Posts Tagged ‘Ocala Real Estate’
Want to know more about Ocala? Read the newspaper
Horse Topiary photo by Joe Dallorso
Most of the readers of my blog are from outside the Ocala Marion County area. A great way to get to know an area is to read the newspaper. If you’re a younger person you probably think newspapers are like dinosaurs. The reality is that only local newspapers have local news. All the Ocala Marion County newspapers can be read online.
The Ocala Star Banner is Marion County’s daily newspaper. You need to read it daily in order not to miss anything. This is a great source to get an idea of what different areas of the county are like.
The South Marion Citizen is a great place to find information about the SW corridor retirement communities. If you click on news and then community you’ll fing columns written about the goings on in various retirement communities written by people who there. The South Marion Citizen is a weekly paper.
The Citrus County Chronicle is a weekly paper than covers Dunnellon and west into Citrus County.
The Ocala area also has 2 magazines. That’s pretty extraordinary seeing that Ocala is such a small city. Both magazines are lot nicer in print than online. They are both printed on exceptionally nice glossy paper, in a large format, with great photography. Even the advertisements have beautiful photography.
Moving cross country is a huge undertaking. I know, I moved from Maine to Ocala in 2004. You have to do your home work and keeping up on current events is part of the job
New home sales in Ocala Florida
I often get buyers looking for newer homes here in the Ocala Marion County area. Many are interested in a new or newer Ocala 55+ retirement home. I end up telling these buyers that there has been very little building here since the market crashed in 2007. The reason for this lack of new construction is that resales are selling at prices below the cost of new construction and in some non retirement communities much less.
The below survey is based on active listings on the Ocala Marion county MLS as of July 7, 2011
Total residential listings 3915
new homes dated as 2011…..19
homes from 2010-2011………32
homes from 2009-2011………55
homes from 2008-2011……..114
homes from 2007-2011……..311
homes from 2006-2011……..571
homes from 2005-2011……..769
What does this all mean? It means that despite the fact that vacant land is available at fire sale prices and Marion County has suspended impact fees on new homes, builders still think it’s not worth trying to compete with newer resales. This is the time to but a house in Ocala.
The above numbers include both 55+ communities and non retirement communities and all types of construction including mobile and manufactured homes. They do not include homes offered by builders that are not listed on the OMCAR MLS.
Rolling Hills Ocala Dunnellon Florida
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
How to not sell a house in Ocala FL
Selling a home in Ocala is pretty tough these days. We are in an extreme buyers market with constant competition from short sales and foreclosures driving down prices.
The subject of this blog post is about the images or lack of them as found on the MLS by buyers. I get a lot more buyers than sellers because of my Ocala Real Estate web site and this blog. That’s just how it works. Most internet leads are buyers and not sellers. I’m not complaining because I sell a lot more houses than the average Realtor in Ocala as a result on my internet efforts.
What I am complaining about is the images I see on MLs listings. I will send listings to my buyers through my Ocala Dream Home Finder and they almost never want to see the ones in person that either have only 1 picture or really bad out of focus pictures. That’s unless the house is a foreclosure or priced like one.
Thinking of selling your house in Ocala or anywhere in Marion County? See my Ocala Home Sellers Advice or email me or call me. I would love to list your house and my advice is free.
