The Year of the Orlando Short Sale

      Will 2012 be the Year of the Orlando Short Sale?  Since mid-2006, residential values in Florida have declined by 51 percent. Hundreds of thousands of properties have been, or are, in foreclosure and huge numbers of homes have been repossessed. Check out these numbers for the state of Florida.

• 150,000 residential properties in Florida have been repossessed, and are now REO’s.
• 371,000 foreclosure cases are open in courts today.
• 530,000 residential mortgage loans are at least 90 days past due and in default.
• 265,000 homeowners have not made a mortgage payment in more than two years.
• 1 million residences are in some form "distressed," whether in foreclosure, owned by banks or in default.
• 46 percent of mortgages are "under water" … in other words, the debt exceeds the current market value of the residential property.

     Add this number  809,… this is the average number of days to process a foreclosure in Florida — It’s easy to understand why Orlando short sales have become so popular with both lenders and sellers, because are the best option for both parties and they create positive movements in the total market.
Will 2012 be the Year of the Orlando Short Sale? I think so, I also think that 2013 might be an even stronger Year of the Short Sale because of the volume of pending foreclosures.

     There was a group of 150 people — analysts, lawyers, bankers, real estate agents and developers — who attended the forum that more lenders are warming to short sales. They all agreed that distressed homeowners  are overcoming their psychological hurdles and coming to terms with the financial implications of an Orlando short sale.

     Although, the impacts of Orlando foreclosures and short sales and the fear of more to come are still a threat and prevent value appreciation from returning to its traditional levels in single digits. There are many positive signs of growth in the market.

Orlando Real Estate Making a Comeback

The National Association of Realtor’s International Homebuyer survey indicates that 14% of the Sunshine State’s overseas buyers purchased Homes in the Orlando-Kissimmee area. There is a lot of foreign investment in Orlando homes especially in countries like Germany, UK and Canada.  Prices are also coming back. According to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association (ORRA), median prices in 2010 were 1.29% ahead of those in 2011. This rise spiked in December, with prices in the last month of 2011 ($118,000) 12.38% up on December 2010’s median price ($105,000). The number of Orlando bank-owned properties sold in Orlando went down by over 50% however, with short sales and 'normal' sales rising in prominence.


The increased activity indicates a renewed faith in Florida’s and Orlando’s housing. Buyers are taking note of Orlando's historic affordability conditions, consistent increases in prices, and dramatically declining inventory and taking action. In addition, I expect to see even more sales activity once the problem of contract failures - estimated by the National Association Realtors to be as much as 33 percent nationwide - is resolved by an easing of unnecessarily restrictive lending standards."


Orlando also benefits from having one of the world’s top tourist attractions on its doorstep. In 2010 it attracted 51.5 million tourists, while New York only attracted 48.7 million. On top of this, further developments at theme park Walt Disney World have been given the go-ahead, including an Avatar-themed land at Animal Kingdom, with work set to begin in 2013.


Much of this is fueled by Florida’s unrivalled status as a tourist hotspot and the allure of steady rental income in a sunshine State. Orlando is also serviced by its own international airport, and services 26 international destinations including key markets such as Canada and Brazil. The latest figures from 2009 show that international passenger numbers at Orlando was 2,977,920…nearly 300,000 more than 2008 and a 600,000+ jump from 10 years previous.

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