tampa: Chinese Drywall - 01/06/11 02:23 PM
By now everyone has heard of Chinese drywall, but has anyone heard this one. I have a listing that is being purchased by an active military person who is overseas at this time, the agent for the buyer is doing the inspections while he is away, the Home Inspection company, runs the air conditioner on a 59 degree day and it ices up as it should at this low of a temperature, the home inspector says, oh my, this is a sign of Chinese drywall, you better get and inspection for this. Who would you recommend? Well our company does it … (2 comments)

tampa: For Those Less Fortunate - 12/20/10 06:42 AM
With the economy in stand still state, many out there are wondering if they can pay their rent or put a meal on the table. While others fret over "only" being able to spend $500 on each kid this year. Let's get real about this, Christmas is the time for giving, so, let's keep our most needy neighbors in mind when making our last minute purchases. Toys for tot's comes to mind at this time of year, buy an small toy for a deserving child and place it in a bin around town, the Marines will be sure and pass it on … (1 comments)

tampa: First Time Home Buyers / Tampa / Funding the Loan - 12/09/10 06:38 AM
Well the closing portion has taken quite a bit longer than I anticipated, but, closings sometime take much longer than we expect. In the old days, (a couple of years back), the bank would send the check for your purchase, and closings went pretty quickly, now days in the digital age, funds are sent by wire transfer, one would think this would speed things up right? No, now we have to wait for a funding number, this means, after all the paperwork is done and everybody is ready to leave, and you want to go to your new house, we have to … (0 comments)

tampa: First Time Home Buyers / Tampa / Lenders - 11/30/10 03:10 PM
Ok, Now you took your class and found your assistance program, now how do you link it up with a lender to get all the paperwork in sync? One thing I have found is, that the Banks are the only lenders that are willing to put in the time to work with the Down Payment Assistance Programs, the reason I have been told is this. Brokers work on commission and most of the programs regulate the amount the lender can make on each transaction. Banks need to work withthe programs in order to reach certain required quotas. I have been told … (0 comments)

tampa: First Time Home Buyers in Tampa Bay - 11/29/10 08:05 AM
Everywhere I look, I see that the Real Estate Market in the Tampa Bay area is moving in an upward fashion. This means that inventories are shrinking and prices are increasing. Looking over statistics it shows that "The Bottom" of the market in this area, was January 2009. This being said, every month that goes by, is pushing more and more prospective First Time Home Buyers out of the market, In my next few blogs I will include helpful information on Down Payment Assistance, Home Inspections, Home Warranties and Financing Options. Keep watching for my posts and in the meantime, go to: http://www.realestateoftampabay.com and … (1 comments)

tampa: Florida Housing Help, Tampa - 11/24/10 03:54 PM
Florida Housing Help will be holding a workshop on Wednesday December 1 at two locations: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Children's Board of Hillsborough County, 1002 E. Palm Ave., Tampa 33605, and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at University Area Community Development Center, 14013 N. 22nd St., Tampa 33613.  The program is designed to educate families that are facing foreclosure. You will meet with,mortgage lenders, HUD-certified housing counselors, local housing authorities, legal assistance, credit counseling services, and many other foreclosure assistance programs. For more information please call (850) 413-3089. Preregistration is not required.
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tampa: A Busy, Busy Thanksgiving Week - 11/24/10 11:15 AM
I didn't forget to blog today, I was just really busy with Real Estate. I have a service person who is on the fence and and may buya really nice home with a pool, hot-tub, 5 brs and 2 baths, for 145k. The VA rate for this loan is still an astonishing 4.5%. Surprisingly or maybe not so surprisingly, the payment is less than their rent is right now. After that I went to lista Short Sale Property in Bradeton, 3br 2bath, 1350 sq ft, block construction, Price $79,900. They bought it for $170,000, three years ago. They aren't skipping out on … (0 comments)

tampa: Helping others at Thanksgiving In Tampa - 11/22/10 03:25 PM
Now is the time to help our neighbors have a great holiday, Metropolitan Ministries, located at 2002 North Florida Avenue, Tampa, Florida, are in need of food donations and volunteers to help with loading unloading and prepping the donations for distribution. In a year when paychecks are short and luxuries are hard to come by, be thankful you have something to eat this Thanksgiving, many are not so lucky. If you can help, give Metropolitan Ministries a call at 813-209-1000. The tent will be open from 8:30 to 7:00 PM. thru Wednesday.
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tampa: A Monday in November in Tampa Bay - 11/22/10 01:40 AM
This blog is for our friends up north. I used to live in Pennsylvania and came to Tampa in 1998. Why did I come down here? One word, SNOW. I got sick of driving in it, shoveling it and just seeing it. I.m proud to say I haven't lifted a snow shovel in more than twelve years. In the winter the Weather channel is boring down here, I'm watching it right now, this weekhighs in the eighty's and lows in the sixty's, but if you are in the upper Midwest, Snow!!! My advice to those up there. Come on down. We … (0 comments)

tampa: Ice Skating in Tampa - 11/19/10 10:16 AM
Whaaaat? Yes you heard it right, outside ice skating in Tampa. Of course it an artificially developed ice, what do you expect in an area with average daily highs in the mid seventies, but that's not stopping the kids and the kids at heart from flocking to Curtis Hixon Park in downtown Tampa, to try their luck or show their skill as the case might be. The cost is $10 for 90 minutes and includes skate rental. The rink will be up until January 2, 2011.
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tampa: How to find Tampa Bay Real Estate - 11/19/10 05:32 AM
How to find Real Estate in Tampa Bay? Well the old way was to ride in your car and drive around neighborhoods and write down addresses and call the numbers on the signs, not a very economical way in this era of $3 a gallon gas. Or you could look in the Newspaper for adds, have you looked recently?Real Estate adds in newspapers have gone the way of the Horse and buggy. No, the best way is to look on the Internet, but where to look? You can use the search engines, but then, it's a crap shoot, you may get … (0 comments)

tampa: Zillow in Tampa Bay - 11/18/10 06:23 AM
By starting to blog, I have entered a long curvy tunnel that just keeps going and going. If you're going to blog, why not tweet, so now I'm tweeting and building my following.  I happened to mention this to my rep at Zillow and he asked, "Are you putting your Zillow profile out there?"  So learning as I go along.  I just sent out a tweet about Zillow, so now what?  Taking the initiative, I am posting my Zillow profile here as well: http://www.zillow.com/profile/George-Foster/. this will give you an idea of my service areas. So if you are looking to buy or sell in … (1 comments)

tampa: Tampa Market Conditions, Lutz, Cheval - 11/17/10 03:29 AM
I have been giving an overall view of the Tampa Bay Area in recent blogs. Now I want to get specific and go over market conditions in specific communities in my own backyard. Cheval is a gated community located off Dale Mabry Highway about 10 miles north of Tampa. Homes range from the low 200's to over 1,000,000.. As with most communities, homes were affected by the Real Estate downturn and prices and inventory went down to historically low levels. Things are looking up as you will see.

This data is provided by the Mid Florida Regional MLS. If you … (0 comments)

tampa: Short Sales in Tampa Bay - 11/16/10 02:06 PM
Many people who purchased homes from 2004 to 2007 are finding that they owe way more than their home is worth. This is for those people, the hard working middle class people who are reliable and self sufficient. They are finding it harder and harder to make enough to pay the mortgage and keep food on the table. There is a way out, it may be painful but, the banks and financial institutions are beginning to realize that it's not your fault. You can short sale your home, this means selling for less than you owe and the bank taking this … (0 comments)

tampa: Tampa Bay Real Estate Websites - 11/16/10 04:53 AM
If you are reading this, you most likely use the web for more than E-mail, so let me give a little insight into the big name Real Estate websites. The way companies draw people to their site is by rankings in the search engines, if you just put in "Real Estate" chances are you will be directed to Yahoo or Msn, the truth of the matter is, they are not the best sites for a local consumer looking for local Real Estate, Zillow and Trulia are much better equiped to help you on your local search, but the best way to find a … (2 comments)

tampa: Rehabbed Homes in Tampa - 11/15/10 01:14 PM
Today I went house hunting for an active military person looking for the usual three year home away from and found a few surprises out there. We went to the South Tampa area south of Gandy Blvd and looked at several homes, the surprise was the quality of Rehab performed by the owners who purchased them to make a few bucks by modernizing and updating the home. Our military personnel are very busy people and want to rest up when they head home, not get involved in a major project to get a home in livable condition. Two homes we saw … (0 comments)

tampa: Tampa Bay Condos - 11/15/10 06:23 AM
I spent the weekend out in the field looking for Condos for a Montreal investor, what I found really opened my eyes. I looked in several Tampa locations 33619, 33637 and 33647. I communicated with my investor provided pictures and comparables, we settled on two likely prospects with prices of44.900 the other at 43,500, a great price for a 2/2 and we are offering cash, two months ago this was a no brainier submit the offer and in two weeks go to closing, by the way these are both bank owned. What was the surprise? One property had eight offers and the … (0 comments)

tampa: Transition to Transaction Broker - 11/11/10 04:50 AM
Well we have covered all the different forms of agency, oh there is one that I really don't need to expand on, that's the Non Representation Agency. This is kind of self explanatory, I'm just letting you know I don't represent you. But the last one is the transition to Tranaction Broker. If you are working with me as a buyer agent and a great property comes on the market listed by my company, you can agree to change from single agent to transaction broker agency and I can show you the property and legally represent you. There is even a … (0 comments)

tampa: Single Agency in Florida - 11/10/10 10:56 AM
If a customer wants to be fully represented, there is the Single agent option. This encompasses the buyer agent sometimes called Buyer Broker. In this form of representation, the best interest of the client ahead off all. If you here the seller say he would take a lower price, use it as a bargaining chip for your buyer. The drawback is this, is you can t legally represent both parties if you use a single agency agreement. Again what to do? See my next blog for the simple solution. 
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tampa: Transaction Broker in Florida - 11/10/10 04:27 AM
After the Sub agent form of representation was deemed antiquated by the Real Estate Commission, a new form of representation was made available. This is know as Transaction Broker. Basically all of the tenants of representation are included in this form of representation except full confidentiality. As agents we offer limited confidentiality, meaning, we can represent both sides of the transaction and we just keep each parties details to ourselves, eg if the buyer is willing to pay more than the offer price and they tell you, we cannot communicate this to the Seller. Most of the larger Real Estate Companies … (3 comments)

 
George Foster, Home Specialist - www.realestateoftampabay.com (Peoples Choice Realty Services)

George Foster

Home Specialist - www.realestateoftampabay.com

Tampa, FL

More about me…

Peoples Choice Realty Services

Address: 8902 N Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, Florida, 33614

Mobile: (813) 447-2711



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