October 2008

REAL ESTATE TAXES GOING DOWN...THINK AGAIN!

Sunday, October 26th, 2008 at 8:27am. 139 Views, 0 Comments.

I read an interesting article about taxes in the State of Florida and people’s complaints that their taxes aren’t decreasing despite declining property values. I had assumed previously as a property owner in Naples, that if the property values decline, the property taxes would naturally follow. What I found out isn’t necessarily so and can be quite the opposite.

Since I homestead my primary residence in Florida, I’m covered by the ‘Save Our Homes’ Amendment which means that there is a 3% cap on the assessment of my property, not the amount of the tax increase. Within that law, there is a rule that I, as well as many others, never paid attention to called “the recapture rule”. The dichotomy is that the rule provides for increasing of property values in a…

TO RE-HAB OR NOT TO RE-HAB...THAT IS THE QUESTION

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 4:31pm. 93 Views, 0 Comments.

With the advent of the market drop over the past few years or so, fixing up homes to make a profit on is looking more and more interesting for some people. If you are the type person interested in putting in some ‘sweat equity’, the prospect of purchasing a fixer-upper might look very inviting, however, there are some thing that you might want to consider before diving in.

Usually the biggest profits are made on homes that need only minor cosmetic fixes as opposed to those that are in need of major repairs involving structual changes. There are many homes out there that have been neglected and yet with a few cosmetic fixes can look fantastic and will be very appealing when you go to sell it down the road. Notice how I said ‘down the road’ and that is…

IS IT BECAUSE OF THE ECONOMY?

Thursday, October 16th, 2008 at 4:46pm. 96 Views, 0 Comments.

Sometimes I find myself wishing that I had an ‘easy button’ to push while working on some of those hard real estate deals…You know the ones where you work like a dog, excited to find what you consider to be a gem of a property and have the customers drag their feet because they think that there will be a better deal around the next corner. The only saving grace is that the property immediately goes under contract, making you look like you knew what you were talking about. Yet they still wait!

I’m reminded of a gentleman I met years ago from the U.K. selling at a large home show. He had a product from England that no one here had access to and was making a killing. We talked about product selling and he told me he found it nuts that Americans selling the…

CANADIAN MARKET FOLLOWING U.S.?

Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 4:37pm. 103 Views, 0 Comments.

Canadians interested in selling their homes are suddenly finding their market looking more and more like our market here in the U.S., a strong buyer’s market, and it is a change that they aren’t liking. They are being told by their real estate agents that if they list their home, it might not sell because of the change in the market. It was just a few short months ago that the sellers were totally in control of the market and were getting the high prices they listed at.

The change in the Canadian Market begs the question as to how deep the effect will be regarding Canadians interested in purchasing South Florida real estate. There is no question that this trend will have an effect and that is certainly a huge cause for concern since it was the Canadians…

WILL RATE CUTS RESTORE CONFIDENCE?

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 at 4:37pm. 100 Views, 0 Comments.

Some people will undoubtedly misconstrue today’s financial aid rate cut of 0.50% by Ben Bernanke and the FED thinking that it will lower it will lower the mortgage interest rates, when in fact the opposite could happen. Certainly the move was unprecedented and quickly followed by major central banks around the world in a move to stave off financial destruction. The cut followed the $700 billion rescue plan that no one is calling it a bailout anymore.

If confidence is restored in the stock market and financial markets, then mortgage interest rates will rise, because rates actually benefit from a lack of confidence in the markets causing them to drop.

For those people still hanging on to option arm loans that will be maturing soon, one would suggest…

IT'S ALL ABOUT PRICING!

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 5:39pm. 248 Views, 0 Comments.

If you are contemplating selling your home in today’s strong ‘buyer’s market’, you have to price it correctly or it will just not sell period.

In determining an asking price, it is important that the listing price be exact. There have been recent studies which have shown that people are willing to pat more if that listing price is exact. For example rather than trying to sell your home for $450,000, you might list it at $449,475. The studies have shown that there is a psychological benefit when dealing with precise numbers. Oddly enough people tend to think that numbers that end in digits are actually smaller than those ending in zeros. Also an interesting factor is that when people do property searches on the internet, properties ending in digits will pop…

I'VE GOT A BIG MOUTH!

Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 2:02pm. 84 Views, 0 Comments.

I’ve always considered myself a ‘networker’ probably well before the term even became a term. In real estate, we all look toward our happy customers for referrals, and actually it doesn’t matter whether it is real estate or not, any business can benefit from the power of word-of-mouth marketing.

A prospect generated from from a word-of-mouth referral is most certainly a better prospect than from other means because they trust the source and are less suspect. Multi-national companies have learned to value that type of marketing and as realtors, so should we. Many times we realize the power of referrals, but fail to direct our marketing efforts and activity in that direction.

In today’s real estate climate, I believe that to remain successful we should be…

DO I REALLY MISS WHAT I THINK I DO?

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 4:39pm. 88 Views, 0 Comments.

The Fall season here in Florida get us closer to my very favorite time of year when we can throw open the windows, turn the a/c off and finally “air” out the house. The good news is that it can last up to five months if the prevailing wind currents that bring us that cooler weather from the north remain in a certain pattern. Last year was a perfect example of that happening and it was great!

Coming from New England the one thing that I do miss living in Florida, (I should be used to it because I’ve been here almost 18 years,) is the changing of seasons. Here we effectively have what I call two seasons, the muggy season and the dry season or Summer and Winter. Now I’m sure that there will be people who will argue that as we transition into the Winter and…

HAVE A GREAT BIRTHDAY MEL...MEDICARE IS A YEAR AWAY!

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 4:39am. 97 Views, 0 Comments.

Today is my 64th birthday and I consider myself rather fortunate that I have managed to outlive my father by some 10 years, although I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it’s the luck of the draw or more so because we have come a long way medically and our generation is just living longer.

Since turning 60, I have been virtually wishing my life away. I can’t wait to get to 65! No it isn’t that my real estate career isn’t prospering, because it is. It isn’t the fact that I want to retire, because I can never see myself doing that and I truly love the work that I do. It is the fact that when I turn 65 I am elidgible to begin receiving medicare health benefits, and if that isn’t a sick reason to wish your life away, I don’t know what is.

I don’t think that I am…

DO I REALLY MISS WHAT I THINK I DO?

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 4:20am. 88 Views, 0 Comments.

The Fall season here in Florida get us closer to my very favorite time of year when we can throw open the windows, turn the a/c off and finally “air” out the house. The good news is that it can last up to five months if the prevailing wind currents that bring us that cooler weather from the north remain in a certain pattern. Last year was a perfect example of that happening.

Coming from New England the one thing that I do miss living in Florida, (I should be used to it because I’ve been here almost 18 years,) is the changing of seasons. Here we effectively have what I call two seasons, the muggy season and the dry season or Summer and Winter. Now I’m sure that there will be people who will argue that as we transition into the Winter and Summer, there are…