Florida real estate news and opinion

Aug 16, 2008

Cost for construction climbing for Florida builders

Don Magruder, Vice President and General Manager of Ro-Mac Lumber and Supply Inc, reports in the July Whole House Commodity Index that building costs continue to climb in Florida.

This is bad news to home builders who are cautioned by Mr. Magruder to be careful when calculating their cost to build.

The cost index includes block, concrete, framing, trusses, drywall, windows, doors, garage doors, siding, insulation, and most of the accessories.

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Buyer's demand for new homes remain low during peak season

- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Homes for sale with 5 acres of land

Search for homes for sale

Where can you find a home with at least 5 acres of land for sale. In Central Florida you have several choices and locations. Homes for sale with at least 5 acres in the MLS as of today break down by county as:

Lake County - 158 homes on 5 acres
Seminole County - 50 homes on 5 acres
Osceola County - 42 homes on 5 acres
Volusia County - 41 homes on 5 acres
Orange - 19 homes on 5 acres

These statistics will change daily. In order to keep updated to homes that come on the market, call or email me to start receiving free lists of available property.

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- Greg staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Buying a home? What does the community offer?

Part of the selection process when looking for the right home to buy is considering what the home's community offers. What are your preferences when looking for the right community? What are the community features available?

The following are the top 5 community features being offered from the over 35,000 listings for sale in Central Florida:

Golf community
Gated community
Community playground
Community pool
Fitness

Additional available community features include; airport/runways, recreation buildings, horse stables, fishing piers and boa ramps.

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- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Seller disclosure: Termites & Wood rot

Sellers are required to disclose any material fact they know about their home to a potential buyer. This would include any information the seller would have regarding termites, pests, dry rot or any other wood destroying organism.

The seller should provide the following information:

Have you discovered termites, wood rot, pest or wood destroying organisms during the time you have owned the home?
Have you had any treatment or repaired damage caused by any of the above while you have owned the home?
Is your home under a licensed pest control warranty or bond?
If you have a warranty or bond, who is it with, is it transferable, is there a fee to transfer and is it a treatment or repair bond?
Are you in possession of or know of any WDO reports or treatment conducted on the property in the past 5 years?

A buyer should be interested in receiving this type of information from a seller when making the decision to buy the home. At Watson Realty, we require the seller to put what they know in writing whenever possible. This information is then passed on to any interested buyers.

Buying or selling a home is less stressful when the proper disclosures are made in a timely manner. Termite and wood rot disclosures are important disclosures a seller should make to any and all buyers interested in buying their home.

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- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Aug 14, 2008

Florida builders meet with Governor Crist

Robert Parrish, President of the Florida Home Builders Association, (FHBA), joined with other Florida business leaders this past week to discuss Florida's economy.

In a message released on FHBA's website, Mr. Parrish noted that in Florida:

81,000 construction jobs have been lost since June of last year.
Building permits are down 48 percent since this time last year.
Florida has a 22 month inventory of housing on the market

Mr. Parrish described Florida's building industry as needing antibiotics not aspirin and encouraged Governor Crist to:

Create a housing and construction task force.
Make emergency funds available for down payment assistance programs.
Stop the rampant increases in impact fees.
Investigate the problems created in the market by appraisers including short sales and foreclosed homes in their comps for evaluating the market value of other homes.

The FHBA encourages all to investigate opportunities to publicize the new $7,500 tax credit for first-time home buyers.

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- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Housing legislation will assist the aging

The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) praised the passing of HR3221 as the first new source of funding for affordable housing in almost 20 years.

“We celebrate the new possibilities now open for expanding the supply of affordable housing for America’s seniors,” said Larry Minnix, AAHSA’s president and CEO. “These provisions will help our members with so many of the problems they now face in building new supportive housing for older people and in preserving the existing supply of senior housing," Minnix added. "A decent place to live is the platform for delivery of services that can help our aging population stay at home and independent longer.”

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You are only as old as you feel.

- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Search for a home in 25 Florida counties

As a Florida Realtor using the MID- Florida MLS system, I have immediate access to listings of homes for sale in 25 Florida counties.

You can contact me to find out about homes, condos, land, commercial and investment property in the following Florida counties:

Alachua
Brevard
Citrus
Charlotte
Collier
DeSoto
Hillsborough
Hernando
Hardee
Highlands
Indian River
Lee
Lake
Marion
Manatee
Orange
Okeechobee
Osceola
Polk
Pinellas
Pasco
Sarasota
Seminole
Sumter
Volusia

If we help you find a home that is outside our normal market area, we will, at no cost to you, refer you to a qualified agent in the county where the home is located to assist you with your purchase.

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- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Florida home buyers buy block homes

MLS statistics for the Central Florida counties of Osceola, Lake, Orange, Seminole and Volusia indicate that the choice of the majority home buyers is a block built home.

Sales reported this year in the MLS indicate that of the 11,915 sales, and overwhelming 71% or 8,527 of the homes purchased were of block construction. Wood constructed homes were 2nd with 1,666 homes selling followed by 634 brick homes and 273 stone homes.

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- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Florida home buyers may qualify for tax credit

Search for homes

The new housing bill recently passed provides for a tax credit up to $7500. for first time home buyers. Florida home buyers who have never bought a home or have not purchased a home within the last 3 years are eligible for this tax credit.

Income limits are up to $75,000 for single individuals and up to $150,000 for married home buyers.

Florida home buyers can take advantage of this tax credit if they buy a home from April 9, 2008 to July 1, 2009.

If you would like to find out more about this first time home buyer tax credit or start looking for your first home, give me a call.