Blog – Page 3

Condo Living Is A Great Way To Save Time and Money

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You want to buy your next home, but you’re not sure if you should buy a single family home or a condo. Both have plusses and minuses, but in the big picture condo living is a great way to save time and money.

Let’s start with time

How much time do you spend on the maintenance of your home? Yard work, mowing the grass, cleaning the exterior of your home, maintenance of the pool or spa, maintenance of the walkways and driveway all takes time from your day.

If you live in a condo, the association has the responsibility of maintenance of the grounds and exterior of the building. Of course saving money happens here too. If you pay a company to care for your yard, another to care for your pool or spa and another to clean the roof and exterior, those costs aren’t a factor in a condo.

Saving money on purchase

A condo is cheaper to purchase than a comparable single family home. There could be a lot of reasons for this. When you buy a single family home, you’re buying the home and the land that it’s sitting on.

When you buy a condo you are purchasing the unit, not the land or building. It makes a difference in pricing. So that means that a 1500 square foot, three bedroom condo is much less than a 1500 square foot three bedroom home. Yes there are things like condo association dues and assessments, but it’s still generally the costs of ownership are lower.

Another time and money saver

The amenities. How much do you pay now for things like a gym membership, a community or private pool membership or golf club membership? Well, if your condo has one or more of these amenities, you can stop paying those extra membership fees. Oh, and the travel time is a thing of the past too! Walk out your door and to your destination. No driving or parking.

Three Things You MUST Do Before You List Your Home For Sale

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Selling your home entails a LOT of things to do. Some are musts, some are not. Here are three things that you MUST do before you list your home for sale.

First, your home must be show ready for that first day on the market

What does “show ready” mean? Let’s start with it means it’s CLEAN, and we mean clean enough to eat off the bathroom floor! Move furniture and appliances. Clean them inside and out. Deep clean floors, carpets, walls, air duct covers, air intake covers, woodwork, windows… basically every inch of your home should be clean. To get it clean that also means removing CLUTTER. Remove most of your things from the home, including oversized furniture. Big furniture and clutter make rooms look smaller. A few things are ok, minimal is better. Your home will look and smell better. Now that all the scrubbing is done, time to touch up paint, or repaint. You want the place to look neutral (color is ok, but don’t go overboard), light and roomy. It also needs to look as move in ready as possible.

Second, make sure to find out the fair market price for your home

Overpricing your home is a REALLY bad idea. Underpricing it as well. Getting to the fair market value takes some wrangling and is best left to an expert, like your Realtor. Rely on them to know the market’s well enough to get the right price the first time.

Third, have an exit plan

Know where you are going and have a backup for that first plan. So where are you going when you sell your home? Don’t know? Well you better or you’ll end up homeless! If you are buying, have your Realtor help you with timing, but also have a backup in case one of the home sales falls through. For instance, don’t sell your home, counting on the purchase of the next one to be worry free. The seller could flake out, not like your demands or reject your offer. What then?

Make sure these MUSTS are done, and you’ll have a few less worries.

Moving To Clearwater? Three Insider Secrets To Know

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You’ve been considering it for awhile. Moving to Clearwater, Florida sounds like heaven, but after watching the news about Hurricane Matthew and his path of destruction, you are reconsidering the move. Don’t. Clearwater is a great place to live, and here are some insider secrets to help you make up your mind.

What about hurricanes?

First of all Hurricane Matthew or any of the other “biggies” that hit the East Coast did just that, hit the EAST coast. Clearwater is on the WEST coast of Florida and unless those hurricanes come up the Gulf, they will, at worst, bring rain.

Clearwater doesn’t actually get hit with that many hurricanes. Even the ones that come up the Gulf tend to be out further over the gulf by the time they get even with Clearwater. So give that sigh and calm back down. Your home and property is not as likely to be damaged in a hurricane as if you lived along the East Coast.

However, Florida requires new construction to be built to standards that include measures to make them more likely to withstand a hurricane.

Refreshing afternoon showers

Yes, summers are hot and humid, but the humidity is “released” by quickly passing afternoon storms. It’s really not that much hotter or more humid than other places on the East Coast. Have you been in New York City, Baltimore, Washington DC and further south in the summer? Humidity and high temps are not an aberration. Can you say in the 90’s with 70+% humidity? If you can take that you’ll be fine!

If you’re used to less humidity and heat in the summer, remember that just about everything is air conditioned! Also, all the other months of the year are very temperate. If you think wearing a sweat jacket in January is great, you’ll love it here!

“Snowbirds”

All those “snowbirds” you hear about? You know, the retirees who live in the northeast in the spring, summer and fall, but come south for the folder months? Yes they exist and yes, they make the traffic in the winter months a bit worse, but only from about mid November until March, then life is back to normal. If you’re moving from a high traffic area you won’t even notice it until it’s not there!

Should You “Stretch” To Buy A Better Home

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

All of the experts these days say that you shouldn’t even consider going over your budget, even a little, when buying a home. For a lot of people that’s a good piece of advice. But not everyone or every time. Sometimes you should “stretch” to buy a better home. So why and when is this a good idea?

Here’s why

First stretching your budget a bit will get you a home in a better location. That can be very important if you are worried about things like crime, resale value or proximity to a job.

Saving wear and tear on a $20,000+ car for an extra $10,000.00 should be a no brainer. Saving the worry about break-ins, muggings or worse should be a no brainer. Getting more than you purchased your home or ensuring higher equity should be a no brainer.

Stretching for better amenities should also be a no brainer. Again, spending about $10,000 more to get the kitchen or bath you want now instead of spending $30,000-$60,000 or more later should be a no brainer.

So when is it a good idea?

Well that depends on you, but if you’re a newly married couple that is planning for a family, stretching to get into a better school district would be a good reason to stretch.

Getting a starter home in a better neighborhood for the resale value would mean it is a good time to stretch.

One caveat, be super careful about the financing and do your due diligence. If you’re going to try to stretch, be sure you can afford it now and in the foreseeable future.

Listing Your Home For Sale? Make Sure You Are Minding These 3 Things!

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You’ve been thinking of listing your home for sale. If you want to sell there are a few things that you need to keep your attention focused upon. One is condition, one is price and the last is return on investment.

Condition of your property

The first thing you need to pay attention to is the condition of your property. Does it need updating? Walk from room to room and look with a critical eye.

Don’t look at it as your home with all the memories attached, look at it as if you are buying it. Would you pay top dollar? If not, make a list of things that need fixing, touching up and updating.

Ideas for updates

Take tours of model houses and see what types of finishes are in demand. Maybe they won’t be in your budget, but you will have ideas and can see if you can find a way to do something similar to your home. Then talk to a Realtor about what updates will bring you a good return on your investment. Remember, not all updates bring extra money, so be smart about where and what you are spending.

All of those lead to price considerations

If you don’t have the money to make big updates then ask that Realtor what the current value of your home could be. If that satisfies you, great. If not, then ask what is absolutely necessary to fix to get a better value. If you aren’t worried about budget as much, then your best bet is to ask your Realtor what is best to be done to get a great price, but not price your home out of the neighborhood.

Keep these things in mind and you’ll have the best outcome for your home!

Is This A Good Market To Sell FSBO

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You’ve been told before that selling your home “for sale by owner” or FSBO is a bad idea in a down market. So now that markets have improved, is it a better time to do so now? No, the same issues exist with FSBO in any market.

The Tampa market has definitely improved

That may mean some people think that it would be a good time to sell their homes themselves. They would be wrong.

The same reasons that make it a bad idea to sell FSBO in a down market are still the same in a good one. Do you have the time it takes to successfully market your home, hold open houses and make sure Realtors in the area are aware of your home for sale? Probably not.

Another of those reasons is especially important in this area: your listing not being seen by people from out of town. A lot of people looking for homes in this area are looking from out of the area. If they do see it somehow, their Realtor will be more likely to hesitate to work with a homeowner selling themselves.

“Save” the commission

Thinking that you will “save” the commission selling yourself, think again. The statistical reality is that you will get substantially less for the sale of your home.

According to a 2020 NAR Survey, the median selling price for a home sold with the assistance of a Realtor was $295,000 but the median sale for all FSBO homes was $217,000 last year.

So let’s do some math. The average commission is 6%. That means a home selling for the median, $249,000, would mean a commission of $14,940. The difference in the median Realtor assisted sale and the FSBO sale in the best circumstance is $39,000 and under the usual it goes to $97,100. The commission number is substantially lower than the difference in selling prices.

Find a Realtor instead of selling yourself. Your bank account will thank you.

The Deb Ward Team