South Florida Real Estate Blog - Updates & Realty News

Trying to sell your South Florida real estate in a slow market can be frustrating. You may find that it takes longer to sell and you can’t get as much money as you could during a booming market. However, you can’t believe all the hype about a sluggish real estate market. Do your research and separate the facts from the fiction.

Here are 3 myths and the facts behind the fiction:

1. You won’t get a decent price. Your South Florida real estate will sell for whatever a buyer is willing to pay. A comparative market analysis shows you what other buyers spent on property like yours. Of course, if you bought your home when values were up, you may not get the return on your investment you’d hoped for. However, most sellers get a fair price and even make a profit in a slow market.
2. Your South Florida real estate will stay on the market too long. While it’s true that real estate tends to take longer to sell during a slow market, it’s not impossible to sell. People still buy in slower markets. If your home is priced right, prepared for sale and marketed professionally, it will sell.
3. Buyers only want foreclosures and short sales. The truth is that buyers want good deals, and this can be in the form of money or time. The price of a foreclosure or short sale may certainly be attractive, but they can take a considerable amount of time to close while the banks negotiate their terms. Paying slightly more for a traditional sale is sometimes well worth the time they can save.

Using my proven marketing plan, we can help you sell your home whether it's a slow market or a booming market. Call us today at 407-876-5771.

Stop Foreclosure  Save Your Credit Florida Short Sales

Setting the asking price for their Miami homes for sale is one of the most important decisions homeowners have to make in the selling process. Why is it so important?

• You only get one chance to make a good first impression. With so many competing Miami homes for sale, yours has to pop out immediately as a good value or buyers will move on, unlikely to return. You get one stab at your home's debut, and it's easy to blow it.
  
• Set the price too high and you could hurt your chances of selling your home. The amount of traffic a home gets in the first week on the market is about 5 times what it gets the following weeks. The traffic continues to decrease every week. You might say, “Well, I’ll just lower my price.” This hurts almost as much as it helps. It conveys to buyers (the few who are still considering your home) that your home was overpriced and may still be.
  
• Setting the price too low can be almost as harmful. Buyers who are looking in a specific price range may not consider your home because of the low price tag. They assume it will not fulfill their needs or worry that there’s something wrong with it.

How do you know what that magic number should be for your home? Here are 3 factors to take into consideration when setting your asking price:

1. Neighborhood sales prices: Recent closed sales in your immediate neighborhood offer the most pertinent data for predicting the sale price of your home. List prices of homes still on the market should be taken into consideration also, because they show the current pricing trend. A professional real estate agent will do all this research for you as part of their services.
   
2. Condition of your home: If your home has been better maintained, is more up to date and shows better than the other Miami homes for sale, it will sell faster and for more money. Updates, even those as minor as having current paint colors, impact pricing. Updated kitchens and baths are especially important to buyers.
   
3. Appraisal value: As the seller, you can get an appraisal on your home before putting it on the market. You’ll have to pay for it, but it may be worth it to get access to this pricing tool.

Ready to sell your home? Let us do the research for you and help you set the best price to get your home sold. Call us today at 407-876-5771.

Stop Foreclosure  Save Your Credit Florida Short Sales

When you first set out to sell your home, you are probably excited by all the possibilities, maybe a little scared, and often thinking about the best ways to save money. Many times saving money when selling Miami real estate means trying to sell it as a FSBO (For Sale By Owner). If you have the conviction, the salesmanship, and the knowhow you might be able to sell your home yourself and keep the commission in your pocket. There are, however, a few key elements you should be aware of when attempting to sell your own home.

Your House—Not Your Home

The first trick of selling your own home is to immediately stop thinking about it as your home. It may seem like an insignificant change and purely a matter of semantics but as your 'home' you will have far less ability to coldly asses its value than simply as a piece of Miami real estate—a house.

As a 'home' it will be harder to handle rejection, off-handed comments by viewers, and a feeling of general violation as strangers traipse through your rooms at all hours of the day interrupting your home life. As a house it is simply a piece of property you have to move. Thinking about your property as just a house, a structure you need to get rid of, will help you detach emotionally enough to have realistic expectations and the ability to handle the stress of selling.

Be Realistic

Carefully assess the value of your Miami real estate. Check out the competition. Know what others have to offer in your same neighborhood and what their prices are.

Prepare and Market

Get rid of personal items. Put them in storage. Eliminate all the clutter of everyday living and make your home sparkle. Also remember that no one will be viewing your house if they don’t know it’s for sale. Get the word out in as many ways as possible.

If you would like help selling your home, give me a call at 407-876-5771.

It happens to everyone at some point. You walk away from the closing table wondering if you made the biggest mistake of your life. Did you sell your Miami home for less than it was worth? Will you be able to create new memories in your new home? This is called seller’s remorse. Here are some tips to prepare for it and survive it:

• Seller’s remorse is a fear, and you should deal with it just like you would any other fear. Talk about it with your friends, family, and real estate agent. They can listen to you and reassure you that you made the right decision.
• Remind yourself of the facts. Facts are the opposite of fear, and they will help take your focus off your fears. If you are moving because of a job relocation, you had to sell your home. If you had to sell your home because you couldn’t afford it, whatever you got for the home is better than ruining your credit.
• Find out what other Miami homes are selling for. Look through the classifieds. Drive around town. Ask your real estate agent. When you see what other homes have sold for, you can rest assured that you got a good price. Remember to look at the sale price instead of the asking price.
• Treasure your memories. The memories go with you when you leave; they are not confined to four walls and a roof.
• Look to the future. Now, it’s time to start a new chapter in your life and make fresh memories in your new home. Enjoy this new turn your life is taking. Look back fondly, but embrace your new path.

Let me help you get top dollar for your Miami home so you can avoid seller’s remorse. Call us today at 407-876-5771.

According to RealtyTrac, 1 in 70 homes have received foreclosures notices since January, 2010 – a total of 1.7 million houses in the U.S. Was your South Florida home one of them? In previous blogs, we’ve covered several ways to avoid foreclosure, but a rising trend has brought another possibility to the forefront.

According to a recent Pew Research Center study, many individuals are surviving the economic blues by expanding their households. By the end of 2008, more than 16%, or 49 million, of Americans lived in a household with more than one generation. Although the statistics aren’t back yet for 2009 -2010, experts expect the numbers to be even higher.

These Americans aren’t all young college graduates moving back in with mom and dad, either. Parents have moved in with children, children with parents – somehow, even siblings have managed to live together in relative harmony. This trend spans across the board from single parents to elderly grandparents. According to the report, approximately one in five adults ages 25 to 34 and 65 + live in a multi-generational home.

Are you suggesting I let family members move in?

Actually, yes I am. Now, depending on your family dynamics, I realize this might be the equivalent of inviting World War III to your doorstep. However, if you face losing your South Florida home to foreclosure, you might at least stop to consider the possibilities. For instance:

• More working people in the household means more ability to pay the mortgage and stop the foreclosure.
• With more family members, you have a stronger family influence on children living in the home.
• With more people, responsibility is shared more. You won't need to do everything on your own.

No, it’s not an ideal situation. However, if you’ve said, “I’d do anything to keep my home,” did you mean it? Does the definition of “anything” include family World War III? Could you sit down with your family members, work out a set of compromises and live in harmony? If you’ve tried everything else, this may be your best bet for avoiding foreclosure on your South Florida home.

You never know; you may even come to like it.

If you’re looking for a home to support a multi-generational household, we can help. Call us at 407-876-5771 for more information.

Awarded Top SEO Company        by TopSEO's.com

- Gain Maximum Exposure

- Get Found Online

Marketing  >  Leads  >  Sales

Orlando SEO

Golden Oak Resort

Disney's new Luxury Residential Resort Community

Golden Oak offers a truly unique opportunity to purchase a custom luxury home at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.  Golden Oak will consist of three types of single family homes - village homes, estate homes and grand estate homes priced between $1.5 and $8 million. At final build-out, Golden Oak is anticipated to include approximately 450 homes.

http://www.goldenoakresort.net/

If you’ve been looking at your finances to see if you can afford a Palm Beach home for sale, or a home in any area for that matter, a new report from the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo says, “Yes, you can!”

According to this report, over 72% of families bringing in over $63,000 a year bought an affordable home in the first quarter of 2010. One of the main reasons for this is because of the national median price: just $175,000. Adding to that is the still historically low interest and mortgage rates, as well as companies once again beginning to hire new employees. These “affordability” numbers are based on 28% or less of a family’s take-home pay.

Many new homeowners agree. The National Association of REALTORS® released the statistics for existing home sales on May 24. April saw a 7% increase in sales from March, and Freddie Mac reports that 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage commitment rates rose to 5.10% in the same month.

What Does This Mean for Buyers and Sellers?

While this still means slow going for those with a Palm Beach home for sale, this means an incredibly hot market for buyers. With over 4 million homes available for sale, sellers are definitely competing with each other. In many places across the country, homeowners have dropped their prices 10% to 50%, in an effort to attract attention.

Can You Afford a Home?

If you’re looking at the real estate market and wondering if you can finally afford the home of your dreams, it’s time to quit wondering. Start doing your research.

Before you begin shopping for a home, shop around for a lender. Finding a good lender with reasonable rates is one of the best first steps of buying a home.

Next, get pre-approved for a mortgage. Pre-approval lets you know how much you really can afford and whether your credit is acceptable for a mortgage. As well, if you do find the home you’ve always wanted, being pre-approved gives you a strong standing in negotiations, because the seller knows you’re seriously looking for a home.

Finally, if you can afford a Palm Beach home for sale and have been waiting for the best time, you’ve reached it. There’s never been a better, more affordable time for buyers in the last 50 years.

If you’re looking for your dream home, we can help. Call us at 407-876-5771 for more information.

You placed your South Florida home for sale on the market weeks ago, but it seems no one is interested. What you may not realize is that the most desirable, most treasured buyers arrive at your home every day. They may not knock; they may not schedule an appointment; they may even need Map Quest to figure out where you are, but they’re viewing your home.

Buying habits are changing rapidly. More than 70 percent of today’s buyers find the house they want to buy through online resources. Why aren’t they just getting into their cars and coming by for a visit? Because a large part of your potential buyers are looking at your South Florida home for sale from states away…

The Invaluable Relocation Buyer

You want the relocation buyer. In fact, every seller, every agent and every community wants the relocation buyer. Why? Relocation buyers are those who have to move. They’re incredibly motivated to buy, and the chance of them buying a home in the community is high.

Your Buyer’s Profile

Your relocation buyer is probably an educated professional in his or her field. Relocation buyers usually know exactly what they’re looking for, and aren’t willing to budge much. They’ve commonly moved before and are knowledgeable home buyers.

If you’ve never sold a home, they’ll most likely understand the buying/selling process better than you do. They also know that real estate activity and values are different in every area. As well, they know how their companies’ relocation assistance programs work, which affects their moving budgets.

Reaching buyers is a competitive process. If you want highly motivated buyers like these knocking on your door, you need a well-organized marketing strategy.

Talk to your real estate agent about your online presentation. Perhaps a video tour would be the best strategy to attract buyers to your South Florida home for sale. Whatever you decide to do, if your marketing strategy doesn’t include a well-put-together online presentation, you’ve already lost the relocation buyer.

Are you missing a large buying market for your home? We can help. Call us at 407-876-5771 for more information.

It’s open season on homes for sale in Miami, and no hunting license is needed. You might want to wear bright orange jackets if you’re a seller, though. It’s a buyer’s market and, in this case, you want the house hunters to see you.

Now, you can only take the hunting analogy so far; I don’t think you’d appreciate being hung on a wall as a trophy. You will appreciate hunters setting their sights on homes for sale in Miami, however. Here are a few tips to ensure that your home is the one they target:

Stand out in the open

To put it simply, buyers are using more and more technology nowadays. Obviously, you, as the seller, want to be where the buyers are, right? Embrace the Internet. Twitter, Facebook, blogging and other forms of social media are some of the ways successful sellers have managed to garner attention. So, start networking online, or hire an internet savvy real estate agent to do it for you.

Use an agent

This may sound self-serving; I am, after all, a real estate agent. However, while you may be trying to figure out whether you really want to pay commission fees, also consider this. Agents have access to many places that do it yourself sellers don’t, such as MSN Real Estate, Yahoo Real Estate, their MLS listings and Realtor.com. Buyers do have access, and they’re looking. As the seller, you want as much exposure as possible, and agents can get it for you.

Make affordable repairs

If you can afford to replace a worn out faucet, do so. If you can replace bad flooring, do it. Whether it’s plumbing issues or light switches, big or small, make the repairs you can afford to make. Then, and here’s the secret, advertise: “All new fixtures!” or “Brand new flooring!” Sharing what you’ve done to make the house more attractive is like waving a red flag and, when you’re talking about house hunting, this is a good thing.

Add field dressing

Okay, perhaps that goes a little far with the hunting analogy. Basically, in a tough buyer’s market, presentation is everything. Have strong curb appeal outside. Get rid of personal clutter inside. Stage the rooms and clean, clean, clean. It’s a beauty contest. Dress your home accordingly.

Putting these tips into action will greatly raise the chances of taking another home off the list of homes for sale in Miami.

If you’re trying to sell your home and need an internet savvy agent, we can help. Call us at 407-876-5771 for more information.

No, I'm not talking about the economic crisis, or any other type of personal disaster. I'm talking about the kind that Mother Nature doles out with predictable uncertainty. Your South home can never be prepared to the extent of knowing when disasters will happen, but you can be ready for anytime they do.

Know What Type of Disaster is Most Likely

While some types of natural disasters can happen anywhere such as fires and floods, other types like earthquakes, landslides, tornadoes and hurricanes are less likely in certain regions. For example, tornadoes are unlikely in California and earthquakes are less common in Wisconsin.

Different types of disasters require different preparations so knowing what your South Florida home is most likely to experience is of great benefit. For instance, you do not want to be underground in an earthquake, but in a tornado picking the lowest spot in a home such as a basement is wise.

Gather Supplies

Some things are common to all types of disaster preparations. Having these items on hand should be on every homeowner's "must have" list.

· Extra blankets

· Water

· Several days worth of food (best if prepared or easy to make without electrical appliances)

· Candles or other forms of emergency lighting

· Battery operated radio

· Dust mask

· Can opener

· Moist towels

· Emergency escape plans

· Shelter listings

· Pet food (if you have pets)

· Fire extinguishers (every home should have at least one per floor if not more)

· Infant supplies (if applicable)

Plan for Fast Action

Have disaster plans worked out for a variety of disaster types:

• In the event of a fire, have an escape plan prepared for every level of your home.
• If your South Florida home is in a flood zone, have sandbags ready and stored for use at a moment's notice.
• For tornado safety, know the best place in your home to go for shelter.

Being prepared can save you a lot of grief. Disasters are a nuisance at best and fatal at worst. By planning for the worst, you’ll get through them in the best manner possible.

If you need more information on preparing your South Florida home for a disaster, we can help. Call us now at 407-876-5771.

Sometimes sellers want to try to sell their Miami homes on their own. That’s called selling your home “For Sale by Owner” or FSBO for short.

If you’d like to give FSBO a try, here are some tips:

1. Prepare your home for sale. Go through your Miami home and make a list of repairs that need to be done. Clean your carpets. Repair the grout in the bathroom. Remove dead plants from your yard. Paint the interior. Wash the windows. Make sure you home looks as good as possible.

2. Choose a fair selling price. Look at what the houses in your area are selling for to get an idea. You should hire a professional appraiser to assess your home. Of course you want to make as much money as possible, but you also have to have a reasonable asking price if you want anyone to look at your home.

3. Advertise your home. Put a sign in your front yard. Create a flyer. Place your home in MLS (Multiple Listing Service) through a realty service. Post information online. Spread the word to everyone you know. People need to know your home is for sale.

4. Get help with the legal issues. Selling a house involves several legal documents. You need someone to help make sure everything is complete and correct. If you don’t want to work with a real estate agent, consider hiring a real estate lawyer to handle the paperwork.

5. Know when to ask for help. At some point selling your home on your own may not be a good idea. When you feel like you’re in over your head or just frustration, call a professional. A good rule of thumb is to try selling your home as a FSBO for 30 days, then reassess.

If you’re ready to get some professional help selling your home, give us a call at 407-876-5771.

Stop Foreclosure  Save Your Credit Florida Short Sales

So, you’ve decided you want to sell your house. You know it qualifies as one of those “ugly houses,” but you don’t want to do any work to your home. You especially don’t want to do major repairs or updates like replacing all the windows with broken seals.

You may think that means real estate agents will not want to list your home for sale. Think again. South real estate agents sell ugly houses, too!

Here’s what you should expect if you have an ugly house that you don’t want to make improvements to:

• A lower price: Maybe you don’t have the time, energy, money or know how to make improvements to your home. That doesn’t mean it won’t sell, it just means the price has to be low enough to convince a buyer that it’s worth the time and money they’ll have to spend to get it into shape. An experienced South real estate agent can do the necessary research to come up with the right price to get your home sold.

• A smaller number of potential buyers: In today’s market, most homebuyers are looking for that perfect home. The one they can move in to without doing any work. Since your home doesn’t fit that description, you’ll lose those homebuyers. Typically, homes like this will sell to South real estate investors or buyers who enjoy fixing up houses.

• A longer time on the market: Because of the smaller number of potential buyers, it may take a bit longer to sell your home. Because of the lower price, you’ll probably have several lookers, but getting someone to purchase it will most likely take longer than normal.

Don't say you're going to sell your house someday, when you get all the repairs and upgrades completed, if you know in your heart that isn’t reality. Sometimes it's worth taking a lower price and moving on.

Whether your home is gorgeous, ugly or somewhere in between, we can help you get it sold. Give us a call today at 407-876-5771 for more information.

 

Stop Foreclosure  Save Your Credit Florida Short Sales

Cleaning Services Orlando

Windsor Hills

Windsor-Hills .biz

Windsor Hills Resort is an unparalleled gated Orlando vacation resort community consisting of private pool homes, townhouses and condos.  Boasting a 10,000 sq. ft. clubhouse, double lagoon style pools, movie theater, game rooms, sundries shop and much much more.

Buena Vista Development Services

BVDServices.com

The BVD Services Team excels in the following areas - business development, real estate marketing, business inovation, (SEO) search engine optimization, (SEM) search engine marketing, (SNM) social network marketing, business lead generation, lead conversion and internet marketing. 

Buena Vista Development services can hand deliver new prospects with our affordable internet marketing lead generation programs, designed to optimize the sales, marketing efficiency and ROI for any size business. The internet is easily scaled to provide the maximum leverage required for todays competitive business climate.  Discover how to get your fair share of qualified leads, extensive internet exposure and ongoing new business growth for your chosen target market. 

Orlando Homes for Sale

Orlando-Homes-for-Sale.biz

Orlando Homes for Sale - Search all Orlando and area homes for sale.  Thousands of Orlando real estate listings to view and enjoy via a simple FREE Orlando MLS search tool.

Orlando Search

If the thought of spring cleaning your South Florida home doesn’t bring a smile to your face, you’re not alone. To help you (and me) get going now, I’ve come up with this short list of the 6 essential, in my opinion,spring cleaning chores:

1. Store winter clothes: It’s time to pack away your winter clothes. Coats, sweaters, and your heavy winter clothing need to be inspected, cleaned if needed and packed away. Don’t skip the step of cleaning, or, when you get your clothes out of storage next fall, you might find that they’ve been damaged beyond repair by insects or set in stains. Where should you store your clothes? Somewhere clean, cool, dark and dry.

2. Wash window treatments: Spring is the perfect time to inspect and clean the window treatments in your South Florida home. Clean window treatments brighten any room. Wash blinds, launder curtains that are machine washable and send drapes to the dry cleaners. While you’re at it, dust the window casing, wash window sills, and clean any window hardware. You’ll be surprised at the huge amount of dirt and grime that a thorough window cleaning removes.

3. Clean carpets and upholstery: Deep clean fabrics that have absorbed a winter's worth of dust and germs. Shampoo your carpets; clean cloth furniture. Open windows to speed the drying process, which can take a day or more.

4. Wash woodwork, walls, baseboards and cabinets: Even if your South Florida home’s walls don’t look like they need cleaning, they do. Just enough dust clings to vertical surfaces to warrant a seasonal bath. Using a sponge and hand dishwashing detergent, wash the surface in sections to make sure you don’t miss a spot.

5. Clean light and ceiling fixtures: To clean your light fixtures, remove the light bulb and fixture if possible. Wash glass fixtures in soap and water. If the fixture cannot be removed from the ceiling, use a damp cloth to wipe it off. Dry the fixtures. Wipe the light bulbs with a rag. The easiest way to clean your ceiling fans is to use a vacuum with a soft nozzle attachment.

6. Check your coils: Caked on dust can cause your refrigerator to overheat, so take the time to clean the condenser coil. It’s usually found behind the toe grille. Clean it with a long-handled bottle brush and a vacuum cleaner with an attachment hose. If the condenser coil is on the back of your refrigerator, carefully pull the fridge out several feet and vacuum thoroughly.

Put on your favorite music and start your spring cleaning. It’ll be done before you know it. Then you can relax and enjoy your sparkling clean home.

Spring is also a great time to shop for a new South Florida home, especially this year with the home buyer tax credits still available until the end of April. Call us right away at 407-876-5771 to find out how you can get the $8,000 or $6,500 tax credit.

Sales Lead Generation

Find new prospects and increase your sales lead management with BVD services systematic low cost internet marketing lead generation programs, designed to optimize the sales, marketing efficiency and ROI of all companies offering products and services. We can show you how to get your fair share of qualified leads for your target market.

For companies relying on commission sales, fresh qualified leads can mean the difference between success and failure. Your salespeople will still have to sort through some referrals before finding the right prospects. To get an upper hand in this "numbers game," Internet lead generation can provide you with the necessary tools and resources you need to make new sales.

The government’s first-time and repeat-buyer tax credits gave homeowners with Miami homes for sale a lot of hope. The potential for getting their homes sold seemed infinitely higher. The credit expires at the end of this month though, and many homes are still on the market. If yours is one of them, what should you do?

Don’t Panic!

The first inclination for many homeowners with Miami homes for sale is to panic. Often, it’s during the hard periods of life that something miraculous happens. You find the job of your dreams after searching for two years for any kind of job at all. Your life has been plagued by bad relationships so often that you’ve quit looking and then – out of nowhere – your soul mate walks up. You need to sell your house, money is tight, you might have to walk away… and a buyer appears, ready to close immediately.

Don’t scoff; it happens. In fact, life is so full of “sudden happenings” that the miraculous becomes common. By allowing panic to get in the way, you may be locking the door that opportunity knocks on.

Look At Your Options

Sometimes, we’re so full of worry that we miss obvious possibilities. Now is a perfect time to take a deep breath, clear your mind of worry (as much as possible) and look at what you’ve done to sell your home. Once you’ve outlined what you’ve done, you’re then free to look at what you can still do. Here are a few things you might not have considered:

• Research owner financing – Owner financing opens the door to many potential buyers, but it also provides benefits to you. For instance, if you have a lot of bills that need to be paid, the down payment from the buyer may be enough to take care of the important ones. Additionally, monthly payments from the buyer may be enough to keep you afloat while you’re looking for a job, trying to pay rent or feed your family.
  
• Create a “honey do” list – If you’ve lived in a home for several years, you’ve probably become used to cracks in the walls, peeling paint or squeaky doors. Invite an honest friend or your real estate agent to look around for you and help you create a “honey do” list. If you’re handy, a lot can be fixed with very low cost. If you’re not, hiring a handyman may be something to consider.
  
• Reassess your marketing – If your home hasn’t had a single view and has been on the market for quite a while, you may not have the marketing reach you think you do. If pictures of your home are on the Internet, make sure they show the home’s best features. Talk with your real estate agent about marketing techniques they recommend using.

It’s hard to blow off worry during times of high stress. However, if you can step away for just a minute to clear your head and think, you just might find your miraculous answer for taking your home off the list of Miami homes for sale.

If you’re ready to sell your home, we are here to help. Turn the marketing of your home and worrying about it over to us. Call us today at 407-876-5771 for more information.

Stop Foreclosure  Save Your Credit Florida Short Sales