Hello Greater Tampa Bay and Everyone else who would love to live in the Greater Tampa Bay this weekend is the weekend of the year that
This photograph is of hundreds of boats watching the Gasparilla Pirate Fest, which is held yearly in Tampa, Florida. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
boaters wait for with great enthusiasm.
This is the weekend of the Tampa Bay Boat Show. I have provided a link for you here for more information.
Year round boating is one wonderful reason we love living here.
Don’t start counting your chickens before they hatch. This article from the New York Times clearly states that this is being done for mortgage holders that what???? Qualify. You have to qualify for the reduction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/business/bank-of-america-starts-mortgage-reduction-effort.html
I am sitting in a short sale seminar at my local board of Realtors® and the first thing that p0pped up was this wonderful possibility. Their estimate is that 75-80% of all of you do not qualify. Sorry.
Do NOT shoot the messenger – do your research and find out IF you qualify before we start holding love-ins at our local BoA office.
Labels with bar codes, numeric codes, date and description for tracing products. Originally created for the article Rastreabilidade. Português do Brasil: Etiquetas com códigos de barras, códigos numéricos, data e descrição para o rastreamento de produtos. Originalmente criada para o artigo Rastreabilidade. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There have been a lot of articles showing up in the Greater Tampa Bay area regarding the fact that making a low-ball offer on a property is a waste of time, and that is true. The market has switched gears and seller’s are getting full-price offers and all is well with the market until……..
Until what? Until an appraiser comes and appraises the property. I advise every buyer we have to get an appraisal even if you are paying cash. Why would you want to over pay? Furthermore on our listings we advise our sellers to get an appraisal upfront. Spend the $300 to know if your house is priced right and you will have peace of mind when the right offer comes in that you will go to closing.
We have been working with the “Jones” family for 6 months. They are HUD buyers. They made a full-price offer on a lovely home that appraised at way below that offer. When I say “way below” I mean way down in the cellar below the asking price.
We quickly did some comparable peeks at the neighborhood and the HUD appraiser was spot on and the seller’s became victims of reverse sticker shock. They cried. They were very upset. They paid a lot more for the house then they can get out of it, and now they find out they won’t even pull the money they needed to get out of the sale.
The sad thing is that by leaving it on the market will hurt them more, so after some skillful negotiations that included both agent’s sides of the deal reducing commission the sale will go through.
We don’t know if this was a mistake on their agent’s part in pricing the sale or if they insisted on this price with finger’s crossed. The sad thing is that values have decreased. If you are going to list your home, do yourself a favor. Get an appraisal and price it accordingly.
In this topsy-turvy world of upside down homes on the market there are great deals out there, and full priced offers are happening. Just make sure your price is right where it should be and you won’t get reverse sticker shock.
Interesting title for a blog post. However from the Port of Tampa you can cruise to many places. As a matter of fact as you are reading this, I am pulling into my drive way after being on a 5 day cruise to Mexico. And if you have been reading my posts this week, you know I wrote I am away on business.
Cruise ship - Carnival Spirit (Photo credit: blmiers2)
I was – and it was business. You see I do have a life outside real estate, I really do. This is my second deep water cruise that I do with Breast Cancer Wellness Magazine and it is business for me. I interview women, I participate in wonderful events on board, and I play a little too.
I am an almost 19 year Thriver of breast cancer and on Monday I will post some pictures about this trip.
As much as I love living in the Greater Tampa Bay area, I also love that I can board a ship at a very good price and do a getaway to a different paradise.
Yes the Greater Tampa Bay area is a wonderful place to live.
If you are headed this way for a summer vacation you might want to know what the latest theme park news is.
Me in Sheikra, Busch Gardens, Tampa, FL (Photo credit: runekrem)
Here is a link:
http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/tags/theme-parks/
Busch Gardens Tampa: SheiKra (Photo credit: Scott Smith (SRisonS))
This is a repost from earlier this year due to my being away on business. Thank you I will be back 4/30.
Hello if that headline got your attention then I am pretty sure you like IKEA too. I could spend a day in there, wait I have. I want to drive the semi tractor trailer home just like the lady in the TV ad does.
Logo of Ikea. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I love everything IKEA and I especially love the fact we have an IKEA store in Tampa. Not only is it in Tampa it is in Ybor City which is the most fun area to hang out after a day of shopping.
I did not intend to post a new article from a silly point of view (not that I think this is silly.) However I wanted to start giving shout outs to the cool things we have here in the Greater Tampa Bay area that might be just the right motivational moment to get you to email me, text me or call me and say “I want to live in the Greater Tampa Bay area.
This is my new category and I will be posting about something fabulous every week that is here in our wonderful area from the inland areas to Tampa Bay and the Gulf and anywhere in-between.
Carole Sanek, Your Licensed Florida Realtor
Text or Call – 352-540-0177
Today it is ALL about food – and being a huge Foodie I am all about food. Obviously if you come to the Greater Tampa Area to visit or live you want to know where the top restaurants are located.
Tampa, Florida (Photo credit: Dougtone)
Here is a wonderful list to peruse from our friends at tampabay.com
Hello Savvy Readers – yes this is a repost I am away on a business trip but I picked up the challenge to blog 21 week days in a row so in keeping with the challenge I have brought back some of what I consider to be good posts.
This morning this post appeared on my Facebook wall from a friend in a suburb of Atlanta.
OMG!!! Every house we have viewed and tried to offer on already has multiple offers (like 10) or has already gone off the market. #1. Agents, PLEASE update your listings. #2. DAMN this market is moving! We’ll be submitting offers before walking out of the door on the next one.
I live north of Tampa and it is absolutely the same here. We can take our buyer’s out and there are multiple offers on every house before we get there.
This is not real estate agent BS. I wrote about this 2 weeks ago. The Greater Tampa Bay area has about 5 mos of inventory left. When it is gone, it is gone.
Welcome to the new market – the one where the bottom passed you by a while back – I keep saying this – when builders begin building, prices go up. Builders are building.
Repost due to a business trip – thanks for your understanding.
If you think it is easy to navigate this current market, think again. 3-4 years ago buying & closing on a home was like shooting fish in a barrel. Today it is more like shooting fish in the ocean and you better watch out for sharks.
If you think this is a perfect time to go out on your own without the benefit of a knowledgeable real estate agent you are not thinking with your full brain.
Short sale purchases are a pain in the butt to get to closing. We tear our hair out over short sales. You will go bald trying to handle one on your own.
REO sales, also known as bank owned properties, usually have power and water turned off. If you find a bank that will turn them on for you so you can have the property inspected please send me the name of that bank. I will deposit my life savings with them because they are doing it right. I bet you $5 you won’t find one if you are purchasing without an agent.
If you don’t have power and water and you purchase anyway OMG that’s my definition of insanity.
These are two examples of why you need a real estate agent want more?
There is actually a program available on vacant homes that gives you – a real honest-to-goodness non-real estate person, the ability to enter the house without an agent. Let me say that again. You can enter a vacant house without an agent – there is a sign with a phone number to call, and you get a code and you are in the house. Nice? NO! If you did not read my post yesterday titled “The Top 10 Reasons I Won’t Sell YOU a Foreclosure Home” now might be the time to read it. Here is the link:
http://greatertampabayarearealestateinfo.com/?p=3341
Back so soon? Yes there may be creepy people living inside that home with no water, no electricity and I don’t want to even think about the smell let alone the danger.
Now we have three reasons you should use a real estate agent, let’s go on to the 4th reason after that I think you will get the visual in your mind’s eye.
Phony sellers. In this market with so many vacant (abandoned homes) you could be dealing with a phony seller. Let me give you a head’s up on how to tell a phony seller. a) They don’t live anywhere near the home. b) They have a gmail, hotmail or other free email address that cannot be traced. c) As closing gets closer the seller wants the funds wired to a bank outside the US. This is happening.
I don’t call myself an expert, I call myself knowledgeable and you need me now more than ever.
Think about it – there are beautiful home in excellent condition waiting for a new owner – trust an agent to help you make the biggest purchase of your life.
Carole “Sells Tampa Homes” Sanek
Castle Dream Real Estate LLC
contact me at teamsanek@castledreamrealestate.com
Here in the Greater Tampa Bay area we have water and lots of it. If living in the warm sunshine on the water is your dream then this blog post was designed with you in mind. I know you may have summer coming soon where you live, but we have it year round.
Who is Talking Back?