Jacksonville Florida Real Estate

How to win an overpriced home and lose money

The fastest way to a bad deal is to put down an offer on your next home without having your current home sold.  We do not recommend it. 

Want to know what happens when you fall in love with that house before someone has fallen in love with yours? You will more than likely overpay for your next Jacksonville home and give the buyer of yours too good of a deal.  You will probably lose money on both ends.

Why?  Buying a home is an emotional choice.  Once you have identified your new home, and moved your family into it mentally, your negotiating and reasoning skills usually fall by the wayside. 

We always advise our sellers against taking a contingent contract when it is contingent upon someone selling their home.  It's just too risky to lose that marketing time when you don't have a true buyer.  If you get someone to take a sale of home contingency (which is unlikely) you will almost always overpay for your home.  If a seller will consider a contingency they will definitely make you pay for the privilege.  Money lost on that end.

Fast forward, you have a contract on a home that you are already repainting in your head.  You're planting flowers in your mental flowerbeds and putting princesses on your princess's walls.  So how do you have to price your home?  Very aggressively of course.  Usually more aggressively than we would have to if we just sell your home first.  More money lost.

Let's do it the right way.  We need to sell your home, then we will go find you a new one to buy.

What matters the most when marketing your home

What matters the most?  As a seller do you want to be where the buyers are or where they are not?  Seems like an obvious answer, however, many sellers focus on the wrong things and do not even realize it. 

Where are buyers?  They are on the internet.  The business of real estate is totally different from ten, five, even two years ago.  Do not hire someone that is not a technology expert.  Technology is arguably the most important aspect of marketing your home.  When over 80% of all buyers are on the internet, that is where your agent should be spending their money marketing your home.  How many different places on the internet will your home be marketed? 

Effective marketers know that it is not enough to have your home on only one or two sites, even if they are highly visited websites.  You need to totally inundate buyers with your home.  Very few know how to do this.  Make sure you only hire an agent who is an expert in technology and internet marketing.  We know how to effectively market your home and can show you up-to-date statistics on where buyers are.  Don't let your home be put in all of the wrong places. 

Short Sales might be your best route to a great deal!

The horror stories surrounding short sales are rampant.

"You'll wait 4 months, then have to start over and find something else."

"Short sales never work."

"You shouldn't mess with short sales."

"Short Sales aren't good deals."

If you have heard any of the above "rumors" don't rely on them.  A lot of the negative press about short sales have originated because of a general lack of knowledge by real estate professionals and the public.  I think overall everyone is more educated now, however, a lot of the damage has been done.

If you are looking to get a good deal and have time on your hands to wait, you should not let anyone guide you away from pursuing a short sale opportunity.

The people who should not attempt to purchase a short sale:

• Buyers who have to be in something soon. (You should never expect a short sale to close in less than 6-8 weeks.  Sometimes longer.  If it is faster than that you will be very fortunate.)
• Buyers who lack commitment to see it through to the end. (Short Sales WILL take longer.  Everything is dependent upon that 3rd party approval which sometimes takes weeks.  Your life WILL be on hold. )
• Buyers who are looking for a steal. (Banks will not allow "steals")
• Buyers who are not totally qualified to purchase a home. (You are dealing with sellers who are usually facing foreclosure.  It is wrong to tie up their house while they head closer to foreclosure if you can not buy or will not commit 100% to waiting for the bank.)

If you have the patience to wait to get a good deal, then short sales are for you.  Be sure you work with a buyer's agent who is experienced and well versed in short sales or you could become part of a horror story.  Short sales are not easy.  However, for the buyer who sticks it out, you can get a really good deal.  If you are interested in purchasing a short sale property, we can help!

Fay is gone and our area is doing great!

As usual, the storm has passed through our area without the damage that is frequently experienced in other areas of Florida.

Riding through the World Golf Village tonight to eat at Caddyshack, the lack of damage was evident.  Sure, the rakes need to come out to clear up the small limbs that came down from the oaks and pines.  There was one large tree down in King and Bear but fell away from the road toward the perimeter.  There were a few very small oaks and pines that had fallen, some tilted traffic signs and a tad of standing water but that was it.

Some areas of Jacksonville and St. Augustine had power outages, but we fared well in World Golf Village, and kept our power the whole time.

Fay must like it here

I woke up this morning to conditions that are the same as yesterday. Strong winds and temperamental rain have been plaguing us now since Wednesday. As usual, we are quite fortunate in this area. We live in a newer home, and sometimes literally have to look outside at times to see that Fay's wind is still tearing through. We live in World Golf Village and we've had power the whole time Fay has been hanging around.

We rode out Isabel a few years ago in a new home in Northern Virginia (the DC Metro area) and that home talked to us the whole time. She moaned and groaned and creaked. We even lost power, something that was an extremely rare occurrence in that area. We never even lost power in snow storms.

In contrast, we moved back to this area, met Bonnie and Charley, and noticed right away the difference in the construction requirements. Here, the new homes are silent and don't generally complain. Florida is constantly updating the constructions standards for homes and it really shows.

The center of Fay is now reportedly in Alachua County, so hopefully we'll start clearing out here in the next few hours and life (and real estate) can continue.

Fay…where will you go?

We're on a tropical storm watch in the Jacksonville and St. Augustine area.   Yesterday when I was talking to people it struck me that everyone seemed to be so complacent about her.  As I'm sitting here starting to write this post a heavy band of rain from Fay moved in.

Okay, back to the complacency. We have been very blessed in this area. The hurricanes seem to have forgotten we exist. Because of that most area residents seem to just roll their eyes and mutter "sure" when they get wind of a hurricane. I guess it is the more dramatic of us who tend to buy Publix out of water…just in case, of course.

To throw an analogy at you, pretend we live on I-4 headed to Disney World. We see all of those cars passing, but know they are not coming to see us. They are simply passing by on the way to the place they really want to go. That is similar to northeast Florida's relationship with hurricanes. So many have waved at us on their way past…it seems that no one pays attention anymore.

Because of this I'm afraid our area is really in trouble if a bad one decides to stop in instead of going past us.

I'm not a weather forecaster and don't even pretend to be. None of us know what this (or any other) hurricane is going to do. Please stay tuned in to the threat and make the assessment about what is right for you and your family. The models change constantly, hurricanes are totally unpredictable…don't make assumptions. Be safe.

   

 

Popular Short Sale Myth #1 in the Jacksonville Real Estate Market

   

We are short sale specialists and get quite a few calls on our Jacksonville and St Augustine short sale property listings asking us what the bank will take. Until we have an offer, we do not know what the bank will take if it is less than what is owed on the home. Any home going on the market should initially be priced at fair market value. In a short sale this is done regardless of what is owed on the property. It's not in the bank's best interest to take the home back if they can get a good fair offer from a qualified buyer.

   

What the bank will take depends on where fair market value is for the home at the time the offer comes in. The bank is going to want to get as much as possible from the property and as close to fair market value as possible. The correct strategy is not to submit the offer at a price that is a "steal" for the buyer. The bank has already lost out, and to get approval on a short sale you need to offer the lowest possible price that the bank can't refuse.

   

If you are interested in purchasing a short sale home in northeast Florida, the first thing you need to do is hire a GREAT Jacksonville/ St Augustine area real estate agent trained extensively in short sales. A properly trained short sale expert can save you a great deal of hassle, although no one can eliminate all of the hassle. It's the nature of short sales.

   

If you are interested in selling a home and you owe more than the home is worth, don't even consider using someone who does not have highly specialized training in short sales. The short sale process is a very detailed, complicated process that should only be trusted to an expert in the area of short sales.

It's almost time for SCHOOL!

Taking my son to his registration yesterday at Nease was exciting.  Well, for me anyway.  Taylor had to pretend NOT to be excited.  By this time every summer my kids are usually climbing the walls and this year is no exception.

St Johns County starts school on Friday, August 22nd this year.  Duval County schools start this year on the 18th of August.

If you are thinking about moving to a new neighborhood in St Johns County, there is a really neat tool online that can help you determine school zoning by address.  Go to http://www.gis.bocc.co.st-johns.fl.us/schoolaz/ and type in the address of the home you are considering and hit find address.  It will show you the zoning for elementary, middle, and high school.

When  you are buying a home, never rely on someone else to tell you which schools it is zoned for.  Do your own due diligence to verify the schools.  Things have been changing rapidly over the past few years with all of the growth in the northern section of St Johns County.

Duval County asks you to call the Pupil Placement Division at 904-390-2144 for this information.

Tax Credit...OH...is that what that is?

At first glance this tax credit thing seems like a great thing for our Jacksonville first time homebuyers, or those who haven't owned a home in three years.  You buy a home in Jacksonville.  You fill out your tax return.  From what I've read, you get to take 10% of the purchase price of your home (up to $7,500) as a tax credit against your taxes owed.  A tax credit goes against your actual tax while a deduction goes against your income.  A tax credit is more valuable because it acts like you made that payment when you didn't.

Had they stopped there things would be great.  But they didn't stop.  What most people do not realize is it's not that easy.  You have to pay that amount back to the government over the next 15 years...making it more like a "tax loan" than a tax credit.  If the home is sold before the 15 years is up (arent' most?), then you have to pay the rest back on the sale of your home.  I haven't seen any tax forms for this, but I would guess that they will be pretty confusing.

Now the point I want to bring up about this is that you might want to be cautious about this tax credit.  Realize that it WILL increase your taxes over the next 15 years.  Research this carefully before you make the decision on taking the credit. Talk to your CPA.  Figure out if it makes sense for you since it's not free money.

It's 51 Degrees in Anchorage, Alaska...

So you'd better pull out your winter coats here in Jacksonville and suit up, right?  No?  You wouldn't pull out your turtlenecks and fuzzy socks just because they need to in Alaska?

Well, you would argue that it is 83 degrees today in Jacksonville.  So there is no need for you to even get your jeans out of the attic.

We all know there is no such thing as a national weather forecast.  Why is it then that some people get so wrapped up in the housing market in Atlanta, or Seattle or Los Angeles...when we live in Jacksonville.  Even the real estate market in Orlando has no direct relationship to us.

Stop listening to the media.  Stop listening to your neighbors.  If you are a buyer, it's a great time to buy.  The market is yours.   The inventory is large enough that you can pick and chose and make deals.  Are sellers giving homes away?  No.  Will they ever give homes away?  No.  If you are a seller don't bother to try unless you can price your home to sell.  Don't listen to inflated home price opinions.  Your belief about what your home is worth isn't what makes the market...the buyers who know the market is saturated with inventory make the market.

The real estate market like almost everything else is what you make of it.  Let's make it a great one!  :-)

Publix and Walgreens getting close at World Golf Village

If you ride down to the intersection of Pacetti/International Golf/SR 16 it will look dramatically different from just a few short months ago.

The CVS has been completed for a few months (you no longer have to travel to CR 210 for a pharmacy).  Publix is being built right beside it and is progressing quite nicely.  Walgreens, on the other side of Pacetti looks to be a tad ahead of Publix.  A sign has gone up for a Vystar Credit Union and right down 16 a VA Nursing Home has already broken ground.

This is great news for residents of World Golf Village, King and Bear, MuraBella, Sevilla, Samara Lakes, Heritage Landing and other great neighborhoods in our area.