Century 21 Wimco Realty, Inc. Blog

There are several homes in Fort Walton Beach that are listed as short sales. Many Realtors make the assumption that buyers and sellers understand the term short sale. As a Fort Walton Beach Realtor, I can say that over the past year, the number one question I am asked is “What is a Short Sale?”

A short sale allows a seller to sell their home when they owe more than the home is worth. The seller is “short” the funds necessary to sell the home in the conventional manner. In order for a short sale to be successful, the seller’s mortgage company must agree to accept a payoff that is less than the seller owes. In most cases the shortage of funds is written off by the mortgage company, and the seller will have no further liability. In some cases the mortgage company may require the seller to promise to pay back the shortage. In this case the lien on the home is released, and the new loan is unsecured.

Buyers can benefit from purchasing a short sale, because usually short sales can be purchased at a discounted price. The disadvantage to making an offer on a short sale is time. Buyers may have to wait several months before the mortgage company responds to their offer. The mortgage company may also consider more than one offer. Many buyers become frustrated after waiting several months with no answer, and withdraw their offers. If your closing time lines are flexible, this long process can add up to a very good deal. The patient bird gets the worm!

Buyers can also possibly lessen their wait times by choosing short sale homes that already have an offer. Even though you are in competition for the home, the long process has already been started by another party. It is also a good chance that the first buyer may withdraw. Buyers may also expect more wait time for homes that have more than one mortgage.

Sellers can help the short sale process move more quickly. Some mortgage companies will pre-approve a seller’s eligibility for a short sale. In these cases it is extremely important that the seller start this process before they receive an offer on their home. Sellers usually have to provide 1-2 years of their tax returns, current financial information, and the reason they are selling their home.

If you want more information on buying or selling a short sale home in the Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Navarre, Mary Esther, or Niceville Florida area, contact me today! 850-685-8374 Terri@Century21Wimco.com.

This Mary Esther, Florida home is on a spacious – privacy fenced lot! This house is open, light, and bright. It boasts a split bedroom floor plan, garage, low maintenance vinyl siding, and inside laundry area. Plenty of parking for boat or RV. Don’t miss this opportunity to purchase your new home at this great low price of $99,000.00 This home is a short sale. Call realtor, Terri Todd, Century 21 Wimco, Realty, Inc. for details 850-685-8374. Click on the photo form more information.

Affordable home in Fort Walton Beach, FL.  This is not a short sale, just  a great deal on Fort Walton Beach real estate.   New Paint, New Interior Doors, New Carpet! Newer AC/Heat and Water Heater. Large private, cool, and shady back yard. Enjoy the natural beauty of the mature oak trees from your large roomy screened back porch. This home is for sale or for rent.  Click on the photo for more information.  

Florida expected to start adding residents again after population decline

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – March 3, 2010 – It’s a small bounce, but Florida’s population should rebound this year from its first loss in more than half a century in a hopeful sign for the struggling state economy, new estimates from the University of Florida (UF) show.

The Sunshine State is expected to add about 23,000 residents between April 1, 2009, and April 1, 2010, following a loss of almost 57,000 residents the previous year, according to population projections released yesterday by UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

“Based on changes in electric customer data, we believe Florida’s population has increased slightly over the past year,” says bureau Director Stan Smith who led the research. “This may be an indication the state’s economy is no longer declining at the rate it had been before.”

Although the state’s unemployment rate remains very high, there are signs that the housing market is starting to pick up in a number of places. “It appears the state’s population loss was a one-year occurrence,” he says. “Even so, Florida’s growth will be very slow during the early years of the new decade.”

Not until 2014 or 2015 will the state return to annual population gains that are close to 300,000, the average annual increase over the past 30 to 40 years, Smith said. Population grew by more than 400,000 residents a year during the housing boom between 2003 and 2006.

The economy has such a big impact on Florida’s population growth because it drives migration, Smith says. People in their 20s, 30s and 40s who move to the state for jobs are the largest group of newcomers, followed by retirees and foreign immigrants.

“Even retirees are affected by economic conditions because of the housing market,” he says. “If it’s difficult for them to sell their homes, they may have to delay a retirement move to Florida even if that is what they had been planning to do.”

Due to the bursting of the housing bubble and the severe national recession, Florida lost more than 800,000 jobs between the fall of 2007 and the fall of 2009, and the state unemployment rate rose from about 4 to 11 percent. The declining economy led to a huge slowdown in population growth between 2007 and 2008 and a population loss between 2008 and 2009. The loss was the first since military personnel left the state at the end of World War II.

The bureau estimates the total number of state residents will grow from 18,750,000 to 18,773,000 between April 2009 and April 2010. According to long-term projections, state population is expected to reach approximately 21,247,000 in 2020, 22,574,000 in 2025, 23,821,000 in 2030, and 24,971,000 in 2035.

The biggest numerical increases forecast between 2010 and 2035 are in large counties. Orange County is projected to add the most new residents, 512,200; followed by Hillsborough, 471,800; and Miami-Dade, 457,200.

“Population growth has a lot of momentum in the sense that places that have been growing rapidly in one time period tend to grow rapidly in the following time period as well,” Smith says. “Large markets attract businesses and have more opportunities to draw job seekers. Also, migrants are often attracted by social and family connections with people who moved to an area previously.”

In terms of percentage increases, the biggest leaders over the next quarter century are projected to be Sumter and Flagler counties, growing by 111 percent and 109 percent, respectively.

“The main driving force to Sumter County’s growth is The Villages, a huge retirement community that has been adding a large numbers of residents,” Smith says. “Flagler County also has added a lot of retirees but has a rapidly growing working-age population as well.”

Monroe is the only county projected to lose population over the next 25 years, declining by about 4 percent. The county has little vacant land that can be developed and the area has a high cost of living. Some counties are expected to grow quite slowly, such as Pinellas, with an expected quarter century population increase of less than 2 percent. As the state’s most densely populated county, it has little available space.

© 2010 Florida Realtors®

It is said there are 7 deadly sins, I say there are 7 deadly myths being circulated about short sales.

1) Short Sales are impossible and never get approved. FALSE

TRUTH: Short Sales are more difficult, You need to learn a new process, They are NOT impossible. This is definitely not an impossible process. While there are no guarantees in any transaction, more and more short sales are being approved monthly. However, an agent MUST be educated on the process, or it will be nearly impossible. My success rate is about 99.9%. I don’t take no for an answer but always look for a solution to any problem.

2) Banks are NOT accepting Short Sales; They are waiting on a bailout. FALSE

TRUTH: The reality is that banks have already been bailed out, and are really trying to do anything they can, within reason, to avoid foreclosing on a property. More banks are aggressively pursuing Short Sales and Agents who understand how to process them. It is strictly business, it costs the bank (in most cases) far less to short sell than to foreclose.

3) You must be behind on your mortgage in order to negotiate a short sale. FALSE

TRUTH: At one time this was true, but today, this has almost all together reversed. Today lenders are looking for verifiable hardship, monthly cash flow shortfall or pending shortfall and insolvency. If you meet these three requirements and are in a position where you will soon not be able to afford your mortgage, now is the time. Some few lenders still hold on to this rule, but they are few and far between. In fact, most lenders in any circumstance would rather sell short than foreclose.

4) Buyers are not interested in short sales and avoid them. FALSE (mostly)

TRUTH: Some buyers are not interested because of the time it takes, especially with time constraints like the first time homebuyer credit. On the other hand, many agents are getting calls from buyers who say “I only want to look st foreclosures and short sales.” These have become synonymous, not with issues, but with Good Deals.

5) Listing a home as a short sale is an embarrassment. FALSE

TRUTH: Most sellers don’t want the world to know they can’t pay their bills, but according to recent estimates, 1 in 5 homeowners in the US owe more on their house than it is worth. Even wealthy owners have to stop the bleeding somewhere. Most sellers are to be congratulated for admitting they need help, taking action and finding a professional who can work toward a solution.

6) The bank would rather foreclose than bother with a short sale. FALSE FALSE FALSE!!

Truth: This myth started with collection people working for lenders on commission. The reality is that banks do not want to foreclose on property, it costs too much. An average foreclosre can cost the bank up to $40,000 and they still have holding costs, insurance, realtor fees, etc. and still get less than market value. Do the math, which would you do?

7) There is not enough time to negotiate a short sale before a foreclosure. FALSE

TRUTH: This is a myth that hurts homeowners. Many don’t realize that the foreclosure process is lengthy. It can take a year or more, and if an attorney gets involved, it can be stalled far longer. Almost all lenders will stall a foreclosure with a legitimate contract for short sale. So if lis pendens has been filed, no worries, that’s just the beginning. If it is slated for the courthouse steps, hurry up, if there is an offer you may be able to stall. Don’t let your clients wait that long. Go get those listing today.

Housing upturn proves elusive

The rest of the U.S. economy may be bouncing back, but for the battered housing sector, the hopes of economists and real estate experts are still modest.

“Recovery is probably too strong a word,” First American Funds Chief Economist Keith Hembre says of recent housing data. Call it “stabilization at a lower level.”

Home prices and buying activity are coming back, but only from a disastrous 2009. In the first quarter of 2009, for example, the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller National Home Price index dropped 19 percent from the year before. In the last quarter of 2009 – for which data were released on Feb. 23 – the index was down just 2.5 percent from the year before.

“We’re showing signs of the housing market bottoming,” says Michael Strauss, chief economist at Commonfund. “The bad news is we still have a long way to go.” The widely watched S&P Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price index rose 0.3 percent from November to December. But the figure only increased when adjusted for the winter slowdown. Without a seasonal adjustment, home prices fell 0.2 percent from month to month.

Remeber this: Real Estate is a very local and specific market. Here locally we see things improving faster than on the national or regional level.

Low-Flow Toilets: How to Choose

Replacing an old water-guzzler with a new low-flow toilet can shave as much as $90 off your annual utility bill and send thousands fewer gallons of water down the drain.
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A lot has changed since 1994, when low-flow toilets became the law of the land. Early versions created a bit of a stink, because while they were good at saving water—using only 1.6 gallons per flush versus as many as 7 gallons—they weren’t necessarily good at doing a toilet’s main job.

Today’s low-flow models don’t have those problems. Not only are they much better performers, some also use even less water than the federal standard. So if you’re in the market for a new throne, it pays to consider a high-efficiency toilet (HET). You’ll save a bundle: According to the EPA, replacing pre-1994 guzzlers with new HETs will shave more than $90 off your annual utility bills. Plus, you’ll be sending thousands fewer gallons a year down the drain.

Look for high performers
The EPA’s WaterSense label on the box identifies HETs that have been certified by independent laboratories. They’re rated according to Maximum Performance (MaP) testing protocols, which measure the toilets’ ability to remove waste. MaP scores range from 250 to 1,000, based on the number of grams completely evacuated in a single flush. The EPA has adopted 350 grams as its minimum performance threshold, and “anything over 500 is very good,” says Terry Love, a plumber in Washington state who conducts his own thorough testing of low-flow toilets.

Choose a flush mechanism
Like standard low-flow toilets, HETs come with different flush options. The one you choose depends on how “green” you want to be, how much you’re willing to spend, and your tolerance for noise. Most residential toilets in the U.S. are gravity-flush, which, as the term implies, relies on the weight of water flowing into the bowl to help remove waste. Pressure-assist toilets compress air at the top of the tank to increase flush velocity, so they can do the job with as little as 0.8 gallons of water. While this turbocharged action makes for a powerful flush, the loud whoosh! may cause small children to jump out of their socks. (Somewhat counterintuitively, these also require good household water pressure to work properly.)

Some low-flow designs, like the minimalist Kohler Hatbox—so streamlined that it doesn’t even have a tank—flush with the aid of an electric pump. While that delivers a powerful flush without the noise, unlike a standard toilet it requires electricity, which can make for more complicated installation and costlier maintenance.

Calculate your savings
Toilets account for about 27% of a household’s indoor water usage, so trading up to a high-efficiency toilet can yield big savings. According to the EPA, a family of four that replaces its home’s older toilets with WaterSense-labeled models will, on average, save more than $90 per year in reduced water bills and $2,000 over the lifetime of the toilets. You can pocket even more by taking advantage of rebates and vouchers offered by many states and municipalities. The city of Austin, Texas, for example, gives residents up to three HETs for free, though there is a modest fee for certain design features, such as an elongated bowl or a seat that meets the ADA-required height of 17 inches.

And, of course, you’ll be saving a lot of water. Pre-1994 toilets send between 3.5 and 7 gallons down the drain with every flush. For a family of four, that adds up to about 76 gallons a day. And if the toilet leaks—that is, if it continues to run after you’ve flushed or sometimes trickles mysteriously on its own—it could be chugging up to 200 extra gallons daily.

To maximize water savings, consider a dual-flush HET. The tank has two buttons that let you choose between a half flush and a full flush, depending on whether liquid or solid waste needs to go down. Caroma, a brand made in Australia (where dual-flush is mandatory), started selling these in the U.S. about a decade ago and offers nearly a dozen dual-flush lines.

Do some comparison shopping
The good news is that all this efficiency comes at a reasonable price—about $200 on average, no more than a conventional low-flow toilet. Keep in mind that price doesn’t always guarantee quality or correlate to MaP score. Before you make a purchase, check consumer reviews for specific models, noting track records for maintenance and common gripes that crop up about specific brands. Once you find a model you like, it’s easy to compare prices at Web sites such as pricegrabber.com, shopzilla.com, and nextag.com (be sure to factor in shipping and return policies). Certain features, such as elongated bowls and high-tech finishes like Toto’s SanaGloss, might add 20% to the price, but considering how long it will be until you buy your next toilet, that extra bit of ease and comfort is quickly amortized.

For the greatest savings, switch to compact fluorescents
CFLs remain the go-to choice for energy efficiency. They last longer and consume less electricity than a standard incandescent. A 13-watt CFL, for example, gives off the same amount of light as a 60-watt incandescent and burns for 10,000 hours, compared with 1,000 hours for the conventional bulb. A typical CFL saves about $30 in operating costs over its lifetime.

Early CFLs didn’t always deliver on light quality or convenience, but aesthetic performance has improved vastly in recent years. They now come in warm, neutral, and cool “colors,” and major manufacturers like GE have started enclosing the telltale spiral in a conventional bulb shape so it’s less obtrusive.

You get the biggest bang for your buck with CFLs in places where you would otherwise use incandescent bulbs: floor and table lamps and standard overhead fixtures. They last longer when they’re not flipped on and off constantly, so they’re especially good in rooms that see a lot of activity throughout the day, such as a kitchen or a playroom. A couple of caveats: CFLs can be glary, so they’re not the best choice in downward-pointing fixtures like chandeliers, and most don’t work with dimmers or timers. Because the bulbs contain mercury, they can’t be thrown out in the regular trash. If you bought them at a home center, you should be able to return them there for recycling, or log on to recycleabulb.com to find a disposal center near you.

Cost and savings: Expect to pay $2 to $15 for a CFL, versus 50 cents to $1 for a comparable incandescent, but the CFL will last at least 10 times longer and cost up to 75% less to operate.

Irrigation systems & spigots
In spring, sprinkler heads should be checked for proper working condition. A weak or nonfunctioning sprinkler is likely a sign of a split line or popped connection.

With the system running, examine that all areas of the landscape are receiving equal amounts of spray. Heads that are spraying excessive amounts of water on driveways and sidewalks should be adjusted or replaced. Cost: $3 to $15 per replaced head, $2 to $5 for a coupling to repair a leak. Allow two hours to check the system.

A hard freeze often catches Southerners unprepared. In spring, take care that garden hoses are disconnected in the event of sudden frost. In the fall, exterior spigots should be drained and garden hoses disconnected and stowed. Homeowners with automatic lawn sprinkler systems should drain the lines and shut off the water source. Water that’s left in the lines and allowed to freeze can crack hoses or burst pipes.

Fences and gates
Wood fences generally require more attention than their chain-link and vinyl counterparts. Every other year or so the wood should be painted or sealed, unless the wood is left to weather naturally.

All wooden fences should be inspected for rot and insect damage every few months. Popped boards need to be nailed back in place; warped ones should be replaced. Pay special attention to posts, which are susceptible to rot.

Doors and windows

Leaky doors and windows not only decrease a home’s comfort and efficiency, they can invite moisture, insects and rot. Routinely check caulking and weather stripping to ensure tight seals. Inspect wood sills and trim for peeling paint, insect damage, and moisture penetration.

Fogging in double-pane windows is a sign that the seal has failed, resulting in the loss of insulating qualities. The window will need to be repaired or replaced. Cracked window panes, missing storms, and ripped screens should be replaced or repaired.