According the Sentinel online, several projects including the Vue and Premier Trade Plaza, should see completion in the coming months, and despite a challenging year, others will be breaking ground. It's unlikely however, that all will be so successful. Several developments have been struggling to achieve the necessary presales required to break ground. The mixed use developments, on the other hand, seem to be finding it a little easier to secure funding. Projects likely to see success in 2007[...]
Last week, agents for Coldwell Banker's the Condo Store received an email from their founder and president, David Tufts, telling them that the Company, which has grown rapidly in Florida since 2005, would be downsizing in 2007, and a reduction in force could follow. This morning, they received an email from Jim Schmidt, a Senior Vice President for NRT telling them that the person who sent that email would also be leaving the company, along with the Executive Vice President Betty Harbourt. The [...]
The projected number of downtown condominium units increased by about 510 this afternoon as ground was broken at Eola Place. The 16 story building is expected to be completed in 2008 with condos currently ranging in price from around $270k to $1.6 million.The mayor of Orlando, Buddy Dyer and commissioner Patty Sheehan donned hard hats as they supervised the destruction of two older units to make way for the project, which joins the Vue, Star Tower and the Paramount all of which have all made it [...]
In the face of the current housing bust, Orlando City Council is setting up a soup kitchen for the town's starving real estate agents. Several varieties of soup including Chicken Noodle and Leek and Potato, will be available all over the holiday period from December 20th until the New Year. In order to qualify, agents need to show that they have earned zero commissions in the month of December and / or are facing foreclosure on their own properties due to the "correction" in the market. "It's [...]
Letters to the Editor: Dear Editor: Zillow's latest online move was predictable and fully anticipated by many. And yet there are those who continue to believe that Zillow, whose founders shook up and virtually destroyed the traditional travel industry model with Expedia, will never succeed in dismantling the much more powerful real estate industry. Think Zillow can't do it? Don't bet on it. Zillow.com's real estate "divide and conquer" strategy couldn't have been launched at a better time. [...]
All this talk of a housing bust. It ignores the fact that real estate is a local phenomenon, which means that the reality is that some towns are doing ok and others are not. And of those that are not, some will recover quicker than others. The trick to investing in real estate is in figuring out exactly what's going on in the town you're looking to buy. According to UCF's Institute for Economic Competitiveness, the ongoing influx of people into the Orlando area means Orlando's (real estate) [...]
If you check out the Orlando Sentinel Homes Sections on Sunday (there are now about 142 Homes sections) the only condos you'll find are the ones that paid to be there. My genius math friends refer to this as a skewed sample, meaning that it is not representative of the whole story. Try looking online instead and, well, it's a mess. Theoretically, you could browse each developer website - assuming you could find them all, but expect to be busy until the second coming of Christ - because it's no[...]
The latest Orlando condo conversion has its grand (broker) opening tonight. Summerlin in Winter Park (along with PUIG) summoned a decent attendance for a rainy night - some agents, some renters wondering if they should buy into their 1972 property. Given the usual amenities, upgrade options and and floor plans, prices are pretty competitive for the neighborhood and HOA fees are low. For what it's worth, I still think conversions are a great deal - particularly for first time buyers: they're [...]
Urbana Condominiums. Step forward. Take a bow. The Canadian company Metrontario has broken ground on the first phase of the 237-unit Urbana Condominiums. The first phase of the luxury multifamily development will feature 120 condos and the community's amenity center. Forty percent are said to be presold. Signature GMAC Real Estate will have first crack at handling the sales and marketing for the upscale condominium development which offers 10 different one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans [...]
Condo Metropolis Launches new online condominium marketplace.
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