Ocala Real Estate Talk

Archive for the ‘Market Reports’ Category

Spruce Creek Preserve

Spruce Creek Preserve is just off SR 200 in Dunnellon Fl. This is a great location because it is just a short drive to restaurants, shopping and health care in the SW corridor area. Spruce Creek Preserve is a gated, 55+, golf course community.  houses in Spruce Creek Preserve are frame with stucco or frame with vinyl siding and a few concrete v=block with stucco. Homes here can range from 1,000 sq ft of living area to over 2,000 with most being in the middle. HOA fees of around $114- per month which includes the guard at the gate, clubhouse, common area maintenance, curbside trash pickup and basic cable TV. Spruce Creek Preserve is a very nice community that shows pride of ownership.

If you would like a list of homes for sale in Spruce Creek Preserve fill out my Dream Home Finder located in the column on the right hand side of this page.

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Ocala Real Estate Market Report for September 2009

Sales in September were 273 homes, August was 283 homes, July came in at 269 homes and June was the best month so far this year at 319. Total listings remain around 5,500 homes. Homes are selling every day here in Marion County.

Sales are still being driven by bargain hunters. There were 27 short sales and 92 foreclosure sales in September. That accounts for 45% of all sold homes. Worse yet are the number of short sales that expire or get withdrawn because these are the foreclosures of 6 months from now.

My advice to sellers is to price your house very aggressively. In addition to a great price the only thing that might give you an advantage over bank sales is condition. By that I mean an immaculate move in ready house. A house with maintenance issues isn’t much better than a foreclosure.

Buyers, now is the time to buy. Prices are low and there is a great selection out there. Interest rates are at historical lows and given our countries debt have no where to go 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.

** Only homes listed & sold in Marion County on the Ocala Marion county MLS. Does not include For Sale by Owner, Vacant land, Commercial properties, Farms or homes by Builders not listed on the MLS. Numbers subject to change due to late reports from Brokers

Sales in July were 269 homes in Marion County. This is a drop from the 319 sales in June and more in line with April at 229 and May at 259.  Total listings went up about 100 units from last month which is the first increase in quite a while.

One of Ocala’s largest employers closed this week. The huge mortgage company Taylor Bean & Whitaker was closed down by the fed putting around 1,000 people out of work. This on top of a 12.5% unemployment rate isn’t good for the housing market.

There seems to be no end to the foreclosures that are still dragging down prices. I constantly see short sales being withdrawn or expiring from the MLS. These are the foreclosures of 6 to 12 months from now. In July there were 84 Foreclosures sold and 27 Short Sales sold. That’s 111 out of 269 homes sold or 41% of all sales.

For these reasons I don’t expect prices to go up any time soon. Prices won’t recover until the foreclosures stop, inventory goes below 2,500 homes, the unemployment rate drops significantly and the market improves in other parts of the country so people can sell there and move to Ocala.

Knowledge is power whether you are a buyer or seller.  I offer the truth about the Ocala Real Estate market without any sugar coating.

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.

HUGE SALES INCREASE

Sales in June were 305 homes in Marion County. That’s a large increase over January at 142, February at 188, March at 220, April at 229 7 May at 259. This is a steady upward trend. Total listings also keep steadily going down which is great news.

We saw a huge increase in sales during June. This is all a result of lower prices. Buyers realize that prices are near bottom and interest rates are at historical lows with no where to go but up. Sellers realize that price is what sells a house in this market and that over priced homes just get over looked.

I don’t see prices going back up for a long time but the increase in sales combined with the decrease in listings is a very welcome sign.

Although I’m very optomistic about the increase is sales it should be noted that Foreclosures and Short sales accounted for 135 of the 319 sales in June. That’s 40%. Short sales being 37 sold and foreclosures a wopping 98 sales.

Sales in May were 259 homes in Marion County. That’s a large increase over January at 142, February at 188, March at 220 and April at 229. This is a steady upward trend. Total listings are finally below 6,000 which is great news.

Of course the main reason for this increase in sales is that prices have gone down here in Marion county. The median home price fell 16% in 2008. More so in areas hard hit by foreclosures like The Shores, Marion Oaks, Rainbow Park, Rolling Hills and several others.

I’m seeing a huge increase in hits to my web site. I’m getting between 50 and 75 visitors a day. I think people are realizing that we are near the bottom of the market and now is the time to jump in and get a deal.

Sales in April were 229 homes in Marion County. That’s a large increase over January at 142, February at 188 and about the same as March which was 220. Total listings also dropped below 6,000 which is great news.
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OCALA HOMES SOLD IN FEBRUARY 2009

** Only homes listed & sold on the Ocala Marion county MLS. Does not include For Sale by Owner or Builders not listed on the MLS. Numbers subject to change due to late reports from Brokers.

  Note, sales for this period are from offers made 30 to 45 days earlier. This means that the holidays impacted sales and this accounts for the low total. Additionally there was a foreclosure moratorium during that time also.

  Active listing continue to go down as over priced sellers just give up. As I always say we will remain in a buyers market until active listings drop below 3,000 homes.

Ocala HOMES SOLD IN January 2009

According to the Ocala area MLS we sold 141 homes in January 2009. This number is low because most contracts take 30 to 45 days to close. That means all the closing in January came from offers written during the holidays from Thanksgiving to the end of December.

Of the 142 homes sold 59 were $100,000.00 and below. There are some very affordable houses in Ocala right now. Between $100K and $200K there were 61 sales, still very affordable.

If you are a seller you can see that most sales were below $200,000.00. Buyers are out there but they are mostly in the lower price ranges.

Foreclosures are still hot. During January they accounted for almost 30% of all sales.There were also 10 Short Sales. This is a fairly large number of Short sales that got to closing. I don’t know if banks are being more cooperative or if this was just an unusual month.

Inventory levels are about the same at around 6,500. This still gives us over 30 months of inventory and a severe buyers market.