Thinking About a Second Home or Retirement Home in Florida?
Saturday, October 8th, 2011Thinking About a Second Home or Retirement Home in Florida?
Let me share with you where the last 2 couples I worked with started looking, and eventually ended up buying.
Clients #1 from Michigan, retiring soon and decided now is the time to buy. They have been looking online for a year or so and noticed that all the “good ones” were getting snapped up! Plus with rates so low (even though they could buy cash) it is a great time to lock in their rate. I had set them up with a Listing Book account that kept them up on current inventory. Many internet sites are simply not updated frequently enough. They had picked out quite a few properties they wanted to see and bought their plane tickets to come down for a week to find that home! We started out looking at resales in a 55 and over community. A water view was very important to them. What we found in their price range was older construction needing updating. They like an open plan, so some would require removing walls. Then we looked in the “any age” communities and found some that were newer, but still needed some work. I called ahead to many of the new home builders in the area (yes, they are building here again!) to find out what they had in inventory that was on a pond or lake. We found a few, but none of them were “the one” for one reason or the other….view not as pretty as they would like, too small, didn’t care for floor plan…. Finally, they had decided to build a home from scratch. After some back and forth on price, they were ready to go to contract when a home with the floor plan they wanted to build came back on the market when the family that had it built no longer qualified (their credit score dipped). Since I have a good relationship with the builder’s salesperson, she called me as soon as she found out that home was coming back to them. My buyers secured that home for $35,000 less than it was under contract for with the previous buyers! And the view from this home is gorgeous! 4 bedrooms 2 & ½ baths, granite throughout, 2600 sq ft for $174k!! This was such fun for me to help them get this great deal.
Clients #2 from Ohio, retiring in a year, came down just to look on a long weekend. They said if they found something too good to pass up they would buy now. I showed them what their money would buy in a resale, then took them to several new home builders. We have a nice selection of new homes in the Southshore area. They wanted a pool, or at least a community with a pool. What we found for them was a 2100 sq ft home on a large lot with an oversized 2 car garage (2 & ½ car) with tile everywhere except the bedrooms, granite in the kitchen, and a TILE ROOF, on a pond (where the white pelicans gather) for $183k in an upscale community with some awesome amenities. They are going to rent the home for a year until they are ready to move in. Again….FUN!
So come on down so I can have some more fun helping YOU find that great deal and secure your first home, second home, or retirement home while the prices and rates are low! Word is, in one nearby new home community the next lots the builders are going to purchase are going to be $20,000 more each. They will have to pass that on to the buyers. So don’t delay….come on down today!
10 Best Cities to Purchase Rental Properties
Thursday, July 14th, 2011From CNN MONEY:
10 best cities to buy a rental property
Tampa, Fla.
7 of 11
Tampa, Fla.
Average home price (2011): $152,700
Projected home price (2014): $147,200
Gross rent (2011): $832
Projected gross rent (2014): $933
As home to many of Florida’s retirees, rents in Tampa have bounced up and down a little, but have remained basically flat the past three years.
But with the local labor market on the mend — the unemployment rate fell a point over the 12 months ended in May and is down to 10.5% — rents are expected to take off, increasing about 12% over the next three years, according to Local Market Monitor.
Right now, the biggest housing problem in the area is that there is too much of it, according to Winzer. Last year, home prices dropped about 10% due to an oversupply of investment properties built during the boom.
Yet, Winzer projects returns for rental property investors should still exceed the national average by about 2.4% a year.
Says Who?? Work with a Real Estate Pro= Get More says Wash. Post…Costco??
Saturday, June 25th, 2011In a Complex Market Savvy Sellers Who Get Their Properties SOLD Hire a REALTOR to Net More Money…Says Who? The Washington Post and Satisfied Sellers
via Long Island Real Estate Blog by knetter on 6/23/11
During challenging economic times, people naturally look for ways to cut their expenses to make ends meet. Some people selling their houses in today’s market feel that one expense they should cut is the REALTOR®’s fee for service in order to net the highest amount possible in their real estate sale. On the surface, this decision seems to be logical. However, when put into practice, often the outcome is the complete opposite of the result desired by the Seller. Netter Real Estate takes pride in our collective experience and professionalism and that is the fundamental value that we bring our Seller Clients; we analyze the current market conditions, assess where the Seller’s property fits in the market and arrive at the appropriate price when it is introduced to the marketplace. BUT, as REALTORS®, perhaps you might feel that we have a tainted view on this subject. Fair enough. How about the opinion of a neutral party?
One of the world’s most respected newspapers, The Washington Post, weighs in on the value of REALTORs for a successful home sale.
Recently, The Washington Post, one of the world’s most respected newspapers, published an article called “And the Broker Takes a Slice” in which they tell the story of a pair of homeowners and their experience selling their house. They were friends who pooled their resources to purchase a house together a few years ago because they couldn’t each buy on their own but wanted to enjoy the benefits of homeownership as soon as possible. Their circumstances changed. One friend got married, the other engaged so they decided to sell the house they owned together.
In 2009, they hired a REALTOR® and put their house on the market. They did not anticipate how long homes stay on the market these days. With so much inventory being offered at once, Buyers have many properties to choose from and often see many houses before making their final decision as to the one they purchase. In six months, their house didn’t sell and they decided to take the house off the market while they made some improvements to it that they felt would make it more attractive in the marketplace when they returned to it. When they did return to the market, these friends made the decision not to hire a REALTOR® in order to recoup the money they spent on those improvements to the property. Like many Sellers who choose to go it alone, they based their list price on what they heard a property near theirs sold for, $785,000.
The fee for service earned by a REALTOR® on a $785,000 property to the Seller appears large. However, the fee is not earned until the property is SOLD. Before that, the REALTOR®, once hired as the Listing Agent, undertakes an enormous amount of work during the marketing of the property, negotiating offers then finally guiding the transaction to the closing table. In today’s confusing, challenging and ever-changing market, getting a property sold is a long and often difficult task. Because of this, REALTORS® are less likely to accept a lower fee for service. Successful REALTORS® these days especially, earn their fees for service by meeting the challenges today’s market offers. As The Washington Post stated in the article, “There’s never been such a discrepancy between where buyers think they should be buying and where sellers think they should be selling. The REALTOR’S® job is to bring both sides together.”
When these friends put their home back on the market, they used a for-sale-by-owner company that charged a flat fee of $400 that allowed them access to their multiple listing service. They said “Very, very few people showed up.”
After another three months on the market without selling, these friends decided to hire a REALTOR® to finally get the job done. The Washington Post said “In retrospect, [the Sellers] concluded that the asking price — not the commission — was the issue they should have focused on from the start.” The REALTOR® they ultimately hired was familiar with the property these Sellers based their price upon. It turns out that the house had a far more impressive kitchen and the $785,000 sale price included money towards the buyer’s closing costs that the seller chose to absorb so their true net was a bit less than it appeared.
These Sellers were advised to put the home on the market for $749,000, an attractive price for the area that would draw qualified buyers to it. It worked. Within two weeks, three qualified offers were received, two of which were over the asking price. In March 2011, the property ultimately sold for $754,000 — $5,000 ABOVE the asking price. The Sellers happily paid the 5% fee for service — $37,700 — to their REALTOR® for a job well done, a job they could not do themselves.
Sometimes it costs money to make money in the end. Netter Real Estate knows this very well. Each time our staff of real estate professionals is hired to do the job of selling a homeowners property, money is invested in the quality, targeted marketing necessary to attract qualified buyers to it. Since 1949, Netter Real Estate has been earning our fee for service by bringing about successful real estate sales so our clients and customers dreams can become reality. Whether you are a Seller moving on to your next place or a purchaser moving into your new place, Netter Real Estate will be there for you.
Turn to Netter Real Estate for all your real estate needs. Our agents at Netter Real Estate will nurture your family as it blooms by finding the home of your dreams…and right now with reasonable prices and incredibly low interest rates, you won’t have to clean out your wallet to buy it!
Please check our website regularly for Netter Real Estate happenings and be sure to “like” the Netter Real Estate fan page on Facebook for up-to-the-minute information on what’s going on in our community.
Follow up: see below evidence International buyers find it is time to buy real estate in Florida
Sunday, May 15th, 2011Follow up: It’s Time to Buy Real Estate Again
Pt.1 It’s time to buy Real Estate again, the most attractive asset class in America.
Mike Castleman, who calls himself a “dirt road economist” has not seen a shortage of new construction in the last 35 years like what he is seeing today. He believes in most markets the price of new homes will begin to rise this year, not fall. And as founder and CEO of Metrostudy, he is in a unique position to know. His company tracks data on the country’s inventory of new homes. They cover around 65% of the US housing market, and the key figures they collect are the number of vacant and “For Sale” homes and how many months it would take to sell all of them. This measures inventory and determines if a market has a surplus or shortage of new housing. The numbers are 1/4 of what they were just a few years ago.
So we have a historic drop in new construction and prices that have declined 30 to 55% across the country. The affordability will lure Americans back to buying homes and the shortage will start raising prices in many markets this year. To take advantage before the prices and/or interest rates start up, call Bonnie Fagoh at 813-390-7606. Or click here to search the best Tampa Bay properties as they hit the market. http://www.TampaCoastalHomes.com
In Pt.2 I will address today’s tight credit standards and the effect on the market, as well as the cost of owning vs renting.
Florida Luxury Waterfront attracting International Buyers with dollar at low
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011Searh All Tampa Bay Properties HERE**
Monday, May 9th, 2011Why you need to go Tampa Coastal
Friday, May 6th, 2011Real Estate Update
Monday, May 2nd, 2011Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded in /home/dream/public_html/tampafreerealestateinfo.com/wp-content/plugins/seo-pressor/classes/keywords.class.php on line 1