Orlando Real Estate Podcast with Chris Myers

Have you heard the television and radio ads from real estate companies offering to buy your property without listing it? I offer this same service.   Have you ever heard television and radio commercials from real estate companies offering to buy your property without ever listing? If this kind of deal is something you’re interested in, I want to apologize. I do personally offer this arrangement, but am not vocal about it because it is not always the best solution. However, it could fit some people’s needs. If you need money now, need out of the property immediately, are in a foreclosure or tax lien, or are simply not interested in going through the hassle of a traditional sale, let me know. I can offer you the same solution as those commercials on the radio and TV. “If you want top dollar for your home, I would love to help you with aggressive, proper marketing so that you can get it sold quickly.” If you are considering this option, I ask you to consider working with me over selling to those other companies. They purchase properties for less than their market value. If you want top dollar for your home, I would love to help you with aggressive, proper marketing so that you can get it sold quickly. The market is still moving very fast. Buyer demand is very high and inventory remains low, so we can still help you get the money you want quickly. If you are interested in talking about selling with me, please feel free to reach out to me by phone or email. I would be happy to speak with you.

How can the Orlando Property Group turn your vacation rental goals into a reality? Allow me to explain. One of the great things about the Orlando Property Group is that we can help you with your vacation property purchases. If you’re looking for a property that you can use to generate income, but still use yourself from time to time, we would be more than happy to help you make this goal a reality. “If you’re looking to buy a property you can not only enjoy yourself but also generate income with, please get in touch.” Running a vacation home in this way allows you to let other people pay your mortgage through rental fees. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

When is the best time to sell your home if you’ve been thinking about selling at all in the near future? Right now we have an epic shortage of inventory, and so if you’ve even considered the idea of selling your home, now is the time to do so. A normal market has about six months of inventory. Right now, our market only has 2.4 months. If no other homes were put on the market, we would sell out of homes in just over 2 months. According to NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun, there simply isn’t enough supply to satisfy demand. “Prospective buyers are being limited and sidelined by home prices that are climbing too fast. Current demand levels indicate sales should be stronger, but some would-be buyers are having to delay their home search because low supply is leading to worsening affordability conditions,” Yun said. “You’re in the driver’s seat as a seller.” If you’re a seller, you’re in the driver’s seat, so it’s time to hit the gas pedal. You’ve got more negotiating power when it comes to price and terms, and the average days a home spends on the market is very low.  If you have any questions for us or would like to discuss your real estate goals, give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you.

Today, I’ve got a story to tell you about a buyer who lost their dream home all because they decided to sleep on the decision instead of making a move. A while back I had a listing on the market. In today’s market, things are moving quickly—listings often receive multiple offers within a week. In the case of this listing, specifically, a buyer came along after just a couple of days and gave an offer that was under the asking price. Since the seller was already receiving a lot of activity and competing offers, they felt confident shooting back a counteroffer that was a little higher than the one the buyer originally gave. When the buyer got this counteroffer, they decided to take a while to sleep on it. However, this ended up costing them the home. “Sleeping on their dream home quickly turned into a nightmare for the buyer.” Because this particular buyer didn’t get back to us in time, another offer came along that was, in fact, over asking price. Obviously, the seller accepted this offer right away. Because of this, sleeping on their dream home quickly turned into a nightmare for the buyer who lost out instead of making their move right away. To avoid this happening to you, you’ll need the help of an expert. Letting a professional guide you and advise you against sleeping on things will make a lot of difference. Sometimes an expert’s job is to tell you the things you need to hear, not just the things you want to. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

What is the difference in cost in buying versus renting a home? The answer may surprise you. Though many people tend to assume that renting is the cheaper option, this isn’t always the case. Alongside the many other benefits of homeownership, it may actually be more cost-efficient for you to buy than to rent. In fact, the percentage of income required to afford median rent is about 29.2%. The percentage of income needed to afford a median home, however, is just 15.8%. “You’re paying a mortgage either way, why not pay your own” This is a significant difference. If you’ve been renting simply because you think you can’t afford a home, you may want to reconsider. If the issue is that you’re worried about paying your own maintenance costs, consider this: your landlord has already factored maintenance into your rent. You’re paying a mortgage either way, so why not pay your own? If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

A lot of you have been asking, recently, for an update on our Orlando real estate market.  Since we’re halfway through the year, now is the perfect time to talk about what’s going on. Let’s first talk about price. Over the last 12 months, we’ve seen a 7.4% increase in median price. In June of last year, the median price was $207,000. But today, that price is $222,500. As you can see, values are rising. But why is that the case? First of all, interest rates have remained low, buyer demand has remained high, and inventory is still short in supply.  Around this time last year, the number of homes for sale was 10,629. Since then, that number has dipped to 9,141 homes. This is a 14% decrease in inventory, which is a huge drop.  For a market to be healthy it should have six months of inventory. But in today’s market, we have just 2.4 months.  As a result, competition among buyers has led to a lot of multiple offer situations. Also, homes are moving off the market more quickly than they were last year. “Interest rates have remained low, buyer demand has remained high, and inventory is still short.” In June of 2016, homes spent an average of 62 days on market compared to today’s 55 days.  This difference is much bigger than it seems, since we’re only speaking in terms of averages. I’ve personally seen homes get between six to seven offers within just a week of being on the market. In this hot market, we’d love to help you put together the best strategy to achieve your real estate goals. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

How do you buy a new home when you need to sell your current house first?  We help people through this process all the time. Depending on your specific situation, there are several different avenues you can pursue. First, we’ll talk to you about your personal timeline. We can negotiate a longer closing time for your house. We can even line it up so that you close a day or two before you close on the sale of your next house.  How? We keep an eye on market activity and the activity on your house. We’ll tell you when to start looking for a home so that you have as little lag time as possible between transactions. That way, instead of worrying about finding temporary housing, you may only have to spend one or two nights in a hotel. “We can find the best strategy for you.” If you need a little more time to find your next home, we can negotiate a rent-back. Basically, you’ll stay in your current home and rent it from the buyer until you find your next one. In some cases, we can also negotiate a pre-occupancy.  If you have to deal with two real estate transactions at once, just give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

Investing $50 in a can of paint can boost your home’s sale price by more than $5,000 when the time comes to list it on the market.    Zillow recently did a study that compared sold homes and their paint colors and found that having a light blue or light periwinkle master bathroom can increase your home’s price by $5,400. There are other colors that increase the value of other rooms, too.   Light sage was found to be a good color for master bedrooms and light tan and taupe in bathrooms were found to increase sales price as well. Light yellows in the kitchen and light purple in the dining room had the same effect. “Certain colors can boost your home’s value by more than $5,000.”   Similarly, certain colors can detract from your home’s sale price. Stay away from terracotta colors and all-white kitchens to avoid this issue.   To get a more complete look at Zillow’s study, you can check it out by clicking here and here.   If you have any questions about how this plays into the Orlando market, give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to tell you more.

Can you really trust Zillow’s Zestimate tool?    Let me start with a story: A couple of years ago, the CEO of Zillow sold his property. The Zestimate said his property was worth $1.75 million. However, the final sales price was only $1.05 million. That’s a $700,000 difference. Do you think he should have trusted that Zestimate? Obviously not!   Zillow’s Zestimate tool gives you a general idea of what your property is worth. The problem is, those Zestimates are extremely inaccurate.    According to Zillow’s own website, a Zestimate is a starting point in determining a home’s value. It’s not an appraisal. The Zestimate is based on public and user-submitted data. Unfortunately, user-submitted data can create big discrepancies.    If you want to sell your house and you know that buyers are going to look at that Zestimate, you might want to beef up that number, right? You may be tempted to embellish a little on the upgrades you’ve done, the size of the house, or the size of the lot. Zillow allows you to change that data.    As a consumer, this is where you have to be careful. Zillow can be manipulated by an owner or an agent. Your own home’s value can be inaccurate depending on how honest your neighbors were when they submitted data to Zillow.    Zillow encourages homeowners to supplement the Zestimate by speaking with a real estate professional to get a comparative market analysis or having an appraiser visit your house. After all, Zillow has never been to your house and has no idea how your home stacks up against the other properties on the market.  “User-submitted data can really throw off your Zestimate.”   If you live in a neighborhood with similar homes, there is a lot of similar data for Zillow to go off of, so the Zestimate can be more accurate in those areas. However, if you live in a rural or more eclectic area, like Winter Park, College Park, or downtown Orlando, the types of homes can vary greatly, and your Zestimate is more likely to be off the mark.    Zillow even admits that more than 90% of the homes in the Orlando area have Zestimates that are only within 20% of the final sales price. That means if you have a $400,000 house, your Zestimate could be $80,000 higher or lower than it should be.    This is why you need to get in touch with a local expert, like myself, to get the most accurate comparative market analysis possible.  Ultimately, Zillow is like WebMD. If you’re curious about an illness you think you might have, then you will probably go to WebMD to research the symptoms. However, you’re going to go to a real doctor to get a diagnosis and treatment.    If you just want to look at home values, then Zillow is fine. If you plan on selling your home, then you need to talk to a professional.    If you have any questions about selling in our current market or would like to know what your home is worth, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

If you’re thinking of selling your house, now is the perfect time to do it. Why? Not many people are aware of this, but our Orlando market has a shortage of inventory. For example, we recently listed a property in the Hunter’s Creek area that received six offers in seven days. Our biggest fear with this property was that we listed it at $260,000, which was the very peak of where it would appraise.  “If you’re thinking about selling your house, now’s the time to do it.” Some of the offers, however, went above our asking price, and the home ended up selling for a $266,000 all-cash offer. For that neighborhood, I netted my seller $12,000 more than the next highest sale and did it 63 days faster than the neighborhood’s average days on market.  If you’re thinking of putting your house on the market or you’re interested in buying a home, feel free to reach out to me. I’d be happy to help you. 

Orlando is an entertainment capital, so what better way to spend a Friday night than some indoor go-karting? Today I’m coming to you on location at K1 Speed with Ryan Hawkins to give you an inside look at the fast lane. As Ryan says, K1 Speeds provides you with all the adrenaline you need. Ryan can set you up with any kind of race package you need, but they specialize in corporate events, team building events, and race packages for parties, to name a few.  Click below for more info on: Team building Room rental Race packages If you’d like to set up a race, a team building event, or just a good time with some friends at K1 Speed, you can contact Ryan at (407) 434-7500. You can also check out the video above to get an up close and personal look at what it’s like to race here at K1 Speed. You’ve got to try this place out! “K1 Speed provides you with all the adrenaline you need.” In the meantime, give me a call or send me an email if you have any questions about buying or selling a home here in Orlando. I’m happy to help!

There has been a lot of talk lately about mortgage interest rates, including where they’re at and where they’re headed. I was recently joined by Sandra Lyons of The Mortgage Firm, one of the best loan officers I’ve ever worked with, to discuss the topic. We are seeing an increase in rates right now, and they’re up between 4% and 4.5% for the most part. However, this hasn’t really affected our seller’s market so far. Our inventory is only at about three months, which puts sellers in a pretty good spot. The power is in their hands, and a lot of them are seeing multiple offers and offers above asking price as a result. Interest rates are expected to creep up even further, possibly even by a full 1% this year alone. As rates go up, things will shift more toward buyers. A downward pressure on prices would make more homes available for buyers to choose from. As that happens, we will see a shift in the market toward buyers. “You can maximize your sale price now.” Right now, you have a great opportunity to buy and sell in this market. By selling, you can maximize your sale price because of the limited inventory. Then you can buy while rates are still relatively low and lock in a rate before they go up even higher. For every 1% that interest rates go up, buying power decreases by 10%. Your interest rate is affected by things like your credit score, your income, and your down payment. If you can’t afford to buy now, it doesn’t mean you couldn’t afford it in a few months with the help of someone like Sandra. If you have any questions for her or want to get pre-qualified for a mortgage, give her a call at (407)-902-4297 or send her an email to SLyons@TheMortgageFirm.com. If you have any other questions for us, don’t hesitate to reach out by phone or email. We would love to hear from you.

The question I’m addressing today isn’t one I receive often, but I think it’s an important one to answer: “How can I get someone to pay for my vacation home?” The answer is actually pretty simple. Here in Orlando, we have some communities that are zoned for short-term vacation rentals. If you own a property, you can rent it out for a day, a week, or a month to vacationers. There are great property management companies that will do all the work for you, and you can even buy these properties fully furnished. The area I want to focus on today is Compass Bay, just minutes from Disney. It’s also near The Loop, one of my favorite shopping centers with shops, restaurants, and movies theaters. Downtown Orlando is also close by. If you got a mortgage on a Compass Bay townhome and rented it out 75% of the time, your return would be about 6%. That’s fantastic when you consider the fact that a normal, full-time rental here in the Orlando market typically has a 6% return. Another great part of a short-term rental is that you get to enjoy it with your family about 24% of the time, too. “Where else can you get a free vacation home your family can actually use?” If you paid cash, your rate of return goes up to about 10%. If you want to use the home a little more than 24% of the time, that’s fine too—you’ll just make a little bit less of a return. Even if you use it enough to only break even, you still get a free vacation home! Where else can you get a free vacation home? If you’d like to know more about Compass Bay or any of the many other short-term rental communities here in the Orlando area, just give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you in any way I can!

We’re currently in a low inventory market with high demand, which is great if you’re thinking about selling your home. However, this does not mean getting a high price for your home will be easy! We spend over $10,000 a month on marketing, and we put that to work for our clients. The average agent’s marketing budget is only the size of a car payment! The bottom line is, we get more people looking at your home than the average agent. Who wouldn’t want that? When you list with us, we make recommendations on what you can do to maximize value. Because of our experience of selling over 100 homes a year, we know exactly what buyers want. Our marketing, plus a low inventory situation, will get your home maximum exposure - and more exposure means a better chance of generating multiple offers! Once you generate multiple offers, you need to prioritize them by superiority. Remember, the offer with the highest price is not always the superior offer; the amount of money down, financing, and other terms can be just as important! Here are some tips on how to review an offer: Is the Buyer Pre-approved or Pre-qualified for a Mortgage? Contrary to popular belief, a seller with a pre-qualification is simply not as good as one that has been pre-approved. It is an important thing to consider when looking at an offer and the difference can easily make or break your transaction. When a buyer has been pre-approved, the lender has reviewed and verified all the important aspects of the financial transaction. “Once you generate multiple offers, you need to prioritize them by superiority.” How Much Money Are They Bringing to the Closing Table? As our marketplace leans heavier and heavier toward a seller-centric environment, the issue of how much down payment they will be able to make will come up more and more. When a buyer has more money down on their purchase, it is definitely a stronger offer than one where the buyers have less at stake. Look for a letter or statement from the bank demonstrating their ability to cover the funds promised as a down payment. Is There a Contingency To Sell Another Home First? Many buyers have a home to sell first before they can move forward with a new purchase. In the offer you receive from these buyers, you will likely see a contingency upon the sale of their home. When comparing multiple offers, if one buyer is able to buy your home without needing to sell their home – the chance of other problems or mistakes will reduce significantly. How Far Out Is the Closing Date? The ideal closing date is about 30 days from the date of accepted agreement. When you start getting into closing dates that go out two months or more, there tend to be more problems. A lot can happen in that much time, whether a job change, life change or even a change of heart – so if there is an offer with a closer closing date, that would definitely be the stronger choice. We hope you found some of this information helpful. As always, we look forward to assisting you with all your real estate needs and, in the interim, if you would like to learn more about today’s hot real estate topics, call us at 877-586-2636 or email us at Info@OrlandoPropertyGroup.com. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Welcome to my YouTube channel! Here, you can find seller tips, buyer tips, and market updates. I want this to be a resource for all of your real estate needs. If you would like to know more about a specific topic, please let me know and I’ll answer your question with a video. To learn more about my channel, watch this short video.

What is the Orlando real estate market like? Today, I’ll go over the latest market update as well as what you can expect from the market in 2017.  Right now, there is a shortage of inventory on the market, which creates a huge opportunity for sellers. There is less competition among people looking to sell their home, but demand is still incredibly high. There are many buyers in the market right now, and that heavy competition is expected to continue throughout 2017.  Due to low inventory, it’s fairly common to see bidding wars and multiple offers on the same property. Buyers have to go in strong with their offer price and move very quickly in our current market.  Throughout 2017, we expect to see an influx of millennial home buyers in the market. These first-time home buyers will create even more demand.  Right after the election, we saw a dramatic increase in mortgage interest rates. Rates had been in the mid-threes throughout 2016. Now, rates range from 4.25% to 4.85%, and they are expected to rise to 5% or even higher by the end of 2017.  “Interest rates should surpass 5% by the end of 2017.” Those rising interest rates will put downward pressure on pricing and impact inventory even more. People who want to move up into a larger home may get priced out of the market thanks to those higher interest rates. Buyers may stay in lower-priced homes to avoid paying a higher mortgage rate.  The good news is that Orlando is one of the top 10 growing real estate markets in the country. Next year, we can expect another 5% to 6% increase in home prices, so there are lots of opportunities for buyers and sellers.  That said, considering that prices and interest rates will both go up in 2017, now is the time to get off the fence and start your home search. If you have any questions about the buying process or would like to learn more details about our current market, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!