Real Estate News

Great Reasons Buying A Home Is Better Than Renting

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

The common wisdom is that buying a home is better than renting. Common wisdom exists for a reason, buying is better than renting and here’s why.

The first reason is cost

If you rent a home it costs you more in 5 years than buying one does. Here’s how. If you rent a home for $1,500.00 per month for 5 years will cost you $90,000.00. Buying a home with a mortgage payment (principal and interest only) of $1,500.00 is $90,000.00… BUT a homeowner gets a tax deduction for the interest paid on their mortgage. Let’s say that deduction is a total of $3,000.00 or $250.00 a month. Over 5 years that’s $15,000.00. Deduct that from your 5 year amount paid out and you actually only paid $75,000.00! That doesn’t even take into account a First Time Home Buyer tax credit that you may qualify for if you’re a first time owner.

Finite vs infinite

Those monthly payments are finite with a purchased home, but infinite when you rent. Your mortgage has a beginning payment and end payment and once you pay that last payment, you get to live in your home with no monthly payment to stay there (beyond your real estate taxes). When you rent, you pay a monthly payment to live in the home with no end unless you leave. If you rent a home and walk away from it when the lease is over you leave with nothing but the possessions you came with. When you sell a home, you get back the equity, or value, that you put into the home. As you pay your mortgage, you gain equity from the amount of principal paid. You also gain equity when the value of your home rises. For instance, if you purchased your home for $150,000.00 and sell it ten years later for $250,000.00, you gained $100,000.00 in equity.

Repairs and updates

That rise in equity can come from changes in the market, but also in the value of repairs and updates you make to the home. Those repairs and updates can be made when you want and no one else gets a say. If you rent and want to update even the paint in a room, you need the permission of the landlord and if they say no, you’re stuck.

So yes, it pays to buy!

If you are thinking of buying a home in the Tampa Bay area, give The Deb Ward Team a call! 727-410-0336

10 Step Checklist For When It’s Time To Move

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You sold your home and now it’s time to move. There’s lots to do and not a lot of time to do it. Having a checklist with a timeline would be helpful. So here is one that could help.

60 days out and the contract has been signed and the process started. Whether or not it’s a sure thing, start your moving plans. Here are some things to do:

Call moving companies and get quotes for your move. Check things like Better Business Bureau and whether they are bonded and do in home assessments before offering their quote.

Check into whether your homeowners insurance will insure your expensive items. It not, find out how to insure them.

This means go through everything: closets, old boxes, basement, attic, etc. and decide what is moving and what is being trashed or donated. Use up food and supplies and only replace exactly what you need. Make a list, and document it with video on your cell phone, of your household items and their condition. It could come in handy if things are damaged in the move, or if you have a dispute with the moving company. Don’t expect it, but better safe than sorry.

In your moving notebook, be sure to keep a folder for receipts. Moving expenses are tax deductible. Also, if you have kids, call their current schools for records and their future schools for what is necessary to register your kids.

30 days out and the inspections are all done. Settlement is scheduled. Now you should:

Check with the movers to verify details.
Call and make arrangements to disconnect utilities at your current home. Call to schedule connections at your new home.
Start packing. Pack items that you won’t need for the next month. Mark boxes as to where they should go in the new house and keep a list of what is in each box.
Go online to the U.S. Post Office and file a change of address.
Check about banking. If your bank has branches in your new town, let them know about the move. If not, look into switching your banking to a new one.
Give your new address to friends and family, insurance company, doctors and specialists, cell phone company, credit card companies, and magazine and newspaper subscriptions.
Make sure your important papers file is up to date and with you. Don’t pack it. Same with valuables like jewelry.

One week until settlement and time to get it in gear:

Pack up everything you don’t need for the next week. Again, keep a list of what is in boxes and label them.
Dispose of paint, oil, and weed killers. Drain fuel out of mowers. Discard propane tanks from grills.
Gather keys and garage openers, any alarm codes and put them in one place so you can give them to the new owners.

Make a moving day survival kit with everything you’ll need when you get to your new home. Include toilet paper, snacks, bottled water, dishes, toiletries, towels, a few days’ worth of clothes. It’s possible that the movers could be delayed so you don’t want to be caught with nothing in your new home.

Moving Day!

Grab your moving day kit. Clean your now empty old home.

Before you leave it for the last time, check to be sure you have things like your cell phone and if you have pets pack food for them for a few days. Go to settlement.

Move!

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.

About The Dunedin Country Club | Dunedin Real Estate

November 11, 2021 By Deborah Ward

The Dunedin Golf Club, formerly the Dunedin Country Club, is an amazing place to play a round of golf or just relax in the clubhouse. Don’t forget that it’s a great place to hold your next event too!

A challenging course

The Dunedin Golf Club originally opened in 1927. It was designed by Donald Ross, a world renowned golf course architect. Ross provided a challenging course for the experienced golfer, but not one that is too difficult for beginners. The course was challenging enough that from 1945 through 1962 18 Senior Tour Championships were played there. Some of the best of the best have played there from Ben Hogan to Sam Snead to even the great Babe Zaharias!

Renovated and restored

In 2006 the club and course was renovated and restored. The greens, tees and bunkers were restored to what Ross originally drew up. Facilities were brought up to date and made gorgeous, serene and relaxing for after that challenging game. Even today’s greats love to play there.

Great tour players

Tommy Aaron, Mark Calcavecchia, John Daly, John Huston, Brittney Lincicome, Ben Crenshaw and many other great tour players have all played the course at the Dunedin Golf Club.

A great place to relax

After your game, the Clubhouse offers a great place to relax and have a fantastic meal, whether at The Fairway Grille, Dunedin Room or Ballroom. The Ballroom has an 800 square foot dance floor, full service bar and patio that overlooks the 13th hole.

You can host banquets, weddings or your next business event there

If your event is smaller, there are smaller rooms available. The Boardroom is available for meetings and conferences or small intimate dining. The Georgia McDermott Room is available for meetings or banquets or small private parties.

Why The Baby Boomers May Be Moving To Florida In Bigger Numbers

November 11, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Florida was once a haven for retirees, but after the 2008 recession that haven became something that Why The Baby Boomers May Be Moving To Florida In Bigger Numbers was out of reach for many of them (baby boomers) and the flow of retirees dried up. But the pendulum has started to swing the other way and many baby boomers are moving to Florida to retire again. During the recession of 2008 and for a quite some time since, retirees stayed close to home.

There are a number of reasons this happened

One was the fact that they couldn’t sell their homes. Many people rely on the equity in their homes to be able to retire and move. Without it they can’t.

On top of that, many people were forced into early retirement which caused huge financial stress, and they couldn’t rely on their investments because the stock market had taken a huge hit and took its time coming back as well. The younger end of the baby boomer generation still had kids in school which meant that moving was out of the question because they didn’t want to uproot their children.

Now those baby boomers are starting to move again

Some of the reasons that kept them in place have changed. For one, their homes have recovered a bit and they are back to having equity in them. Mortgage rates have stayed low making it easier for buyers to buy. Now that their kids are graduated and out, moving looks like it’s an option again.

Their bank accounts and stock portfolios have recovered too

While their nest egg isn’t quite back where it was, their savings and investments, coupled with the equity in their homes makes a comfortable retirement in a warmer climate do-able.

Here’s another important reason

The places where they call home have stayed expensive. Some states tried to slow the tax burden on their citizens, but many did not. In fact, some increased taxes to make up shortfalls in state budgets, further burdening retirees. Marry that with the ever rising expense of heating their homes during cold winters and moving somewhere cheaper to live because of lower heating and tax costs looks much better. Not to mention having to deal with the upkeep and snow as an older adult.

And so they move.

Why It Is Still Hard To Get A Mortgage For Clearwater Real Estate

November 11, 2021 By Deborah Ward

If you’ve been trying to buy a house this year, you know that it’s still hard to get a mortgage for your Clearwater home purchase. It had been a little easier to since about 2012, but starting this year, that ease in access tightened right up.

Websites like Zillow® track this kind of thing

What they have found is that credit availability this year is just about the same as last year. While experts expect that mortgage access will improve, a survey earlier this year said that 60 out of 100 economists and housing experts said they think regulation will loosen further, 2015 hasn’t been a banner year in that expectation.

Ease of credit access

The index hasn’t plummeted, but it stagnated for a bit. Zillow’s Mortgage Access Index measures ease of credit access, and a higher number means it’s easier to obtain. In July 2004 it was at 136, but by September 2010 it was at just under 12. Today’s numbers are hovering about 65, low, but much better than a few years ago.

Debt-to-income ratio

They look at things like credit scores and how low they are before there are mortgage denials. They look at debt-to-income ratio. That is the total monthly debt as a percent of gross monthly income. A higher debt-to-income ratio means that mortgage credit is easier not harder to get.

Loans at a higher rate

Private Mortgage Insurance rates and FHA loans at a higher rate also show an easing of mortgage credit. There are other factors, but these all show that those with a bigger risk factor getting mortgages shows that the access to mortgage credit is easing.

Mortgage credit is not easing

Lately those factors have shown that mortgage credit is not easing, and definitely not at the rate that it has been. It could change, if the experts are right. If they are, let’s hope that they don’t ease to the point of breaking.