Jacksonville Real Estate Ramblings: December 2011

The property: This was single family home in Middleburg with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, little over 1300 square feet. On a cul de sac. House was in move in condition. New roof, tile flooring, ginormous backyard. 

Hardship: Required relocation, loss of tenants.

Short sale scenario: 2 loans, one with Wells Fargo, one with Bank of America. Only had one buyer on this house.  From contract to closing it took 3 months. The seller did have to contribute around $300. No promissory note and the defiency judgment was waived on both loans. Sold for 81k, owed a total of approximately 120k.

If you find yourself in a short sale situation and want to know your options either call me at 904-910-3516 or email me at pam@pamgraham.com.

The property: This was a single family home in Jacksonville with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, little over 2000 square feet. On a cul de sac. The house needed some paint, carpet and a little tlc. 

Hardship: Loss of tenant, couldn't get reliable tenants. Financial difficulties. 

Short sale scenario: One loan, with the lender being Select Portfolio Servicing. We were in  a multiple offer situation, with the highest and best offer submitted. The BPO was done before the offer was submitted. It took around 2 months from contract to closing.  This sold for 182k, the bank paid 7k towards the buyer's closing costs. The seller owed around 245k. There was PMI on the loan, which the bank put into place on their own after the owner had bought and closed on it. The seller had a promissory note to pay to the PMI company.

If you find yourself in a short sale situation and want to know your options either call me at 904-910-3516 or email me at pam@pamgraham.com.

The property: This was single family home in Middleburg with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, almost 1800 square feet. On a cul de sac. House was in move in condition. 

Hardship: Required relocation.

Short sale scenario: The lender was Navy Federal. Only one loan. The seller's continued making their payments all the way up to closing. Took 2 months to get short sale approval. Not easy to talk to the negotatator. Whenever I called to get updates, I was never put through to the person handling the file. I could only get updates from the person who happened to answer the phone that day. Only one contract on this home. Sold for 151k, owed approximately 206k. No promissory note, but the seller did contribute 5k at closing.

If you find yourself in a short sale situation and want to know your options either call me at 904-910-3516 or email me at pam@pamgraham.com.

The property: This was single family home in Middleburg with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, little over 1500 square feet. Ginormous fenced backyard.

Hardship: Divorce situation, financial difficulties.

Short sale scenario: We did have an offer on this property before the final one that closed. The first offer was approved in 32 days. This short sale was with Litton Loans.  This is another lender who is easier to work with, from contract to closing (the final offer that stuck) was only 40 days.  The seller did have a promissory note of $3k. Sold for 104k, owed 175K. 2 loans both with Litton.

The real estate market would turn around faster, if we could decrease the short sale inventory drastically. One way of doing that would be to have a faster short sale approval turn around. Less buyers walking away from getting impatient.

If you find yourself in a short sale situation and want to know your options either call me at 904-910-3516 or email me at pam@pamgraham.com.

What do you scream, I scream, we all scream for? You got it, Ice cream! I know, that was corny. :) Anyway, I wanted to just put the spot light out there on my favorite ice cream shop, Just Chillin', which is a mom and pops kind of place, and I love those types of businesses. Yes it's December, but we're in Florida and we can enjoy ice cream all year round! Here's a little of what they have:

• THE BEST Hot Chocolate in Green Cove Springs (I mention that first since it is December)
• Ice Cream (I know, duh)
• Smoothies
• Sundaes
• Milkshakes
• Hot Chocolate Floats (I REALLY love their hot chocolate)

The owner, Jennifer, makes the visit even better, just by her warm personality and the fact that she actually remembers what we order, although I do like to change it up to keep her on her toes. They offer gift certificates too, nice stocking stuffers since Christmas isn't that far away.

Does your organization need to raise some money? Just Chillin' offers fundraiser opportunities to the schools, athletic organizations and more. I bet those other ice cream chains, don't offer fundraiser opportunities to the community.

I know, you're in the mood for some ice cream and want to know the location details. They are located at:

2851 Henley Rd., Suite 103, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043

This is in the same plaza as WinnDixie and Dick's Wings.

Clay County Florida Market Report

 November 2011

Single Family homes in: 

· Fleming Island

· Orange Park

· Middleburg

· Green Cove Springs

November 2011                   November 2010

Active Listings: 1,268           Active Listings: 1,734

Sold: 156                             Sold: 141

Months Inventory: 8.12       Months Inventory: 12.30

Average Price:  352,763     Average Price: 362,850

We're seeing slight improvements from October 2011, to November 2011. 19 more homes sold in Clay County Florida this month than last month. It's great to see how we are selling more and that our active listings are down from last year in November. We're still experiencing a buyer's market, but homes are still selling when price correctly.

November 2011

And now for a Blast in the Past…………..

November 2010

Active Listings– The amount of active listings in the month reported

Sold– The amount of sold listings that closed in the reported month.

Months Inventory– How many months it would take to sell the current inventory based on the sold amount.

Avg Sale Price– Average sale price of the sold houses in the reported month.

SP/OLP Ratio– Sales price to Original List Price, this is the percentage showing the difference of what the house was originally listed for and what it sold for.

Days on the Market– The length of time it took the house to get under contract from list date.

Sold REO– How many homes sold that were foreclosures (REO=Real Estate Owned). 

Sold Short Sales– How many homes sold, that were short sales

Want to know what these numbers mean to you when selling your Clay County Florida Home? Call me at 904-910-3516 and find out!

Want to meet new people and get a great workout in?

Have you ever thought of playing soccer?

Who cares if you've never played before or if it's been years since you last played. Soccer is a great sport. I love soccer, it's intense and  I'm burning alot of calories. It's the one sport I can watch, without my undiagnosed ADD going nuts. :)

My kids have been playing soccer for years, and I always thought it was a fun sport to watch, but never played as a kid. I started coaching both of my kids Rec teams and figured it would be fun to play and help me be a better coach, so I started playing on a women's league this past spring. I love it! I play year round, usually once a week, minus some holidays. The league I play in is called the Beaches Adult Soccer League. Don't let the name fool you, not all the games are played at the Beaches, there are fields all over, in fact, the field that I play at the most is at Plantation Park in the Julington Creek area. There are fields in Jacksonville, Fleming Island, St Johns County. There are women's, coed, men's, indoor & outdoor team, 11v11, the list goes on.

The women's league is 7v7, same with the coed. We have a spring, summer, fall and winter season. You can play for more than one team in different divisions. For example, a female could play on a women's team and a coed team in the same season. A few of my team mates do that. There are women on my team in their 20s, 30s and 40s. One of our players is 49! When my daughter turns 16, she can play on my team as well. So, age isn't an excuse. Neither is experience. I had never played when I started playing in the spring. Yes, it was intimidating, but I just overcame my fear and found a team that didn't care that I've never played before. That's my team in the pic above.

There are a couple other league's in the Jacksonville area: Jax Sports and First Coast Soccer Club at Patton Park, which is off of Hodges and Beach Blvd. I've never played for them, so I can't give much detail.

Jacksonville Florida Market Report

 Single Family homes (attached & detached)

November 2011

November 2011                        November 2010

Active Listings: 5,191                 Active Listings: 7,029

Sold: 565                                    Sold: 541

Months Inventory: 9.19               Months Inventory: 12.99

Average Price: 453,920              Average Price: 464,390

As the end of the year is fast approaching, the stats for Jacksonville are continuing to improve. We see a decrease in November's inventory over October 2011 and an increase of the number of homes sold. Also, you'll notice I added the average price back into the mix again, which will give you an idea of what the overall market is doing in all the price ranges combined. With the national unemployment rate seeing a drop, we should continue to see the real estate market in Jacksonville, continue to improve.

November 2011

And now for a Blast in the Past…………..

November 2010

Active Listings– The amount of active listings in the month reported

Sold– The amount of sold listings that closed in the reported month.

Months Inventory– How many months it would take to sell the current inventory based on the sold amount.

Avg Sale Price– Average sale price of the sold houses in the reported month.

SP/OLP Ratio– Sales price to Original List Price, this is the percentage showing the difference of what the house was originally listed for and what it sold for.

Days on the Market– The length of time it took the house to get under contract from list date.

Sold REO– How many homes sold that were foreclosures (REO=Real Estate Owned). 

Sold Short Sales– How many homes sold, that were short sales

Want to know what these numbers mean to you when selling your Jacksonville Florida Home? Call me at 904-910-3516 and find out!

St Johns County Florida Market Report

Single Family homes (attached & detached)

November 2011

Single Family homes in: 

·St Johns County

·St Augustine

·St Augustine Beach

·Ponte Vedra 

·Ponte Vedra Beach

·Palm Valley

·Nocatee

·Vilano Beach

November 2011                          November 2010

Active Listings: 1,688                  Active Listings: 2,188

Sold: 190                                     Sold: 183 

Months Inventory: 8.88                Months Inventory: 11.96

Average Price: 479,052               Average Price: 596,166

It seems that November flew by! Only one more market report for 2010 left to do. Little less inventory this month than in October 2011, but we saw 17 more houses sold last month than in November. We are still seeing improvements over last year overall, except if you compare the average prices above. I know it's a little over 100k difference, but that difference comes from the price range 800k and above. All the other prices ranges, we see the average was higher in November 2011 than 2010, so again it doesn't reflect what is going on in every price range.

November 2011

And now for a Blast in the Past…………..

November 2010

Active Listings– The amount of active listings in the month reported

Sold– The amount of sold listings that closed in the reported month.

Months Inventory– How many months it would take to sell the current inventory based on the sold amount.

Avg Sale Price– Average sale price of the sold houses in the reported month.

SP/OLP Ratio– Sales price to Original List Price, this is the percentage showing the difference of what the house was originally listed for and what it sold for.

Days on the Market– The length of time it took the house to get under contract from list date.

Sold REO– How many homes sold that were foreclosures (REO=Real Estate Owned). 

Sold Short Sales– How many homes sold, that were short sales

Want to know what these numbers mean to you when selling your St John's County Florida Home? Call me at 904-910-3516 and find out!

The property: This was a condo in Jacksonville with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, almost 1300 square feet. A one car garage was included. This is a gated community, with a pool and clubhouse. 

Hardship: Drop in income, resulting in difficulties affording the mortgage payment and HOA fees. This condo development had WDO and structural issues, so the values dropped significantly and only cash buyers could purchase, no financing.

Short sale scenario: This deal took about 6 months from list date to closing to complete. The lender was Wells Fargo Mortgage. Between having to re-fax paperwork, a delay on the attorney's part, being assigned a new negotiator, this deal was shaky.  The values kept dropping and the buyer was getting antsy. The buyer wanted to do an appraisal even though it was a cash deal. Finally, we got the approval and the buyer decided they were getting a great deal and closed without doing an appraisal.  The seller owed close to 200k, the condo sold for 47k. No promissory note required and no cash contribution from the seller.

If you find yourself in a short sale situation and want to know your options either call me at 904-910-3516 or email me at pam@pamgraham.com.

Other successful short sales I've completed:

• Wells Fargo Financial
• Navy Federal
• Litton Loan
• Wells Fargo
• Bank of America
• Select Portfolio Servicing, Inc
• HSBC
• Provident Funding
• Litton
• Vystar
• American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc