Jul 30, 2008

Annual Free Credit Report

AnnualCreditReport.com is the official site to help consumers to obtain their free credit report.

This central site allows you to request a free credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, once every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Jul 23, 2008

Seller Best Practices In A Buyer’s Market

Price Right The most critical factor in the sale of your home is pricing right. If you do nothing else, pricing right will get you 50% of the way to a sold home. Price according to market from out of the gate and save yourself an untold amount of time, energy and concern.

Show Great The second most critical factor in the sale of your home is showing great. If you do nothing else, showing great will get you 40% of the way to a sold home. You can never go wrong by following the fundamentals: show your home spotlessly clean, light and bright. This is a seller’s best investment for a quick, top dollar sale. Ask your agent what areas of your home need the most attention – they will be happy to provide guidance. Check out real estate/home staging shows on tv for solid, simple, no cost ideas that you can implement in your own home.

Share Knowledge Gather relevant homeowner information to create handouts for buyers to take away from a showing of your home. Gather these docs, make copies and create simple handouts for buyers to take with them.

- Seller’s Disclosure
- Homeowner Association Disclosure
- Packet of basic homeowner info
- Property tax bill
- Property insurance bill
- School reports/grades from the county
- Electric bill from each quarter (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct)

These are all areas of critical importance to a buyer, so make it as easy as possible for a buyer to decide “yes” to your home and “no” to the competition. Why not stand apart from the competition and present yourself as a cooperative and reasonable seller – not a bad thing to be nowadays. You’re cutting to the chase and providing helpful, relevant information to your potential buyer.

Accessible Home If a seller wants to sell in the buyer’s market we have today, they must accommodate every showing request…you never know which showing will lead to an offer. Even today in scheduling home showings, I routinely hear “The home can only be shown when the owner is present”; “The seller doesn’t want showings today”; or “The key is missing from the lockbox”. Frankly, these are the responses of a seller who doesn’t want to sell. There is no sense for a seller to put restrictions on the showing of their home. A showing is the first step to a sale, right? So why on earth put restrictions on showing requests? Buyers are going to want to see your home, which can and will occur at times that are less than convenient. You will survive these inconveniences. It’s best to suck it up for a short period of time and make showings a priority – get it over with!

Accessible Agent Your agent is your number one advocate in the sale of your home; they must be 100% responsive and timely to all inquiries about your home more today than ever. Unfortunately, even today in making inquiries for showings or other home info, I routinely experience what I call “lazy agent syndrome”…agents who do not respond in a timely manner or sometimes even at all! Pretty outrageous in my opinion.



Jul 22, 2008

East Metro Orlando Developments

Some developments taking place in east metro Orlando:

- SW corner of Colonial and Avalon Park Blvd. Orange Co recommends approval for retail development.
- NE corner of Colonial and Avalon Park Blvd. Orange Co recommends approval for retail development.
- SE of Challenger Pkwy and Ingenuity Dr. Orange Co recommends approval for student housing development.
- SW corner of Alafaya Tr and University Blvd. Orange Co recommends approval for gas station/convenience store development.

Orange County Planning Division

Jul 14, 2008

$300 Refund On Property Insurance

This is an update to my Jul 7 blog posting. Thanks to the My Safe Florida Home Program, I just received a $300 refund on my homeowner’s insurance. I received a 25% refund on my annual homeowner’s insurance…this made my week!

Please let me know your results and please forward this great program to everyone you know.

Jul 10, 2008

Amendment 1: Property Tax Savings

Beginning in 2008, homes with an assessed value of $75,000 or greater will enjoy a $50,000 homestead exemption.

Also beginning in 2008 is the new Save Our Homes portability benefit. The portability benefit transfers the dollar benefit of the homestead property assessment limitation known as the “Save Our Homes benefit” from a prior homestead to a subsequent homestead. The portable amount is the difference between market value and assessed value. Orange County Property Appraiser


In Orange county, resale of a home triggers reassessment by the county (higher property value = higher property tax). For homeowners who have enjoyed comfortable property taxes for many years and are hesitant to lose that in the purchase of a new home, this portability benefit may be an opportunity for you. With the portability benefit, you “port” your Save Our Homes benefit from home A to home B (you don’t pay property tax on this amount). This may help take the bite out of buying a new home and the resulting change in your property taxes.

For my own east metro Orlando home, my portability benefit today is $22,000. If I purchase a new home this year, I can “port” this $22,000 property tax exemption to my new home and not pay property tax on this amount.

Jul 9, 2008

Amendment 5: Potential 25% Property Tax Reduction

A major item of interest for east metro Orlando homeowners: on your Nov 2008 Presidential Election ballot, watch for Amendment 5 (a new tax cut proposal). If passed, this amendment would result in reduced property tax bills on average of 25% to 29% in Orange county.

If approved by 60% of Florida voters, Amendment 5 will eliminate by 2011 a portion of the public school funding lawmakers currently compel school districts to impose to qualify for state aid called the Required Local Effort (RLE). In addition, the proposal places a 5% cap on the annual assessment increases for all non-homestead properties such as businesses, second homes and rental property.

In turn, the state would be required to replace the lost tax revenue. Current proposals include a one-cent increase in the sales tax, eliminate some of the current sales tax exemptions, impose a new service tax and/or cut state spending.

Orange Co Property Appraiser

Vote Smart Florida

Jul 7, 2008

My Safe Florida Home Program

The My Safe Florida Home Program is helpful for any owner of a single family home in east metro Orlando. You may have heard your co-workers talk about this or even the little radio spots…free wind inspections of your home conducted by the state, which may result in cost savings on your homeowner's insurance.

I applied online in mid-May. I was approved within about a week. The state-certified wind inspector was at my home the next day. Upon completion of his inspection, he handed me a receipt for the inspection, which I emailed to my insurance agent. My insurance agent sent a field person to my home to take exterior photos about three weeks later. I am still awaiting the final results, but I am hoping to receive some real cost savings on my homeowner’s insurance. I’ll share more once I hear back from my insurance agent.

If you are an owner of a single family home, take five minutes and check this out for yourself:

- go to http://www.myflorida.com/

- click on My Safe Florida Home icon at top of page, center
- click on I Want To Apply For A Wind Inspection icon at middle of page, center

Jul 2, 2008

Do You Really Want to Sell?

You have two homes for sale in the same neighborhood just ten doors down from each other. The homes are identical – same square footage, age, beds, baths, garage and lot size. The homes are priced $15,000 apart.

Which home would a buyer choose? “The cheaper one” most would say. Not so fast. In reality, the average buyer will choose the home that is presented the best, though not necessarily priced the best.

123 Maple St $345,000 The buyer arrives for a scheduled showing with their agent. The homeowner is not home for the showing, which allows the buyer to relax, enjoy and spend as much time as they like to explore the home and ask their agent questions.

From the entry foyer, the buyer sees a home filled with natural light and simply arranged furniture allowing for easy flow throughout the home. From the starting gate, the buyer sees many attractive areas to explore as they eagerly soak in the view…where to start?! The buyer can’t wait to see more…

Entering the open door to the master suite, the buyer is greeted with a gorgeous, classic master suite. The window treatments are wide open to allow natural light to soak in. The bedroom furniture is just perfectly sized for the space and is simply arranged to allow for plenty of free movement. Art and décor is lovingly placed just right. The master bath is sparkling clean, light and bright. The walk-in master closet is organized with easy access to everything inside and is easy to move around in. “Wow, this bedroom would be perfect for us, honey…”

Entering the living room, the buyer finds a contemporary living room set in a pleasing arrangement allowing for good flow, good conversation and good movie watching. Another light-filled, spacious room to enjoy, the buyer takes a seat – him on the loveseat, her on the club chair. The couple stays several minutes just chatting and looking wide-eyed around the room. She loves the easy, spacious movement throughout the living room and the natural light pouring in from the French doors.

The couple steps in to the modern, contemporary kitchen. Like the master bath, the kitchen is sparkling clean, light and bright. There is little to nothing on the kitchen counters, which makes it easy for the couple to envision preparing meals for their family in the home. The stainless steel appliances look like new they are so clean. She peeks inside the cabinets and fridge out of curiosity and finds them to be organized and clean as a whistle.

Entering the open doors to the secondary bedrooms, the couple finds a child’s bedroom and an office. Both spaces are filled with natural light and have easy flow in and around the room. Classic décor accents both rooms. He wants to recreate the look and spaciousness of the office; she thinks the child’s bedroom would be ideal for their new baby on the way.

456 Maple St $330,000 The buyer arrives for a scheduled showing with their agent. The homeowner is in the driveway washing his boat, the in-laws are inside watching a movie and the homeowner’s small child just went down for a nap.

From the entry foyer, the buyer is greeted with the in-laws watching an action flick on an enormous flat screen tv. A German Shepard leaps off the couch and bounds to the front door. The buyer stumbles over the dog, shoes, bags and clothing strewn about the entry foyer. There is a card table near the front door teetering under piles of bills, junk mail and dog toys. “Oh, hi there, folks…ah, sorry to bother you – we just want to take a quick look…”

The door to the master suite is shut…“Emily just went down for her nap” says the in-laws…“We’ll bring you in, but be very quiet”. The buyer steps in with the in-laws for just a moment to take a quick glance at the room. The master bedroom is completely dark; every window treatment is pulled tightly shut for the napping child. There is a mattress lying on the floor in front of the French doors covered in tousled sheets and blankets. The armoire is wide open, spilling with clothes and DVDs. There is a desk with an old computer shoved next to the window. The owner has five paint samples painted on the wall because his wife is deciding what looks best. The master bath looks like a public restroom in cleanliness; the buyer doesn’t step a foot inside. The walk-in master closest is inaccessible, overflowing with clothing, linen and piles of laundry.

Entering the darkened living room, the buyer finds six in-laws sprawled out over the furniture enjoying pizza and pop while engrossed in their action flick. The buyer immediately continues on to kitchen without stopping.

The couple steps in to the kitchen. Like the master bath, the kitchen is a dump. The house is only five years old, but the kitchen looks like a war zone. Every inch of counter space is covered in clutter, laundry, dirty dishes and piles of mail. The kitchen sink is chocked full of dirty dishes. The stainless steel appliances look well beyond their actual five years thanks to grime, stickers and magnets. The couple exits the kitchen as quickly as they arrived.

The couple ends their showing after just a few minutes in the home without seeing the entire home. “Honey, I’ve seen enough…do these people really want to sell?”

The Results The buyer scheduled a second showing of 123 Maple for during the week. By the next weekend, the buyer writes a full price offer of $345,000 and closes on the home in 40 days.

Five months and five showings later, 456 Maple drops their listing price from $330,000 to $310,000.

Moral of this story: how a seller presents their home is as critical as pricing right.