First Time Home Buyers
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
It all started about one month ago when my Dell Precision 390 acted up, big time. I have an extended warranty with Dell that ends in November 2011. The problem started the moment I installed My Dell at the end of 07 running Windows Vista Ultimate. My Double CD/DVD and DVR Writer Drive filters jump off settings and would not recognize tat there are discs in the trays. I called Dell and someone fixed it by remote access. I don’t use the CD/DVD much, anyway, but about 2 months later, the same thing happened. I called Dell’s Tech Support again but this time the tech tried a different pricedure and got me back in operation.
To make a long story short, that went on and on until one month ago when my computer started acting up with other problems. Along the way, a couple of Dell Tech Support Technicians suggested that I put the recovery disk in and voilà! that would solve the disc reading problem; however, that would also wipe out all my installed program software. Two months ago, the last Dell Technician also suggested that I use the recovery disk but this time it would solve all the old and the latest probelms I have. I was always reluctant to do that because, evenn though I have a 1T back up device, I would waste a full day or more to re-configure my computer and reload all my important programs.
Sick of all of it, I was ready to bite the bullet and go on with the dreaded recovery procedure. Before I jumped the gun, though, I conferred with my office IT Guru. He fiddled aroung with my compy and he finally gave up; he agreed that the Dell guys are probably right but he suggested that if I am to to recover, this would be a great opportunity to upgrade my operating system with MS Windows 7 Professional for it is much superior than Vista but he strongly suggested that I buy a new full version instead of an upgrade from Vista -the upgrade will probably not correct the existing problems. So I did and he was right - it solved my operating problems but it created another annoying problem.
After I loaded Windows 7, I uploaded my other costly software (Adobe Acrobat Pro 9, MS Office Pro 7, and Adobe Photoshop CS4, among others).
This is where the new problem began. The new probles lies in MS Outlook; I cannot open any links in my emails. My Hotmail email account is directed to Outlook but if I open the same email in Hotmail, the links work fine. With Photoshop, I got a message that the Serial number is not a supported number.
First, I called MS to find a solution to this new problem. They ask for the Serial Number. Immediately, the MS Tech Support said that this software was purchased at Office Depot and I need to call them for support. Astonished, I tell the tech “I thought that Office Depot would be official retailers for MS softwares”. She explained that large stores buy bulk Serial Number series and because of volume wholesale purchase for retail, they are responsible for any support those products will eventually need. I called Office Depot several times in the past three weeks and I am still waiting for someone in their Tech Support Department to call me back. In fact, some operators who are taking the calls haven’t got a clue that Office Depot has a Software Tech Support service.
As for Adobe Photoshop CS4, I bought it on E-bay about 9 months ago. I received the software in a plastic sealed box, never opened. It worked for 7 months on my Vista Operating System. I even registered with Adobe Online upon installing it. When I called Adobe Support three weeks ago, the girl checked the Serial Number and told me that it is not a recognized Serial Number. She asked me where I bought it. I said “E-Bay”. She replied that Adobe does not support anything that is sold on E-BAY or anywhere else online.
The clincher is that I paid full retail price for Windows Office Ultimate Suite (not the upgrade), about $499 at the time. MS charges the same retail price to buy directly from them. But, I paid only $110 for Photoshop CS4 on E-BAY. Adobe sells the full version for $699. So it makes sense to buy another one on E-bay for about $110. I can do that 3.5 more times. In summary, to get full support for a product, it is best to buy directly from the manufacturer’s sales department.
Moreover, I think large retailers who sell brand name products should fully disclose up front that the brandnames they sell are not supproted by the manufacturers.
Everyone wants to save money. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t
John Bourassa, Realtor® in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale Beach, Pompano Beach, Broward County, Coral Ridge, The Landings, Galt Ocean Mile, Seven Isles, Harbour Beach, Downtown Fort Lauderdale, Poinsettia Heights, Victoria Park, Wilton Manors, Palm Aire, - Luxury Homes and Luxury Condominiums, Townhouses, Duplexes.
Tags: Broward County, Buyers and Sellers, FOrt Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure and Short-Sale, Fort Lauderdale Luxury Homes and Condos, Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Market, Luxury homes and condominiums, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, Southeast Florida Real Estate
Posted in Buy a House, Community, Condos, First Time Home Buyers, Homes, Housing Market, Luxury Homes, Neighborhood, Questions and Answers, Real Estate, This and that. | No Comments »
Friday, May 21st, 2010
Remember the 1993 movie Fallen Down with Michael Douglas when he totally lost it and went on a rampage? He goes to a fast food restaurant, looks up the pictured menu above the ordering counter, orders a burger, gets the burger and snaps. He calls the restaurant manager and tells him that he wants a burger that looks like the one on the picture (about 10″ tall, plump and juicy with all the dressing on it) but what he gets, instead, is a burger about 3/4 of an inch flat and the sandwich looks dry.
Those of you who are searching the Internet for properties and read the listing property descriptions, those descriptions are designed to embelish properties from what they really are. Here are some clues:
- Nice house or condo = shitty interior.
- Very clean and ready to move-in = original condition but well maintained over the years.
- Upgraded = perhaps new to newer appliances, or carpeting, or fresh paint, or new AC, or new roof or a combination of any.
- Great location = better neighborhood but the house could be sitting on the perimeter of Coral Ridge Country Club in Fort Lauderdale but the house could be one block east of Federal Highway (US1). Yes, one can say one lives in Coral Ridge all right.
- Convenient location = 10 to 15 minutes drive to those better locations
- Nice neighborhood = bordering the not-so-nice neighborhood.
- Spectacular, or awesome, or fantastic views (see my recent post: Location, Location, Location – Views, Views, Views), more so for condominiums where heights give you better and broader views = one must lean over balcony railings, look to the east and see the ocean between buildings. One agent once described a view in a condo unit as follows: You can see the ocean from the kitchen window (I guess that must have justified the additional $50K asking price.)
- Walking distance to beach or shopping centers = probably two to three miles to the beach.
- Need Tender Locing Care (TLC) = need a complete renovation.
Usually, the reason why some listings are without pictures is because properties are sometime embarrassing to display. However, lately, there are plenty of free image/picture enhancing software that can make a shack look like a gorgeous house and many agents are beginning to to use those programs. Moreover, properties that have been substantially upgraded, listing agents proudly put tons of pictures on the MLS with virtual tours and they write lenghty, itemized descriptions revealing intricate details of appointments of those properties like: Handsomely or newly upgraded kitchen with imported Italian Snaidero kitchen cabinets, Miele Stainless Steel appliances, 24″ Marble tile flooring throughout the main living areas and rich real cherry wood flooring in bedrooms. Bathrooms have been equally upgraded with Villeroy and Boch bathroom porcelain sinks. And more…
Only upon physically touring properties one can determine if a proeprty truly has the best location, the right stuff and one definitely know when views are awesome, awesomer and awesomest….
John Bourassa, Realtor® in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale Beach, Pompano Beach, Broward County, Coral Ridge, The Landings, Galt Ocean Mile, Seven Isles, Harbour Beach, Downtown Fort Lauderdale, Poinsettia Heights, Victoria Park, Wilton Manors, Palm Aire, - Luxury Homes and Luxury Condominiums, Townhouses, Duplexes
Tags: Broward County, Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure and Short-Sale, Fort Lauderdale Luxury Homes and Condos, Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Market, International Buyers, International Real Estate, Luxury homes and condominiums, Real Estate, Southeast Florida Real Estate
Posted in Buy a House, Community, Condos, First Time Home Buyers, Homes, Homes for Sale, Housing Market, International Buyers, Luxury Homes, MLS, Mansions, Neighborhood, Property, Questions and Answers, Real Estate, Relocation, Short-Sale, This and that. | No Comments »
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
The Miami Herald reported recently that the volume of home and condo sales soared in South East Florida during the the first quarter of 2010 based on the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR) data. Price of homes are burning hot – they have dropped down to what they were in 2002 and 2003 and for condos back in 2001 – 2002 depending on areas.
In Broward, sales of condos rose 45 percent to 2,739, as average prices fell 15 percent to $71,900. Sales of single-family homes inched up by 7 percent to 1,756, as average prices fell 6 percent to $196,700, the figures show while in Miami-Dade County sales of condos during the first quarter wheeled up 46 percent — compared to the same period of 2009 — to 1,920. Prices fell 9 percent to an average of $136,100.
This is good healthy news as a sign of recovery for our once severely wounded real estate market. We can all feel the new energy when working with both buyers and sellers; they are more eager to negotiate a transaction.
What is depleting rapidly and in great numbers are the lowest and most affordable properties on the market – mostly the distressed sales (short-sales and foreclosures) – but we are also showing a great amount of middle-income properties and equally a great amount of luxury properties htat are showing up “pending sale” everyday.
I don’t tink this is just a market hickup; this is the beginning of the recovery process.
John Bourassa, Realtor® with RE/MAX Partners, Fort Lauderdale, Florida specializing in luxury beachfront condominiums and homes. Call my “Sell” phone (954) 529-5505.
Tags: Broward County, Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure and Short-Sale, Fort Lauderdale Luxury Homes and Condos, fort lauderdale real estate, International Buyers, Luxury homes and condominiums, Southeast Florida Real Estate
Posted in Buy a House, Community, Condos, First Time Home Buyers, Foreclosures, Home Improvement, Homes, Homes for Sale, Housing Market, International Buyers, Luxury Homes, MLS, Property, Property Investment, Questions and Answers, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, Relocation, Rent, Short-Sale, This and that. | No Comments »
Monday, May 17th, 2010
On Florida coalstlines, we are selling paradise real estate; we are selling sunshine, ocean and warm sandy beaches, lots of them. But, there is a premium for that demand and more so in South East Florida. Everybody has heard before the “big 3″ of real estate: ”location, location and location.” But here in Fiorida, along its coastlines, it is more than locations, it is “views, views, and views“.
From Palm Beach all the way down to Key West, that part of heaven is called the Gold Coast .
When potential buyers come down to South Florida looking to buy properties, everyone asks to see ocean properties smack on the beach or as close to it as possible, even those buyers who know they can’t afford to buy on the beach but they ask, anyway, just in hope….. There are only less than 400 houses (lets call them what they really are, mansions) that are standing directly on the beach, in that long span of coastline, the rest are condomins. Those sand palaces are into millions of dollars. The average middle to upper middle class affluency of people understand that if they want a part of an affordable beach, they have to buy into condominiums. Thus, begins another price war fostered not only by locations but also for better to best views in buildings. In a condominium, a South East corner unit ( the unit closest to the ocean) will command anywhere from $150,000 up to $500,000 + more than its counterpart unit on the West side of that building. Likely, a unit on the 2nd floor West side facing the parking lot and A1A will also be worth much less than the same unit layout and square footage above it and so on.
As well, have many other bodies of water that are equally in top demand like properties adjoining the Intracoastal Waterways. Hundreds of houses and condos are bordering its banks. The pricing formula is the same as those on teh beach - the closer to its water, the more expensive the property and for condos, the best location and views in those buildings command better prices.
Fort Lauderdale is called “The Venice of America” designed for boaters with its extensive deepwater canal system connecting to the Intracoastal and to the open ocean. Properties on canals of no-fixed bridges are much pricier than properties that are on canals connecting to the Intracoastal with at least 1 to many fixed bridges limiting homeowners to own small boats, being much farther West to the ocean (takes long time to get to the ocean) and boaters must calculate tides to go out and back.
Moreover, South Est Florida is greatly appealing to golf lovers. For that, there are dozens of magnificent, echo friendly, luscious golf courses from the very exclusive to public courses. Again, those homes built on the perimeter of golf courses with backyards looking directly and unobstructed to fairways or greens are more desirable and, therefore, more expensive.
I am your homefinder for sunshine properties with the best locations and views. Call me, John Bourassa, Realtor® on my “Sell” phone (954)-529-5505
Tags: Buyers and Sellers, Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure and Short-Sale, fort lauderdale real estate, International Real Estate, Luxury homes and condominiums, Real Estate Agent, Southeast Florida Real Estate
Posted in Buy a House, Community, Condos, First Time Home Buyers, Foreclosures, Home Builders, Home Improvement, Homes, Homes for Sale, Housing Market, International Buyers, Luxury Homes, MLS, Mansions, Neighborhood, Property, Questions and Answers, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, Relocation, Short-Sale, This and that. | No Comments »
Saturday, May 15th, 2010
The concept of buying a house (a home) that once represented the ultimate “American Dream” has lately evolved to have become a pure investment. When my grand-parents and my parent bought their homes, all they had in mind was to provide a roof for their family, raise the family and by the time they retire their houses would be free and clear – no more debts- and live down Easy Lane (my parents are still living in the same house for 51 years).
In the past 20 years the Internet and news media loaded with tons of instant national and golbal information have greatly educated consumers. All buyers now look to purchase a property with a mathematical approach with hopes that their new property can turn a profit in a short period of time, even in this downturn of the real estate market. Hence, realistically, everyone is some sort of an investor.
Trulia reported an article today stating that investors are no longer woed by short sale purchases because lenders are using market value appraisals based on comparative recent sales in neighborhoods as barometer to assess short sale purchases - they may only give in about 10% from asking prices; sometimes, they often negotiate for buyers to go higher than asking prices. If someone bought a short sale two years ago, that person could have easily bought a property at about 50% of the market value of the time. Not anymore, according to Trulia - those days are gone.
Is that an indication that we have reached the bottom?
To be continued…
John Bourassa, Realtor® in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale Beach, Pompano Beach, Broward County, Coral Ridge, The Landings, Galt Ocean Mile, Seven Isles, Harbour Beach, Downtown Fort Lauderdale, Poinsettia Heights, Victoria Park, Wilton Manors, Palm Aire, - Luxury Homes and Luxury Condominiums, Townhouses, Duplexes.
Tags: Broward County, Buyers and Sellers, Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure and Short-Sale, Fort Lauderdale Luxury Homes and Condos, fort lauderdale real estate, Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Market, International Real Estate, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, Southeast Florida Real Estate
Posted in Appraisal, Buy a House, Community, Condos, First Time Home Buyers, Foreclosures, Home Improvement, Homes, Homes for Sale, Housing Market, International Buyers, Luxury Homes, MLS, Mortgages, Neighborhood, Property, Property Investment, Questions and Answers, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, Relocation, Short-Sale, This and that. | No Comments »
Friday, May 14th, 2010
According to Realestate.MSN.com, the world’s most expensive residential home presently listed on the market for sale resides in Holmby Hills, CA owned by Candy Spelling, widow of the late Aaron Spelling, TV producer mogul. The asking price is a whopping $150,000,000. Endearingly known in its posh enclave as “The Manor”. Name it, it has it. A residence for our earthly gods.
The second runner up is “The Fleur De Lys” in Beverly Hills, CA, modeled after Chateau Versailles, France. A mere $125,000,000 downsized replica of the real thing. It is reported that Mariah Carey once put an offer to buy the chateau last year. Apparently, she didn’t get the house.
Placing third is only a $100,000,000 Lake Tahoe retreat for Joel Horowitz, co-founder of Tommy Hilfiger. Showing a picture of that house would surely embarrass the other two above.
Anything below $100,000,000 is where poor/common people live, I guess.
John Bourassa, Realtor® in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale Beach, Pompano Beach, Broward County, Coral Ridge, The Landings, Galt Ocean Mile, Seven Isles, Harbour Beach, Downtown Fort Lauderdale, Poinsettia Heights, Victoria Park, Wilton Manors, Palm Aire, - Luxury Homes and Luxury Condominiums, Townhouses, Duplexes.
Tags: Beverly Hills California, Fort Lauderdale Luxury Homes and Condos, fort lauderdale real estate, Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Market, International Buyers, International Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, Southeast Florida Real Estate
Posted in Buy a House, Condos, Estate, First Time Home Buyers, Homes, Homes for Sale, Housing Market, International Buyers, Luxury Homes, MLS, Mansions, Property, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, This and that. | No Comments »
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
The internet is flooded with a plethora of real estate venues by every Realtor® in the world who has his/her own website, to online newspapers or foreclosure and short-sale experts for potential buyers to shop for homes or condos. A person can spend a lifetime surfing the net for information about real estate or find property listings but only to often times get mislead and confused.
It is believed that about 88% of all potential home buyers shop the internet first to study the area they are entertaining to buy or to sell their properties before they call an agent.
Unfortunately, the internet is also saturated with inaccurate information. Even the most popular internet real estate sites are quite behind with listings information due to agents who load up their listings in the most popular real estate sites but, like squirrels, they tend to forget where they placed their listings and don’t go back to service them for price revisions or listing status (Pending Sale or Sold).
The best and the most reliable source of accurate real estate listings in every corner of the Nation is Realtor.com.
Realtor.com is the official real estate listing search web site for the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). To become a Realtor®, an agent must belong to his/her local Board of Realtors® which Board belongs to the State he lives in and which State belongs to NAR. Realtors® pay annual dues to benefit from many advantages all those associations provide them from continuous education to support, training and a Multiple Listing Service (MLS), the most powerful and effective tool to real estate agents.
The MLS is a dedicated system designed for real estate agents and is restricted for use only by licensed real estate agents who can pull listings of all other affiliated brokers in their local Boards and reciprocal neighboring Boards for accurate daily data . There are several MLS services – they are proprietary and they sell their services to various local Board of Realtors® across the country and Canada. Every Realtor’s listings are placed in their respective Board MLS. All MLS‘s (there may be exceptions) immediately send their entire listing data to NAR‘s Realtor.com and that data is constantly monitord to update changes as they occur (price reduction or increase, etc).
Realtor.com is the most reliable source of accurate information for real estate listing searches across the Nation.
Shop real estate smartly, save time and search properties only at Realtor.com: www.realtor.com - locate the properties you want to see and call me on my “Sell” phone (954) 529-5505, John Bourassa, Realtor®.
John Bourassa, Realtor® in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale Beach, Pompano Beach, Broward County, Coral Ridge, The Landings, Galt Ocean Mile, Seven Isles, Harbour Beach, Downtown Fort Lauderdale, Poinsettia Heights, Victoria Park, Wilton Manors, Palm Aire, - Luxury Homes and Luxury Condominiums, Townhouses, Duplexes.
Tags: Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure and Short-Sale, Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Market, International Buyers, International Real Estate, Luxury homes and condominiums, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, Short Sales, Southeast Florida Real Estate
Posted in Apartments, Buy a House, Commercial Real Estate, Community, Condos, Estate, First Time Home Buyers, Foreclosures, Home Builders, Homes, Homes for Sale, Housing Market, International Buyers, Luxury Homes, MLS, Neighborhood, Property, Property Investment, Questions and Answers, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, Relocation, Rent, Short-Sale, This and that., Vacations | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
How to spot a “Real Buyer“? How to sense a “Motivated Buyer“? When to let go of an “Undecided Buyer?
There have been many studies – and still are, I am sure - conducted by researchers of all curiosities for all sort of business sales departments about how to determine what is a “Real Buyer” but no one could accurately pin-point the main factors that transition potential buyers from interest to motivations and to final commitments to become real buyers.
It would be so cool and so easy if all sales people were gifted with empathic powers, like Troi on Star Trek The Next Generation, to be able to sense the ”Real Motivated Buyers” and sort out the “tire-kickers“; or, if all “Real Motivated Buyers“ were showing some visible signs of readiness like a bright green glow about their faces the day they are ready to buy, guaranteed; or, a big $ sign would be flashing above their heads…. but the reality of the matter is that buyers are, in most part, confused by emotions of insecurity when entering into big-ticketed purchases.
In my career, I have had 2 different clients who bought the first house I showed them and they each insisted not to continue visit the rest of the listings I had lined up for them to see those days. On the other hand, I have had one person who stuck with me for three-and-one-half years to finally surrender to sign on the doted line.
However, this is my own real estate professional analisys of a “Real Buyer“. Real buyers are more focused, armed with confidence and information. They will ask specific questions and will be more kind in expressing whether they love or do not like the property they are presently visiting. Coincidentlally, all buyers share one common denominator: either during the upswing of the market of the early 2000 when buyers were eager to buy properties no matter what the prices were or those who bought during the real estate meltdown of the second part of this decade, all “Real Motivated Buyers” signed on a contract to purchase real esate within 1 to 4 days from the day I started working with them which represents about 15% of the humdred + customers I handle each year; the rest are undecided - they are “tire-kickers“ - and only a handful of those “undecided” may eventually buy, thereafter.
The “tire-kickers“ are those who act very convincingly as being genuine buyers. Usually, they almost start introducing themselves with “We are not here to waste your time, we are gonna buy a house…” They often tend to be bragarts about how much they have or about their lavish lifestyle and how impeccable is their credit score (those should be our first clues of b.s.) But, as sales people, we like to believe that all customers are sincere; so, we work to find them what they ask for in a house or condo but upon looking at properties, they always have high criticism about what they see. Then, after having spent days of working with us, they are still undecided; they eventually part with us with saying ”If you see something new that comes up, you know what we want, email us and we’ll get right back with you.” We continue searching for more stuff and we follow up with more emails, text messages and phone calls but neither is returned - we get the silence treatent (which is sales people’s #1 foe).
I think that we, the professional sales people, must oblige potential buyers by courteously and diligently provide them with our knowledge and expertise, show them what they are looking for and hope they will buy. But after we have performed to expectations and the buyers no longer respond back after several attempts to contact them, we have lost them - that’s the time for us to let go. If we continue contacting them or sending them more stuff, they may view that as harassment. However, there is nothing wrong to simply send them occasional cards or emails on holidays or on their birthdays (if you have that information) so they constantly have us in mind.
Maybe, someday, they will really be wearing a $ sign above their heads and call us to “really” buy a property.
John Bourassa, Realtor® in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale Beach, Pompano Beach, Broward County, Coral Ridge, The Landings, Galt Ocean Mile, Seven Isles, Harbour Beach, Downtown Fort Lauderdale, Poinsettia Heights, Victoria Park, Wilton Manors, Palm Aire, - Luxury Homes and Luxury Condominiums, Townhouses, Duplexes.
Tags: Buyers and Sellers, Fort Lauderdale Luxury Homes and Condos, fort lauderdale real estate, Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Market, International Buyers, International Real Estate, Luxury homes and condominiums, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, Southeast Florida Real Estate
Posted in Buy a House, Community, Condos, Estate, First Time Home Buyers, Home Improvement, Homes, Homes for Sale, Housing Market, International Buyers, Luxury Homes, MLS, Mortgages, Neighborhood, Property, Property Investment, Questions and Answers, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, Relocation, Rent, Short-Sale, This and that., Townhomes, Vacations | No Comments »
Saturday, May 8th, 2010
The price of an item (a house, a boat, a car, a painting, a shirt, etc.) is a precise amount paid for that item.
Value, on the other hand, lies in the eye of the beholder with many emotional variables that generally interfere with an asking price such as: aesthetics, usefullness, practicality, location, views, age, upgrades, convenience, etc. Sellers may ask certain prices for their properties but buyers usually do not agree with those demands and, if interested, they offer accordingly based on their emotions but not two people do consider value the same.
Realtors® observe and experience this phenomenon first hand, daily. Often during the listing period of aproperty, Realtors® may receive an offer that is substantially low which may not go anywhere while another offer, close to the asking price, may come in later from another buyer .
In a parallell plane, sellers who are asking so much for their beloved properties act equally with protected emotions as buyers do . Generally, sellers ask more than comparable sales because they can produce a litany of attributes to justify their prices. Sometimes, sellers hold tight giving only little leeway in negotiation and others are more generous to buyers.
Unlike retail, values of possessions that are esteemed are determined during negotiations and the price is set when both debating parties have come to a final mutual agreement (make sure it is on paper, though).
Tags: Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure and Short-Sale, Fort Lauderdale Luxury Homes and Condos, fort lauderdale real estate, International Buyers, International Real Estate, Real Estate, Southeast Florida Real Estate
Posted in Appraisal, Buy a House, Community, Condos, Estate, First Time Home Buyers, Foreclosures, Home Improvement, Homes, Homes for Sale, Housing Market, International Buyers, Luxury Homes, MLS, Mortgages, Neighborhood, Property, Property Investment, Questions and Answers, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, Relocation, Short-Sale, This and that., Townhomes, Uncategorized, Vacations | No Comments »
Saturday, May 8th, 2010
Things you should know about Broward County Property Taxes assessment when buying a distressed property.
Published By Broward County Property Appraiser’s office:
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SHORT SALES, FORECLOSURES, ASSESSMENTS AND YOUR TAXES.If you purchase a property in a foreclosure, your actual purchase price may not reflect the just (market) value used for determining your taxes. The Florida Department of Revenue (DOR) issued an advisory opinion that foreclosures generally should not be used for assessment purposes — but Property Appraisers may qualify a foreclosure sale if the property was listed for sale on the MLS open market listings and the property is in normal/good physical condition. Tax Year 2009 was the first time in which DOR allowed foreclosure sales to be qualified in determining assessments. We believe — and DOR agrees — those MLS-listed foreclosure sales are arm’s length “normal market condition” sales under the current recessionary economic conditions and reflect market values. We also qualify short sales, using the same criteria as we do for foreclosures. Regardless of your purchase price, assessments in Florida are done a year in arrears. This means your 2009 assessment was based on the sales in your neighborhood (excluding non-arm’s length transactions and other “disqualified” transfers) between January 2, 2008 and January 1, 2009. Click here to read about the law concerning the appropriate assessment period under Florida Statutes. Any drop in sale prices between January 2, 2009 – January 1, 2010 will be reflected on your 2010 assessment. |
Tags: Broward County Property Tax Assessment, Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure and Short-Sale, Fort Lauderdale Luxury Homes and Condos, Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Market, Homestead, International Buyers, International Real Estate, Property Taxes, Short Sales
Posted in Apartments, Buy a House, Community, Condos, Estate, First Time Home Buyers, Foreclosures, Home Improvement, Homes, Homes for Sale, Housing Market, International Buyers, Luxury Homes, MLS, Mortgages, Neighborhood, Property, Property Investment, Questions and Answers, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, Relocation, Short-Sale, This and that. | No Comments »
