To get absolute top dollar for your home, you must prepare your house for sale.  I'm always amazed at the condition of many homes I visit, and it's even worse when my Buyer customers start commenting on the poor condition of homes that are attempting to be sold for a premium price.  Don't make that same mistake!  Take the time and get your house ready for the market.

Top tips to prepare your house for sale:

  1. Start Outside:  Curb appeal can't be stressed enough.  Cut the lawn, edge everything, and trim back hedges and tree limbs.  Now is not the time want a "private" yard.  You want light and high visibility.  Fertilize, water, freshen the mulch, and get some seasonal flowers planted.  The importance of this front picture is everything.  It's…

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Mortgage rates have been bouncing all over the place this year.  This chart shows the increase and decrease, although in the last week rates have dropped back down in the low 4.2% range for highly qualified buyers.  In other news the banks have started loosening up a bit.  The average credit score of borrowers has dropped from the high 700's we had a year ago down to the lower 700's.  This is a clear sign that the banks are becoming a little more aggressive at getting new loans in the door. 

Search Homes for Sale in Hot Communities in Jacksonville FL

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1. Find a waterfront real estate agent.  You want a true waterfront specialist.  The average agent will not have the knowledge needed to guide you through the waterfront buying process.

2. Get financing before you shop.  The mortgage market has heavily changed.  You will either be paying cash or most likely be in a Jumbo Loan.  Jumbo loan limits and down payment percentages are different between lenders.  The faster you can get your financing set up, the smoother your buying and closing process will be.  Contact Brad for our preferred waterfront jumbo loan lenders.

3. Consider the land more than the house.  Location is everything when it comes to waterfront.  You can always add on, renovate, update, or mow down and rebuild.  You can not change…

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Interesting stats coming in from Realtytrac and Tyler Durden at Zerohedge.  The articles are referencing the overwhelming number of purchases that are both ALL CASH and institutional investor purchases.

Institutional investors are those large investor conglomerates like Blackstone that are buying up every house in Jacksonville under $200,000.  No kidding.  About as fast as I can get homes on the market under $200k, that are newer homes, and in good condition, I get all cash - sight unseen offers from my friends at Blackstone.   Regardless if they are short sales or not, they want them.

Jacksonville is one of their target markets, and the report stated several interesting facts:

- institutional investors made up 23 percent of home purchases in…

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Waterfront home in Jacksonville are always in demand and now that the economic climate seems to be getting slightly more favorable, we are seeing even more sales at higher price points.

Some interesting Jacksonville waterfront home sales stats:

48:  The number of waterfront homes in Jacksonville sold in the last 90 days.

$3,500,0000:  The highest priced waterfront home that sold in the last 90 days.  (Picture of this Atlantic Beach beauty above).

9:  The number of waterfront homes sold above $1,000,000.

10:  The number of waterfront homes between $500k - $1mm.

$983:  The highest sold list price per square foot of these 48 waterfront homes.  (NOT the same house as pictured above).

$273:  Average price per square foot of all 19…

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Wells Fargo Short Sale Success!

All banks that have any mortgages in Florida have finally come around and realized this is 2013 and home prices haven't shot back up to 2006 levels.  (7 years ago!)  Wells Fargo included.  

This particular Wells Fargo short sale went pretty smoothly, as I'd expect with Wells Fargo now that they are more eager to work with Short Sales.  This home was in the World Golf Village area, and the amount owed was well over the current true market value.  

Unfortunately, this home was like so many homes in the newer home communities....well cared for, well outfitted with nice custom features, and absolute turn key ready for new owners.  The unfortunate part is the owners would typically get a higher price for their hard…

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Jacksonville, like most cities, is flooded with Real Estate companies and Real Estate agents.  It's hard to figure out who will provide the best results, but I believe a few core facts and philosophies make RE/MAX the logical choice.

RE/MAX Business Philosophy:  this is straight from the founder, Dave Liniger:

RE/MAX is a team rather than a family.  "There are other companies that look at their real estate network as a family," Liniger said. "In a family, everybody's accepted and loved, even if they don't do anything to support the family.  But a team is different; a team is out there to win. RE/MAX is a team ­– the best team that's ever been put together in the history of the real estate business."

I personally like this approach.  Too many…

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That's right!  In 365 days, aka 1 year after a Short Sale you will be eligible for an FHA loan in Jacksonville or Ponte Vedra Florida!

This is a recent underwriting change that affects people who have had a Foreclosure, Short Sale, or Bankruptcy.  Previously you had to wait 3 years after a Short Sale or Foreclosure and 2 years after a bankruptcy.  Seems that would have been in reverse, but at the time the federal government deemed short sellers to be a bigger threat to FHA than Bankruptcy.  I always thought this was odd .... but now it doesn't matter, both are just 1 year.  

Jacksonville FHA Limits = $387,500.  That's a lot of purchase power!

A few caveats:   FHA is allowing for the consideration of borrowers who experienced an "Economic Event"…

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Another Happy Home Seller - Hampton Park Jacksonville

Bank of America continues to be our largest supply of short sales.  I believe it is mostly due to their takeover of Countrywide back in the day, which gave them a less than favorable portfolio of loans that were defaulting about as fast as Countrywide was making new loans in 2005.  

Regardless, BOA and all their shell companies/affiliated servicing companies continue to work through the massive amount of home owners seeking short sale.  We've had great success with them as we've been able to set up processes to handle their ever changing process......and we've found the right inside people to go to with escalation request.  Having an inside person always helps!

One great thing about a Bank…

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