Deborah Ward – Page 17

Pool Homes For Sale: Safety Tips | Clearwater and St. Pete

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Pool homes in the Clearwater and St Pete area are plentiful and worth your time and interest. Having safety rules in place when you have a pool home is essential.

If you are looking at homes in Clearwater or St. Pete, many of them will have pools. During Florida summers they can almost be considered a necessity. But if you have kids, or neighbors with kids, there should be some safety rules that you should follow.

Having a pool home in Clearwater or St. Pete can be great fun, but it is also a big responsibility. Drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death in young children, and if you have kids, or there are kids in your neighborhood, your pool home is going to draw their attention. It only takes a few minutes for a child to drown. So think about doing the following.

Fence it. Better yet, extend the fence around your lanai too. Keep the fence or lanai locked. The fence should be at least four feet tall, and designed so that hand and footholds are few and far between so climbers can’t easily climb and keep things like chairs that could be used like step stools away from the fence. Also consider an audible gate alarm on the fence. If you have kids, keep access to the pool from inside the house locked as well. Your pool home can be lots of fun but keeping the safety of kids in mind will make your life even better.

Also consider getting an in-the-water pool alarm too. When activated it will alert you if anyone jumps or falls in the pool. Also if you have a pool cover, consider a locking one, and never allow anyone to swim with the pool partially covered. If you have removable ladders, remove them when the pool isn’t in use.

No kids? Well, adults, pools and alcohol are a bad combination!

When you have a Clearwater St. Pete pool home make sure your child learns how to swim. Learning to swim is a good start, but don’t assume they are safe to swim alone. Institute a rule that no one goes in the pool alone. Use a buddy system and always supervise their swim time. Do not leave the pool area to do other things, like answer the phone or do other chores. When supervising, supervise.

Learn CPR and be sure that anyone supervising knows it as well. Babysitters must be certified, or don’t allow swimming when you aren’t home. Keep rescue equipment by the pool. Keep water depth in mind and enforce strict rules about diving. Never allow in above-ground pools, and for in-ground pools, allow diving only from the diving board.

Have fun and be safe! A pool home in the Clearwater St. Pete area can be a great asset and lots of good times.

Thinking of buying a Clearwater or St. Pete pool home? Please make sure to check the Florida state laws for pools safety

Top 5 Reasons to List with a Realtor

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Selling your home can be a chore, and if you think you can handle everything yourself, think again. Listing with a Realtor to sell your property will save you time, save you aggravation and make you more money in the long run.

A Realtor provides a lot more than most people think. Selling a home isn’t just plop a sign in the front yard and wait for the buyers to come. During the selling process they do more than just bring people to look at your home. They provide advice, facilitate contract negotiations, facilitate inspections and attend settlement with you. They earn their commission.

A Realtor should give you honest advice on what needs to be done to your home to have it in the best shape to get top dollar. You have lived in it and seeing it through fresh eyes isn’t easy, so let the Realtor be them for you. They will point out the places that need repair or updating, what is clutter and how to stage your home to make it look its best. He or she will also have specific knowledge of what buyers in your area love and hate, and can suggest how to play these aspects of your home up or down.

A successful agent is successful for a reason; they are good at what the do. A good agent can sell your home for more money in less time. They will know how to properly price your home, making it visible to those who are looking. The faster it sells the less money you spend on mortgage payments, real estate taxes, utilities and other carrying costs. That in and of itself will more than pay for the commission.

Most seller’s have no idea what it takes to market a home. What about contract negotiations? What you “save” on commission will easily be spent on hiring a real estate attorney to either do the contract work, or bail you out of trouble after the sale if issues come up.

A Realtor is familiar with real estate law and can do everything for much less.

Save yourself the headaches and frustration, use a good Realtor who can give you advice, get you the most for your home and do it in less time!

Looking for Tampa Bay Realtor to help get your home sold fast and for top dollar? Give Deb a call today! 727-410-0336

How To Make A Strong Offer When You Find The Home of Your Dreams!

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You’re ready to move on up and out, but aren’t sure how successful you will be finding the home of your dreams. Relax! It can be done! Just put a few things in place or in motion before you start the hunt and you’ll be golden.

Here’s how to make a strong offer a home seller will find hard to refuse.

First, be preapproved for your mortgage. I can’t say it enough that a buyer coming in with financing in place is much more attractive to a seller. It says to them that you are serious about buying, you’re financially ready to pull the trigger and will have a much shorter time between offer and closing than a buyer who isn’t pre-approved.

If you have a home to sell, put it on the market now. Having your home under contract and ready to settle, or even sold, will mean that you don’t have the need for a “I need to sell my home” contingency. That seller knows how that can go, and you having to sell your home first will not be as attractive to them as a buyer without that encumbrance.

If you are renting, let your landlord know you are home shopping and when you expect to move. Giving your notice will mean less problems in getting back a needed security deposit or delay settlement because you can’t afford rent and a mortgage payment.

Agree to shorten up inspection times. This doesn’t mean give up the right to inspections, but have a company ready to go for your home inspection, water testing, termite inspections, etc. Lining them up early means you don’t have to delay and you’ll know the answers to questions about them should a renegotiation be needed due to inspection issues.

Lastly, if the area you are looking is a seller’s market, make your offer over asking. Even if it’s over by just a few hundred dollars, it will make your offer irresistible to a seller.

How Are Real Estate Agents Paid When You Sell Your Home

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You’ve decided to sell your home but aren’t sure how it all works for a seller. After all your current home was your first home purchase. So you have a lot of questions, the least of which is how your Realtor gets paid.

I mean, who has hundreds of dollars laying around to pay an hourly fee to a professional? Relax, that’s not how this works.

Commissions

Unlike many other kinds of professionals such as lawyers or accountants, Realtors do not bill their clients by the hour. They are paid when, and only when, your home sells. But what if the house sells, but the contract falls through? That happens all the time! Am I supposed to pay them then? And how do I know how much to pay them?

Again, relax, “when it sells” means they collect a check when the deed is signed and money changes hands.

So how do they get paid and how do we know what to pay them, you’re thinking

Well a Realtor works with you, the seller, for however long it takes to sell your home, or until the listing contract you have with them expires. If the home doesn’t sell, they aren’t paid for their time.

Realtors are paid a commission. This commission is based on the sales price of the home and the percentage of that sales price is spelled out in the listing agreement you have with them. The average commission percentage is 6%.

As the seller, you pay the commission

How that works is pretty simple. When you go to settlement to sign all those papers the lawyer or title company will know ahead of time what the percentage is for the commission.

They will prepare a statement that both buyer and seller sign. This statement has all of the financial information surrounding the sale on it: sales price, taxes due, money due from the buyer to the mortgage company, money due from the seller for fees, etc.

One of those line items is the Realtor’s commission. It is taken from the proceeds of sale and a check is cut right then for the Realtor. So technically no money directly out of your pocket, but paid from the lump you are getting at the settlement table.

Selling a Largo Home? – Keller Williams Largo FL

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You want to sell your home in Largo. You know that Largo is fantastic place to live. It was originally and for decades a an agricultural area with citrus groves, cattle ranches and hog farms. There were also lots of turpentine stills and sawmills.

Largo was called “Citrus City”, from the time it was a citrus packing, canning and shipping center. Now it’s one of the largest cities in Pinellas County with all of the amenities a city can offer.

The Realtors at Keller Williams Seminole are there to help you sell your home

They will find the most qualified buyer to buy your home for the best price possible. Whether you’ve sold a home before or not, selling a home can be a confusing process.

Your KW Realtor will walk you through every step and make sure you have the information you need. To do this they will ask you questions to find out what is unique about you, your home and where you want to land when the process is over. How else can they give you top notch service? Your KW Realtor will be there from listing to settlement representing you and your needs.

KW Realtors will do a complete evaluation of your home

They will walk through your home and give you a truthful evaluation and help you figure out what may or may not need to be done to make your home the best choice for prospective buyers. They will make sure that it is priced perfectly by doing comparisons to other homes that have sold in the area that are similar to yours. Using that information and their extensive knowledge they will price your home at the best price to sell.

Your Keller Williams Realtor is there to walk you through the process and make sure you have the knowledge you need to make the best decision in the sale of your home.

Largo is a great city that offers so much. Help someone else find that out by listing your home with Keller Williams Seminole . You won’t regret it for a second.

Selling a Largo home, give The Deb Ward Team a call today! 727-410-0336

Benefits and Drawbacks of Gated Communities

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Your Realtor asked if you are interested in looking at homes in gated communities and sang the praises of the properties listed in several. He or she didn’t, however, give you all the information about what it’s like to live in one. There are benefits, for sure. There are also drawbacks. Knowing them will mean you can make a decision about whether you even want to look at a home in one or not.

Some of the benefits are obvious

Security tops the list. The gate means that unwanted visitors, salespeople and other door to door annoyances are kept out. The gate also keeps criminals at bay. Nothing is foolproof and the gate only acts as a deterrent. But it’s a deterrent that those living outside the gates don’t have. That security also depends on whether it’s keypad protected or live guard protected.

Extraneous traffic

Other things that don’t make it through the gates is extraneous traffic. This could mean less speeding cars, though not entirely none because residents drive in and out. You likely won’t have the morning commute using your street as a shortcut either, since they can’t get through.
Another benefit is that your property will probably be with more. Gated communities tend to have a higher standard of home quality, stricter building codes and uniformity in design. As in any HOA community unkempt yards and obnoxious displays will be less likely.

Higher cost

Sounds great so far, right? Well don’t forget there are disadvantages too. All those benefits come with a price tag. There is a higher cost to maintain them. HOA fees and rental prices are more because of the cost of maintaining the private streets, security gates and fencing, and any guards that patrol the community.

Inconvenience

Those gates can be an inconvenience at times too. If the keypad or gate electronics break it can keep you in or out until they are fixed. When they work there are still “rush hours” when you may have to wait to get through the gate. Any visitors you have coming to see you will have to check in which means waiting to be allowed in by a guard or buzzed in by you. If they are early and you aren’t home or don’t answer the intercom, they will have to wait.

Gate codes and time limits

And don’t end up being THAT resident who gave out the gate code to the pizza delivery guy meaning now anyone could have it. Not a great way to ingratiate yourself with the neighbors! A few more drawbacks include being farther away from shopping and work also time limits for contractors and service people to come and work on your house.