You close a brand new home mid-year that was still under construction on January 1st when the county assessed the house for the current year. Obviously, the house is not going to appraise at fair market value because it is not finished. Unfortunately, many people aren’t aware that your payments are about to sky rocket.
Your escrow company requires a monthly payment based on the current home assessment (or a prior year tax assessment), but it is an unfinished home, so the amount may be based on just the fair market value of the home site alone. When the home is completed and the new tax year arrives, the value of the home on the tax roll will change to the current assessed value by the tax appraiser. Therefore, this will be a higher figure than the property was assessed for in the previous year. The homeowner’s mortgage company will get the new assessment from the tax appraiser and will increase their payment according to the increased assessed value. (more…)
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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…)
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My top three trends from the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors (NEFAR) Market Stats for April 2010 are:
1. The lender mediated sales for April which is the foreclosures and short sales were 44.4% of total April closings. This is down from over 50% of closings in January 2010.
2. The Year to Date closings for St. Augustine FL homes and Jacksonville FL homes from January to April 2010 are 4,908 which is 31.5% more than January to April 2009 when there were 3,731 closings.
3. There were 2,206 pending sales in April, 2010 which is 66.4% more sales than April, 2009 when there were 1,326.
The real estate trends in the St. Augustine and Jacksonville area continue to show signs of a slow recovery.
For more information or to talk to a knowledgeable Jacksonville or St. Augustine realtor please call (904) 940-5000.
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This month we are excited to announce our top Jacksonville realtors in April and celebrate our 31 transactions with over $6.3 million in sales and listings sold! We may not have topped our March numbers, but we have proved the market is picking up and our spirits have, too! Our top real estate agents should be no surprise to you, but we love gushing about them any way.
For April, our Top Lister is Pauline Cake. No stranger to the Tops List, Pauline was also our Top Sales Agent in March. As she celebrates this accomplishment, we celebrate her 8 year anniversary with Davidson Realty on May 21st! Pauline has known World Golf Village from the beginning and grown with the community. The only thing that hasn’t changed is Pauline’s status at the top of the pack!
Top Sales Agent for April is Jennifer Todd. She was also our Top Lister in January, starting our year off right! Her past experience with new home construction and her continued focus on builder homes has made her a consistent producer.
Suzy Evans was our Top Lister for the 4th Quarter last year, Top Lister for the 1st Quarter this year, AND our Top Lister in March! I guess she decided to top all that off with the title of Top Producer in April.
All of our realtors are very familiar with St. Augustine FL homes and Jacksonville FL real estate. Please call us for any questions you have (904) 940-5000.
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We’re proud to announce that Davidson Realty has been selected by Country Club Homes of Florida to market its Arthur Rutenberg residences in Palencia’s upscale enclave Monterey. Davidson Realtors Ted Tyndall and Carol vonRabenstein are representing the courtyard-style Palencia homes which feature superior construction and 15 unique designs, starting at $499,000. Says Davidson Realty President Sherry Davidson, “We’re thrilled to expand our real estate offerings in Palencia with these stunning, high-quality Monterey collection homes.” Earlier this year, Davidson Realty was tapped by ICI to represent its Bella Terra models. (more…)
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