Kris Koonar asked:


Although selling your home in Florida without an agent may seem a difficult proposition, there are in fact plenty of options available that will enable you to do so. Real estate agents normally charge a high rate of commission from both, the buyer and the seller. If you want to save the amount of commission payable to the agent, you can opt for the other means available.

If you invest in properties for making money, then you need to start selling them on your own. This will help you to gain the right experience and develop the right negotiation skills. This is especially true if you are planning to become a full time real estate investor. You would need to learn all the basic tricks of the trade. You might have to face problems during the first few deals, but with time you will learn how to attract the right kind of buyers. Beginners can also try some of the listed means available for selling properties without an agent, if they are willing to take the risks involved.

Use the Internet:

In order to sell your home in Florida without an agent, you can log on to peer-to-peer websites and post the details of your property to attract buyers. You should be aware that these websites are very different from the typical broking websites operated by broking companies. Peer-to-peer websites often have thousands of registered users under different forums and groups. You can post your property details in the items to sell section and wait for the enquiries to pour in.

Property details should include everything from the offer price, location, available built-in area and other description. You can also include photographs of your property as well photographs of the locality. This will help in creating a good first impression on prospective buyers. Once you have received an adequate amount of enquires, you can select a buyer that offers the best price for your Florida home. You can then ask the buyer to deposit a certain amount in an escrow account as a legal confirmation of his offer. All other formalities can then be completed at a later date.

Sell at auction houses:

You can also sell your property at auction houses, if you do not want to use the services of a real estate agent. Buyers are often attracted to auction houses as they expect to get excellent bargains. This however does not mean that you will have to sell your property below the existent market rate.

The initial bidding price may be low, but in course of the bidding process, the bid price keeps increasing and if you are lucky you may even get a buyer who is willing to pay higher than the average market rate. The auction houses do charge a fee, but the amount that is charged is less than what you would usually pay a real estate agent.

Another option:

You can also advertise your property in popular newspapers and magazines to attract buyers, without an agent.

Synapse India asked:


According to recent news reports from Reuters, home foreclosures in United States for January 2008 has soared upto 57 percent from the last year’s data. However this growing pace of home listing is presently at halt in response to private and government call of action to help homeowners to revive their homes and properties.

It is also seen that states including Nevada, California and Florida have recorded the highest foreclosure home rates in January 2008. It is also observed that falling home prices is mainly due to problems of lax mortgage lending practices, forcing many homeowners to lose their homes. In fact, most of borrowers have to face greater mortgage than their house is worth, or sometimes need to pay higher costs as adjustable-rate loans

It is also interesting to notice that there has been a constant increase of about 90 percent in bank repossessions in the past one year. The situation has encouraged people to look to better opportunities in different states and save their money to a great extent. Foreclosed home for sale has a great future and people are actually going for such opportunities in order to get their dream homes.

Secrets of Grabbing the Best Opportunity:-

Getting the best opportunity in foreclosed home is difficult to identify. You as a buyer need to be very vigilant and informative about tackling the matter to reap the real benefits. In case when both the government foreclosures and bank foreclosures are involved, you must realize the secret to catching the real deal through a trustworthy broker to give you the chance of owning a good home. Of course, a little bit of research on your own will be really helpful.

Gerald Greene asked:


U.S. home foreclosure filings set a new record high in April, 2008, increasing by 65% over the previous year and placing municipalities at risk by cutting into the value of taxed property on their tax roles. The U.S. Foreclosure Market Report was released on May 14,2008 by RealtyTrac, an online marketplace that tracks foreclosed properties.

There are still quite a few optimists about who seem to think that the worse of the financial crisis is over. This would include US Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson. Current data suggests otherwise and that foreclosures will continue to increase over the next year to 18 months. It is hard to see the US economy doing well when massive numbers of foreclosures are dragging down the value of the entire US housing market.

Municipalities in the hardest hit states like California, Nevada, and Florida are having their revenues drastically cut as tax revenues plummet. Foreclosed properties reduce the value of taxed properties. Plunging home values reduce the money that cities, villages and towns collect in property taxes and is causing yet another financial crisis.

The April foreclosure rate is “the highest monthly total we’ve seen since we began issuing the report in January 2005,” said chief executive James J. Saccacio in a statement. “The city council in Vallejo, California, part of a metropolitan area with a foreclosure rate that ranked sixth highest in the nation in April, voted last week to have the city file for bankruptcy,” said Saccacio.

The gross over extension of mortgage debt, credit card debt, and business debt, that has occurred over the past twenty five years, is not going to be corrected overnight. As debt is deleveraged the consequences of the real estate bubble popping are going to be with us for a very long time.

The stock market has held up well so far due only to the tremendous injection of liquidity into the banking and stock brokerage system by the Federal Reserve Bank. As a result stock market investors have not faced up to the reality that housing market conditions continue to deteriorate and so far think that the mortgage crisis will be short lived.

This rosy perception is likely to be reexamined and discarded as the foreclosure rate continues at high levels. As real estate values continue to plunge banks are going to come under increasing pressure. It seems to me that using current stock market rallies to sell stocks is the most prudent course of action.

When it comes to real estate investing and bottom picking of selected properties the best values are probably yet to come. Housing prices are likely to fall even further over the next year or two. So far in 2008 , according to the National Board of Realtors (trademark), housing prices have declined by 7.7%.

The important thing to keep in mind is that this is not an ordinary economic slow down or recessionary period. The over extension of credit, high debt levels, and the misallocation of capital, build up over many years. The correction will probably be long and severe.

The fact that the Fed actions of pumping even more credit into a system that is ill because of too much easy credit is not reassuring. The Fed’s actions so far are largely responsible for yet another bubble in commodities. There will be unintended tragic consequences as a result of the recent Fed’s fat cat rescue efforts.

The commodity bubble may be the most dangerous bubble of them all as excess liquidity is helping to send prices for stable commodities like wheat, corn, soybeans, and rice to record levels. Food riots are already breaking out around the world as billions of poor people are being priced out of being able to eat at adequate levels. Even in the United States centers which assist low income people with food supplies are trying to cope with nearly bare warehouses.

While the Fed may have calmed the waters in the fat cat banking and stock brokerage communities it may have set the stage for violent conditions and food riots that will bring down governments across the world.

As additional foreclosures take place the additional financial strains placed upon the international banking system may cause the Fed and other central banks to keep inflating the money supply at rates leading to hyperinflation. This would cause even higher prices for commodities than we are presently experiencing, reinforcing a vicious feedback loop.

The resulting food price inflation would be hugely destabilizing. When a large number of a countries population is starving anything can happen. A great deal more trouble for the world’s financial and political systems is almost certainly on the way.

Vikram kuamr asked:


Investment is no doubt considered as the best way by which you can earn good amount of money. However when it comes to investment, it is important to consider that there are many investment options and it is on the investors to decide on which investment option they should invest in order to get good returns.

It is important to note that with investments, you can earn good amount of profit but at the same time you can get into huge loss trap as well. It is so because there are various factors associated with investments that determine if the person should get profit for loss. For example there are some investments that require huge amount of capital and where chances to get fixed returns are quite less, similarly there are some investment options that depend on the market and so are quite risky. Now the question emerges, is there not any investment option available where you are not required to spend huge amount of money as capital and where returns are sure and early?

The answer to above question is yes! It is possible to find such investment option and that option is investing in foreclosure properties.

Investment in foreclosure business is not only safe but very profitable as well. So if you want to invest in foreclosure properties and you want to know from where you should start, then it is advisable to visit the site by name of watchforeclosure.

On the internet there are various sites, that can offer you various attractive options like free government foreclosures or very profitable bank foreclosures, then the question emerges why one should choose watchforeclosure only?

In order to know the answer of above question it is important to have a look on some of the important features of this site. Some of the most important features of watchforeclosure are given as under:



Best deals: The most important feature of watchforeclosure is that it offers the best deal to its customers. Unlike other site where the main motive of the site is just to earn large amount of money, this site believes in offering best services to its customers. You can find best bank foreclosures as well as free government foreclosures from watchforeclosure in such prices that are beyond your imaginations.





Best collection: It is second most important feature of watchforeclosure that it contains the best collection of home foreclosures, pre foreclosures, bank foreclosures as well as free government foreclosures. It must be surprising for you to note that this site offers more than 3, 00,000 foreclosure properties options that you won’t find in most of the sites.





Best search options: It is yet another important feature of watchforeclosure that it offers the best search option for its customers. You can find your preferred foreclosure out of large numbers of foreclosures in California, Texas and even in Florida offered by this site with ease. What else you need?





Best returns: It is another important feature of watchforeclosure that it offers such foreclosure property options that are sure to yield best returns. You can get benefited with the best bank foreclosures as well as the free government foreclosures offered by watchforeclosure.



The above mentioned are just few important features of watchforeclosure. There are many others which you will get after visiting this site.

Clint Jhonson asked:


There are two things that are quite common in the Tampa Bay area, and these are hurricanes and tourists.  The climate in Tampa Bay, as well as its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, lends itself to the presence of hurricanes whenever they are in season.  As for tourists, they flock to Tampa during the summer and winter months to enjoy the mild weather and the somewhat suburban feel of the area, which can be a welcome experience compared to the hustle and bustle of both Orlando and Miami.

In recent years, however, a third thing is becoming pretty much common as well in the Tampa Bay area, and this is nothing else than Tampa bank foreclosures.  Florida bank foreclosures are among the highest in number in the entire United States, and Tampa Bay is not spared of the mortgage crisis.  In Tampa Bay, the mortgage crisis has greatly affected the populace, to the degree that everyone knows at least someone – a friend or a relative, perhaps – who is facing some form of Tampa bank foreclosures.  Florida bank foreclosures have become a reality to be faced for people in the state, not just in the Tampa Bay area.

While Tampa bank foreclosures have become a dilemma for the residents of Tampa Bay, real estate agents specializing in foreclosures see the situation as an opportunity to turn in a tidy profit.  Despite the looming mortgage crisis engulfing the whole country, there are still people who are seeking to find new homes to buy, and Florida bank foreclosures are viewed as a good deal.  Florida, after all, still has a vital tourist economy, and if people do not go there to stay, they at least go there for a holiday.

Depending on the location of the properties, Tampa bank foreclosures can be either good residences or good holiday homes for rent.  When a real estate investor looks into a particular piece of property, he should decide which function would be more beneficial to him in terms of profit – reselling Tampa bank foreclosures as a residential property or as a vacation home.  Making this decision early on will help him figure out how much to offer for the property and how much to allot for the inevitable repair work found in foreclosure homes.

Also, when looking at Florida bank foreclosures, the real estate investor should never forget to do his research on the title of the property.  This search will reveal not only the pertinent legal details on the property, such as the correct legal address and the true owner of the land, but also whether or not the title is clean.  If the title is clean, then the investor would not have that much of a hassle to deal with.  However, if it is otherwise and there are liens to be satisfied, taking responsibility for these liens can eat away a good chunk of the expected profit for the investor.  Most of the time, it is advised for real estate investors to stay away from foreclosed properties with outstanding liens.



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Chris Simpson asked:


Losing your valuable home to foreclosure is something that every home owner worries about but unfortunately too many people stop at worrying and don’t do anything more to learn about it. There are many important facts that you should know about foreclosure to prevent it from happening to you. No doubt you would be absolutely devastated if you lost your home so you should do as much as you possibly can to prevent it from ever happening to you.

There are books everywhere about foreclosure and they are usually not all that expensive to buy either. Reading these books could give you a real insight into what is involved and will be a great help in preventing you from ever losing your home. These books provide you with vital information that you may have been trying to find out for a very long time. A lot of the books are also easy to understand for most people. Why not go to the library or even get on the internet to find out more. You could even consider talking to your mortgage company as the more sources you use you will learn more about foreclosure than you ever thought possible.

A lot of people have become used to the convenience of internet shopping. This is because you can do it all from the comfort of your own home and can usually save money on the prices in your local stores. This is especially true when buying books. There are many books out there about foreclosure and once you’ve read one or two of them you will have a much greater understanding of the subject.

When reading these books you will no doubt learn many facts that will surprise you but also give you a more detailed knowledge about what foreclosure is, how you can avoid it, what it does to your credit rating and a whole lot more. Spending the time to read a few books will increase your confidence and give you better ability to deal with it should you ever find yourself in the unfortunately situation of potentially losing your home due to an unforeseen incident in your life.

After reading this why not spend a little longer online and see what else you can find out on the internet? There are a great number of useful websites in addition to all the excellent books. Spending just a little of your time will be time well spent and as you become more educated you will be more relaxed knowing that you are armed with the knowledge to avoid foreclosure.

Unfortunately foreclosure can happen to anybody without it being any fault of their own. If you do ever find yourself in this position make sure that you speak to your mortgage company or possibly a financial advisor so that you can work out a way to manage your finances and not miss out any vital monthly mortgage payments. Speaking about this with your mortgage company could actually be beneficial and you will be surprised to find out just how helpful many companies can be.

Clint Jhonson asked:


Florida has been one of the states hit the hardest by the recent downturn in the housing market. As a result, homes foreclosure has been increasing steadily in the last several months. Of all the cities, Orlando foreclosures have been particularly high which is bad news for Florida and for home owners, but it can be positive for buyers looking to take advantage of the high rate of homes foreclosure in the state.

According to RealtyTrac, Inc., Florida had the fourth highest rate of homes foreclosure in the United States. Currently, one in every 78 homes in the state has gone to auction or returned to the housing market. That statistic means homes foreclosure in Florida is double that of the rest of the United States. Most of the major cities in Florida have been hit hard, too. In fact, Orlando foreclosures ranked 13th in a ranking of the top 100 metro areas in the U. S. which have seen a severe downturn in its housing market. Only Fort Lauderdale and Miami ranked higher on the list of homes foreclosure rankings.

Because of changes in the housing market, it truly has become a buyers housing market. Orlando foreclosures have let to an abundance of homes available which can be purchased for considerably less than what they would cost only two or three years earlier.  As a result, more buyers than ever are looking towards those Orlando foreclosures as the way for them to finally purchase prime Florida real estate at an affordable price.

One of the best reasons to consider Orlando foreclosures specifically is because of the city’s proximity to so many great family-friendly attractions. Sea World, Walt Disney World, and Universal Studios parks are all located very close to the city and have ensured a continuous stream of tourists. The weather is also wonderful with low temperatures in the fifties even in the winter months. The temperatures in the summer are much higher.

Homes foreclosure has made it possible for more home buyers to purchase Orlando foreclosures on the housing market for less than you might imagine. Not only is the area an excellent place to call home, especially for families, but the property can be a good investment as well. Many properties in Orlando are rented out during busy tourism seasons, including the hot summer months, and home owners can literally earn enough through the rentals to bay their entire mortgage.

Dave Dinkel asked:


By way of background information regarding Florida’s Foreclosure-rescue Fraud Legislation, investors are a much maligned group of small business entrepreneurs who take financial risks to purchase properties when almost no one else will, and face the financial loss of carrying properties that may or may not be sold for a profit. Despite the complaints of realtors when an investor makes a low-ball offer, very often there are no other offers for many properties. Realtors do not buy properties, appraisers will not buy properties for their appraised values, mortgage brokers and lenders will not buy properties for loan values unless forced to do so through foreclosure. While some legislators call investors scavengers, other legislators refer to investors as the engine that drives the American economy, which is coming true more so every day. Interesting how different individuals can see so much difference in the profession of real estate investing.

Truly, investors are the safety net of the real estate industry and frankly, the banking industry. Was it not for investors buying bank owned properties (“REO’s”), foreclosures, and distressed properties they essentially set a glass floor on property values. Without this support from investors a depression of the greatest magnitude ever could easily take hold of property values throughout America. While investors have been blamed for the sub-prime lending crisis, the reality is that the greed of nearly every lending institution allowed individuals to finance homes they could not afford resulting in massive foreclosures, bank failures, and loss of a fundamental underpinning of our society.

So with the background of flat or declining real estate prices, gluts of condos, unemployment associated with the real estate industry, and general complaints from a vocal minority, Florida’s legislators decided to focus their attention on the foreclosure industry for abusive practices by investors. In any industry and any profession, no matter how regulated, there are always individuals who abuse the system. In real estate, homeowners in foreclosure are bewildered, frustrated and get little or no help from their lenders who were originally willing to give loans that could not possibly work for the homeowner. When something happens to the homeowner’s financial position, his lender is unsympathetic and most often has the attitude that it’s the lender’s way or no way at all.

Real estate investors also use creative, but legal, financing techniques to purchase properties that most non-investors consider illegal, immoral, or unethical, none of which are usually true. Because of this, legislators have written their legislation to control these creative financing methods. The inevitable result is less money for investors to buy properties, with continuing further declines in home values. At least one state has passed legislation governing the maximum profit a property can be resold for, resulting in a further collapse of the housing values in that state.

Florida’s most recent statute to protect homeowners in foreclosure focuses on two groups of individuals. First, is the Foreclosure Rescue-Consultant (“FRC”) and the second is the Equity Purchaser (“EP”). The FRC is an area where major abuses have occurred because some FRC’s have taken money from homeowners in foreclosure and not done what they promised to do, which was usually to stop the homeowner’s foreclosure. Other promises have included doing short sales, postponing the homeowner’s having to leave the property, negotiating loan modifications, credit score improvements, and other remedies for foreclosure that were never done. The fees for the services were paid up-front and the homeowner got little or no benefit. In many cases there may have been fraud, while in many other cases, the lenders were uncooperative and the result was the homeowner was forced to leave his home.

The new legislation, Florida Stature 501.1377, was signed by Florida’s Governor on May 28, 2008. FRC’s are now required to follow strict disclosure requirements including incorporating the exact text in the statute into contracts and disclosure documents, the size of the type, the use of upper case letters in the entire document – not just the specific required clauses, and a strict cancellation procedure. The actual statute becomes law on October 1, 2008 and repeals an existing “Victimization Statute” F.S. 501.2078 which has been in effect for some time.

This is a brief overview of the Florida Statute 501.1377 and is not meant to be a legal opinion advice and is for educational purposes only.

Larry Lang asked:


As a Realtor in Florida, I realize that there are many factors contributing to the decrease in the number of South Florida home sales. They consist of high home prices, high property taxes and high taxes. One factor that is contributing to the collapse of the sale market that many people do not seem to consider is the influence of the South Florida rentals market. At this time, this factor is probably having the strongest effect.

Home ownership was the American dream. Since the South Florida real estate boom the lower and middle class have been driven out of the real estate market, because of the high costs associated with home ownership. Because of the uncertainty of the direction of home prices, consumers are not stepping back into the market. Prices are still unrealistic and continue to drop.

Adding to the current situation, are the people who invested at the height of the market. As I look through the MLS, the number of short sales, pre-foreclosures, new listings, and expired listings and back on the market listings are increasing at alarming rate. This is adding to the existing inventory. It has been a buyers market. The problem is that there are no buyers.

For example, today in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County the following are the figures for the activity by category from the MLS:

New Listings

1253

Price Change Listings

496

Contingent Listings

50

Pending Listings

183

Sold Listings

195

Expired Listings

2242

Temp Off Market Listings

63

Cancelled Listings

363

Rented Listings

260

Withdrawn Listings

6

Back On Market Listings

121

To go into my explanation of the influence of the massive effect that the South Florida rentals market is having on the sales market, you have to take into account the fact that apartment complexes do not list on the MLS. Also, the number of rentals done by private owners is not included.

The most important factor is the economics of renting versus buying. Rental prices have been dropping, as inventory has been building. Consumers can rent a home at a price that they could never afford to buy. To attest to this, I would like to point out two examples. In my first one, a consumer rented a home that had been purchased for $950,000 for $2500 a month. If he had bought the home, his taxes alone would have been $20,000 a year. In the second case, a home purchased for $550,000 was rented for $2000 a month. The rental payments totaled $24000 a year. If you figure mortgage, taxes, insurance and homeowners fees, the landlord is paying approximately $50,000 a year. By renting, the renter could put $26,000 a year in the bank and would get a much better rate of return on his money, then the landlord who is losing money, since his property is depreciating and he is paying $26000 out of pocket to maintain his investment.

Appraisers are taking 1.5% a month off the value of South Florida homes every month. This is lowering comps and causing a further decline in home prices. Builders are lowering prices, causing pre-construction buyers to either walk away from the closing table or buy a home and incur an immediate loss. Landlords are renting property and incurring monthly loses. Until this downward spiral ends, the answer is to rent. As the available rental supply tightens up and prices rise and rental prices and mortgage rates come to a point where it makes sense to purchase to get the benefits of home ownership the crises will not end.

Kris Koonar asked:


Sunny Florida, the land of beaches, celebrities and Disney World! Owning a house in Florida is a dream for most people, and the very thought can instill excitement in anyone. With its beaches and bright weather, Florida has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Hence, selling your house in Florida will not be a difficult prospect because of the ever-increasing demand for housing. However, strategic planning is required to sell your Florida home fast.

Selling a home in any part of the world is a tedious procedure, which requires time and patience. A house that is to be sold should first be repaired, renovated and evaluated properly to get the best possible deal from the buyer.

When you decide to sell your home, one of your primary concerns is probably how much money you will make from the sale. It is important to note however, that you cannot just tag on the value that you think your home is worth. You need to price your house by the actual market value. Some people decide to go the route of overpricing the home in hopes of making a bigger profit. They often think that by overpricing the home, they can always accept less in negotiations. What they may not consider though is the fact that some people have very specific price ranges in their minds, and they may not even come and view your home if it is out of their price range. Underpricing a home carries similar risks. A seller could be flooded with offers. It is important to think rationally when pricing your home.

How do you determine the market value of your home? One good way to do so is to browse information for homes in your neighborhood in the last six months to a year. If the homes are similar, you can evaluate whether or not you are considering a fair listing price. Make sure to compare homes that have similar structure and square footage.

If you want to take the process a step further, you can do a bit of research and look at past listings. From this information, you can compare the list price with the actual final sales price. You can gather information on the average difference between the two prices. Think about the special features included in your house that might affect the price. Brainstorm about why some houses sold for more money than the others did. You can also gauge how long it took to sell the home.

Many people find it helpful to tour homes for sale in their neighborhood. What do you like and dislike about the homes? You may want to copy some of the features. Redecorating or modernizing your home can help you make more money from the sales. You are in direct competition with other homes for sale in your neighborhood. Keep that in mind when pricing your home!

When it comes to selling your home, remember to do your homework. A lot of research will go a long way toward maximizing your profit.