How can you succeed in the real estate business?

As the real estate market improves I am sure the real estate schools in Florida will start filling up with new students.  The real estate business is not what many believe it to be - nice clothes, nice car, nice money.

It is not all drive a nice car, show a few houses, attend a closing and go to the bank although a successful real estate career does include the last two of these.key points for success in this business.

There is a lot more to being a successful real estate agent.

It is about understanding the process and being able to handle the  details.  It is all about being able to understand your customer's goals and feelings.  It is about having a customer who does not remember all the details (problems or issues) throughout the process.  It is about staying in touch.  You do not have former clients.  You need to foster a client for life relationship.  You must stay in touch to stay in the client's mind when the opportunity for a referral comes up.  You need to perform every day as if your reputation depends on the outcome (it does).  

Let me finish the second sentence from above here... The real estate business is not what many believe it to be - nice clothes, nice car, nice money - but it can be with the right effort.

11 Ways to Create a Welcoming Front Entrance for Under $100

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  11 Ways to Create a Welcoming Front Entrance for Under $100

  Wouldn’t it be nice to approach your home’s entrance with a grin instead of a grimace? Take our tips for beating a clear, safe, and stylish path to your front door. Read

Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this.

Copyright 2013 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

8 Tips for Adding Curb Appeal and Value to Your Home

8 Tips for Adding Curb Appeal and Value to Your Home

By: Pat Curry

Published: February 18, 2011

Here are eight ways to help your home put its best face forward.

The way your house looks from the street -- attractively landscaped and well-maintained -- can add thousands to its value and cut the time it takes to sell. But which projects pump up curb appeal most? Some spit and polish goes a long way, and so does a dose of color.

Tip #1: Wash your house’s face

Before you scrape any paint or plant more azaleas, wash the dirt, mildew, and general grunge off the outside of your house. REALTORS® say washing a house can add $10,000 to $15,000 to the sale prices of some houses.

A bucket of soapy water and a long-handled, soft-bristled brush can remove the dust and dirt that have splashed onto your wood, vinyl, metal, stucco, brick, and fiber cement siding. Power washers (rental: $75 per day) can reveal the true color of your flagstone walkways.

Wash your windows inside and out, swipe cobwebs from eaves, and hose down downspouts. Don’t forget your garage door, which was once bright white. If you can’t spray off the dirt, scrub it off with a solution of 1/2 cup trisodium phosphate—TSP, available at grocery stores, hardware stores, and home improvement centers—dissolved in 1 gallon of water.

You and a friend can make your house sparkle in a few weekends. A professional cleaning crew will cost hundreds--depending on the size of the house and number of windows--but will finish in a couple of days.

Tip #2: Freshen the paint job

The most commonly offered curb appeal advice from real estate pros and appraisers is to give the exterior of your home a good paint job. Buyers will instantly notice it, and appraisers will value it.
 
Of course, painting is an expensive and time-consuming facelift. To paint a 3,000-square-foot home, figure on spending $375 to $600 on paint; $1,500 to $3,000 on labor.
Your best bet is to match the paint you already have: Scrape off a little and ask your local paint store to match it. Resist the urge to make a statement with color. An appraiser will mark down the value of a house that’s painted a wildly different color from its competition.

Tip #3: Regard the roof

The condition of your roof is one of the first things buyers notice and appraisers assess. Missing, curled, or faded shingles add nothing to the look or value of your house. If your neighbors have maintained or replaced their roofs, yours will look especially shabby.
You can pay for roof repairs now, or pay for them later in a lower appraisal; appraisers will mark down the value by the cost of the repair. According to Remodeling magazine’s 2013 Cost vs. Value Report, the average cost of a new asphalt shingle roof is about $18,488.
Some tired roofs look a lot better after you remove 25 years of dirt, moss, lichens, and algae. Don’t try cleaning your roof yourself: call a professional with the right tools and technique to clean it without damaging it. A 2,000 sq. ft. roof will take a day and $400 to $600 to clean professionally.

Tip #4: Neaten the yard

A well-manicured lawn, fresh mulch, and pruned shrubs boost the curb appeal of any home.

Replace overgrown bushes with leafy plants and colorful annuals. Surround bushes and trees with dark or reddish-brown bark mulch, which gives a rich feel to the yard. Put a crisp edge on garden beds, pull weeds and invasive vines, and plant a few geraniums in pots.

Green up your grass with lawn food and water. Cover bare spots with seeds and sod, get rid of crab grass, and mow regularly.

Tip #5: Add a color splash

Even a little color attracts and pleases the eye of would-be buyers.
Plant a tulip border in the fall that will bloom in the spring. Dig a flowerbed by the mailbox and plant some pansies. Place a brightly colored bench or Adirondack chair on the front porch. Get a little daring, and paint the front door red or blue.
These colorful touches won’t add to the value of our house: appraisers don’t give you extra points for a blue bench. But beautiful colors enhance curb appeal and help your house to sell faster.

Tip #6: Glam your mailbox

An upscale mailbox, architectural house numbers, or address plaques can make your house stand out.

High-style die cast aluminum mailboxes range from $100 to $350. You can pick up a handsome, hand-painted mailbox for about $50. If you don’t buy new, at least give your old mailbox a facelift with paint and new house numbers.

These days, your local home improvement center or hardware stores has an impressive selection of decorative numbers. Architectural address plaques, which you tack to the house or plant in the yard, typically range from $80 to $200. Brass house numbers range from $3 to $11 each, depending on size and style.

Tip #7: Fence yourself in

A picket fence with a garden gate to frame the yard is an asset. Not only does it add visual punch to your property, appraisers will give extra value to a fence in good condition, although it has more impact in a family-oriented neighborhood than an upscale retirement community.

Expect to pay $2,000 to $3,500 for a professionally installed gated picket fence 3 feet high and 100 feet long.

If you already have a fence, make sure it’s clean and in good condition. Replace broken gates and tighten loose latches.

Tip #8: Maintenance is a must

Nothing looks worse from the curb--and sets off subconscious alarms--like hanging gutters, missing bricks from the front steps, or peeling paint. Not only can these deferred maintenance items damage your home, but they can decrease the value of your house by 10%.
Here are some maintenance chores that will dramatically help the look of your house.

• Refasten sagging gutters.

• Repoint bricks that have lost their mortar.

• Reseal cracked asphalt.

• Straighten shutters.

• Replace cracked windows.

How to Use Comparable Sales to Price Your Home

How to Use Comparable Sales to Price Your Home

By: Carl Vogel

Published: August 5, 2010

Before you put your home up for sale, use the right comparable sales to find the perfect price.

Knowing how much homes similar to yours, called comparable sales (or in real estate lingo, comps), sold for gives you the best idea of the current estimated value of your home. The trick is finding sales that closely match yours.

What makes a good comparable sale?

Your best comparable sale is the same model as your house in the same subdivision—and it closed escrow last week. If you can’t find that, here are other factors that count:

Location: The closer to your house the better, but don’t just use any comparable sale within a mile radius. A good comparable sale is a house in your neighborhood, your subdivision, on the same type of street as your house, and in your school district.

Home type: Try to find comparable sales that are like your home in style, construction material, square footage, number of bedrooms and baths, basement (having one and whether it’s finished), finishes, and yard size.

Amenities and upgrades: Is the kitchen new? Does the comparable sale house have full A/C? Is there crown molding, a deck, or a pool? Does your community have the same amenities (pool, workout room, walking trails, etc.) and homeowners association fees?

Date of sale: You may want to use a comparable sale from two years ago when the market was high, but that won’t fly. Most buyers use government-guaranteed mortgages, and those lending programs say comparable sales can be no older than 90 days.

Sales sweeteners: Did the comparable-sale sellers give the buyers downpayment assistance, closing costs, or a free television? You have to reduce the value of any comparable sale to account for any deal sweeteners.

Agents can help adjust price based on insider insights

Even if you live in a subdivision, your home will always be different from your neighbors'. Evaluating those differences—like the fact that your home has one more bedroom than the comparables or a basement office—is one of the ways real estate agents add value.

An active agent has been inside a lot of homes in your neighborhood and knows all sorts of details about comparable sales. She has read the comments the selling agent put into the MLS, seen the ugly wallpaper, and heard what other REALTORS®, lenders, closing agents, and appraisers said about the comparable sale.

More ways to pick a home listing price

If you’re still having trouble picking out a listing price for your home, look at the current competition. Ask your real estate agent to be honest about your home and the other homes on the market (and then listen to her without taking the criticism personally).

Next, put your comparable sales into two piles: more expensive and less expensive. What makes your home more valuable than the cheaper comparable sales and less valuable than the pricier comparable sales?

Are foreclosures and short sales comparables?

If one or more of your comparable sales was a foreclosed home or a short sale (a home that sold for less money than the owners owed on the mortgage), ask your real estate agent how to treat those comps.
A foreclosed home is usually in poor condition because owners who can’t pay their mortgage can’t afford to pay for upkeep. Your home is in great shape, so the foreclosure should be priced lower than your home.

Short sales are typically in good condition, although they are still distressed sales. The owners usually have to sell because they’re divorcing, or their employer is moving them to Kansas.
How much short sales are discounted from their market value varies among local markets. The average short-sale home in Omaha in recent years was discounted by 8.5%, according to a University of Nebraska at Omaha study. In suburban Washington, D.C., sellers typically discount short-sale homes by 3% to 5% to get them quickly sold, real estate agents report. In other markets, sellers price short sales the same as other homes in the neighborhood.

So you have to rely on your REALTOR’s® knowledge of the local market to use a short sale as a comparable sale.

Visit HouseLogic.com for more articles like this. Reprinted from HouseLogic.com with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.

Carl Vogel, a freelance writer and former editor of The Neighborhood Works magazine, lives in a home in Chicago that is not typical of those nearby, so he appreciates a savvy comp.

Is a short sale right for you?

Walking away from a home without trying to obtain a loan modification (renegotiate the mortgage) or even attempting a short sale can open a borrower up to potential legal and financial issues.

If you can no longer afford your home due to a change in circumstances consult an attorney before proceeding.

If a short sale is a consideration understand the impact it has on your credit score and potential liabilities.

If you have questions about a short sale please give me a call at 321-693-3850.  If you have questions about the legal and tax implications of a short sale, contact the appropriate professional.

Here are a few of my past articles about short sales...

Why Bother? Short Sale, Foreclosure…either way my credit is ruined!

How do I start a short sale?

Facing Foreclosure? A Short Sale may be the best alternative

Choosing a Brevard County Real Estate Agent.

OPs is a term I heard years ago referring to the cigarette brand some cheapskates smoked – OPs - other people's.

These were the guys who never had their own but was quick to ask for one from you.

I quit smoking years ago.

As a real estate agent in Viera, Florida when I go to work for you, either as someone selling a Viera home or buying a Viera home, I can’t discuss your circumstances, strategies or plans with anyone else.

Real estate agents have a duty to their clients. 

If your home is on the market and your neighbor asks what is going on my response will be simple.  Ask yourself because I can’t talk about OPB…other people’s business!

As a single agent representing you I owe you confidentiality.  I owe you loyalty.  I have a fiduciary responsibility to you.

And these, as well as other obligations, I take very seriously.

Considering selling your Viera Florida home?   Call me at 321-693-3850 or email me for a free market analysis.

Florida Home Prices – There is a very real reason for the low list price.

Here are the cold hard facts about the really really low priced Florida home.

If the listing price is extremely under market price, the investment money required to get it in shape may be higher than the cost of the house.
 
The secret is even the most generous sellers do not give away homes for pennies on the dollar.

1. Sometimes the value is in the land.
2. Sometimes the value is in the potential the structure or land holds.

The price is low for a reason.  People do not sell very many things including a house for a significant discount.  There is always a reason for the low price and it is usually because of condition, location, poor view, etc.

Investors may indeed be purchasing homes (or what is left of one) for pennies on the dollar when non-investors would not buy the same property.

The reason – investors know what they are doing.  The value may be in the land or, more specifically, the potential value of the structure or location.

Not too many years ago novice investors got caught up in the real estate market only to end up losing it all.

As a buyer sometimes the greatest value is in knowing it is time to move on and look at something else!

When you are ready to buy or sell real estate in Brevard County, Florida, call or email me.