Tips and Information written for Selling your home in the Jacksonville Florida Area.

Hot Question of the week:  When should I list my home for sale?

I've been getting this question a lot more recently.  There have been many home owners who would like to sell their current house and buy a new home but they have been waiting for the market to turn.

Before you put your home up for sale, have the proper expectations for the current real estate market:

  1. Competition:  There are still a lot of homes on the market.  Check out this Google Real Estate Map to see a birds eye view of just how many homes are on the market in Jacksonville, FL.
  2. Pricing:  If you purchased your home between 2004 and 2008, you most likely paid more than what it is worth today.  You can read about the value drops in a CNN Money magazine article.  If you are…

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Short Sales are very complex and take everyone working together to finally get an approval from the Banks.  To learn more about short sales you can go to our Short Sale Information Guide linked to below.

A trend has started to emerge within the Short Sales that we have been negotiating.  The banks, for what ever reason, have denied several short sales due to lack of communication with the Owners.

If the owner has fallen behind on payments, the lender will often start collection calls - sometimes twice a day!  Even after we have a buyer for the house and have submitted an offer to the lender, the calls keep coming in.  The banks are so over capacity with short sale business, the different departments within the bank have no idea of what is happening…

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Hot question of the day: I owe $X, do you think the bank will take $y?

When selling your home via Short Sale, most people think the bank is concerned about what is owed on the property.  Regardless of what is owed, the bank's only concern is what the property is currently worth.  Again, the only real number is what the property is worth in today's real estate market.

That means, if you owe $1.5mm dollars on a beautiful waterfront home and the surrounding waterfront comparable sales point towards a price of only $900,000, the bank wants an offer around $900,000.  Will they do their due diligence to make sure they aren't giving it away:  YES!

If you need to sell and find yourself upside down in value, it's time to Short Sale.  It's the best option…

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Short Sales Speed Up!

Short Sales are about to finally speed up!  The Treasury department is putting big pressure on mortgage companies to speed up the short sale process.  The MAJOR change:

  • Answers within 10 days from the bank when a Short Sale offer is submitted

This change can't happen soon enough!  However, the time line actually starts April 1oth, 2010.   Lenders can go ahead and start complying sooner if they choose.  They have financial incentives to approve these sales and get them off their books.

Short Sales have been a grueling process for just about everyone involved.  Mostly due to the extremely long process it takes to get any information from the lender.  This big change will finally force banks to make a decision one way…

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Reported this morning on a national news channel, only 5% of Americans are either in the market or about to be in the market to buy a home.

This number is very low, but not surprising considering the current economy.  The really good info was the demographic as they reported the MAJORITY of that 5% were under the age of 35.  The "under 35" category is made up of Gen-X and Y, and they believe the market has bottomed out and now is a great time to pick up good values.

Jacksonville home buyers support the national news report

The majority of homes that I have sold in the past few months were purchased by first time home buyers which supports the national trend as well.  Not surprisingly, the homes that were neutral in color, very clean, with well…

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I get this question often:

How do I speed up a Short Sale in Jacksonville?

A short sale is a long and tedious process for the seller, the buyer, the agents, and the bank/s holding the mortgage.  No matter what, it takes more time to close a short sale than a regular real estate transaction.  Can you speed it up?  Yes, absolutely.  However, it requires knowledge on the front end before making the offer.

Keys to speeding up a Short Sale:

  1. Work with Professionals: First and foremost, you must choose the right REALTOR to sell your home.  Choose the wrong REALTOR from the beginning and you have pretty much sealed your fate.  Questions to ask?  How many years have you been doing short sales?  Have you ever closed a short sale deal?  Do you…

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Jacksonville Homes rank as a Top 5 for best deals in the country!

Check out this video!  This is one of the leading experts in the real estate world, Barbara Corcoran, talking about the top 5 best places to get a good deal in the country in a good location.

In the report she states that Jacksonville homes have seen a nearly 50% drop in value from 2008 numbers driven by one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country.  She's right, the values have dropped considerably from the over-inflated values of yesterday.

Realistically, most home owners in Jacksonville are coming to terms with the value of their home.  It's less than last year.....especially if your neighborhood has many homes that are selling for bank pricing.

Two distinct…

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"Chasing the market down":  What Jacksonville Home Owners need to know

This term has been tossed around more frequently over the last few months.  I've heard sellers use it, buyers, mortgage professionals, and appraisers.  Just what the heck does it mean?

The best definition is an example of what is happening every day in Real Estate during a declining or flat market.   It's happening everywhere and it's definitely happening here in Jacksonville.  Here are the steps as it most often occurs:

  1. Real estate agent suggest house price of $280k as comparable sales support that price.
  2. Owners insist on $300k.  "Our house is nicer and we've added a _fill in the blank_"
  3. 3 months go by, little action after multiple potential buyers look at the home.
    4. …

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Say the word "Short Sale" around any group of real estate agents in Jacksonville, FL or any where else in the country, and you should just sit down and get ready for a lengthy debate.

Some agents absolutely despise working with short sales and simply won't work with them as a seller's agent or a buyer's agent.  A few real estate agents specialize in short sales regardless of their feelings towards the often difficult process.  Home buyers and sellers are frustrated too.  

What's the issue with Short Sales?

  1. Banks' inefficiencies: The banks are a complete mess.  Most have little to no processes set up for doing short sales.  This is the root problem for most complaints.
  2. Paperwork mess: Unless the homeowner and real estate agent are very…

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Need a Short Sale real estate agent in Jacksonville FL?

Why go through foreclosure if you can Short sale the home in Jacksonville?  Wiki definition of short sale here. If you are underwater in Jacksonville, FL, here is the correct path to take if you have a hardship and need assistance:

  1. Loan Modification: If your home is too far upside down in value - don't bother doing one of these.  You will just be financing an over valued property that may take a DECADE before you break even.  Go to step 2 below.
  2. Short Sale: You must qualify, but this is option #2.  The house is sold out on the open market for the going market value....which is typically much less than is owed.  The lenders are much more open to taking a short sale in today's market.  The…

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