S & J Journal

Florida Realtors reported yesterday that Trulia performed an assessment of the number of foreign buyers that accessed their website to search for a home in the U.S. and it seems foreigners are dropping off as home prices rebound. However, international investors remain interested in U.S. real estate primarily in Florida. Trulia listed the top 10 cities searched by foreign buyers through its website, and six are in Florida: 1. Miami (15.7% of the Miami searches done through Trulia were by foreigners) 2. Los Angeles 3. Fort Lauderdale 4. Lakeland-Winter Haven 5. Orlando 6. West Palm Beach 7. Cape Coral-Fort Myers 8. Honolulu 9. San Francisco 10. Las Vegas Home searches by foreigners on Trulia are regularly from Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. On this real estate blog, Jeannett’s Journal , foreign readers are mainly from Russia, Slovenia, Canada and Germany, and make up 5% of our total blog visitors. At Slesnick & Jochem, we specialize in propert...

-- Inventory in this sought-after neighborhood is down to 252 active listings on the MLS, so do not delay in purchasing your next property. --

First-time homebuyers are struggling to buy in this recovering real estate market, the Sun Sentinel reported last week. Although prices are affordable and mortgage interest rates are at an all-time low, first-timers are facing competition from banks who have tightened lending requirements and investors who are cash buyers. Sellers prefer cash or even buyers that have pre-approved conventional loans because they are weary of FHA loan transactions. Even when these first-time buyers put down offers on a home over the list price, they often lose it to cash buyers. Today’s first-time buyers also face a shortage of available homes. First-time buyers accounted for roughly a third of all home sales nationwide in May, according to the National Association of Realtors. Ideally, the percentage should be 40 percent or more, said Walter Molony, a spokesman for the Realtor trade group. It is conventionally first-time buyers that stimulate confidence in the real estate market. To compete...