Orlando Mortgage Blog

I admit it. I've been in the mortgage industry a bunch of years (too many?). I was speaking with a long time industry friend of mine the other day about those "Good Ol' days". You know, when seasonal buyers started window shopping about February or early March each year in expectation of picking tile colors while having their new home built and finished by the start of the next school session in August or September or resale buyers that bought and closed late in the spring and through the summer for similar reasons. Or, our old friends the northern "snow birds" who flocked down the Florida vacation flyway in vast numbers during their annual migration from the sleet and snow of the northern regions to sunny Florida, home of T-shirts, shorts and flip flops as well as CHEAP winter real estate nesting grounds. 

Well...Florida hasn't been taken off the map and though we've been down thanks to an unbelievably huge wave of speculative greed for a couple years, values are once again beginning to seek rational levels, painful as the process appears to be. New buyers are slowly (I admit) starting to feed on the remains of the 2005-2006 real estate picnic and beginning the necessary purging of the over abundance of properties left on the field of play. With 24,000 plus listings on the Orlando Board's list it can't happen soon enough. But, it is starting to happen. Yes, 40% or so of sales are considered short sales, but motivated sellers can find motivated buyers at the right price and move along. Buyer affordability is at it's best level in years now too.

Lenders are starting to realize they are not landlords and are beginning to come around to the need to speed these houses off their REO (real estate owned) books. Prices are getting back to levels not seen for 5 to 6 years for careful shoppers. The main folks that are hurting are the ones that jumped in too late several years ago at the top, and generally not the folks that bought before then. Those folks are seeing a "PAPER" decline in value from the unbelievable value jumps of just a couple years ago. But, overall they should still be way ahead. First time buyers will still need a place to buy, right?

So, I'm looking for the next flock to fly in. Florida is still the Sunshine state and all those baby boomers that everyone talks about today, and will be marketing to for the next 20 to 30 years, are going to need a place to roost in the warmth of the Florida sun very soon (can you say value increases in the next 5 years?). I can't wait for my home value to turn around. In the meantime, there are deals to be had...

Bill Wilbanks / Orlando Mortgage Masters