Lake Mary is located northeast of Orlando and is part of Orlando’s Real Estate MLS system. It’s ranked as the #1 small town in Florida by CNN/Money Magazine. Lake Mary real estate offers spacious single family homes that are now drastically discounted as short sales.

Real estate in 2009 recovered. There were 650 sales: 191 condos, 47 town homes and  432 single family homes and duplex units. Average sale price declined from $343,389 in 2008 to $235,034 in 2009, a 31% drop.  Despite the drop the 2009 sales increased 51%. Prices for Lake Mary’s real estate market haven’t hit rock bottom and we may still have to wait another 2 years to see this happen. Right now we are still facing an uphill battle with 13.5 months of unsold supply based on an average sales ratio of 43 sales per month.  Out of   an inventory of 567 properties 191 are pending sales: 114 single family homes, 62 are condos. If you compare the same 2 month period for January and February of 2009 to 2008 the number of   properties sold are the same at 85 units.  It’s the value of property in the same area that’s gone down $282,816 in 2008 to $199,197 in 2010, a 29% drop.  Values continue to drop because of the staggering amount of short sales and bank owned properties in Lake Mary. Out of a total inventory of 567 properties, 68 are bank owned and 216 units are in short sales.  That means 50% of the inventory is distressed. As long as unemployment is high expect to see more homes falling into distress and home values decreasing. This viscous circle where one feeds the other, only gets worse as values spiral downward and unemployment continues to escalate.

The most active subdivisions in Lake Mary are:

HEATHROW                              
NOTTING HILL                           
REGENCY PARK AT LAKE MARY 
MAGNOLIA PLANTATION       
CHASE GROVES   
COUNTRY CLUB                              
CROSSINGS                               
EGRETS LANDING                   
GREENWOOD                            
LAKE BINGHAM WOODS        
LAKE MARY WOODS               
LAKEVIEW VILLAGE              
MANDERLEY                             
MISTY OAKS

Foreclosures are found at all prices, from smaller condo properties to brand new homes.  Example, there is a bank owned property at 792 STEPHENS PASS COVE, LAKE MARY.  It is listed with Realty Associates for $599,000.  A property in Heathrow Woods, 1918 BRIDGEWATER DR., LAKE MARY, FL, listed originally for $2,950,000, is currently listed as a short sale for $1,999,999 with Sterling International. Financial distress knows no boundaries. It doesn’t discriminate. It crosses all income lines and affects all kinds of people. Lake Mary has lots of upside potential and can weather the real estate storm better than other neighborhoods in the Central Florida market