Baby Boomers are planning for their retirement soon. For the next several years, Boomers will be retiring to areas other than where they presently live. (If SW Florida, give me a call) A mistake that is made by many sellers is waiting until they are ready to sell to start preparing the home. When home prices rebound, it happens a lot faster than the decline. Sellers need to be ready quickly to assure a faster sell.
Point? Now is the time to start making those preparations. Take advantage of the slower economy to make the changes you will need. Contractors are hungry for work. Get several estimates on any repairs that may need to be done. Update anything in the house that might appear outdated to potential buyers especially kitchens and bathrooms. Kitchens and bathrooms are two rooms that will always add value to the home and recover most if not all of your investment. New water fixtures, new cabinet door pulls, new appliances and new tile can enhance the rooms dramatically. Again, watch flyers for sales. Vendors are also competing for your business right now and prices are great. Once housing prices go up, many of these deals go away.
If you aren't afraid to get yopur hands dirty, do some of the work yourself if you are still out awhile before retirement. One of the contractors I use will even work with homeowners, letting them do the demolition at the start and the painting at the end, Meanwhile, drywall and tile for instance, are done by the contractor, Advantage? All ot the work will have building permits so there will not be problems when you close and the house doesn't match what the tax assessor's office says it is supposed to look like.
Curb appeal is one of the most important things to ensure the sale of your house. Again, take the time now so the landscaping is lush and attractive when the time comes to sell. Get the lawn seeded or sodded to make lawn look good. Fix unsightly driveways and entryways. You are probably tired of me saying this, but take advantage of the slower economy for material and labor costs.
Use what is happening now to make your house a quick seller when the time comes to retire or move. Waiting for the last possible moment will put you behind your competition and possibly require you to sell at lower price. Baby Boomers, we are a "do it" generation so let's get to it!
For the 13th month in a row sales figures in Florida have increased when compared to the same period last year. Some localized markets have even seen increase for 15 months.
Existing home sales rose 34% last month with a total of 14,419 homes sold statewide compared to 10,778 homes sold in September 2008.
Even more promising was the number of condo sales in Florida during September, 2009.
Florida Realtors also reported a 77% increase in statewide sales of existing condos in September compared to the previous year’s sales figure.
Other reported figures show an increase of 4.1% in existing home sales and an 8.9% increase in existing condo sales. Due to the increase in the number of sold bank-owned and short sale properties, the median house price dropped from $174,900 to $142,000 over the past year, a drop of 19%. The median condo price for the same period dropped from $153,500 to $102,500, a drop of 33%. Buyers need to remember these prices are distorted by all the discounted properties in the count.
We are still in a fragile market. Continued increase in sales are dependent on several factors. Mortgage interest rates must be kept affordable. The biggest factor could be whether or not the Federal government extends the First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit. The handling of this single item could have a huge impact.
Realtors, parents, high school and college graduates getting ready for the work force, neighbors and friends of anyone possibly thinking of buying should be contacting their Federal Congressmen. It seems many people have voices to complain but we need voices for good right now also. Get those emails and phone calls going!
Mike Cathell, Florida Future Realty, Inc Email: MikeCathell@FloridaFutureAgents.com
Recently, John Burns Real Estate Consulting took a survey of several home builders in different regions of the US. The highlights were posted on RISMedia.com on October 21, 2009. Later, I will post a link allowing you to see the entire article but obviously, I am interested in my area, SW Florida.
I have been emailing, calling and leaving Social Media messages for my prospects about the importance of being aggressive in this current market. Now, I have a "bigger" authority to send to back up what I have been saying - "Don't wait! Buy Now!"
The following parts of this survey really struck a chord with all of us working with Buyers and Sellers in the Fort Myers and Cape Coral markets:
59% of this year’s sales have been dependent on FHA, VA or USDA financing programs with 96.5% to 100% LTV.
SW Florida Builders reported the highest % of cash sales in the nation
Significant declines in available inventory
Pricing is increasing
South Florida reported the highest number of new home starts in the nation
Many investors both locally, nationally and internationally are again turning to SW Florida for value pricing and inventory. Hopefully tougher loan qualification and the larger number of cash sales will keep the market from ever experiencing the mess that got us here. There will always be greed and speculation in any market. It is up to the professionals in the Real Estate and Mortgage Specialties to help our clients ethically and intelligently.
If you would like to read the entire summary and see how your region is doing, click here.
Mike Cathell, Realtor with Florida Future Realty, Inc
I was showing several houses last week to two different customers. In both cases, the houses were short sales. As with many short sales they shared several characteristics - abandoned, no electricity, missing some appliances and a distinctive odor hit you when you walked through the front door. Both clients had the same reaction, "That must be Chinese drywall".
First client did smell something. It was not defective drywall, it was mildew. Second house, same reaction from customer. Again, also not defective drywall. A barbeque grill was left in the laundry room. Smell was burnt charcoal. Two things happened on both of these houses that worry me. The first was that buyers think everything that looks or smells "different" is Chinese drywall.
On other showings, customers are pulling screwdrivers out to check under wall outlets for black ground wires. Others look at the disintegrating metal shower and bath fixtures, also a sign of possible defective drywall. The problem, these people are pulling information from the internet or "hearsay" from friends. The things they are looking at are possible signs of defective drywall, but they are also the sign of other things. I live in a county where many homes are on wells because the city water lines are not in their neighborhoods. I am not talking one or two but thousands of homes are on well water. In Florida, sulfur content is very high in the well water in many areas. My home for example is on well water but I am not in any danger of defective drywall. But, I have disintegrating water fixtures, some tarnished ground wires and a distinctive "bad egg" smell if I fall behind on tending to my well and softening equipment.
If you check back on my other blogs, you will see I have spent a lot of time researching defective drywall. It has almost become an obsession. Did you know there are over 100 wrong ways to remediate defective drywall? Did you know that solutions run the entire gamut of just seal the walls to knock the house down, replace all the drywall to replace anything with a porous nature, like wood, furniture and clothes. There are some developers trying to help but that will stop when their insurance stops. Other builders and developers say it is past warranty and it is now the homeowners problems. Homeowner's insurance, forget about it.
Over 26 states are affected and we need to work together on this. I will be posting some of my research later. Inspectors and Realtors, comment on what is happening in your area to standardize or remove this detriment.
Mike Cathell, Florida Future Realty, Inc. Cell: (239) 770-6250
Look in the sky…It’s a bird, it’s a plane …it’s...wait, that’s a different fantasy super-hero. In an earlier post, I discussed how my research on Chinese dry wall led me to emails and phone calls to another hero of the housing industry, forensic investigator Spiderman Scott Mulholland.The announcements he will be making at a public forum on October 24 will shake the world on Chinese dry wall.So as they say in the movies, “Who is this mystery man?”
22 years of experience in the construction industry primarily in commercial buildings
15 years of experience as construction litigation expert witness
Construction consultant in approximately 200 litigations and expert testimony in over 10 cases
National certification in Exterior Design Institute, Indoor Air Quality Council, Certified Moisture Intrusion and Analysis along with a multiplicity of certifications from the University of Wisconsin College of Engineering
Involved with over three billion in construction projects as the building envelope consultant for developers and contractors
Proudly served in the USMC as a sniper and reached the rank of Sergeant
Ok, so that’s what the website tells us but my phone conversations told me much more about the real person behind the above bio.Spiderman is a deeply religious family man with a deep passion to help people.His personal motto has become his company’s mission statement – to develop solutions for people’s problems.
Spiderman Mulholland and his teams have spent thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars in research about Chinese dry wall.This intense study was based on his tremendous desire to help his family, his neighbors, his industry and countless others he does not even know.Most importantly, his countless hours has led up to a forum with the largest collection of experts on Chinese dry wall ever assembled in Orlando on October 24.News breaking announcements on remediation and investigative certifications will be released.Anyone in the construction, real estate or inspection business or anyone who owns a home built between 2001 and 2006 should have their sights set on this forum.Later I will be posting specifics about this amazing forum.Don’t miss it!
Sorry, this is not a series about a Super hero defeating his arch nemesis who happens to be a flat Asian villain.But this story will be a news worthy story of Super hero importance to anyone affected by Chinese or defective dry wall.
Working in the Fort Myers/Cape Coral, an area that leads the country in foreclosures, we have hundreds of empty spec homes that were built during the height of the boom.The boom also brought something else to the forefront – Chinese dry wall.It seems everyone in Lee County has either been directly affected by the defective dry wall or knows someone else who has been touched by this problem.
Watching large developments being abandoned and driving past dozens of empty spec homes led me on a search for more information about what seemed to be the “villain” of the 21st century housing market.I ran across hundreds of articles online about remediation, everything about knock the house down to just seal up the walls and it will be okay.Many of these “solutions” were based on speculation and “educated guesses”.The only consistency I found in actual scientific research kept leading me to a forensic investigator in Florida, Spiderman Scott Mulholland.
I contacted a member of his company,U.S. Building Consultants Inc., asking permission to quote one of his blogs.Not only did she respond quickly with a thumbs up, but Spiderman Mulholland also emailed an okay.Over the next few weeks, we exchanged several emails and had several hour long phonecalls discussing the scientific research about this “villainous menace”.
Here’s the exciting part of this epic battle, Spiderman is going to make several announcements about a HUGE break-thru in remediation based on scientific research at a public forum being held in Orlando, FL on October 24.But just like the heroic adventures in the old nickelodeon theaters, you need to come back again for the next part of this exciting, news-breaking announcement.
I will be posting a series of blogs on this important announcement. Subscribe to my blog for up to the minute updates or email me for info.
Mike Cathell, Florida Future Realty, Inc Email me: Mailto:MikeCathell@FloridaFutureAgents.com Cell: 239- 770-6250 Forum info: http://www.besinstitute.com/
Recently, the local newspaper, The Fort Myers News Press, had an article about the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. This program uses Federal Grant money to help first time home buyers with the needed downpayment to buy a house. The program also targets neighborhoods needing a rejuvenation program, in this case, parts of Cape Coral.
Most of the comments on the online site are very negative. "A drop in the bucket" seems to be a very popular phrase in the comments. Most of the comment writers talk about unemployment, renters and investors but not about the true purpose of this program - help families buy their first home to start building neighborhoods again.
The program has enough money to help approximately 85 families with downpayment assistance in a localized area of Cape Coral. Investors are not eligible for this program because if the buyer does not live in the house for 5 years, then the grant must be payed back to the government. Its use is to get actual homeowners living in their own houses (wow, what a concept!).
I have shown houses in these neighborhoods where in some instances 2 out of 5 houses are abandoned. I consider it an important move to put families in 85 of them. Any activity, no matter how little, is better than no activity. It is easier to sell a house in a neighborhood with new activity. There is activity as yards get cleaned up and landscaping is being done. Air conditioning technicians and contractors are working on the houses making them livable. Furniture trucks are delivering new appliances and living room furniture. Moving vans have boxes going into a house rather than taking it away.
Yes, i understand the critics, it is a drop in the bucket. But the way i see it, drops add up. I have a catch basin at my house that captures raindrops, drips from my roof and the morning dew. At first, there are only drops. Then more drops are added to those drops. Eventually I have a filled bucket to water the plants in my yard. Maybe it's my imagination, but many times when I use this collection of drops, it rains on my yard!
Living in a "depressed" area, I am thankful for any program, no matter how small, that gets activity. Drops eventually do add up and we all enjoy the "new water"!
Mike Cathell, ePro Realtor Florida Future Realty, Inc. Cell: (239) 770-6250
Email: Mailto:MikeFlFuture@gmail.com Web site: http://FLCoastRealtor.homestead.com
In a recently released article, CNNMoney.com used research supplied from Zillow.com saying the best place to "haggle for home prices" was Florida. While this is true in a few markets (they named four areas), us in SW Florida aren't seeing it this way. The areas where this is working have an abundance of luxury homes that are still over-priced, even in this market.
I have spent countless hours educating customers that this is definitely a buyers' market, but an "intelligent" buyer's market. Why would a buyer think they are the only ones looking for a great deal. If their agent is really watching the market for them, they are aware of a new listing that is a good deal. But are they naive enough to believe they are the only ones spotting that house today? Some don't even believe it when we are sitting in the van, in line, waiting for our turn to look at the house.
In my experience, these deals only last a few days and due to current practices by some banks and listing agents, the agent will take offers for several days to find the "highest and best price" for this listing. If I got paid every time I had a listing agent tell me there were multiple offers, I could have retired this year a wealthy man.
In the Fort Myers/Cape Coral market, our customers need to be aggressive with offers. "Low balling" to start a conversation is a waste of time here. Many of the listings in the botton half of the listing prices are selling for listing price or even higher than listing price. Giving a low offer just frustrates the customer and the agents. Even if it is against our advice, customers still hear about all the "great deals" the media throws out there. Yes, as the media reported, we did have a three bedroom, 2 bathroom house sell for $25,000. What they forgot to tell you, it was a marijuana grow house that was completely gutted inside and is in a very unsafe neighborhood. More importantly, it was the ONLY one and it's GONE! All of the houses in SW Florida are not priced this way.
Buyers need to be realistic. Haggling gets you no where in the mid to low price range houses. Come in strong, with financing in place or cash in hand. You are not the only "smart" investor to be working this market! Remember, the media makes money selling news, not selling houses.
Mike Cathell Florida Future Realty, Inc Email: Mailto:MikeCathell@FloridaFutureAgents.com
Cell: (239) 770-6250 Web site: http://FLCoastRealtor.homestead.com
***(For those of you that don't get it - the pictures are a joke!)
I've been reading more and more about the use of Virtual Staging for abandoned houses. Virtual staging is a computer process that adds furniture, accessories and window treatments to pictures in a listing of an abandoned house.
I always explain to my customers that the house we will be visiting usually does not look like the pictures on the Multiple Listing Service. Very often, the pictures were taken before the house was abandoned and it shows furniture, clear water in pools and manicured lawns. We pull up to a house with two foot high grass and weeds. Doors, fans, plumbing fixtures and appliances have been stripped from the house.
Virtual staging can misrepresent a house even more. Furniture can be sized to make the room appear larger. Large pieces of furniture can be scaled down to make the dimensions of the room appear larger. Ceiling fans, light fixtures and appliances can be digitally placed in the proper place. The prospective buyer is very disappointed when arriving at a trashed, abused house.
I am not saying we should show every crack or chip in our listing pictures. I just feel a more realistic picture should be represented. "TLC" is starting to mean there is $40,000 worth of repair work needed. A "handyman special" is just a step above a knockdown. At least make better descriptions in the Realtor comment section on the listing.
Please let me know how you feel about virtual staging and current pictures on the Multiple Listing Service. Make this an informal poll - don't be afraid to voice in with a comment.
One of the largest fears renters have in this market is the fear of being kicked out of the house they are renting because the landlord does not tell them the property is in foreclosure. The Helping Families Save their Homes Act was recently signed into effect by President Obama. This act protects renters by requiring new owners of a foreclosed property to honor the existing lease or to give the renters 90 day notice to move if the new owner wants to move into the property themselves.
I have received many calls the last couple of years from renters wanting to know what their options were if the house were sold at auction or as a short sale. many property owners in the foreclosure were not telling their renters about the foreclosure because they did not want to lose the rental income. renters found themselves being evicted since they were not forewarned by the delinquent property owner. Now, more peace of mind is being given these families.
There are a few restrictions to this new law. The lease had to have been in effect before the property owner went into foreclosure. The tenants cannot be related to the property owner through marriage or direct family relationships. Plus, the tenants must not be paying a substanially lower rent than current fair market values for the area. The only exception are families on a government subsidized rent program.
This program can also benfit investors in a slow rental market. Keeping the current tenant, rather than hunting for new tenants, is a win-win situation for both parties. The investor does not have the costs involved with finding a tenant as well as the possibility of carrying costs if the rental sits empty. The renters are not forced to put their families through the hassle and agravation of another move. This program will hopefully keep families in their rentals, will decrease the number of abandoned homes and bring some peace of mind to communities during these hard economic times.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
Yes, i understand the critics, it is a drop in the bucket. But the way i see it, drops add up. I have a catch basin at my house that captures raindrops, drips from my roof and the morning dew. At first, there are only drops. Then more drops are added to those drops. Eventually I have a filled bucket to water the plants in my yard. Maybe it's my imagination, but many times when I use this collection of drops, it rains on my yard!
Picture on Multiple Listing Service 
What the Buyer sees when you drive up!***
;)
;)
