Ocala Real Estate Talk

Posts Tagged ‘Ocala real estate market report’

April 2013 home sales here in Marion County were the best since I started doing my market reports back in January 2009. April is typically a good month for us here in Ocala. It’s the last month where you see sales from “snowbird season”. Active listing have gone down a little from past months. I’m surprised that there were 92 foreclosure sales. Short sales as always are few and very hard to close. I think April sales are more evidence that the market is recovering.

At this point I wonder when prices will begin to go up. I guess you could say when inventory gets below 6 months. Using April sales at 489 and multiplying times 6 that gets 2934 active listings. If you are a buyer you would want to make your move before that time. If you are a seller I think you might have to wait until 2014.

I’ve sold a couple of 55+ homes recently to buyers who aren’t ready to retire for a couple of years yet. Buy now and sell your primary residence in a couple of years when prices go up. That’s a pretty good strategy if you can afford to do it. 

Call me, email me or use my Ocala Dream Home Finder. Prices are still low and there is still a good selection of homes available. 

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. Residential sales do include farms, mobile homes and condo’s

March home sales were the highest since I started this blog in January 2009. I think it is part due to the end of our busy snowbird season but it is also due to the market recovery. The fact that foreclosures are down from years past along with the number of active listings going down are signs of a recovery. Here is an interesting newspaper article regarding last month’s sales. As always I don’t agree with everything. The median home price just shows that buyers are buying cheap homes and not what you get for your money. There are a lot of cash sales in retirement communities and cash sales are not only for investment properties. The most interesting statistic is the huge jump in Pending sales, those homes that are under contract. Pending sales are another sign of a recovering market.

Now is the time to buy. Prices have no where to go but up and inventory is on the way down. Call me, email me or use my Ocala Dream Home Finder. I have been selling retirement homes now to people who won’t retire for a couple more years. Don’t be left behind.

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. Residential sales do include farms, mobile homes and condo’s.

The Ocala area real estate market is improving. Everyone I talk to thinks so. Here is a link to the local paper, the Ocala Star Banner, with a real estate article. If you read the article there are a few things I think are misleading. The median home price of $99,900- is low because there are a lot of small 2 bedroom homes many in 55+ communities that sell for low prices as well as similar small homes in other areas. There is also a comment about cash sales showing there are a lot of investor purchases. A huge number of retirement homes are also cash deals. In my case 75% of 55+ sales are cash. The article does show how sales have improved over the past and the number of Pending sales is a good predictor of the months to come. I think in the long run there will be a housing shortage here in Ocala. That’s because there has been almost no new construction here since the crash of 2007. Buy now prices have no where to go now but up. 

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. Residential sales now include farm properties.

I think home sales for January are a little disappointing considering contracts would have been written in late November  or December which is the beginning of snow bird season. Maybe we’ll see a big jump in sales for February. Active listing remain pretty much the same. Despite all the talk in real estate and banking circles short sales still seem to be ridiculously hard to close. Foreclosures have been the same for quite a while now but way off from their peak in 2010-11. The worst of the market crash is over and we are slowly beginning to see a recovery.

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. Residential sales now include farm properties.

December was a good month for sales but that isn’t a surprise seeing it is the beginning of snowbird season. Active listings dropped just 50 units from last month. Foreclosures and short sales are pretty close to what we saw in November. This was the first year since the crash in 07 that sales didn’t drop off during the summer. Sales for me were steady all year long. I think we are starting a recovery although it is some what weak. One interesting note on sales below $100K. I sorted them by sales price and there are a surprising number of sales below $30K, mostly older homes in need of a total remodel or older mobile homes. These sales bring down the average sale price in our MLS and give a false impression of the market.

Now is the time to buy before prices go up. Call me, email me or use my Ocala Dream Home Finder.

Sales are up over the past couple of months and inventory went down. Both are signs that the market is recovering. The median home price went down from $92,000.00 to $89,900.00 but that is deceiving. There are still a lot of cheap homes on the market that keep the median home prices low. These are small older homes, home with less than 2 bathrooms, a 1 car or no garage, mobile homes ect. We are going into our peak sales period. The worse the weather gets up north the better real estate sales are here in Florida. 

The real estate crash is over and the recovery has begun. Call me, email me or use my Ocala Dream Home Finder.

Ocala area home sales were up from September which was an off month. Actually October sales were more in line with what has been the average so far this year. The total number of active listings went up just a few units but an increase in active listings has been a trend over the past several months. Foreclosures seem to be down from past months. Short sales always seem about the same. I saw a recent article in a real estate newsletter that said foreclosures aren’t a very good deal when compared to traditional sales now that prices are down so low. I think that’s especially true when you factor in the home’s condition.

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. Residential sales now include farm properties.

September sales at 340 homes is the lowest in months. I don’t know why. I’ve been having my best year since 07 and everyone I talk to says sales are great. Total active listings edged up over last month. It’s important to remember that farms are now included in the total active listings. Previously they were a separate category like vacant land or commercial. Foreclosures are down from earlier this year. Are foreclosures finally drying up? Looking back at 2012 short sales are pretty consistent. So much I guess for short sales getting easier. 

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. Residential sales now include farm properties.

Another excellent month for home sales here in Ocala. We don’t exactly have a slow season here but if we did it would be the summer months. After inventory shot up in May it seems to have stabilized at just under 4,000 active listings. That gives us 10 months inventory. That’s a number to watch. When inventory goes below 6 months we move into a sellers market.

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. Residential sales now include farm properties.

Home sales in July were down just a little from June. Interesting is he fact that the number of active listings is inching up instead of going down. Are sellers finally realizing that prices aren’t going up again or just can’t hang on any longer. Homes are selling well. This is the best summer I can remember since before the market crashed in 07.

Remember that farms are now part of residential listings. This only adds a dozen or so to the total but accounts for many of the higher priced sales.

Now is the time to buy. Prices can only go up from here. Call me, email me or use my Dream Home Finder.