Melbourne Real Estate News, Brevard County Florida by Sandy Shores Melbourne FL Realtor

I love the crisp clean feel of Fall in the air.

The sky is so clear and there is no humidity.   

The weather has been perfect for the last 2 weeks.

Here in the last couple of days in Melbourne Florida we have had quite a cold snap. 

The past 3 mornings we have woken up to 40 to 45 degree temperatures.  It's cold!  I know I must sound like a wimp to you Northerners.  But, that's cold for down here at this time of year!

The days warm up to somewhere in the 70's.  I love being outside during the day.

Tonight, I think I will make my favorite meal in this cool weather - homemade chicken soup, yum, yum!  I love it.

Well, I've got to run. I want to get outside before it gets too cold and I've got to get my soup started!

It looks to me like Bailey the Boxer has visions of my soup, too!

Or, maybe he's thinking about duck soup...

A couple of days ago I met my new tenant at one of our rental houses here in Melbourne Florida.  She was bringing me the balance of the move in money.  It was time to have her to sign the lease and I was giving her the keys to her new house.

While she was reviewing the lease, I walked through the house, and took pictures inside and outside, being careful to include all the rooms. 

We swapped money for keys, she signed her new lease and as I was leaving she was already moving items in. I think they will be happy there. The house is just minutes from her job.

I am always happy to be able to help a nice family find a comfortable home to live in.  For me, I hope it will be another long term tenant/landlord relationship.

When I got back to my home office, I copied all of the photos to a CD, labeled and dated the disk. 

I haven't always taken move in and move out pictures. 

However, several years back I decided it would be a wise idea to keep them on file.

I have never had a need had to use them. 

And, I hope that I never do, however now I always have them, if there is ever a tenant dispute over a security deposit, or a question on the move in or move out condition of a property.

I have heard of landlords that have had nightmare situations because they couldn't prove the condition of their rental house upon move in, or move out, either.

REMEMBER; A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS!  ENOUGH SAID!

As a landlord or property manager, do you take move in and move out pictures of your rentals?

Thanks Fred Chamberlin in Oregon for passing along the title of Real Estate Professional to me. I feel honored that it has come from someone as dedicated and knowledge in the field as you.

I love being in the real estate industry.  It is such a multi faceted business. 

Every single day is different... 

One day I'm sitting in my office blogging on ACTIVE RAIN and making and taking phone calls.

The next day I'm out showing houses with people from another part of the country, that I have been corresponding with by phone and email.  I finally get to meet them and I get to spend time showing them the beautiful area in which we live here in South Brevard County Florida.

The next day I might be out helping my husband, father, and daughters prep, repair and paint a rental house for the next tenant that will be moving in. 

I got my real estate license back in 1995.  And went to work with Bill Mallery at M & M Real Estate in Melbourne Florida in July 1996.  Bill has been in the business for nearly 50 years and works primarily with investors. I believe that I was meant to meet him.  I was eager to learn the investment end of the business. Bill has been a blessing to me and an absolute wealth of knowledge.  He is like a second father to me.

My husband and I bought our first rental house in September of 1996 for  $3,200 down and seller financing.  The rest is history.  We have been buying a couple of houses a year, with my father and we continue to buy today, if we can find something that suits our criteria.  We have sold a couple along the way.

We are happy to be able to provide good, clean, affordable rental houses to good families.  I love my tenants. Some of them are incredible people!  Some have been with us for over 8 years. I enjoy the investment end of the business, as it is so rewarding.  Sometimes it's alot of work, and we hit some bumps in the road,..but that's life...isn't it?

I love working with investors and have worked with many over the years.  Investing isn't for everyone and I tell them that, upfront. Some just cannot stomach it.  But, I am so happy to help an investor reach his desired goals in real estate. Some stay in for the long haul and others get right back out.

Prior to getting into real estate I spent 10 years in the banking industry. I started in the 80's as a bank teller, moved to drive in teller, then head drive in teller, customer service, region auditor, assistant manager and then it was time to go.  I loved being in banking, but I had nowhere left that I could go in the industry. 

I shifted to a Collections Manager Position for the Doctors in the Emergency Room of the hospital here in Melbourne Florida. I left after 3 years to have my first daughter and to eventually pursue a career in real estate.

In real estate I love working with buyers and sellers.  I love to help them reach their real estate goals,

I love to help buyers find that "perfect" home that suits their wants and their needs.  It is such a pleasure to see the excitement in their eyes, when they know the home is finally theirs. 

And, I love seeing sellers be able to move on to the next phase of their lives once their home is sold and closed. They are so grateful.

The majority of time I have built a long lasting relationship with my buyers or sellers that has put new, special people in my life, that I may not have had the privilege of meeting otherwise.

I love making new friends. I love making friends with other REALTORS, I mean true professionals in the business...others that love their work as much as I do. 

I love meeting so many incredible people here on ACTIVE RAIN and on my other blog and social networking sites as well, and building and nurturing those relationships. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our industry!

In the real estate business, my favorite part of the profession is that I learn something new every single day.  No two days are ever the same and no two transactions are ever the same.  We must constantly stay educated to national as well as local market conditions, trends and news.  We must continue our education to stay abreast of new laws, new marketing techniques, new loan guidelines, new ideas.  In real estate we never stop learning. I love that! It never gets stale!

FOR ME, REAL ESTATE IS NOT MY JOB, IT'S MY LIFE!

So, today it is so hard for me to decide who to pass this tag along to, because I have so many friends here on Active Rain and I believe that so many are TRUE real estate professionals, but today I am going to pass this Real Estate Professional tag to Ann Hayden in Missouri  and Rich Mielke in Maryland and Marie Meyer in New York.  I think they are all true professionals here in the real estate business.

And thank you Fred Chamberlin, for allowing me to take a moment to reflect on how and why I am here today.  I have learned so much from reading your blog. You have truly become a dear friend to me here on Active Rain.

When showing homes for sale, buyers typically have something to say regarding the houses they are looking at. Listing agents look to this information to pass along to sellers, so we may get a different perspective on the home. Maybe the buyer thinks the house is too big, too small, too cluttered, too dark, too light...maybe the buyers don't like the floor plan, the paint color, or the furnishings.

Sometimes a buyer looking at a home can provide information on an item that may not have been addressed with the seller.  Some items can be changed, such as too much clutter, or an offensive paint color. Other items can't, such as the location of the home or the layout of a floorplan. 

I have received feedback from buyer's agents that proved quite useful in helping me convince a seller to proceed ahead with that slight adjustment to their property, to make it appear more attractive. 

I love feedback and so do my sellers.

I think that agents that call for feedback are doing their job.  They are working for their sellers, and trying to provide as much info as possible, to try to help them make their home appear as favorable to buyers as they can

Lately for me, business has been brisk. Currently I am working with several different buyers.  Two of which are from out of town and are on tight schedules.  They are both leaving in the next day or so. We have been working 7 days a week, 3 to 4 evenings a week out after 7:00 - 8:00 PM. We do what we can to accomodate our clients.

I would say that I have looked at over 50 houses for sale in South Brevard County in the past 3 weeks.  We have seen at least 10 of them more than once. Providing feedback has never been a problem for me, except in a situation like this, when I show a large number of homes in a short period of time, with buyers in a time crunch.

In the past weeks I have found myself in a quandry.

I have received calls or emails from at least 45 real estate companies, looking for feedback on my showings.  Several agents have called me 2 to 3 times for the feedback. I probably have received about 20 feedback requests in my email inbox.  Some are duplicates.

As I said, I believe that agents that call for feedback are working for their sellers, in trying to give them all the info possible to try and expedite the sale of their home!

One agent called me 5 times. The calls all came in on the same afternoon that I was out with one of the buyers, showing homes.  The agent marked every message URGENT.  By the 5th call she was not very nice!

When I'm in the office, I try to answer the phone and give feedback each chance I get.  I am happy to help. I have probably spoken to at least 15 of these agents thus far. I have spoken to all of the agents on the second showings, and am working on the others.

Last week I spoke with an agent and told her that the buyer didn't care for the floor plan of her listing, as this was what I was told. Three days later the buyer wanted to take a second look at her listing.  When I set up the second showing, she said, "I thought you told me that he didn't like the floor plan."  Today, with buyers taking longer to choose a house to make an offer on, sometimes I hesitate to say much, as things change and the buyers can often change their mind.

However, we know that other work stacks up, while out with buyers. We have other customers that we are working with, we must continue prospecting and of course we must stay current on our blogs, especially the one here on ACTIVE RAIN!

One agent called me the other day, and asked me what I thought of her listing.  We had looked at it over 2 weeks ago.  I honestly couldn't even remember the house.  I told her that I had seen 40 houses since that one, and that I knew it wasn't on the buyer's short list.  Not much help, I know.

So, what is an buyer's agent to do? I completely understand that in this business it is important to build relationships and to continue to nurture them.

As a REALTOR, how do you handle calls for showing feedback? Do you have any ideas on how to get through the feedback requests more efficiently and effectively?

For me, when I'm absolutely buried, I find that it's hard to find enough hours in the day to get everything done.

Well, the article caught my attention right away...it indicated that home sales are up here in Brevard County Florida.

According to the Florida Association of REALTORS the number of single family homes sold increased by 126 units from September 2007 to September 2008.  This is a 41% increase in units sold.

Is this because the median sales prices of homes dropped from $189,700 to $143,900 from 2007 to 2008?. 

Are buyers finding homes more affordable this year than last, thus putting more of them in today's market?

Is this the good news that Brevard County buyers and sellers want and need to hear right now?

From what we are seeing, we are working with first time home buyers, that are still taking advantage of favorable first time buyer programs. 

We are also, slowly starting to see some investors sneaking their way back into the market.  Some are leery of what to anticipate with the stock market.

We are also working with out of town buyers that are shopping for higher priced second or third homes.

Owners that are local and intending to stay local in the $200,000 to $450,000 are still waiting to sell their homes. Thus, that market is a bit slower.  They are unable to buy something else, until they sell theirs.

Let's hope that this study is an indication of what the future holds for Brevard County sellers.

I just came back from an appointment with a tenant moving into one of our rental houses. I was happy to get a new tenant, that I think I'll get along quite well with.  She told me that she has seen For Rent signs all over town.  We have still seen an overabundance of houses for rent in our area of Melbourne Florida, right now.

I am still watching gas prices daily, and look what I found just 2 minutes down the street from me...I was tickled...

Now this is the cheapest gas I have found, to date.  So, I pulled in, and look what else I found...

So, I went around the other side of the pumps...AND THE STATION WAS COMPLETELY SOLD OUT!  That shouldn't have been a surprise to me.

Just 9 days ago, this was the cheapest price I could find here in South Brevard County...

So, how much further do you think gas prices will fall?

I know that oil prices have dropped, but don't tell me no one has any control of where the gas prices currently are and where they can go and for how long...

I'm betting that in the next week they will be lower than $2.55 a gallon here in Brevard County Florida!

What do you think? And what do prices look like in your area?

Homes Just Sold in Palm Bay Florida

This home was a Fannie Mae owned property that the new buyer recently purchased for $79,000 here in Palm Bay Florida.

This is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home, approximately 1300 square feet of living.  It has 2 separate driveways, a separate work/storage area and a swimming pool.

Homes in Palm Bay are becoming more and more affordable in today's competitve real estate market.

Note: This home was offered through sale through the Melbourne Area Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service through a company here in Brevard County Florida.  Our company, M & M Real Estate, brought the buyer to this transaction.

Visit my website at www.SandyShoresMelbourne.com

"Hello?," I answered the phone.

"When was the last time you were over at your vacant rental house?" the familiar voice asked.  "Your outside air conditioning unit has been stolen and so has mine!"

"What?"  

It was the next door neighbor that owns a rental house next to me.  His and mine are currently advertised for rent.

He proceeded to tell me that his outside unit was gone, so, knowing that my rental was  empty also, he walked over to the back yard of my house.

Sure, enough, someone had opened the top of the unit, and cut the coils out of the system.  They left the fan motor, the outsides and everything else.

I had heard about this happening, but I didn't expect it to happen to me!

"I'm calling the police to file a report, do you want me to tell them about yours too?"

"I'll be right over," I said.

We filed the reports with the police.

We called our friend that installs the air conditioning systems on our rentals.  He told my husband that we were about the 30th person that had called him this year, that have gotten the coils stolen out of their air conditioning system.  The system is no good without them, so it requires a new outside unit. 

He said that the thieves are scrapping the coils for the aluminum and copper out of them.  They are getting about $35 per coil at the scrap yard. They don't take the complete systems because they can't get enough money for the rest of the unit.

These thieves are also stealing copper and the coils out of commercial air conditioning systems at construction sites to take to the scrap yard.

So, be aware I have heard that this is going in various areas of Brevard County Florida right now. This is about the sixth instance of this I have heard in the last 3 months.

I just wanted to be sure to put the word out.

Yesterday, I had a client ask me, "isn't Cash King in purchasing real estate"?

Good question...

I've heard different variations of this...

'Everybody loves cash'

'Cash Speaks Volumes'

'When they know I'm paying cash they'll jump at my offer!'

Hmmm...

I think cash is king if the price offered is acceptable.  And that's really what it boils down to.

In 2005 when we were in multiple offer situations on homes listed for sale, often, Cash was King.  We would list a house for sale in the MLS at 8:00 in the morning, and by 5:00, without even getting the sign in the yard, we may have 10 offers on the table. At that time the cash offer often was $10,000 to $20,000 higher than the rest of the offers, so it was the one that was accepted.

Under those conditions, who wouldn't want cash over a lender financed offer?  Sometimes cash buyers will agree to take a property in 'As Is' condition.  There is no qualifying, no lender, and no appraisal.  Some cash buyers agree to a quicker closing. Some cash buyers even opt against a home inspection and a termite inspection.  I wouldn't advise this, but, that's their choice.

So, wouldn't every seller today love cash?                                                                                                  

Well, not always.

I think the answer to this question depends on many different factors...

There's no question, in the right circumstances, cash can streamline a real estate transaction in many ways.

Often times in today's market cash buyers come in with offers that might be lower than a lender financed offer. Some are substantially lower.  Depending on the offer, if there are 2 offers presented to a seller, one is cash and one is financed through a third party lender, and the cash offer is $20,000 lower than the other, then often the seller will take the lender financed offer.  For the seller, it is all about what he nets at the closing table. 

However, if there are 2 offers that are relatively close in price and terms, the seller may opt for the cash buyer. 

And what about homes offered for short sale or homes in foreclosure?  Do the banks view the cash offer differently than, say another offer?  Or, does it really depend on if there are other offers and how they look compared to the cash offer?

There are so many factors to look at when determining whether "cash is king".

I don't think there is one hard fast rule as to determine whether cash is the best. I think every offer must be looked at on a case by case basis.

What do you think?  Do you think that cash is king?