Looks like there was an agreement by the Senate to extend the First Time home buyers credit out until the end of April and giving another 60 days to close the deal and current homeowners would get the credit as well.  In addition, repeat buyers now have a tax credit of $6500 to purchase a home and the income limits have been increased as well…here is a link from Marketwatch spelling out things in short order.. Read Full Story

Hello Again…Time for me to get back on the soapbox and rant about some idiotic thing some Tampa Real Estate Agent did again…so here goes, I will keep it short. We had the buyer and an offer was put in on a short sale property, $84,000 to be exact.  The lien holder in this case was the county of Hillsborough (don’t completely understand it but that doesn’t matter).  Anyways, for months now we have been trying to get updates from the listing agent on this property, they ... Read Full Story

Ok, we all know about Short Sales and how difficult they can be working with sellers, banks, and buyer’s agents.  They are a long and tedious process; collecting paperwork from sellers, faxing short sale packages to lenders and calling them only to find out they “have not received the short sale package” for the umteenth time and the calling every week to see what the status is on your file… keeping everyone informed of the status (most of the time there aren’t a... Read Full Story

Customer Service is a choice, no one can make you do it well…  I came across this wonderful story and I just have to share it. The story teller was at an airport waiting in line for a cab to take him to his final destination.  When the cab pulled up, the first thing he noticed was that the taxi was clean and polished to a bright shine.  The driver was dressed in a white shirt, black tie and freshly pressed black slacks; the driver jumped out and opened the back door for his passenger. H... Read Full Story

As I was driving down the road today, I was thinking about all of these agents out there that think they are Rock Stars.  When I look at them, I see agents that aren’t really rock stars but just act like them.  Over the past few years when the market was ridiculous, these agents were walking on water.  They drove nice cars, had great boats, and talked like they were in command of everything…and they were cocky.  They wore ridiculous clothes, had odd quirks like showing up to parti... Read Full Story

It is no surprise to me that we are having bidding wars on Tampa Foreclosures as of late.  Sometimes it is difficult to get clients to understand that the properties they are interested in are not at LIST PRICE!  List price is what prices were back some couple years ago and the banks have taken a pounding on what they were owed vs. what they are valued at now.  I can tell with great certainty, if we do an analysis on what a property is worth, and it comes in pretty close to what the bank says... Read Full Story

Let me tell you, now, I have truley heard everything now in the Tampa Foreclosures Arena.  Apparently, according to Fox Business News Report, Wells Fargo, holder of the first and Second Lien on a Condo in Hillsbourough County, is filing suit on itself.  Wells Fargo, Lien 1, filled suit on Wells Fargo Lien 2.  And to make things even more hilarious, the attorney that filed the suit for Wells Fargo Lien Holder one is different than Wells Fargo Lien Holder 2, which has hired an attorney to defen... Read Full Story

Thats all you hear nowaday, Tampa Foreclosures, Short Sales, REO’s, Bank owned homes.  Everyone wants a deal and rightfully so.  For years the market was out of range for many, but now, even the first time home buyers have a chance at owning a piece of paradise.  Homes have never been priced at this point, ever.  You can basically get homes at half price (comparied at where they were a few years ago), and at times even lower. Read Full Story

Ok, so this is not an Oxymoron, what I mean is that the Tampa Foreclosures, ie. the Banks dealing with these properties, are getting a bit faster, a bit more reasonable with BPO’s, and a bit more friendly on the phone.  Not sure what happened, but all of a sudden, things just got better. Read Full Story

The Tampa Commercial Market appears to have slowed down a bit.  It seems that there is a seesaw type of effect occuring between Residential and Commercial.  Residential was down and Commercial was up, and visa versa.  Well Residential is up now due to great pricing, and Commerical is taking a back seat a bit.  Financing is a bit tighter, but there are still great deals for business’s, commerical and investment property, both seller owned and bank owned. Read Full Story