jimfree.com

During the past 20 months we have been reducing our inventory at a pace of about 111 units per month. We have 1,267 units still on the market, which would be almost a 12-month inventory if we continued at the same pace. A lot of this is perception and once the buyers are convinced we have reached the bottom the inventory could evaporate in a hurry. The event that could trigger a large number of sales will be the opening of the new airport in mid May. The FAA has just completed their testing of the Instrument Landing System and it looks like the terminal is ahead of schedule.

We follow Polynomial Trend Lines on all the complexes and have actually seen some of the sales figures turn positive. It is two early to know if those trends will continue for the next few months but I believe they will. We keep hearing about a “shadow inventory” which some say is the Lenders holding foreclosures and other owners wanting to sell but are waiting for the market to turn.

My advice to buyers is to buy now while there are still several distressed properties available at great prices. MY advice to sellers that don’t have to sell is to hold for a few months.

Crooks that are offering to get the owner out of a jam if they will just pay them a few thousand dollars upfront have scammed a lot of owners that have found themselves in a distressed situation. If you need help contact a real estate agent that is a member of the National Association of Realtors and holds the SFR Certification.

Jim Free Realty
02/01/2010

ORLANDO, Fla. – Jan. 25, 2010 – Florida’s existing home sales rose in December, marking 16 months that sales activity has increased in the year-to-year comparison, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®.

Existing home sales rose 33 percent last month with a total of 14,630 homes sold statewide compared to 11,013 homes sold in December 2008, according to Florida Realtors. Statewide existing home sales last month increased 4.3 percent over statewide sales activity in November.

Florida Realtors also reported a 91 percent increase in statewide sales of existing condos in December compared to the previous year’s sales figure; statewide existing condo sales last month rose 22 percent over the total units sold in November.

Seventeen of Florida’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) reported increased existing home sales and higher condo sales in December. A majority of the state’s MSAs have reported increased sales for 18 consecutive months.

Florida’s median sales price for existing homes last month was $140,400; a year ago, it was $155,300 for a 10 percent decrease. Housing industry analysts with the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) note that sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less.

The national median sales price for existing single-family homes in November 2009 was $171,900, down 4.4 percent from a year earlier, according to NAR. In California, the statewide median resales price was $304,520 in November; in Massachusetts, it was $285,000; in Maryland, it was $245,569; and in New York, it was $210,000.

According to NAR’s latest outlook, home sales are seeing a boost from the federal homebuyer tax credit. “There are many more potential buyers who can enter the market in the months ahead,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Activity should ramp up for another surge in the spring when buyers take advantage of the expanded tax credit, which hopefully will take us into a self-sustaining market in the second half of 2010. In all, 4.4 million households are expected to claim the tax credit before it expires, and balance should be restored to the housing sector with inventories continuing to decline.”

In Florida’s year-to-year comparison for condos, 5,968 units sold statewide last month compared to 3,132 units in December 2008 for an increase of 91 percent. The statewide existing condo median sales price last month was $107,000; in December 2008 it was $130,300 for an 18 percent decrease. The national median existing condo price was $178,000 in November 2009, according to NAR.

Interest rates for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.93 percent last month, significantly lower than the average rate of 5.29 percent in December 2008, according to Freddie Mac. Florida Realtors’ sales figures reflect closings, which typically occur 30 to 90 days after sales contracts are written.

Among the state’s larger markets, the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton MSA reported a total of 849 homes sold in December compared to 638 homes a year earlier for a 33 percent increase. The market’s existing home median sales price last month was $247,900; a year ago it was $246,000 for an increase of 1 percent. A total of 763 condos sold in the MSA in December, up 45 percent over the 527 units sold in December 2008. The existing condo median price last month was $111,400; a year earlier, it was $112,900 for a decrease of 1 percent.

Related: Dec. existing-home sales down, prices rise; 2009 sales up, says NAR

© 2010 Florida Realtors®

SCARLET SIMS / News Herald Writer
WEST BAY — Just after 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, a Beechcraft King Air BE-300 aircraft swooped low over the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, running tests on equipment that could make the difference between a smooth landing and a crash.

An FAA pilot, co-pilot and specialized technician flew above the airport to calibrate and check navigational equipment.

“It’s all safety-related,” said Bill Holman, airport relocation manager. “It’s a very exhaustive process.”

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began testing flight operations equipment at the new airport Tuesday and will spend 13 hours in the air over a two-day period. About nine FAA employees are making sure what Holman calls an “electronic road map” for airplanes works perfectly.

The FAA inspection is among several certifications the new airport needs before opening May 23, officials said.

“This is just one inspection of one component of many more to come,” Holman said.

See a photo gallery of the runway test and inside the new airport >>

On Tuesday, FAA officials looked at components such as vertical and horizontal landing indicators and Precision Approach Path Indicator lights that show pilots whether they are coming in too low or high, Holman said.

This week’s tests are important, officials said, but the FAA also runs these tests routinely. FAA has 28 aircrafts used to monitor flight equipment at airports nationwide. Teams evaluate more than 5,500 facilities worldwide, averaging 20,000 flight hours annually, according to the FAA Web site. The cost for the new airport’s inspection is part of the FAA’s budget, Bergen said.

As of Tuesday morning, FAA had found no problems, Holman said. If everything goes well, results would be published in April. The next major certification will happen when the airport turns over the control tower to the FAA in February, Holman said.

Certifications are required for multiple aspects of the airport, Curtis said over the phone. The FAA is involved in everything from broadband frequencies to final questions about the runway, Holman said. Tests this week do not look at the runway, only the flight navigation equipment, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

Holman said the FAA can ask for touchdown tests, but none are planned so far. Bergen wrote in an e-mail Tuesday the Airport Authority is required to meet certain engineering design standards on a runway and run an acceptance test upon completion. Tests on Tuesday did not require an actual touchdown.

Meanwhile, construction crews moved dirt and equipment, installed lights and worked on final touch ups on the runway. Officials expect the airport to open as scheduled. Moving an entire airport is complex, but Holman believes the plan will work.

“We’re at a point in time where a lot of things will happen and happen rapidly,” Holman said. “Are we in good shape to make May 23? Absolutely. We are very confident.”

Investor Report: Florida Condos
by Kenneth R. Harney
Good news: Investors and condo sellers in Florida could be major beneficiaries of a new policy by Fannie Mae that’s designed to provide more mortgage money to stimulate sales.

Last week Fannie announced an easing of its tough previous rules on spot loans in dozens of condo projects throughout Florida, including 51 buildings in the hard-hit Miami area with more than 17,000 units.

Fannie Mae said it would now provide “special approvals” for loans on units in condo projects that otherwise wouldn’t qualify for financing because of a variety of issues — from excessive unpaid condo association fees to high concentrations of investor units.

The company also said it is dispatching a team of analysts who will look at condo projects throughout the state to determine whether to grant exceptions to its rules – and pump up sales volume.

The idea, said a Fannie official, is to provide liquidity to depressed condo markets where combinations of problems – speculative overbuilding, walkaways by earlier buyers abandoning sales contracts, tanking prices and financially-troubled condo associations – have created crisis conditions for real estate activity.

Realtors generally reacted positively to Fannie’s switch. Moe Viessi, owner of Viessi & Associates in Miami, told Realty Times last week that “easing up on spot loans will help greatly.”

Combined with the $6,500 tax credit for repeat buyers and the $8,000 credit for first time purchasers, he said, “I think this will generate a real opportunity” to move condo units that otherwise would sit unsold.

Investors who bought multiple-unit blocks of condos within the past year at deep-discount, wholesale prices should also get a major new resource. Rather than having to hold their units as rentals for extended periods of time before selling, they will now have the possibility of selling at a profit – essentially short term flips — because financing is more readily available to retail purchasers.

“No question this will be great news to investors who managed to get in low,” said Jack McCabe of McCabe Research Associates of Deerfield Beach, a condo market feasibility expert.

But not all Miami area condo experts agree that Fannie’s new special approval program will make a big splash. Peter Zalewski, founder and principal of Condo Vultures, a brokerage and investment advisory firm based in Bal Harbour, says 80 to 90 percent of his clients are all-cash buyers, mainly from foreign countries.

Bottom line for investors: Check out Fannie’s list of eligible buildings and its “special approval” rules on www.efanniemae.com. Talk to local lenders who may find that units in buildings that previously were unacceptable to Fannie Mae, now make the grade.

Published: January 15, 2010

New rules could speed short sales of distressed homes

WASHINGTON – Jan. 12, 2010 – The federal government is setting guidelines for short sales of homes, giving lenders a 10-day limit to respond to offers, freeing borrowers from debt and providing financial incentives to lenders.

The new rules seek to address the many criticisms of short sales and figure to play a significant role in South Florida, where distressed properties dominate the market as the housing slump meanders into a fifth year.

“The cloud could be lifted,” said Domenic Faro of the Fort Lauderdale Real Estate firm. “This could bring us back to some normalcy.”

In a short sale, the homeowner unloads the property for less than what’s owed on the mortgage, and the lender forgives the difference. Nearly half of all single-family mortgage holders in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties are “under water,” meaning they owe more than their homes are worth, according to third-quarter data from Zillow.com, a Seattle-based real estate firm.

While short sales are considered the perfect solution for “underwater” homeowners on the verge of foreclosure, the deals often drag on as lenders take weeks or months to respond to offers. Frustrated buyers walk away during the delays. In some cases, lenders insist that borrowers share in the financial loss, holding up the transactions even longer.

To speed up the process, the U.S. Treasury is calling for lenders to respond to short sale offers within 10 business days. Sellers are eligible for $1,500 moving allowances, and they will not be on the hook for repayment of any debt.

Also, lenders will get $1,000 to cover administrative and processing costs, while investors owning the mortgages will receive a maximum $1,000 for allowing up to $3,000 in short sale proceeds to be distributed to less senior lenders. Loan servicers participating in the Obama Administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program are required to follow the guidelines.

The rules do not specifically apply to loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, which represent about half of all U.S. mortgage debt. The two government-run mortgage companies are working to finalize their own guidelines.

The Treasury plan, which must be implemented by lenders no later than April, is meant to help sellers like Dawn Sclafani, who has been waiting since October for her lender to approve a short sale offer on her Margate home. A buyer has offered $155,000, and she owes $233,000.

Sclafani, a 50-year-old psychologist, said she’s eager for the bank to approve the deal so she can put the experience behind her.

“I want to move on … but I can’t until somebody gives me permission to,” she said. “I’ve heard that this is a horrendous process. The banks are just not very cooperative. I do believe these new rules will help.”

U.S. Rep Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, agrees, saying the guidelines are meant to make short sales “a more usable tool.” Klein points out the rules provide standardized paperwork for all short sales and give buyers and sellers a more reasonable time frame for whether or not the sales will happen.

But Klein and others say the government may have to increase the financial incentives. The $3,000 cap on short sale proceeds is not sitting well with second lien holders, who have been demanding more money from sellers, the first lenders and real estate agents in exchange for releasing their claims and allowing the short sales to proceed.

“This is a great program if all these mortgages had only one lien holder,” said Travis Hamel Olsen, chief operating officer for Loan Resolution Corp., an Arizona company that helps lenders complete short sales. “But many of these properties have two liens.”

Meanwhile, some local real estate agents remain skeptical of the guidelines.

Broward County agent Ron Rosen, who urged Klein last summer to push for new regulations, said he thinks “the banks will still play their little games with people and make life difficult for everyone.”

Edward Goldfarb of RE/MAX PowerPro Realty in Davie doubts the Treasury will enforce the new rules. “There’s no teeth to them,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the Treasury says it will hand down “substantial” penalties to lenders that don’t comply. They can include the withholding or reduction of payments and requiring improperly rejected loans to be modified.

Lenders have blamed short sale delays on the complicated nature of the transactions, sheer numbers of deals and on borrowers who don’t submit proper paperwork in a timely manner.

In many cases, the banks are not to blame, said Ward Kellogg, chief executive of Boca Raton-based Paradise Bank. Still, he thinks the guidelines are necessary to force lenders to clear the market of so many distressed properties.

“I think the pressure on (the banks) is a good thing,” Kellogg said.

Copyright © 2010 Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Paul Owers. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Fannie to ease condo mortgage restrictions

WASHINGTON – Jan. 8, 2010 – Fannie Mae announced yesterday that it would comprehensively review hundreds of condominium projects in Florida. Through a new “Special Approval” designation, Fannie hopes to streamline mortgage approvals for projects that don’t currently fit Fannie Mae guidelines even though they present limited risk to the company.

Florida Realtors strongly urged Fannie Mae to revisit its lending program in the condo market, and it consulted a number of Florida Realtors as it developed the program, including Florida Realtors® Vice President Summer Greene, regional manager with Prudential Florida 1st Realty in Fort Lauderdale.

“This is good news for Florida and a step in the right direction for the state’s condominium market,” Greene says. “Hopefully, with the special approval designation process, we can begin to get our condo inventories reduced and absorbed as more condo buyers receive a green light from lenders for loans. This will help boost confidence in the market.”

Fannie Mae and its cousin, Freddie Mac, back more than half of all U.S. mortgages. As the Fannie Mae initiative develops and gains momentum, Greene hopes it provides incentive for Freddie Mac to follow suit.

While Fannie Mae currently has boilerplate guidelines for approving condo loans, it will sometimes grant a mortgage to a non-conforming condo if requested by a lender. The Special Approval designation takes that a step further by approving exceptions before a lender request has been submitted.

A dedicated team of six Fannie Mae professionals based in Florida will now examine statewide condominium projects that may not currently meet Fannie Mae’s standard eligibility criteria and assessing specific criteria more closely. The team will look at a condo project’s occupancy level, association dues, financial stability and property condition. If a project is deemed sufficiently stable following a closer examination, it will be granted the Special Approval designation, freeing lenders to originate and deliver mortgage loans secured by Fannie Mae. Projects deemed eligible will be listed on www.eFannieMae.com, and qualified borrowers will be eligible for financing.

“NAR applauds Fannie Mae for taking this important step to make condo loans more readily available in Florida,” says Moe Veissi, National Association of Realtors® first vice president and broker-owner of Veissi & Associates Inc. in Miami. “Our state is probably the hardest-hit as far as the condo market is concerned, and Fannie Mae’s new effort to take a closer look at project eligibility could go a long way to putting projects back on a healthy financial track.”

A Special Approval designation will be effective for a period between 9 and 18 months, and lenders must confirm a project’s Special Approval designation on the date of the loan application. The Special Approval initiative applies to established condominium projects only.

© 2010 Florida Realtors®

Airport looks ahead to new industry // PHOTOS
Comments 27 | Recommend 5
January 06, 2010 07:10:00 AM
PAT KELLY / News Herald Writer
WEST BAY — The company hired by Airport Authority board members to develop the land around the new airport’s runway near West Bay has a new Web site and is moving forward with development plans.

Although reluctant to list specific business names, authority chairman Joe Tannehill said Tuesday that Jones Lang LeSalle had developed a sheaf of companies in the aerospace, aviation and distribution industries and was actively pursuing them.

“I have seen a list of some of the people they are going after,” Tannehill said. “It’s a pretty comprehensive list.”

Richard Norton, Jones Lang LaSalle vice president, said Tuesday the company had developed an inventory of 1,000 prospects, including 10 to 15 of what he called “warm leads” that would be most interested in locating near the new $318 million Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.

“It is a good amount of interest given the short time we’ve had to market the property,” he said. Announcements could come by the end of the year, he said.

In a recent news release, the company said “air freight carriers, manufacturers, distributors and other aviation-related users have a rare occasion for greenfield ‘inside the fence’ development opportunities at Florida’s first truly green airport.”

The new Web site, www.jllnewflairport.com, paints a development picture of 1,400 acres surrounding a 10,000-foot runway with “highly flexible parcel sizes and zoning regulations.” The runway is capable of expansion to 12,000 feet.

The Web site gives high priority to the airport’s effort to be environmentally friendly and says “site topography … is relatively flat and located beyond all hurricane surge zones.”

In addition, the airport has applied for Foreign Trade Zone status, which is a tariff and tax relief program designed to lower the costs of U.S.-based operations engaged in international trade.

Jones Lang LeSalle, thought of as a “master developer” because of its national and global connections, was hired to manage and market the industrial and commercial development of the 1,400 acres surrounding the new airport, beating out several other high-profile companies.

The St. Joe Co., Northwest Florida’s largest landowner and the company that donated the airport’s land, has its own plans for developing 1,000 acres of St. Joe property near the airport’s entrance that include industries not so “tarmac-related,” such as industrial, commercial and services-related.

Janet Watermeier, executive director of the Bay County Economic Development Alliance, said Tuesday that officials with Jones Lang LeSalle, the EDA and St. Joe have been “working as a team” to bring new industry to Bay County’s new airport.

“All these areas are going to attract any industry that wants to be near an airport,” she said, including aircraft assembly, maintenance and overhaul companies and other businesses that want to service the traffic to and from the airport.

Much of the land slated for industrial development still must go through what Watermeier called “the environmental approval process” for the correct permits. “They are in that process right now,” she said.