Home Buying & Selling Tips

Sharing a bit of news regarding mortgages and the importance of getting pre-approved before searching for a home...when you find one you love - you MUST be ready to move on it as the market is moving fast!

Leisurely looking for a mortgage is a luxury South Florida homebuyers can't afford anymore.

 Sellers have seized control of the rejuvenated market. Strong competition for a limited supply of homes is forcing buyers to quickly arrange financing or face the prospect of losing the deal.

 "If you can't deliver a loan commitment in under two weeks, you've got a problem," said Stephen B. McWilliam, president of Florida State Realty Group in Fort Lauderdale.

 Most real estate agents insist that house hunters meet with lenders before touring a

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After weeks of  feeling as though we lived in Seattle we finally have some sunshine here in "Sunny South Florida".......I have to say it is pretty nice to need the sunglasses again.  I guess we shouldn't complain about a little rain since we are in hurricane season.  Are you prepared?  Here's a link to some useful preparedness information provided by FEMA:  http://www.ready.gov/basic-disaster-supplies-kit

Of course it goes without saying that we all hope we don't have to use this...but mother nature IS a force of her own.  Have a great Thursday!

After five years the Mortgage Forgiveness Act is set to expire 12/31/13 and is NOT expected to be extended.  This may be the last opportunity for primary residents to short sale their home without receiving the income tax burden.  In most cases, the short sale seller pays no fees.  We have Short Sale Experts on staff....now is the time to list your home,  inventory is low and homes are selling fast.  CALL US - we can help.  561-282-5255

By now it should be clear to everyone that a multi-year home price rebound started in January of 2012. It should also be obvious to everyone that home prices in 2013 are on a tear. The rest of 2013 will remain strong, with rising home prices. The data is already in and it is very clear. 

There are always bearish readers who object to the characterization of a hot real estate market. They’re generally expecting 2014 and beyond for home prices to fall again. This bearish housing argument usually includes anecdotes about the fragility of the rental market, and that investors have been driving purchase demands and now we’re flooded with rentals. Rents must fall. Here is a look at the Florida data. Here’s what we found.

  

 WASHINGTON – Jan. 23, 2013 – Home sales are set to keep marching upward this year after hitting their highest level in five years in 2012, economists say.

Existing-home sales for the full year rose 9.2 percent from 2011, according to preliminary data, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Tuesday.

New home sales, which will be reported Friday, have also been improving.

Housing is finally contributing to the economy’s growth instead of pulling it down, Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi says.

He expects housing to contribute a fifth of the economy’s growth this year. In 2009, it subtracted more than 1 percentage point from GDP growth, he says.

Housing has historically led the U.S. economy out of recessions.

Now that housing…

Awesome News!    Home construction in 2012 highest in 4 years   WASHINGTON (AP) – Jan. 17, 2013 – U.S. builders started work on homes in December at the fastest pace since the summer of 2008 and finished 2012 as their best year for residential construction since the early stages of the housing crisis.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that builders broke ground on houses and apartments at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 954,000. That’s 12.1 percent higher than November’s annual rate and nearly double the recession low reached in April 2009.

For the year, builders started work on 780,000 homes. That’s still roughly half of the annual number of starts consistent with healthier markets. But it is an increase of 28.1 percent from 2011.…

 ORLANDO, Fla. – Jan. 16, 2013 – To sell a home or get top dollar, sellers must look at their property through the eyes of a potential buyer. Consider the following five tips:

1. Get rid of clutter and Aunt Mary’s photo.

“Selling your house is about taking your personality out of it and having people going through it envisioning their own life and personality,” says Candice Olson, host of “Candice Tells All” on Canadian television station “W Network.”

It’s hard for buyers to imagine themselves in a home decorated wall-to-wall with photographs of people they do not know, and knick-knacks that hold no special meaning. In preparing a home for sale, all the things that personalize a home to the family within should be stored for the next home – including all the…

 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jan. 16, 2013 – The November Mortgage Monitor report released by Jacksonville-based Lender Processing Services (LPS) finds that the national foreclosure inventory dropped to 3.51 percent in November – an almost 10 percent decline from September 2012, when National Mortgage Settlement requirements began to influence the pace of first-time foreclosure starts.

However, LPS expects foreclosure starts to rebound as mortgage servicers incorporate new procedural requirements into their operations in the coming months.

According to LPS Applied Analytics Senior Vice President Herb Blecher, borrowers are benefiting from today’s historically low interest rates. “Comparing interest rates on new versus paid-off loans, we see that interest

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According to a report by California-based ZipRealty, Palm Beach County's median home sales price in December was $169,000, up 35 percent from the same time the previous year.  The report used data from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and included single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums.  The 35 percent increase levels have not been seen since 2002 or 2003.  

Price increases are being driven by a demand for homes from both investors and traditional homebuyers hoping to make a purchase when prices and interest rates are still low.  Price increases measured in November by the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches ranged from 7.7 percent in Palm Beach Gardens to a whopping 73 percent in Royal Palm Beach.  This is all very exciting news!

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While living in a geodesic dome is not for everyone, it's true that a well designed home or building can withstand hurricanes and other storms with strong winds much better than poorly designed buildings. While some people create dome homes that look like balls, half sunk in the earth; other people build homes that are only partially rounded and not nearly as extreme looking. Geodesic domes can withstand strong winds better than any other shape because they have the lowest drag coefficients.

Geodesic domes are not new ideas. These "bubble houses", built in 1954 in Hobe Sound, Martin County, Florida, have survived storms for decades. But if building a geodesic dome home is not for you, there are other things that you can do to ensure that your home

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