FBC Mortgage LLC reported its best closing month in company history last month, cornering nearly 35 percent of the market share in Central Florida.

The Orlando-based mortgage brokerage firm, along with its sister company Floridian Financial Mortgage LLC, closed a combined 387 loans for $57.2 million in June. That compared with 147 loans for $28.7 million for June 2009.

The company also closed 1,356 loans for $197.9 million between January and June this year, which compared with 685 loans for $129.7 million for the same period in 2009.

FBC Mortgage CEO Joe Nunziata attributed the increase to record low interest rates, the federal first-time homebuyers’ tax credit and lower home prices — all of which have prompted sales throughout the Orlando area. Additionally, the company captured a larger market share because many mortgage firms have exited the business, Nunziata said.

Brother and FBC Mortgage President Rob Nunziata added that these factors led to the busiest mortgage activity Central Florida has experienced in more than five years.

In other company news, FBC Mortgage opened a branch office with three loan officers in Clermont earlier this year, and in February, the company acquired eight employees and certain assets of Renaissance Mortgage Group Inc., a residential mortgage lender in Merritt Island. Renaissance Mortgage Group reported loan volume of $55 million in 2009.

Read more: FBC Mortgage posts record June closings – Orlando Business Journal

• Year to Date purchase prices are up 8% through April
• Average loan amounts are up nearly $20,000 since February
• Refinance activity is almost non-existent. Purchase transactions are continuing to dominate the overall mortgage transactions in Central Florida, continuing to buck the national trend.
• The gap between new mortgage payments and borrowers’ previous rental payments continues to narrow- a good indicator of housing affordability.
• FBC Mortgage had another record month closing 228 loans equating to over $33 million dollars in loan volume in Central Florida. This comprises close to 20% of all financed loans in Central Florida.

We are anticipating very strong numbers for May and June. The stimulus has clearly helped jump start the market. We have increased our staff by over 10% in the last quarter and will continue to hire and look for new growth opportunities as the market recovers.
-Rob Nunziata

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FBC Mortgage LLC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 189 S. Orange Ave., Ste. 970

Orlando, FL 32801

Contact: Stephanie Simmons

(407) 377-0327

FBC Mortgage, LLC. Opens a Branch Office in Clermont, Florida

FBC Mortgage, LLC has officially reentered the Clermont, Florida market in an effort to strengthen its presence in Lake County. The new office is located at 735 Almond Street, Suite E which is centrally located off Highway 50 across from the Law Offices of Bret Jones, P.A. and The Doran Real Estate Company. “We are extremely happy to have a reestablished physical location that will allow us to better serve our clients in the Lake County and Clermont Markets” said Josh Dougherty, Clermont Market Manager for FBC Mortgage, LLC.

FBC Mortgage has had a presence in the Clermont Market over the past couple of years through affiliations with local Real Estate Companies, Builders, Realtors Association of Lake and Sumter Counties, South Lake Women’s Council of Realtors, South Lake Chamber of Commerce and Affordable Housing by Lake, Inc.  partnered with Lake County Housing and Community Development. “We felt reestablishing an official Branch Office in Lake County would enhance our relationships with these organizations and provide FBC the ability to better serve the mortgage needs of the Lake County area,” stated Joe Nunziata, CEO of FBC Mortgage, LLC.

Founded in 2005, FBC Mortgage is an employee and community owned residential mortgage lender. FBC is headquartered in Orlando Florida at the Plaza. Through its affiliation with Florida Bank of Commerce and its direct lending authority with FHA, VA, USDA, and conventional conduits, FBC has become one of the largest privately owned mortgage lenders in Central Florida. For additional information on FBC, please visit our press section at www.fbchomeloans.com

FBC Mortgage LLC

189 S. Orange Ave., Ste. 970

Orlando, FL 32801

Contact: Stephanie Simmons

(407) 377-0327

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                               

FBC Mortgage, LLC. Acquires Staff and Certain Assets of Renaissance Mortgage Group, Inc., Merritt Island, Florida

          FBC Mortgage, LLC has acquired the staff and certain assets of Renaissance Mortgage Group, Inc. Renaissance Mortgage is a traditional residential mortgage lender headed by mortgage veteran Shawn Crouch. Shawn will manage the Merritt Island office as well as help develop the Merritt Island area for FBC.  “We are very excited about the opportunity to expand FBC’s reach into the Merritt Island market with this talented team. Additionally, this will also help us better serve the customers of our affiliated Brevard County Bank, Prime Bank” said Joe Nunziata, CEO of FBC Mortgage, LLC. Prime Bank provides competitive banking products to individuals, small to medium size businesses and professionals all designed to help their clients achieve economic success and financial security. “We are pleased to expand our service offerings to our clients to include the mortgage products of FBC Mortgage.  We welcome their mortgage professionals to our team.”   Said Dana Kilborne, President/CEO, Prime Bank

“Speaking on behalf of Renaissance Mortgage, we are extremely pleased to be joining such a sound, stable and successful mortgage banking organization. With the support of the FBC Mortgage platform we expect to be able to significantly increase our ability to serve the mortgage needs of the Merritt Island Area. With the changes we have seen in the market and our industry it made sense for us to look to partner with a company that has resources to excel in this new mortgage industry. ,” stated Shawn Crouch.  “We have wanted a presence in the Brevard market for some time and this acquisition gives us an instant presence and credibility” stated Rob Nunziata, President of FBC Mortgage LLC. 

About FBC Mortgage, LLC-

          Founded in 2005, FBC Mortgage is an employee and community owned residential mortgage lender. FBC is headquartered in Orlando Florida at the Plaza. Through its affiliation with Florida Bank of Commerce and its direct lending authority with FHA, VA, USDA, and conventional conduits, FBC has become one of the largest privately owned mortgage lenders in Central Florida. For additional information on FBC, please visit our press section at www.fbchomeloans.com

Foreclosure-related filings have fallen in Metropolitan Orlando for a third straight month, according to a new report by RealtyTrac Inc. Still, the Orlando area ranked eighth in the U.S. for foreclosure activity in November, with 7,349 legal actions filed, down 3 percent from October but up 21 percent from November 2008. Jeffrey Sachs, a senior mortgage consultant for FBC Mortgage LLC in Orlando, said it’s still too difficult to say whether Central Florida has hit bottom in terms of foreclosures, because banks are dealing with their legal filings and short sales at such different rates. “I firmly believe that what we see with the number of foreclosure filings is never an accurate reflection of where the market is,” Sachs said Thursday. “. . . At this point, we should be near the bottom — we’re seeing bidding wars on some bank-owned properties.” Florida had the nation’s second-highest rate of foreclosure activity in November: one in every 165 households received some sort of foreclosure filing during the month. Florida, behind only Nevada, took the No. 2 spot from California, which posted the nation’s third highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 180 housing units getting a foreclosure filing. The only Florida metro area with an activity rate higher than Orlando’s last month was Fort Myers, which was also fourth in the nation. Las Vegas and seven California metro areas filled out the rest of the national top 10. The four-county Orlando metro area had one foreclosure for every 120 households in October, according to RealtyTrac, a Californiabased
research company. In comparison, the nationwide rate of foreclosure activity in November was one household out of every 417. “Loan modifications and other foreclosure-prevention efforts, along with the recently extended and expanded homebuyer tax credit, are keeping a lid on the most visible symptoms of the nation’s ailing housing market — foreclosures and home-value depreciation,”
said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “This is providing a welcome respite for the real-estate industry, but a full recovery will only come when unemployment recedes to normal, healthy levels, and when availability of credit reaches a more rational
balance between the extremes of the past few years.”
Within Metro Orlando, Osceola was the only county that showed an increase in foreclosure filings, which jumped 56 percent from a month earlier, though they were up only 4 percent from November 2008. Lake County had an October-to-November decrease of 3 percent (also down 3 percent from a year ago); Orange, 5 percent (down 41 percent from a year ago); and Seminole, 40 percent
(down 3 percent from a year earlier). Outside the metro area, Volusia County recorded a 16 percent increase in filings (up 61 percent from a year ago), Brevard a 19
percent increase (up 9 percent from a year ago), and Polk a 58 percent increase (up 8 percent from a year ago).

Mary Shanklin can be reached at 407-420-5538 or mshanklin@orlandosentinel.com.

New Federal Housing Administration rules promise relief for some badly stressed condo projects — but mortgage and real estate
brokers said the impact could be short-lived.
The changes are important, though, because condo prices have plunged from speculative highs in 2006, with units in many
buildings now selling for a quarter of what they cost back then. As lenders watched values shrink, they became reluctant to
finance sales to anyone without a big down payment — typically 20 percent or more.
That has left some new condo towers in downtown Orlando relatively empty, with some deciding to lease out unsold units.
“Given how hard it is to get financing, this certainly will help the condo market — but it won’t set it on fire,” said Joe Nunziata,
CEO of FBC Mortgage LLC in Orlando.
The metro Orlando condo resale market has 2,873 unsold units. In downtown Orlando, just 118 condos were resold this year
through the end of October, for an average of $153,859 per unit, said the Orlando Regional Realtor Association.
The revamped guidelines are temporary and would benefit only condo developments with a limited number of investor-owned
or foreclosed units. Nonetheless, they offer potential relief for some sellers after a long period when financing has been difficult
to find.
Among the temporary changes:
• FHA loans would require down payments as small as 3.5 percent of the sales price.
• The guidelines extend the amount of time lenders have to submit so-called spot loans, or loans on individual condo units in buildings that don’t have
overall FHA loan approval, to February. Spot loans were supposed to go away in December.
• The rules increase from 30 percent to 50 percent the units in a condo project the FHA will finance.
• The FHA will finance buildings in which just 30 percent of new units have been sold. Private-sector lenders generally require sales of 70 percent or
more.
• The FHA will offer financing to all the units in a project if all of them have been sold, no single entity owns more than 10 percent of them, a
homeowners association operates the project and owners occupy half of the dwellings.
The looser new rules take effect Dec. 7 and remain through the end of next year, when they likely will become more restrictive.
Lindsey Pfaeder, sales and marketing manager for the Vue at Lake Eola condo tower in downtown Orlando, said her building is seeking FHA
approval to create a financing channel for its unsold units. The developer has sold 210 of the building’s 375 units.
“It is nearly impossible to get conventional financing, even if a buyer has $1 million and can put 80 percent down,” she said. “We all have buyers for
condos, but they can’t buy because of financing.”
Less-restrictive FHA rules could mean more sales and increase the potential that conventional lenders would provide financing on the remaining
units, said Pfaeder.
Ernst Urbainczyk, an agent with Keller Williams Heritage Realty in Lake Mary, said the revisions could stimulate sales, but the prospect that
they’ll change again is a drawback. “If I buy a condo today under these FHA rules and the rules change, where will I find a buyer two years from now
when I want to sell it?”
Marcus Burke, owner of the Condo Metropolis brokerage in Orlando, said another FHA requirement, which demands at least half the units in a
building be owner-occupied, will limit the number of eligible condos. “A lot of older buildings won’t qualify because so many units are foreclosures or
delinquencies.”
Cristian Michaels, an agent with Re/Max Town Centre in Orlando who specializes in downtown condo towers, said price is another problem. Even
with the new rules, the FHA won’t finance units costing more than $400,000, which are still fairly common despite the plunge in prices. “I don’t think
it will increase our sales because of the price points.”

Foreclosure-related filings have fallen in Metropolitan Orlando for a third straight month, according to a new report by RealtyTrac Inc.

Still, the Orlando area ranked eighth in the U.S. for foreclosure activity in November, with 7,349 legal actions filed, down 3 percent from October but up 21 percent from November 2008.

Jeffrey Sachs, a senior mortgage consultant for FBC Mortgage LLC in Orlando, said it’s still too difficult to say whether Central Florida has hit bottom in terms of foreclosures, because banks are dealing with their legal filings and short sales at such different rates.

“I firmly believe that what we see with the number of foreclosure filings is never an accurate reflection of where the market is,” Sachs said Thursday. “. . . At this point, we should be near the bottom — we’re seeing bidding wars on some bank-owned properties.”

Florida had the nation’s second-highest rate of foreclosure activity in November: one in every 165 households received some sort of foreclosure filing during the month. Florida, behind only Nevada, took the No. 2 spot from California, which posted the nation’s third-highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 180 housing units getting a foreclosure filing.

The only Florida metro area with an activity rate higher than Orlando’s last month was Fort Myers, which was also fourth in the nation. Las Vegas and seven California metro areas filled out the rest of the national top 10.

The four-county Orlando metro area had one foreclosure for every 120 households in October, according to RealtyTrac, a California-based research company. In comparison, the nationwide rate of foreclosure activity in November was one household out of every 417.

“Loan modifications and other foreclosure-prevention efforts, along with the recently extended and expanded homebuyer tax credit, are keeping a lid on the most visible symptoms of the nation’s ailing housing market — foreclosures and home-value depreciation,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “This is providing a welcome respite for the real-estate industry, but a full recovery will only come when unemployment recedes to normal, healthy levels, and when availability of credit reaches a more rational balance between the extremes of the past few years.”

Within Metro Orlando, Osceola was the only county that showed an increase in foreclosure filings, which jumped 56 percent from a month earlier, though they were up only 4 percent from November 2008. Lake County had an October-to-November decrease of 3 percent (also down 3 percent from a year ago); Orange, 5 percent (down 41 percent from a year ago); and Seminole, 40 percent (down 3 percent from a year earlier).

Outside the metro area, Volusia County recorded a 16 percent increase in filings (up 61 percent from a year ago), Brevard a 19 percent increase (up 9 percent from a year ago), and Polk a 58 percent increase (up 8 percent from a year ago).

Mary Shanklin can be reached at 407-420-5538 or mshanklin@orlandosentinel.com.

I looked back at my predictions for 2009 last December, and I have to say with the exception of price we have exceeded every expectation I had. I was hoping to see sales in the 1,600 per month range through the second half of the year. We have actually been seeing sales above the 2,000 mark since June. I was also hoping to see our inventory level drop below 22,000. The faster sales, slower foreclosure rate and the MLS rule requiring short sales to be pended has pushed our inventory down to just over 16,000. Foreclosures and short sales are continuing to pressure prices lower with a median sales price in the $120’s in November. Our “normal” sales, however, are typically around my forecast $180,000 mark. Later this month I’ll take a shot at forecasting 2010.
Right now, November sales are not disappointing at all. I posted yesterday on Twitter that our closed sales stood at 1,788 with a median sales price of $123,250. Jeffrey Sachs with FBC Mortgage texted me when he saw this pop up on Facebook. Jeffrey wanted to let me know that his company had 43 closing scheduled for yesterday to add to that total. FBC does close a fair amount of loans in our market, but there are a number of other lenders in and around Orlando that also had home purchase loans closing yesterday. Jeffrey and I have been working together for ten years, and I highly recommend Jeffrey Sachs and FBC Mortgage for your financing needs. I closed two transactions last month with Jeffrey, and both were ready ahead of schedule. Both buyers were pleased not only with the loans that they received, but also the service that Jeffrey and his team provides. Contact Jeffrey for your loan, then contact me for your home.

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