Real Estate Thoughts - James Williams III - RE/MAX Premier Properties

  It never ceases to amaze: the way media news briefs can state a set of facts that, despite being literally accurate, leave listeners with a mistaken impression. For local homeowners making up their minds whether the timing is right for putting their own Central Florida homes up for sale, this last week provided a fine example. One newscast in particular would seem to be off-putting. It’s true that when measured against the same period a year earlier, the national home sales levels had been weak. That made the one news blip that came over the satellite radios in many Central Florida autos all the more convincing. Listeners might have concluded that throughout the country, potential home buyers were staging a disappearing act. That kind of discouraging news could well put a damper on those contemplating putting up their own Central Florida homes for sale. The real estate item was the final one in Friday’s on-the-hour news, which repeated hourly. The announcer’s voice...

For Central Florida neighbors who are curious about how Labor Day got started, most of the readily available references seem to hedge just a little. They have introductory lines like “There’s disagreement how the holiday began” ( nationaltoday.com ), or “More than a century after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt…”( U.S. Department of Labor ).   The finger-pointing issues from both the followers of Peter J. McGuire, a Carpenters Union leader, and the advocates of Matthew Maguire, a machinist and union heavyweight. “One or the other first proposed the idea” is the diplomatic way The Farmers Almanac skirts the question. The Labor Dept. is equally diplomatic. Its official history is titled, “ Who Actually Invented Labor Day ?” What isn’t in doubt is the underlying meaning of Labor Day across the nation—Central Florida’s Labor Day included. Small children may still find the idea perplexing (as in, “How come nobody in Central Florida works on Labor...

     Oftentimes those lists naysaying common “myths” about selling a house are actually addressing assumptions. If “myths” are stories handed down through the generations, “selling your house” is an unlikely topic to be part of family lore. Myths about selling your Central Florida house are usually more like logical assumptions that many sellers make on their own, rather than information they’ve heard from someone else.      So here is a “Top 3” list of questionable assumptions sellers sometimes make about selling their Central Florida house:          1. Homebuyers want to remodel after they purchase a home. Many people think that the average buyer “wants to make it their own” by wreaking wholesale changes to reflect their personal tastes. In fact, this assumption is contradicted by what is far more common: most buyers are attracted by properties that are “move-in ready.”          2. Remodeling will...

When interest rates were cut after the Fed’s July meeting, the press was quick to point out that not every homeowner would benefit from the move. As Bankrate.com noted in its lead article How the Fed’s Interest Rate Decisions Affect Mortgage Rates, “the majority of Americans won’t be affected.” That’s true—for the moment. But for some Central Florida homeowners, by last week, the immediate effects constituted good news. The Bankrate commentators touched on some of the traditional brain-teasing economics behind the effects (“there is an inverse relationship between bond prices and yields”)—but the practical repercussions were more straightforward. Mortgage lenders reacted with rate cuts, so: • Benefits flowed to the “winners of the rate cut”—some home loan borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs). • Also benefitting were those using home equity lines of credit (HELOCs). • Current fixed-rate mortgage holders may be able to cut their mortgage payments via refinancing. ...

 The government thinks that Americans are sorely lacking when it comes to key homebuying information. It’s hard to say whether that’s true of the Central Florida homebuying population—but Fannie Mae’s latest study explains some good reasons why it might be. In Fannie’s recently issued publication, 3,600 respondents were ‘largely unsure’ or just plain wrong about current homebuying realities. This, despite the significance of homebuying as the most important purchase most people make. The overriding factor creating this illogical situation is the fact that it’s also a purchase seldom made. Homebuying is such an infrequent transaction most people don’t focus on data when it’s available.  Another contributing factor is “a fundamental lack of financial literacy across the country.” The majority of those quizzed hadn’t a clue about credit score requirements. Even fewer were aware of debt-to-income ratio guidelines. Fewer than one in four were aware that low down payment prog...

As soon as you begin to plan to sell your Central Florida home, you’ll soon find one thing everyone agrees upon: the need to de-clutter. But where to start? For any home that’s been lived in for years, it’s easier said than done. Most of us shrink from even thinking about what goes and what stays. But one way to wade into the project is to force the issue by picking a date and (now that you’re committed)—holding a garage (AKA ‘yard’) sale! For garage sale neophytes, there are a number of tips that veterans agree upon. Here are six that top most lists: • Inventory as if you are serious. That means making a list of each of the major items you will be offering, then placing a price tag on each. A very general rule of thumb is to price most at 25% of what you may have paid for items that are in “like new” condition—but that is only a guideline.  • Tables —beg, borrow, or steal as many folding tables as possible (maybe the stealing isn’t such a good idea). But most people don’t...

The rise of e-commerce has created a raft of cultural shifts that are ongoing and profound—Central Florida real estate is certainly one of them. One ripple effect may be expected from an industry that touches us all: the restaurants. It’s a ripple that’s just beginning to be felt in some areas—but may ultimately touch Central Florida real estate. According to the Wall Street Journal , “as e-commerce expands into food delivery, new bets are being made on real estate.”  How so? Traditionally, except in the most heavily-populated urban areas, regular restauranteurs have put little to no emphasis on food delivery. Although more common in Manhattan, Chicago or San Francisco, in most places, offering a delivery option was at best a financially break-even proposition. But e-commerce has begun to change that. As mobile apps and one-click delivery options have skyrocketed in popularity, the revenue potential has become ever clearer. But more than that, now a growing number of restaur...

 Central Florida landlords who have already profited from the national tilt toward rental popularity will have been further cheered by last month’s Zillow report on the growth of rents across the nation. They might be including apartment housing in their data, but in any case, according to the report, rent revenue is accelerating (except in Milwaukee). Landlords had to be pleased everywhere else. Rents were up in every one of the nation’s top 50 markets—except for the unlucky Wisconsin metro. The solid 3% year-over-year growth figure meant that rent proceeds have been rising at the fastest clip since early in 2016. The national averages for the intervening years were lower for a number of reasons. Key among them was that the new rental properties were largely built for a single market—the “above-average” quality market. The result was a relative glut in new offerings that forced price competition during initial lease-up periods.  Central Florida landlords might also take ...

  For those who’d been monitoring Central Florida mortgage rates ahead of last week’s Federal Reserve interest rate cut, the news that followed was less than definitive. The Fed’s decision to lower their overnight lending rate for the first time since the Great Recession commanded first page headlines—but the details that followed provided little clarity. For those whose interest in Central Florida mortgage rates is more than academic (homeowners pondering selling; mortgagees thinking of refinancing or applying for a line of credit, etc.), the question was whether now was the optimal time to take advantage of the bargain-basement interest rate environment…or…?   The equivocation came on two fronts. First were reports on the fallout from Wednesday’s ¼ point drop in the Fed’s benchmark overnight borrowing rate. Wall Streeters didn’t seem to like it—not because it wasn’t good for borrowers of all stripes, but because they’d hoped for an even greater cut. Not just th...

  From midway across the Pacific can an interesting commentary last week—one that noted an idea that mainland Central Florida investors might find worth mulling over. The article appeared in the HawaiiHomes section of Oahu’s Star-Advertiser . It profiled an investor couple who have decided to make a change in their real estate portfolio. The investors (“Joyce” and “Reid”) are seniors themselves. They have “been reading about the demand for senior-friendly housing”— information bolstered by the fact that over 10,000 people turn 65 every day in the U.S. That AARP statistic is a little startling until you realize that there are 77 million American Boomers who were born between 1946 and 1964. To Joyce and Reid, that fact—plus their having noticed how local senior-friendly housing prices were on the rise—convinced them that a portfolio change might be warranted. They ultimately decided to swap their current investment property—a two-story townhome—for a more centrally-loca...

The single inducement for selling your Central Florida home yourself is responsible for most FSBOs (“For Sale by Owner” offerings, pronounced “ Fizz-BOW ”). It’s some bottom line arithmetic that seems at least worth considering—the attractive notion of avoiding paying commission dollars to a real estate brokerage. Real estate commissions in Florida are negotiated—usually 5%-6%. For a home that closes at $300,000, the idea is for a thrifty FSBO seller to pocket $15,000 to 18,000. Actually, no—at least for most sellers.   Since 87% of buyers choose to hire a licensed Central Florida Realtor ® to represent their interests, that agent can be expected to require FSBO owners to agree to compensate them for their services. Since that one agent can wind up doing the work normally handled by two, that commission could be at least the customary split of 50%—in which case the FSBO owner actually “saves” only $7,500-$9,000. Even so, there remains a hefty sum. So why do FSBOs ...