Investors Are Back! Why Is That A Good Thing?

If you ask most people, they'll tell you that investors drove prices up and caused the housing boom. Well, that's sort of correct.
At the beginning of the housing boom investors were purchasing properties and making wise business decisions, and then the "get rich quick" amateurs came in. These are the people who saw the profits that investors were making and wanted to cash in on a quick buck. They got 100% financing on properties they knew they could flip in a matter of days or weeks. That worked out great for them for a while but these first time investors didn't bother to stop and really look at what the market was doing. They only saw dollar signs. Before the market reached its peak, the true investors had pretty much left the market and were sitting in the corner counting their money. In my opinion, these amateurs actually gave investors a bad name.
A seasoned investor will analyze their decisions and can tell you how much appreciation is expected and depending upon the market, how much rental income they can expect to receive from the property. These seasoned investors have waited their turn and are now coming back. They may be seen as vultures but a lot of times they're the only ones willing to buy the dilapidated houses and fix them up. They are once again making calculated decisions as to repairs costs, potential rental income and eventual appreciation.
As a REALTOR, I see investors as a good indicator of the market. Since investors constantly watch the market they typically can see the rise and fall of the real estate market before it actually happens. Right now, investors are seeing that it's a good time to find great deals, fix the property and rent it out until the market allows enough profit to sell it.
So, next time you're having a conversation about the cause of the real estate crisis just stop and think about whether the blame should really fall on the seasoned investors.

Five Reasons to Buy a Home Now... Plus a Couple More!

Recently, ForSaleByOwner.com wrote an article, Five Surprising Reasons to Buy a Home Now.  It's a great list but not all that "surprising".  Don't get me wrong, it's definitely worth reading but I would like to point out some additional reasons which are a little more locally driven.

• The inventory of homes on the market has come down drastically in the last couple of years.  This is a good indication that we're sitting at the bottom of the market. 
• New home builders are building inventory homes again.  We are seeing builders like Southern Crafted Homes and Lennar clearing land and pouring foundations.  We also have had several builders move in which are new to the area like Home Dynamics and Minto.
• New home builders are offering great incentives.  Each builder offers different incentives but we're seeing $5,000 incentives for active military personnel, 30-year fixed rate financing in the 3.5% - 4% range and lots of free upgrades.
• As of September 1st, some of the appraisal issues we've have been dealing with should go away.  New regulations will take effect which should stop the undervaluing of homes which have been caused pending sales to fall apart.

If you've been waiting for the right opportunity to invest in a new home, now really is the time!

Featured Community - Concord Station

Concord Station is a master planned new home community located in Land O' Lakes.  It is conveniently located close to the Suncoast Parkway and US 41 for easy access to Tampa and Tampa Bay beaches.

The community features on-site schools, community parks, conservation areas, ponds and a 5,000 square foot clubhouse.  Inside the clubhouse are numerous luxuries including a fitness center, a billiards room, multi-purpose space, a catering kitchen, an office and a lounge.  Outside is a 5,000 square foot resort-style swimming pool, tennis and basketball courts.

With a new section recently opened, Concord Station offers inventory homes as well as to-be-built homes.  The pricing for the community ranges from the mid $100s to the high $200s.

Call (813) 317-4300 today to find out about the incredible deals available and financing specials being offered.

New Guidelines for Short Sales

As of April 5th, lenders have new guidelines for the short sale process.  These new guidelines have been put in place in an attempt to speed up the process which can take an average of 4-6 months.  Along with speeding the process, the new guidelines also offer monetary incentives to both the banks and the homeowner. 

While not all the details are included, Reuters wrote a great article that highlights the key points of the policy.

If only I had $12 million dollars!

Generally, I do updates on our market averages and the foreclosure situation in the Tampa Bay area.  Today I decided to show the high end of the Tampa Bay real estate market.  There are currently 30 homes for sale in Tampa Bay (Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco County) which have an asking price of $5 million or higher with the most expensive being $18 million.

One of my favorites is this gorgeous $12 million Tarpon Springs estate home nestled on 28 acres.  This three story home boasts a spacious 28,000 square feet.  The home features a full bar, movie theater, spa, wine cellar, cigar room and an amazing outdoor kitchen.  If all that's not enough to keep you entertained, there is also a resort style pool, tennis and volleyball courts.  Your overnight visitors won't want to leave once they see the 4,900 square foot guest house.

Click here to see some of the other 30 estate homes available.

 Listing and photos courtesy of Engel and Volkers Clearwater

Time is running out to get your tax credit!

For most, if you're looking to cash in on the tax credit you must be under contract by April 30th and close by June 30th.  With all the short sales on the market you may think that you're already out of time.  Not true!

Currently, there are 5,284 homes for sale in the Tampa Bay area which are not short sales.  These are either regular or bank owned properties which can still go under contract and close in time for the tax credit.  Out of those homes 2,283 are under $200,000.

Previously I mentioned that for "most" time is running out.  There are special rules for members of the military, foreign service and the intelligence community.  The tax credit has been extended for qualified services members until April 30, 2011.  For more information please visit http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/service_mem.php.

If you would like to find out which homes are available in your area call me at (813) 317-4300 or send me an email at Homes@LyndieHouse.com.

Land O' Lakes / Lutz Commercial Updates

There are a couple of changes and updates in the Pasco County area.

Let's start with the opening of the new Wal-Mart in Lutz.  It's located in the apex of 41 and Dale Mabry and officially opened Wednesday.  This new Super Wal-Mart will take take over for the old Wal-Mart located on SR 54.

Also, driving down SR 54 in Land O' Lakes you may notice construction has started for the new T. Rowe Price building across from the new Publix.  The land is being leveled and prepped for construction and a sign is posted for the future T. Rowe Price building.

A little further down SR 54 in Trinity, construction is still moving along for the new hospital at Little Road.  The steel framing is now up on all five stories.  Construction began in June of 2006 and is expected to be completed in late 2011.  The main hospital is planned to be 400,000+ square feet with 236 private beds.  There is also a three story 90,000 square foot medical office building planned.

All three of these projects have great benefits for the Pasco area in providing more jobs and housing needs.

Information compiled with assistance from Prudential Commercial Real Estate.  All information acquired through public sources and subject to change.

Changes coming to Pasco County

Not long ago the Lutz/Land O' Lakes area saw the opening of two new malls and a new Super Target. Now even more changes are on the horizon for the area.

A new building has popped up in the apex between 41 and Dale Mabry near county line road in Lutz. This new building will eventually sport the Wal-Mart logo. Most of the exterior of the building is complete with work taking place on the parking lot, road work for entrances and the interior.

Parents of Wiregrass High School or John Long Middle School students are especially thankful for the new SR 56 extension. The extension is now open and continues SR 56 past Wiregrass Mall to allow for a second entrance to Wiregrass HS and John Long Middle.

Word on the street is that Wesley Chapel is expected see more big changes coming over the next few years. The first should be the expansion of Bruce B. Downs Blvd from two to four lanes between SR 56 and SR 54. This will allow access for the new Wesley Chapel Hospital which is rumored to start at the end of the year. Another big project in the works is The Plex, a 470,000 sq. ft. sports and entertainment complex planned adjacent to The Grove. The Plex is expected to start in the winter of 2010 and bring approximately 250 new full time jobs to the area. Once completed, The Plex will include 3 hockey rinks, 36 bowling lanes, an indoor water park, laser tag and rock climbing.

As a Tampa native, I have see Land O' Lakes grow from the swamps while New Tampa/Wesley Chapel emerged from orange groves and cow pastures. It'll be interesting to see how Lutz, Land O' Lakes and Wesley Chapel develop over the next few years.

List compiled with assistance from Prudential Commercial Real Estate.

Cypress Creek Mall... On Again!

It appears that we may see the bulldozers again at the Cypress Creek Mall site in Lutz. Construction was halted in February 2008 when the developer's wetlands permit was suspended for releasing turbid stormwater into Cypress Creek, nearby wetlands and stormwater retention ponds on the site. In a September 3rd statement, The Army Corp of Engineers announced that their investigation determined this to have been human error rather than the design of the project.

With the explosive population increase in Land O' Lakes and Wesley Chapel, the mall will bring much needed jobs and revenue to the area. Once completed, the mall is expected to create almost 4,000 jobs, an annual revenue of $6 million for Pasco County and $2.4 million for the Pasco County school system.

For more information on the project read this article from the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

Builders are still building? Who would possibly buy from them?

Believe it or not, builders are still building through out Tampa, Brandon, Land O' Lakes and Wesley Chapel. Not only are they still building spec homes but there are buyers that are having homes built from the ground up! Why would a buyer possibly what to have a home built rather than buy a "used" home on the market? There are plenty of reasons, some personal and some financially driven.

On the personal side, some people just like the idea that they can add their own little touches such as tile/carpet color, cabinet style, etc and even pick which lot the home will be built on. Some buyers also like the thought that they are the first ones to live in the home.

Financially speaking, the builders are offering killer incentives here in the Tampa Bay area. They are offering things such as pricing incentives, appliance packages, design center upgrades and even free pools. Some buyers are asking themselves, "why should I buy a pre-foreclosure that needs repairs when I could buy new for just a little more?". Also, with the $8,000 tax credit it's getting too late to buy some of the pre-foreclosure properties. The tax credit deadline could expire before the home closes.

Whether to buy new or save a little and buy a resale home is a personal preference that each buyer has to decide for themselves. Once you do make that decision be sure to find a good REALTOR that knows the area and can help you determine which community would work best for you. With so many builders and opportunities throughout Tampa Bay you also want to ensure that you're getting the best incentives on the market. It doesn't cost you any more to bring a REALTOR with you, it could actually cost you less.

$8,000 Tax Credit for Down Payment

The deadline for the $8,000 tax credit is quickly approaching and the state has approved doing short term loans so that the tax credit can be used for your down payment but where is the money?

While the state has approved doing the short term loans, each county is responsible for managing the money that's been allocated for these loans. The problem is that each individual county must set up guidelines for loaning the money as well as for collecting the money at the end of the loan. This has been a slow process that most counties haven't yet completed. Since each county will have different guidelines it is also imperative that a homebuyer select their desired county to live in early in the process.

One set of guidelines that we have been given is for Pasco County. In order to qualify for the "Florida Homebuyer Opportunity Program" the homebuyer must first take a Homebuyers Class prior to signing a contract. Once a contract is signed the buyer must go through the approval process with a lender then they must be approved by the county. After approval by the county, it will take five days to receive a check. Because of all these steps it will be a lengthy process from start to finish.

The problem with the delay in setting up these guidelines and the lengthy process in the guidelines which have been established is that the deadline to purchase is quickly approaching. A homebuyer only has three months in which to go through a Homebuyers Class, find a home, apply for a mortgage, wait for the lender's approval and then to apply for the county money. That's assuming that you're considering purchasing in a county which has already set up the guidelines.

Tampa Bay Market Update

We're half way through the year and have had lots of statistics to check out. After scouring over all the stats, there are some encouraging signs out there for the Tampa Bay area. We pull our numbers for the entire area for a better understanding of how our market is affected.

One of the major factors that indicates whether we are in a buyer's market or a seller's market is "Months Supply of Homes". Basically this means that if no more properties come on the market today, how many months would it take to sell off our existing inventory based upon the current rate of sales. Ideally you don't want the leverage to be too heavy for buyers or sellers. In the past few years it's obviously been leaning very much to the buyers advantage. The latest trends have the Tampa Bay market down to a 10.61 month supply of homes. While this seems like a very high number to most, it's fallen from 18.82 in January. It was on a strong decline for the first few months of the year and has tapered off some recently but has still been on a decline every month. This is very encouraging news and hopefully will continue on this same trend.

This doesn't mean we're out of the housing decline by any means. We still have a long way to go and there are indications of another wave of foreclosures on the horizon. All we can do is wait and see at this point and continue watching the numbers to see where we've been and where we're going.

Now's The Time To Buy... Find Out Why

You've been hearing that phrase a lot lately, mostly from REALTORS. Well, your banker, Donald Trump and the President have all said it too. Now NY Times Best Selling author, David Bach, explains why this really is the best time to buy.

Smart Homeowners Are Buying Now by David Bach

Update - $8k Tax Credit

The recently passed $8,000 Tax Credit Down Payment Assistance program passed by the State of Florida seemed doomed when FHA announced that the assistance program could not be used as down payment. The program isn't doomed but FHA has set some guidelines.

You still must have 3.5% of your own funds (or funds gifted from family members) to put toward the down payment. However, the $8,000 tax credit can be used toward closing costs, interest rate buy down or as additional down payment above the 3.5% required. This will still help those individuals who could come up with a portion of the funds needed but couldn't come up with 3.5% AND closing costs. Let's face it, when you're buying your first home you can use all the help you can get.

The Down Payment Assistance program should start some time in July (no definite date has been set yet). Just remember that in order to qualify for the $8,000 tax credit the home must be purchased by December 1, 2009.

New Info on Down Payment Assistance Using $8k Tax Credit

WASHINGTON – May 29, 2009 – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released more details today about its program to help first-time home buyers use a tax credit as part of a down payment.

HUD announced the program on May 12 at the National Association of Realtors® Housing Summit. In the interim, HUD posted an announcement and then immediately took it down, leading to speculation that the program would be pulled. In response, HUD said the rules had simply not been finalized, and the original announcement had been posted in error.

“We’ve been eager for word from the federal government since the new FHA downpayment assistance plan was announced, and even more so after the program details were first published and then quickly pulled,” says John Sebree, FAR vice president of public policy. “Luckily, that turns out to be a minor setback and there will be a federal downpayment program to complement the $30 million we were successful in securing in the Florida budget.”

The most significant change involves the amount of downpayment required by qualified first-time homebuyers. FHA mortgages require a 3.5 percent downpayment, and the $8,000 tax credit cannot be used to override that requirement. Once the 3.5 percent downpayment requirement has been met, however, the tax credit can be applied to additional costs, including a higher downpayment, paying points to lower the mortgage rate, and/or closing costs. Lenders will treat the tax credit money as a second lien on the home until it’s paid back.

“Mortgage industry leaders have indicated that this type of product may not be immediately available to consumers,” says Sebree. Since lenders will oversee the tax credit loan, they must create internal programs to handle the process.

Now is the time... Time Magazine & Trump agree!

Time magazine recently posted an article, "Recession Shopping: 10 Things To Buy Right Now" and included along with cars and stocks is housing!

During recent interview with Goodmorning America, Donald Trump was asked about the housing market. Trump's advice today is, "This is a great time to go out and buy a home".

Do you see the trend? With home prices dropping up to 50% in some areas, interest rates at record lows and up to an $8,000 tax incentive for home buyers that haven't owned a home for the last three years, now really is the time to buy. You can find brand new homes in Land O' Lakes, Lutz and Wesley Chapel in the low to mid $100k's and resale homes are even cheaper. It's time to get off the fence and into a home.

Locked In... A New Issue In Our Market.

A few years ago we were concerned that individuals that had been in their homes for many years and had taken advantage of the homestead exemption and Amendment 10 were locked into their homes because of increasing taxes. Thanks to Gov. Charlie Christ, a solution came about called "Portability" which enabled homeowners to sell their homes and carry their tax savings with them to their new home.

Today we have a similar problem. Homeowners are being locked into their homes because of declining home values. I have been told by several appraisers that if foreclosures are the only thing selling in a community for the past 3 months then that is what they must appraise all the properties on. This process could reduce a home's value by 40-50%. To further hinder the process, lenders are selecting appraisers which may not be from the area. A local appraiser knows exactly what's going on in their market and which communities are similar so that they use them for comparable sales. Regional appraisers will either use only properties from the same community or will use properties from another community that is close in proximity but not similar in style and amenities.

Essentially, this is increasing the number of "short sale" properties on the market. A homeowner may be willing lose the 20-30% equity that they have in their home in order to sell but can't afford to sell once the value has dropped 50%. At that point, their choice is to either stay in the home if they can or to do a "short sale".

Unfortunately, there's not easy solution to this problem. If you are selling your home (and it's not a foreclosure situation), you have the right to write into the contract that a local appraiser must be used. While this doesn't guarantee a good appraisal, it will at least increase your chances.

Group Challenges T. Rowe Price Move

Financial giant, T. Rowe Price, is moving their operations from Tampa and one of the locations they are considering is Land O' Lakes. This move could potentially bring more than 1,600 jobs to Pasco County. Sounds great, right? A local environmental group doesn't thing so.

Citizens for Sanity, Pasco County's home-grown environmental group, has challenged the development permit T. Rowe Price received from the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Their complaint is that of the 94 acres of land that T. Rowe Price plans to development, 1 acre of the land is wetlands.

So, essentially Citizens for Sanity is willing to trade 1,600 jobs for 1 acre of wetlands. The T. Rowe Price move would bring jobs, home buyers and additional people spending money in our restaurants and other local businesses. Call me insane but I think 1 acre of wetlands is a pretty good trade off in a county that has a large amount of wetlands.

Land O' Lakes Developer Is Looking For A Lifeline

DADE CITY - Summit View is 135 acres of dirt and weeds on the west side of Dade City. Zoned for more than 400 homes, it stalled years ago when Pasco County's housing market collapsed.

So imagine the surprise at city hall when the developers strolled in and told planning officials they were ready to move forward.

"They came into our office in December and said they wanted to resubmit the plat for approval," City Attorney Karla Owens said. "They said they're going to start building soon, and they think they can sell houses up there."

City commissioners approved the plat, but they likely will be waiting years before any new homes pop up on Happy Hill Road.

Getting the plat approved was a strategic move by developer Douglas Weiland to get a cash infusion for his beleaguered company, JES Properties. JES has a $19.4 million contract with Standard Pacific for Summit View.

"One of my contractual obligations was to get the plat approved," Weiland said. "Standard Pacific had a deadline to make a milestone payment in March."

During Pasco's real estate boom, the former spinal surgeon bought hundreds of acres of empty land, from Odessa to east Pasco, for development.

He borrowed heavily, planning to sell the land quickly to other builders. When the real estate bubble burst, though, and the banking industry collapsed behind it, Weiland found himself mired in debt with few options for getting out.

Weiland received a foreclosure notice Thursday for Ashley Glen, a 260-acre site at State Road 54 and the Suncoast Parkway where he planned to build a 1.8 million-square-foot office complex supporters see as a magnet for high-wage employers.

He has virtually abandoned a residential project south of Zephyrhills on U.S. 301 and another north of Plant City in Hillsborough County.

Now, Weiland is banking on contracts with homebuilder Standard Pacific and apartment builder Wood Properties to provide a lifeline for his company, despite the fact that residential developers have walked away from him before.

Read the rest of the story...

Courtesy of TBO.com

Which Loan Is Right For You? Part One... USDA - Rural Housing

This is the first of a three part post on different loan options that are available.
The first loan is one that very few real estate agents even know about but that is becoming increasingly more popular. Through the USDA (yeah, that's right the guys that put the stamp on meats) there is a program set up called the Rural Housing Service. This federal program is aimed at helping develop rural areas and you might be surprised at what they consider "rural areas".

The program is available in Pasco and Hillsborough counties. The limitation is that the home must be in specific geographic areas, defined mainly by population. In Pasco County that includes areas east of the Suncoast Parkway (Land O' Lakes, Wesley Chapel, etc.) and in Hillsborough, areas beyond Brandon and outside Plant City (Riverview, Lithia, etc.). However, counties such as Pinellas have become too urbanized to get assistance from the program. The program is fairly easy to qualify for but are income limits and it can only be for a primary residence.

Be sure to check out tomorrow's blog for part two of this three part series.