My New Blog

Preparing for Tropical Storm Fay

We received word this morning a Tropical Storm named Fay will be approaching our coast sometime on Tuesday. The storm has some of the same characteristics of Hurricane Charley had almost to the day 4 years ago.

Everyone should have their Hurricane kit ready since we live in Southwest Florida and it is Hurricane season. Make sure you have gas for your car, propane for your grill and the hurricane shutters starting to be put in place.

The weather today is a beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies. Calm before the storm.......

So for the next few days our lives will be put on hold till Fay decides what to do. Stay safe.

Short Sales

Today I am going to discuss Short Sales as it refers to Real Estate.  Short Sales is  by definition happens when a buyer of a property purchased the dwelling over and above the appraised  current value of the house and can either no longer afford the payments, loses a job, or quits paying the mortgage and sells the house for less than the mortgage amount.

Not all Real Estate agents in the industry understand or can complete a Short Sale deal. I would say personally that three in ten homes in the Englewood, Port Charlotte area are short sales.The process takes 60 days  and is very time consuming for the listing agent.

If you are going to list your home in a Short Sale Scenario make sure the listing agent is knowledgeable in the process.

Insurance Cost in Florida

I want to thank Governor Christ for taking the approach to allow other Insurance Companies to write policies in the the State of Florida. I have a story that will prove to the public that shopping for your Homeowners policy and Flood Insurance will reward you in savings.

My mother who is on a fixed income called me two weeks ago upset that her Homeowners Insurance went up $2000.00 from last year. My question to her was have you shopped the new companies that are writing policies in Florida. Her response was "NO". An educated consumer is the best weapon for saving money in all categories of service. I will have a link on my website http://www.BayToGulfHomes.com of all the companies so if oyu are in the market to save money you will go down the list and compare companies.

My mother shopped and saved of the $4000.00 policy she was quoted $3000.00. She did this by having a five point inspection. The inspection is $150.00 and has to be done by a licensed inspector of the five points in a home. The State of Florida will also assist in paying for the inspection. You can review the information on http://www.myflorida.com The state of Florida's website.

My mother and sister were having a discussion about the insurance and they both stated if I had not talked about the other insurance companies they would of just paid the premium.  So if you are in the market to shop and save money be educated enough to do so.

Stay informed about new issues within the State of Florida to help you as the consumer to save money.

Escrow Deposit

The amount of money for a good escrow deposit should be between 7-10% of the purchase price. A copy of the check or wire should accompany the offer. This amount tells the sellers agent the buyer is serious. 

The job of the buyers agent to to protect the escrow deposit as far as the time-line on the contract. The time factors are financing, inspections and repairs. I use a form called Critical Dates to  assist me in keeping tract of the dates.

Financing should be applied for within the timeframe usually the contract defaults to 5 days and the commitment from the lender in 30 days. All the dates in the FAR9 contract is business days.

Inspections for the house is usually within 7 days of the acceptance date and Termite no earlier than 30 days prior to closing. The repair limit also has a time frame and is reported to the buyers agent within 7 days of inspection.

Review the contract and know all the terms to better represent your buyer or seller.

Your Listing Appointment

When a professional Real Estate agent goes on a listing appointment there are few guidelines to remember. Be on time the first  impression is a lasting impression. Make sure you have researched the property, neighborhood and past sales on the house. The seller is coming to you for guidance on how to sell their house in this marketplace.

I look at the most recent solds and pendings in the neigborhood in the last 4 months because the market is forever changing. I also review the actives because that is going to be your competition. I review the mortgage and deed on the property to see who is on the deed and how it is deeded.

I have the homeowner show me the property as if I was a customer coming in to see the home. I then sit at the kitchen table and go over the solds, actives and the pendings on the market. I review the listing agreement with the homeowner and then talk about the listing price.

I review my marketing plan, my website , the corporate website and why they should choose me as their Real Estate Professional. For the close I ask to be the agent of choice.

I then go to work to sell the home and have it sell in less than 90 days.

Short Sales 101

Short sales in this market place are about 1 in every four homes on the market. The buyers that bought homes sight unseen from investment seminars preaching the line "you will not even have to close on the home we will sell it before construction is completed" are the short sales I am talking about.

I went on a listing appointment today where the buyer is upside down on the loan. The builder has shut his doors and the bank is in Chapter 11. This couple from out of state purchased the home in 2005 and signed loans papers with the bank and had every intention in closing on the loan and they did. Now the home is worth 60,000 to 70,000 less than they purchased it for.

The short sales are emotional for the sellers who have been carrying the loan presently and will continue to pay the mortgage till the home is sold. Days on Market in this area is 90-120 days. The intention of the sellers when they purchased the home was to make between 10,000 to 20,000 dollars and now they are going to have to pay almost 100,000 to get out of this mess. My advice to the sellers was count your losses and get out of the market. Carrying cost for the home on a monthly are 2200.00 over the course of a year that can add up.

Real Estate agents need to know the rules of the game when listing a short sale. If the seller has other assets the banks will go after those assets. The agent has to ask the questions of the seller to know what the real issues are. Before you go on the appointment do the research on the seller, mortgage and the market so you can be intelligent when discussing the options the seller has. Every situation is different, there is not a set course of action. Be realistic with the seller. We almost have to become counselors as well as agents. Price the property to sell.

Blogging For Information

In this time of the year Buyers and Sellers are worried about the Holidays coming upon us.

For Buyers the questions they ask themselves are Am I going to get in a new home before the holidays? The answer could be yes if you are already pre approved,  the house is in good condition and Your real estate agent completes the buyers side of the deal efficiently.

For Sellers the question they ask themselves is Am I going to sell before the holidays? The answer could be yes if the house is Priced to Sell, Advertised in the right media and in picture perfect shape for the buyer.

Lets face it there is enough inventory on the market in the Port Charlotte and Englewood area to last 2 years. There is also some great buys on the market for buyers who have been sitting on the fence debating whether to purchase or wait until the market dips some more.

Each individual seller and buyer have reasons to buy or sell. Some of the sellers will have to come to the closing table with money to close and others will get a check.

I am in the process of doing a REO purchase for my buyer, what an experience this has been. It seems to me that the listing agent and the REO asset manager know very little about the process to achieve a smooth transaction.   The Bank has a 16 page contract for my buyer to read, fill out and understand in order to purchase this dream home of theirs. then the final straw will be to see if the transaction closes on time, which the asset manger stated usually does not. This is something to look forward to.

I will continue to Blog daily to keep you in touch with the transactions of  the Real Estate in this market place.

 Motivation

Buyers Have Alot of Inventory to Select From

Buyers in the market to purchase a home have a selection that was not present in 2005 and some of 2006.  Price values in the housing market has dropped 25 to 30% in some regions of the United States.

In Englewood, Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda the prices have dropped 20% and not as much in the waterfront sector.

As you can see in the picture there is alot of water on the West Coast of Florida between Punta Gorda and Englewood. Waterfront living on the West Coast is unspoiled with wildlife like fishes, alligators and birds of all species.

There is enough inventories of homes on the market to last 3 years and there is many the buyer can preview to decide just where on the coast they would like to live. In the present market the sellers are willing to do owner easy finance terms and reduce the price as much as 30% when an offer is presented.  Make sure the Real Estate agent that is representing the buyer is skilled in negotiating a deal for the buyer and understands all terms of the sales contract. A well informed agent will make the transfer of property smooth from offer to closing.