Social Networking Becoming More Important For Google SERPS! - 01/31/10 07:50 AM
 
A good reminder to update your google profile page. Thanks to Bill I'm current again!
 
Via Bill Gassett Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate (RE/MAX Executive Realty):
I just read a very interesting article over at Web Pro News that talks about how Google will now be incorporating your social network connections as a factor in delivering search results!
As Chris Crum, a writer for Web Pro News points out, "If you are one of those people still skeptical about the business uses of social media, you may be interested to know that Google's Social Search is no longer just an experiment." … (8 comments)

Calculating Your Title Insurance Costs When Buying A Home - 01/29/10 07:02 AM
 
I was having a discussion yesterday with a great real estate agent (Bill Peck) who was lamenting to me that his home buyers had received three Good Faith Estimates (GFE) from different mortgage companies and they were much more scattered in their estimates than we have traditionally seen.
For those of you who did not read our previous blog article on the new RESPA rules, it covered how many of the new rules were going to increase the estimated time it takes to close on a real estate transaction. Additionally, it provided download links to all of the new forms.
… (0 comments)

City Commissioners Change Course On Raises - 01/28/10 06:57 AM
 
Yesterday, I picked up my Mom and went to the Tallahassee City Commission meeting in order to see how our Commissioners were going to handle some hot issues that weighed heavily in their laps.
For those of you who personally know me, I am so apolitical that I rarely pay much attention to what our politicians are doing (or failing to do). This was a behavior instilled in me in my early days in the military that I have never really changed.
But recently I wrote about some concerns over possible illegal activities in Tallahassee and I wanted to see … (0 comments)

Simple Principles of Home Valuation - 01/27/10 07:24 AM
 
I was having a conversation yesterday with a very intelligent person about the value of their home. It was during this conversation that I was reminded that while I think about the home valuation process quite often, most people do not. There are many homes for sale in Tallahassee, and determining value is critical right now.
After we had been talking for a while, this person asked me to give them the value of their home. He asked it in such a way that it told me he thought there was an exact, singular dollar amount “value” for his home, … (6 comments)

Pay Attention To Your Local REALTOR® Reports - 01/26/10 06:10 AM
 
The 25th of each month is the day when we get to see the latest existing-home sales report that is published by the National Association of REALTORS®, so it is a day marked on my calendar for monthly action.
I always look forward to both reading the report as well as reading and hearing the interpretation and forecasts that are derived as a result of others reading the report.
Yesterday was no exception. While celebrating the birthday of my “way to good for me” wife with our children at a local restaurant, we bumped into a family friend who happens … (35 comments)

Corruption In Tallahassee Starting To Unravel - 01/25/10 07:42 AM
 
Often times, we see something wrong and there is nothing we can do about it. So many things are beyond our control that we learn to live with much of what we long ago learned was wrong. But sometimes, we can step up to do the right thing; to right a wrong.
This is one of those times. As Tallahassee citizens, we have the right to force our City Commissioners to hear our individual voices as well as our collective anger for their bold display of arrogance. Our City Commissioners have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, … (4 comments)

Neighborhood Report Shows Distressed Properties' Impact - 01/22/10 10:00 AM
Tallahassee has a lot of subdivisions for the number of homes in town. In 2009, there were home sales recorded in 806 of these Tallahassee neighborhoods (legally called Subdivisions). I decided to take a fairly quick look to see which neighborhoods were selling the most properties.
I went to the tax records for all of Leon County, Florida in order to determine the following:
How many homes sold in each Tallahassee subdivision. What was the average home price in each subdivision. What percent of home sales were not “arms length.” At what discount did non-arms length home sales trade to arms … (0 comments)

Look For Seasonality To Increase Real Estate Inventories - 01/21/10 06:17 AM
 
As we continue to get settled in on the new Tallahassee Real Estate Web Site, we hope to establish some great reporting patterns for our different readers to key in on. One big goal is to tackle a reporting schedule for all of the different housing reports that we maintain.
If you haven’t checked out what we’ve done lately, you might be missing out on some good stuff! Click on the “Market Report” tab in the header any time you visit and it will take you to a section of our web site dedicated completely to real estate market reports.
… (4 comments)

Great Site For Free Downloads - 01/20/10 06:16 AM
It has been almost four weeks since we launched the new version of the Tallahassee Real Estate Web Site and we have received many greatly appreciated compliments, comments, recommendations, and questions. We love the compliments, but the recommendations and questions help guide us in our future modifications and improvements.
Perhaps the most asked question up to this point relates to all of the “free downloads” that we used to offer in our sidebar of the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog. Our long-time readers want to know why we got rid of them….
Well, we didn’t. We just moved them to a better … (7 comments)

Coming Home To Tallahassee - 01/19/10 07:40 AM
When the St. Joe Company decided to start its Southwood Development in Tallahassee, the company issued statements (press releases) that included various numbers of reasons why it felt Tallahassee would enjoy growth and prosperity in the future. Most importantly, it outlined the  target market for  people who would buy a home in Southwood.
One particular segment of this announced target market really caught my attention. The segment was “FSU Graduates wanting to retire and return to Tallahassee.” And not just retirees, but people who had spent their college years in Tallahassee and would love to live here permanently. My thinking at … (0 comments)

Tallahassee REALTOR Assembles "Mother Of All Housing Reports" - 01/18/10 08:07 AM
I have put together the “mother of all housing reports” in an effort to show our readers what is available on a regular basis at the Tallahassee Housing Reports page on our new web site. This does not even include all of the charts and graphs that we provide about foreclosures (on the Tallahassee Foreclosures page), nor does it include all of the chart and graphs that we provide about Tallahassee neighborhoods.
FYI: You can subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog and have it delivered to your email box each time it is published. Just click on the button in … (4 comments)

Real Estate Blog Reader Comment Spurs Newspaper To Report - 01/15/10 08:33 AM
 
Did you happen to catch this morning’s Tallahassee Democrat article on the controversy that is finally brewing in downtown Tallahassee? You might recall that I wrote a blog in early December about a bogus compensation plan that Tallahassee City Commissioners awarded themselves (and deemed legal by OUR city attorney who also received the 60%+ raise).
This whole issue was brought to light because Erwin Jackson wouldn’t let it go. He asked the City Commission to bring in outside people to review the legality of the entire ordeal. The City Commission waived him off, citing the fact that it had already … (7 comments)

Shopping For Houses On The Internet - 01/14/10 07:43 AM
The market goes up, and the market goes down, but what do people moving to Tallahassee want to know? They want to know about houses in Tallahassee. They want to know about schools and they want to know about Tallahassee neighborhoods. They want to know about recreation and they want to know about shopping. But most of all, they want to know about the area and about Tallahassee houses.
I received a message from a client this morning who will be moving here shortly. Here is what she said:
My husband and I are relocating to Tallahassee. Our move date will … (0 comments)

Why Real Estate Finance Is Your Business - 01/13/10 07:41 AM

Anybody who has been in or near the real estate market over the past ten years can attest to the fact that the money markets have been crazy. Crazy good for most of the time, but now we’re well into a cycle where money supply will be tight, and lending standards will be much tougher.
People relatively new to the real estate industry will see this as new and different, while those of us who have been around a while will tell you that we are just dusting off old skills and techniques that we haven’t had to use since … (2 comments)

You Should Not Buy A Home Right Now - 01/12/10 08:08 AM
 
It does not take more than a minute (if you do a search on Google™) to find a blog or article written by a REALTOR® which extols the virtues of buying a home. And there is a better than even chance that “Now is the Time To Buy” will be included in the first paragraph or title of the article.
With this in mind, I thought I would write about the counter argument, why Now Is Not The Time To Buy A Home. You see, I believe that buying a home is not the right answer for everybody. There are … (8 comments)

Homes Are Selling In Pine Tip Hills - 01/11/10 06:52 AM
 
Recently a reader of the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog, going by the name of “Nancy,” asked why we did not have a neighborhood report on our site for Pine Tip Hills in Tallahassee. Since I couldn’t come up with a good answer, today we’ll take a quick look at home sales in Pine Tip Hills.
REMINDER: The 18th Edition of the Tallahassee Real Estate Newsletter went out this morning. It is full of charts, graphs, and analysis of the Tallahassee real estate market and is free to subscribers. If you would like to receive a free copy each time the … (2 comments)

Storm Brewing In The Housing Market - 01/08/10 08:34 AM
 
Yesterday, I was very fortunate to attend a nice afternoon round-table with the top real estate agents in Tallahassee. We spoke of the many changes that we are seeing in the Tallahassee real estate market, and many interesting views were shared.
Invariably, the conversation kept returning to the subject of real estate market conditions and the abundance of distressed properties that are coming into the market. It seems that many of these top real estate professionals had read a fresh news story that was picked up by the Associated Press regarding the threat of a double-dip in the real estate … (18 comments)

3 Big Keys To Selling Your Home In 2010 - 01/07/10 07:26 AM
We just hit the “1,000 Subscribers” mark today! If you haven’t subscribed to the Tallahassee Real Estate Newsletter, you can subscribe right now in our updated form in the right sidebar of the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog!
If you have decided that you must sell a home in 2010, then I recommend that you prepare yourself for a successful (ad)venture. You see, right now, nearly 80% of homeowners who decided to sell their home over the past year failed (they still own the home), but you do not have to be like them.
I would encourage you to prepare a successful … (2 comments)

Cash For Clunkers Coming Soon In Housing - 01/06/10 06:47 AM
 
Mark your calendars, “Cash For Clunkers” is coming to a real estate community near you! That’s right, our Federal Government has fired-up the printing presses and has made $300M available (under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) for a new program designed to invigorate the real estate market.
Since this is the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog, this article will use the dates and facts specific to the program as it applies across the State of Florida. However, every State has it’s own “piece of the action” and you can find out more information for your State at the … (11 comments)

Will RESPA Rules Clog The Real Estate Recovery? - 01/05/10 06:53 AM
 
I had an interesting conversation with with a residential mortgage lender yesterday regarding the new changes that went into effect on January 1, 2010. For regular readers of our real estate blog, I covered these changes a few months ago in an article about RESPA reform.
His point is that while the changes appear to be based on good intentions, they might also be throwing mortgage underwriting and mortgage origination into chaos for the next few months. New methodologies are having to be created to process the new federal requirements.
With this in mind, I felt a review of these … (67 comments)

Home Supply Relative To Rate Of Home Sales - 01/04/10 09:12 AM
If you saw the new Tallahassee Home Inventory Report for January 2010, then you saw some some mixed news in the Tallahassee real estate market! The good news is that we saw a reduction of the glut of homes for sale in our area, but the bad news is that relative supply (the supply of homes on the market relative to the current rate of sales) rose from 12.5 months of supply to 13.0 months of supply.
Fewer Homes For Sale In Tallahassee When we look at the inventory of homes on the market in Tallahassee, we see the total inventory … (0 comments)

Tallahassee Housing Report 2010 - 01/01/10 09:01 AM
Since we have entered a new year (and a new decade), it’s time to take a look at the state of the Tallahassee housing market as it stands right now. I think the mode for 2010 will be “Improvement” as many of our real estate trends are moving upwards.
The key for 2010 is finding out whether the improvements that we saw at the end of 2009 were (as one reader put it) a “dead cat bounce,” or if in fact the recovery cycle has begun. 2010 will provide an answer to that question. So, what do our current real estate … (4 comments)

Our goal is to reach 3000 registered attendees to VirtualReBarcamp.com! - 01/01/10 07:23 AM
 
ReBarcamp going virtual. I might go to this one. Are you going to attend?
 
Via Real Estate Tomato (Real Estate Tomato):
Our goal is to reach 3000 registered attendees to VirtualReBarcamp.com!
The event is free being presented by 28 of the top minds in RE technology and social networking. Currently we have 1500+ registered attendee.  To reach our goal we need your help.  Fortunately, we have a ringer in our pocket: The generosity of ListingMoves.com.  ListingMoves.com is going to be running  a contest for everyone that helps us attain our goal.
Anyone that writes/re-blogs this post on ActiveRain about VirtualReBarCamp.com being … (4 comments)

Looking For A Short Sale? - 01/01/10 07:17 AM

As we frantically assemble our new Tallahassee Real Estate Web Site, one highly requested feature is finally coming together. Through all of the surveys that we conducted across many real estate web portals, a common theme arose. People wanted to know more about what was happening with foreclosures in Tallahassee, and specifically home buyers wanted information about the short sales available in Tallahassee.
Tallahassee Short Sales Page Being Assembled The Tallahassee Short Sales Page is a work in progress, and I must warn you that it is no beauty. We are working on it and it will take several more … (2 comments)

 
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Joe Manausa - Tallahassee Real Estate

Tallahassee, FL

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Century 21 Manausa and Associates

Address: 1140 Capital Circle SE #12A, Tallahassee, FL, 32301

Office Phone: (850) 386-2001

Cell Phone: (850) 508-1544

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