Ocala Real Estate Talk

Archive for the ‘Ocala Real Estate’ Category

Ocala and Marion County home sales were excellent in April. Total sales were only 3 less than in March which is traditionally our best month. Things tend to slow down after the snowbirds go home but this year feels different. Active listings have gone down again. This is part of a gradual decline that started in early 2011. If you go back through old market reports you will see that foreclosures are half the number we had in April 2011. With both active listings and foreclosures going down it’s hard not to think that our market is finally recovering.

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.

So far 2012 has been much warmer than normal. April was no exception. Many days in April were in the high 80′s with a couple of days hitting 90. Normal would be the low 80′s. I had to run my AC for much of the month where normally I might not run it at all. In past years AC season hasn’t started until mid to late May. Now when I say I need to run the AC I mean that I had to turn it on mid afternoon and in some cases run it at night because the outside temperature was in the mid 70′s at bed time. This time of year is still dry with very little or no humidity.

May remains dry until the end of the month. Highs should be in the high 80′s during the day and the 60′s at night. The end of May marks the end of our dry season and the start of the wet season which lasts until October.

A lot of people from out of state worry about how they will like the heat and humidity of Florida summers. It really depends on where you live now. I’ve had buyers from the mid west and Texas say the humidity isn’t as bad as where they live. Coming from New England I can say that it is hotter and more humid than I was used to but I got used to it and it is a small price to pay for no winter.

Most of my out of area buyers seem to like pets as much as I do. Many even travel with pets when they come to look at homes here in Ocala. I recently found a pet friendly hotel web site that has customer reviews. If you travel with Fido you might want to check this out.

http://www.bringfido.com/lodging/city/ocala_fl_us/

March is always our best month for home sales. Sales in March are from contracts written in January and February which is Snowbird season. The number of active listings went down a little, which seems to be part of a steady decline.There were more sales in the $200K to $500K range than we have seem recently. Foreclosures and short sales are less than a year ago.

Bank of America has come out with an expedited short sale process. It will be very interesting to see if it actually works. Currently short sales can take months to close if at all. Many buyers just get sick of waiting for an answer and move on to another house.

Micheal White, a local Ocala real estate appraiser, has come out with his quarterly market analysis. This is a must read for anyone interested in Ocala home sales. The market, in his opinion as well as mine, has hit bottom and is turning around for he better, finally.

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

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.

Although it might be barely spring in some parts of the country, the weather in Ocala is like summer time. March was oddly warm. One of the warmest on record. Temperatures averaged 5 degrees above normal with some days almost 10 degrees above normal. This is the first week of April and temperatures are predicted to approach 90. That’s what you would expect in late May and not the first of April. Although it is warm it still isn’t humid. The humidity starts in late May and continues until late October.  I’m not happy with this early heat. I like to get my yard in shape during March and April. I prune my bushes, put down mulch and add plants to my gardens. I try to get this work done by late May before the 90 degree days start. This year looks like my schedule is going to be all messed up. To see average temperatures see the Ocala Weather page on my web site.

I get a lot of questions about deed restrictions here in Ocala and Marion county. Deed restrictions are public records. This blog post will show you how to find deed restrictions here in Marion County.

1. Go to the Marion County Clerk of the Courts web site.

2. In the lower right under Records click on Official Records Search

3. On the right click Search Records Now a blue box

4.Enter party name. You have to get the name exact

5. Under restrict document type by code enter RES which is restrictions and covenants

Deed restrictions can be hard to read. Some were written before computers and are old typed documents that were poorly scanned. Larger older communities can have 100′s of pages mostly of very minor revisions. Typically you will find the important stuff in the largest document.

February had 356 sales which is an excellent number. This shouldn’t be a surprise though because the winter here in Florida is snowbird season and sales are always good. The total number of active listings is down a little from previous months. I don’t expect the number of active listings to drop as fast as they did this time last year. I do think active listings will continue to go down as the market improves. If we drop about 1000 listings, down to around 2500, prices will beginning to rise.  I think prices rising is a year off, at least.

You’ll notice that I’m back to my old format for my market reports due to popular demand. If you read other statistics, like the local paper, you will see a different total number of sales. That’s because I count mobile homes with real property as sales. That is a mobile home where the seller owns the land. Mobile homes in parks that rent a lot are not considered real estate.

I mostly work with buyers. When I show them homes an often asked question is how long has this house been on the market. Some seem surprised when a house has been for sales for several months. The average number of days on the market for the past 12 months is 155 days. I don’t think much of days on the market. A great house can be over priced and sit on the market for a couple of years and never sell but if the seller drops the price down to an aggressive number then the house will sell in a couple of months. A big price drop to the correct market value will also expose the listing to a whole new set of buyers.

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 spend about 95% of my time as a buyers agent here in Ocala. One question that comes up is “what should I offer?”. I suggest that a buyer look at comparable sales to come up with an offer. A good comparable would meet the following criteria.

same sub division

sold in the last 90 days

within 1 mile of subject property

+/- 10% of the sq ft of living area

same # of beds, baths and size garage

+/- 5 years in age, 10 years if home is over 10 years old

same construction type

All this above can be used by a buyer to come up with an offer on a home or it can be used by a seller to find a proper list price. In the end it doesn’t matter what a buyer or seller thinks a house is worth. What matters is the price that similar homes have sold for in the past 90 days. Sellers should keep in mind that in order for a buyer to get a loan a bank will send out an appraiser who will use very similar criteria for an appraisal.

Azalea March 2012

March is the first month of spring here in Ocala. The grass turns green after a brief winter dormancy and the azaleas come into bloom. Temperatures average in the mid 70′s during the day and the mid 50′s at night. March 15 is considered the last day where there can be a frost and safe to plant your tomatoes in the garden. There is no humidity and very little rain this time of year.

February was unusually warm this year. We did get a strong cold front around mid month that brought a hard frost. The rest of the month was in the high 70′s with a couple of days around 80. The normal for February would be in the low 70′s.

If the weather where you are isn’t as nice as it is here in Ocala then move! I’d be happy to help. Email me, call me or use my Ocala Dream Home Finder.

As of today the Ocala Marion County MLS states that there were 283 residential home sales here in Marion County. That’s a good month compared to previous Ocala real estate market reports. This should be no surprise since contracts that closed in January were written 30 to 60 days earlier which is the beginning of snow bird season. There were 64 foreclosure sales. That’s about half of what we were seeing in early 2011. There were 29 short sales in January. Short sales don’t seem to be getting any easier to close unfortunately. As of today there are 3,546 active residential listings. If you look at past market reports you can see a steady decline starting about 1 year ago.

I’ve changed the format for my market reports for 2012 beginning with this one. I’d really like feed back. If you liked the old more detailed report then make a comment or send me an email.

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.