Duncan Duo Tampa Real Estate Video Blog

It was recently announced that we are the No. 1 RE/MAX agents in the country for the first time ever. Because of this honor, we are able to participate in mastermind groups with the country’s other top agents. In these meetings, which are exclusive to those of us who have proven our performance to be the best, we’ve discovered some incredible new ideas that you won’t find elsewhere. A video is simply more memorable than a letter. There are a number of issues people run into when it comes to finding a home. Luckily, whether you’re struggling to get a contract approved by a seller, you’re in the middle of a bidding war, or you’ve found yourself in a multiple offer situation, we’ve got a unique tip that will help. You may have heard us talk before about offer letters, which are written to help buyers appeal to a seller’s sense of emotion and, hopefully, win against the other offers. This technique only worked because it was out of the norm. Sellers weren’t expecting letters written personally by buyers; but, today, sellers and agents alike have become somewhat numb to the concept, as offer letters have become extremely common.  That being the case, we’ve got a new way for you to reach out and connect with sellers: an offer video. Just like an offer letter, the video should help you build a relationship with the seller. You can do this is by mentioning connections or commonalities you have with them. This could be anything from being a fan of the same sports team to having gone to the same college. Whatever it is, finding common ground will showcase your personality and make you stand out. Especially in today’s competitive market, where certain areas and price ranges can see up to 15 offers on a home, it is critical that you set yourself apart as a buyer. Another reason a video is so much more effective than the traditional letter offer is that, sometimes, sellers choose the buyer not because they have given the highest offer, but because they seemed like the best fit for the home. A video is simply more memorable than a letter. By sharing your personality, your family, and your story through a video offer, you are certain to leave a lasting impression. But, none of this will help if your agent doesn’t work with you to make sure that the viewing of your video is a contract contingency. This way, the seller is guaranteed to watch it. This last step is so important because while 99% of real estate agents are great, ethical people, there are a small number who might simply gloss over telling their client about your video if you don’t put it in the contract. If you’d like any more information or have any other questions for us, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We’d love to help you out and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Today, I’m proud to announce that we are now the No. 1 RE/MAX agents in the entire country.  There are well over 110,000 RE/MAX agents across the nation, and we are No. 1 for the first time ever. We are so excited to be honored with this distinction. Thank you to all of you who have blessed us with your business, to our partners, and to our vendors.  Send us an email and let us know that you watched this video, and we’ll send you a special thank you gift as a way of celebrating.  Why would we do that? This ranking benefits you, too. Many people think that rankings don’t really matter. However, part of why we got this distinction is the amount of business that we do.  As a result, we have more resources, a larger marketing budget, and more relationships with RE/MAX agents across the world. Other agents can’t have these relationships simply because they don’t run in the same circles as other top agents around the world.  When you work with us, you work with the best of the best. When you sell a home with us, we market your property to those top agents. They have buyers in other parts of the world, and your home will get more exposure this way.  We have an enormous marketing budget. We spend $1 million on marketing a year, which means there will be more eyes on your listings, more exposure for your home, and better tools to market your home. We implement things like 3-D walkthroughs, videos, and social media marketing to help sell your home for top dollar.  We also leverage our relationship with the Tampa Bay Lightning and other partners to get more eyes on your listing.  As a homebuyer, because of the amount of business that we do, our agents have more experience. We are able to learn quicker because we do more deals. It’s similar to the difference between an NBA player who plays one game a year and LeBron James, who plays 40 minutes a game 82 times a year.  In other words, you’re working with the best of the best. When you work with our team, our experience gives you a better chance of success.  You can also check out the incredible reviews on our website from our past customers.  So, why does it matter that we are now the top RE/MAX team in the country? We produce better results, better service, and a better experience for you, whether you are buying or selling a home.  Give us a call or send us an email if you have any questions about our local real estate market. We would be happy to help you!

Our team recently received an amazing endorsement from a master of real estate that I wanted to share with you. Buying a Tampa Bay home? Get a full home search  Selling your Tampa Bay home? Get a Home Price Evaluation I'm proud to serve the Tampa real estate market and call it home. I'm also very proud to be the only agent in Tampa with the endorsement of Barbara Corcoran. You may have seen Barbara on ABC's hit show "Shark Tank," where she has invested her own money into more than 20 businesses and shepherded them to success. Barbara is one of the most renowned names in all of real estate, which is why I'm proud to share her my latest TV commercial with you. Barbara is big believer in the the Duncan Duo Guaranteed Sale Program and I'm happy to have her on my side! Won't you take 30 seconds and check out my latest TV commercial featuring Barbara Corcoran? Thank you again for your time. If you have any questions at all about our Guaranteed Sale Program, please feel free to call or email me today!

Why does working with a real estate agency that has a set of core values matter? Working with a team that has core values like we do matters because they define how the company makes decisions, how they treat their customers and the public, and what’s important to them.  Every company has a different set of core values, but today I want to share our core values, what they mean to us, and why they matter to you when determining whether to hire us to help you to buy or sell a home:  Leader: We want to be a leader in the marketplace and a leader in the industry. Energetic: We want salespeople and the operations staff that deal with our customers to enjoy what they’re doing, have energy, and to go about their day with a purpose. Authentic: We’re not the same as every other real estate company. We do some unique things, and we like the fact that we’re authentic.  Dynamic: It’s in our name, and it means ‘ever-changing.’ We adapt because we know the real estate market changes, and we’re a dynamic firm to help our customers, agents, and staff handle those changes in the marketplace. We want to be a leader in the marketplace and a leader in the industry. Family: At our company, our people are like family, and we pass that loyalty on to our customers. Charitable: My wife and I started a foundation and our goal is to give over $100,000 to charity this year. We want to give back to a community that gives so much to us and help those in need. Integrity: We want to have integrity in all things we do. We want to be upfront, honest, and put our customers first.  Learning: We’re learning-based, and we always want to focus on learning—not just how to sell more homes, but how to service our customers and be better for our community.  Winner: I’m a competitive person, and everybody wants to be a winner. On our team, we want to be the best for our customers. Innovative: We use 3-D Matterport tours, drone technology, videos, and optimization for our listings for certain web portals. We want to innovate and come up with new ideas and techniques to serve our customers better.  Accountable: We’re not afraid to accept responsibility when things don’t go well. Our people are accountable to results and doing a great job for our customers.  We hope our customers follow these same core values. If we have a customer we feel doesn’t fit our core values, we’re not afraid to move on from them and let them work with someone else.  In the video above, you can see that if you line each core value up along a certain letter, it spells out the words ‘lead,’ ‘fail,’ and ‘win.’ That’s not an accident.  ‘Lead’ is there because we want to lead the market. ‘Fail’ is there because we’re unafraid to fail. We want to push the envelope and push our customers, but sometimes things don’t go our way.  We learn a lot from those failures, and by being unafraid of failure, we can help our customers better.  ‘Win’ is there because we want to win. We want to win listing appointments and contract negotiations. Winning to us is a way to position ourselves to achieve success for our customers.  To see an image of our core values, visit the ‘About Us’ section of this website. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d be happy to help. 

One of the challenges of an improving real estate market is rising prices. When prices rise, the supply and demand curve supports those rising prices. As a result, appraisals often come in short, or lower than the purchase price.  When that happens, the buyer usually has the option to cancel the contract. A renegotiation can also ensue where either the buyer or the seller comes up with the difference to move the sale along.  To clarify, an appraisal is a form of protection for both buyers and the bank. For buyers, it’s to stop them from overpaying for a home. For banks, it’s to keep them from handing out a larger loan than necessary. If you make an offer on a home and it doesn’t appraise, you’re not obligated to move forward.  One important thing to note about the appraisal process is there are certain loan products, like the FHA loan, where the appraisal attaches to the property. By this I mean for a period of time, the appraisal stays with the property.  For example, let’s say an appraisal comes in short from a buyer on a specific property, they decide to cancel, and the seller puts the home back on the market. That appraisal then stays on file, and any subsequent buyer that comes along during that time period with an FHA mortgage would be relegated to that same appraisal number. If you’re a seller looking to cancel a contract and you know the home you’re selling is very likely to be bought by another FHA buyer, you might have to wait until that appraisal expires or someone else comes along with a different loan product.  Depending on the loan product, the buyer has the right to choose a new lender with a new appraiser. It’s important to remember that although appraisers are heavily trained professionals with lots of credentials, their opinions on the value of a property can differ. As the industry has changed, their role has changed as well. For a time, there was pressure to bring appraisal prices down, and that caused some of the best appraisers to do other things.  In addition to having the right to cancel the contract or pursue negotiations, the buyer can also change lenders. A new lender with a new appraiser could see the value completely differently. In that case, you’re generally looking at a delayed closing, but that’s something that can be done to keep a deal under contract at the original purchase price.  Years ago, shady things like cozy relationships between appraisers and lenders tended to form whenever homes needed to be appraised. Now, though, federal guidelines and regulations have changed so lenders don’t have as much one-on-one communication with appraisers.  In my opinion, local lenders are better because they not only have a firmer pulse on the market, but they also do a more thorough job of giving a solid value that can be verified by solid data instead of giving a high or low appraisal just to get a loan through.   If you have any more questions about appraisals or any other real estate topic, please feel free to reach out to us. We’d be happy to help.

Whether you love him or hate him, President Donald Trump and his new administration will have an effect on our housing market. What will that effect be? It’s not clear now, but we anticipate a few changes. We’re here to tell you about them today. First, let’s discuss interest rates. They’ve crept up since the election, but that was predicted by economists for quite some time. Rising rates mean homebuyers won’t be able to afford the same homes they can get right now. Affordability decreases when rates increase. A lot of people have been getting into the market lately because they want to take advantage of rates where they are at right now, before they go up again. This has caused a surge in home sales. In fact, the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors reported a nearly 20% increase year over year in the number of homes sold. Those are the highest sales numbers we’ve seen in the last decade. We’ve seen a surge in home sales recently. Another important change we anticipate with the Trump administration has to do with tax reforms. Some tax benefits that homeowners get now, like the capital gains exclusion and mortgage interest deductions, may be on the chopping block. Nothing is formalized yet, but we are bracing for some of these benefits to be taken away. However, the Trump administration maintains that even if they cut tax benefits for homeowners, the overall lower tax rate will still allow consumers to save. One positive sign we’ve seen in the market with the new administration has been with the stock market. We’ve hit record highs lately, which has improved consumer confidence. The market is very healthy for the time because of it. There haven’t been any big changes yet, so now might be a good time to consider buying or selling your house before there are. If you have any questions for us or you’re interested in buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

Have you heard of our first-time homebuyer class? Classes have started at our offices at 6230 S Dale Mabry Highway on the first Thursday of every month, and we have one coming up on March 2nd. In this first-time homebuyer class, you’ll learn about down payment assistance that might be available to you for up to $15,000, low and no down payment mortgages, and expert advice from lenders, agents, and others in the real estate industry. If you’d like to attend, you can RSVP here. You can register for the upcoming class on March 2nd or any subsequent classes. You’ll learn about down payment assistance programs of up to $15,000. We’ll educate you on the entire home buying process from inspections to appraisals and every step in the transaction from start to finish. It’s a great opportunity for anyone who is thinking about buying their first home. If you know anyone who is thinking of buying their first home, we’d love for you to share this opportunity with them as well. If you have any questions, you can always give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to seeing you there!

When it comes to selling your home for the most money, you absolutely need professional photos. I can't tell you how many times homes have failed to sell just because of terrible photos. You've probably seen them on social media; they look like they were taken by a flip phone from 1984 while driving by the house. We even see really high-end homes represented by very poor photography. No matter the price point, you absolutely need professional photos. At our company, we net our clients more money because we focus our money on technology. We use a Matterport camera to create 3-D tours for our listings, as well as HDR and wide-angle lenses for our photos. We have two photographers working in-house and multiple third-party photographers that we use. Very few real estate companies have their own in-house photographers. We net our clients more money because we focus our money on technology. We also use DJI drones to shoot aerial photos, which are especially important for waterfront and luxury properties. We also use a DJI OSMO video camera to create walkthrough videos of our listings, because sometimes, a 3-D home tour doesn't tell the whole story. Professional photos give a home great curb appeal and show it in its best light. Customers online are wowed by it as well. The days of taking one photo of a home and expecting it to sell are gone. We wouldn't invest tens of thousands of dollars in the equipment if it wasn't crucial to getting the most money for you home. So if you're meeting with an agent to sell your home and they don't use a professional photographer, run! If you have any other questions about how we market homes or about the Tampa real estate market, give us a call or send us an email. We'd love to help you out.

If you watch our testimonial videos, you’ll see that we’ve been able to get many of our sellers multiple offers on their homes. In fact, some of them have been able to sell above asking price. In our current market, multiple offers are fairly common. That’s because prices are rising and there is a lack of supply in key neighborhoods with strong demand. So, what happens when you get multiple offers on your home? Although it is ultimately your choice as to which offer is best, there are a few different ways to handle this. We recommend asking buyers for their highest and best offer. With this strategy, you would give buyers and their agents notice to submit their highest and best offer by a certain day or time. Then, you can figure out which of those offers works best for your situation. We recommend asking for each buyer’s highest and best offer. There is no right way to choose the best offer. Everyone says that cash is king, but it really depends on your situation. Some sellers want to find a buyer who will take care of their home. Buyers often write emotional letters describing what the home means to them; this might help you make your decision. While asking for their highest and best offer is a common tactic, it really depends on your situation. For example, you may want to just take the best initial offer rather than countering multiple offers. If you have five offers come in and four of them aren’t very good, you may be better off just working with the one best offer. Again, it ultimately depends on your situation. What are you looking for in an offer? Why are you motivated to move? As professional real estate agents, we can guide you through this process, but the decision is ultimately yours. If you have any questions about multiple offers or real estate in general, just give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

Before we dive into today’s topic, we wanted to mention how excited we are that hockey season is right around the corner. As the official real estate team of the Tampa Bay Lightning, we’ll be giving out some great prizes during the season such as hats, sticks, and signed merchandise. Keep an eye on our various social media pages for your chance to win. Now, onto today’s question. Recently, I got a question about the difference between an inspection and an appraisal. They are similar in a lot of ways, but they are two different processes for two different purposes. A home inspection is where all major mechanical systems in a home are checked by a licensed inspector. This includes the roof, foundation, electrical system, plumbing, appliances, and other major components. The inspector wants to determine if they are working correctly or not. They have similarities, but are two completely different processes. The appraisal, however, is the lender’s ability to determine the market value of the home. This is one person’s opinion, but that opinion matters. The lender needs to know that the home they are helping finance is in proper working order. They will check many of the same mechanical systems as the inspector, but for different reasons. They are checking for health and safety issues more than anything else, and they are making sure everything is in working order. The lender wants to know they are loaning money on a good home. While there is some crossover between inspections and appraisals, they are two drastically different things. The appraisal process is managed by the lender and mostly done for their sake. The appraisal is there to ensure that the buyer doesn’t overpay for the home and the lender doesn’t over-lend. We have a lot of sellers that want to see the appraisals, but it’s up to the buyer’s lender. Typically, it is a buyer-protecting process. I hope this helps you understand the difference between the inspection and appraisal processes a little more. If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you.