A few highlights from a “60 Minutes” piece on the Jacksonville market.

Recently, “60 Minutes” aired a piece on the Jacksonville real estate market. I don’t watch the news often, but after multiple people sent the clip to me, I decided to give it a listen. It focused largely on the challenge of rising rents and home prices in Jacksonville, including what’s behind those trends and what you can do about it. Today I’ll share highlights from the clip and discuss what you need to know about today’s market.

Feel free to follow the conversation in the video above or use the timestamps below to navigate the topic at your leisure:

0:00 — Introduction

0:39 — Why Tricon Residential is buying up single-family homes around the country

2:00 — The impact of the Federal Reserve flooding the market with trillions of dollars in 2020

4:20 — The big gap between Jacksonville’s housing prices, income growth, and inflation

5:27 — What can you do about changing home affordability?

6:41 — Can you really just list a house and expect it to sell without any preparation?

8:19 — Wrapping up

Click here to watch the full “60 Minutes” piece yourself. If you have any questions about what’s happening in the market or how it affects your real estate prospects, don’t hesitate to give my team a call or send an email. We’d love to hear from you.

Take advantage of this spring weather by visiting these walking trails.

Walking is a great way to take advantage of the weather and to connect with nature, and luckily for you, there are some great walking trails in the Jacksonville area. Today I’ll introduce you to six of my favorite trails:

1. Mickler’s Landing. This is a great place to spend a warm spring day, but try to come on an off day if you want to avoid a crowd. If you’re into hunting for shark’s teeth, this is the place to go.

2. UNF Trails. Right at 295 in the St. John’s Town Center Parkway, you’ll find the entrance to the UNF trails. Each trail is a different distance and marks a pathway through different areas that are worth seeing. Whether you want to do a lap around the lake, go on a leisurely walk through woods, or take a stroll along the boardwalk, the UNF trails are a great opportunity to mix it up.

3. Timucuan Preserve. Here, you can find a trail that takes you out toward the river before opening up to a wider space. Beyond a gorgeous hike through the woods, you can also wander the past in their historic museums.

“Walking is a great way to take advantage of the weather and to connect with nature.”

4. Tree Hill Nature Center. Each of the seven trails at the Nature Center has a different distance, difficulty level, and landscape, meaning you can choose one based on your preferences.

5. The Jacksonville Bridges. This collection of nine bridges crisscrosses through the city, and each has its own unique history. From beaches to boulevards, these bridges are phenomenal routes to walk. Elevation is somewhat hard to come by here in Jacksonville, so these bridges are also a good way to train for an upcoming marathon.

6. The Deerwood Neighborhood. This is the neighborhood where my family lives, so I might be biased, but it’s a great place to walk if you enjoy the atmosphere of old oak trees, magnolias, birds, and beautiful homes. You do have to live here in order to walk around on a regular basis, but lucky for you, there are homes for sale in the area.

If you have any questions about today’s topic, please call or email me. I am always willing to help!

Paul Anderson and I discuss why so many people are moving to Florida.

Today I’m speaking with a great guest, Paul Anderson of MovingtoFloridaGuide.com. There’s been a ton of migration to Florida recently, so I figured I’d bring in an expert on the topic. Paul has tons of experience helping people move to Florida, so I’ll pick his brain about why he started doing what he does, the current state of migration, and what it all means for the future of our state. 

You can listen to our full conversation in the video above, or you can skip to each topic using the timestamps provided:

0:01 — Introducing Paul and today’s topic

3:36 — Paul’s insight on people migrating to Florida

6:26 — Paul’s opinion on where things are heading

8:23 — The fastest-growing cities in Florida

11:48 — The appeal of master-planned communities

14:56 — The top master-planned communities for 2022

18:31 — Why Florida is growing so rapidly

20:02 — Wrapping things up

You can check out Paul’s website at https://movingtofloridaguide.com/. If you have any questions about today’s topic, please give my team a call or send us an email. We’d love to hear from you!

Here’s what we can say about the future of Jacksonville’s market.

It’s hard to believe, but 2022 is already here. The Florida real estate market is hot, but what does the future look like? Today I want to give you a rundown of the numbers from 2021 and give some predictions about what our market will look like this year. 

You can watch my full update in the video above, or you can skip to each topic using the timestamps provided:

0:01 - Introduction 

0:51 - Zillow predicts Jacksonville will be the second-hottest market in the country in 2022

1:43 - Statistics that predict the future of our market

4:03 - People are moving to Florida from all over the country

4:34 - The future of interest rates

5:39 - Prices aren’t coming down anytime soon

6:05 - Wrapping up 

If you have any questions about the future of our market or how it applies to your situation, please feel free to call or email my team. We’d love to help you in any way we can!

Here’s what you need to know about CDD fees and how they’re paid.

What are CDD fees? How do they get paid? How should we think about them? Today I’ll answer all three of these questions for you.

CDD stands for Community Development District. When a developer comes into an area and decides to put single-family houses in a large tract of land, the cost of working on all the sewer lines, electrical, roads, and other related infrastructure can be extreme. To help with this, some developers get financing for the development and create an individual lien against each property or lot. That way, when they later sell the lot with a house to a homeowner, that homeowner inherits the debt and begins to pay it like the developer was prior to selling it.

“CDD fees can be broken down into monthly figures, which allows you to figure out if you think it’d be worthwhile to live in a different community without such fees.”

Typically you can find your CDD fees on your tax bill as a separate line item from your real estate taxes. CDD fees have two parts: 1) the maintenance fee, which is paid in perpetuity to pay for the amenities associated with the area; and 2) the financing fee, which has an interest rate associated with it and can be paid off.

Around 10 years ago, there was pushback against CDD fees, but now, people realize the benefits of living in a community with a CDD fee attached. CDD fees can be broken down into monthly figures, which allows you to figure out if you think it’d be worthwhile to live in a different community without such fees. Is the money you’d save worth it to live in a community without the amenities?

If you have other questions about CDD fees or anything to do with real estate, feel free to reach out to us via phone or email. We’d love to chat with you.

To find info on a particular CDD, you can visit https://www.govmgtsvc.com/contact.

Here’s how you can save money on your property taxes.

If you’re wondering how to save money on your property taxes, there are a couple of ways to do so.

First, you could always let someone else do it. There are several companies (First Coast Consultants, Property Tax Professionals, for example) dedicated to helping you lower your property taxes. Their primary focus is larger commercial properties, but they can help you as well, provided you’re willing to pay a fee.

Second, establish that you have a discrepancy. If you can prove that the county is assessing your property for more than it’s worth, and thus charging you more in taxes than what you should be paying, then they’ll lower the value—and by extension, your taxes. If you decide on this option, give me a call; I’d be happy to craft a market analysis to help you state your case.

“Now is the time to act to contest your property’s valuation.”

Third, once a discrepancy is established, know when to act. August has just ended, so you should’ve received a notice of proposed taxes from the county by now telling you what they intend to tax you on this November. This means right now is the time to act if you want to contest your property’s valuation. You can contact the Value Adjustment Board either through the online form or by sending them an email.  Their offices are presently closed due to COVID-19.

Finally, remember to fill out the proper paperwork. Make sure you fill out the petition form completely and correctly when contesting your assessed value. There’s a slight fee involved, but it’s well worth it if you can save thousands of dollars later.

As always, if you have questions about this or any real estate topic, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’m happy to help.

Here are my tips for the new homeowners coming to live in Florida.

Instead of talking about real estate, today I want to discuss the elephant in the room: Hurricane season is here. With all of the new residents coming to Florida from the Northeast, the Midwest, and the West Coast, I thought I should give our new neighbors some info on what to do if there is a hurricane on its way.

Hurricane season in Florida starts June 1 and goes until November 30. However, if you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll know that things don’t get ramped up until August, and typically things tend to wind down by the end of October. I’m not qualified to make those kinds of predictions though, so let’s look at someone who is. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) thinks that there is a 60% chance that we will have a more active than normal hurricane season this year.

What should you do about it? Start by taking a look at properties that you own and see how they are situated in terms of their elevation. You can go to fema.gov/flood-maps to determine if you need flood insurance. Flood insurance covers rising water, while homeowners insurance covers water coming from any other direction. If you are in an area that requires flood insurance, get it. 

“Hurricane season is here.”

What do you do once the storm hits? You may just want to get out of town depending on how bad the storm is going to be. Go to maps.coj.net/evsearch to see what evacuation zone your home is in. If you decide to stay put, make sure you have the supplies necessary in case things go awry. A simple search for hurricane kits on Amazon yields all sorts of results.

The city of Jacksonville has prepared a guide for how to respond during a hurricane. If you’d like me to send you a copy, send me an email. If you have any real estate questions, feel free to reach out to me at 904-405-1995. I’d love to help you.

Legal expert Rich Brooks is here to talk about entity structures.

In today’s video, I sat down to have a conversation with Rich Brooks, the founder of the St. Augustine Law Group, about entity structure for buying investment properties in a hot real estate market. I’ve done business with them before and had such a great experience that I thought it would be a good idea to let you all benefit from Rich’s expertise as well. If you or someone you know is thinking of buying investment properties, this is valuable information to have.

Feel free to follow along in the video above, or else use the timestamps below to navigate the conversation at your leisure:

2:23—Starting off with a funny story

3:15—The two types of risk to mitigate

4:26—At what point do investors need to think about LLCs?

6:49—Things to keep in mind regarding real estate tax assessment

7:55—What is the cost of filing an entity?

9:48—Differences between insuring a property under your name and under an LLC

11:10—Do not shirk your due diligence

12:33—Don’t be afraid to admit what you don’t know

13:32—Wrapping up our discussion

If you would like to reach out to Rich about your investment opportunities, contact him at (904) 990-7777 or visit www.staugustinelawgroup.com. For any real estate thoughts, concerns, or questions you have, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at ERA Heavener Realty. We’d love to speak with you.

Here’s the difference between earnest money deposits and down payments.

Every industry has its own terminology, which can often be confusing for those not in the know. Real estate is no different. However, conflating two different financial requirements can cause major problems during a transaction. What’s the difference between an earnest money deposit and a down payment?

Sometimes referred to as ‘good faith money’ or even a ‘binder’ deposit, the earnest money deposit is simply money set aside by the buyer to demonstrate to the seller that they’re serious. By purposefully putting some of their skin in the game, the buyer shows that they’re committed to getting the deal done.

As far as the state of Florida is concerned, a contract must have what’s known as ‘consideration’ to be deemed complete. That’s the role this earnest money deposit plays—it’s the consideration in the deal. Rather than going straight to the seller’s pocket, this deposit is typically held by a title company, an attorney, or sometimes a real estate brokerage involved in the deal. If the buyer exits the deal for a contractual reason (e.g., an inspection or financing contingency), then they will receive their earnest money back. Conversely, if the buyer decides to back out of the deal for a non-contractually protected reason, then the seller gets to keep the earnest money.

“Your down payment represents the initial equity you have in your house when you purchase it.”

The down payment, on the other hand, is the buyer’s way to demonstrate their seriousness to the lender who’s financing their purchase. (If there’s no lender involved, then there’s no down payment). The down payment is the difference between the purchase price of the home and the amount of money the buyer is borrowing from the lender. For example, if you’re buying a home worth $1 million, but you’re only borrowing $800,000, then you’d have a $200,000 down payment.

Okay, so here’s one of the slightly confusing parts: The earnest money that’s being held by a third party gets rolled into the total down payment amount at closing. They’re coordinated, but they still serve different purposes.

Another distinguishing factor is that the down payment amount can differ depending on the type of loan being used. A VA loan, for example, is 100% financing, meaning there’s a 0% down payment. An FHA loan typically requires a 3.5% down payment, while conventional loan requirements generally range from 5% to 20%. Your down payment represents the initial equity you have in your house when you purchase it.

I hope you found this video to be helpful. As always, if you have questions about this or any other real estate topic, don’t hesitate to reach out via phone or email. We’d be happy to chat with you about your buying, selling, or investing needs, as well.

Here are the main differences between an appraisal and a home inspection.

Though they can both be a source of contention in real estate transactions, appraisals and inspections are two very different things.

The best way to differentiate between the two is to ask a few basic questions about each: Who is it for, why is it being done, and how much does it cost? Today I’m answering these questions so that you can better understand why appraisals and inspections exist in the first place.

Cited below for your convenience are timestamps that will direct you to various points in the video. Feel free to watch the full message or use these timestamps to skip to topics that interest you most:

0:22 — Appraisals are for the lender; home inspections are for the buyer

1:30 — The purpose of appraisals and why appraisal management companies exist

2:42 — Inspections afford buyers a comprehensive understanding of a property’s condition

3:42 — Appraisal costs are regulated, and appraisers don’t keep all the money

4:45 — General inspection costs versus secondary inspections (e.g., pool or radon inspections)

As always, reach out if you have any questions about this or any other real estate topic. I’m happy to be a resource for you and assist with whatever buying, selling, or investing needs you may have.