Minnesota Expat enjoys life in Florida

It’s hard to imagine the basic difference between TampaBay (the capital city on Florida’s gulf coast) and Minnesota. We’re down here mowing our lawn, pruning our shrubs and playing golf as we can every day of the year and we’ve just read that the ice breakers are clearing the ice from Lake Superior. And, its still March and we can remember the State High school Basketball Championships that were delayed because of March blizzards. Get some relief – we have more warm weather, fewer mosquito’s and 3400 golf courses – come on down. The weather’s fine.

Sheena and Bob in TampaBay and beyond …

 

Call us for more information about this home 813-996-2441

 

Today’s best deal in TampaBay. Located in over 55 TampaBay Golf & Country Club, this  excellent property, only three years old, is right on the golf course. In perfect condition with stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops and light, bright and sunny floor plan.  We have lender approval for $172,000 right now. Our Buyers waited six months for lender short sale approval and then they backed out. TBG&CC is a great community with all the amenities. Three bedrooms, two baths with 1,843 square feet. Check it out – it’s the best deal in the community. For more information write TampabayHomes1@Yahoo.Com

TampaBayHomes is your real estate source for TampaBay Real Estate. We can help you throughout the Central Florida area. From St. Petersburg and Pinellas County and TampaBay and Hillsborough County and Land O Lakes and Pasco County we will help you buy your home or sell your home. We are your TampaBay Real Estate source.

 

A note from TampaBay’s practical Realtors

Time is running out for First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit

For First Time Homes Buyers time is running out to take advantage of this excellent opportunity. Combined with a short sale purchase, the tax credit and the short sale allow first time home buyers to increase their purchase power by at least 25%.

But here’s why times running out. Mortgage rates are starting to creep up and a short sale purchase will take at least 60 days if not longer. Being conservative, a First Time Home Buyer should allow 90 days for the short sale to be completed. There is only a little more than five months before the December 1 deadline.

Its time to act – now. We can help find the best short sale, an energetic mortgage broker and manage the sale to a successful conclusion. For more information write tampabayhomes1@yahoo.com or call 813.996.2441

Sheena and Bob Murray

The practical Realtors

TampaBayHomes is your real estate source for TampaBay Real Estate. We can help you throughout the Central Florida area. From St. Petersburg and Pinellas County and TampaBay and Hillsborough County and Land O Lakes and Pasco County we will help you buy your home or sell your home. We are your TampaBay Real Estate source.

Another day in paradise: Buying

There used to be really only one kind of property offered for sale. It was an ACTIVE property. Today, there are short sales, pre-foreclosures, bank owned and ACTIVE. To make it easy, you can treat Bank owned and Active properties the same way. There is an owner/seller and an offer can be made and accepted in reasonably short order. If it is a traditional ACTIVE property, you may expect an answer from the seller in 48 hours. If it is bank owned you may expect an offer in five to ten business days. Short sales, pre-foreclosures and foreclosures are all very much the same. The Lender must accept he offer before a sale can be concluded. A contract is established when Buyer and Seller agree and execute a contract. This is binding. However, Lender acceptance of the contract is a specific and limiting contingency. Lenders generally take 45 to 50 days to receive record, evaluate and decide on a short sale offer.

TampaBayHomes is your real estate source for TampaBay Real Estate. We can help you throughout the Central Florida area. From St. Petersburg and Pinellas County and TampaBay and Hillsborough County and Land O Lakes and Pasco County we will help you buy your home or sell your home. We are your TampaBay Real Estate source.

Another day in paradise: Selling

Selling a Short Sale home is an investment in time, money and patience. Simply stated, a short sale home occurs when the present owner’s mortgage company (the lender) has agreed to accept a pay-off that is less than is owed on the mortgage. The Lender will agree to do this because foreclosure will cost the Lender up to $50,000 in legal fees and the result of the foreclosure is that the Lender now owns the property – which is not what the lenders want. Once the Lender owns the property they have on-going maintenance fees of approximately 1% of the original mortgage amount. Consequently, the Lender will agree (reluctantly) to a short sale. If you are an owner considering a short sale, get advice from a realtor experienced in working with the lenders to negotiate a short sale at the most favorable price for the owner/seller. In today’s market it is not unreasonable to expect the lender to accept a payoff of 75% of the total mortgage amount. This can be negotiated lower based on the state of the market in a specific community, the number of foreclosures/short ales in the community and the condition of the property itself. As experienced short sale negotiators, we know what information is required by the Lender, how to package that information and how to deal with the lender to secure the best possible result for the owner/seller. For more information regarding your own property send us a note at TampaBayHomes1@Yahoo.com or visit our website.

Another day in paradise: Buying

Buying a short sale property is becoming more rational. A year ago, when short sales were starting to become common, the Lenders did not have any clear set of rules and procedures for handling short sales. As a result, everything about an offer to purchase a short sale was unpredictable. Now, things are getting better. Most importantly, if an offer has been submitted on a short sale to the lender the seller’s Realtor must list the property as pending. Further, only one offer may be submitted at any one time and that offer must have been accepted and signed by the seller. A new offer cannot be submitted to the lender until the originally submitted offer has been rejected or countered by the lender. It still may take as long as 45 days to get an answer but, as the buyer, you do not have to make an escrow deposit, conduct inspections or order a survey until the lender has accepted the offer. If you would like more information about buying a short sale property please write to tampabayhomes1@yahoo.com or call 813.996.2441. We are short sale specialists, visit our website.

Another day in paradise: Selling

If you need to do a Short Sale there are some basic steps. First, contact your lender and get the address/Fax number of the Short Sale or Workout or Loss Mitigation Department. Be ready to send in your documentation which will include: a hardship letter – why you have to sell; your last two pay stubs (for everyone on the mortgage); your last two month’s bank statements, your last two Tax Returns; a worksheet showing your monthly income and expenditures and finally a letter authorizing the Lender to speak to your Realtor.

With all that done, have your Realtor do a pricing analysis and follow your Realtor’s recommendations and list the property. Your lender will NOT do anything on a short sale until your Realtor can submit an offer to purchase the property. Most lenders have developed a process for handling short sales and they have a set of steps and a timeline for evaluating the offer which includes sending out their own agent to do a BPO (Broker’s Price Opinion). It is important that your own Realtor know how to do a BPO because that is the same process they should use in pricing your home originally. Your Realtor should be able to defend the pricing with the Lender’s short sale specialist. For more help and information about short sales you can write to tampabayhomes1@yahoo.com or call 813.996.2441. We are short sale specialists.

Another day in paradise: Buying

If you’re planning to buy a home in TampaBay check out the financing opportunities with the United States Department of Agriculture. The USDA Rural Housing Service is a federal program aimed at helping people, most of them first time home buyers, direct mortgages and loan guarantees up to 100%.

In 2008 the USDA was the guarantor of more than$300 million in Florida property with Hillsborough and Pasco County enjoying the USDA benefits. For more information about these opportunities check out our website or the USDA website.

Another day in paradise: Living

Relocation.Com, a leading online consumer resource for moving services, just released analysis on information requests they have received over the past two years. TampaBay places consistently in the top ten relocation destinations in the United States. Relocation.com analyzed nearly 500,000 quote requests in 2008 to determine where people are moving. We strongly recommend moving to paradise. For more information about life in TampaBay check out www.tampabayhomes1.com