Schnebly Redland Winery Carambola Stomp

February 14th, 2008 Categories: Entertainment

For those of you old enough to remember I Love Lucy and the episode where she went a-grape-stompin’ in Italy…

Schnebly is having their Carambola Stomp this weekend, bare feet and all. If you’re due for a mani-pedi stop by Schnebly’s first, stomp some fruit, then go get your feet done.

Surprisingly, I couldn’t find this on Schnebly’s website, but you can visit their site for address, phone number and all that good stuff.

Carambola Stomp at Schnebly Redland Winery, Saturday & Sunday, Feb. 16 & 17.

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South Florida Real Estate Agent Eaten By Python*

February 6th, 2008 Categories: Random Thoughts

*No, it’s not true. But yesterday I felt like it could have been.

I have done BPO’s in the past for lenders. A BPO is a Broker’s Price Opinion and while it is not an appraisal, it is an opinion of the market value on a given property. Lenders will usually ask for these when a homeowner falls behind on their payments or after they’ve been contacted by the homeowner to negotiate a short sale. And even after they’ve foreclosed on a property and gotten an actual appraisal on the property.

I haven’t done a BPO in months. I’ve been busy with my sellers and buyers and really have not had time to do one. Yesterday morning I was called by a BPO provider asking if I would be willing to do a BPO for a home in the Redland. I know the Redland very well and agreed, even though I had to reschedule a few appointments in order to get the report done in time for the 6PM deadline.

I did some of the preliminary work and looked up the property stats. I looked up comparable listings and sales and was ready to drive out to the property to take pictures. The Lender wanted an interior BPO so I would have to go inside the huge 6 bedroom home and the two other structures on the property and take pictures of all of it.

I am not afraid of vacant homes. I had no problem doing that. Until I arrived at the house, that is. This particular property is so far west that there are no other homes further west than it. The everglades start right there. This, in and of itself, is not a problem either. The problem was that the property was so overgrown that I was afraid of getting out of my car. Heck, I was afraid of my car itself being swallowed up by it.

The overgrowth was about 9 feet in places. Can you say monster python boys and girls? The property was bordered on 3 sides fully by more overgrown land…15 feet high overgrowth! As much as I would have enjoyed $90 to fill up my car for 3 days, I know my limits. I called the BPO providers and bowed out.

My friends and colleagues are always reminding me that I live “in the boonies,” as they fondly like to refer to the Redland. I beg to differ. I live 4 miles east of the boonies (and I still live west of Krome!). I was there yesterday.

Crocodile Magee debuts?

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Amendment 1 - The Voters Have Spoken

January 30th, 2008 Categories: Community News

I extend sincere condolences to the homeowners in Florida (myself included).

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Chasing Down The Market Never Works

January 17th, 2008 Categories: For Sellers, Priced To Sell

OK. You want to sell your Miami home. You want to get the most money for it. You have some flexibility with your time and don’t mind waiting a few months for the right buyer to come along. As a matter of fact, you’re convinced that’s all it will take. Time.

Time can be your worst enemy when selling a house.

You call a real estate agent. She tells you your home is worth about $310,000 but you really, really want to get more money so you insist on listing it for $335,000. After all, your home is in impeccable condition and who wouldn’t see that? Nothing needs to be done to your house. Anyone buying it can just move in and start enjoying the gorgeous pool area.

The real estate agent does not think it is a good idea to list the home at $25,000 above what she thinks it’s worth. She knows that the most interest on a new listing is generated when it shows up on the MLS for the first time. The first 30 days are crucial. But you somehow manage to convince her to “just give it a try.” You really do believe your home is worth $335,000. Well, at the very least, you know you want to sell it for that much.

The home gets listed on the MLS at $335,000. It is now the most expensive house listed in your neighborhood. Similar homes are listed at $305,000. Similar homes without a pool are listed at $295,000. Yours is listed at the highest price and you’re proud of it.

Two days later a real estate agent with a buyer calls your REALTOR® and schedules a showing. That same day they tour the home. They agree with you on the condition of the house. It’s impeccable.

That evening an offer gets faxed over to your agent.

She calls to tell you they placed an offer of $305,000 and want to close in 30 days. The agent tells you this is a fabulous offer.

You’re insulted.

You’re so insulted you don’t even want to counter-offer. You forget that your agent told you she thought the house was worth $310,000. You’re convinced it’s worth more. You just need to wait a bit for the right buyer to come along. It’s only been on the market for 2 days, after all. Let’s wait and see who else is out there looking at homes.

During the next 30 days, the home gets shown 6 more times. No one else makes an offer on it. Another month passes and it gets shown 3 more times. Another offer comes in at $280,000. Well! That is not exactly what you had been waiting for so you ask the agent to tell them, thanks but no thanks.

But now you’re wondering if maybe your agent was right about the $335,000 being too high. Begrudgingly you agree to drop the price. Where do you drop it to? $320,000. Still higher than the amount the agent had said it was worth and guess what? Two months have passed since that value was calculated and home prices have dropped. So now your home is worth about $305,000. Not only was your reduction not great enough, the drop in home values is making it harder to close the gap between what your home is worth and what it is listed at.

This method of dropping your listing price is called chasing the market. You are chasing it, but you are never going to catch it. You will always be above what the home is worth and you will be wasting valuable time as you wait for the right buyer to show up.

The scenario in this article is not fictitious. It really happened. In the course of a year, this home seller dropped the price bit by bit until it finally reached $300,000. But in that same year, the values of homes had dropped as well and the home was now worth $290,000. This home seller commented on more than one occassion to the real estate agent that she wished she had listened. She wished she had accepted the first offer. Mind you, the real estate agent was confident that the first offer could have been brought up to $310,000 with a counter offer.

The home is now rented to a tenant as the sellers had been under contract for a new home elsewhere and could not afford two mortgages. While this isn’t what the sellers wanted in the beginning, it is a solution to their problem. But now they’ve added the responsibility of long-distance property management to their repertoire.

Don’t chase the market. It’s faster than you are.

Find a competent real estate professional and listen to what they have to tell you. Sit down. Crunch your numbers. Think it through. Mull it over and then price your home where it should be or don’t put it up for sale at all if you don’t really have to.

 

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Short Sales In Miami Dade

January 13th, 2008 Categories: For Buyers, For Sellers, Short Sales

It occurred to me that 80% of the home buyers I am working with in Miami are looking specifically at short sales yet I do not have any short sale articles posted on my blog. Hmmm! It’s really because I am busy working the short sales and have not had time to write about them.

I promise to return and dedicate more blog space to short sales but at the very least I’d like to explain what a short sale is.

So… what exactly is a short sale? Very simply put, it’s when a property is being sold for less than the amount owed to the bank(s) on it.

The short sale process is more involved than the traditional home buying process. There are things to look out for whether you are the seller or the buyer in a short sale.

If you need more information on short sales before I have the opportunity to write more posts, feel free to contact me.

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