March 3, 2010

Will Mandatory Mediation Help Foreclosures in St. Augustine?

Posted by Sherry Davidson in Distressed Properties, Foreclosures, Short Sales

Florida is one of the states hit very hard by residential foreclosures. We had over 13,000 foreclosure filings in the Seventh Circuit Court (for Flagler, St. Johns, Putnam and Volusia Counties) in 2008 and over 16,000 filings in 2009.

A task force was formed to address the crises and they identified lack of communication between the parties as the most significant issue. The Florida Supreme Court addressed this issue by requiring mediation in all foreclosure cases involving homestead property unless the parties agree otherwise or have already participated in mediation.

The mediation will be handled by a Florida Supreme Court certified mediator appointed by the Court. The costs of the mediation will be paid by the lender and the total cost may not exceed $750. The plaintiff (lender) must have a representative who has full authority to settle at the mediation but they may appear by telephone or other electronic method. (more…)

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February 22, 2010

January NEFAR Market Statistics May Surprise You!

Posted by Sherry Davidson in News

Sherry DavidsonIf you have been reading my market analysis for the last few months, you probably think you can skip this one because I have been saying the same thing over and over. Well this month brings a few surprises.

My first surprise is that closed sales for January 2010 were about 40% less than December 2009. There were 1,316 closings in November, 1,365 in December and 834 in January.

This looks like very negative news, but I believe the reason for the decline in closings was mainly due to short sales. We saw lenders approving and closing short sales in December to get them closed by year end. Maybe the holidays were also a factor, but we did not see any short sales making it through the process in January. (more…)

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February 10, 2010

Take Advantage of The Tax Credits Before April 30th!

Posted by Sherry Davidson in Events, News

Young couple planning their household expensesMy daughter just closed on her first home in January. She got a great deal on a short sale in St. Augustine. I helped her file her tax return last week and it is amazing that she will receive a check for $8,000 from the Internal Revenue Service due to the first-time homebuyer tax credit.

If you purchase a home by April 30, 2010 and close by June 30, 2010, you may qualify for one of the two available tax credits. The first-time homebuyer credit is for buyers who have not owned a home during the last 3 years. The other credit is for current homeowners who have used the home they are selling or vacating for 5 consecutive years within the last 8 years. The credit is 10% of the purchase price of the home up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers and $6,500 for current homeowners.

There are only two other considerations:

1. The home you purchase must be $800,000 or less. (more…)

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January 25, 2010

NEFAR Market Stats for December Show Low Interest Rates and Incredible Housing Values

Posted by Sherry Davidson in Distressed Properties, Foreclosures, Short Sales

I have to admit I am not sorry that 2010 has arrived and 2009 is behind us. I do believe the worst is over for real estate in St. Augustine, FL.

The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors market statistics show we had more closings and pending sales in 2009 than in 2008. We had 14% more closings with a total of 14,381 and 25% more pending sales for the year with 15,836.

The prices continued to drop during 2009. The median price for the year 2009 was down 15%. The average price for 2009 was down 19%. The December average and median price did drop slightly from the November numbers, but I still say the prices are stabilizing in our homes in St. Augustine.

I looked at the data for the 32092 zip code which includes World Golf Village and the surrounding communities. The activity for 2008 and 2009 was about the same. There were 596 transactions for 2009.The average price for homes in the 32092 zip code was $233,370 which was approximately a 16% decrease from 2008. There has been about a 30% decrease in average sales price since the peak of the market in 2006. (more…)

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January 14, 2010

Davidson Realty Welcomes New Tenants

Posted by Sherry Davidson in News

Front doorsI would like to welcome two new tenants to our Executive Suites. Tax International,LLC is now located in Suite 204 in the Davidson Building. Tax International offers individual and business tax services and consulting. They can be reached at (904) 484-2161. The website is www.taxinternational.org .

The Law Offices of Curtis & Hill, P.A. is now located in Suite 206 and is happy to assist individuals and businesses with all their transactional needs in the areas of real estate law, business organizations and transactions. They can be reached at (904) 819-6959. The website is WWW.CURTISFIRM.COM .

Other tenants currently in the building are The Village Therapist, Pamela Schutter, MS., LMFT, Christopher W. Adamec, P.A., Attorney at Law  who can assist with Personal Injury, Family Law, Criminal Defense and Wills, Damien Blumstein, Dolphin Home Mortgage, Jim Young, Southeast Mortgage, The Tek-Guy, Cody Millican, and George Miller with World Golf Mortgage. (more…)

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