As you are probably aware, the $8000 tax credit for first time home buyers will be expiring on November 30,2009. Economists are currently evaluating the impact the credit has had on the economy, and will be making a recommendation to the President shortly.
Realtors, builders, not to mention first time home buyers feel this credit has had a positive impact on the economy. If you agree, please contact your congressman to weigh in on this important issue.....and perhaps be the benefactor of the $8000 credit!!!
To be sure, if you are considering purchasing a new home, the time to act is fast running out....with lenders now taking about 45 days for loan approval and closing, the 'sand is fast running out of the hour glass'!!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Home Inspector Kills the Deal
Oftentimes overlooked, a home inspection is a big benefit to the buyer when purchasing a home. A Home Inspection should be performed by a reputable, qualified individual...one who is honest, and has an affiliation with an association of professionals. ASHI is perhaps the leading affiliation of home inspectors.
Until recently, Florida required no licensing of home inspectors....basically anyone could become one. Realtors, through their own lack of knowledge turned to licensed contractors oftentimes to perform home inspections.
So what is the job of the inspector? In simple terms, it is to determine the condition of the property at the time of the inspection. A house does not 'pass' or 'fail' an inspection.....the condition of the home is determined as of the date of the inspection.
So many times the inspector can 'kill' a deal merely by his presentation of the facts to the buyer. As an example, using the technical term of 'reverse polarity' in a report could create unnecessary concern on the part of the buyer relating to the electrical system. Realizing that to correct such a condition requires only reversal of two wires at a minimal cost puts such a condition more into the correct perspective.
You can see where communication of the facts in a fair balanced manner is important.....having a trained, competent inspector is a critical factor in communicating to buyers the proper significance of issues detected in the purchase of real estate.
Buying a home is perhaps the single largest purchase most people make. The processionalism of an inspector and their communicative skills is critical in discussing with the buyer exactly the condition of the home.
Look for an inspector who is qualified, and not 'a rookie'. Again, being affiliated with ASHI - the American Society of Home Inspectors, is a good place to start in finding a good home inspector.
Until recently, Florida required no licensing of home inspectors....basically anyone could become one. Realtors, through their own lack of knowledge turned to licensed contractors oftentimes to perform home inspections.
So what is the job of the inspector? In simple terms, it is to determine the condition of the property at the time of the inspection. A house does not 'pass' or 'fail' an inspection.....the condition of the home is determined as of the date of the inspection.
So many times the inspector can 'kill' a deal merely by his presentation of the facts to the buyer. As an example, using the technical term of 'reverse polarity' in a report could create unnecessary concern on the part of the buyer relating to the electrical system. Realizing that to correct such a condition requires only reversal of two wires at a minimal cost puts such a condition more into the correct perspective.
You can see where communication of the facts in a fair balanced manner is important.....having a trained, competent inspector is a critical factor in communicating to buyers the proper significance of issues detected in the purchase of real estate.
Buying a home is perhaps the single largest purchase most people make. The processionalism of an inspector and their communicative skills is critical in discussing with the buyer exactly the condition of the home.
Look for an inspector who is qualified, and not 'a rookie'. Again, being affiliated with ASHI - the American Society of Home Inspectors, is a good place to start in finding a good home inspector.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Photos Make a Difference
So what's the big deal with photos and listing of your home for sale. When trying to sell real estate, it's important to have a lot of pictures, and ones with quality. Small bathrooms are particularly difficult to visualize. To capture all of the room, you really need a camera with a wide angle lens, as in the photo at the left.
Without a wide angle lens, you get photos such as the one on the left. Quite a difference! With a 'point and shoot' camera, generally it's just not possible to capture the entire room. In essence you're standing in the doorway and taking a picture of about a 5' wide area.
A lot of pictures, with as much detail of a room possible is important in getting potential buyers to visualize a home, regardless of how and where it is listed!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Staging a Home...and Not
I was again reminded this week of the importance of properly preparing a home for sale. I recently listed a property, and the homeowners were beginning their search for a new home. As we toured the homes under consideration, we saw several things, including a lack of painting, dishes in the sink, beds not made, many, many photos on the walls, etc. I begin to ask myself in some of these homes if the seller was really wanting to sell the property!
First impressions are important. As such, when selling a home, you want to make a good one. It is said a buyer will form a first impression in the first 11 seconds of getting to a home. Curb appeal is critical....the exterior of a home is where it all begins. You must recognize you are competing with other homes on the market.....if the exterior of your home is dirty, cluttered, and the grass not mowed, well, you know.
Pressure wash the exterior if needed, plant colorful flowers in the front, keep the grass neat and trimmed....look at your home from a buyers perspective, you will begin to think differently. Ask yourself the question, what does a first time visitor see on the exterior of my home.
Do the same thing with the inside, take a look at painting, excessive personal items (toys, clothes, and photos). Oftentimes it is well worth the small expense of renting a storage unit to get unused personal items out of the home. This does two things, it makes the home feel more spacious (particularly in the closets), and 'de-personalizes' the home.
We all love our families, but we don't want potential buyers preoccupied with personal photos and wondering where you took your last vacation.....rather we want them to visualize where they will be putting their furniture in the home!
Another important consideration when trying to sell your home is to keep it neat and clean. Beds made, dishes washed, all common sense, but you would be surprised just how many homeowners fail in this area.....
Small sacrifices now will make a huge difference in the marketability of your home, even in this market. I had rather delay listing a home for a few weeks to address these issues up front in order to make a good first impression when the home does go on the market.
First impressions are important. As such, when selling a home, you want to make a good one. It is said a buyer will form a first impression in the first 11 seconds of getting to a home. Curb appeal is critical....the exterior of a home is where it all begins. You must recognize you are competing with other homes on the market.....if the exterior of your home is dirty, cluttered, and the grass not mowed, well, you know.
Pressure wash the exterior if needed, plant colorful flowers in the front, keep the grass neat and trimmed....look at your home from a buyers perspective, you will begin to think differently. Ask yourself the question, what does a first time visitor see on the exterior of my home.
Do the same thing with the inside, take a look at painting, excessive personal items (toys, clothes, and photos). Oftentimes it is well worth the small expense of renting a storage unit to get unused personal items out of the home. This does two things, it makes the home feel more spacious (particularly in the closets), and 'de-personalizes' the home.
We all love our families, but we don't want potential buyers preoccupied with personal photos and wondering where you took your last vacation.....rather we want them to visualize where they will be putting their furniture in the home!
Another important consideration when trying to sell your home is to keep it neat and clean. Beds made, dishes washed, all common sense, but you would be surprised just how many homeowners fail in this area.....
Small sacrifices now will make a huge difference in the marketability of your home, even in this market. I had rather delay listing a home for a few weeks to address these issues up front in order to make a good first impression when the home does go on the market.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Rent Vs. Buy
Low Mortgage payments, first time homebuyer credits, depressed housing values....perhaps the time to buy. Uncertain job future, unfamiliar with the area, lower rental payment, maybe not.
So what is best for me --- Rent or buy.....let's take a look!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSBui4_uPGM
So what is best for me --- Rent or buy.....let's take a look!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSBui4_uPGM
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Don't Get the Cart Before the Horse!
Manytimes potential homeowner's get caught up in the excitement of finding their dream home only to find they can't afford it. You can imagine their disappointment finding they can't qualify for the mortgage on the home they have spent weeks and months looking for.
A similar situation arises when potential buyers find a home and then ask the question -- "Is financial assistance available?" If a buyer is looking for financial assistance, the time to do it is PRIOR to finding the home.
Typically qualifying for financial assistance involves several steps.....approval of the person, approval of the property, and awarding of the grant. The person needs to apply for the assistance, have their eligibility verified, attend training of some sort, and finally approval. The process may take a couple of months. Then the property has to qualify --- the price must be within certain guidelines, it must pass inspection(s), and finally the assistance is provided.
In short, it is best to determine the level and type of financing you qualify for before the home purchase. If you qualify for $175,000, you won't be wasting your time looking for homes which are more than that amount. You can also see what your monthly payments will be and have time to see if you are comfortable with that level of monthly expense toward housing.
A similar situation arises when potential buyers find a home and then ask the question -- "Is financial assistance available?" If a buyer is looking for financial assistance, the time to do it is PRIOR to finding the home.
Typically qualifying for financial assistance involves several steps.....approval of the person, approval of the property, and awarding of the grant. The person needs to apply for the assistance, have their eligibility verified, attend training of some sort, and finally approval. The process may take a couple of months. Then the property has to qualify --- the price must be within certain guidelines, it must pass inspection(s), and finally the assistance is provided.
In short, it is best to determine the level and type of financing you qualify for before the home purchase. If you qualify for $175,000, you won't be wasting your time looking for homes which are more than that amount. You can also see what your monthly payments will be and have time to see if you are comfortable with that level of monthly expense toward housing.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
How much is my House Worth?
ORLANDO, Fla. – July 9, 2009 – One of the biggest mysteries in the region’s tumultuous housing market these days is: How much is that house worth?
Appraisers, real-estate agents, buyers and sellers across Central Florida are in a quandary about whether to include bargain-basement sales in the price mix when determining the value of a nearby, comparable home.
“It’s really causing havoc in the market right now,” said Les Simmonds, president of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. “Hopefully it will turn around as we go through inventory of foreclosures and other distress sales. But I want to emphasize that could take some time.”
The confusion over local home values in a changing market is compounded when it takes weeks – or even months – for actual sale prices to reach government and commercial Web sites. One nationwide Internet sales site is taking on that problem by rolling out next-day closing prices, with the hope that it will draw potential customers by helping take some of the guesswork out of determining the worth of nearby properties.
Realtor.com has started posting sale prices the day after the transactions close in 22 U.S. markets – including the Daytona Beach area, parts of Brevard, the Miami area and Northeast Florida.
“If you’re trying to track trends in your neighborhood, you can find out what homes sold for in 24 hours. You don’t have to wait 60 to 90 days,” said Julie Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the Web site, which serves as a national, consumer version of local Realtors’ well-known Multiple Listing Service. “With the rapidly changing market trends, especially in Florida, it’s an art to establish the right list price or the right bid.”
Current sales information also can affect homeowners who are considering whether to sell or refinance their property, she said. The sales information is available in the “Find Home Values” feature on Realtor.com’s home page.
Leah Selig, executive director of the Space Coast Association of Realtors, said her group voted to disclose its members’ sales-price information to the public on a next-day basis to give the Realtors’ Web site an advantage over competitors such as Zillow.com, which provides property listings and estimated home values for houses throughout the country.
“Some of these public sites are publishing data that is not always current or accurate,” Selig said. “And you’ve got consumers out there relying on that information when it’s really months old.”
Zillow posts sale prices within about three weeks of closings in most markets.
So far, the Orlando Realtor association, with members throughout the region, hasn’t embraced next-day reporting of sale prices. The group voted against the idea about a year ago, noting that the information typically becomes available on government Web sites within a few weeks of a closing, Simmonds said.
But he added that the Orlando group is likely to review its earlier position, perhaps as soon as next week.
Though quicker reporting of sale prices can give the public more-accurate snapshots of the home market as a moving target, it won’t untangle confusion over whether foreclosures and short sales should affect the value of other homes.
Orlando real-estate analysts have tried to keep such “distress sales” from sullying the rest of the housing pool by separating the two in monthly price reports. On the other hand, Orange County Property Appraiser Bill Donegan often includes foreclosures when his staff computes home values in particular neighborhoods.
The state Department of Revenue has advised county property appraisers that they are allowed to, but don’t have to, use foreclosure sales when determining the value of nearby properties. Donegan said his staff is factoring foreclosures into property values in areas that contain numerous bank-sold houses.
“It’s got to be more than one, or even five, foreclosures spread out among 3,000 houses,” Donegan said. He said his appraisers are “being awfully cautious, based on what they did before [the housing bubble deflated]. They’d rather be low than high.”
The Orlando Regional Realtor Association has taken to distinguishing between the prices paid for foreclosure properties and those paid for homes sold through conventional methods. In May, for instance, the median price paid for all distress sales was $140,000, compared with the $165,000 median for “normal” sales, the association said.
Simmonds said he thinks it’s important to categorize the two types of sales because people need to understand why prices overall have continued to drop, even as monthly sales volume has been improving compared with a year ago.
Copyright © 2009 The Orlando Sentinel, Fla., Mary Shanklin. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Appraisers, real-estate agents, buyers and sellers across Central Florida are in a quandary about whether to include bargain-basement sales in the price mix when determining the value of a nearby, comparable home.
“It’s really causing havoc in the market right now,” said Les Simmonds, president of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. “Hopefully it will turn around as we go through inventory of foreclosures and other distress sales. But I want to emphasize that could take some time.”
The confusion over local home values in a changing market is compounded when it takes weeks – or even months – for actual sale prices to reach government and commercial Web sites. One nationwide Internet sales site is taking on that problem by rolling out next-day closing prices, with the hope that it will draw potential customers by helping take some of the guesswork out of determining the worth of nearby properties.
Realtor.com has started posting sale prices the day after the transactions close in 22 U.S. markets – including the Daytona Beach area, parts of Brevard, the Miami area and Northeast Florida.
“If you’re trying to track trends in your neighborhood, you can find out what homes sold for in 24 hours. You don’t have to wait 60 to 90 days,” said Julie Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the Web site, which serves as a national, consumer version of local Realtors’ well-known Multiple Listing Service. “With the rapidly changing market trends, especially in Florida, it’s an art to establish the right list price or the right bid.”
Current sales information also can affect homeowners who are considering whether to sell or refinance their property, she said. The sales information is available in the “Find Home Values” feature on Realtor.com’s home page.
Leah Selig, executive director of the Space Coast Association of Realtors, said her group voted to disclose its members’ sales-price information to the public on a next-day basis to give the Realtors’ Web site an advantage over competitors such as Zillow.com, which provides property listings and estimated home values for houses throughout the country.
“Some of these public sites are publishing data that is not always current or accurate,” Selig said. “And you’ve got consumers out there relying on that information when it’s really months old.”
Zillow posts sale prices within about three weeks of closings in most markets.
So far, the Orlando Realtor association, with members throughout the region, hasn’t embraced next-day reporting of sale prices. The group voted against the idea about a year ago, noting that the information typically becomes available on government Web sites within a few weeks of a closing, Simmonds said.
But he added that the Orlando group is likely to review its earlier position, perhaps as soon as next week.
Though quicker reporting of sale prices can give the public more-accurate snapshots of the home market as a moving target, it won’t untangle confusion over whether foreclosures and short sales should affect the value of other homes.
Orlando real-estate analysts have tried to keep such “distress sales” from sullying the rest of the housing pool by separating the two in monthly price reports. On the other hand, Orange County Property Appraiser Bill Donegan often includes foreclosures when his staff computes home values in particular neighborhoods.
The state Department of Revenue has advised county property appraisers that they are allowed to, but don’t have to, use foreclosure sales when determining the value of nearby properties. Donegan said his staff is factoring foreclosures into property values in areas that contain numerous bank-sold houses.
“It’s got to be more than one, or even five, foreclosures spread out among 3,000 houses,” Donegan said. He said his appraisers are “being awfully cautious, based on what they did before [the housing bubble deflated]. They’d rather be low than high.”
The Orlando Regional Realtor Association has taken to distinguishing between the prices paid for foreclosure properties and those paid for homes sold through conventional methods. In May, for instance, the median price paid for all distress sales was $140,000, compared with the $165,000 median for “normal” sales, the association said.
Simmonds said he thinks it’s important to categorize the two types of sales because people need to understand why prices overall have continued to drop, even as monthly sales volume has been improving compared with a year ago.
Copyright © 2009 The Orlando Sentinel, Fla., Mary Shanklin. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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