ORLANDO

Up in central Florida, the condo market has stalled and the rental market is also in the doldrums. While Orlando’s unemployment rate has stayed at about 4.5 percent—up about 1 percent from 2007—and there is still some job growth of nearly 3,000 positions, occupancy has dropped.

“Orlando had a really tough first quarter, with occupancy sliding from 92.4 percent in March to 91.1 percent in June,” Willett reports. This time last year, the Orlando occupancy rate averaged 94.2 percent.

Stephen St. Clair, an Orlando, Fla.-based vice president with Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services and a director of the firm’s national multihousing group, says, “Vacancy rates as of March 2008 were the highest in nine years. And for the first time in about seven years,” he adds, “rents have decreased. Plus, concessions are back, typically in the form of one to two months free on a 12-month lease.” At least half of all Orlando area rental communities are currently offering concessions, St. Clair and Willett report.

Ongoing apartment construction is a substantial 5,100 units, scheduled to be delivered through June of next year, Willett notes. Current apartment construction levels are at a seven-year high, according to St. Clair. Developments are going up mostly in the area’s southeast and southwest submarkets.

Newer communities offer the area’s one bright spot, with average monthly rents for existing properties one to five years old actually up 2 percent, to $978, since last September, according to St. Clair. And brand new rental communities are commanding average rents of about $1,325, he adds. However, the vacancy rate for communities currently in lease-up (amounting to 2,522 units) is 51 percent.

Overall, three-bedroom units are most popular, St. Clair reports, so it would seem that families are leasing them or that people are doubling up. And the number of condos for rent is growing.

Furthermore, Florida has experienced one of the largest drops seen in renter quality in the second quarter of 2008 versus the second quarter of 2007, according to an analysis of First Advantage SafeRent’s proprietary database of more than 6 million units. Six Florida markets—Miami-Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa-St. Pete, Daytona Beach and Jacksonville—experienced major declines in credit quality of incoming applicants, the company reports. And Orlando experienced the greatest increase in decline rates in the second quarter of 2008, compared to a year ago. - David Hunter

All aboard.

Next stop on our tour around “The City Beautiful”, is the “Antique District”. This remarkable astounding district is located in Orlando’s prestigious College Park area. Fasten your seatbelts and prepare to be enchanted, for you are about to enter the dazzling world of antiques.

This is such an awesome diversion from everyday life. If you are interested in furniture, pottery, jewelry and yes girls, Vintage Clothing, I invite you to a fab fun day of shopping, exploring, oh ya and dare I say it—lunch.

There are several eateries located in the area. My fav is Ethos Vegan Kitchen. This cafe is strictly vegetarian; the homey atmosphere is a great place to enjoy blissfulness with a vegetarian flare. There are many delectable dishes on the menu, but I would suggest the pecan encrusted eggplant.

This approach to healthy living will leave your taste buds jumping for joy and begging for more. After sharing a delish meal, let’s go two doors down and pick out a bottle of wine from Tim’s Wine Market.

Their impressive wine list and the knowledgeable staff will entice you to try every single bottle. I assure you if you know nothing about wine, you will when you leave.

Next stop (sorry guys this is just for the gals, but you are welcomed to bring your wallets) is a small boutique that specializes in Couture. Ladies you will buy something here and never have to worry about someone wearing the same thing. Girls you know what I am talking about!

Well I don’t know about you but my feet hurt, my belly is full and my money is gone. I’ll catch you next time aboard the tour of the “City Beautiful”.

Ciao

Growing is good and it is always nice to be able to add new players to our team.

In Tampa, Karen Czarnik joined us the first of April. She worked as a locator in St. Louis, Missouri and moved to Florida to be closer to her family. (At least that is what she says! We know the real reason is the weather!) But we are excited to have her. She has hit the ground running and has already started helping people find their perfect home.

In Orlando, Scott Swinson joined our Metrowest team and Wes Paxson joined our Colonial team back in February (sorry I’m late in recognizing you both.)

Scott worked with Century 21 for a number of years and has known our Metrowest manager since grade school. In just over a month he is already giving our veteran consultants a run for their money.

And our newest addition is Angelina Torres, also joining our Metrowest office. Today is her first day and we are very excited to have her. She comes to us most recently from doing new home sales for a local builder but has also worked with ERA Realty so she is no stranger to the real estate industry or meeting the customers’ needs. She is also a graduate of the University of Central Florida.

Apartments are offering some incredible deals and people are moving again so we are gearing up to meet our clients’ needs.

Many of the renters in the Gainesville market are looking for semester leases this time of year.  This can, and usually does, prove to be a very daunting and frustrating task.  While some complexes offer semester leases, they only offer a limited number so you have to act quickly when the lease term is offered.  Most renters don’t like to be in this situation and like to wait and see what else will come available.  This is a double-edged sword.  Some new options may open up or the existing offers will lease up in the same time leaving the renter with no options at all.  At this point, some renters will be tempted to sign a 12 month lease and attempt to sublet the apartment for the remaining months.  While this is not impossible, it is very difficult and time consuming.  Of course, the obvious downside to this scenario is that if the apartment doesn’t get sublet the original renter is responsible to pay the remainder of the lease whether they are living there or not.

The best advice that can be offered on how to handle this dillema is to act quickly when you find a complex offering semester leases.  Yes, another complex may start offering semester leases later, but at least you are settled and are no longer stressing to find an apartment.

This article was forwarded to me and is well worth reading by any individual property owner/investor.

There are always con artists looking for new ways to part honest people from their money. It appears that they have come up with one targeting unsuspecting, if not desperate, landlords.

Take a look at http://www.modbee.com/business/scam/story/220406.html

A similar scam targets roommates and usually begins by being contacted by someone out of the country who will send authentic looking checks or money orders in excess of the amount needed. They then ask that the excess be sent back to them only to find out later that their checks/money orders are fake.

A vacant apartment or room is painul enough, but sending money that you don’t have to a crook, now that would hurt!

When you are not redecorating your new apartment home or lounging at the pool, come out and enjoy Orlando’s night life. Orlando offers absolute total relaxation with endless pristine restaurants and a wide variety of museums, festivals and recreational entertainment. From East Orlando to the Southwest side of town you will experience the explosion of flavors from our many new restaurants in this exciting city.

Come join me for a bite to eat at Orlando’s newest European Bistro - La Creperia Café. This fab Bistro is centrally located in the Fashion Square Mall on East Colonial Drive. Your mouth will rejoice at the dazzling selection of nearly 70 items focusing on the sweet and savory crepes to mouth watering Paninis.

After enjoying the latest in cuisine, take a stroll with me around Lake Eola. You can walk off those extra pounds you acquired during your food fest while enjoying the lights and festive atmosphere the Lake has to offer. Be careful, you might fall in love with this area and want to claim it for your own. It gives you a big city atmosphere with a small town charm.

Join us weekly for more of the night life in the city beautiful. Until then I’ve got dinner to eat and lakes to walk.

Ciao!!!

Charis

A recent article in the Tampa Tribune warned “apartment rents are on the rise”.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/feb/14/bz-apartment-rents-are-on-the-rise/?news-money

The quote from the CEO of a large apartment builder and management company may seem ominous but on closer inspection he is talking about “in three to five years”.

What we are seeing right now and expect for the next year are terrific deals for the renter.

While some apartments are raising the rents slightly they are also offering some incredible incentives to lure immediate renters. We have many communities that are offering one, two and sometimes three months FREE.

Oftentimes they will prorate part or all of the special over the lease term, effectively lowering the monthly rent. The decrease can be dramatic!

For example a $1,000 apartment that is offering 2 months free prorated over a 12 month lease will cost $833 per month. That is a tremendous discount!

So, I’m not sure what will happen in three to five years, but I know right now is a GREAT time to be looking for an apartment.

With the recent condo craze/crash in Florida there are a lot of, what a friend of mine calls, accidental landlords. They bought hoping to flip quickly and now are stuck trying to rent them out.

For the renter, they represent a large source of quality housing, usually at a much lower rent. They can’t afford to sit on a vacant unit so they have to do whatever it takes to get them rented.

But even more importantly, they also tend to be more lenient on the qualifications to rent.

Large apartment communities are usually bound by rigid standards that they have to apply across the board. If you have a credit glitch or infraction with the law from errors made years ago you may find it hard to qualify with the big boys.

A private owner may be a great option to use while trying to repair that credit to be able to rent elsewhere or even buy later on.

On the flip side, they don’t always have the expertise or resources to deal with problems that may come up with the apartment (i.e. repairs). Be sure you discuss who will be responsible if something goes wrong in the property and make sure it is spelled out in the lease.

Has anyone been calling apartment complexes on the west side of Orlando?  There are apartments offering three months free rent!!! That’s $3000 or more on two and three bedrooms!  Metrowest, which is home to some thirty or so apartment communities had many try to convert to condos over the last two years.  When the market closed up and the buyers stopped buying, most of those conversions had no choice but to start renting again.  With so much availability out there and so few new renters coming to the area these communities had no choice but to spice up their move in specials to compete with their neighbors.  If your lease is coming up, or even if its not (depending on the special it may be worth breaking your lease and paying a month’s rent) this is certainly the best time to get the BEST DEAL on an apartment!

Renting in Gainesville can be a headache.  As we all know, there are a ton of options (a lot of the similar) from which to choose.  The problem lies in narrowing those options down to the few that fit your search criteria.  There are many choices to be made; furnished/unfurnished, washer/dryer, individual lease, and the list goes on.  Obviously price is a main concern, but a close second is usually location.  Many times these options clash with each other.  You can find an apartment in the price range you want but not the location or the amenities.  You can run around from place to place only to find out that the complex doesn’t allow pets, or doesn’t have a washer/dryer, or just isn’t available when you need it.  This can be extremely frustrating, especially with gas prices being so high.

Luckily, there is a way to avoid most of these problems.  Apartment Hunters can narrow your search for you and only show you the options that work for you.  All you have to do is contact us.  You can call us, email us, or just stop in the office.  Any way you choose you will have a personalized search tailored to your needs.