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Archive for November, 2015

SW Florida Home Loan Prospects Undisturbed by Wall St. Jitters. Naples, Cape Coral, Estero

SW Florida Home Loan Prospects Undisturbed by Wall St. Jitters. We all remember Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the twin quasi-public organizations who backstopped the home loan industry for the whole country. Freddie and Fannie SW Florida Home Loan Prospects Undisturbed by Wall St. Jitters. Naples, Cape Coral, Esterowere thought by some to be on the verge of extinction during the home loan crisis, but they revived when Washington stepped in. Freddie’s latest quarterly financials show assets that have a small ‘t’ in front of the number (that’s short for ‘trillions’), so it looks like they aren’t about to go out of business. In fact, whenever one of today’s SW Florida home loans is originated, Freddie or Fannie are probably in the wings. They remain the big guns in the U.S. secondary home loan market, which is so huge its repercussions are felt globally.
Of course, it’s more complicated than that, but so that we don’t have to tread any further through the red tape, let’s just sum up by acknowledging that when Freddie or Fannie sneeze, the entire planet is apt to grab for a Kleenex. Since SW Florida Home Loan Prospects Undisturbed by Wall St. Jitters. Naples, Cape Coral, EsteroAugust saw a good share of planetary financial upset, optimism from Freddie and Fannie would be a relief—particularly for future SW Florida home loan applicants, who might be a bit rattled by the recent swan dive on Wall Street. ‘What does it mean for the availability of mortgage loans?’ they might well be wondering…
Last week it was a good sign when the stock market emerged from the air-raid shelter where it had spent the previous weekend. By Friday, the S&P 500 had made back “modest gains” (T. Rowe Price) after enduring the highest volatility in four years. But the housing markets looked a good deal more stable, if we were to believe Freddie.
The hard facts can be elusive, so Freddie Mac puts together something called the “Multi-Indicator Market Index,” which SW Florida Home Loan Prospects Undisturbed by Wall St. Jitters. Naples, Cape Coral, Esteromeasures the stability of the U.S. housing market. Mid-week, it released the latest reading, which prompted the National Mortgage News headline “Housing Markets Improve Nationwide: Freddie Mac.” The Index came in at 80.3, an improvement of 1.33% compared with a month earlier. In case that doesn’t sound like a gigantic change, Freddie’s Deputy Chief Economist, Len Kiefer, was there to clarify. “Housing markets are the strongest they’ve been in years,” he told the press.
Freddie reads various home loan industry reports, as well, and passes them on to its web site visitors. Headlines there were equally comforting— SW Florida Home Loan Prospects Undisturbed by Wall St. Jitters. Naples, Cape Coral, Estero
• “S&P Case-Shiller: Home prices continue to rise in June” (HousingWire, August 25)
• “Housing market gains steam as July new home sales rebound” (Marketwatch, August 25)
-and most reassuring of all:
• “Why the economy is OK, even if stocks aren’t” (CNN Money, August 24)

SW Florida Home Loan Prospects Undisturbed by Wall St. Jitters. So for the moment, it does look as if SW Florida home buyers and sellers needn’t be distracted by the news from Wall Street—good or bad. Especially since U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage interest rates were down again for the week…many below 4%! If you’ve been thinking it might be a good time to investigate today’s SW Florida real estate market, I couldn’t agree more: time to give me a call!

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Showing a SW Florida Property – Occupied or Not, it’s a Balancing Act! Naples, Marco Island

Showing a SW Florida Property – Occupied or Not, it’s a Balancing Act! In a perfect world, before you set about selling your SW Florida property you would have emptied it of all evidence of human habitation, called in the best staging pros Showing a SW Florida Property – Occupied or Not, it’s a Balancing Act! Naples, Marco Islandon the planet, and set off to vacation in a Caribbean island spa-hotel so you could sift through the dozens of offers in comfort.
“Let’s see,” you would soon be musing to no one in particular, sipping your first mimosa of the afternoon as you thumbed through the sheaf of faxes from your SW Florida agent; “should I accept this all-cash offer for 150% of comparable value—or hold out for this one for 200% of comp that came in with only 50% earnest money…?”
It is here where we might best depart from this reverie to point out that in this less than perfect world—the one that we actually live in—the more probable situation is one where your SW Florida property is fully occupied, either by your own family or a tenant. Showing a SW Florida Property – Occupied or Not, it’s a Balancing Act! Naples, Marco Island
How do you make the most of that mimosa less situation? If you and your family are the occupants, your SW Florida property fits the most common profile, so the standard to-do’s apply: you will want to clear the clutter and store any non-essential furnishings; de-personalize as much as practical; deep clean; and work with your agent to make showings as routine as possible.
But what if you have a tenant? It’s going to be a true balancing act that affects four parties: seller, listing agent, tenant, and buyer. Of these, the one with the least to gain is the tenant, who is paying for the privilege of tenancy while being asked to keep the property clean and showable on the others’ schedules.
Let’s face it: this could be a minefield. Almost any tenant’s interests lie elsewhere. Showing a SW Florida Property – Occupied or Not, it’s a Balancing Act! Naples, Marco IslandIn fact, they may very well like your SW Florida property so much they would just as soon discourage prospective buyers—and there are subtle (and less-subtle) ways to go about that!
One solution that is sometimes offered involves this creative procedure:
Compensate the tenant for their cooperation by offering a significant bounty (say, 20% of the monthly rent) to be placed in an escrow account. It’s a meaningful award for the tenant’s full cooperation—one that will grow with the payment of each month’s rent. It will be turned over upon the completion of the sale. This ingenious plan has the effect of reversing the natural order of things. Since the Showing a SW Florida Property – Occupied or Not, it’s a Balancing Act! Naples, Marco Islandamount in escrow grows with each passing month, rather than becoming increasingly annoyed with each ensuing showing, the tenant is increasingly incentivized to make the property ever more appealing. There’s cash on the line! In fact, as the escrow account builds, who’s to say the tenant won’t start doing some arithmetic…and start considering becoming the buyer himself…???
In any case, the best results for selling your SW Florida property happen when there is rock-solid communication between the listing agent and owner—and when a tenant is involved, that’s another party who should be included as well. It’s the best way to insure that everyone can go about their business with a minimum of disruption and inconvenience.
Showing a SW Florida Property – Occupied or Not, it’s a Balancing Act! If you are sizing up the coming fall market, whether your SW Florida property is occupied by a tenant or your own tribe, I hope you will give me a call to discuss how I can get the results you’re after!

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SW Florida Virtual Tours: They Come in a Variety of Flavors! Naples, Bonita Springs

SW Florida Virtual Tours: They Come in a Variety of Flavors! For many homes that will be listed for sale in SW Florida, virtual tours will be part of their prospective buyers’ experience. It’s increasingly common that in addition to the SW Florida Virtual Tours: They Come in a Variety of Flavors! Naples, Bonita Springseye-catching still photographs that enhance the online listing, some form of clickable virtual tour is there, as well.
Most frequently found are virtual tours that are actually still shots that can be displayed sequentially—this kind of virtual tour could more specifically called a ‘virtual slide show,’ because the viewer is in control of the speed at which the photos appear. When a one-click ‘play’ symbol is onscreen which triggers automatic playback (frequently with musical accompaniment or even narration), it really does produce an experience that’s like an actual tour. And further enhancements can be SW Florida Virtual Tours: They Come in a Variety of Flavors! Naples, Bonita Springsadded, like pans across (and zooms into or out of) the still shots, creating the feeling of movement. When music or narration are added, the result can be quite effective.
Another SW Florida virtual tour is more ambitiously produced: the shots in it consist of some (or all) motion sequences that are created with a video rather than still camera. When the camera is set into motion—as when it moves down a path or through a doorway, it can convey the feeling of actually ‘being there’ more effectively than stills. For the viewer, there is a subtle difference between what is experienced when viewing a computer-created sweep (“pan”) across a still image of a room versus a video camera actually panning across the same scene. In the video, there is more of something like a 3-D experience because the objects in the room shift in relation to one another. Not a lot…but just enough!
So which is the most effective form for a SW Florida virtual tour? The answer SW Florida Virtual Tours: They Come in a Variety of Flavors! Naples, Bonita Springsis…not what you might expect. The format, whether stills, moving stills, or video is really not what makes the greatest difference. It’s vastly more important that in any format, what’s being shown is almost all that matters—or as they say in Hollywood, it’s lights! camera! action!
• Lights—blotchy lighting with areas of impenetrably deep shadows may be fine for film noir productions, but for your virtual tour of your area home, it’s a negative. A skilled photographer or videographer will see that most areas are cheerfully, brightly exposed.
• Camera—most (if not all) your images will work best when a very wide-angle lensSW Florida Virtual Tours: They Come in a Variety of Flavors! Naples, Bonita Springs is used. It gives the impression of spaciousness.
• Action—in both video and slideshow modes, the speed at which images move should be slow enough that viewers don’t find it dizzying, yet fast enough that the pace of the ‘production’ isn’t annoyingly pokey (like this current virtual tour, which zips right along in a progression that makes sense—like an actual tour).
SW Florida Virtual Tours: They Come in a Variety of Flavors! An SW Florida virtual tour can provide a genuine boost to your home’s selling campaign when it is attractively produced—and accurate (thus avoiding showings to prospects for whom the property is clearly unsuited). It’s only one of the many tools which can be called into service to draw the interest of the qualified prospective buyers you need to reach. Call me if you’d like to discuss what’s happening in today’s market!

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One Housing Solution SW Florida Homeowners Can Do Without. Naples, Ft. Myers

One Housing Solution SW Florida Homeowners Can Do Without. SW Florida residents been hearing about unbelievably tight housing situations in some U.S. cities for many years, but last week there was one report that would have challenged One Housing Solution SW Florida Homeowners Can Do Without. Naples, Ft. Myersany imagination. This was about a Wharton School graduate who is spawning a new way to afford rents in the San Francisco Bay area. His solution: live in a shipping container.
The article appeared (with pictures) in Bloomberg Business. The photos weren’t exactly flattering of Luke Iseman’s 160-square-foot “box”—in fact, the bright blue painted walls seemed definitely in need of a decorator’s input (not to mention the cords and ducts strapped from ceiling to floor). With a shower constructed from discarded boat hulls and a camp stove set atop what appears to be a deconstructed wooden crate, the overall look might be described as post post modern urban One Housing Solution SW Florida Homeowners Can Do Without. Naples, Ft. Myerschic.
But Mr. Iseman is making progress turning his container housing option into a business. In fact, he is already presiding over 11 of the “miniature residences,” where his tenants live inside a warehouse he leases across the Bay from San Francisco.
In case SW Florida real estate watchers suspect this is a less-than-serious attempt to forge a new kind of rentable living arrangement, a quick review of housing costs in the City by the Bay will have them thinking twice. According to Bloomberg, the median rents in June jumped 16% from a year earlier (15% in the wider metro area). Median sales price is over $1.1 million in the City.
One Housing Solution SW Florida Homeowners Can Do Without. Naples, Ft. MyersThe chief market analyst for one S.F. real estate outfit put the housing situation in perspective. “People have to get creative,” he said. Bloomberg put its perspective another way: “The market…is crazy…”
Iseman’s “new model for urban development” does have some serious hurdles to clear before the “more sustainable, affordable and enjoyable” urban development model gets much further. One of the hurdles is that it’s illegal—he’s already been rousted from two other sites. But with Bay Area building inspectors busy dealing with converted garages, offices, living room conversions and other unlicensed structures (like rental tents), his startup concept may last a while longer.One Housing Solution SW Florida Homeowners Can Do Without. Naples, Ft. Myers
What seems somewhat comical to SW Florida observers is actually a creative answer to a very real problem. Iseman had been paying $4,200 a month for a badly maintained two-bedroom apartment before he thought up the container idea. He bought his first container, which had been classified as industrial waste, for $2,300 (delivered), spent $12,000 converting it, and voila!—suddenly he had himself some affordable East Bay housing. In and around and area where 10 jobs are added for every new residence, who’s to say this stop-gap solution might not prove to have some staying power?
One Housing Solution SW Florida Homeowners Can Do Without. One thing is for certain—our SW Florida real estate scene is going to continue to offer a choice variety of affordable housing offerings, even without the benefit of shipping containers. Give me a call whenever you’d like to go over the wide range of opportunities today’s market is providing.

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SW Florida Home Ownership and the American Dream Debate, Naples, Ft. Myers.

SW Florida Home Ownership and the American Dream Debate. This summer, SW Florida home owners have been experiencing both the start of a blistering political season and, simultaneously, what the newspaper writers call the SW Florida Home Ownership and the American Dream Debate.‘summer silly season.’ The politicians have hit the campaign trail in earnest, but in many other realms, folks tend to be on vacation (or wishing they were). The result is that very unimportant stories make the evening news: the silly season. If you saw any of last week’s multiple replays of the baby deer playing with the rabbit on a lawn in Colorado, you know what the deepest part of the silly season gets you: Bambi and Thumper making headlines.
But in the political realm, there’s also been a renewal of the quadrennial discussion about whether the whole American Dream is dead. That means it’s timeSW Florida Home Ownership and the American Dream Debate. to discuss the abstract idea and its relationship to the very concrete one: The American Dream, and your SW Florida home.
For sure, “The American Dream” means more than simply owning a home in SW Florida (despite the fact that those of us in real estate would like to see it included in the definition). The three words in TAD make up one of the few phrases that, even though we all know it means different things to different people, still triggers a degree of reverence. When a politician brings up The American Dream it’s SW Florida Home Ownership and the American Dream Debate.probably because it’s a topic that most listeners will identify with—one that causes people to feel both nostalgic and protective.
“The American Dream” evokes apple pie and Aunt Em; Tom Sawyer and a horse-drawn trolley on Main Street. It’s an American past we all experienced, sort of (we went to Disneyland, after all!). Pollsters tell us that safeguarding future generations’ access to The American Dream is an obligation most Americans accept: in fact, this year’s 60 Minutes-Vanity Fair poll says that to 44% of Americans, giving their kids a better life is its very definition.
At least in the 20th century, to a very great number of people TAD also went SW Florida Home Ownership and the American Dream Debate.hand-in-hand with owning a home of your own. But does it still include home ownership? Wikipedia offers a comprehensive roundup of ideas about TAD, which includes a subsection on Home Ownership (but it also has sections on the American Dream in Britain…and Russia…and even the People’s Republic of China!) It makes you wonder—can the American Dream be in bad shape if it’s so contagious? And if owning a home is no longer a part of it, how come the SW Florida’s residential real estate market is bouncing back so vigorously?
SW Florida Home Ownership and the American Dream Debate. The season may be the silly in some newsrooms, but when it comes to listings and showings in this summer’s SW Florida home market, these weeks are a most undaffy time of year— and an excellent time to give me a call!

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Home Buying Genius Test Can’t Deter SW Florida Home Buyers. Naples, Marco Island, Cape Coral.

Home Buying Genius Test Can’t Deter SW Florida Home Buyers. One of CNN’s most popular sites is called CNN Money. Dollars and cents are its singular focus—no film reviews, fashion statements, or political insights. For SW Florida readers minding their bank accounts, it makes consistently interesting reading.
Home Buying Genius Test Can’t Deter SW Florida Home Buyers.The other day, an eye-catching ad for CNN Money appeared on the screens of real estate sites. If you’d been browsing the SW Florida listings, there it was, with this challenge: “Are you a home buying genius?” For anyone who couldn’t be absolutely sure of the answer, the ad led to an online quiz. A simple mouse click brought up the first question.
It was a good thing CNN Money isn’t called CNN Grammar, because the first question was “How will a bad credit score effect (sic) your ability to buy a home?” The choices were four, starting with “I may not qualify for a mortgage.” Then came, “I may need a bigger down payment;” “I’ll have to pay a higher mortgage rate;” and the last, “All of the above.” They all looked possible, so SW Florida home buying geniuses had an easy time with that one. Home Buying Genius Test Can’t Deter SW Florida Home Buyers.
But others could have tested the neurons of any home buying Einstein.
“What’s the most surefire way to get the financing you need?” was one. “Play the Power ball” was clearly not the right answer, but the difference between “Get pre-approved for a mortgage” (choice #2) or “Have the mortgage per-underwritten” (#3) might depend on the SW Florida mortgage broker’s office terminology. If you went for #3, you got it right.
If you knew that SW Florida closing costs usually run between 2%-5% of the selling price, you had another right answer. Likewise, if you chose the standard “28% of your gross monthly income” as the most you should budget for a mortgage payment. By now, it had become clear that Home Buying Genius Test Can’t Deter SW Florida Home Buyers.this quiz had been put together by someone with an interest in promoting mortgage loans. All the questions were dealing with mortgages, and now ads for national mortgage outfits were beginning to appear at the bottom of the screen. Since this is nothing new when it comes to web quizzes, most readers would have kept at it.
They would have run into one question about how much savings you “should have left” after you buy a home—the kind of question that could start a debate. This one could challenge any genius. For instance, if you are The Donald, you really wouldn’t need the “at least six months’ worth of savings” that was ruled the rightHome Buying Genius Test Can’t Deter SW Florida Home Buyers. answer. The explanation sounded reasonable (“you’re probably spending freely to furnish or update the place”), but what if you had just bought a new home or one of the spotlessly renovated SW Florida listings that are now on the market? The amount it would cost to move in could just as easily be next to nothing!
Such quibbling in internet quizzes isn’t allowed. If you got all the answers right, you were pronounced a home buying genius (with an exclamations point)…and an offer to tell the world via Facebook or Twitter. If not, you could retake the test before you told anyone anything, which does seem a little bit like an offer to peek at the teacher’s answer sheet…
Home Buying Genius Test Can’t Deter SW Florida Home Buyers. In my opinion, you don’t have to be a SW Florida home buying genius to score a spectacular home in this summer’s offerings. The properties are there, and the financing numbers are still historically terrific! It won’t hurt to have a knowledgeable professional clearing the way, either. Just call, anytime! Thank you…

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SW Florida Builders Take Note: a “Spec” Home that’s One for the Ages, Estero, Bonita Springs.

SW Florida Builders Take Note: a “Spec” Home that’s One for the Ages. A SW Florida “spec” home is a residence that has been designed and built by a SW Florida entrepreneur who has no per-existing sales order. SW Florida spec homes are bold ventures: they have to be built with confidence that the design and execution will be attractive enough to generate a SW Florida Builders Take Note: a “Spec” Home that’s One for the Ages.sale. To return a profit that’s worth the risk, the sale has to be realized quickly enough to offset the considerable costs advanced.
Dictionaries can be a little confusing about what “spec” is shortened from. Most ascribe it to “speculative,” but some (like Wiktionary) think it has to do with the builder following his own specifications.
I’d like to suggest a new third possibility—at least for one particular spec home. News about it comes to us from Bloomberg’s Business site, under the heading, “California Dreaming.” It’s about a spec home that’s being built on a grand scale…okay, maybe “grand scale” is too modest: it’s being built on an astronomical scale…a gargantuan scale…maybe more like a mega-galactic scale!
Because the asking price is going to be a half billion dollars.SW Florida Builders Take Note: a “Spec” Home that’s One for the Ages.
Now, SW Florida real estate watchers may have thought that when Johnny Depp’s luxury property in France (the one that was actually a whole village) was listed a couple of months ago, we’d hit a sort of apex of residential real estate extravagance—but clearly, we were mistaken. A $500,000,000 asking price could buy you a lot of French villages like Depp’s. It could approach a province (albeit, maybe a fixer-upper province).
The California Dreaming spec home is, land-wise, a surprisingly modest offering. Only about 4 acres or, as the builder puts it, “1.6 hectares” (I believe this indicates SW Florida Builders Take Note: a “Spec” Home that’s One for the Ages.a hopeful nod to potential foreign buyers). So, what will this home—which won’t be completed for another 20 months—offer that our run-of-the-mill SW Florida spec homes don’t?
For openers, the four acres (or 1.6 hectares) are in Bel Air, which is already a somewhat pricey neighborhood. All the hectares are situated on a hilltop with 360-degree views of the Pacific Ocean, Beverly Hills, downtown L.A., and the San Fernando Valley. Still, with the average residence sale in even that neighborhood weighing in at peasant-level prices (only $5.29 million), you’d think there must be a lot more going on.
There is. It will be roomy: 74,000 square feet in the main residence. And so you won’t have to feel hemmed in when guests show up, there will be three smaller houses. Unless you have more than 30 autos, the garage will also be ample. You’ll have four swimming pools, including a SW Florida Builders Take Note: a “Spec” Home that’s One for the Ages.180-foot infinity pool. To combat the California drought, the yard features 20,000 square feet of synthetic grass. To banish the boredom that might set in if the Queen fails to visit (synthetic grass won’t accommodate the corgis very well) there will be a 45-seat Imax theater. Still bored? There’s always the 8,500 square foot night club. At the end of a long night of TV-watching and night clubbing, there’s a 5,000 foot master bedroom to flop into…if you can find the bed.
SW Florida Builders Take Note: a “Spec” Home that’s One for the Ages. Compared with our SW Florida spec homes, I’d suggest the ‘spec’ in this one stands for ‘special.’ Very special. Meantime, in case you are too impatient to wait the 20 months for the California Dreaming mansion to be completed, we have a number of SW Florida properties that are a good deal more practical. Call me to zero in on the great values our summer market has to offer!

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SW Florida Listings are a Far Cry from those B&W Sheets… Naples, Ft. Myers.

SW Florida Listings are a Far Cry from those B&W Sheets…  When you put your SW Florida home on the market, your most effective marketing mechanism isn’t the front yard For Sale sign—although that sign is certainly one way to SW Florida Listings are a Far Cry from those B&W Sheets…generate valuable neighborhood awareness. It’s not the well-designed ad your REALTOR® publishes, even in the most well-read SW Florida newspaper or magazine—although those expensive insertions can draw valuable inquiries.
Without a doubt, the most powerful marketing mechanism at your disposal is the SW Florida Multiple Listing Service. Through it, your home’s listing in the SW Florida MLS is far and away your most potent advertising tool. Although today this seems so obvious that it’s barely worth restating, in important ways that’s a relatively recent development. The Why and the How of today’s listing availability SW Florida Listings are a Far Cry from those B&W Sheets…provides an interesting peek ‘under the hood’ of how 21st century real estate works.
Back in real estate’s medieval past (before the Web reached everyone—say, 20 years ago), SW Florida “listings” took the form of printed sheets distributed between cooperating real estate brokers and agents. They were headed by mug shots of the properties, sometimes—when there were printing issues—less than flattering reproductions.
But even that practice was a modern development. Early in formation of the United States, groups called “Real Estate Exchanges”—the antecedents of today’s Boards of REALTORS®—would meet on appointed days to exchange lists of properties their clients wished to sell. In practice, these meetings would often SW Florida Listings are a Far Cry from those B&W Sheets…become auctions, with brokers bidding on behalf of their principals for properties they wanted to buy from other brokers.
It was only at the beginning of the twentieth century that the word “multiple” was sometimes applied to the “listing” of properties; but by the Roaring Twenties, the advantages of “multiple listings” were widely accepted. The difference was that now brokers cooperated to combine their separate portfolios of client offerings into integrated master lists…which usually translated into all those sheets of paper in the “orderly collections” of binders on the shelves and in the briefcases of real estate pros. Orderly or not, it took a lot of diligence to keep everything current…
It was a far cry from today’s SW Florida listings, which can be summoned up instantaneously on computer screens in homes and offices anywhere. Actually, on phones and tablets, no matter where they are! When you think about it, the technology has fundamentally changed the SW Florida Listings are a Far Cry from those B&W Sheets…nature of how listings are used. Instead of being information that had to be gathered and shared by real estate professionals who would physically gather for that purpose, today’s MLS listings are available to be inspected and compared by you, the client, yourself—with your REALTOR acting as expediter rather than limiter. It’s the real estate professionals who make sure the parts of the listings on public view are as accurate as possible, and who guide clients all the way from their discovery of the most likely candidate properties through visiting, negotiating, and closing on their next SW Florida home.
SW Florida Listings are a Far Cry from those B&W Sheets… The upshot is that today’s SW Florida listings are all right here, right now. And as soon as you find the ones you’d like to look into further, I’m right here—standing by for your call!

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A Skilled SW Florida Appraiser Works in Everyone’s Favor. Marco Island, Naples, Estero.

A Skilled SW Florida Appraiser Works in Everyone’s Favor. A skilled SW Florida appraiser provides a service that should help make the buying and selling of a residence a smooth transaction.
‘Should’ is the operative word.
A Skilled SW Florida Appraiser Works in Everyone’s Favor. Marco Island, Naples, Estero.Going back to ancient times, homes have always been ‘real’ when it comes to establishing the amount of money that they are worth. The home’s role as the center of family and community groupings guarantees that it will change hands carefully. When something is so important, its ownership does not come about haphazardly—doubly so because of its typically hefty price tag, arrived at after deliberation and scrutiny from buyer and seller alike.
Every home that is sold in SW Florida today should be a shining example of the efficiency (and fairness) of our free market. As a mechanism for determining the value of a good, the system is without equal, since buyer and seller have to agree on a price.
That’s where having a skilled SW Florida appraiser comes in. An appraiser (not to be confused with a home inspector, A Skilled SW Florida Appraiser Works in Everyone’s Favor. Marco Island, Naples, Estero.who reports on the soundness of a property) performs an important function in the transition from a SW Florida house for sale into a house that’s sold. The appraiser’s report provides an outsider’s unbiased opinion of a home’s current market value. Having a professional who knows how to analyze the property as it stacks up against comparables in the area—then determining its value in the lively SW Florida market of August 2015—is intended to provide peace of mind to all parties in the transaction.
That it doesn’t always work that way is because in addition to the buyer and seller, another party may be involved—the mortgage lender. The National Association of REALTORs® puts it A Skilled SW Florida Appraiser Works in Everyone’s Favor. Marco Island, Naples, Estero.this way: as “the increasingly common scenario [that]…even when both sides agree on a price, the deal could fall apart thanks to an under-appraisal.”
The situation where buyer and seller agree on a fair price—but the bank’s appraiser determines a value that falls short—usually means that a sufficient loan won’t be offered. Bankers are required to protect the bank, and if they aren’t reassured that the equity in the loan’s underlying collateral supports the mortgage amount, okaying it would expose the bank to a loss.
Bankers would rather not.
But SW Florida homeowners on the verge of a sale can head off the problem. The solution is to address deferred A Skilled SW Florida Appraiser Works in Everyone’s Favor. Marco Island, Naples, Estero.maintenance and significant repairs or, per the NAR, “any condition that affects safety, soundness or structural integrity.” It’s a cinch that the best comparable sale figures reflect homes where those issues were addressed.
There are also some less-obvious actions SW Florida homeowners can take. For instance, some experts advise removing sensitive or religious pictures before an appraiser’s visit. The reason isn’t because of any prejudice from the appraiser. Rather, since rules prevent an appraiser from violating a homeowner’s privacy, some photographs of rooms might not be allowable—resulting in a report that lacks sufficient photographic documentation!
A Skilled SW Florida Appraiser Works in Everyone’s Favor. An accomplished SW Florida Realtor will advise you on how to best prepare for an appraiser’s visit, as well as make sure the appraiser has all the details needed to prepare the kind of comprehensive report that lets bankers sleep at night. This is part of my service—and another good reason to give me a call!

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Getting a Handle on Building Your Own New SW Florida Home. Naples, Bonita Springs, Ft. Myers.

Getting a Handle on Building Your Own New SW Florida Home. If you are considering buying a new home in SW Florida, it might have occurred to you that building your own could be another option. Even if you aren’t one who has always dreamed of designing your own new home with exactly the features you want (and none you don’t), the idea might seem Getting a Handle on Building Your Own New SW Florida Home, Naples, Bonita Springs, Ft. Myers.worth exploring—particularly when the reasonable asking prices for some of today’s SW Florida “land-only” listings make for tempting daydreaming…
The fact is, few have actually mapped out the cost of building their own SW Florida new home, for a number of reasons. The most obvious one is that to project anything like an accurate cost, you would have to know its features—in other words, design it (or have it designed). But, short of hiring an architect, you can begin to appraise some of the major cost considerations that factor in when building a new home. A few:
• Once you have selected a SW Florida contractor, you will find yourself asking him for his estimate of today’s average price per square foot. That will only be useful for a ballpark estimate (certainly Getting a Handle on Building Your Own New SW Florida Home, Naples, Bonita Springs, Ft. Myers.not for creating the final budget). It’s simply the case that the details will determine the final square footage cost average. Kitchens, for example, as well as bathrooms, are usually the most expensive rooms in the house, so if you have more bathrooms or a larger (or smaller) kitchen, your total cost will shift accordingly. There are other variables as well: it usually costs less to build a two-story home than a single-story one with the same square footage due to the smaller roof and foundation.
• Add-ons will add up, of course—but the amount can be surprising. While the difference between a standard tub in your future master bathroom and that Getting a Handle on Building Your Own New SW Florida Home, Naples, Bonita Springs, Ft. Myers.$3,500 Jacuzzi tub may not seem significant compared with the overall budget, but it’s not unknown for installation details like extra wiring and plumbing requirements to add more than anticipated.
• If you’ve ever wondered about the origin of the phrase “cutting corners,” it may be illuminating to check out some of the software that contractors use to estimate costs. One of the first questions is “How many corners does this new home have?” The difference between a 4-cornered and 10-cornered home is like night and day. There are also categories of features that run from classes (quality levels) of “Standard Homes” to pricier classes of “Custom Homes.” In other words, at the design stage it is possible to “cut corners” when you build your own new home.Getting a Handle on Building Your Own New SW Florida Home, Naples, Bonita Springs, Ft. Myers.
• Cutting corners or not, those with remodeling experience know how absolutely necessary it is to add a ‘cushion’ to any initial budget. The same goes for new construction. That cushion should be at least 10%–and 20% is often advised. Surprises pop up, and you will inevitably find yourself ordering last-minute changes. It always seems to happen.
Getting a Handle on Building Your Own New SW Florida Home. Buying a lot and building your own new SW Florida home can mean the fulfillment of a life-long dream—but one that’s most rewarding for those with the time and patience for such a major project. It’s also true that many of today’s best properties can be purchased for the same cost (or less) that such an undertaking would run. Contact me to go over today’s latest SW Florida offerings!

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