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Tallahassee, FL Real Estate News

By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
As a follow-up to last week’s article about understanding the short sales process, I thought I would write about how the Obama Administration is trying to speed up the process with its Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA). This program offers financial incentives to lenders, servicers, and even borrowers to utilize a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure to avoid a foreclosure sale. Did you know that you can have the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog delivered to your email every time it is published? Just click this link for easy home delivery. These HAFA alternatives are available for all HAMP-eligible borrowers who: do not qualify for a Trial Period Plan do not successfully complete a Trial Period Plan miss at least two consecutive payments during a HAMP modificatio...
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By Mike Carlos, Realtor, Tallahassee FL
(Keller Williams Town & Country Realty)
As short sales continue to be a major part of our market, many agents are jumping right on to the bandwagon.  Considering that many Realtors are still not familiar with short sales, what can sellers do to find an agent with the experience required to handle this complex type of transaction? Look for someone that has sucessfully closed a number of transactions Someone that has worked with numerous banks in a short sale or foreclosure capacity Look for someone with additional training for short sales such as the SFR designation Ask if the agent has a structured follow up plan for short sales Find out their success rate at getting short sales closed, and how many of those sales were complete releases by the lien holders Look for an agent that will explore every other possible option before...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
  Not all situations in real estate sales have the same solution, and many times we have to apply some “thinking outside of the box” solutions to our home buyers’ needs. Just yesterday, I received the following question from a “home site” buyer in Georgia who needed some advice on creative financing: I am in a situation right now where I’d like to buy a land lot in Georgia to build on within the next year. The lot we want is $45000 and all the lending institutes I’ve spoken with want 25-45% down no matter what our credit is. By the way, our credit is good. We have plenty of money to make the monthly payments, but we don’t have the money necessary for the down payment. Also, we will be getting a construction loan in the next 6-9 months that will then pay off this land loan and add it int...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
The Tallahassee Real Estate Web Site was unveiled on December 19, 2007 and has come a long way. This Tallahassee real estate resource has grown to over 1,000 pages of original content and we are receiving a growing amount of traffic. Additionally, we are observing over 160 downloads each day in our “Special Reports” section in the right sidebar of the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog. But with growth comes education and experience, of what we have done right and what we have done wrong. We even established a reader survey to provide feedback about the Tallahassee Real Estate Web Site. This survey provided more insight into what our visitors liked and disliked about our site. Did you know that you can subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog by email and it will be automatically delive...
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By Carol Palacios
(Century 21 Manausa & Associates)
We are living in unprecedented times when it comes to the Tallahassee Real Estate Market and with property markets across the U.S. in decline; the term short sale is quickly gaining recognition. Short sales happen when a lender agrees to accept less than the amount owed against the property because there is not enough equity to sell and pay all the costs related to the sale. Not all lenders will be open to negotiate a short sale and that is why using a real estate professional can be a tremendous value when attempting to put one of these transactions together. A short sale is a great option to alleviate foreclosure status and sellers are eager to avoid foreclosure at all costs. But processing a short sale can be a long, exhausting process and typically lack of knowledge on how to naviga...
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By Carol Palacios
(Century 21 Manausa & Associates)
Joe Manausa | Century 21 First Realty | 850.523.6118 2532 Windy Pine Way, Tallahassee, FL 3BR/2BA Manufactured offered at $69,900 Year Built 1998 Sq Footage 1,340 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms 2 full, 0 partial Floors 1 Parking None Lot Size .30 acres HOA/Maint $0 per month DESCRIPTION Owner is out of state. Close to FSU/TCC/FAMU. This home has recently been treated by Terminex. New paint, new driveway, new locks, new bathroom fixtures, new flooring in bathroom and kitchen, new carpet, updated deck. Includes washer and dryer. see additional photos below PROPERTY FEATURES - Central A/C - Central heat - Living room - Dishwasher - Refrigerator - Stove/Oven - Washer - Dryer - Yard ADDITIONAL PHOTOS Photo 1Photo 2Photo 3Photo 4Photo 5Photo 6 Contact info: Joe Manausa Century 21 First Realty 850.523....
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
I received a question from a reader “Jim” in Nashville, TN who asked” Joe- Looks like buyers in your area have a lot to choose from. What about affordability?  How many of these listings fall into the sweet-spot of homes that are actually selling? This is such a clear and simple question that I figured a few graphs could show us the answer. Homes For Sale In Tallahassee When we look at homes for sale in Tallahassee, we find (happily) that the supply has been dropping steadily since April of 2008. When we look at the real estate graph below, we see the distribution of available homes in Tallahassee across all the price ranges. Perhaps the only real surprise is the growth of homes available below $75K, as this is one price range in which we can longer build more units because the cost of ...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
  Frustrated homeowners are accumulating, and traditional real estate pricing practices are not making them any happier. It is time to recognize that there is a new way to determine the best asking price for getting a home sold in today’s difficult real estate market. What we have been doing is not working. The real estate graph to the right shows that if we compare the number of homes that have sold, with the number of homes that were put up for sale over the past year, 81% failed! Would you hire a REALTOR® if you knew they were sporting an 81% failure rate? I hope not. And you do not have to. There are new techniques that allow a REALTOR® to determine the best asking price for your home, and this article will show you what to expect from a top real estate company in your area. If thes...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
Every month we publish a Tallahassee Housing Supply and Demand Report which can be downloaded from the right sidebar of the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog. This report breaks down the entire Tallahassee housing market by area and price range, in order to show the relative supply of homes for sale in the Tallahassee MLS.Today we’ll look at a comprehensive report of the current supply and demand dynamics occurring in the Tallahassee housing market. As a review for our less frequent readers, most real estate professionals agree that a balanced market has 6 months of supply of housing, with less than 6 months supply being a Sellers’ market, and more than 6 refers to a Buyers’ market.Relative Supply of Homes In TallahasseeThis first real estate graph shows the number of homes for sale in Talla...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
Recently, somebody asked me how home sales in Northeast Tallahassee are holding up. I explained that this part of the Tallahassee real estate market accounted for roughly one half of the home sales (49% over the past twelve months) and was performing stronger than the other three quadrants of Leon County. Just a reminder, you can subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Newsletter (free) in the right sidebar of the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog. This monthly newsletter provides analysis of the housing market with charts and graphs to support the finding. The best starting point when analyzing an area or subdivision in the Tallahassee housing market is to look at current supply and demand of homes. Supply And Demand For Northeast Tallahassee Real Estate The real estate chart above shows t...
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By Captain Wayne - Rowlett Real Estate School, Rowlett Real Estate School / Owner and Instructor
(Rowlett Real Estate School)
Captain Wayne Rowlett invites you to the finest Florida Real Estate School.   We are a fully accredited Florida Real Estate School offering Florida Real Estate Courses online, including Continuing Ed, Pre and Post Sales and Pre and Post Brokers. Visit our website at www.RowlettRealEstateSchool.com for our online Real Estate Courses and classroom schedule, or Click on the course links below. For a full line up of our Florida real estate courses online, go to  http://www.rowlettcareerschool.com/fl-florida.htm. Instructors are available 7 days a week to help you. The www.RowlettRealEstateSchool  is a the finest Florida real estate school in the State.  The Rowlett Real Estate School offers live Classroom Real Estate Courses in Panama City Florida as well as a full line up of Florida onlin...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
  One of my agents relayed a story to me yesterday that I felt would make for a great post on the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog. He told me that he is helping a buyer buy a short sale in Tallahassee, and he shared with me the conversation  he had with the listing agent. The listing agent told him something like “get an offer in and I’ll make sure it is first in line, every other offer will be a backup.” This comment sent all my alarms to the full scream mode, and I sat down with my agent and had a long discussion about the process of buying a short sale. Most Real Estate Agents Don’t Understand The Short Sale Process The first thing I told him was the agent in question probably had limited experience with short sales. If you truly understand how banks work a short sale (this process is o...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
  Two unrelated events occurred yesterday that really got me thinking about all of the issues and events that affect the Tallahassee real estate market. First was an email from a Tallahassee homeowner who needed advice on her home. She is one of the victims of high unemployment, pay cuts, and lost jobs that have occurred in our area due to the struggling economy. The one chord that really struck with me was when she pointed out that she had worked for the State for 20 years yet had to take a cut in pay to remain employed. This is not the first time that I have seen this occur, and my heart goes out to her. The second and totally unrelated event was an article that was published on the Opinion Page yesterday in the Tallahassee Democrat. Mr. Erwin Jackson has raised a question of the lega...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
Every so often, I like to delve into my web site analytics package to see how many people have been visiting our Real Estate Blog and from where these people are coming. While the top origination points are not so surprising, I am always amazed that many of our visitors come from all over the world. It really underscores the importance of the global nature of real estate. The map above shows that visits to the Tallahassee real estate blog have come from all around the world, with the countries colored in various shades of green leading the field in the number of visits they have made to Tallahassee (on the web of course). Real Estate Marketing Has Moved To The Internet With over 85% of all home buyers starting their search for homes on the internet, it is a wonder that some real estate ...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
  Forty is on my mind today. Yesterday, we celebrated the 40th birthday of my “little” brother Danny, and this month we celebrate the fact that 40 tough months of real estate is most likely behind us. Today, we begin to make the climb up from the bottom of the worst housing market since the Great Depression. Incentives are ripe for home buyers, with federal income tax dollars, low interest rates, and some great buys in the housing market. Sometimes you have to look backwards to see where you are going. Understanding the cyclical nature of the real estate market gives us a long-term perspective on what we should be expecting. REMINDER: The 16th Edition of the Tallahassee Real Estate Newsletter goes out today to subscribers. If you haven’t yet subscribed, it’s free and you can do so in th...
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By Carol Palacios
(Century 21 Manausa & Associates)
Often times I deal with sellers who know of others that are going through the short sale or foreclosure process. My clients find themselves taking advice from those other short sellers and start to formulate ideas or conditions to their own short sale approval. For example, I went on listing appointment to meet with a short sale candidate. The sellers had been attempting to negotiate a loan modification for the last 8 months with Citi Mortgage. The terms of their loan had been modified without any written documentation for them to sign off on or to inform them of the change. When they received the bill they paid it using their retirement funds and later contacted the mortgage company to ask that they send them written confirmation of the modification for their records. Citi Mortgage dec...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
  A friend of mine asked me the other day “what’s the real deal in Southwood?” I responded “The real deal?” He said he heard all kinds of rumors about what is going on in Southwood, that taxes are up and values are down. I told him that I would do a thorough analysis of the real estate market in Southwood, as I knew it would make great material for the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog. So today we’ll take an analytical tour of the supply and demand of homes in the Southwood neighborhood. This post is packed full of information, including four (4) color graphs as well as two (2) important lists of homes. Make sure that you click the continuation link below, where it says  "[click to see market graphs and list of homes in Southwood]" There is a list of the homes that are currently on the mark...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
  Yesterday, I received a great comment by a Destin, FL REALTOR® who pointed out that the shadow inventory of homes has many more components than just the defaulted mortgage pool. His example was of homes in a new neighborhood, developed in 2005, where all of the home owners are now upside-down on their mortgages. As he explained in his comment on the Tallahassee real estate blog, Jim noted Until that whole neighborhood turns over, it is going to have downward pricing pressure. We are talking about hundred of homes within a small radius. So what this means, in a nutshell, is many homeowners in these types of neighborhoods become part of the growing shadow inventory because even though they might want to move, they are not in a position to sell their home. Another Example Of The Shadow I...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
The Tallahassee area logged 163 single-family existing-home sales in October, down 5 percent over a year ago which is not as good as many other areas in Florida that seem to show gains in every market measured. Of course, those measurements are from REALTOR® MLS reports, which typically do not show much more than 1/2 t o 2/3rds of the entire market activity. The median price for those local sales gained 1.2 percent to $174,000 from $172,000 in October 2008. Fort Walton Beach was the only other market in October to see prices rise, up 1 percent from a year ago. Graph Of Home Prices In Tallahassee, Florida The real estate graph above shows that the average price continues to drop, while the median price has actually been recovering. Unfortunately, the graph does not depict appreciation or...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
We have been keeping an eye on home foreclosures in Tallahassee for several years now and have warned that a log-jam of homes has been accumulating in the shadow inventory. In today’s foreclosure update, we’ll look at the location trend of homes that are being added to the “distressed properties” list in the Tallahassee real estate market. The foreclosure process begins with a lis pendens filing, so we make sure that we track not only the final foreclosure sale, but also the monthly lis pendens filings in Tallahassee. When we construct a real estate graph of these two important concerns, we find the following picture of foreclosures in Tallahassee. In the graph above, we see that every month there are hundreds of lis pendens filed in Tallahassee, yet the number of foreclosures rarely re...
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