Realtor Tips – Page 7

What Are The Average Temperatures In Clearwater, FL

November 11, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Clearwater, Florida is a great vacation destination, mostly because of it temperate climate. Sun, fun and beaches are the usual fare. Knowing the best time to go, given temperatures and rainfall, puts the most beach time in your future.

Average temperatures

Clearwater is located on the west coast of Florida, along the Gulf of Mexico, near Tampa. Part of its draw is the fact that its average temperatures are a high of 83° and an average low of 63°. Not too bad for any time of year! Of course an average means there are warmer and cooler times of the year, and Clearwater is no different. The warmest month is August with an average temperature of 82.1° and the coolest is January with an average temperature of 62.3°. The most rainfall also falls in August.

Water temperatures

Of course another group of temperatures that are important in figuring out a great vacation time are water temperatures. Anyone who has been in the Mid-Atlantic region in June when water temperatures are below 60°, knowing how chilly the water you’ll be swimming in is kind of important! So here are Gulf average temperatures by season: Spring is 73.7º; Summer is 84.7º; Fall is 76.7º; and Winter is 63.7º. The bottom line is there is no bad time of year to swim in the Gulf!

So it appears that any time of year is a good time of year to visit Clearwater, Florida!

Does It Still Make Sense To Buy Your Own Home?

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

With the real estate market doing well, you’ve been thinking about whether it makes sense for you to buy your own home. Well, given that rent payments are now just about on par with or sometimes even higher than mortgage payments, it just may make sense. Here are some other reasons to seriously consider buying your own home.

First, is that rental payment each month

Being the same or higher is reason enough, but those rental payments don’t benefit you, they benefit your landlord. When the payment is rent, the landlord uses it to improve the property and pay his or her mortgage.

Yes, a mortgage payment includes things like property taxes and homeowner’s insurance, but each payment you make on a mortgage earns you value in your home. And that homeowner’s insurance payment? It provides you a lot more coverage than renter’s insurance.

So no matter how you look at it home ownership gives you a lot more bang for your buck.

Stability

Owning a home also provides you with stability and the ability to make your home yours. You aren’t living at the whims of a landlord, hikes in rent or having to move and find another home.

This is especially important if you have children. Stability in where they live, go to school and grow up is important. It’s also important that you can make your home yours. You can take out walls, paint whatever color you want and change it up whenever you want. Your landlord wouldn’t let you do that.

Appreciation in value

Of course, that appreciation in value is important too. Not only in the difference in what you own on your mortgage versus what you bought it for, but also in how the value of your home goes up. Despite the fall in values when the bubble burst, over the decades it takes to pay off a mortgage home values do tend to increase. While not usually as quickly as before the bubble burst, but it goes up over time.

So go ahead and think hard about buying. It will be the best decision you could make.

Home Buying: Top 5 Things to Look For

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Home buying is exciting, but don’t let the excitement blind you to what will possibly become your everyday reality. The top 5 things to look for before you buy are important to making a great decision.

Do your homework. Make sure to do research on a neighborhood or area ahead of looking at home buying in it. What should you be looking for? Visit the home/neighborhood at various times of day or evening. Is it quiet or busy; is there a school next door that will be very busy 9 months out of the year? Check the newspaper for things like crime stats, or recent issues with water quality, proposed “improvements” to the area, etc. Talk to neighbors and see who owns or rents. Check land records for things like high turnover or the city/county for permits to rent properties.

Look for neighborhood/homeowners associations. They can protect property values, and socializing in the neighborhood. A great association can mean making fast friends who will be helpful look outs for your kids or your home if you go away. They can also be very restrictive, or prohibit you from doing things with your property. If you have a boat you want to park in the yard off season, will they let you?

Ask questions! What has the seller fixed and when? What improvements did they do and where are permit records? A perfect example would be a “fix” done to stop a leak in the basement. You wouldn’t want to unwittingly undo it, so being aware is a good idea. However, finding there were no permits pulled for that new room, kitchen or bath can be a huge red flag. Get a home inspection. Know what you are getting into when you buy. Forewarned is forearmed.

Ask about “incidental” bills. Find out average utility costs, electric, water and sewer. Find out what the yearly real estate taxes are and if they are slated to go up. If the home hasn’t been assessed in several years, expect that the sale will trigger a new assessment and tax bill.

When you are home buying, look at the extras on the home and make sure you can afford the upkeep. That pool or automatic sprinkler system may be great, but there are costs. Water bills, maintenance and so forth. They won’t go away, so be sure it is something you can afford.

Lastly, what is the area like? Look at what is two blocks away. Is there an airport nearby? Find out how far away the closest farm is. Agriculture is great for keeping wide open spaces, but it also means dust, and seasonal smells when it’s time to fertilize.

Is Price Really That Important When Selling Your House?

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

When you think about selling your house the first thing you think of is price. But is price really all that important in selling? It’s more of a piece to a puzzle that ends in the sale of your home. Price isn’t the “be all end all”, other pieces play key roles too.

Price isn’t everything!

Now that I have your attention, let me say again, price isn’t the “be all end all”. Yes, it’s important in getting buyers to see your listing. Yes, it’s important in getting it right so it sells.

The importance of price isn’t being downplayed. What is also important are other things. Things like condition, amenities and location.

Location, condition, etc.

You know that when you looked for your current home you were looking for a lot of things other than price. You wanted a certain number of bedrooms and baths, a certain square footage. Most likely you didn’t want a home that needed a lot of updating.

In Florida a property with a pool is also a big selling point. So size, condition and home amenities were important in your search.

So why would you ignore those things when selling your house?

Have you seen the commercial for Trulia where they talk about “the house is only half of it?” The commercial is to advertise their map overlays to show things about the neighborhood where the listings are located. These overlays show crime, schools, traffic and so on.

Neighborhood amenities and location are super important. Some great research went into the basis of that commercial and Trulia along with Harris Polling found some numbers that might just open your eyes.

Neighborhood, square footage, etc.

According to the survey, 84 percent of Americans said that neighborhood is as important to their home search as the home itself and they would be willing to overlook or give up certain things to live in their ideal neighborhood. Things like a furnished basement (55 percent), square footage (33 percent), a garage (21 percent), or a yard (19 percent). Things like the safety of your neighborhood and its proximity to jobs, shopping and so on were very important.

For parents schools were even more important to them than the rest. While location isn’t something you can control, it is something you can play up if your home is located well. So stop making price your top priority.

Make the best things about your home the priority and you will get the price you want.

Want To Sell Fast For The Most Money? Don’t Make These Classic Seller Mistakes

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

It’s time to sell your home! You have a contract on a new home and need to sell fast. If you want to sell for the most money, don’t make these classic seller mistakes.

First classic seller mistake is overpricing your home

Your home is valuable to you, of course, but thinking that someone will pay more than what the market value happens to be is one quick way to watch it sit on the market. Instead, ask your Realtor to help you set the best asking price for a fast sale.

That doesn’t mean you will have to bargain basement it. Quite the opposite. However, setting the price high thinking you can lower it later will backfire in a big way.

Next classic seller mistake is leaving all your clutter around

There are two schools of thought on personal items: leave a few personal items out or completely depersonalize the home. No matter which your Realtor advises, leaving a bunch of clutter around will kill interest in your home very quickly. Clutter makes your rooms appear smaller and, to be honest, less clean. Pack it up, move it out and make your move later even quicker.

Lockboxes

Ok, so your home is priced right and decluttered, so the next classic seller mistake is not using a lockbox. Realtors use lockboxes to leave a key handy for other Realtors to show your home. The access to the box is controlled, but it makes showings easier. Use one.

Being at home

A classic seller mistake that is, well, awkward is being at home when your home is being shown. Being there will make prospective buyers hesitant to really look at your home. It’s expected that they look in closets and cabinets to see how big they are, but you being there will make them feel weird about doing so. They won’t be as apt to ask the important questions about your home because they might feel you will be offended. Go find yourself somewhere to be for about a half an hour to an hour.

Declining offers

Lastly, don’t make the mistake of declining offers just because of a couple hundred dollars. If an offer is for a bit less than expected, talk with your Realtor to see if there are other things that might make it the best offer to take.

Why Are Zillow Zestimates So Far Off Sometimes?

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You’ve seen the commercials, you know, the ones where people find their dream home and just know they can afford that house in the neighborhood they can’t afford to buy in because the Zillow Zestimate said so. It’s a nice commercial, but it’s not telling you the truth.

Automated valuation models

Zillow, and others, use something called automated valuation models or AVMs to figure out the value of a property. They use it to help buyers make a buying decision, given that 90% of buyers start their search for a new home on the internet.

The technology works something like this. They amass tons of information that are publicly available sources and put them through a sophisticated algorithm to predict value. It seems like it should work like a charm, but Zillow’s Zestimates are rather inconsistent.

Several factors that will affect pricing

A Realtor will tell you that the market can change from week to week and neighborhood to neighborhood. No algorithm, however sophisticated, can do things like quantify the value of a kitchen that was recently updated or a poorly maintained home.

That means that there are several factors that will affect pricing that aren’t part of the AVM. What it really can only do is look at closed sales in a particular zip code and get the average.

That is certainly not going to give you the right figure of either a sales or a buying price. If that neighborhood is out of reach it’s a pretty good bet that the AVM estimate that says you can buy in is most likely off. If you want to know for sure, call a Realtor.