last 60 days and the lowest priced active listings. That is how to value property. Your Realtor should provide a CMA to find the foreclosed homes value and the buyer should base his offer on this data.

Sellers can learn that despite the doom and gloom you see on the news, really well priced houses are selling every day. Traditional sales can compete with foreclosures by offering a better location, exceptionally good condition as well as a very aggressive asking price.

People contact me about Ocala foreclosures on a regular basis. Now this is not unusual because I write about them all the time and I can be found all over the Internet. The problem is that you have to be some what flexible when looking for foreclosures here in Ocala. For example there are very few to be found in the 55+ communities. You will find a few farm properties but once again not too many. There are a lot of newer homes that were lost by investors but many if not most of these need work even if they were never lived in. Most of these investor homes were never landscaped and many never had the builder go through a final punch list fixing all those things that sub contractors didn’t get quite right. A buyer has to be flexible about location and condition when looking at foreclosed homes in the Ocala area.

In Ocala foreclosures the term, Highest and Best Offer, seems to be coming up more and more. Foreclosures here in Ocala are very hot. Banks are now trying to get buyers to bid against each other.

Here’s how it goes. You find yourself a nice foreclosure and make an offer. A few days later the listing agent sends your buyers agent a form or email asking you to submit your Highest and Best Offer. The reason being that there are multiple buyers interested in the same house.

Not all foreclosures are created equal. Some are just a lot more desirable than others. Banks can’t get away with this on every property.

There was a time a few months ago when this practice was rare but it is becoming more common as more and more buyers are looking for a great buy on a foreclosure here in Ocala Florida

A very hot subject in Florida real estate is Chinese drywall. Chinese drywall is actually a German company Knauf, who manufactured drywall in a plant in China. Apparently the housing boom of 2003-2008 combined with the destruction of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma caused a shortage of drywall. To make up for this shortage drywall was imported. There are materials present in the Chinese drywall that are not used in the manufacture of American drywall. These compounds cause copper pipes and wires to corrode.

I never new anything about Chinese drywall until a few weeks ago and now it’s all over the news.

Is there Chinese drywall in Ocala Florida? According to a map on the Florida Department of Health web site there have been cases reported in Ocala. As of the writing of this post there have only been a few cases. Most of the problem seems to be in south Florida.

How do you know if your house has Chinese drywall? This link is to a self assessment guide from the Florida Department of Health.

There are a lot of people out there looking for a foreclosed house here in Ocala Florida. The problem is t hey have a hard time finding them. I’ve had people call me, email me and I even read a letter to the editor about not being able to find a nice foreclosure here in the Ocala area. Now this is just plain crazy seeing there are over 200 of them listed on the MLS at any given time.
I’m a die hard do it yourselfer but I also know when I just don’t have the right tools for the job. Yes this is where I suggest that you contact your friendly Ocala Realtor, preferably me of course.
I can search on a lot more things than you can on the MLS. As a matter of fact it’s as simple for me as checking a box on my search that basically says “foreclosures only”.
So when you’re ready to get serious about your foreclosure search let me know. If you want to make it easy you can go to my Ocala Dream Home Finder and fill out the form and write Foreclosures in the special wants area. It’s just that easy.

Foreclosure listings on the Ocala MLS seldom have a lot of images. As a matter of fact most foreclosure listings only have one image which is the minimum required by our board of realtors. Buyers are used to a dozen images or even a virtual tour when looking at traditional real estate listings online. Foreclosures are usually presented with the bare minimum of information. Foreclosures are sold by a few listing agents who specialize in these types of distressed properties. Their marketing strategy is simple, price the foreclosed home cheap and it will sell quickly. To tell you the truth it works. I realize that is little consolation to buyers expecting more info. And it’s especially frustrating for out of the area buyers.
For more info on buying a foreclosed home in Ocala see my Ocala Foreclosure Guide.