After two months of surging sales, home resales fell by 100,000 units last month to 4.4 million homes nationwide. October's Existing Home Sales tally is slightly below the report's 6-month rolling average, according to the National Association of REALTORS® -- a time span which includes.......   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: October Existing Home Sales : Buyers And Sellers In Balance 11/24/2010

  Black Friday is 3 days away. It's the official start of the 2010 Holiday Shopping Season. Sales are expected to top $111 billion this year and, already, businesses are vying for shoppers and their dollars. Newspaper circulars are getting larger, and in-store discounting is more prevalent. But one discount that shoppers should think twice about is the popular "Open A Charge Card, Save 20%" promotion. The short-term savings may be.......   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: Applying For A Mortgage Soon? Don't Open New Credit Cards On Black Friday. 11/23/2010

  According to the United States Fire Administration, in 2008, there were an estimated 378,200 in-home fires. Combined, these fires caused $8 billion in property damage and killed 2,600 people. Unfortunately, many of affected homes did have smoke detectors installed, but the devices were faulty either because of .........   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: Home Safety Tip : How To Install And Test A Smoke Detector   11/22/2010

Why is there such a difference between what my appraised value is and the price similar homes are selling for on my street? It’s a great question, and you don’t have to be a mortgage professional or a real estate agent to understand the answer. The distinction lies in the purpose of the two valuations and who is responsible for creating them. Appraisals: The purpose of an appraisal is to make sure that an independent non-interested third party verifies the “most likely” sale price based on the market value and condition of the home. Appraisals are meant to be a.......   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: Understanding the Difference Between an Appraisal vs Neighborhood Listing Prices 11/21/2010

  Rock-bottom mortgage rates may be gone for good.  This week's Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey shows in numbers what Florida rate shoppers have learned the hard way -- mortgage rates are spiking. During the 7-day period ending November 18, the average 30-year, conforming fixed rate mortgage jumped to 4.39 percent, an increase of 0.22% from..... Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: Mortgage Rates Still Rising. Is This The End Of The Refi Boom? 11/19/2010

  Newspaper stories can be misleading sometimes -- especially with respect to real estate. We saw a terrific example of this Wednesday. A "Housing Start" is a privately-owned home on which construction has started and, according to the Commerce Department's October 2010 data, Housing Starts data dropped by nearly 12 percent as compared to September. The media jumped on.......   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: Housing Starts Data Much Better Than The Headlines Would Have You Believe 11/19/2010

  Homebuilder confidence is higher for the third straight month this month. According to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, a combination of shrinking new home inventory plus higher-quality foot traffic is boosting builder optimism. November's confidence reading of 16 is the highest since June 2010. The Housing Market Index is......   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: Homebuilders Expect A Surge In New Home Sales 11/17/2010

  If consumer spending is a key to economic recovery, the nation is on its way. Monday, the Census Bureau released national Retail Sales figures for October and, for the second straight month, the data surged past expectation. Last month's retail figures jumped 1.2 percent -- the largest monthly jump since March -- as total sales receipts climbed to a.......   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: Mortgage Rates Spike On Strong Retail Sales Data. Could 4 Percent Rates Be Done? 11/17/2010

  The 2010-2011 Flu Season has started and the Center for Disease Control expects that the H1N1 influenza virus (i.e "Swine Flu") will play a large role in Longwood and worldwide, as in 2009-2010. Last year, the virus reached pandemic status -- the first time that's happened in 40 years. In public places, avoiding "germy" places can be difficult. But within your home, you can easily create germ-free spaces.  This 4-minute interview from NBC's The Today Show teaches about the flu virus, and how to   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: How To Protect Your Home From The Influenza Virus 11/16/2010

When shopping for a hazard insurance policy, something called "bundling" can actually save you quite a bit of money that most people aren't aware of. Many of the big insurance companies price their insurance rates to attract a particular segment of the market. They usually price their hazard insurance policies to attract homeowners who need to insure not only their homes with hazard insurance, but also their cars with car insurance and lives with life insurance. The big insurance companies want customers who will stay with them for.......   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: Shopping For A Hazard Insurance Policy 11/15/2010

  According to October data from foreclosure-tracking firm RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings topped 300,000 for the 20th straight month last month as 1 in every 389 U.S. homes received a foreclosure filing. The generic term "foreclosure filing" is defined to include default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions. Versus the month prior, filings fell 4 percent, and as compared to......   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: October 2010 : 5 States Account For Half Of The Nation's Foreclosure Activity 11/14/2010

  It's getting tougher to get approved for a mortgage. Still. In its quarterly survey of senior loan officers around the country, the Federal Reserve asked whether "prime" residential mortgage guidelines" have tightened in the prior 3 months. A "prime" borrower typically carries a well-documented credit history with high credit scores, has a low debt-to-income ratio, and uses a........   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: Fed Survey : Mortgage Guidelines Tighten Further, Freeze Out Would-Be Refinancers 11/11/2010

After 3 straight months of improvement, the Pending Home Sales Index slid lower in September. As compared to August, September's reading fell 2 percent. A "pending home sale" is a home under contract to sell, but not yet closed. The data is drawn from a combination of local real estate associations and national brokers, and represents 20 percent of........ Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: Pending Home Sales Slip In September, Suggesting A Buyer's Market Until January   11/09/2010

  The 1937 opening of the Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill marked the birth of the modern landfill. Today, transporting and burying garbage is a $50 billion annual business with an estimated 3,000 landfills in operation across the country, plus an additional 10,000 municipal "dump" sites. A recent article by Forbes detailed the nation's.......   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: How Close Do You Live To America's Largest Landfills? 11/08/2010

Mortgage rates have been falling since April, shedding more than 1 percentage point since the Refi Boom began. Today, that momentum could lose some steam. The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the October jobs report at 8:30 A.M. ET. With a stronger-than-expected reading, mortgage rates should rise, harming home affordability in Florida and nationwide. As cited by the Fed earlier this week, jobs are a.....   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: Today's Jobs Report Will Keep Mortgage Rates Highly Volatile   11/06/2010

  Today, the Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-to-1 to leave the Fed Funds Rate unchanged within in its target range of 0.000-0.250 percent. In its press release, the FOMC noted that, since September's meeting, the pace of economic and job growth "continues to be slow".  Housing starts are "depressed", income growth is........ READ THE COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: A Simple Explanation Of The Federal Reserve Statement (November 3, 2010 Edition) 11/03/2010

  The Federal Reserve ends a scheduled, 2-day meeting today. It's the seventh of 8 scheduled Fed meetings in 2010, and the eighth overall this year. The Fed held an unscheduled meeting May 9, 2010. When today's meeting adjourns, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke & Co. will publish a formal statement within which the Fed is expected to.......   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: Mortgage Rate Lock Alert : Expect Rate Changes Wednesday Afternoon 11/03/2010

October 2010 was an interesting month as headline after headline kept coming about the impact of foreclosure paperwork problems caused by questionable bank and foreclosure attorney activities.  Nevertheless, our office sold some 30 properties in Central Florida last month.  Despite the headlines, many of these sales were REOs and short sales.  Check out some of these great deals:        Great Commission                                 Hilltop                                    Nowell 1.  Great Commission Way, Orlando, FL 32832.  I always liked the name of the street.  Just sounds like something that a Realtor would want to sell.  Beautiful 5 bed/3.5 bath home near the Lake Nona Area of Orlando.  This was investor flip deal.  Seller bought it, fixed it, and re-sold it with just 45 days o... 11/03/2010

  This week marks the start of the Refi Boom's 7th month across Florida ; rates have been falling since early-April 2010. Whether you're looking to refinance or buy a home, however, know that not everyone will qualify for today's low rates. Mortgage approvals are primarily based on......   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: Better Credit Scores Get Better Mortgage Rates 11/03/2010

  The amount of air that leaks from the seams of a typical home is the same amount of air that would escape through an open window. It's why home care experts recommend a routine caulking of a.......   Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE: Caulking Made Simple With "Caulk Singles" 11/01/2010