Refinance your home even if youre upside down!

If you're not behind on your mortgage payments but have been unable to get traditional refinancing because the value of your home has declined, you may be eligible to refinance through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). HARP is designed to help you get a new, more affordable, more stable mortgage. HARP refinance loans require a loan application and underwriting process, and refinance fees will apply.

 You may be eligible for HARP if you meet all of the following criteria:

• The mortgage must be owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae.
• The mortgage must have been sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac on or before May 31, 2009.
• The mortgage cannot have been refinanced under HARP previously unless it is a Fannie Mae loan that was refinanced under HARP from March-May, 2009.
• The current loan-to-value (LTV) ratio must be greater than 80%.
• The borrower must be current on the mortgage at the time of the refinance, with a good payment history in the past 12 months.

If your loan is owned by Freddie Mac, you may check your potential eligibility for HARP here.

If your loan is owned by Fannie Mae, you may check your potential eligibility for HARP here.

Ask your mortgage servicer (the company to which you make your mortgage payments) if they participate in HARP. Not all mortgage servicers do. ContactFannie Mae or Freddie Mac for help in determining if you may be eligible for HARP. 

Program ends December 31, 2013.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

• Visit Fannie Mae at KnowYourOptions.com or call (800)7Fannie.
• Visit FreddieMac.com, call (800)Freddie.
• If you have additional questions about getting mortgage help, contact one of our housing experts at 888-995-HOPE (4673). These HUD-approved housing counselors will help you understand your options, design a plan to suit your individual situation and prepare your application. Research shows that homeowners who work with housing experts like these are more successful and have better long-term outcomes. There is no cost to you for this valuable, around-the-clock service. Help is available in more than 160 languages.

FL Real Estate Sales leap an incredible 57% in October!

 Pending sales, closed sales and median prices rose, while the inventory of homes and condos for sale dropped in Florida’s housing market in October, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®.

“With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we have a lot to be thankful for here in Florida,” said 2012 Florida Realtors President Summer Greene, regional manager of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Florida 1st in Fort Lauderdale. “The state’s latest unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, the lowest in nearly four years – and combined with the momentum of the housing market, it clearly shows that Florida is on a positive path and has been for months. Pending sales, closed sales and prices are trending up.”

Statewide closed sales of existing single-family homes totaled 17,779 in October, up 25.3 percent compared to the year-ago figure, according to data from Florida Realtors Industry Data and Analysis department and vendor partner 10K Research and Marketing. Closed sales typically occur 30 to 90 days after sales contracts are written.

Meanwhile, pending sales – contracts that are signed by not yet completed or closed – of existing single-family homes last month rose 56.7 percent over the previous October. The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in October was $145,000, up 9 percent from a year ago.

According to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), the national median sales price for existing single-family homes in September 2012 was $184,300, up 11.4 percent from the previous year. In California, the statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in September was $345,000; in Massachusetts, it was $294,900; in Maryland, it was $244,357; and in New York, it was $225,000.

The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less. Housing industry analysts note that sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes.

Looking at Florida’s year-to-year comparison for sales of townhomes-condos, a total of 8,252 units sold statewide last month, up 16.4 percent compared to October 2011. Meanwhile, pending sales for townhome-condos in October increased 47.1 percent compared to the year-ago figure. The statewide median for townhome-condo properties was $107,000, up 20.2 percent over the previous year. NAR reported that the national median existing condo price in September 2012 was $181,000.

The inventory for single-family homes stood at a 5.2-months’ supply in October; inventory for townhome-condo properties was also at a 5.2-months’ supply, according to Florida Realtors. Industry analysts note that a 5.5-months’ supply symbolically represents a market balanced between buyers and sellers.

“Once again, everything that should be going up in the market is going up, and everything that should be going down is going down,” said Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. John Tuccillo. “As impressive as the year-over-year gains for October are, far more impressive are year-to-date gains of 2012 over 2011. They indicate the depth and resilience of this recovery.”

The interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.38 percent in October 2012, down from the 4.07 percent averaged during the same month a year earlier, according to Freddie Mac.

Sizing up small business

Small business owners and new start ups now have an innovative tool to help them grow and compete in the marketplace, courtesy of the US Small Business Administration.  The free tool, called SizeUp, helps business owners identify new customers and compare their performance against other businesses in their industry using data collected from hundreds of private and public sources.  Business owners can use the tool to find the best places to advertise their business, and the mapping feature helps them see where customers and suppliers are located.  Find SizeUp at www.sba.gov/sizeup.

Central Florida foreclosures treds

Distress sales now define Orlando's still-slumping home market: Two-thirds of all real estate closings in the metro area's core market are either bank-owned foreclosures or lender-approved short sales.

A report released last week by real-estate-research company RealtyTrac Inc. showed that the number of houses repossessed by banks last month in Metro Orlando was 1,094 — up 56 percent from November. 

In desirable areas, such as Windermere and Baldwin Park, homeowners are much more likely to salvage their credit record by getting their bank to approve a short sale, which allows them to sell their house for less than they owe on the mortgage. In high-poverty areas that attract fewer buyers, most financially strapped owners have no such option, so when banks foreclose on them, their credit is damaged for years.

An analysis by the Orlando Sentinel of fourth-quarter distress sales throughout Orange County found that about 80 percent of them were foreclosures in ZIP codes with disproportionately high numbers of renters and large numbers of families living below the poverty level — mostly black or Hispanic neighborhoods such as Pine Hills, Washington Shores and the Oak Ridge Road area


In communities such as Windermere, Baldwin Park and Waterford Lakes, which are mostly white areas with little poverty and few renters, homeowners were more likely to avoid foreclosure. Only about 50 percent of the distress sales there were foreclosures. The other half qualified for short sales by showing evidence of hardship, such as a job loss, illness or death in the family.
Not only can those homeowners emerge from short sales with their credit relatively intact, their neighborhoods stand to recover more quickly because short-sale prices are typically higher than those of foreclosed properties.

Five years ago, foreclosures may have carried more weight, but now they're increasingly common.

Fashion Square mall the next Winter Park Village?

Orlando's Fashion Sqaure Mall is for sale and there is already a buyer! UP Development of Franklin, Tenn., hopes to close the sale of Orlando Fashion Square by year's end.  Scott Corbin, a representative of the buyer says that "UP is considering several plans" and that "It's obvious it needs to be redeveloped." He would not disclose the sales price.

UP has already purchased property near Orlando Fashion Square, including a vacant Toys "R" Us, for $4.5 million, Corbin said. UP also has under contract 2.5 acres of vacant land behind Toys "R" Us, where it would like to bring in big-box retail outlet.

The company has already talked to potential tenants, Corbin said, and is considering a mixed-use project that would include apartments. He said it's too early to give details but tenant desires will have a major impact on the final plan.

The deal does not include the Sears, since that retailer owns its own stores at malls including Orlando Fashion Square.

UP's other Orlando projects include Shoppes at Alafaya Trail and Millenia Plaza. At Millenia, UP redeveloped an old Expo Design Center into a new Dick's Sporting Goods and combo Babies "R" Us/Toys "R" Us.

Corbin said the company's specialties include redevelopments and "difficult retail projects."

Orlando Fashion Square would fit that bill. The oldest major shopping mall in Central Florida, it has lost many national tenants over several years. Despite its challenges, Corbin said, the area "has very good demographics." The upscale community of Baldwin Park, for example, lies nearby.

The mall's owner, Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, said earlier this year it would sell Orlando Fashion Square and four other struggling centers to pay down debt.  A PREIT spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.

In Ocoee, assistant city manager Craig Shadrix said West Oaks is under contract with a new owner and that someone representing that company contacted the city and plans to meet with officials soon about its plans.

Michael Jackson's Home Sells For $18.1 Million

The home where pop singer Michael Jackson lived for about six months until his death has sold for $18.1 million, says broker Mauricio Umansky, who represented both the buyer and the seller in the transaction. He declined to name the buyer, but two people close to the deal said it was Steven Mayer, a senior managing director of private investment firm Cerberus Capital Management.  Concert promoter AEG had been renting the property for Mr. Jackson for $100,000 a month when he died there in June 2009. The home belongs to Hubert Guez, owner of apparel company Ed Hardy, and his wife, Roxanne Guez, according to public records.

Located in Los Angeles's Holmby Hills neighborhood, the 17,000-square-foot home has seven bedrooms and 13 bathrooms. Real-estate developer Mohamed Hadid built the home in 2002 and the Guez family bought it in 2004 for $18.5 million. Two years ago, the couple put it up for sale for $29 million. They relisted it for sale earlier this year for $23.9 million.

Read the full Wall Street Journal article here: 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203846804578102901157405978.html#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB10001424127887323894704578105392475100234%26articleTabs%3Darticle

Buyers are snatching up houses like its 2006!

Homes in Orlando are coming under contract an average of 25 percent faster than this time last year — and at a speed not seen since the tail end of the red-hot market in 2005-2006 — reports the Orlando Regional REALTOR® Association. Homes spent an average of 79 days on the market in October, which is a 25.47 percent drop from the 106 days homes spent on the market in October 2011.

In addition, buyers are purchasing more homes and paying more for them. Sales of homes in the Orlando area jumped 14 percent in October when compared to October of last year, boosted by a nearly 30 percent leap in the number of normal sales transactions. The median price increased 9.24 percent to $122,900, from October 2011’s median price of $112,500.