Key features include:

• 3691 square feet

• 5 bed 4 bath

• Gorgeous pool & spa

• Completely peaceful - 5 acre lot set in the middle of other undeveloped 5 acre lots

• Yet only 5 minutes from shops, restaurants & I4 (Exit 58)

See more photos below.

Owner is a Realtor who will accept offers in this current market.

Call Colin on 407-702-8663

Just to set the scene, the 52 week Dow Jones high was 13139 and the low was 7449. I can recall within the past year seeing some television pundits forecasting a 2008 close of 15000 or higher. (By the way, just how wrong do you have to be before the cable channels stop asking for your pundit opinion?).

If you’re like me, the last year or so has seen your net worth decline at an unbelievable rate. I heard one report over the weekend that the average USA household has lost 22%. It seems like a lot more to me personally, but maybe the dark financial clouds that have been around for months now have the effect of making everything seem far worse than they really are.

So what’s the solution? At the moment I can only think that, if the Stimulus Bill is the answer, I don’t even want to think about what the question is. Some experts argue that we’re about to go over the edge of a financial cliff while others are certain we’re not spending enough. Just a few snippets from today’s news items:

$787 billion economic recovery package became law on Tuesday with the simple stroke of Obama’s pen. Knowing whether it’s working? Not so easy
Source: CNN

General Motors, Chrysler Bankruptcies Can’t Be Ruled Out, Obama Aide Says
Source: Bloomberg

Five trillion dollars, that’s what it’s going to cost for the good / bad bank and ballooning stimulus plans.

Source: Marketoracle.co.uk via Stock Market News

Are there any positives out there?

Well, oil is down to around $35 a barrel. The US Dollar remains fairly strong (I think that’s a good thing, but again, opinions vary).

And as far as real estate is concerned, there are some faint glimmerings of hope.

The Orlando Regional Realtor Association latest report shows inventory down by 10% from its 2008 highs. New contracts at 2282 are the highest level since May 2007. And house price reductions do have a silver lining:

The median price of Orlando homes sold in January ($148,274) decreased by 33.06 percent compared to January 2008 while the area’s average interest rate dropped to its lowest point since May of 2005, creating market conditions that further tilt in favor of buyers.

Combined with some more CNN stories (”Final score: $8,000 for homebuyers in the Stimulus Bill” and “Obama’s foreclosure fix on the way”), let’s hope that this really does herald the start of a recovery and work like heck to make sure it does.

And let’s hope that of the two options I posted in the first paragraph, we’re going to benefit from the “slightest bit of good” and not just suffer the big egos. As for the “care” question, I think the jury is still out and will be for a while yet!

Update Feb 22nd: if any real estate help is to come from a lowering of home loan costs, there’s no sign of relief in the latest mortgage trends data.

Read the full story here.

Read the full story here and here.

Read the full story here.

So, as overwhelming and frustrating as it is to navigate the U.S. home lending system, it can be done. And although we have experienced some level of frustration and resignation when we have had to “jump through some ridiculously silly and bureaucratic hoops” on virtually all of our Florida home loans, almost every loan we have been involved with has successfully closed.
So what does it take to successfully obtain a home loan?
The first and one of the most important steps is to enlist the aid of a banker or mortgage broker that you trust.
Easier said than done?

“Trustworthy banker or mortgage broker” ranks right up there with “honest real estate brokers and lawyers” as a rare commodity?
Maybe it does!

And if the simple advice and approach was inadequate for a potential client, he would refer the client on to a mortgage loans specialist.

Everything has become a lot more complex during the past year though. Some commentators tell us that things are on the mend and others shout out that the system is still broken. How are we supposed to make sense of these conflicting signals?

On the one hand, there are numerous stories reporting that the credit crisis has caused enormous changes in the real estate market - and in a very short space of time.  We’ve gone from a situation where loans were handed out with virtually no restrictions to almost a lending freeze.  So lease-to-own agreements are increasingly popular as more owners have trouble selling their homes and plenty of buyers can’t get a mortgage - but the deals are complicated, with pros and cons on both sides. Read the full story here.

Other reports are convinced that, with federal money recharging the financial system, many banks are ready to lend, but nervous consumers aren’t seeking loans and small businesses remain cautious about their borrowing. It’s going to take time for things to change, say industry experts, who predict that loan demand will remain weak into early 2009. Here’s the full story.

Our experience? The big banks have definitely withdrawn many, many programs and can be a nightmare to deal with at present. Other smaller banks who were not as extravagant in the good times are better able to respond to lending requests and have funds available. So shop around!

The number of fraudulent loans issued during the second quarter this year increased 45%, compared with the same period in 2007, according to the Mortgage Asset Research Institute (MARI), a service of LexisNexis.

The group counts as fraud any misrepresentation intended to get a better deal on a mortgage or a home sale.

During the boom, that might have meant a buyer who inflated his income to qualify for a bigger loan. Some went so far as to get a fake appraisal, invent a fake buyer, and after securing a mortgage, absconding with the cash.

Such ruses may not work in this environment, with lenders tightening up their standards.

But several scams still are effective, according to Jim Ronan of Interthinx, a provider to lenders of fraud-prevention services, and Robert Hagberg, a fraud investigator for mortgage giant, Freddie Mac.

Is it too much to expect that the mortgage industry cleans up it’s act, or are taxpayers just expected to foot the bill for even more excesses on top of the $700 billion bail-out?  Enough is enough - what do you think?

Almost as sensitive is “why do my property taxes cost so much?”   Its always a problem, seemingly also timeless and international. Its definitely a sensitive issue in Florida right now.

Property taxes are based on the County’s assessment of what your property is worth. So when prices in Florida increased enormously in the years between 2001 and 2006, homeowners experienced monstrous increase in their property tax bills - so much so that there are anecdotal tales of families moving out of Florida to states with less expensive taxes rates. Many of our international clients saw their bills virtually double within the space of three years and began to question the sense in owning real estate in a place where costs were literally out of control.

So, with the recent fall in house prices, the County should factor that into your tax bill for next year and you’ll pay less, won’t you? Well, maybe not. This article explains why you should not have high expectations:

This January, local tax authorities will begin to send out property assessments for 2009, telling homeowners what their property is valued at, and how much their tax bill is.

But many assessments won’t reflect any of the steep home price declines that have been making headlines for the last year or so.

And even if property assessments do drop, property tax bills won’t necessarily be any lower.

“I think you’re going to see a lot more taxpayer protest this year,” said Bruce Hahn, president of the American Homeowners foundation, a non-partisan consumer advocacy group.

Read the whole article and then decide if it’s time to write to your local County Appraiser.

• The newest variation on the home office is a completely separate office space, connected to the house by a hallway or a breezeway.
• Kitchens are getting smaller but connected to much larger dining areas, often with a center island where family members can sit for an informal meal.
• Oversized family rooms with high ceilings are giving way to smaller, cozier rooms with lower ceilings.
• Home theaters have lost some appeal because people don’t want to watch television in a separate area of the home. TV viewing is a more informal activity that people engage in while they’re doing other things like cooking or getting ready for work.

Source: The Washington Post, Katherine Salant (10/18/2008)
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