Team Freda Greater Orlando Real Estate Podcast

Your home is your biggest financial investment. Whoever you hire to help sell it needs to be qualified for the job.Want to Join teamFREDA? Click hereInterested in Contacting Us? Click hereIn the state of Florida, anybody can get their real estate license within a week or two. All you need to do is take a three-day class and sit for a state exam. Because the barrier of entry into the business is so low, everybody knows someone around here who has a real estate license. Maybe it’s a friend, a family member, or a neighbor. This might be the first person you think of when it comes to real estate and you might be ready to hire them on the spot, but you shouldn’t. For most of us, our home is our biggest financial investment. You want to be sure you’re putting that asset in the right hands before you hire somebody to do the job. I’ve worked with expired listings a lot and one of the common threads I’ve seen is the fact that most of these people hired an agent who was a friend or family member and didn’t interview anybody else.You should interview at least three different agents for the job. At the end of the day, selling your home is a business transaction. If someone isn’t owning up to their responsibility as an agent, you shouldn't hesitate to fire them. If it’s a good friend or family member that you hire, the hesitation will definitely be there. That’s why I think you need to interview at least three different agents for the job of selling your home before you hire one. Interview that friend or family member you know, but also interview somebody who has a proven track record and great reviews online. It will make your ultimate decision a lot easier.I’d love to interview for the job of helping you buy or sell a home. If you have any questions for me or want to know how I can help you achieve your real estate goals, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

We’re hosting an upcoming HUD training. We hope you’ll join us. Want to Join teamFREDA? Click hereInterested in Contacting Us? Click hereI’m here to invite you to our next HUD agent training on March 14 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. It will be held over at the office of our friends at Quality Title & Escrow in their Kissimmee. We will cover the entire process, from build submission all the way through closing. All the questions you wish you had answers to will be answered. We’ll have lunch for you as well. All of your questions will be answered. We’ll have mortgage, title, and real estate experts there to answer all your questions. RSVP by sending an email to info@fredarealtyorlando.com today. If you have any other questions for us, don’t hesitate to reach out by phone or email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Rising interest rates may put buying a new home out of reach. I’ll explain why today.Want to Join teamFREDA? Click hereInterested in Contacting Us? Click hereI recently came across an article about how mortgage interest rates are on the rise. I’ve read articles like this in the past, but this article was a little different. Inflation is firming because employers are under pressure to increase their wages. What does that mean if you plan on purchasing a property? Rates have been hovering below 4%, but today they are up a little, at 4.04% for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage. This is still a relatively low, reasonable rate.The projected rate increases and home appreciation may push many buyers out of the market. Still, with rates projected to increase over the course of 2018, along with a projected 4% rise in overall home values this year, many potential buyers may soon find themselves pushed out of the market in terms of affordability.If you are thinking about securing a mortgage, you may want to get started sooner rather than later in order to take advantage of today’s relatively low interest rates and market opportunities. If you need any help with preparing for that process, or have any questions regarding buying a new home, just give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

If you’re looking for a model that will promote your team’s growth, I truly recommend that you consider joining with eXp Realty. In the best way, you won’t see the industry the same way.Want to Join teamFREDA? Click hereInterested in Contacting Us? Click hereI am so excited to announce that we are moving from our independent brokerage model to eXp Realty, and even more excited to be working once again with the National Association of Expert Advisors. Today I am joined by Jay Kinder, one of the co-founders of the NAEA, to talk about his background, his role in the NAEA, and how that ties in with eXp Realty. Jay is a lifelong agent who has been in the business for 20 years since his father introduced him to it through his ownership of Coldwell Banker. In his career, Jay has racked up a number of achievements, such as: • In his peak year, he sold 531 homes. • He has sold over 4,000 homes in total. • He was named the No. 2 agent in the world by Coldwell Banker in 2007. Jay has since channeled his experience and expertise into training real estate agents on how to build a successful business. One of the challenges that he faced in building his own business was its sustainability, especially in terms of developing a working team model and maintaining its profitability. Throughout the past 10 years, Jay has worked towards expanding his partnerships across the country, asking the question, “How can we all put our fires together to make one big fire?” In other words, how can we all work together to create one great company? Until he joined with eXp Realty, he hadn’t found a platform to do that. Before joining, he had heard of eXp, but wasn’t really sure of what it was, so he discounted it. It wasn’t until someone had him watch one of their webinars that he took a closer look. He found that eXp provided the platform to develop a stronger team and a stronger business. Though he’s only been with eXp for about two and a half months, Jay has already had the most fun he’s ever had in his real estate career. The Freda Team is also excited to join the movement. We’ve been an independent brokerage for 13 years and have been approached by different models and companies. It wasn’t until Jay Kinder announced via Facebook Live that he was making the change that I saw what I couldn’t unsee. After seeing the webinar and looking at the model eXp provided, I realized that it solves a lot of the problems we’ve experienced over the years in terms of growing or retracting a team. It took me a couple months to make the jump, and now I’m just upset that I didn’t do it sooner. Once you come to understand the eXp model, you’ll realize that it’s simply better. Now that we’ve made the switch, we can’t wait to show more people the agent-centric model, technology, and training eXp provides. In addition, partnering up with the NAEA and having the experience of people like Jay Kinder in our network to promote the growth of new agents is very exciting.There are many reasons to make the jump to eXp Realty. There are many amazing components to their business model, they’re publicly traded, they offer revenue sharing, and there is so much room for growth and opportunity. There may be only 7,000 or so agents in the network at the moment, but since they’re already adding 250 agents per week, I truly believe that it will one day become the biggest real estate company in the world.Though you may feel satisfied with your independent brokerage now, once you come to understand the eXp model, you’ll realize that it’s simply better. Why try to reinvent the wheel? With the new technology that’s available, we can take our services to a higher level and network not only with people in our area but throughout the country.We all get value from helping agents grow their business, but many agents at independent brokerages don’t have viable retirement strategies. The agent ownership and the stock program that eXp has available could make you very wealthy and set you up for a very comfortable retirement plan.Real estate agents are entrepreneurs. When you take the opportunities provided by eXp and add them to your own business model, where you can get passive income simply for informing people about the benefits they stand to gain when they work with eXp, it disrupts the traditional sense of recruiting. I have the financial incentive to ensure that you and your team are successful. When you factor in all of the great teams that are joining the network, we are all aligned with each other to promote growth.With all of us working together, anything is possible. I can’t overstate how much I would recommend that anyone who is in search of a better model for their team to invest 60 or so minutes of their time to watching the eXp Realty webinar.If you have any questions about what you can gain from working with eXp, feel free to reach out. I’d be glad to answer any questions you have.

We’re hosting an event this December that will teach you how to successfully close and sell HUD homes.Want to Join teamFREDA? Click hereInterested in Contacting Us? Click hereYou are officially invited to our upcoming Realtor HUD lunch-and-learn training session. At this event, we’ll cover all the details from the contract-to-close process. It will take place on December 7 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 665 West Warren Avenue, Longwood, Florida 32750.We want to give you a quick tour to show you exactly how our team is structured. To RSVP, you can either leave a comment below or call us at (407) 513-4724. We look forward to seeing you, and it will be well worth your time.In the meantime, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d be happy to speak with you. 

Today we’ll be going on a quick tour around the office, introducing you to key members of teamFREDA.Want to Join teamFREDA? Click hereInterested in Contacting Us? Click hereWe’re here at our office in Longwood today, and we wanted to give you a quick tour to show you exactly how our team is structured. On this tour, we will introduce you to: Karen Sierra, our listing coordinator. Karen works with the sellers to help them create the best marketing campaign to get their property sold. She also manages the REO (real estate owned), bank-owned, and HUD (housing and urban development) properties, with the same goal of marketing them to sell.We want to give you a quick tour to show you exactly how our team is structured. Cory, our inside sales agent who works with expired listings and FBSOs. Cory books appointments for the listing specialist, as well as fielding calls to the sink database—the database of buyers that registered on our website, looking for information.Tara, our buyer specialist. Today, she’s calling all past clients that we’re trying to schedule showings for who we haven’t been able to, as well as reaching out to those who’ve emailed her previously looking for additional information on search criteria for a particular home.Matthew, one of our team leaders. Matthew talks a little bit about how each team member fits into the mold at teamFREDA.Traci McCain, our director of development and training. Traci helps design and implement the training processes, as well as with mentoring and training the new agents. As a Realtor herself, she also prospects and works her own deals. Additionally, she oversees and manages all transactions. When a client goes from contract to close, we take that workload off the agent’s plate.For the full tour, watch the video above. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Do you know about HUD homes? They can offer a great opportunity.Want to Join Team Freda? Click hereInterested in Contacting Us? Click hereAs a licensed HUD home broker, I wanted to make sure and provide some information for you about HUD homes and where to find them. A HUD property is a home that had an FHA mortgage but was foreclosed upon.The Department of Housing and Urban Development owns these homes. The Department of Housing and Urban Development now owns the property and hires brokers like myself to market and sell the properties. They want us to educate buyers on where to locate these homes, so we will say that the best resource out there is hudhomestore.com. This site has the most up-to-date information you can get about HUD homes. You can search by county, address, case number, and more. It’s an awesome resource to be able to use on a regular basis, especially if you’re looking for a great deal on a home. If you have any questions about HUD homes or any other kind of property in Orlando, don’t hesitate to reach out and give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Mortgage interest rates have dropped to their lowest level of 2017. What does this mean for you?Want to Join Team Freda? Click hereInterested in Contacting Us? Click hereLast week, mortgage rates dipped to the lowest level so far in 2017.The 30-year fixed rate fell from 3.89% to 3.86%. This was the fourth straight week of decline, which finally brought interest rates to their lowest level since November 10th, 2016.If you are in the market to purchase a property, now is a great time to lock in that low interest rate for 15 or 30 years.Lock in a low rate now and keep the same payment for the life of the loan. Rents will only continue to increase. When you lock in an interest rate, you are locked into that payment for the lifetime of the loan. It won’t increase over and over again, like rent has for the last few years.If you have any questions about buying a home in today’s market, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

If you’re thinking about selling your home, our 151-step marketing system can help you sell quickly and for top dollar.Want to Join Team Freda? Click hereInterested in Contacting Us? Click hereWe can help you get your home sold quickly and for top dollar. Our 151-step marketing system has allowed us to sell over 500 homes in the last three years throughout central Florida. We want to put this system to work for you!We will work with you to lay out a strategic plan to get your house sold. Getting started is simple. First, schedule an equity consultation with us. From there, we will work with you to lay out a strategic plan to get your house sold for the most money in the least amount of time!Give us a call or send us an email today to schedule your consultation or ask any other questions you may have. We look forward to hearing from you!

Today we’ll be discussing positive equity. Let’s find out what percentage of homeowners have it, and how many have seen an increase in it since last year.Want to Join Team Freda? Click hereInterested in Contacting Us? Click hereWhat percentage of homes across the US have positive equity?Recently I saw an article that had some great news about positive equity in our nation’s market.When I read it, I was happy to discover that roughly 63% of all homeowners have seen an increase in equity within the past year.So what does this mean for homeowners—especially those living in our state? Well, 88% of homeowners have positive equity in our properties.There’s some great news about positive equity in our nation’s market. Since 2010, which was the bottom of the barrel in terms of home values, we’ve come quite a long way. Distressed sales, too, are down over 70%.This is also great news, since at one point distressed sales were the only kind of sale existing out there on the market.If you have any other questions, would like more information, or would like to a free, no-obligation equity report, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

If you are a licensed, full-time real estate agent, we have a great opportunity for you to join our team.Want to Join Team Freda? Click hereInterested in Contacting Us? Click hereOur brokerage is generating so many leads these days that we need help!We are looking for full-time, licensed real estate agents to help with our lead flow.If you are a full-time, licensed agent, call us ASAP! If you are a newly licensed agent and you’re not sure where your next deal is coming from, please give us a call right away.We look forward to hearing from you!

A strategic home buying consultation can make a big difference in your home search process.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchSelling a home? Click here for a FREE home value report Have you ever wondered about strategic home buying consultations? What exactly are they, and why are they beneficial?Well to start, it’s important to realize that even though 90% of buyers begin their search online, 87% still work with agents. On our team, we like to help our clients be as prepared as possible. That's where our strategic home buying consultations come in.We go through the entire process from start to finish. To do this, we go through the entire process from start to finish. We go through the contract packages, the mortgage process, and the inspection process just to name a few steps. It’s our priority to make sure that buyers have the power and the knowledge to succeed in their home search and the home buying process. We love to help clients be the best buyers they can be. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

The stats from the Florida Association of Realtors are hot off the presses so I wanted to give a quick update on the state of the market here.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchSelling a home? Click here for a FREE home value report What's going on here in the Central Florida real estate market?We just got the most recent stats from the Florida Association of Realtors and all signs point to our real estate market saying very strong. If you're thinking about selling your home, you'll be pleased to hear that the median sales price for homes here is up 7% to $218,00.It's a great time to either buy or sell a home. If you're looking to buy a home, you're still in good shape with interest rates still hovering around 4%. It's a great time to either buy or sell a home.If you're thinking about making a move or you have any questions about our market, don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email soon. I'd be happy to help you!

We are hosting our first quarterly HUD agent training of the year soon. Here’s what you can expect.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchSelling a home? Click here for a FREE home value reportJoin teamFREDAFellow agents and brokers, we would like to officially invite you to our first quarterly HUD training of the new year to be held on March 21st at 10 a.m at our office. We’ll go through the HUD transaction process step-by-step, from contract submissions to mortgages and the closing process. We will have two very special guests. One is Tom Powell of Movement Mortgage, who will go through the different FHA financing options available to buyers. Then Mr. Lew Oliver, a HUD-approved closing agent, will go through that portion of the process for you.“We hope to increase your knowledge about HUD homes. ” We are very excited for the event and we hope to increase your knowledge base about the home selling process so that you can pass it along to your buyers. To reserve your seat, all you have to do is RSVP to us by March 15th either via phone at (407)513-4724 or email at info@fredarealtyorlando.com. We hope to see you there on March 21st at 10 a.m. If you have any other questions for us, don’t hesitate to reach out. We look forward to seeing you soon!

How is the Orlando real estate market doing in 2017? Overall, our market is still going strong, but there are a couple of things that you should know.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchSelling a home? Click here for a FREE home value reportThe Orlando real estate market is going strong. Since last year, the overall median price is up by 12%, currently resting at $207,900. Condos are also up by 15%. Foreclosures and short sales continue to fall. In fact, the majority of sales in our market right now are normal sales.“Overall, we have a very healthy market. ” That said, inventory is down by 11%. There are still more buyers in the market than there are sellers. If you are thinking of selling your home, please reach out and we can give you a comprehensive idea of how to price your home in order to best meet your real estate goals. Inventory is very low in our market and interest rates have gone up to 4.3%. Still, overall we have a very healthy market. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us. We would be happy to help you!

Now that we know who is going to be president, mortgage rates have been rising, and they’ll keep rising. Whether you’re a buyer or seller, this means the time to enter the market is now.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchSelling a home? Click here for a FREE home value reportWhy have mortgage interest rates increased so much over the last 30 days?The primary reason is that we just came out of a presidential election cycle, and there was so much uncertainty in the marketplace that investors took their money out of the stock market and put it into the bond market. Now that we know who is going to be president, the money has shifted back from the bond market into the stock market. This is one of the reasons why we’ve seen the stock market jump over 19,000 points.The bond market has a direct correlation to mortgage interest rates. As the money came out of the bond market, we saw mortgage rates increase by the biggest amount we’ve seen in two years. For you buyers who’ve been waiting, now’s the time to enter the marketplace because rates are projected to go higher in 2017.“Whether you’re a buyer or seller, now’s the time to make your move. ” How do mortgage rates affect your monthly mortgage payment? For every quarter point that they go up, your mortgage payment goes up by $30. As rates increase, downward pressure is put on affordability. This means that sellers are facing the same situation in that the best time to put their home on the market is now before rates increase and there will be fewer buyers out there who can afford to buy their property for what they want to sell it for. Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, if you’re interested in making your move in the market now, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. We’d be happy to help!

We'd love for you to join us at our upcoming HUD training event. It's on December 19th at our office in Longwood.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchSelling a home? Click here for a FREE home value reportI’d like to take a moment to invite you to our upcoming 4th quarter HUD agent training.We will be going over HUD bid submissions as well as some of the contract corrections we see come through on a regular basis. Whether you’re a veteran agent or newly-licensed, we would love for you to join us. There will be something for everyone.“There will be something for everyone. ” We will be holding the training right here in our office at Longwood on Monday, December 19th at 10 a.m. If you’d like to be added to the RSVP list, all you have to do is give us a call or send an email to info@fredarealtyorlando.com to let us know. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Most people think that they should wait until next spring to put their homes on the market. However, there are two reasons why fall is actually the best time to sell your home.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchSelling a home? Click here for a FREE home value reportAs you probably know, most Orlando sellers put their homes on the market in the spring and hope to sell in the summer, thinking that summer is the best time to sell.However, there are two main reasons why fall may actually be the best time to put your home on the market. First of all, by listing now, you will face less competition. Since everyone else is waiting for the new year to put their homes on the market, listing in the fall is a great way to showcase your home. There won’t be many other properties on the market, allowing yours to stand out. According to the Orlando Realtors Association, our inventory is at an all-time low right now, with only 3.5 months of inventory available on the market. In January, that number will spike and there will be a lot more competition on the market.“Buyers are motivated to make a move in the fall.” The second reason why fall is a great time to sell is that buyers are serious and extremely motivated at this time of year. They have been through the spring and summer markets and are ready to make a move. They want to get their family into a new home so they can celebrate the holidays together. Of course, these are just two of the reasons why fall is the best time to put your home on the market. There are even more here. If you have been thinking about putting your home on the market, give us a call or send us an email so we can get you set up this fall. We look forward to speaking with you!

I'm happy to report some great news to you today about the state of the Central Florida real estate market. Conditions are favorable for buyers and sellers alike.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchSelling a home? Click here for a FREE home value reportWhat's the state of the Central Florida real estate market? I'm happy to report some great news to you today. The median price is up to $205,000, which is a 12% increase from this time last year. This is great news for all of you who own real estate here in Central Florida because it means you're starting to build more and more equity back into your properties.Another great statistic I wanted to share is that 90% of sales have been traditional sales. This is great because it means that distressed sales (short sales and bank-owned sales) only encompass 10% of the market.Similarly, the fact that inventory is down to 3.35 months is another good statistic. This means that if no other properties came onto the market, it would take us just 3.35 months to sell every home currently on the market, so inventory is very limited. We need properties to sell, so if you've been on the fence about taking advantage of these great market conditions for sellers, now might be a better time than ever.“Things are great for both buyers and sellers.” Things are good for buyers, too. Mortgage rates are still at historic lows at 3.5%. If you're also on the fence about buying a home, know that interest rates are projected to go up soon, so you want to lock in those low interest rates now while you can.As you can see, the state of our market is strong right now. If you're thinking about buying or selling a home during these favorable times in our market, give us a call or send us an email. We would love the chance to work with you!