Investing

How to Hire a Listing Agent When Selling Your Home

May 3, 2021 by Kyle Adanza

Hiring a real estate agent to sell your home can be a challenging undertaking. You want to engage someone who will enable you to sell the house and not just list the home. You will look at qualities like how long the realtor has been in business, whether the agent returns calls, the agent's knowledgeability, and many other qualifications. However, it boils down to marketing.

What Sells a Home?

People will want to buy a house that is in good condition at a relatively affordable price. As a homeowner, you control the price and condition of the house. The real estate agent controls the marketing of your home.

The homeowner pays the realtor to market the home. Therefore, at the first meeting with the realtor, ensure that you know how the agent will market your home. They will engage in negotiation, but poor marketing skills will not get them to the negotiation stage.

What to Expect at First Meeting with Realtor

Generally, it is good to ask for recommendations from friends, family, peers, or even search the internet for real estate agents. The best thing is to have between ten to fifteen agents. With the agents, send them an email showing that you want to sell your home.

Are you wondering what to ask a realtor when selling your home? In the first meeting with the realtor when looking to sell your house, ask two questions:

Why should I hire you?
What are you going to do different

Based on the responses to the questions, you will identify the agents that can help you sell your house. Ideally, the questions will eliminate more than 90 percent of the realtors.

When observing their responses about what they will do differently (compared to other realtors), focus on their marketing. Marketing, in this case, means marketing the home and not self-promotion. As such, you may ask the agents to send you some of the listings that they have under contract or have sold. With such information, you can determine if they really know what they are doing.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), buyers look for three things:

Pictures – the realtor should be able to take high quality, clear photos of the home
Detailed description – it should lure buyers by showing the good qualities of the home
Movie tour – enables buyers to take a virtual tour of the home

As stated by the NAR, an agent who can take great pictures, write good descriptions, and film an enticing movie tour knows marketing. When you follow this criterion, you will be left with two or three agents.

Now you can invite them to your home and talk to them. Get to see how good they are at negotiating.

Bottom-line

A realtor's main role is to market your home. Are you wondering when to contact a realtor to sell your home? Examine their marketing and negotiation skills first. Additionally, you can reach out to Mohr Home Group and they will help you get a competent real estate agent.

What Sells a Home?

What to Expect at First Meeting with Realtor

Are you wondering what to ask a realtor when selling your home? In the first meeting with the realtor when looking to sell your house, ask two questions:

Why should I hire you?
What are you going to do different

Based on the responses to the questions, you will identify the agents that can help you sell your house. Ideally, the questions will eliminate more than 90 percent of the realtors.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), buyers look for three things:

Pictures – the realtor should be able to take high quality, clear photos of the home
Detailed description – it should lure buyers by showing the good qualities of the home
Movie tour – enables buyers to take a virtual tour of the home

Now you can invite them to your home and talk to them. Get to see how good they are at negotiating.

Bottom-line

Related Videos:

For More Information Contact Me:

Website: http://www.tampa2enjoy.com/search-homes/

Call: (813) 317 – 4009

Email: lance@tampa2enjoy.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Tampa2Enjoy

Podcast: https://redcircle.com/shows/expert-real-estate-tips-lance-mohr

Tax reform could knock investment plans off track

April 7, 2017 by Lance Mohr

The small-scale owners of millions of rental homes, parcels of investment land and income-producing commercial and business real estate might not know it, but one of their key financial planning and tax tools is in danger of disappearing on Capitol Hill.

House Republicans are working on a major tax reform proposal that, as part of an overall streamlining of the Internal Revenue Code and reduction in tax rates, may eliminate or seriously restrict the use of tax-deferred exchanges – property swaps – under Section 1031 of the code. President Trump has identified tax reform as one of his top priorities, and legislation is expected to move quickly in the new Congress.

In a tax-deferred exchange, owners can postpone recognition of gains on investment real estate when they swap one property for another of “like kind.” The capital gains tax that would otherwise be due gets deferred until the owner sells the replacement property and receives cash.

Under IRS Section 1031, which has been part of the tax code since 1921, a rental house in Santa Barbara, California, might be exchanged for an investment duplex in suburban Chicago. Oklahoma farmland could be exchanged for rental condos in Washington D.C., Boston or Miami. Exchanges are also used to further environmental protection objectives, such as through swaps involving conservation easements to preserve habitat and prevent future development.

To qualify for tax deferral, exchanges must follow a detailed set of IRS rules specifying the timing for identifying replacement properties and transaction closing deadlines. An entire industry of “qualified intermediaries” exists to facilitate exchanges by escrowing proceeds and administering transactions to comply with IRS rules. Fixer-upper houses and other real estate held for short periods and then flipped to new purchasers do not qualify for tax deferred exchanges nor do owner-occupied residences.

View all home for sale in Tampa Bay at www.tampa2enjoy.com.

Loss of the ability to use an exchange would be a significant blow to “Mom and Pop” and other small-scale realty investors. According to a study posted on the website of the National Rental Home Council, there were 15.7 million rental homes in the U.S. as of 2015, and 99 percent of them were owned by non-institutional investors. A study by professors at the University of Florida and Syracuse University estimated that most exchanges involve relatively small properties; in 2011, 59 percent had a sale price of less than $1 million.

Bill Horan of Realty Exchange Corp. in Gainesville, Virginia, told me about recent transactions that illustrate some of the objectives of tax-deferred property swaps. In one, a rental property owner exchanged it for two Dollar General stores. The owner “didn't want to be a daily landlord anymore,” which involved hands-on management duties and liabilities, Horan said. By rolling his rental housing gains and equity into “triple net” leased retail properties, where the tenants essentially are responsible for everything, he was able to simplify his life, diversify his portfolio and potentially make greater gains in the future with retail real estate. Another small investor swapped a rental home in Virginia for a rental condo in Ft. Myers, Florida, where he intends to move for retirement.

“He wanted to own property near where he's going to live,” said Horan. Since the Ft. Myers unit cost $412,000 and the rental home he relinquished was valued at $525,000, the investor ended up paying a modest amount of capital gains taxes.

Exchanges have been on congressional tax writers' hit lists before, in part because they generate tax “expenditures” – losses of otherwise immediately collectible revenue for the federal government. In

December 2015, the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that during fiscal 2017, exchanges would generate tax expenditures of $11.7 billion attributable to corporations and $6 billion attributable to individual taxpayers. For the same year, by comparison, revenue losses caused by deductions for mortgage interest and local property taxes by individual homeowners were much larger – $84.3 billion and $36.9 billion, respectively.

Exchange proponents, such as Suzanne Baker of Investment Property Exchange Services in Chicago, argue that most of the deferred taxes ultimately are collected when properties get sold for cash, and that exchanges stimulate economic activity – redevelopment and upgrades of properties for example – that would not occur if owners faced immediate taxes on their gains and therefore simply sat on them.

Bottom line: If you own investment real estate, and have contemplated a Section 1031 exchange, be aware: There's a significant possibility that tax reform could knock your plans off track. Keep a close eye on what's happening, because it could happen fast.

Prepare Your New Home For a Hurricane

August 18, 2014 by Lance Mohr

Hurricanes are fairly common in regions like Maine and Texas and are one of the most devastating natural phenomenons on earth. They bring with them heavy rainfall, flooding and high speed gusty winds that are extremely powerful. When moving into a new house that is located in a hurricane-prone area, it is advisable to start work on protecting your home from the very start. When a disaster strikes, you want to have a safe home to keep your family and belongings from harm’s way.

Here is a look at some of the basic things that you can do to prepare your new home for a hurricane.

Building code requirements

First and foremost the thing to do is to find out whether your home adheres to latest building code regulations and requirements with consideration to high wind activity. Buildings made with the objective of standing tall, even in high wind conditions, have a better chance of surviving the ordeal than the ones that are not. While you can get some of that done with basic hardware tools, you need to hire a professional contractor if the structure of the house needs to be changed.

Out in the open

Having loose stones, rocks and gravel outside the house for landscaping purposes is not a good idea for regions that are prone to hurricanes. They can easily be replaced by torn bark that looks equally as good, and cementing is a good option as well. If you have trees, plants and shrubs in the vicinity, you have to make sure to be on top of things and keep them well-trimmed and taken care off. Weak tree branches falling on the house are some of the most common reasons for devastation caused by a hurricane.

Working on the structure

If you are planning to rebuild or remodel the entire house, make sure that you get the following things done:

Make use of only impact-resistant windows and patio doors that have shutters, which can be firmly closed to prevent things flying into the house during the storm.
Use a minimum of three hinges along with a heavy dead bolt lock for installing doors and make sure that they are attached properly to the walls.
Garage doors can be quite big, so they are one of the most vulnerable parts of the house. It is required that you get your garage door inspected by a qualified inspector and replace it if required. Use stiffeners in addition to center supports for the doors, which can be removed after there is no threat.
For roofing, make sure that the professional you have hired removes the entire material the previous roof is made off before putting in the new material. It is important to focus on making the sheathing of the roof as strong as possible.
Changes have to make to the various floors of the house with the help of a qualified professional.

Be prepared

Make yourself and your family well-versed with the disaster preparedness plans used by the community or neighborhood that you are going to stay in. Always be well-stocked with food and liquids in case you are in house arrest due to the hurricane. In addition to this, have an emergency kit or bag ready that contains essential items like first-aid, medicines, all purpose knives, torches and other similar items.

Tips For Home Sellers

June 6, 2014 by Lance Mohr

Hi, my name is Lance Mohr and I am a real estate agent in Tampa, Florida and I wanted to do this video for home sellers. I know a lot of people were on the internet and they want to find out the value of their home. They are thinking about maybe selling it immediately or six months down the line and they want to get an idea of what it is worth and they are going on different websites like Zillow which is just a joke but anyhow they are going on Zillow and they are filling out market evaluations and they are going on Google and typing in Tampa home prices or Tampa home values. So anyhow let me just give you a couple of tips and I have to say right off the bat, take what I say with a grain of salt because it is not going to resonate well with everybody.

Appraisers

So first thing you need to know when you are looking at getting the value of your home first it depends on how good the real estate agent is or how good the appraisal is. There are a lot of bad appraisers and there are of course a lot of bad real estate agents. Everybody knows that but you want to get someone who knows what they are doing and someone who gives a correct evaluation. I can’t tell you how many times I would follow up a real estate agent and I would ask the home seller but what did they give you? Can I look at it? I would see and they would basically the agent just went in there and they took everything in the subdivision over the past 6 months and they just printed out all the homes that were sold in the whole subdivision and then what they do is they figure out an average price per square foot and then they take that home and they use that price per square foot.

I mean that is just comical. That is not even close to how square footage is figured out or how home values are figured out. As a matter of fact if you ever look at an appraisal or actually see an appraisal and let us say the average price per square foot is selling in a subdivision for say $100,000 just figuratively. It is selling for 100 and you actually look at the appraisal. The appraiser did not use 100. They are going to probably use about 40.00 per square foot because they are not giving you all of the costs for your cabinetry and everything else in the home, the plumbing and everything so it is just based off of just square foot but I am not really here to go over that.

Choose the best pricing

What I want to tell people is I want to talk a little bit about the pricing; how important pricing a home is. If you price a home too low you are going to lose money. Everybody knows that. But what people don’t know is if you price the home too high you are going to lose probably just as much money if not more and I have statistics from the National Association of Realtors to back this up so I’m just not giving you a theory here; not to mention I’ve dealt with thousands of people over my real estate career and I can tell you when they overprice a home it is like shooting yourself in the foot. So the one thing people do and I go in and talk to them and they will say well we want to sell our home but we are not really in a hurry and I completely understand that but here is the thing. Whenever you are selling a home you don’t want to be in a rush and you don’t’ want to underprice the home but you need to do your due diligence because you need to have a goal.

I tell all my sellers the ones that will listen to me; we need to have a goal to sell this within one to two weeks because you want to capture buyers. The shorter a home is on the market, the shorter time period the less negotiating power someone has, a buyer has. Example, you are a buyer and you go out and look at a home. It has only been on the market 6 days. Do you really think you have a lot of negotiating power? Believe me no you don’t. Even if the home is overpriced you still don’t have a lot of negotiating power because it has only been on the market 6 days. Now let’s say the home has been on the market 166 days. Even if it is priced right do you think you have negotiating power? Of course you do. So keep in mind there are only three things that are going to sell a home. It is like a piece of pie. You have to have all three. They are always as important as the next but it all starts with the price because price is the common denominator. The second thing you need to do is conditioning. Most people don’t condition their home. I will get into other videos in this. This is an advantage to use as a seller. Can you imagine going out to a brand new home and the thing is dusty, dirty, and has dings in the wall? It is really hard to show because no one is ever home. They don’t have any floor plans. They don’t have any information to give you on the home. Can you imagine that? _____ would never sell anything.

Marketing

The third thing is marketing. It is a whole other story because I am just amazed agents are in the business. They list homes They cannot take professional pictures. They can’t put descriptions on it. You call them up and you cannot get a hold of them but that is another thing. So when we talk about pricing but it is important that you know all of these things what it takes to sell a home. So pricing; let me give you some statistics by the National Association of Realtors and take this with a grain of salt. I know a lot of people are not going to like what I have to say because it will probably hit you between the eyes and some of you are just in flat denial but I hope this helps and I don’t mean to be too straight forward with you but I think that is what deep down people really want because we all know most realtors are like politicians they will say anything to get your listing and unfortunately sellers fall for that all of the time. So anyhow, let’s take market value. If you price your home at market value you are only going to have it open to 60% of the home buyers and people say 60% what about the other 40%? Well you have to keep in mind people are looking for homes for different reasons. If someone is buying a home and they are an investor and they want to rent it out, their number one goal is, is it going to rent fast and what can I rent it for. What is my rate of return? If someone is buying a home and they want to fix it up and flip the home well they are going to have to get a really good deal so there are different reasons why it is only 60% but if you overprice your home by just 10%. Okay so your homes were worth $200,000 let’s say and you decide well I’m not in a hurry let me overprice it and let me put it at $220,000 because the buyers are always going to want to negotiate. Well that is what a lot of people think. So they price it at $220,000. The problem is they have just gone from 60% of the market to 30% of the market like that. They have just eliminated half of all the buyers and of course the name of the game is how many people can you get in your home.

Spend time wisely

So the second thing is let’s take the number of weeks in the market. A lot of people know this and I get this if they have sold homes before. They always say well why is it that it was really busy in the beginning and now it has really slowed down. I have not been getting hardly anybody. Depending on the price range of your home and the marketing that your agent does, the average time period is 1 month. You are going to see after about 4 weeks, 3 weeks or 4 weeks the buyers are going to really start trailing off. Don’t think if you get a bunch of buyers in the first week or two weeks it is going to be like that the whole time. No it is going to really dip so it is really important. Again you have a small window of opportunity. If I go out to a home and it is say $100,000 in our area. If that home has not sold within the week I’m thinking this thing has a problem with pricing because we are going to get a ton of people. There are a lot of fish swimming in that sea. If it is a $400,000 home I understand it is not going to sell in a week or two weeks but you have to have a goal. You have to go in with a game plan.

The third is and this is really eye opening to a lot of people. If you could get the home sold within four weeks you are going to be able to get on average, the National Association of Realtors states you are going to get about 1.9% less for your home. Now a lot depends on the price and a lot of different variables the condition etc. But of course keep in mind price is always the common denominator. If you want to hire an agent that does not do any marketing, that does not return any phone calls, that takes lousy pictures, that does not do videos, that does not write descriptions, well you are going to pay a price. Maybe you paid them less than a commission price but you are going to pay in the overall cost of the sale and again if the conditioning is not there. So if a home sits on the market between 4 and 12 weeks you are going to average 3.6% less than the fair market value of the home. If it sits on the market between 13 and 24 weeks you are going to get 5.6% less. And if the homes on the market more than 24 weeks and of course the longer it is going to start adding up. You are at about 9%. So can you imagine not being in a hurry and instead of getting $200,000 for the home which is what you should have gotten, you get $189,000 or let’s say even worse you should have gotten $200,000 for the home but you didn’t get $200,000, maybe you priced it at $220,000 or lowered it to $215,000 and you lowered it to $210,000 and you lowered it to $200,000 which opened it up to a whole bunch of different buyers. You’ve got a buyer that came in but the problem is it has been on the market 158 days. You are going to get on average about $180,000 for that home. That is how important pricing is. Again don’t…you don’t have to listen to me. Take what I say with a grain of salt but these are statistics and I can tell you that this is true. When buyers are buying homes and think back when you bought a home, they always want to know how long has the home been on the market? Everybody wants to know that.

Contact Me

If you have any questions about selling a home, marketing a home, anything, what is going on in the Tampa real estate marketing please do not hesitate to give me a call at 813-317-4009. I also have a lot of these educational videos on pricing, conditioning, how to hire agents, etc. Go to my video page on my website Tampa2Enjoy or just go to my YouTube channel. I have all this stuff. I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck. I really do. Take care and thank you very much.

Tips For Home Buyers

May 30, 2014 by Lance Mohr

Hi my name is Lance Mohr and I’m a real estate agent in Tampa Bay Florida and I wanted to do this video for homebuyers not just first-time homebuyers but even people who have bought two, three, or four homes because I know a lot of times I go out to someone’s home when we are selling it and I start asking them and talk to them about what happened when they bought the home and they just have a lot of horror stories and I mean I’ve heard everything from people getting swindled out of homes to just a lot of really, really bad issues with title and losing earnest money so there are a few things I want to give you some tips that you need to do.

Get Educated

You cannot make an educated decision unless you are educated. And a lot of times what happens is people are very complacent when they are looking for a home. They start going through Trulia and Zillow, they fill out information, and pretty much whoever they talk to they think well I’m just going to work with this agent. I just want to look at homes and they can show homes. Well that is like going to a doctor and saying I can go to any doctor and use them because they just prescribe medication. It is ridiculous. It is the same thing with an attorney or anybody or any professional.

You really need to get educated so when you are looking for home contact realtors and reach out and interview them. Talk to them a little bit, read their bio on their website, find out a little bit about them, ask them questions about how long they have been in the business, do the work more with buyers, do they work more with sellers, and start doing some research just not on real estate agents, look up home buyer webinars to look at especially if you are first-time homebuyer and look at stuff on the Internet if you want to know about how property taxes work read about that.

If you want to know about crime reports or school reports start reading information. The World Wide Web is great but be careful because there is a lot of bad information. There are a lot of bad people out there, real estate agents, lenders, people in general. So really educate yourself because at the end of the day if something happened it is no one else’s fault but your own.

Get educated in what is going on in the market out there. Is it a buyers’ market? Is it a sellers’ market? What is the trend? Is it trending more towards a buyers’ market? Is it trending more towards a sellers’ market? A lot of people really got caught and were surprised when the market shifted because they didn’t understand it but there are signs and there are statistics so get that.

Check for Credentials and Experience

I hate to give you hard love and say that but a lot of times I will go out and I will talk to a buyer and they got swindled out of money or something happened and they just had a really horrible experience and I start talking to them and I’m like why did you work with this real estate agent and they just say,” Oh well they called me back” or “they happened to show me the home” or “they were friend of a friend at work” and the agent did not have any credentials or any experience and has not been in the business.

The same thing goes with the lender, if you’re looking at getting a loan, if you need a loan talk to your real estate agent they should be able to give you at least one, two, three people to talk to lender wise and talk to the lender. Go in and sit down and talk to them about what are the options. I know everyone is into instant gratification market right now that is just our society; everybody wants instant gratification. You want what you want and you want it now and I understand that. I get it. I am the same way but the problem is you are going to get hurt.

What you really need to do is talk to the lender and see what options are available to you and have them don’t just tell you what you are going to do but say what are all my options. Then have them discuss it with you, ask their opinion on what they think and why and do the same thing with the real estate agent. Go into the real estate agent’s office and sit down with them. Go over everything. See how professional they are. Look anybody could show you homes and in all honesty you don’t need a real estate agent to do that. I know this… a lot of this is stuff you are probably just sitting there thinking, “Oh, Lance I already know this, this is ridiculous but you know what, people know it but they don’t do it. I’ve got to tell you I can probably count everybody on my hands and feet my entire career that have actually gone through the proper steps and have actually gotten educated so don’t go with the instant gratification.

Conclusion

This is going to be the biggest financial decision, this is going to be most people’s biggest financial decision so again, if you want to make an educated decision, you have to get educated. If you have any questions about the Tampa marketplace and speaking of which let me just add one more thing. If you have any questions at all about the Tampa Bay area, the Tampa market do not hesitate to give me a call at 813-317-4009. You can get on my website tampa2enjoy and check out all the educational information and free webinars for home buyers and sellers and they are they only take about a half hour. See my Facebook and all my videos on my Youtube channel for more information. Alright, best of luck to you. Good bye.

Lower Tampa Home Prices Are Better For Buyers

December 30, 2013 by Lance Mohr

Like many other cities across this great nation, Tampa home prices have taken a dive in recent years. But these times of hardship make an impact on sellers more so than buyers. For the buyer, the situation makes for a perfect opportunity to get into your first home, or at least one that you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to afford.

Take a look at a couple of the most common ways one could take advantage of property values that are struggling to hold their ground in an industry that hasn’t fully rebounded from the woes of recent years.

First Time Homebuyers
When it’s time to buy your first home, if you are like most, it’s normally a financial stretch. Lower home prices in Tampa can be the perfect opportunity to purchase a little piece of the Floridian landscape. You could be looking for a beautiful South Tampa waterfront condo or maybe even a single family home on the golf course in a community like Pebble Beach; any home has the potential of suffering from Tampa home prices that have fallen. This is where a buyer comes in and takes advantage of a property that may have sold years ago for much more and is currently being sold at a great bargain to a buyer who is at the right place at the right time.

Looking For Something Larger
Lower Tampa home prices are also a prime time for an expanding family to upgrade to a larger home. When it’s time to move out of your starter home because you and your family have outgrown it, a larger home may be in order. But what if you don’t have a lot of money and would still like to get a lot of house? The answer is in taking advantage of the good bargains that are sure to be out there when house prices decline.

This is the time to get excited and give me a call so that we can get you started on finding just the right home to make an offer on. Also keep in mind that just as Tampa home prices have fallen, eventually they will once again rise, and when they do you’ll be sitting on more equity than you could have ever imagined.

The city of Tampa, and all of its surrounding communities, is still a fabulous place to call home. There are homes available to fit every budget. Get a condo or townhouse close to town or move a little further outside of city center into a beautiful home in a gated community. With just a little bit of patience you can ride out the wave and be prepared to take advantage of the time with home values in Tampa begin rising again!

If you have any question on home prices or values in Tampa please visit our website.

1031 Exchange Can Save Real Estate Investors Thousands of Dollars

November 14, 2013 by Lance Mohr

If you are a real estate investor or even thinking about investing in real estate you need to understand what a 1031 exchange is. This is a great benefit for small and large investors that can give them a huge tax advantage and enable them to continue to invest in real estate. Over the years I have done multiple 1031 exchanges and have saved thousands of dollars of taxes. Of course, the only think better than deferring your taxes, is not having to paying taxes.

Below is a great article that Realtors and investors should read.

Don’t Let Clients Miss a Big 1031 Exchange Opportunity
“Before the property investment deal is sealed, ask your clients one important question: Do you know if you’ll owe taxes on the sale of your property, even if you’re taking a loss on it?

That conversation might be key to helping them unlock big tax savings by avoiding a common misconception: no profit means no taxes, investment specialists Rochelle Stone and John Mangham said at a session called “Investors Make a Comeback: 1031 Exchanges Return” last Friday at the 2013 REALTORS® Conference & Expo.

Once clients realize they could be facing a hefty tax bill, even when they’re selling at a loss, they could benefit from options that 1031 exchanges provide them, said Stone, president of Starker Services Inc., a firm that assists with these types of transactions. “Don’t let your clients leave their equity behind,” he said.”

Here's a video that explains what a 1031 exchange is and how they work. This is just a brief overview.

Years ago I showed a home to an investor that just sold one of his investment properties that he made $70,000 on. When I asked him if he did a 1031 exchange he said, No – what’s that. After I told him how a 1031 exchange worked he was furious that his Realtor and account didn’t tell him about this before he sold this home.

A knowledgeable Realtor should always be able to give you basic information on real estate mortgages and 1031 exchanges. If you have any questions please call me, Lance Mohr or visit our website.

Investing in Tampa Homes as Rental Properties

August 8, 2012 by Lance Mohr

Living in the Sunshine State is a reality for a great number of people. Add to that the annual number of visitors to Florida and it is easy to recognize the appeal of this beautiful state. Lovely tropical plants, beautiful beaches and spectacular sunsets are typical scenes in much of the state, due to the incredible amount of coastline. Tampa holds special appeal because of its proximity to shopping centers, beaches and golf courses, among other recreational and cultural activities.

House-looking is a favorite pastime when there are a few spare hours between conferences and appointments. Visitors might feel inspired to see what is available to rent in the area, particularly if condos in South Tampa, or close by, will provide them a place to stay while they conduct business. Even a week's worth of time in the area is better organized when clothing and a touch of familiar items from home are available upon arrival. One advantage of renting a condominium is the low-maintenance lifestyle, where someone else keeps the yard and building looking beautiful.

Economical, attractive condos in New Tampa are available in a myriad of sizes, from 1 to 3 bedrooms and either 1 or 2 baths. If you have been thinking about investing in a Tampa property , condos are the perfect opportunity for the beginning investor. You can purchase a few nice condos for the price of a single-family home and recoup your investment much more quickly. You can look online through offers on the MLS and take a drive through the areas to find if they are appealing as investments. Are there commercial buildings in the area, or is it primarily residential? Look at the parks, schools, and hospitals nearby to confirm they are taken care of and inviting. Keep the potential renter base wide open by making sure there are senior or community centers nearby that provide services and support to residents. Forward thinking by anticipating the needs of the future residents helps keep steady tenants at your properties.

One of the most valuable assets any prospective property owner has is a Realtor. They have knowledge of home values, future construction and residential ordinances. Since they typically live in the area, they will have first-hand knowledge of utility companies and ideal neighborhoods in which you can invest, as well as total understanding of the many documents involved with a real estate transaction.

Real Estate Investments: Building Equity on a Budget

July 17, 2012 by Lance Mohr

The tradition of buying a home and passing it down through generations reduced dramatically when mobility became so simple. Traveling a thousand miles or more each way on a jet became an easy work commute. That, in turn, made it possible to live in hundreds of communities conveniently located near large airports. A portion of commuters bought or leased a small jet and hired an experienced pilot that could handle their busy schedules. Some of the commuters got their own pilot's license, and a new tradition of multiple choices for a residence began.

That enables many people to look for excellent real estate investments, particularly since it is a buyer's market in many areas. Possible buyers looking at the Tampa area have access to both a great airport and a tremendous choice of homes for sale. However, the buyer's market has begun to dwindle on property sales and a seller's market is emerging. Those contemplating a good price on housing around Tampa should remain attentive to the signs of economic recovery, as that will affect bargaining on any sale.

The biggest advantages when purchasing reduced-cost homes include lower prices, taxes and payments. For first-time buyers, or those making a comeback from the recession, a lower down payment might be the best feature. With less principal being financed, payments are lower than normal.

A lower appraisal value results in lower taxes. Even though the rate can change from year to year, taking advantage of the lower tax rate now by applying the saved money towards the principal increases your investment in the property. Sending an extra amount designated for principal is a good habit to get into, because it emphasizes your ability to build equity on a budget. Monthly payments paid prior to the due date help build your credit score.

When you are ready to buy another home, you will have a significant amount of value in the home you bought for an investment. Your established record of paying your debts, including the mortgage, on time will be reviewed. You will be able to show you can handle a higher payment because of the additional principal-only payment that has been sent each month.

If you are thinking about investing in real estate in Tampa visit www.tampa2enjoy.com.

Investing in a Tampa Home

July 14, 2012 by Lance Mohr

Perhaps you or someone you know has a job that requires them living in a certain area for three to five years before being assigned to another area altogether. With rents sometimes comparable to mortgage payments in some areas, those who used to take long-term leases on property have started to think about buying a home as an investment rather than renting or leasing. Instead of buying a home strictly on one’s own criteria, prospective buyers are looking at property as a buyer and future seller.

Commuting and Convenience
Individuals and families sent to a certain area because of employment might be fortunate enough to get a transfer to Tampa or a similar area, where the variety of homes and communities leaves many housing options open. An important feature for any area is the convenience of commuting. While making a list of the areas that catch your interest, note the thoroughfares and expressways leading to each one. Do research on public transportation, such as bus and light rail routes. How convenient is the airport? You will find living in Tampa draws more visitors to your home than usually drop by. When you are ready to list the home for sale, it will be a favorable selling point.

Buying a home in an area with a variety of businesses nearby provides close employment opportunities for family members, saving money and time spent on long commutes. Take a good look at the types of businesses in the area and the length of time they have been there. If you have the time, shop at one of the stores and eat at one of the restaurants. That will give you an opportunity to assess the atmosphere of each locality. Are other shoppers and store employees helpful and courteous? That can be another resale point on your investment property.

Maintain Property Appeal
Finally, work on home improvements to keep the yard, buildings and landscaping in top shape. Attend community meetings regarding changes around the area, such as new parks or less desirable facilities. You want this investment to remain inviting for future buyers when it nears time for you to move, while keeping its appeal during your time of residence.

Please visit www.tampa2enjoy.com if you are interested in investing in a home in Tampa, Florida.

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