Pardon our cheering but sometimes you just have to grab the bullhorn and get the word out! Check out these 5 things to know about our Jacksonville FL real estate company and you’ll understand our enthusiasm. Don’t get us wrong, things could definitely be better for the real estate market, but we are proud of the following:
1. In the past 12 months, our Agent staff has doubled.
2. We continue to be the biggest lister in World Golf Village, and now we’re the top lister in Palencia too.
3. Our reach has expanded beyond St. Johns County and St. Augustine to include Jacksonville Beach, Ponte Vedra and even Flagler County.
4. According to the Jacksonville Business Journal, Davidson Realty is now among the top 10 real estate agencies in the area.
5. Most of our Agents now hold CDPE (Certified Distressed Property Expert) designations, so they can shrewdly advise clients on the ins and outs of today’s market, including short sales and foreclosures.
Comments Off
At the end of May, I was fortunate to go on a road trip with Davidson Realty’s Short Sale Coordinator Cindy Vaughn to Tempe, AZ to attend the Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) seminar. We had a great time and learned a lot. There were many great speakers and I wanted to share some of the comments I found most interesting.
Rick Sharga from Realty Trac Inc. talked about three waves of foreclosures. The first wave of foreclosures occurred when employment was strong and the economy was growing. These foreclosures were caused by the sub-prime loans. The second wave of foreclosures was caused by unemployment. They estimate that there is 1 foreclosure for every 6 to 10 jobs lost. The third wave of foreclosures is mainly due to Option Arm loans resetting. Many people will see payments rise by $1,000 to $1,500 per month. The resetting Option Arms will peak in 2011.
Matt Vernon from Bank of America spoke about improvements to the short sale process using a new technology called Equator. Just to give you an idea of their volume of short sales, in March 67,000 short sales were initiated and 64,000 decisions were made. They have made major improvements in the time frame for approvals; however, Matt pointed out that only about 10% of the loans are owned by Bank of America. Most of the approvals have to be made by an investor and some investors respond more timely than others. (more…)
Comments Off
If 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…)
Comments Off
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…)
Comments Off
This month, we get to recognize our top real estate agents for December…and for the 4th quarter of 2009 - not to mention a special recognition for our top employee of the quarter – Cindy Vaughn (far right) - too!
For December, Lyn Sappington (4th from left) took top sales honors with $1.6 million in transactions for the month. Lyn is known for selling homes throughout Northeast Florida – from Amelia to Palm Coast. Jock Ochitree (not pictured) was our top producer with $1.4 million in closings. His specialty is homes in golf course communities. Pauline Cake (far left with real estate partner/husband Woody Cake) – who specializes in selling The Neighborhoods of World Golf Village - won top lister with just under $400,000 in listings sold. An honorable mention goes to Mirtha Barzaga, who had seven transactions during the month! (more…)
Comments Off
Follow Us Online