Bonita Springs Fl Real Estate

Selling Real Estate of the Dearly Departed | Probate

chrisgriffith — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:11:10 +0000

Selling Real Estate With Care After Probate

The only thing certain in life is death and taxes … and probably how emotionally taxing death is when liquidating real estate. Selling real estate is stressful enough for some folks without compounding it with the emotional burden of liquidating the remaining assets of someone dear or even your own assets after losing a spouse and choosing to move on.

Real estate agents are in a unique position when they’re called for basic advice and to find out where to start, what to do. In the last few months I’ve had a few close friends, family members and acquaintances call because they simply didn’t know where to start. My advice is generally to be patient, be brave enough to ask for advice and to hire experts to represent their best interests or those of the estate.

Be patient: Because every circumstance is different, the first thing I tell people is to not act in haste. Don’t sell in a panic just because you feel you need to get rid of the real estate as soon as possible.

There’s a huge difference between deciding to liquidate real estate and selling to purge the horrible feelings and be rid of the state of affairs everyone involved is experiencing. Emotions can easily become the largest hidden expense of selling real estate when grief is involved, whether it’s selling the assets from a death, divorce or unemployment. It can become a business decision clouded by heartache. Many sellers become rushed and don’t take the time to pause and analyze the financial benefits of holding or selling their real estate. Money is thrown away when there’s panic and a decision to sell, as soon as possible, at a price that is below market.

Ask for advice: Besides speaking with attorneys and real estate agents, ask for the advice of trusted family members, close friends, clergy or even a grief counselor. While there are many organizations offering free counsel, making an appointment and paying for private grief counseling to help with important decision making, will pay for itself. Plus, it’s a third party with nothing to gain when there are family dynamics and added stress pulling from different directions.

Find experts to help: There are a few interviews that should take place when you’ve decided to liquidate real estate. If there isn’t an attorney involved, it would be wise to find a great real estate attorney. Also, interview three or more real estate agents to verify the state of the market and qualify the suggested market price and to gauge the experience and ability of the real estate agent. Always write down the suggestions and advice so you can weigh and balance the answers of everyone you’ve interviewed and spoken to.

Last but not least, it is easy to become overwhelmed. If you’re feeling uncomfortable when hiring someone to help settle the estate or hiring someone to sell the real estate, pump the brakes. Remember the old adage to measure twice, cut once. It’s always more costly to make a bad hire than to carefully screen for an experienced, qualified hire and that includes settling the final affairs of liquidating real estate.

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Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area. Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor. If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

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Real Estate Disclosures and Paper Cuts

chrisgriffith — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:21:41 +0000

Why Are There So Many Real Estate Addendums

About a decade ago I faxed (fax machines were once bleeding edge) a contract to a prospective real estate purchaser. She worked in the Pennsylvania school system and gave me a number at work to fax it to. A few hours later she called and said, I had no idea it would be that many pages. Why are there so many pages? At the time it was a mere twelve or thirteen pages, total.

Since then, contracts have gradually expanded from four pages to ten pages. On top of that, there is a disclosure for just about everything except for disclosing the hair color of the buyers placing the offer. I just glanced at my last sales contract which happened to be a modest condo with no bank involvement or legal issues – twenty two brilliant white pages, half of the pages were contract and the other half disclosures.

Since we live in such a litigious society, it only takes one little lawsuit to inspire a new disclosure that will hopefully be a preventative measure to deter a similar situation from happening again. Buyers and sellers of real estate are consumers and the powers that be in the State of Florida want to make sure the consumers are protected and that they’ll enjoy their shopping experience. That is good … and with that protection comes the paperwork.

For example, they want to make sure you don’t wake up and suddenly realize that with your home purchase you ended up belonging to a homeowner association that you didn’t know you were going to belong to … and it’s mandatory. (Insert ominous, echo.) It obviously happened to someone, somewhere or the proper fee wasn’t disclosed to the buyers and that’s how that disclosure was born.

Any legal measure generally boils down to money and consumer safety. As a consumer they’re trying to make sure your money is safe, there are no hidden expenses or fees and, after you move in, your family lives in an environment free from toxins or hazardous materials.

There are disclosures, such as the defective drywall disclosure and a mold disclosure that are meant to protect your money and safety and disclose that a buyer is permitted to obtain those inspections at their own expense, of course. Certainly consumers from outside of the area may not know about or understand defective drywall so it brings it to their attention, or a new level of worry. It’s currently a mandatory disclosure by many real estate brokerages in the Southwest Florida area, whether the home was built in 2004 or 1973.

There’s a mountain of disclosures that accompany real estate transactions these days. It’s not going away any time soon. Hopefully, your agent will be joining the paperless movement so you can sign documents electronically and if you’re fortunate the lender involved will recognize and accept electronic signatures on the contract. They didn’t like fax machines once, either.

Before electronic signatures are mainstream consumers will still be printing, signing, and scanning a couple dozen pages just to make sure everyone is properly informed and that all material facts and defects are disclosed to all parties. The paper cuts and spent ink cartridges are the cost of doing business.

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Snail Mail in Brendan Cove | Bonita Springs, Florida

chrisgriffith — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:20:32 +0000

Bonita Springs Real Estate is Escargoing Fast!

That was funny to me! Anywho, my friend Lisa, a New Orleans Real Estate agent mentioned my mailbox posts in a Facebook comment. I realized that it has been a while since I posted one. Oddly, just days ago I ran into this little critter the other day and thought, snail mail … perfect for the real estate blog, snapped his picture and forgot about it.

This is this snail’s 15 minutes of fame so leave a comment in place of applause. If you’re wondering, his little rascal was in Brendan Cove in Bonita Springs, Florida. If you know of an interesting mailbox in Bonita Springs let me know. I’d love to add it to the collection!

Real Estate Financing Questions | Mortgage Mailbag

chrisgriffith — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:46:43 +0000

Mortgages, Divorce, Refinance and Quit Claim Deeds

A couple of great mortgage questions have come in over the last few weeks …

Question: We’re considering selling our place and purchasing another and we would like to do back to back closings. Is this something that can be done?

Not everyone can pay cash for real estate and there are consumers taking advantage of the great prices to move around or upsize. Much like stacking rows of dominos, counting on one closing to fund the next closing is a tricky position to get into. Besides a home owner having to sell one to get into the next home, there are circumstances where the actual buyer of your home must close sale on the home they live in to be able to purchase your home, you must close sale on the home you live in to be able to close your own new home purchase.

There are one hundred and one possible ways that back to back closings can go haywire. They can also go well, but it really takes some homework and investigation of the contracts and mortgages involved in each transaction in the long line of dominos. Plus, even as careful and thorough as everyone can be, things can still go wrong; last minute underwriting issues, a lender decides not to fund mortgages in the state of Florida, one of the borrowers loses their job in the process, one of the borrowers financed another big ticket item and no longer qualifies for the mortgage, if it’s a condo and the condo questionnaire goes hinkey. The list of last minute surprises can go on.

Like I said, the situation is tricky and you most seriously need to have an experience real estate agent and very good mortgage broker who understand your situation inside and out or you could end up wondering where you’re going to sleep and where to park that moving truck full of your possessions.

Question: Is it possible to finance the down payment or closing costs for a home purchase?

The short answer is there are a few mortgages available where this is possible, but it’s not possible with all mortgages. The long answer is you need a superb mortgage broker who can direct you to the proper mortgage product and determine whether the property you’re interested in qualifies for that particular type of mortgage. There are a few mortgage products which may allow you to roll in the closing costs as long as the purchase price, which may include a sum or percentage for fees, is supported by the appraisal.

Question: We’re breaking up and my spouse would like to keep the house and has asked me to sign a quit claim deed to get my name off of the house. Is it really as simple as filing this new deed with the clerk’s office?

Call a real estate attorney before you sign a anything. I’d guess that the first question an attorney will ask you is if there a mortgage on this home and is the spouse also refinancing to take you off of the mortgage? If not, you could be relinquishing ownership of the home by signing the quit claim deed but still be responsible for the mortgage. Not only financially responsible for that mortgage but also jeopardizing your ability to qualify for other large purchase down the road, like a new car or another home because the debt from “the quit claimed home” shows on your credit report. It’s worth seeking professional legal advice to make sure you’re doing the right thing and not making a poor financial decision in haste.

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Twinkle Lights and Hurricane Tape

chrisgriffith — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:37:23 +0000

Selling Your Bonita Springs Home – Remove Dated Decor

There isn’t a more magical time of the year than Christmas, uh, “the holidays”. A good portion of the masses deck their halls and don their lights with gay apparel as early as, well, before Thanksgiving now. I think it was a little about two weeks before Thanksgiving that I forever deprogrammed a radio station in my car which made the mistake of trying to make me choke down “rum pum pum pum” before I had even guilted my children into buying the turkey and pulling out the pilgrim salt and pepper shakers.

With the festivities weeks behind us I’ve notice while, showing properties in the area, twinkle lights hanging lifelessly from the eaves of homes, blowing in the wind. Just to be clear, I have nothing against Christmas or twinkle lights, I’m not profiling. It’s just that there is a time and place for everything and the time for 2011 twinkle lights has passed; rest their tiny, lifeless souls.

Post-holiday twinkle lights represent the passing of the season and all the commercial possibilities promised to the American consumer such as the toys that blessed children asked Santa for, which then came without batteries to run them and the gifts of mediocrity, guaranteed to be re-gifted next year.

I’d reckon that if the proper tests and surveys were performed, twinkle lights should legitimately have about the same decorative shelf life as hurricane window tape; counting the days from installation a few days before the event, the day of the event, seven to ten days after the event, then removal.

Partly, I’m joking about the hurricane tape on windows. Tape never looks good in season or out of season. The twinkle lights quite possibly brought joy to children at least once. The magical storm resistant tape had no business being used to begin with and it does not work.

At the risk of upsetting a late-tape-taker-downer, I’m sorry but you wasted tape and you’re probably lucky to be alive and now your windows look like crap. You would have been wise to have field tested your windstorm safety plan by taking a roll of the tape of your choice, scotch, masking or duct tape and tape a big X across your chest and stand in the middle of flying debris to measure out how well the tape protected your person from flying roof tiles and lawn chairs.

Tape doesn’t work. Your homeowner’s insurance company would offer you a hurricane tape discount if it did and 3M would be crushing the Florida market in tape sales.

The Coup de grâce of expired exterior home décor would be the twofer of expired twinkle lights and tape window X’s but that leprechaun probably doesn’t exist. Probably. Send pictures if you’ve seen it.

All in fun and just a way to remind some of you folks know that if you listed your home or condo for sale sometime around Thanksgiving or after and you’ve not sold your real estate, you may now take down your lights and ask your agent for new marketing pictures to be taken … and probably reconsider that price reduction.

Digital holiday cheer is the gift that keeps on giving the whole year through and there’s nothing that screams “my real estate has been on the market since Christmas” more than a Christmas décor rolling through the visuals. Don’t let your home become a senseless casualty of the twinkle lights.

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Bonita Springs Florida Real Estate | What Price Range is Selling December 2011

chrisgriffith — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:06:39 +0000

What Price Range of Real Estate is Selling?

2011 went out with a bang! We have lift off of Bonita Springs home sales in the $400K price range and up. Tourist season came back and so did all of the Bonita Springs home shoppers looking for bargains. It’s been a while since the $400K and under price point dipped below the seventy percentile rate. That price point had to give way sooner or later as the real estate inventory has sold off like gang busters this year. You can compare this and many other market graphs by visiting the archives of the Bonita Springs real estate market reports.

Enjoy these other December 2011 Real Estate Market Reports:

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All information is deem accurate, not guaranteed and subject to change. Check the date on this report for freshness. If you have questions regarding your particular neighborhood, your street or your home specifically you’re welcome to contact us for a current market report. Real estate consumers that read this website are urged to seek independent, professional legal, real estate and financial advice before engaging in any transaction. All information is deemed, accurate, subject to change and not guaranteed.

Historical Bonita Springs Real Estate Sales | December 2002-2011

chrisgriffith — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:23:30 +0000

The History of Bonita Springs Home Sales

Ever wonder if “that many” home sales is either good or bad? How much real estate is selling in Bonita Springs? How many homes and condos sold in Bonita Springs last year? Here is a whole decade of Bonita Springs home sales (and condos and I tossed in Estero home sales, too). You can see we’re at about 2003 levels of real estate inventory.

Prices are down but we’re selling homes! We’re at a balanced real estate market in many price points and neighborhoods.

Enjoy these additional December 2011 real estate market reports:

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Bonita Springs Florida Real Estate | Condition of the Sale December 2011

chrisgriffith — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:46:23 +0000

Bonita Springs Homes and Bonita Springs Condo Sales

Like my friend Debbie in Tallahassee would say, Daggummit! I did this research a week ago and forgot to post and share it with you! So here you go … the results of the condition of the sales of Bonita Springs homes and condos when they sold in December 2011.

If you’ve been curious about how many foreclosures are really in the Bonita Springs and Estero Florida areas, here’s the answer. Equity sales of homes in Bonita Springs and Estero which are not considered a short sale or a foreclosure.

The properties included in this research are all residential real estate sales in Bonita Springs and Estero, Florida, all structure types from manufactured homes, to luxury tower residences.

Read more December 2011 real estate market reports here:

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Selling Your Soul for Real Estate Data

chrisgriffith — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:20:25 +0000

Real Estate Lead Capture

Maybe you’re curious about what your home is worth or you’re a serious buyer prowling the web for the latest new listings or price reductions in the area you want to buy a home in, sooner or later a pop up window will ask for more information. Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, getting free information online is probably one of the newest exercises in tolerance.

A home seller called me out of the blue to ask for information about selling their real estate, what the level of standing inventory was and what the probability of selling their condo was. The next question was why it is so hard to get info without “selling their soul” because so many websites require registration before consumers can get to the data or the balance of the restricted data.

Whether you’re buying an airline ticket, real estate or a custom Paul Jr. Designs chopper, there’s someone out there gaming the internet trying to make sure you click their web link first. As a consumer, it may have never occurred to you that there are web placement gamers who pay to be in ads and some pay to have better ranking websites which show up for the search terms specific to what you’ve searched for.

With the great advances of technology and searching for information on the internet comes the opportunity of generating information to make a little scratch, especially when it comes to real estate.

The field is wide open for “lead capture” when it comes to real estate. Yes, a good portion of the websites out there have now sized you, the consumer, up as a lead and not a person. Odds are that you can perform a search for “your city real estate” and the majority of the query shown in the top ten search engine results are mostly “helpful” websites that will ask you for more info so they can sell your information.

It’s not that difficult a task. A middle school student in Boise could create a mediocre website or pay per click ad campaign that focuses on Bonita Springs real estate or Naples real estate and either make money off of ad clicks or collect data to sell later. It’s all about the Benjamins.

What’s more is that there are the recognizable, so called “helpful” brand named real estate websites that appear to selflessly offer their assistance to consumers for a free home valuation only to gather your data to sell to the premium, subscribing real estate agents. Those same websites market to real estate agents with the promise of $X per month for the leads in a city or zip code. You, the consumer, are the lead and thought of with about the same regard as cattle in a herd.

It’s a challenge to get information out there unless you carefully search for a site that doesn’t need to know your blood type before you proceed. There are websites offering information which don’t always require registration or if registration is required, it’s disclosed that your data isn’t being mined and that your email address is simply a means to for automated updates on the saved searches you’ve created.

So if Jo Blow from Kokomo calls or emails you after you registered on a random website, now you know how they got your info.

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Real Estate Truth in Advertising Photos

chrisgriffith — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:19:03 +0000

Real Estate Photograph Fails

It’s a no brainer that pictures sell real estate, especially in the digital age. What is surprising is that there are still so many homes skating by or even floundering in the real estate market without proper or, at the very least, a weak representation of its unique characteristics whether they’re good or bad … and there are still some of them out there with “issues”.

There’s always been a question of whether using photos where major items are photoshopped into or out of existence regarding a home’s features is the right thing to do. The possibilities are endless with the photo editing technology available to anyone who cares to invest in the software.

I’ve seen several homes advertised with recycle old photos of homes before it was gutted or craigslisted by the former foreclosed home owner. “These photos are representative of how the home could look” is sometimes tucked away in the private remarks section of the report.

There isn’t a picture of the present condition but pictures of the possibilities one might enjoy if a fat wad of cash was dumped on top of the listed price. There are probably a few homes in the multiple listing service right now showing the potential of the home but not the fact that there is little left in it; no cabinets, no doors, no appliances.

It’s not fair to consumers who might want to know that sort of thing before they load up and waste their time seeing it if they’re not in the financial position or mind set to massively overhaul what remains of the structure.

I previewed a villa not long ago that had been completely looted. The front door was even gone, plywood on hinges in place and bare wires where coach lamps used to be. The only remaining item in the interior was a strip of tile on the kitchen wall where the back splash was. It was being marketed with “possibility pictures”.

A more truthful solution could be to show the actual condition of the interior and either shuffle the other images into the photo lineup or included them in the visual tour, along with the current photos of the home and the amenities and features of the community.

There are people who are actually looking for these sorts of warts and all projects so it would seem that it might be a good idea to market to them and not the people who don’t understand that mentioning “needs TLC” yet presenting a picture of granite tops and stainless appliances is, uh, not what they’re going to be getting.

The possibilities are endless for any property. There’s hope for my own home which could look just like Diane Keaton’s home as laid out in all its 1920’s, Hollywood splendor in Architectural Digest. I suppose it would be wrong for me to scan Diane’s pictures and add them to my marketing plan because my home technically “could” look like that, right? Everyone is allowed to dream.

It’s great to dream and also help consumers imagine the possibilities when looking at real estate. It just that when the dream version of a home is so far off from the reality of its current condition, maybe be part of the dream marketing plan should also be complete set of blue prints and detailed estimates for the services, labor and supplies it will take to make it look like the pictures.

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