Lehigh United Way House

I have agreed to work once a week as a real estate consultant for the United Way House in Lehigh. The purpose for the arrangement is to offer services to Lehigh Acres residents who have real estate questions, concerns or in need of advice. My day there is Thursdays from 2:00-5:00pm. If you have a need, call the United Way House at 239-369-0177 to make an appointment.

Investor Step In Now

The truth is that the most successful real estate investors get in the market in a market like now. A soft buyers market with many homes in jeopardy of foreclosure brings in the seasoned investor. They realize that this is a temporary situation and the market will turn with money to be made at that time with the deals to be found now.

If you are interested in Real Estate Investments, check out our investoment opportunities on the main page of our site www.aaarealtyllc.com

Rent to Own Homes

I attended a family fun day sponsored by a home builder on Saturday. I was impressed by the job they did. They had free food, bounce houses for the kids, and lots of staff there to talk to people about how they could get into their rent to own program. I really like what they have to offer. With the state of our real estate as it stands- overbuilt to the hilt, there are opportunities for every type of situation even if your credit is horrible.

I have put clients in these rent to own programs in the past and have seen many successful closing after a year of renting so I know the program works. Now it is very affordable. Many times for $1,000 - $5,000 down and an affordable payment of anywhere from $900-$1500. Some programs put a portion towards the purchase price and others don't. During the rental period you work with companies to help you with your credit and in 12 months, you are looking at a legal refinance and not new purchase. It works to benefit you as it is easier to qualify for a refinance than for a new purchase.

The reason that it makes sense for the investor/homeowner who built the house is they get your rental payment and then in a year they get their full investment return when you close. Win Win for everyone.

If you find yourself wanting a home but are not in a position to right now, this rent to own program might be for you. Give us a call at AAA Realty, LLC and we can help you with the program that is right for you.

AAA Realty LLC telephone is 239-368-8520

Part 2 of 5 in Realtor vs. By Owner

Ok so we have aleady established that you have made the decision to sell on your own. We gave you some suggestions in Part 1 of this 5 part series. Now we want to talk about security. The days are gone when we could trust that anyone walking through our home who says they are interested really was only there for that reason. Realtor’s deal with the issue of security on a daily basis. Some of the hard fast rules we use should be on your “must follow” list so help keep you safe.
Never be alone during an open house- The extra attention via advertising and signage is seen by all. Unfortunately there are some bad people out there that use this avenue to pray on people. They may disguise themselves as an interested buyer when in fact they are interested in you or your possessions. Having an additional person there with you will help deter those unmentionables.
Stage Your Home- This is a very important point. Your home is on stage and you must have it shine. Cleanliness is probably the most important part of this. It might be time to hire a cleaner to do a real deep cleaning top to bottom. (no spider webs, dust bunnies or dirty windows or baseboards allowed). After you have achieved spotlessness, you want to unclutter. The rule of thumb we use is 2 less pieces of furniture in each room. Also take down any family pictures ect. that show the home is yours. Set your china up on the table all complete with candles. Make sure all counters are as bare as possible. No distasteful smells allowed. Everyone has a smell. Usually your home reeks of that smell. Also pet smells are an absolute no no. Set up candles or potpourri strategically around your home. A nice smell of an apple pie baking or something like that gives the feeling of being home.
Have literature out and available for the easy taking- Have a picture brochure available for a potential buyer to take with them. It should include all the pertinent information about your home. More on the literature in part 3 of this series. You should also include a property disclosure of your home (more on this in part 4 of this series). Most people coming into your home have no clue what the process is to purchase your home so the more you know, the more chance you will have to make a sale.
Advertise using the local newspaper local signage- Utilizing the classifieds in your local newspaper will help you to bring in interested buyers. Additionally you must have some signage from busier streets directing to your home announcing the open house. This will bring in passersby.
Our hopes are that if you employ some or all of the ideas we have given you in this series that we can help you to have a successful sale of your home. If this all seems too overwhelming, you may already see why most people starting out to sell “By Owner” wind up seeking the help of a Realtor. Please check us out or give us a call if we can be that Realtor for you or even if we can assist you in any way. You can call our office at 239-368-8520 or email us at tammyjrodriguez@gmail.com. Lastly you can check us out on the web at www.aaarealtyllc.com. We would love to hear from you. Good luck and happy selling!!

Meetings

I was thinking about the word that we use so freely in our extremely busy lives. We hear from our spouse, “I won’t be home early, I have a meeting to go to after work”, our friend tells us “can I call you back, I’m in a meeting“, we call to speak to the supervisor of the pizza joint to complain about the cold pizza that got delivered to you last night and get told “I am sorry but the supervisor is in a meeting“. I can go on and on but do you think that we are getting beyond ourselves with the necessity for so many meetings?

Popular Science’s website popsci.com does a series “Science Confirms the Obvious!”“We unearth the latest research that definitely, positively proves what you knew already—and tell you why it matters” One of the confirmations was “Too Many Meetings Make You Grumpy” The following is from that study:
The Study: “The relationship between meeting load and . . . well-being of employees,” Group Dynamics, March 2005
The Findings: Ever get the feeling that you’d get more work done if you weren’t constantly attending meetings to discuss all the work to be done? Two social scientists from the universities of Minnesota and North Carolina hypothesized that meetings are analogous to “hassles,” defined in stress-research literature as “annoying episodes in which daily tasks become more difficult or demanding than anticipated.” The psychologists analyzed diary entries from 37 meeting-prone midlevel university workers over one week. They found that days chock-full of meetings left employees feeling stressed, exhausted and burned out.
Why Bother? Employers take heed: Since beleaguered workers may perform poorly, be tardy, or quit, the authors suggest that “organizations be sensitive to the number of meetings employees are required to attend.” Managers could create “formal guidelines” for meeting necessity (presumably not drafted at a meeting). (exerpt taken from popsci.com)
How do you feel? Are meetings just a “waste of your precious time”? I don’t think so they should be. I do know however that depending on how well the outcome of the meeting will be is dependent on the following be rules of every meeting
Prepare thouroughly- an agenda is a must.
Set up proper meeting place- Must be condusive for the amount of attendees.
Assign a person to take notes-
Start and end on time- This will help with bordemn from the attendees
Have a facilitator- again to direct and redirect while following the agenda
Keep the meeting on task - going off on tangents or items off agenda will ruin an otherwise effective meeting.
So what about the meetings you attend, facilitate or organize? Are they to be catagorized as meetings or social gatherings? A social gathering is when you have a more relaxed atmosphere and state personal thoughts. A time to get to know one another or to share experiences. Save those times for when you have get-togethers for that specific reason. Keep the meetings focused and on task using the list above and you will see a dramic change in the quality and time needed to conduct great meanfull meetings.

Homelessness/Affordable Housing

Where are we as members of society in Lehigh Acres pertaining to helping our community with affordable housing? Were are we in helping the homeless in Lehigh? Did you know that statistics show that more than 42% of homeless people are now families!? That means children. Can you imagine why? Well I can surely venture to say that it’s the cost of housing. Who can afford to live with these rising prices? When a home that was purchased three years ago at $72,000. and is sold in today's market at $200,000, who can afford the cost of that? The average mortgage at 7% APR for a 30yr fixed rate is just over $1,300.00 a month not including taxes and insurance. A $200,000 home would cost around $2,000.00 in taxes and you might as well think at least another $1,500.oo for the rising insurance cost. So a whopping approximate payment of $1,600.00 per month or $372.00 per week (based on 4.3 weeks in a month). This is for a bottom line home. For a family (both working) at minimum wage is making $6.67 per hour at 40 hours a week makes $533.00 per week and then when you take your 22% off for taxes the family is left with a little of $400.00 per week. Add it up…it doesn’t work! Ok so you say most are making more than minimum wage and I agree with you-but, you get my point. You wonder why we have so much homelessness? It is directly related to the wages vs. housing cost. So what is the answer? I definitely don’t have all the answers but I do know that I want to be part of the solution. Myself and few other advisory members of the United Way House will be forming a coalition committed to teaching people to expand their skills so that they can attain higher paying jobs. The first will be a series on basic computer, Internet knowledge and selling on Ebay. The classes will be held at the local Lehigh Acres United Way House and will be open to all. There will be a nominal charge for the class but there will be sponsorship scholarships for anyone that can not afford to pay for the class. I will update you on the classes when they happen. I welcome any comments and ideas on this one.

The Great Build

A really neat article I read in the Lehigh Acres News Star (Lehigh’s local newspaper) told about Morrison’s Homes project “The Great Build” It’s a community in nearby Alva know as the historic river district. Morrison’s Builders needed a model center as part of the community project so they launched on December 29th, 2006 the ground breaking of this model home and they committed to work 7 days a week for 30 days (240 working hours) to complete this model home. The home is not small by any means. It is a 4/3 pool home. Their goal is to finish before the 30 days. They have put their money where their mouth is and have committed to donate $1000.00 for every hour that they finish prior to the 240 hours to Monique Burr Foundation For Children, which helps abused and neglected children.

River Hall is a premier gated club community of over 2000 acres. It features neighborhoods that will accommodate everyone. Some of the exceptional amenities include a championship Davis Love III signature golf course, six HarTru® tennis courts and walking trails through-out the neighborhoods. The Town Hall is complete with a fitness center, kid’s game room, snack bar, complete with many activities. There is an elementary school, and a proposed fire station.
I plan on going out there in the next few days and take some pictures of the area and the model project of Morrison Homes. Let’s pray that they finish that project even earlier then they anticipate so that more children can be helped through the charity they have chosen to give so generously to. I will post some of the pictures and give you some updates when I have them.

First Time Home Buyer

There are much help out there for the first time home buyer. If you have not ever owned a home or if you have not owned one for the last three years, you may qualify for these programs. Depending on your income level, we may be able to get up to $30,000 of forgivable loans. As long as you don’t sell the home with in the 10 year period, you will never have to pay back the assistance loans. There are programs for Armed Forces, Healthcare personnel, Police and Educators. We are developing a Homeowners Seminar entitled “Homeownership For All” Our staff at AAA Realty are ready to educate those persons that are still renting about how they too can join the ranks of home ownership. Keep checking back for updates on the seminar and when and how you can be part of it.

For Sale By Owner or Realtor

This is part 1 in a five part series. In a buyers market, it is difficult enough for a professional Realtor to market and sell a property. As a seller, considering trying to sell your own property may just put off your sale even longer and you most likely will have to attain the services of a Realtor in the end. If though even though I and many others have warned you, you decide to take the plunge we want to help you out and give you some hints and tricks. One very important key to consider is your home’s first impression. You should go over the home inside and out and do any necessary repairs. There should not be anything in need of repair. It might also be time to do some painting, change flooring and or update. Deep cleaning would be another item you want to get done prior to putting up signs. Pay close attention to your windows (inside and out). Pressure cleaning of the home can be a way of avoiding having to paint outside. A good pressure cleaner can make your home look years newer and get rid of any mildew that may be around the home. Outside should also be free from clutter and landscaping should be tidy. Some new flowers or plants might really brighten up that first impression. It would be helpful to have a realtor come by and give you their opinion as to what would be best for you to prepare for the sale. My company offers free of charge a walk through analysis of the home with absolutely no pressure to list with us. Stay tuned for part 2 when we will continue giving you more tricks and tips for selling your home “By Owner”

Real Estate Update

Lehigh Acres, FL -As it is when we are in a buyers market…now is the time to jump in the market if you are an investor. There are some great deals out there. Tons of new homes for great prices but are people overlooking the re-sale deals? There appears to be somewhat of tunnel-vision for new home purchases and it can be understandable why…there are so many of them out there! Let’s not forget to consider the importance of “location, location location”. I am not just talking about the proximity to your work, or the city. I am talking about a very important issue that few are considering- City Water and Sewer vs. Well Water and Septic Tanks. I am not saying that well water and sewer should be out of the question, but I will say that in my professional opinion, the better choice that you can’t go wrong with is city water and sewer. The biggest reason would be the water issues that are involved with well water (so many that we will save that for another blog) and additionally the awful drawbacks of dealing with a septic tank in your yard and the mound that you need to build on. Not even to mention the fact that when the time comes for the city utilities to be put in in your area, you will have to pay to put them in on your property (no choice).
My advice today is to take a look or a second look at some of the re-sale properties that you may have skimmed right over. Make an educated decision on what really is best for you. Many of the “newer” homes (10 years or newer) may have been built better than the new homes and may be standing way beyond the new ones being built. One thing I do know that the race is on for all these builders to build homes for the lowest possible price. What do you think might be the result of that…poorer quality? Is it worth it to you? You ultimately have to decide but educate yourself first and remember…it’s totally worth hiring a realtor. They know the business and you shouldn't be expected to know it all and their payment can be a savings in the end when they protect your interests and or negotiate a price for you that you may not be able to do on your own.
I am sure that by now you can guess that yes…I am a Realtor. Actually I am a Real Estate Broker. Part of my blogging will be dedicated to real estate and different tips, tricks for buying selling and much much more. I look forward to hearing from you and your opinions also. That’s all…