Hojin’s Southwest Orlando Real Estate Scoop

photo courtesy of the Chicago Tribune

Local celebrity/con man, Lou Pearlman, received the maximum penalty of 25 years in federal prison today for scamming banks and investors out of $300 million. He’s most famous for creating The Backstreet Boys and N Sync out of his home in Windermere but now he’s more known for his shady business dealings. His purchase of Church Street Station in downtown Orlando was probably one of his most lucrative scams. The judge did say that his sentence can be reduced by one month for every $1 million he returns to investors, but Church Street Station remains in limbo no matter what. At least for once justice is served.

related post: Auction for Lou Pearlman’s Home Set For March 8

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Here’s a few floor plans of the Estate Homes on Big Sand Lake at Vizcaya. It’s one of the newest and sought after communities in the Dr. Phillips area. Quite a few of the properties are 3 stories which is a rarity in these parts. They all have stunning Mediterranean flair but I still haven’t decided if I like the smaller lot sizes.

See Properties for Sale: Lakefront Homes in Vizcaya

Santa Lucia

Bellagio

Casa Madeira

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If you’re one of those people who’d like to consider your house a work of art, you may be interested in the Nautilus House created by bioarchitect Javier Senosiain in 2006. It truly is a work of art, although you may want to make a little less of a statement. It’s definitely not gonna go over so well with the homeowner’s association, but if you’ve got a plot of land overlooking the ocean or mountains or something then this could be the home that makes you stand out from the pact.

World Architecture News describes it as “The metaphor was to feel like an internal inhabitant of a snail, like a mollusk moving from one chamber to another, like a symbiotic dweller of a huge fossil maternal cloister. This home social life flows inside the Nautilus without any division, a harmonic area in three dimensions where you can notice the continuous dynamic of the fourth dimension when moving in spiral over the stairs with a feeling of floating over the vegetation”.

I was never gonna come up with a description like that, so I decided quote their description. In any case, I really like it because I’m one kooky son of a gun or more of a real estate geek than I thought. Whether or not I’d live in the darn thing is another argument altogether. It would definitely make a nice beach house somewhere in New Smyrna, Melbourne, or Ponce Inlet and everyone in Central Florida would know about it.

I guess the question of the day is would you live in the Nautilus House? As crazy as it sounds, I think I would depending on the price. Some family in Mexico definitely would because they’ve been living in it since 2006. I wonder how it would do for resale. Probably not so good, but you can always say your house is a work of art and no one could argue. Anytime someone asks if you’ve been living in a shell, you can always say yes and have an excuse for not being up on current events.

see video: Nautilus House

Popularity: 3% [?]

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but as these numbers indicate, things are busier for the real estate market here. The city of Winter Garden, zip code 34787, is seeing a nice improvement. The number of sales have increased for 5 straight months and definitely showing a steady trend up. The average price per square foot has been on a decline and currently stands at $118 per foot. I believe this is good since it shows sellers are becoming more realistic about their expectations on price. Sellers in this zip code seem to have it figured out. The inventory of homes on the market is only 17.1 months which is far better than the surrounding areas. It appears that Winter Garden is closer to reaching an equilibrium in the market. The average sale price is currently $271,000 and will continue to decline until we reach around a 6 months supply. It seems like it’s far off but it’s a lot closer than Dr. Phillips and Windermere.

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The real estate market in zip code 34711, commonly known as Clermont show signs of improvement in 2008 with the number of sales steadily rising and the inventory decreasing. March 2008 saw 75 sales take place and the inventory of homes on the market currently stands at 20 months. Most of the surrounding areas have not seen that many sales and have much more inventory.

Perhaps the improvement is due to the drop in the average sales price. The average sales price is $245,000 at the moment. No one likes to see the value of their home go down but it is a necessary evil for the market to recover.

The good news is that the average price per square foot is on the rise and currently stands at $125 per foot. Go figure. Prices are down overall, but on the rise on a per square foot basis.

In either case, things are on the up and up for the real estate market in Clermont. I sure hope things stay this way at least through the end of summer.

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Things are on the up and up again. The numbers are looking better for the Orlando real estate market. It’s a lot worse than a year ago, but we’re steadily improving.

The number released by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association today shows improvement for every month this year and April was no exception. The numbers for new contracts jumped from 1,679 in May to 2,012 in April and the number of properties under contract jumped from 2,398 to 2,853 in April.

Even with all the new sales, it hasn’t made a dent on the inventory. There’s still a whopping 25,436 properties on the market which is about a 2 year’s supply.

Well, at least we’re heading in the right direction.

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A Guest Post From The Florida Upfront Mortgage Broker

With all the negative hoopla about the real estate industry lately, a segment that is still very active is the Foreign National portion. A Foreign National is someone who is not a U.S. Citizen and does not have a “Green” card. Currently, Foreign Nationals are enjoying a fantastic buying opportunity. By coupling a weak dollar (as compared to most currencies), a large glut of homes to choose from, and easy loan qualifying standards, a “perfect storm” has been created.

Here are the current qualifications:

• Stated Income, No Income Verification
• Sufficient Assets to close must be listed on application (down-payment + closing costs + 3 months PITI seasoned 30 days in a U.S. Bank Account).
• No credit report, not even an international credit report
• Loan to Value is from 50% to 65%
• The home MUST be a strong marketable property!
• No International references needed
• Valid Passport
• U.S. Bank Account
• Monthly mortgage payments must be auto-drafted
• Second Homes Only, No Investment Properties allowed
• Power of Attorney is not allowed, all buyers must be at closing

As you can see, this is a relatively easy loan to obtain. The largest factor in obtaining a mortgage for a Foreign National is the property. The property is where the lender will put the most weight, this is the single biggest qualification since everything else isn’t verified.

Single family homes and condos are the best types of properties to be financed. Properties such as condotels (condos that are allowed to be rented for days/weeks) are not allowed nor are multi-family properties (duplexes, tri’s, and quads). As far as mortgage programs for Foreign National loans, both ARM’s and fixed rate mortgages are available. Fixed rates are available with rates currently in the 6’s.

Mortgage guidelines can change from one day to the next, please contact me for the most up to date guidelines. Feel free to visit The Upfront Mortgage Broker for other helpful mortgage advice and guidance.

Respectfully,

The Florida Upfront Mortgage Broker
Joe Bartolotta
Residential, Commercial & Reverse Mortgages
Direct 407.340.0220
Joe (at) the upfront mortgage broker (dot) com

Popularity: 9% [?]

Popularity: 8% [?]

The WESH 2 News helicopter recently provided a bird’s eye view of some of the most fabulous mansions in Central Florida and 3 out of the 4 properties are right here in Windermere.

The first property is said to be the home of David Siegel but it’s actually owned by his former wife, Bettie Whitaker. It’s called the Palazzo del Lago and boasts 17,913 square feet, 12 bedrooms, and 14.5 bathrooms along the shores of Lake Butler.

The next property is one of the many homes owned by Shaquille O’Neal. It’s 28,937 square foot 8 bedroom and 12.5 bathroom mansion with a blue tile roof and basketball court on Lake Butler next to the canal to Lake Louise.

The Windermere home of Tiger Woods in Isleworth is featured as well which features 8 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, and 6,692.

related posts: Palazzo del Lago on Lake Butler, Shaq’s House, Tiger Wood’s Home in Isleworth

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Residents of Dr. Phillips are upset that a 4.5 acre patch of undeveloped land near Wallace Rd. on Dr. Phillips Blvd. may be rezoned for office buildings. The Dr. Phillips Foundation says the building will serve as its new headquarters and there’s nothing more fitting for the foundation to be located in Dr. Phillips on Dr. Phillips Blvd..

There’s a website set up for residents who want to keep the area undeveloped at the Save the Dr. Phillips Forest page. According to the site, a petition to stop this development already has 350 signatures with many more expected to sign on.

Orange County is scheduled to make a decision on the rezoning next Thursday so you better hurry if you wanna get involved.

Here’s some handy links for those concerned about the rezoning of the Dr. Phillips forest.

• Link to sign this petition opposing development: Sign Petition
• Link to write Commissioner Jacobs: Contact Theresa Jacobs
• download pdf: Community Meeting Notice

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