Lake City Florida - Real Estate Market Update

Quick Market Update:

Right now there are over 380 homes in Columbia County - Lake City area for sale.
Of those total 380 homes listed for sale.
72 are short sales
19 are bank owned or foreclosures.

That leaves alot of other sellers that have their homes on the market.
There are 40 homes currently under contract (Pending) in this area.

There have been 212 homes that have sold this year in the Columbia County, Fort White, Lake City, FL areas. Out of those, 30 have been short sales, 59 banked owned for foreclosures, making the total sales over 40% of our market is distressed properties.

Chad Stewart
Real Estate Pro
Burbach Realty Services.

What does Short Sale do to Credit & Credit FICO score vs Foreclosure

Audio Podcast that I liked.
How does a Short Sale affect Credit? << Click for Podcast Audio
from: Rob Stewart, Short Sale Realtor with Burbach Realty, Hope Consulting.
Q&A on Short Sales.
How does a short sale affect your credit & credit score?

Answer varies with one biggest question. What is your credit to start with? People that went into short sale being late on credit cards, late on car payments,  12 months late on mortgage, this was the first positive thing they did for their credit & their score actually went up. Credit bureau sees it is they are doing something actually positive to fix their financial situation, vs going into foreclosure & default.  People that have never missed a payment, but did short sale got hit pretty bad.

Average hit to FICO score is 75 points, but what you got to know what is far more important that hit on score is the affect that a foreclosure will do. Knock you 200-300 points, stay on records for 7 years, hard to rent, credit card may decline you. With a short sale will be on your record with FHA for about 2 years, and as long as you get your score back up and could potentially buy another home quickly, especially if everything else on credit is clean. Credit impact varies on a whole bunch of factors.

http://blog.chadstewart.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

SHIP has Money to Lend

SHIP has money to lend

SHIP applicants in Columbia, Lafayette, Madison,
Suwannee, and Union County can qualify for down
SHIP payment assistance for amounts between
$12,000 to $25,000 depending on household income
and total number of family members.

Applicants in Columbia, Suwannee and Madison
County must attend a home ownership class.

The next classes are scheduled for October 19th and
20th for Columbia County and December 5th and 6th for
Suwannee County.

Each county has its own lending criteria. For more
information contact Matt Pearson.

mattpearson@suwanneeec.net

Res.net Foreclosure & Short Sale Managment Real Estate

For Immediate Release:


Chad Stewart, Broker Associate with Burbach Realty has just completed training & is now a RES.net REO certified Agent. The AMP certification course give agents the opportunity to advance their REO real estate business skils.



Res.net AMP puts the agent at the center of the RES.NET community, ultimately empowering their position in the real estate transaction. From start to finish, the Accelerated Management Platform (AMP) connects agents to a community of real estate profession­als, buyers, and sellers and provides them with tools to accomplish work in the most efficient manner pos­sible

July 27, 2011
Attention: Selling Agents
Freddie Mac First Look Initiative Extended to Second Home Purchasers
Effective August 1, 2011, Freddie Mac will offer second home purchasers the opportunity to purchase HomeSteps homes through the Freddie Mac First Look Initiative. The First Look Initiative supports Freddie Mac's mission to stabilize communities and support housing recovery through the creation of affordable home ownership opportunities.
This on-going initiative offers owner occupant homebuyers, second home purchasers, Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grantees and non-profits engaged in community stabilization efforts the ability to purchase HomeSteps homes during their initial 15 days of listing without competition from investors.
Please Note:

• The purchaser does not need to be a first time homebuyer to be eligible; however, they must be buying the home as their residence.
• The Affidavit of Owner Occupancy has been updated and should be used on all new sales.
• The 15 day Initiative time period is based on MLS days, not the date of the listing broker listing.
• In Nevada, Freddie Mac's First Look Initiative window is 30 days.

Lake City Florida - Columbia County Real Estate Market update

Lake City FL Homes Info

Greetings! Chad Stewart here with Burbach Realty Services, I just wanted to give you a quick update about our real estate market. Right now in Lake City - Columbia County, we have over 375 homes on the market. With about 75 real estate single family homes sales over the past 3 months, we have around 15 months of supply. While this is still alot, this is down from 17-22 months in previous quarters showing a slight improvement in the market.

Of those 375 homes in the county listed for sale, just over 74 of them (19%) are Foreclosures or Short Sales. Only 18 Foreclosures on the market, but 56 short sales for sale or 14% of the listings.

Of all 2011 YTD single family residential home sales here in Lake City, FL, Columbia County, Florida, and Fort White area, there is a total of 119 sales year to date, 51 of those are Foreclosures & short Sales.

Detailed Look
19% of the Listings are Foreclosures & Short sales, but
43% of the Sales are Foreclosures & Short sales.
31% of the sales are Foreclosures.
10% of the sales are Short Sales.
Average Home Sale: $117,000 & Median is $101,000
Average Foreclosure-Short Sale: $95,900 & Median is $79,000

Pending Sales follows along with sales as well although more weighted to pending short sales because they can take much longer & more difficult to actually close. Currently there are 42 pending home sales, 23 of those pending sales or approx 54% are foreclosures & short sales. 11 of those 23 are foreclosures and 12 are short sales.

Given these stats, you can see why hiring a quality Real Estate Pro that is knowledgeable in the area sales, especially short sales negotiations, and has a state of the art marketing plan can be important.

Thanks again. Please comment below if you find these stats interesting. - Chad

Lake City FL Real Estate Newsletter

Lake City FL Real Estate

Housing Trends Real Estate eNewsletter is just posted.

Check it out here

http://chadstewart.housingtrendsenewsletter.com/?Newsletter_ID=271

How to Sell your Home - Realtor in Lake City FL Real Estate

Great Video about how to sell your home.
For a Lake City FL Home or to sell any real estate in Lake City, FL Contact a Real Estate Pro - Chad Stewart - Burbach Realty Services

Why Use a Professional Realtor

Buying house can be an exciting time for a Buyer, and selling a house can be an exciting time for a seller, but its important to make sure you use a Professional Realtor who is experienced & knowledgeable to help both the buyer & the seller thru the transaction..

This graph help explains some fo the work involved, AFTER the sales contract is signed. Not to metion the details & work needed to get the buyer & seller together in the market in the first place.

Home & Real Estate Listed in Lake City, FL - Video Tour of Home

Beautiful Home in Lake City FL Listed for Sale. Check out this Video Tour. Listing agent in Chad Stewart with Burbach Realty Services. Home listed for $227,900. Upscale home in Callway subdivision of Lake City. This is well worth seeing & a great value for what is included in this top quality built home.

Foundation Announces Columbia County - Lake City FL as the First Six Pillars Community in the State of Florida

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Juli Puckett, jpuckett@FLFoundation.org


(850) 521-1217
Foundation Announces Columbia County as the First

Six Pillars Community in the State of Florida

Tallahassee, Florida (January 28, 2011) – The Florida Chamber Foundation announced that Columbia County has completed the steps to becoming the first Six Pillars Community in the State of Florida during a press conference today. The event took place at Columbia County High School’s Career Center with local leaders who spearheaded this effort for the County’s economic future.

In August of 2009, Columbia County IDA started out on a mission to develop a strategic plan for their community. After a presentation by the Florida Chamber Foundation on the 2030 Project to community leaders, the Columbia County IDA recognized the importance of aligning their efforts with what was being done on a state level by the Foundation.

“Florida is embarking on a new economy and communities across the state must take an active role in designing the future of their regions,” said Dr. Dale Brill, president of the Florida Chamber Foundation. “Columbia County sets the example of how to effectively plan for a new economy that they will be a part of.”

In order to become a Six Pillars Community, a municipality in Florida must complete a 10-step process focused around the Six Pillars for Florida’s Future framework. This framework serves as an organizing force for strategic planning at local, regional and state levels. It provides a means of harnessing fragmented viewpoints into a common and consistent conversation so that thoughtful and productive planning can take place. This ensures that communities across the state of Florida will design plans unique to their area – all connected by a common language that bubbles up to inform the state plan.
“We had a dedicated team of community leaders made up primarily of private business but also included local government, who worked tirelessly to position Columbia County as a player in economic development,” said Gina Reynolds, Deputy Director, Columbia County IDA. “The Six Pillars Community designation offers us the power of collective resources and a unified vision which will bubble up to state-wide efforts.”

The Columbia County IDA identified five strategic goals that will position the county for prosperity, high-wage jobs, and the ability to compete in a global market:

1. The Right Portfolio of Sites

2. High Performing RACEC Catalyst Site

3. Unprecedented Customer Service

4. Outstanding Market Communications

5. Engaged and Informed Partners

Implementation of the strategic goals has been a team effort of community leaders. A trained and equipped workforce is important to the future of the community’s prosperity. Community educators took the lead and developed a Career Academy for Global Logistics at Columbia High School and a Bachelors Degree in Global Logistics at Florida Gateway College. Coupled with the Employ Florida Banner Center for Global Logistics at Florida Gateway College, Columbia County is preparing their workforce in one of their target industries.

Preparations are already underway by working groups focusing on specific areas of development. The working groups will have input into the overall direction and marketing efforts of economic development

SugarSync for 2011 vs Dropbox vs LiveMesh - Great Service for Real Estate Agents

I have been using SugarSync for a month or so now & just upgraded to the paid version. You can get 30 GB of storage, sync, and back for $4.99 a month. If you work with folders in Windows XP or Windows 7 alot, this is a great service & a excellent value.

Example: I am a real estate agent & each of my customers whether they are my sellers (listings) or my buyers, each one of them has a folder. Now that I am nearly 100% all digital in my personal real estate files, I have Mozy to do a once a day backup of my files, but now I also use SugarSync as a 2nd backup. However, the primary purpose of my SugarSync is not the backup its the Sync!

When I go to a closing, I only need to bring my iPad, quicky sync that customers folder to the iPad for offline use, and off I go. Every single file is quickly & easily uploaded for backup & sync as I use my computer.

Also the service allows incredible ease of access & sync with about any device including PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry.

I use a Blackberry Bold as well & there is a great app for viewing & sharing files. Another example is I was recently driving thru a bank teller drive thru when I got a call from another real estate agent. He wanted copies of deed restrictions of one of my listings. I simply grabbed my Blackberry Bold, selected the customers file I needed, clicked the deed restrictions, clicked email, put agent email, & within seconds, the other agent had a email link to download the deed restrictions quickly & easily.

Just another way a real estate agent can keep very up todate, very efficient, & very organized with technology, and all for very reasonable.

Hope you like my real estate tech tip. If you are interested in signing up for a FREE SugarSync 5GB account, click here and you will get 500mb bonus storage. Again its FREE, No credit card required. Its well worth trying out. - Thanks & take care. - Chad

Here is a site that Scott Britt from Britt Surveying showed me that is very helpful with property elevations ect….. http://www.labins.org/
This is a topo site that is run by FSU with input from surveyers around the state.

From Burbach Realty Services, Real Estate Agents in the Lake City, FL area.

Columbia County - Lake City FL Houses for Sale - Market Data - Real Estate

Interesting Columbia County, Lake City FL Housing market stats to ponder:

• Current residential home total listing inventory in Columbia County is 396.

• Closed sales since Jan 1 total 296 and annualized this will be around 322 closed sales which shows a current inventory supply of 14+ months. (A normal functioning real estate market will have a 6-8 month inventory supply)

Sold stats by price/current active listings in this price range: (closed sales only through Dec 8 not to Dec 31)

100k or less: 111 sales/106 active listings
100-150k: 92 sales/95 active listings
150-200k: 51 sales/75 active listings
200-300k: 36 sales/80 active listings
300-400k: 4 sales/21 active listings
400k +: 2 sales/19 active listings

• YOU CAN DEFINITELY SEE WHERE THE ACTION HAS BEEN! 150k OR LESS THERE HAS BEEN OVER 200 SALES IN 11 MONTHS CUTTING THE INVENTORY IN THAT PRICE RANGE TO AROUND 10 MONTHS
• THE MID RANGE OF 150-200k HAS BEEN SOFT AND SHOWS 16 MONTHS OF INVENTORY. (A HEALTHY MARKET IS 6-8 MOS. INVENTORY)
• THE UGLY PART IS 200k AND UP WITH THE DEAD ZONE ABOVE 300k WHERE ONLY 6 SALES HAVE OCCURRED. WITH ONLY 42 SALES IN THIS PRICE RANGE, AND 120 CURRENT LISTINGS, WE SHOW A 30 MONTH SUPPLY IN THIS PRICE RANGE!

Information Gathered from Lake City, FL MLS From Charlie Sparks, My former Broker With Westfield Realty Group

Lake City FL Commercial Office & Retail Space for Lease

We have several excellent centers in Lake City, FL with commercial office or retails space available for lease. These are top quality centers are a variety of locations & prices.

These are location owned by Westfield Realty Group's sister company, Westfield Investment Group.

See the flyers here. PDF file.

J.P. Morgan - 4th Qtr 2010 - Guide to the Markets

Here is tons of data regarding the markets, real estate, economy, business & more. Lots of charts, graphs & statistics.
Here is the report. Opens PDF.

Columbia County General Flood Zone Info

Here is some general information from Columbia County about Flood Zone information for the area. Helpful info to have when buying land & real estate in the Lake City, FL area

Click here for the info

10 Things You Can Do Today To Improve Your Credit

10 things you can do to improve your credit.. There are some incredible deasl when buying a house right now, but if your credit is less than 620 range, you may miss out on the great prices & interest rates.

Now is the time to take a closer look at your credit & do all you can to get it as best you can.

http://credit.about.com/od/creditrepair/tp/improvecredit.htm

Lake City FL has great houses for sale right now in many price ranges, contact a quality lender today to get started on your loan application & find out your score.

For all your real estate, housing, MLS search, foreclosure needs for the Lake City, FL area. Come back to http://www.chadstewart.com/ & start searching.

Lake City - Columbia County FL - Inland Port

This is from Florida Trend - & Cynthia Barnett - all credit goes to them.


Off U.S. Highway 90 outside Columbia County's Lake City, a big white sign stands incongruously in front of a forest of young pine trees: "Future Site of Inland Port." After years of work, the state and 14 counties launched the 2,500-acre industrial-development project this fall to create a catalyst for business investment in a region that suffered low wages and high unemployment rates well before the economic downturn.


http://www.floridatrend.com/article.asp?aID=53684

This is great news for the Lake City - Columbia County Florida area. This brings not only long term recognition to the area, but along with it brings new higher wage jobs, more regional county industry & business growth, and  positive planned growth.

Just up the road on Hwy 90 from this site is a great multi use industrial facility for sale. Check it out here. http://www.industrialpropertyfl.com/

Also in Live Oak, FL is a prime retail & commercial development tract. See link http://commercialpropertyfla.com/

 - Chad Stewart - Pro Realtor - Westfield Realty Group.

New Real Estate Home Listing in Lake City FL by Chad Stewart - Westfield Realty

Cute & Affordable Home listed in Lake City, FL. This home is in a great location close to town , schools, & shopping. In good condition & great price for this house at $89,900. The house is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath,  and is on a 1/2 acre lot.
Furniture & all Appliances included, Fridge, Stove, Dishwasher, Washer & Dryer, 2 sheds.

First get pre-qualified by a local Lake City, FL lender, then contact me or your Realtor for a showing. If you need a local lender recommendation. Click here. http://www.chadstewart.com/Featured_Lenders.html
Here is a map link to the property.