DNC My Cellie Cell phone numbers went public on Friday, August 29th, which means that you can now enjoy the thrills of receiving telemarketing calls on your costly cellie minutes. All cell phone numbers, nationwide, were released to telemarketing companies on the 29th. To prevent those telemarketers, call the... VA Ceiling Raised According to the Florida Association of Realtors, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is raising ceilings on its no-downpayment home loans from the current $417,000 to as much as $729,000. The VA increases went into effect immediately under legislation enacted under the Housing and Economic... Values on the Rise Glimmers headlined in August that the housing crisis has finally hit the bottom and may be on the rebound. The decline in home prices is starting t... 09/06/2008

Carts on the Byway While using a poorly worded and downright mean approach in their September issue of the Poinciana Pioneer, the Association of Poinciana Villages (APV) did provide some useful information about how to get rid of shopping carts littering the sidewalks and byways in Poinciana. To help reduce this... Tell Crist How You Feel The Florida Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with Gov. Charlie Crist's office, created eight online surveys to find out the opinions of Floridians' on issues impacting the state. One survey focuses on small businesses, and specifically wants to know what you, as a small business owner, think... Confidence Rising Even as Obama, Biden, McCain, and Palin, each try to grab our attention for a brighter future, Florida's economists sound like they concur.... 09/06/2008

Here are a few photos I took while driving around Poinciana Florida today. If it's true that a picture paints a thousand words then I guess these pretty much sum up what's going on with the Poinciana Real Estate Market. IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE!!! MOVED ON WITH NO FORWARDING ADDRESS! TRYING TO MOVE ON!! NEED I SAY MORE? MORE INFO FROM BROKER BRYANT... THE SOURCE FOR POINCIANA REAL ESTATE Copyright © 2008 http://www.brokerbryant.com/ | All Rights Reserved  09/02/2008

A recent report by the Florida Association of Realtors® concurs, we may have finally landed on the bottom.  Actually, bouncing is a more accurate description. The market value for homes in Poinciana appears to be making some attempt to stabilize.  Like skipping a stone in one of Poinciana's many ponds, sales are bouncing between about 40 and 60 sales per month. While some home values have declined, particularly in the Bellalago area, home sales have stayed steady in areas like Solivita and Crescent Lakes.  Overall, property inventory has not increased much over the past year, staying below 1,200.   While sales have increased slightly, helping to keep home values from the downward spiral that the Poinciana area has been experiencing, the area's absorption rate has been declining from a s... 09/01/2008

Hi foks. I am always reading and hearing about leads. How do you get them? What do you do with them? Have you bought leads from this or that company? Well, this got me thinking about.... what is a lead? A lead to me is someone that contacts me and tells me they want to sale or buy a house in the next 30 days and they were given my name by so and so whose house I sold last year. Leads are gold. Leads are money in the bank. They are ready to buy or sell and they are ready to work with you. Leads will turn into customers or clients and if satisfied will result in more leads by referring your services. If you could get a couple of leads a week you could easily covert them into 3 to 5 closings per month. Leads can't be bought. Leads come from hard work and a loyal customer base that is buil... 08/31/2008

Hi folks. I had one of my Sellers email me earlier today needing an update on what is going on with her property. She's an absentee Seller and I could feel her frustration. She had been to my Poinciana website and noticed that I had just closed on a short sale that was similar in size to her house. Anyway, I'm sure many of you are getting these types of emails, so, I decided to post my response here, just in case it will help you with responding to your Sellers. The main thing, of course, is too just be honest. As a listing Broker, I can't control the market and I certainly don't take responsibility for it.  When I first listed this property we were within 5% of market value and have in fact had 2 offers on it that were turned down. So here's my response to my Seller.  START OF EMAIL Th... 08/22/2008

Poinciana May Welcome Hatchineha Lakes First Tuscany Preserve, now Hatchineha Lakes, developers of a proposed city-sized development are hatching a plan for a large upscale, retirement community on Lake Hatchineha.  The developers, however, still have work to do to see their project for a 4,900-unit community they are calling Hatchineha Lakes.  The plan is for a 5,134-acre ranch to be located on the southern-most side of Village 7, near Tuscany Preserve, with homes on one-acre lots with an expected population of ... read more ... SPCA Seeking Pet Foster Homes According to The Abuse of Animals and Domestic Violence, one in five women involved in domestic violence situations are afraid to leave their homes for fear that the abuser will harm the family pet.  That's why the SPCA created its... 08/21/2008

This is one of my classic posts that I felt I needed to bring to the front of my blog. It shows that short sales aren't something new. This post was written in December of 2006. Enjoy!!! 12/15/2006 Your home is your castle, not an ATM machine! 97 13294 9381 Tomorrow, I'm placing a home on the market, that is going to require a short sale. Seems like I'm getting an awful lot of these lately. This is one where I just don't understand what some folks are thinking. Nice young family, who were first time homebuyers just about 2 years ago. They bought a great little house, new construction, and they only paid $135,000 for it in November of 2004. This was right before our big increase in prices that happened in Poinciana in early 2005. So when I made my appointment with them, earlier this week... 08/19/2008

For the latest in Poinciana real estate information, go to www.PoincianaHome.net. Pineapple-E Victory Ready to save $4.00 every time you eat a pineapple in Central Florida?  Try pineapple gardening. It's the ... read more ... Few Know About Low-Interest Loans The state of the housing market has left many homeowners trapped with homes that no longer suit their needs.  With negative home equity gaining ground these days, it is also impossible for many of these same homeowners to "move up," but an antidote exists!  It's in an under-utilized ... read more ... Rail to Poinciana Re-Ok'd The Federal Transit Administration okayed the final design for the commuter rail that will have at one end ... Poinciana!  Central Florida's planned commuter-rail project passed ... read more ... CountryWide N... 08/15/2008

This listing is off the market, but we have plenty of others for you to purchase. Rob Arnold | Sand Dollar Realty Group Inc. | 407-389-7318 43 Sawfish Court, Poinciana, FL Kissimmee short sale opportunity. 3BR/2BA Single Family House offered at $129,000 Year Built 2002 Sq Footage 1,020 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms 2 full, 0 partial Floors Unspecified Parking 2 Car garage Lot Size 10,889 sqft HOA/Maint $21 per month DESCRIPTION Own this "New" Nice Home in affordable new neighborhood loaded with Amenities such as open space, large tile, high ceilings, large windows and much more. You'll have worked only for the best and now can expect only the best, relaxing in your lovely new home! Three bedroom/three bath, spacious cabinets, patio with large fenced backyard. Enjoy the wooded backyard view from ... 08/14/2008

In my last post I had mentioned that I was dealing with a PMI (private mortgage insurance) company during my short sale negotiations. Some of you guys didn't realize that this was one of the entities involved in the decision making. PMI is almost always required when the home is purchased with less than 20% down and is paid for by the home buyer BUT it can also be purchased by the lender even if the down payment was 20% or more. If you are dealing with short sales this is one of the first questions you want to ask the lender, "Is there PMI Insurance?". It affects the negotiations, so you need to know.  There are actually 3 entities that may have an interest in the negotiations, the Lender, the PMI Company and the Investor. The Investor could be Fannie Mae or Freddy Mac or any of the oth... 08/11/2008

I know you guys have been sitting on pins and needles waiting for this month's market report. So here you are......Poinciana Florida's market report for July 2008.  ***This data was pulled form the Mid-Florida Regional MLS on 8-7-08 and is deemed reliable. It includes Poinciana neighborhoods in zip codes 34759 and 34758 but does not include Solivita, Cypress Woods and Lake Marion Shores.***  For the month of July there were 62 single family homes that closed with an average property having 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1812 sq ft of living area. Most were built in 2000 or later. The average selling price was $118,175 and the median selling price was $118,250.  51 of these 62 sales were either bank owned (REOs) or Short Sales. That's 83%!!!  There are currently 1196 homes on the market and 130 u... 08/07/2008

I'm dedicating this post to swimming pools. That's right...swimming pools. We have swimming pools everywhere in Florida. Here is a picture of our pool. This is what they are supposed to look like, sparkling, refreshing and very inviting. It makes you want to jump in doesn't it?  Now contrast our swimming pool with these.     This is what pools look like when the property is a REO (bank owned) or a short sale. Not all the time but certainly most of the time.  Needless to say these can be a HUGE problem. There are probably 1,000s of pools, that look like these, throughout Florida. The first thing that comes to mind is "Mosquito Hell"!!! Not to mention snakes and a myriad of other creatures that we have not been able to identify. Here's an article from The Orlando Sentinel about this issue... 07/24/2008

Hi there. In this post I'm going to explore the history of a couple of recent foreclosures (REOs) that have just been placed under contract (pending). I figure this little exercise will give you some incite on the cyclical nature of real estate and property values.  Both of these properties were sold by me, prior to opening up Tutas Towne Realty, 10 years ago.  The first one is a 3 bedroom 2 bath pool home with 1670 sq ft of living area built in 1991 and sits on a ½ acre lot.  I met the original owner of this house back in 1995. He lived in England and this house was used as a vacation home. He built the house in 1991 and paid $95,000. It has since had 5 owners including Countrywide Mortgage who now owns the property. Let's check out the sales history.  SOLD PRICE % CHANGESALE - SALE 17... 07/22/2008

OK it's time for me to repost an "oldie but goldie". I was sitting down to write a post today, based on conversations I had this morning, with two potential Sellers. As I started writing, it was sounding very familiar. Then I remembered I had written about this same scenario almost 2 years ago!!!! Funny how things remain the same. This particular post also happens to be the one that has had the most "clicks" out of the 469 posts I have written. As of today, 12,319 people have clicked on this post. That's "clicks" not "views"! What does that tell you about the state of the market? Anyway....I hope you enjoy it.  THE SHARKS HAVE HAD THEIR FILL.......First posted 9 September 2006 I just got off the phone with Mr. Ive B. Screwed. Seems like a nice young man from South Florida, I could hear... 07/18/2008

The market value for homes in Poinciana continues to decline but total sales increased for the second month in a row.  Although sales have increased, market values continue to fall, likely due to excessive inventory.  The number of homes sold increased from April to May and remained above 40 in June.  In July 2008, 72,465 people called Poinciana home in an area of 20,303 homes.  The least expensive of these sells today for $41 per square foot.  The least expensive single family home in Poinciana has an asking price of $50,000. Absorption rate for Osceola County stood at 4.04%, which reflects a steady increase from a low of 2.00% in January 2008, but inventory remained excessively high at over 1,100 homes on the market for sale.  A total of 208 homes have been sold in Poinciana so far in... 07/07/2008

Hi folks, earlier this week there was a discussion over at Agent Genius about REALTORS® only selling about 20% of their listings. The post was actually about Real Estate Shows but, as blog posts tend to do, the discussion got off topic. Anyway, I'm not sure where this percentage came from but let's go with it since it doesn't really matter for the sake of this post.  This post is about listing brokers not selling all of their listings and Barry Cunningham, from Real Estate Radio USA, arguing, mentioning that he sells 100% of his properties. He was dumbfounded that we as REALTOR(S) don't have a 100% success rate. Maybe he would have been happy with 75%, I just don't know.  I want to explore this topic a little further in this post. As a little background, it's important to understand, th... 07/05/2008

OK it's time to rumble!!! I didn't do a Poinciana market report for May, so instead of going backwards, this month, I decided to do a report for the first 6 months of 2008 compared to the same period last year. First let's start with a little chart then I'll add my commentary.  This data was pulled from the Mid-Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service and is deemed to be reliable. I'm using the data for zip codes 34758 and 34759, Poinciana Neighborhoods. It does not include Solivita, Cypress Woods, Crescent Lakes or Lake Marion. Jan 1-June 30.    Number Of Sales REOs And SSs Average Price Price Per Sq Ft Current Inventory 2007 241 17(7%) $202,408 $119.82 na 2008 205 143(70%) $132,796 $ 74.25 1182 Change -15% + 88% - 34% - 38%   So what does this all mean? Well, the first thing, that s... 07/04/2008

Hi folks. This post is about finding your MoJo. As most of you know, my market, Poinciana FL has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. I heard it could be as high as 1 in 7 homes. That's about 15%. So needless to say it has been a very difficult year for selling real estate, thus far. BUT......I'm starting to get my MoJo back!!!  About 3 months ago I decided I needed to quit my whining about the market and make changes in my business. Based on what was happening in the market I had 3 areas that I needed to concentrate on:   1. Picking up some REO listings. 2. Working short sale listings. 3. Expanding my Investor base and increasing Buyer activity.  Unfortunately, my attempt to break into the REO business, proved to be an effort in futility. Being a one man office, as I a... 06/25/2008

Find more photos like this on Poinciana Peeps Community Network Hi folks. Today is the big day!! This is the official launch of my new social network BBsWorld.ego. This social network is open to all and is all about ME, ME, ME, ME!! OK....just kidding. While that does sound like an excellent theme for a social network it'll have to wait for another time..........   ........because today, I'm launching a social network at http://poincianapeeps.ning.com. And fortunately, it's NOT about me. It's about Poinciana. This social site is being provided free of charge as my gift to you.....my Poinciana Peeps(friends).  Poinciana Peeps is a place where residents and friends of Poinciana can go to share their thoughts, ideas, news, videos, music or anything that may interest Poinciana Peeps.  I'm ... 06/20/2008