Finally Some Good News about Housing

Woohoo! The sale of new single family homes rose 2.8% in July according to the Commerce Department today. Although this is probably the only good news about the real estate market in ages builders are still scaling back on their new projects so the bulls for housing are not running yet. According to the same report the supply of new homes is the lowest its been since January of 2006 and that there are 7.5 months of supply of new homes on the market. My guess is that the next report will show a slowing market but heck I’m glad we’re hearing some good news and hope for a turnaround or at least a stable market. You can download the entire report at www.census.gov/const/newressales.pdf

Engle Homes Takes Over Sales in Independence

Engle Homes has taken over the development of the Independence neighborhood in Winter Garden recently. The original developer, Transeastern Homes, is no where to be seen. I spoke with one resident there that mentioned many people that had complaints with construction problems and lack of responsiveness with Transeastern Homes but that doesn’t explain why they would walk away from something that will bring money into the company so I did a little digging and found out that Transeastern Homes was bought by TOUSA in August of 2005. TOUSA is the company that owns Engle Homes. I tried visiting the Transeastern Homes website and the Engle page pops up when you visit the Transeastern site. My guess is that Engle will be building out the rest of Transeastern’s numerous central Florida communities.

FHA Increases Loan Limits in Orange, Seminole, & Osceola Counties

The limit for FHA loans increased today to $268,850 in Orange, Seminole, and Osceola Counties. Since FHA loans are insured by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development agency, it allows buyers to get into a home with a down payment as little as 3%, lower closing costs, and makes it easier to qualify for the loan. If the down payment is still a problem HUD has local down payment assistance programs. To find out more about obtaining a FHA loan you can visit the FHA homepage for more details. This loan program has always been very popular with first time home buyers since it requires very little cash up front and much of the cash required can be a gift from either your relatives or a local government program such as HANDS of Central Florida who assist with finding a down payment.