Directory —
Real Estate —
Blog Details for "Real Opinionated"
Real OpinionatedReal OpinionatedA Tampa area Real Estate blog written by one of Tampa's most opinionated and professional Realtors. Get home buying and selling tips, or just sit back and relax while you enjoy some pointed commentary on the real estate market. Articles
Pay Down the Mortgage? It?s an Idea Whose Time Has Come!
2007-06-18 14:39:00 Pay off my mortgage? For years the standard answer has been “NO”! We have been obsessed with the mentality of ?leverage?, and trained to use record low mortgage rates to our advantage as cheap money to be invested elsewhere. We have gone from consumers who only buy what we can afford, to financing everything in ... More About: Time , Mortgage , Idea , Gage , Mort
Real Estate Gambling
2007-06-07 22:53:00 What is the market going to do? When is the right time to buy? What are rates going to do? Should I hold out another month and see if the seller comes down in price? These are all questions I am hearing right now in our Tampa market. Buyers should not let the market fluctuations from ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Gambling , Real , Bling
Property Values Still Rising in Pasco County
2007-06-06 02:15:00 I saw this story today from the Tampa Tribune. It says that the property values in Pasco Count y have risen almost 14% in the last 12 months, owing mostly to the new construction in the area. County property appraiser Mike Wells goes as far as to say that the Real Estate market is “alive ... More About: Property , Values , Value
Screwing the Pooch on Road Construction
2007-06-04 22:59:00 Builders in the Tampa Bay area don’t seem to have any trouble building new homes and congesting the roads in Land O Lakes with new traffic. Their ethics are on vacation when they bury turtles alive for the sake of the mighty buck. Developers have no issues with destroying wetlands to build new malls, whether ... More About: Construction , Road , Const , Cons , Crew
Existing Home Sales Crash and Burn
2007-05-30 01:15:00 Here’s a bit of jolly encouragement: Exist ing home sales in the Tampa Bay Area fell 35% from April of two years ago. Also on the good news front, median home prices continue to plunge. The NAR predicts that prices will begin to rise again in the second half of this year, and that homeowners can ... More About: Sales , Home , Crash and Burn , Crash
Credit Bureaus Selling Information
2007-05-28 17:18:00 Did you know credit bureaus are selling your mortgage inquries? When you apply for a mortgage with a local bank or a mortgage broker, they typically will pull a tri-merge credit report. This means the lender pulls a credit report from each of the three repositories: Transunion, Experian and Equifax. The lender keeps your information as ... More About: Information , Selling , Credit , Form , Format
Citizens To Be Run "Like A Business"
2007-05-17 21:05:00 Florida’s State-run insurance companay, “Citizen s Insurance” has been anything but business like in the past. Several words come to mind to describe how the insurance initiative has been run, and none of them are appropriate for this forum….so let’s water it down a little and say that the State government has been running Citizens ... More About: Business , Ness , Like , Sine
Cypress Creek Town Center GO For Buildup
2007-05-17 04:30:00 Nevermind the fact that the entire project was supposed to have been completed by last spring. Nevermind the fact that the developer, The Richard E. Jacobs Group, had to jump more hurdles than an Olympic Athlete to get it done. It looks like we might finally have some reasonable shopping in our future in Pasco ... More About: Town , Center , Enter , Build , Cree
Builder ?Incentives??Right?!?!?
2007-05-15 20:25:00 “We will pay $20,000 in closing costs…you can get into our homes with no costs!”…Sound familiar? In our local market, builders have been offering to contribute 6% of the purchase price to a new buyer’s closing costs. Really, it is a fantastic offering! We are in a high closing cost state, so this is a very ... More About: Right , Build , Incentives , Builder
Mortgage Changes for Real Estate Investors
2007-05-08 22:51:00 In our local Tampa market, we have had a lot of real estate investors who have purchased property over the past couple years. In most cases, they buy it at a great price, finance 100% of the costs, make necessary repairs and then sell it as quickly as possible. Recently, we have started seeing tightening guidelines on ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Mortgage , Stor , Real
How?s the Traffic in Tampa?
2007-05-08 16:52:00 If Tampa is the only big city you’ve ever lived in, you’d probably be inclined to say that “traffic is terrible here.” I would tend to agree with you. With virtually no viable public transportation system and a rapidly expanding population, things are only going to get worse. Still, as is the case with so ... More About: Traffic
Lennar Swallows US Homes In Painful Downsizing
2007-05-04 00:51:00 I was riding down the road today doing my Realtor “thing” when I heard an interesting commercial to the effect of “US Homes is becoming Lenna r Homes, and we’re selling off our inventory at cut rates.” This struck me as being interesting for a couple of reasons: 1) US Homes became a Lennar Building Partner in ... More About: Down , Swallow , Allo
Mortgage Implosion and Local Real Estate Appraisals
2007-05-01 23:10:00 The mortgage implosion spider is continuing to weave it web! We are nowing seeing the more affects of defaulting mortgages as they relate to current mortgage qualifying. In previous blogs, we have discussed the Mortgage Implosion in general and some clarification of what to expect. But here is one thing most consumers don’t think about…their appraisal and ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Local , State
M/I Homes Takes a Beating and Sells Land
2007-04-30 01:22:00 M/I homes, one of the nations leading home builders, posting a seriously dissappointing first quarter profit a few days ago. We all knew that new homes sales were in the toilet, but nobody had any idea that M/I was in trouble. Now, it seems as if M/I has offloaded their remaining inventory in Asbel Creek ... More About: Homes , Land , Sell , Beat , Eating
Top 4 Counter-Intuitive Real Estate Truths
2007-04-29 23:56:00 I call them “Counter-intuitive” because, when put in similar circumstances, most consumers make the wrong choice. Common sense almost always leads you in the right direction. The following are a few examples of when it’s not best to follow your gut: 1) Starting with a lower price just might net you more money. Most folks want ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Sellers Advice , State , Real
Live Writer Review
2007-04-29 02:39:00 I’m just sitting here playing with Microsofts new Beta version of Windows Live Writer . My initial impression is that this tool is a little more intuitive and easy to use than the regular wordpress backend editor. You should probably check out this new tool while the price is right, if you know what I ... More About: Review , Blogging , View
A Little Preoccupied
2007-04-29 02:08:00 “Daddy, your singing is awful!” Sorry for not posting much this weekend. As you can see, I was preoccupied with my little girl’s first birthday. I promise more good content next week, so don’t dump me from the feed reader just yet. Cheers! Bookmark this article: More About: Little , Litt
Should I Get an Inspection on New Construction Homes?
2007-04-27 16:10:00 It depends upon your level of experience with Real Estate and your level of involvement with the building process, but a general rule of thumb is that it’s never a bad idea to get a home inspection. Your level of experience and your level of involvement with the building process is important for several reasons. You ... More About: Buyers Advice , Construction , Homes , Should , Const
How to Retract an Offer on a House
2007-04-26 22:54:00 I received this search query earlier from Google for some combination of words that are already on my blog somewhere, but I know that I’ve never properly addressed the topic. So, here goes: Offer and Acceptance: In the State of Florida, a formal “contract” is made between the buyer and the seller once “offer and acceptance” ... More About: House , Buyers Advice , A House , Ouse , Trac
The Secret: Is It A Religion?
2007-04-26 18:59:00 I recognize that you probably didn’t come to this blog to read about “The Secret ,” so I created a new blog where I can unload my randon musings about the Universe in general. Check it out here. Sorry for the bait and switch routine. Won’t happen again. Bookmark this article: More About: Religion , Gion
Real Opinionated Influences Public Policy
2007-04-26 01:38:00 Some of you may remember this blog post where I wrote about the asinine, ridiculous, borderline reckless speed limit signs recently thrown up in my neighborhood, Asbel Creek. I was pretty irritated about it, and hoping that my “blogging mojo” might do something to help correct the situation. Enter Chuin-Wei Yap, a writer from the ... More About: Public , Blogging , Policy , Real , Public policy
Mortgage Implosion: A Home Buyers Perspective
2007-04-25 22:26:00 Warning: This post is intended to start a dialog on the topic for the general edification of everyone involved. I’m not billing myself as an expert on the subject. I’ve been the recipient of much love from Google as of late for the search terms “Mortgage Implosion.” Frankly, when the whole thing went ... More About: Home Buyers , Home , Sion , Buyers
Maybe I Should Lower My Price?.Duh!
2007-04-25 14:58:00 How do you know when it’s time to amend the price of your listing? The following is a true story of a call that I received yesterday from a seller who isn’t even listed with me. In fact, he’s a FSBO. Check it out: Me: “Hello.” Seller: “Hi. This is James. You sent me a letter?” Me: “Well, ... More About: Sellers Advice , Price , Should , Lower , Lowe
Why Do Different People Have Different Mortgage Rates
2007-04-24 21:52:00 Have you ever heard (or thought to yourself)…”My cousin (brother, co-worker, neighbor) has an interest rate at 5.25%, why isn’t my interest rate the same?” I HAVE! It is a great question for consumers to ask. It helps to understand why you are receiving the interest rate you are, so you know why and don’t ... More About: People , Mortgage , Have , Rent , Gage
Do Unto Others?.
2007-04-24 03:05:00 Normally I don’t do this stuff, but since it’s a (mostly) Real Estate thing, I figure what the hell, right? I found this post over on The Future of Real Estate Technology Blog and thought it worth reposting. If you’ve got a link from me on this post, be a good neighbor and link ... More About: Hers
Consumer Oriented Real Estate Carnival: General Wiggles Presiding
2007-04-23 20:43:00 Hello. I’m General Wiggles, and I’ve been asked to preside over the very important “Consumer Oriented Real Estate Carnival ” for this week. To the left, you can see a picture of me when I was Airman Wiggles, some time ago. I’m quite scary, mind you. Let me begin by saying that, despite the ... More About: Real Estate , Blogging
Deerfield Lakes: Parkview Homes
2007-04-23 19:24:00 Parkview Homes start in the $220’s at Deer field Lakes (located just North of Land O Lakes in Spring Hill). With 28 home designs to choose from, anyone is bound to find what they are looking for. Two Bedroom Homes The Carlisle II - Starting at $228,900 with 2.5 bathrooms, 1745 square feet, and 2 car garage. The Devonshire (featured in ... More About: Park , View
FSBO in Tampa: A Bare Minimum
2007-04-22 15:40:00 I drove around several neighborhoods yesterday and looked at some properties. Along the way, I noticed about twenty FSBO homes. Looking at them, I noticed some commonalities that were interesting, and which led me to compose this post. There are certain things that you must do as a FSBO if you hope to sell your home. ... More About: Sellers Advice , Mini , Bare , Tampa , Minimum
5 Ways to Sell Your Home in a Slow Market
More articles from this author:2007-04-20 23:49:00 Oh, the difference a year makes. At this time last year, sellers had it good. You could pretty much price your home where you wanted and the offers would roll in. Now, it seems as if buyers are getting payback in a major way, by being picky and miserly (which is in their best interest). ... More About: Market , Sellers Advice , Home , Your , Sell 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
|
