The Real Estate Bloggers

Home Sales Down in May From April, Up Year Over Year

Posted: 22 Jun 2010 07:48 AM PDT

Forsale2 The experts are baffled.

Even with the incentives through the ending of the home rebate program, home sales dropped from April’s levels. Sales did increase 19 percent from May of 2009.

What has analysts and the industry nervous is that if the contracts signed in anticipation of getting the home owners rebate do not close at the rate expected, it could send shockwaves through the industry.

So many homes are sold now on a contingency basis. This means the home I want to buy can not close until I sell my home. If contracts start to fail, it could have a cascading effect throughout the industry and homes will be returned to the market, without the benefit of the homebuyers tax credit.

The National Association of Realtors said sales fell 2.2 percent month over month to an annual rate of 5.66 million units from an upwardly revised 5.79 million-unit pace in April.

Analysts polled by Reuters expected May sales to rise 5.5 percent to a 6.12 million-unit pace from the previously reported 5.77 million units in April.

Sales were expected to rise as transactions for existing homes are measured at contract closing. Although the tax credit for home buyers expired in April, qualified home owners have until June 30 to close contracts. via CNBC

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Home Sales Down in May From April, Up Year Over Year

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75 Million Dollar Orlando Estate For Sale: AS IS

Posted: 22 Jun 2010 06:55 AM PDT

6121kirkstoneOrlando When construction started on David Siegel’s Orlando dream house, his timeshare company Westgate Resorts was running on all cylinders. Now the 90,000 square foot home is not completed, the company is struggling due to the recession, and he is forced to put the monster home up for sale.

Siegel was building the Orlando mansion for his family, which includes 12 children, to be a self contained paradise. With 13 bedrooms, 3 pools, an indoor skating rink, and a 2 story movie theater the home has everything a family could want.

The only problem is the house is not completed. He is offering the estate that is just down the road from Tiger Woods for sale at 75 million dollars, AS IS, or 100 million dollars completed. And it does need a great deal of work.

I will be curious to see if and how this sells in the coming days. The home obviously was being built with his large family in mind, but with all the accessories, it just may appeal to an NBA star or a Saudi Oil Prince. Other than that I am not sure who will be lining up to buy it.

Oh, and if you need to know, taxes on the property are expected to be in the 1.5 million dollar a year range.

The palace at 6121 Kirkstone Lane is more an all-inclusive resort than a home. The mansion’s design is so big and bold – exuberance down to the smallest details – it makes Tiger Woods’ place just down the street in this Orlando suburb look like a guest house.
Consider: The mansion has the square feet of nearly two football fields, is almost double the White House and about 36 times the size of the average American family home.
The master bedroom alone, which would have had a rotating bed under a skylight, is twice a standard house. There also were plans to have a 12-foot aquarium in Siegel’s office, and the total bedroom count doesn’t even factor in quarters for maids and workers…
The home opens into a grand hall with symmetrical staircases and a ceiling complete with a stained-glass dome befitting a cathedral. The rest of the mansion is more an outline of what it will be: no carpet, no tile, no interior walls – only steel beams, insulation and most of the electrical wiring are in place. The two elevator shafts are empty.
The exterior’s stone is waiting to be set in boxes that fill the 20-car garage (with additional space for two limos). The Olympic-length pool that will have a waterfall flowing into another pool is a carved-out shell. A cleaning company has to come to the vacant mansion to keep things tidy. via the Miami Herald

Click here to see the Listing.

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75 Million Dollar Orlando Estate For Sale: AS IS