Real estate values in Jacksonville have been declining for years, and 2011 looks to be holding steady with the trend.  Several reports are out stating that we are back to 2003 values.

Home Buyers:  Should you buy a house in 2011?

That's an easy question to answer:  Yes, IF you plan to live there for 5+ years.  No, IF you know you will be moving within the next few years.

Reasons to buy a home in Jacksonville this year:

  1. Inventory: Plenty of homes on the market to choose from.
  2. Interest Rates: If you haven't heard the radio blasting commercials, interest rates are at very very low rates.  Buy more home with less money.
  3. House Prices: See graph above.  Prices are down, so again more house with less money.
  4. Timing: This won't go on…

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Question of the week:

Can I sell my home if I'm in Foreclosure?

Answer: Absolutely you can sell your home once in Foreclosure!

In Florida, your foreclosure begins once you have been served papers which is technically called Lis Pendens.  This is the legal notice that your lender is bringing a law suit against you in order to legally take the property.  From this point you are in Pre-Foreclosure.

During the Pre-Foreclosure stage the lien holder will keep moving forward through the legal system and eventually have a hearing where the auction date/sale date will be set.

At any point during this long process, you have the ability to sell your house.  HOWEVER, time is of the utmost importance!  The sooner you make contact with us, or any other…

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Let's be honest, short sales in Jacksonville are a part of our life and will be for some time to come.  Let's also be honest about the process of selling or buying a short sale, it can be painful as you wait for months and months not knowing if the bank will accept the offer.

The good news:  Short Sales are speeding up!

The time frame for getting an approval from the bank is hovering around 80 days.  Believe it or not, that is a fairly big improvement over just a few months ago when almost all banks were dragging before the holidays.

Why Short Sales are speeding up:

  • Proactive Banks: Several banks have decided to get real, real fast.  Chase, for one, finally recognized they had a problem and started initializing the document collection from…

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Selling a home in Jacksonville?   Avoid these 6 mistakes:

  1. Pricing for Yesteryear: Too many home sellers are caught up in what the home is worth based on the bubble years.  It's very important to start from scratch by having a market report created that will establish a value range.  If you would like an opinion of value contact a licensed Jacksonville Real Estate Agent.
  2. Lack of Competitive Knowledge: You must understand what is on the market that will be your competition.  It's more than just a price.  Do the competitors have a pool, private yard, large yard, culdesac, bonus room, 3 car garage, screened lanai, etc?  Knowing who your competitors are will help to price appropriately.
  3. Hiring the Wrong Agent: Today's market requires more skill…

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The Spring season of home buying is here and inventories of homes for sale in North East Florida reflect the sales activity.  Items to take note of:

Months Inventory: Inventory is going down faster than new listings are hitting the market.

Active Listings: Check out the red dots trending down.

New Listings: The gold dots in this graph show an uptick in new listings, which is normal for this time of year as sellers prepare their homes for the Spring selling season.

Sold: The black dots identify the sold inventory, and as expected, sales volume is up.

Important Take Away: Homes are selling!  Listening to the news you would think there are 1 or 2 sales per month, but that's just not the case.  Homes are absolutely selling every single day…

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Bank of America Short Sale: Instituted a system called Equator to better handle the process.   It has!  They've gone from the worst to one of the best and to make it even better, BOA is often ordering a full appraisal on the property rather than hinging their entire valuation on a random Broker Price Opinion from some random yahoo from 5 counties away willing to complete the tedious task for $45.  BOA is now a preferred bank to work with on short sales.  

Wells Fargo Short Sale: Wells goes through cycles and I think it's most often determined by the negotiator.  Currently, I'm having good success with Wells and I've had great success with Wells in the past including a 14 day approval that is very rare.  Wells Fargo is a preferred short sale bank.

…

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Jacksonville on the Forbes Best Retirement Places List

YES!  We made it on the list!

Forbes list are always a mystery to me.  Year to year cities can make the list and then be completely off the list for the next few years.  Do they change their criteria?  Do they have a sophisticated algorithm that they tweak like Google tweaks theirs?  Do they throw darts at a map?  Who knows, and for 2011, who cares.  Jacksonville made the list!

What helped Jacksonville make the list?

  • Climate:  We have, what I like to call, a temperate Florida climate.  Which I define as being warm when it is supposed to be warm, but also very comfortable during the Spring and Fall, and still have a chance to wear a jacket every so often in the middle of winter.  We…

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Updated for 2014 - We stay current here!

Deciding to Short Sale your home is a tough decision, however it is often the smartest decision. 

Walking away from a home and not working with the bank will have much worse consequences!  Many people don't know that in Florida, the banks have the right to collect the deficiency in a Foreclosure up to 5 years after they resell the property!

The Deficiency in a Foreclosure:  the amount you owed, plus fees, late fees, attorney fees, MINUS the amount the home sells for minus realtor commissions minus closing fees, etc.  The deficiency could be very large and most often much larger than that in a Short Sale! Take into account that foreclosures sell for 30% less than a short sale, and you've got yourself a…

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Home Values continue to drop nationwide but there are so many conflicting news stories about the housing market, it's hard to know what is actually happening.  This graph from Zillow, shows the run up in values and then the fast decline of values to current day 2011.  I like this graph as it doesn't interpret housing starts, foreclosure filings, mortgage delinquencies, pending sales, etc.  It just shows the values, which is a sum result of all those other statistics.

What does this mean for Jacksonville Home Owners? Nothing.  If you own a home, you've known for the last 4 years that your house is worth less and less year after year.  Not trying to be cold here, it's just the facts.   If you don't want to sell, no worries, you don't realize the loss…

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HAMP or Home Affordable Modification Program has been a complete failure.  Here are some of the more recent articles on the failures:

Home Owners Protesting that it's a SCAM

Only 1 in 4 got mortgage relief

And the most honest, realistic article of them all comes from Fox Business:  HAMP UPDATE:  Foreclosure More Likely Than Modification.

Many home owners who have attempted modification, soon find themselves in foreclosure after they are put through the endless amounts of big bank red tape.  If you are in this situation, DO NOT WALK AWAY from the home!  You have options.

Start researching Short Sales.  It is your best option for getting out of a home that you can no longer afford. I consistently sell houses for Jacksonville home owners who…

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