CENTRAL FLORIDA REALTOR GUIDE

Real estate professionals share their thoughts on topics that are relevant to every transaction.

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Why Now is a Good Time to Buy By Gonzalo Senior, IRM, Investments, Real Estate & Management

Home ownership is a dream that huge savings over this time last year, prohas seemed out of reach for viding homebuyers with the opportumany during this COVID-19 nity to save thousands of dollars through pandemic, as uncertainty has led the way the life of the loan. in many aspects of life. However, now is Mortgage rates can be influenced a prime time to purchase a new home. by a variety of factors, from politics and I’ll tell you why. world events to economic activity, partic

In June, the Realtor.com Housing ularly inflation. While home prices have Recovery Index showed that the U.S. remained level and inventory low in the housing market continues to recover deOrlando market, the current real estate spite the global pandemic. This is mostly market environment is great for potendue to low mortgage interest rates, which tial buyers to make a deal with a rate that are consistently hovering around the works for them down the road. 2.5% to 3.8% range. Last month, Doug Duncan, the se

At the current interest rate, buyers nior vice president and chief economist should expect to pay just over $400 per at Fannie Mae, said, “Low mortgage month for every $100,000 borrowed on rates have helped cushion some of the a 30-year fixed mortgage. With a 15-year impact of the pandemic on consumer fixed mortgage, buyers would pay close sentiment regarding whether it’s a good to $700 per month for every $100,000 time to buy, which picked back up this borrowed. Both of these options offer month to late-2018 levels.”

Potential buyers see this in the numbers, too. According to the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index, consumers report a more optimistic view of home buying conditions right now.

Fewer consumers are reporting expectations that mortgage rates will go up in the next 12 months, which is down to 25% from 33% last in June. This increased 10 percentage points on the HPSI scale.

With consumer confidence high and interest rates low, now is the time to start the home buying process with an experienced realtor by your side. Once your realtor helps you find the home of your dreams, be sure to work quickly with a lender to lock in these low interest rates.

In this market environment, home ownership will be a more affordable reality for many.

4 Ways to Enhance Your Home

By Harold and Theresa Olson, & Jim Berger Florida Villa Entertainment Services

While there are many fun things to do in Orlando, the COVID-19 pandemic has required that we spend more time at home. Enhancing your space to include a variety of games and entertainment options will help you pass the time while creating opportunities for one-on-one family fun time.

Here’s how you can create a home where everyone will want to stay and play.

Game Room: Play together as a family by designing a game room complete with a pool table, an air hockey table, a shuffleboard table and/or a foosball table. Have game night as a family or invite all your friends.

Arcade Room: Who doesn’t love old-school arcade games? Step back in time with nostalgic games or include brand new versions in your space. You won’t even need a handful of quarters to play.

Home Theater: Whether you already have a theater room or want to transform a spare room into one, we can design a multi-media home theater with a large screen, custom seating, ambient lighting and more. Custom Home Decor: Custom build outs can include anything you dream up. Add a faux brick fireplace to your home, remodel each bedroom with themes that fit your interests or be the envy of your neighbors with a variety of backyard entertainment such as a putting green or outdoor kitchen!

We work with owners of vacation rental properties, their property managers, or realtors to theme their home to appeal to guests. As well as adding fun game elements to keep guests busy when they’re not at the parks.