Buying and Selling RSS Feed

The Pros and Cons of Owning a Home:

 For more than six decades, the American dream has always included owning a home.  With the purchase of a home, comes a sense of pride and accomplishment.  And no wonder, it takes hard work and dedication to reach such a goal.

Of course, there are positives and negatives to any situation including your decision to take the step in owning your own home.  Purchasing a home is not for everyone.  As your real estate coach, I want to educate you to on the pros and cons of owning a home so you can make the best decision for you and your family.

The Fixes:

One of the great joys of renting is that the owner or property manager takes care of all of the maintenance.  They obviously want to…

The Do’s and Don’t of Buying a Home

Over the past few weeks, the market has transitioned from a seller’s market to a flat market and now into a buyer’s market.  Buyers have been waiting for a few years for their chance to arrive. 

Lucky for you, your time has finally arrived!

Here are a few tips to make sure you get the best experience from your new or first time home buying experience.

1. Find the best real estate agent for you!  It seems like everyone and their brother has their real estate license, but should you really go with your cousin or friend who just passed the test?  Probably not. 
While it might help the agent out, there are many risks involved.  They could miss something on the contract, they do not have the negotiation…

The Biggest Tip for First Time Home Buyers

Purchasing your first home is an exciting time.  It is almost like a right of passage.  You’ve moved up from living in an apartment; maybe the family has grown and now its time to make the investment.

On the flip side, purchasing your first home can be a stressful and exhausting experience… unless you follow this big tip for first time home buyers.

Find a Qualified Real Estate Agent

Now, this seems like a no-brainer; however, you will not believe how many horror stories I have heard from people about how their real estate agent didn’t do anything to help them through the process.

Here is what first time home buyers should expect from their real estate agent:

Step 1: You and the real estate…

Why you should start your home search early!

Seasons come and go and, for most of the United States they are associated with weather ranging from freezing cold winters through spring, summer and fall changes.  It's a little different down here in the South West of Florida, yes, we do have seasons but in reality, we only have two, one wet and the other our wonderful dry season which runs over the winter months.

Traditionally, the Naples Real Estate Market has been slow during the wet summer months, with fewer residents in town together with a much smaller number of part-time residents, summer has been known during the real estate profession, as a time to take a vacation, relax and enjoy the slower pace for a short while.  But that is no longer true!…

The market in Naples has been extremely hectic over the summer months, a time when we normally expect a slowdown and the chance to take a break, this year, however, the slow down has not arrived. Our agents are busy with clients, but the one thing I hear over and over again is that inventory of homes for sale in Naples is very low.  Most of the bargain foreclosure and short sale homes have been snatched up long ago, those that do come onto the market are sold very quickly normally to investors who make it their full-time job to be ready and waiting as soon as a property is released for sale.  What we are seeing at the moment is lots of these foreclosed homes coming back onto the market, fully refurbished, new carpets, tile, kitchens and bathrooms, all…

When you're choosing a realtor to sell your home, it’s common to interview a few realtors from different brokerages, selling your home is a huge decision and not one to be taken lightly.  One thing is for sure, you are going to get lots of differing opinions and each agent is going to have their own way of presenting themselves and your home. So what is the best way to choose that agent to sell your home?  There are many many personalities in this business, from dynamic go-getters, to stay at home moms who like to help people sell their homes.  To be frank a huge part of the decision process comes down to this, do you trust the person you are putting your faith in to sell your property. Also, do you like the person?  You could interview the top…

So your thinking of selling, the home is in good condition, but you have a little money to spend on sprucing up your home before you put it on the market.  The number one room you should make sure is appealing to any potential buyers, is your kitchen.  The modern kitchen is an integral part of any new home, a focus point in the open floor plans that are so popular.  It's not just a kitchen anymore, it's the family room, the place where the kids do their homework after school, in fact, it's the most used room in the house and therefore has a huge impact when you are selling.  

From granite countertops, stainless steel appliances to state of the art ovens, the kitchen of today is what helps sell homes.   Even if you don't have a lot of money put aside to…

Make sure you ask the right questions 

• Call the first real estate agency you can find and ask them to list your home.
• You may have a relative that sells homes in their spare time,
• Set out to interview two or three hand-picked realtors® that say they can do the job.  

Hopefully you picked the last one, however, there is no correct answer. 

Whichever route you take, it is important to make sure you ask the right questions, that way you will know your home sale is in good hands.  So here are a quick top ten questions to ask.

1. What services does the Realtor® offer to sell my home?.  What makes this Realtor® different from all the others? Do they have good ideas for marketing, and negotiating a good deal?  When it comes to marketing,…

During the hot humid summer months here in Florida, we often come across mold issues in homes.  In fact, one of the tests that are carried out in our homes is a mold test, the main cause of mold is humidity.  So it is extremely important to make sure that the humidity is controlled. Not just to save the sale of your home, but also to safeguard against health issues, mold can cause watery eyes, sore throats and more serious ailments such as asthma, particularly in children.  

It's important to be aware of the humidity levels in your home and to know what to do about them.  One way to control humidity is to use a dehumidifier, there are relatively cheap to run, they simply pull the water out of the air, if you have a free-standing one, you will need to…

NABOR officially announced that the market has changed from a Buyers Market to a Buyers and Sellers Market,  this is great news for the Naples real estate market and homeowners looking to sell their houses.  Sales of homes both new and preowned have gone up considerably this year, Downing-Frye Realty, Inc has been reporting a huge jump in the number of homes sold this year.  Hopefully, this winter season is going to be really good for Naples residents.