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Tallahassee, FL Real Estate News

By John Stehmeyer
(Riverking Custom Painting)
New Life for an Old Door in Tallahassee
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
We have reported on lis pendens filings and foreclosure sales for several years now (visit our new TallahasseeForeclosures Site currently in beta testing). The one thing that always stood out was that such a small percentage of lis pendens that were filed actually made it to a foreclosure sale at the courthouse. But things are changing. When we look at the blue trend line in the graph above, we see that foreclosure sales rates have doubled just since June of this year. Banks have been sitting on their hands and now the case files have gathered so abundantly that we will be seeing this trend continue for quite some time. The Shadow Inventory Emerges Distressed properties make up a large segment of the shadow inventory of homes that will be coming onto the market in 2010 and beyond. Now t...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
We are working feverishly to bring our new Tallahassee Real Estate Web Site live. With several thousand pages and even more internal links, it is no small project. I am very excited about unveiling the site, so rather than wait until we are completed, I thought I would release a link to our temporary location so that our readers can play around with our new Tallahassee Property Search Tool. This tool is great because it is map based, it is fast, and there are some great “quick clicks” in the sidebar that allow the user to find homes fast. New Tallahassee MLS Search Tool Revealed So go ahead and take a quick test drive. This is not the “final version” though, we would love your feedback on what you think. Just like in our current blog, there is a comment section below the map. Tell us wh...
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By Carol Palacios
(Century 21 Manausa & Associates)
Joe Manausa | Century 21 First Realty | 850.523.6118 2109 Ridgetop Dr, Tallahassee, FL 3BR/2.5BA Single Family House offered at $229,900 Year Built 1973 Sq Footage 1,672 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms 2 full, 1 partial Floors 1 Parking 2 Car garage Lot Size 1 sqft HOA/Maint $0 per month DESCRIPTION Sellers gone most of the time. Call first then show. see additional photos below PROPERTY FEATURES - Central A/C - Central heat - Yard - Swimming pool ADDITIONAL PHOTOS Photo 1Photo 2Photo 3Photo 4Photo 5Photo 6 Contact info: Joe Manausa Century 21 First Realty 850.523.6118 For sale by agent/broker Equal Opportunity Housing Posted: Dec 21, 2009, 6:50am PST
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
  I have been waiting nearly three and a half years to write a headline like that. With all the year-over-year declines that we faced (39 months in a row if you don’t remember), it sure is nice to see such an improvement. The Tallahassee Real Estate Newsletter went out today … Did you receive it? While we ended the negative trend in October, by a margin of a single home, the November jump is what we really have been waiting for. November of 2009 was up 33% over November of 2008. Tallahassee Year Over Year Homes Sales Up 33% Start Of A New Trend In Tallahassee Home Sales Could it be the graph below shows what appears to be a bottom (finally) in the home sales market in Tallahassee. All of the short term trends that we monitor suggest that the bottom could be behind us. Twitter And Real E...
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By Carol Palacios
(Century 21 Manausa & Associates)
Joe Manausa | Century 21 First Realty | 850.523.6118 3708 Carrington Place, Tallahassee, FL 4BR/3BA Single Family House offered at $160,000 Year Built 1988 Sq Footage 2,186 Bedrooms 4 Bathrooms 3 full, 0 partial Floors 1 Parking 2 Car garage Lot Size 43,560 sqft HOA/Maint $0 per month DESCRIPTION SHORT SALE! All offers pending lien holder approval! Located Located in desirable Huntington Estates nestled in a cul-de-sac. Property needs a lot of cosmetic repairs which is reflected in list price. The home features a split floor plan, inground pool, wood burning FP, a big yard and a double car garage. Garage door was removed and french doors were installed but it was not fully converted. LB located on that side door.Home has a lot of potential- handyman special! An opportunity for a buyer ...
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By Carol Palacios
(Century 21 Manausa & Associates)
Joe Manausa | Century 21 First Realty | 850.523.6118 1746 San Damien Dr, Tallahassee, FL 3BR/3BA Single Family House offered at $360,000 Year Built 2008 Sq Footage 2,076 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms 3 full, 0 partial Floors 1 Parking 2 Car garage Lot Size 0.26 acres HOA/Maint $0 per month DESCRIPTION Lake Front Beauty! 2 luxurious master bedroom suites, solid surface couter tops in Kitchen and baths. Split bedroom plan, inside laundry room, oversized 2 car garage, screened in back porch with lake views. Please give home owner 1 hour notice to show. Easy to show! see additional photos below PROPERTY FEATURES - Central A/C - Central heat - Fireplace - High/Vaulted ceiling - Walk-in closet - Tile floor - Family room - Living room - Dining room - Dishwasher - Refrigerator - Stove/Oven - Microwave ...
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By Captain Wayne - Rowlett Real Estate School, Rowlett Real Estate School / Owner and Instructor
(Rowlett Real Estate School)
Captain Wayne Rowlett, Real Estate Trainer and Marketing Specialist, offers you the finest in Real Estate Education and Marketing Tools for the Real Estate Professional all in one place. Whether you are a Real Estate Professional or an Individual, The Captain has the Marketing tools to meet your needs. Whether you are a buyer or a seller, an Agent or an Individual, The Captains Real Estate Education and Marketing Center will help you achieve your goal. (Click on The Link of your Choice)   Sell More Property with a Professional Website You Control Captain Agentwill generate you more leads, showcase your listings, help you reach more buyers, and close more sales. Your listings are automatically syndicated to the top real estate portals. This makes your listings accessible to millions of p...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
I’ve had several people send me emails asking to subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Newsletter because they weren’t receiving it even though they had filled out the subscription form. I then had to explain to them how the whole system works, and why we’ve implemented a third-party solution to distribute our newsletters. Just a quick reminder: The Tallahassee Real Estate Newsletter goes out on Monday, so please take a minute to subscribe in the right sidebar of the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog. The fact is, there are so many people sending us garbage via email that our “spam filters” are working overtime. I know that I personally get over 500 emails each day, so I appreciate some of the new technologies that allow me to verify that I really want to receive specific items. Why Is Th...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
  One issue that comes up invariably when we are sharing home selling tips with property owners has to do with buyer viewings. Many home owners request to “be present” when potential buyers are looking at the home. While there are many understandable reasons why a home seller would request this, we make it very clear that they need to be gone during a property showing. Objections Are A Part Of the Home Selling Process What many people (who do not sell for a living) don’t understand is that buyer objections are the real start of the selling process. They are an absolutely essential requirement to a successful home sale and without them, we are not likely to sell the home that we are showing. It’s the introduction of an objection that can spark a flow of information that can help us furth...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
The National Association of REALTORS® recently released a few reports that I find interesting. First, they reported that there have been nine (9) consecutive months of gains for pending home sales, suggesting that the housing market is poised for significant gains: The rise from a year ago is the biggest annual increase ever recorded for the index, which is at the highest level since March 2006 when it was 115.2. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said home sales are experiencing a pendulum swing. “Keep in mind that housing had been underperforming over most of the past year. Based on the demographics of our growing population, existing-home sales should be in the range of 5.5 million to 6.0 million annually, but we were well below the 5-million mark before the home buyer tax credit sti...
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By Carol Palacios
(Century 21 Manausa & Associates)
When considering a Short Sale, you must ask the question "will I have to pay the bank the difference between the final sales price and what I actually owe them?" The answer? MAYBE... If you're a homeowner struggling to make your mortgage payment, you may be faced with another important decision to make when avoiding foreclosure. Often lenders demand certain conditions be met in order to approve the desired short sale. You may be faced with the option of agreeing to a promissory note, a possible deficiency judgment or a cash contribution at closing. First, let's define pertinent terms; Promissory Note: A written document in which the borrower agrees to pay back money to the lender according to specified terms. A written promise to pay a certain sum of money at a future time. This can onl...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
I received a great question from an active reader in the blog yesterday that made me realize that two definitions of the real estate market bottom are lurking around out there and that I need to provide better clarification about “which real estate market bottom” that I am referring to when I comment about the current state of housing market in Tallahassee. When I refer to the state of the housing market, I am definitively referring to the number of home sales in Tallahassee over the past 365 days. By studying this “rolling average” of home sales, we are able to remove all seasonal effects from our data and thus we can tell the current direction of the real estate market. Housing Market Bottom Reached In Tallahassee When we look at the graph below, we see that the current trend is risin...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
As a follow-up to last week’s article about understanding the short sales process, I thought I would write about how the Obama Administration is trying to speed up the process with its Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA). This program offers financial incentives to lenders, servicers, and even borrowers to utilize a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure to avoid a foreclosure sale. Did you know that you can have the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog delivered to your email every time it is published? Just click this link for easy home delivery. These HAFA alternatives are available for all HAMP-eligible borrowers who: do not qualify for a Trial Period Plan do not successfully complete a Trial Period Plan miss at least two consecutive payments during a HAMP modificatio...
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By Mike Carlos, Realtor, Tallahassee FL
(Keller Williams Town & Country Realty)
As short sales continue to be a major part of our market, many agents are jumping right on to the bandwagon.  Considering that many Realtors are still not familiar with short sales, what can sellers do to find an agent with the experience required to handle this complex type of transaction? Look for someone that has sucessfully closed a number of transactions Someone that has worked with numerous banks in a short sale or foreclosure capacity Look for someone with additional training for short sales such as the SFR designation Ask if the agent has a structured follow up plan for short sales Find out their success rate at getting short sales closed, and how many of those sales were complete releases by the lien holders Look for an agent that will explore every other possible option before...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
  Not all situations in real estate sales have the same solution, and many times we have to apply some “thinking outside of the box” solutions to our home buyers’ needs. Just yesterday, I received the following question from a “home site” buyer in Georgia who needed some advice on creative financing: I am in a situation right now where I’d like to buy a land lot in Georgia to build on within the next year. The lot we want is $45000 and all the lending institutes I’ve spoken with want 25-45% down no matter what our credit is. By the way, our credit is good. We have plenty of money to make the monthly payments, but we don’t have the money necessary for the down payment. Also, we will be getting a construction loan in the next 6-9 months that will then pay off this land loan and add it int...
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
The Tallahassee Real Estate Web Site was unveiled on December 19, 2007 and has come a long way. This Tallahassee real estate resource has grown to over 1,000 pages of original content and we are receiving a growing amount of traffic. Additionally, we are observing over 160 downloads each day in our “Special Reports” section in the right sidebar of the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog. But with growth comes education and experience, of what we have done right and what we have done wrong. We even established a reader survey to provide feedback about the Tallahassee Real Estate Web Site. This survey provided more insight into what our visitors liked and disliked about our site. Did you know that you can subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog by email and it will be automatically delive...
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By Carol Palacios
(Century 21 Manausa & Associates)
We are living in unprecedented times when it comes to the Tallahassee Real Estate Market and with property markets across the U.S. in decline; the term short sale is quickly gaining recognition. Short sales happen when a lender agrees to accept less than the amount owed against the property because there is not enough equity to sell and pay all the costs related to the sale. Not all lenders will be open to negotiate a short sale and that is why using a real estate professional can be a tremendous value when attempting to put one of these transactions together. A short sale is a great option to alleviate foreclosure status and sellers are eager to avoid foreclosure at all costs. But processing a short sale can be a long, exhausting process and typically lack of knowledge on how to naviga...
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By Carol Palacios
(Century 21 Manausa & Associates)
Joe Manausa | Century 21 First Realty | 850.523.6118 2532 Windy Pine Way, Tallahassee, FL 3BR/2BA Manufactured offered at $69,900 Year Built 1998 Sq Footage 1,340 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms 2 full, 0 partial Floors 1 Parking None Lot Size .30 acres HOA/Maint $0 per month DESCRIPTION Owner is out of state. Close to FSU/TCC/FAMU. This home has recently been treated by Terminex. New paint, new driveway, new locks, new bathroom fixtures, new flooring in bathroom and kitchen, new carpet, updated deck. Includes washer and dryer. see additional photos below PROPERTY FEATURES - Central A/C - Central heat - Living room - Dishwasher - Refrigerator - Stove/Oven - Washer - Dryer - Yard ADDITIONAL PHOTOS Photo 1Photo 2Photo 3Photo 4Photo 5Photo 6 Contact info: Joe Manausa Century 21 First Realty 850.523....
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By Joe Manausa - Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Real Estate
(Joe Manausa Real Estate)
I received a question from a reader “Jim” in Nashville, TN who asked” Joe- Looks like buyers in your area have a lot to choose from. What about affordability?  How many of these listings fall into the sweet-spot of homes that are actually selling? This is such a clear and simple question that I figured a few graphs could show us the answer. Homes For Sale In Tallahassee When we look at homes for sale in Tallahassee, we find (happily) that the supply has been dropping steadily since April of 2008. When we look at the real estate graph below, we see the distribution of available homes in Tallahassee across all the price ranges. Perhaps the only real surprise is the growth of homes available below $75K, as this is one price range in which we can longer build more units because the cost of ...
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