Heather the Realtor - Orlando Area's Top Real Estate News

College Park is on my top list of favorite neighborhoods in Orlando, FL.  Just minutes from downtown Orlando, College Park truly offers a rare, authentic combination of quiet traditional small town living with a vibrant urban convenience. There are many styles of homes to choose from Florida Bungalows to Modern Estates.

Called College Park for its beautiful residential streets that are named after American Universities such as Princeton, Harvard and Yale, this tranquil neighborhood offers a quality of life unparalleled by other area communities. Its upscale blend of small town, inner city living has long been home to many of Orlando’s business and community leaders and young professionals. In fact, College Park’s charm is defined as much by the diverse mixture of residents as it is by its ancient oak trees, brick paved streets and historic older homes. Most of the bungalow homes were built in the early 1900’s. Investors as well as young professionals have renovated many of the older homes in College Park, turning this area into a trendy, popular place to call home.Unlike most Downtown Orlando lots here in College Park you can find lots ranging in size from .12 acre to .30 acres and if your lucky you can find a few larger lots yet. Or maybe even scope up the house next door to really expand your lot size. 

While in close proximity to Winter Park’s shopping district, College Park has a vibrant downtown area of its own along Edgewater Drive, where you will find shops, eateries, parks and businesses lining a delightful pedestrian oriented downtown area.

College Park is also home to the newly renovated and historic Dubsdred Golf Course. Another worthy mention is the area's ease to I-4. Notable lakes include: Lake Adair, Lake Ivanhoe, Lake Concord, Lake Silver.

Orlando First Time Home Buyers your free $8000 Tax Credit is set to expire really soon. That's right in less then 48 days the first time tax credit will expire and you will have missed out on one of the greatest home buying perks ever!

Plus if you are a move up buyer you can qualify for the $6500 tax credit but again that expires in 48 days as well. If you are on the fence now is the time to get off it and behind it instead!

So how do you qualify for the $8000 or $6500 tax credit?

First Time Home Buyer is someone who hasnt owned a home in the past 3 years

You purchase a home with a value of $80,000 or more (otherwise your tax credit is 10% of the purchase price)

Be under contract on a home by April 30, 2010 and close by June 30, 2010

If you are a move up buyer:

You must have been in your current home for a minimum of the past 5 years

Purchase of homes priced above $800,000 are not eligible for the tax credit.

The income limit for a single taxpayer is $125,000; $225,000 for married joint filing taxpayers.

If you are in the market to purchase a home in the Orlando area dont sit on the fence. Prices couldnt be better, the interest rate is still at an all time low for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage and there is free money from Uncle Sam!

Contact my team and I if you are ready to purchase your first home or move-up property today! We can even help you qualify for down payment assistance programs up to $35,000.

This blog is part of a monthly series about the foreclosure market in the Orlando area. My goal is to keep area home owners and buyers educated on how the REO market is recovering or if it is and what deals are out there for both First Time Home Buyers and Investors. Click the link to see Orlando's February Foreclosure Numbers.

Area Number of Homes

Florida 58,865 Bank Owned Homes in the State of Florida

Orange Co 5,367 Bank Owned Homes in Orange County

Seminole Co 1011    Bank Owned Homes in Seminole County

These numbers are said to be accurate as of 3/7/10 12:13 pm

My predictions were right the foreclosure numbers are on the rise and up across the board from February and are just shy of being up nearly 50% from January in Seminole County alone as I had predicted and by the end of the month I think we will hit that number.

It's very important when considering to short sale your home that you have an experienced agent on your side. One that has certifications, like a CDPE and proof of prior deals that have successfully closed. Here's why, this weekend I received a call from a clients uncle who is handling his mortgage. The nephew was referred to me at the end of the year by a prior client. After speaking with this young gentleman and helping him some he decided to buy a short sale that he saw driving around. Well this uncle has now called me back 3 months into this deal and no real movement, I told him if he wanted me to help his nephew I would.

After speaking with the nephew today I learned not only is he paying too much for this house the house he has been waiting over 3 months for wasnt a true short sale scenario.

After digging around in public records I see the home owners have a mortgage of $147,000 the contract is for $165,000. They at some point and time took out a second mortgage. Now if the sellers had gone with an Agent that was experienced in short sales here in Orlando they would have had a much easier time closing on this property. The first mortgage is not being shorted, it's simply a regular sale with $18,000 left over. So the unskilled short sale agent decided that the first needed to go through the whole short sale process when it really didnt and wasted over 3 months.

It could have been simple. Go to the 2nd lein holder tell them the first is not being shorted you will receive $18,000 more then you ever would if we dont sell this and the value continues to drop or it goes to foreclosure because the sellers arent paying and within 30 days it should have been an easy short sale process and also would not have negatively impacted the sellers credit the way it is now.

When looking to sell your Orlando home as a short sale make sure to go with an experienced agent that is certified and has verifiable short sales under their belt. We recently had an Indymac short sale approved in under 21 days and another Suntrust short sale package approved in just 59 days. Our team works hard to get your home under contract and more importantly see it through to closing!