As summer slowly comes to an end, family vacations and a slower pace will shift gears back to full swing, business as usual. Back to school and back to business, Showcase continues to keep the pace of new listings, new people and exciting new territories.

Showcase Properties welcomes aboard Cindy Wojciechowski. Cindy, a long time resident of Ocala is married to Tod, has 5 children and 1 grandchild. Their family has been involved in the thoroughbred business for over 25 years and Tod is the current Director of Sales at Ocala Breeder’s Sales. Cindy’s family is also involved in the local Rodeo circuits and was the previous owner of Western Ivy, a log standing custom embroidery and promotional products business that caters to equestrian businesses and farms of Marion County. With decades of local connections and knowledge, Cindy’s transition into real estate with Showcase Properties is a natural partnership.

 MAKEOVER ALERT!

You heard it here first. Stay tuned next month, for our Website Makeover Launch. We are excited to announce the end of August our new and improved website. Not only”user friendly”, but will keep you up to date on our newest listings, the best in local resources and the go to place for expert advice and tips on buying and selling your home or farm in Marion County.

 

Showcase is low on inventory. We have sold our inventory and need new listings. Put our TEAM to work for you! Contact us for market updates in your neighborhood, or the latest in the real estate trends in Marion County. We would love to list your property.

Reflections of Today’s Real Estate Market

 June Foreclosures Down 2% – Lowest Since July 2006

IRVINE, Calif. – July 17, 2014 – RealtyTrac’s Foreclosure Market Report for June finds that 107,194 U.S. properties had a foreclosure filing during the month – a drop of 2 percent from May and 16 percent year-to-year. “Nationwide foreclosure activity in June reached an important milestone, dropping to levels not seen since before the housing price bubble burst in August 2006,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.

“Over the next six to nine months, nationwide foreclosure numbers should start to flat line at consistently historically normal levels,” Blomquist adds.

Florida kept its No. 1 rank for foreclosures in June with 21,946 properties in some stage of the foreclosure process. That’s a 6.44 percent increase month-to-month, but a 13.01 percent drop year-to-year.

Blomquist says the foreclosure problem is “no longer a widespread contagion threatening to derail the housing market’s return to full health.” However, he notes that it remains so in a few markets, and “it’s important that any remaining foreclosure infection is addressed promptly to keep it from festering.”

Other report findings 

Local Ocala News

MLS data for June sales:

537 closed sales- an increase of 22.3% from a year ago (WOW)

6.8%decrease in pending sales year over year

Average sale price – $151,476 an increase of 3.9%

An increase of 1.9% of Active Listings

6.9 months of inventory compared to 8.4 last year

The June report is available from the Ocala Marion County Association of Realtors (OMCAR) report. Please click on the link for the full report.

 If you would like to have information regarding the sale of horse farms, or agricultural land in general please contact me.

News From Around the State

UCF: Creating Way to Help Predict Sinkholes

ORLANDO, Fla. – July 10, 2014 – Sinkholes are a dangerous problem in Florida – not only do they cause damage to property, they can also injure or kill people. If only there was some way to figure out when and where a sinkhole might occur, it may help prevent some of the deadly consequences.

University of Central Florida (UCF) researchers are working on a way that could help predict sinkholes and the areas where they form. How? The UCF group recently developed a “mini-sinkhole simulator” to find out what causes a sinkhole.

According to UCF engineering professor Manoj Chopra, researchers are seeking patterns in water levels: They hope to figure out if the patterns in underground water levels will help identify potential sinkholes before they form.

Sinkholes occur when soil collapses into large holes caused by the flow of water that eats away at the state’s underground rocky layer of limestone. The water gradually weakens the limestone’s ability to support the earth above it. As the rocky layer wears down, the soil above starts sinking down through the small holes and cracks, causing unseen cavities underground. As those cavities get bigger, the limestone can’t continue to support the heavy earth above it, and everything on the surface then falls into the sinkhole.

The mini-sinkhole simulator experiment was designed by Mohamed Alrowaimi, a Ph.D. candidate student. UCF engineering professor Andrew Yun also is working on the project, helping with the sensors and data interpretation. The project is Alrowaimi’s doctoral dissertation.

According to Chopra, coming up with a sinkhole prediction model could be a valuable tool in planning communities, roadways and other structures to be built in Florida. Eventually, it could also be a helpful resource for homeowners, too.

Source: UCF Today

New & Noteworthy

13,397 Houses Sold Yesterday!

If you read certain headlines, you might be led to believe that the housing recovery has come to a screeching halt. Naysayers are claiming that the threat of rising mortgage rates and a lack of consumer confidence are keeping Americans on the fence when it comes to purchasing real estate. That is actually far from reality. After all 13,397 houses sold yesterday, 13,397 will sell today and 13,397 will sell tomorrow.

13,397!

That is the average number of homes that sell each and every day in this country according to the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) latest Existing Home Sales Report. According to the report, annualized sales now stand at 4.59 million. Divide that number by 365 (days in a year) and we can see that, on average, over 13,000 homes sell every day.

If you are considering whether or not to put your house up for sale, don’t let the headlines scare you. There are purchasers in the market and they are buying – to the tune of 13,397 homes a day.

Until Next Month

Referrals are the livelihood of our business. If you have a friend, family member, or co-worker who would benefit from the Showcase Team’s real estate services, please contact us. We promise to treat everyone with respect and the highest level of integrity and customer service. Your referrals are the greatest compliment that I, and the Showcase team can receive. I thank you for your business and recommendations!