Around this time of year, people are always asking me questions about buying towards the end of the year. A lot of people have been asking lately if there is a taxable benefit to closing on a home by the end of the year. The answer is yes, and it’s called a homestead exemption.

With a homestead exemption, you can get up to a $50,000 reduction on your home’s taxable value if that home is your primary residence. Let’s use some numbers to give you a better example of what this means. Say you have a home that has an assessed value of $200,000. With the homestead exemption, your taxable value drops to $150,000. This lower taxable value will give you lower property taxes if the home is your primary residence.

The way it works, is if you purchase the home, close by December 31st and file on time and correctly, you will get that exemption for 2016, lowering your property taxes. If however, you don’t close until after the 1st of the year, you will not be eligible for the homestead exemption until 2017, and you’ll have to pay higher property taxes for a year.

If you have any questions about the homestead exemption, or anything else real estate related, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

 

Today I want to talk a little about online home evaluations. There are a lot of different sites out there you can use to find the value of your home, but are they really accurate? These sites give you an automatic value of what your home is worth, but are they reliable?

In reality, they are not very reliable or accurate. They are all based on an algorithm that doesn’t take into account things like square footage, your home’s location, or any improvements you have made to the home. Those three things have a huge impact on your home’s value, and if the online site doesn’t know about them, your estimate may be much lower or higher than what you could actually sell for. There are only two ways you can get a truly accurate home valuation.
 

The first way is with an appraisal. That’s going to run you a few hundred bucks, but it’s important for determining the true loan value for your home, which will determine what kind of buyers look at it.

The second way to get an accurate home valuation is with a comparative market analysis, which we provide free, with no obligation. We will come out, take a look at your home, note any repairs, improvements, or unique features your home has, and use that to give you a true market value.

If you go online and your valuation is too low or too high, don’t pay too much attention. If you really want a true valuation, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help out. Talk to you soon!

 

Today I want to talk about property disclosures because they've been in the news a lot recently. So, what should you disclose about a property?

My best advice would be that if you're questioning whether you should disclose something, you should just go ahead and tell the potential buyer. No matter how big or how normal, you should disclose the history of the property to the best of your ability.

There are some homeowners that recently failed to disclose a sinkhole on their property, and they have been sentenced with criminal charges for not disclosing this fact about their home.
 

This is very important if you're selling your home on your own. A lot of FSBO sellers don't know this, but they need to spill the beans when a buyer asks about their property. Although it's an extreme case, you don't want to end up in jail just because you withheld some information about your property.

Buyers in Tampa should be careful to get a disclosure on a home that they're purchasing, because as a buyer you're fully entitled to one. However, if you buy a foreclosure, you must buy it 'as is'.

If you have any questions about this issue, or if you need real estate assistance in Tampa, please don't hesitate to contact us! We look forward to hearing from you!

 

The first question most buyers ask before hiring an agent

is how much they are going to lose when they purchase a home. In other words,

the buyer wants to know how much commission they have to pay to utilize our

services. This might surprise you, but the answer is zero percent!

In 99% of cases, you pay $0 in commission. The commission

is usually paid for by the seller, who pays the listing agent's commission. Since

you don't have to buy anything to utilize our services when buying a home, we

highly encourage you to reach out to us! 

Don't waste your time driving

around looking for homes - contact our team so we can set up a home search that

will find the area, the features, the size, and all the other things you want

in a home. We will tailor the search to your specific needs!

We often get calls from buyers who want to see homes they

found on Zillow or Trulia, but when we look them up, they are already sold or

under contract. Zillow is a good site, but the information is often

outdated or inaccurate. If you're a serious buyer, it's simply a waste

of time to spend a lot of time searching Zillow, only to find out the homes you

love are unavailable.

So, if you're buying and want the resources necessary to

have a successful home search, give us a call or shoot us an email. We'll take

you from step one all the way through the closing process and you won't have to

pay commission fees. We look forward to talking to you soon!

Today's topic is how to sell your home as a short sale.

A short sale is what happens when the mortgage on your home exceeds its value. When you owe more than your home is worth, the only way to make money on the sale is through a short sale. This must be approved by your lender first.

To find out whether you're eligible, the first step is to find out what the value of your home is. You might be surprised by the worth of your home; some people have called us for a valuation and found out they don't even need to have a short sale, they actually have some equity in their home. Reach out to us and we'll let you know if a short sale is even necessary.

If it's determined that you need to do a short sale, we need to get your home on the market and prepare your financials for your lender. More often than not, you will be approved for a short sale. If you have a substantial amount of money in the bank, however, they probably won't allow it. Even if you're still making payments on your home, we can get the short sale started for you.

For all the details you need to know about having a short sale, or if you have real estate questions of any kind, give us a call or shoot us an email. We would love to hear from you!

When buying a home, one of the first things that you will want to do is to get a home inspection. You will almost always have to pay for it as a buyer, but you absolutely need to do this.

A home inspector ensures that everything is in good condition. This applies more to the foundational structures in the home such as the roof, plumbing, electrical wiring, appliances, and more. You need to be sure that you're buying a structurally sound home, and a home inspector can tell you if you are or not.

Another thing that you might hear about is a wind mitigation report. This is required with insurance and it is to make sure that the home will be able to withstand high winds. If your home passes this test, you can get a discount on insurance, but if it doesn't pass, you may have a major problem. You won't be able to get insurance, and you'll either have to get a credit from the seller or look for a new home. 

There will also be a 4 Point inspection for older homes. This is an in-depth look to make sure that the older home will still pass muster for the next buyer.

If something comes up in a home inspection, you (as a buyer) can back out of the sale and get your escrow deposit back. This is why a home inspection is so important. You'll be paying for it, but it is money that's well-spent.

If you have any questions about this, please don't hesitate to contact me. The inspection is a very critical part of the buying process.

People always ask me whether it's a good time to purchase a home, and my answer is always the same.

It is always a good time to buy a home, rather than renting one. It doesn't matter what the market looks like, to me, it always makes more sense to rent than to own. 

Interest rates are at all-time lows, which is going to save you thousands of dollars over the life of your loan. These low rates won't last forever, so now is the time to buy if you've been on the fence.

There are also many different kinds of mortgage programs that will allow many different people to afford homes. The requirements have loosened, so now is the time to take advantage of this.

Valuations are on the rise currently, but you can still find affordable homes right now. If you buy a home now, you can ride the wave of appreciation. 

There are many different benefits to owning a home instead of renting. One of these is that you can deduct your mortgage interest, which is a huge tax benefit. 

Another benefit is that you're enhancing your net worth every single month. When you rent, your net worth moves down nearly every month.

If you're not sure if you're ready to buy, please contact me! Let's see if you're ready to buy. Even if you're not ready right now, we can form a plan so that you can purchase later down the road.

Before we begin talking about this topic, there are a few different definitions to be aware of.

Your true market value is the most important value on your home. It can change depending on the market you're in, and also the type of Realtor that you're using. I run a comparative market analysis to determine an accurate price for your home. I take into account the upgrades that you've done on your home, as well as your location and the condition of your home. This allows me to price your home accurately and draws buyers to your home, thereby getting you top dollar.

If you're looking to buy or sell this summer, please get into contact with me. I'd be happy to examine your property and put together a plan to sell your home for top dollar.

As the spring market heats up in Pinellas County, I have been receiving a lot of questions from buyers about whether or not it is a good time to buy a home, and what their first step should be in the home buying process. 

To answer the first part of that question: it's an absolutely incredible time to purchase a home. Affordability is extremely high with historically low interest rates below 4% and loosened credit requirements. You shouldn't have too much trouble finding an affordable home, but the key is to do so now because these low rates will not last forever, and neither will all the great loan programs that are being offered. You no longer need to put 20% down to buy a home, and there are programs where you only need to put 3% down (you will have to purchase private mortgage insurance if you cannot put 20% down). 

Your first step in the buying process is to get pre-approved by a lender. I'm not talking about going online and using some calculator to get approved, you need to go speak with a mortgage loan professional and have them examine your finances, pull your credit, and look at your income history and so forth. You absolutely have to know what you can afford to buy before you start looking for a home, otherwise you're just wasting your time when you search.

So, if you're looking to buy a home, now is a great time to do so. Once you're serious about buying, go speak with a lender to figure out what you can afford, and then start searching. If you need any assistance finding a good home or finding a good lender, then please don't hesitate to contact me.

  

A lot of my clients have been asking me about foreclosed homes.

They seem to believe that buying a foreclosure can get them a great deal

on a home. Today I just wanted to clear up some misconceptions about

foreclosures and why you may want to think twice about buying them.

You need to know that a foreclosure is a bank-owned home, and that the bank has taken the title from the owner. The bank will then put the home for sale with a Realtor, and that is a foreclosure.

Statistics in Tampa Bay reveal that foreclosures often sell closer to their list price (or over it) than traditional homes do. This means you're better off just buying a resale home.

The only time you might find a great deal is if there were multiple

things wrong with the property, but most buyers are purchasing homes

that they can move into and start living in. 

When

banks sell foreclosures, they perform their own appraisals and

generally don't want to come down off the market value too much. Another

thing to keep in mind is that you will be negotiating with a bank when

you try to buy a foreclosure, and they're usually not willing to

negotiate very much. Banks often don't offer warranties on the home, so you really have to do your research or you could end up with a broken home. 

reality, you're probably better off buying a resale property unless you're looking to invest in a property to spruce up and sell later.

As

always, if you have any questions about this subject or want to ask me

about Tampa Bay real estate, please don't hesitate to contact me.