Selling Poinciana One Property at a Time.: March 2010

Yes it has. In fact the start of the decline in my area, Central Florida, was May 2006.

Here is my very first article I posted on ActiveRain back in July of 2006.

Has the bubble burst? Or is it just slowly deflating?

(This post has not been edited in anyway since I first wrote it)

My market area is Poinciana one of the fastest growing PUDs in the country located in  Kissimmee, Fl.  As of this morning there were 1434 homes on the market in our two zip codes ranging from $135,000 to $650,000. Twelve months ago there were approximately 250 homes on the market. Where have all the Buyers gone? Have they floated away? Or are they just letting out a deep breath after a hectic buying frenzy? Based on what I am seeing they are still here but spending more time weeding through all the overpriced properties trying to locate the Sellers that need to sale.

Poinciana like many other markets of affordable housing and strong rentals is over saturated with Investor owned properties. Investors who got into the game to late. Their initial plan of purchasing and flipping for a quick profit has now flopped. Their overpriced properties are easy to spot. The "For Sale" sign is sun baked and askew. The wildlife is running rampant through the jungle like yard. There are still lock boxes on the front door, garage door, water spicket, chain link fence and back door from Realtors who have tried and failed.

As you pull up with your Buyers to show this "Brand new, cute doll house in excellent condition. Priced to sale!" with the "Motivated Seller. Bring all offers." the hostile neighbors armed with gardening tools confront you wanting the grass mowed and the garbage picked up. The Buyers wisely stay in the car and politely yell out the window "Think we'll pass on this one". Hey, they are in hurry there are 75 properties that meet their parameters and they want to see them all.  So after a quick stop at the CITCO to put another $95 worth of gas in my SUV we head on down the road to the next "Pride of ownership shows" listing.  To be continued.........................

Want to be a landlord? If you answered "yes" then my next questions is ...Why? Why deal with collecting rents and tenant issues. Why let property taxes, insurance, management fees and repair costs cut into your money?

Here's another option that some of my Investors have been doing. Instead of becoming Landlords they are becoming Lenders. Owner financing is making a come back. It's difficult for folks to get mortgages right now and offering financing can make the property worth more money.

For example: We can find you really good rental properties right now for $90,000 to $100,000. These homes would normally rent for about $1,000 a month. After expenses your NET is roughly $600 a month.

Instead...offer the property for sale at $120,000 with $25,000 down, no qualifying mortgage of $95,000 @ 8.75 amortized over 30 years with a 5 year balloon payment.

You would receive roughly $16,000 at closing (25K minus selling expenses including commission). Monthly payments of $747 for 60 months. The buyer would be responsible for all taxes, insurance and repairs. You would have zero expenses.

After 5 years the Buyers would have a balloon payment to you of $91,000. You would have already received $45,000 in payments. Therefore your total money received would be:

At closing         $  16,000
Payments         $  45,000
Balloon             $  91,000
                       ----------------
Sub total          $ 152,000
COST(BASIS)   (  100,000)
                       ========
GAIN                $  52,000***
                       ========
52% return over 5 years. Or a little over 10% per year. It works out better than a rental with less hassle. Of course you would miss out on any future appreciation (if any) unless of course the buyer defaulted and you got the property back through foreclosure (not a bad deal). So as you can see this can be a very good way to go. If you're interested....just complete this form and we'll get right back with you.

***Please check with your accountant about tax issues.

3953 Shawn Circle Orlando Florida 32826
3 bedrooms and 2 baths with 1613 Sq Ft Living Area Built in 1999
Click here for full details

$145,000

Beautiful home with many upgrades. Convenient NE Orlando location. Rounded drywall corners, tile flooring in the family room, screened and covered rear porch, fenced yard, upgraded blinds, light fixtures and ceiling fans through out. Community pool. Very clean and ready for a new owner. It is a short sale so please allow 90 to 120 days for closing.

2993 Kokomo Loop Haines City Florida 33844
Southern Dunes Country Club

This 3 bedroom 2 bath pool home is being sold completely furnished and ready for holiday rentals. World class 18 hole "links style" golf course is the center piece of Southern Dunes Country Club. Located only 30 minutes to Disney World this home would make the perfect Florida get away. Zoned for nightly rentals. Advanced bookings and management are in place for a turn key vacation home. Only $150,000

As some of you may remember I was a HUGE fan of Range Pricing for many years. When we first opened Tutas Towne Realty 13 years ago Range Pricing was our UVP (Unigue Value Proposition).

I haven't used Range Pricing since the market changed in late 2006. It made a lot of sense when the market was moving upward. It doesn't make sense today.

You can see by the comments in this article that many agents didn't get it and some buyers didn't like it. But none the less it worked. My properties sold quicker and for more money using this technique. Fortunately for me I worked for the seller and didn't really care what the agents or buyers thought. I just wanted to sell the property for my seller.

In my market right now properties are selling on average for 102% of the asking price. So it's really no different than when we used Range Pricing. Back then, 2006 and earlier, my properties were selling for almost 104% of asking price.

In the current market, where banks are pretty much controlling things, the technique being used is pricing low and creating bidding wars. It's like the old days of Range Pricing. The only difference is there is no top of the "Range" being mentioned. 

Foreclosures and Short Sales are now selling with multiple offers to the highest bidder. What I was doing 15 years ago, that was very controversial then, is now the norm. Funny how that happens. I guess we were just way ahead of our time.

My advice to buyers now is the same as it was then. Make your offer based on the value of the property NOT based on the asking price. The asking price doesn't mean squat. It could be too low or it could be way high. Have your agent do an analysis on the property and then submit an offer that has a chance of getting accepted.

Buyers who base their offers on asking price instead of the value of the property will end up without a property to buy. This is true in ANY market.

By the way here's a link to a market analysis I did for one of our buyers. He was well informed and his offer was accepted. What say you?

Have you ever thought about purchasing a holiday home in Central Florida? Florida may be known mostly for it's beaches but don't ever forget we have so much more to offer. Hundreds of lakes with some of the best bass fishing in the World. And of course Disney World, Sea World, Wet N Wild and Universal Studios.

Here's a little peak at my world.

Hi Folks. As we all know, nothing can derail a real estate transaction faster than a home inspection that uncovers "serious inspection issues".

Recently I had a home inspection done on one of my pending listings. It was an older property and I was a little bit nervous and hoping there wasn't going to be any major issues to deal with.

Anyway, shortly after the inspection was completed I get the e-mail from the selling agent to let me know we have "serious inspection issues." She also sent me a copy of the inspection report and the WDO (wood destroying organisms) report. Darn it!!! We have termites!,  wood rot and major AC issues.

Well, being the good little Broker that I am, I pick up the phone and call my "peeps", Wendal my HVAC guy, Dan the Termite Man and Khan my handyman and wood rot specialist. They all return my call within 5-10 minutes and stop what they are doing to go by the house and check it out. Within one hour, I have writen estimates from all three and time set aside on their schedules to get the repairs taken care of.

OK, now I'm prepared to call my Sellers. So I give them a call, explain the situation, go over the estimates and within 10 minutes I have authorization to move forward with the repairs.

Smartly, I had spent time during the listing presentation discussing inspections and repair issues and my Sellers were prepared. They understood that these were serious issues and would not just go away. So, they agreed to "let's solve the problem and close the transaction."

Now, a little over an hour after receiving the inspection report and e-mail from the selling agent, I give her a call. Folks, for some reason she seemed to be surprised that I called back so quickly, not to moan and groan about a problem, but to let her know the problem had been solved, repairs had been approved and scheduled and the signed repair addendum was on the way over from the Sellers. I think this REALTOR(R) will be happy to show and sell my listings in the future.

What could have been a deal breaker was not even a bump in the road. It was just a few calls to the right "peeps" and a well informed Seller. We were back on track.

Folks, it's all about educating your customers/clients and having people that you have worked with for years who are willing to drop everything and help you out when you need them.

So, have you built and nurtured your business relationships("peeps")? Are you in a position to solve problems this quickly? Are your Customers/clients educated and well aware of issues that my arise during the contract period? I hope so. There's a lot more involved with being a listing Broker...... than marketing.

Broker Bryant's Tips

1. Educate your Sellers at time of listing
2. Get estimates for repairs so the seller can make an informed decision. It's rarely as bad as they will imagine.
3. Have "peeps" that you can depend on. Make sure they get paid quickly. 
4. Repairs issues will not just go away. The seller will pay one way or the other. Best to just do them and close the deal.

That's it. What say you?

Real Estate Market Report for Kissimmee Poinciana Florida for 2009

Comments from Bryant Tutas
Broker/Owner
Tutas Towne Realty, Inc

OK so that chart was fun. I wanted to give a picture of the market in Kissimmee-Poinciana Florida from 2007 to the end of 2009. Check out the depreciation. Property values are down 67% during this 36 month period.

But the good news is values only fell 7% for 2009 and it looks like property values have not only started to level off but may be slowly increasing. 

Here’s another little goody for you. In 2007 there were only 420 sales. 2008 this number increased to 627. In 2009 Poinciana Florida broke an all time record with the most resale property sales in their HISTORY with 1,596!!! That’s awesome!!

Of those 1,596 sales 1,303 of them were either a Foreclosure (1,083) or Short Sale (220). That means that 82% of the property sales in Poinciana Florida for 2009 were distressed properties.

Currently there are 507 properties on the market in the neighborhoods of Poinciana. 102 are foreclosures. 291 are Short sales. 114 are regular listings.

Inventory is real low. It is getting very difficult to find a property in Kissimmee-Poinciana Florida.

Folks if you want to buy in Poinciana now is the time. Do not sit on the side lines any longer or you will be out of luck. If you find a property you like be prepared to make an offer of asking price or more.

If you need to sell…well chances are you will need to do a Short sale. If that’s the case…give me a call. If you are waiting for your homes value to go back to 2006 values…..it ain’t going to happen for many, many years, if EVER, so just get that thought out of your head.

OK that’s it for me. Any questions?