Florida Treasure Coast Real Estate Resource

There is nothing easy about buying a home. You have to be prepared to go through the entire process, which can be long and even a little frustrating at times. It is not something that will happen over night. You should strive to be able to make this a great experience that will make your dreams come true. In the end you will achieve your goal of aquiring the home that you have always wanted.

Getting the opportunity to buy a home is special.  It will take a lot of hard work and preparing to get to this point. You have to make sure that you have all of your finances in order so that you can make all the right decisions for your home buying experience. You need to make sure that your credit is good so that you can get a decent interest rate that you can feel good about.

If you are not sure how to get all the facts and information that you need about buying a home, you will want to do your research. You can go online and find many great resources that can get you closer to your goal of becoming a homeowner. You will see that there are things that you can do to improve your finances and to get your home financed for less that what you would expect.

You will also want to make sure that you are looking at as many homes as possible. You will not want to go with the first home that you see. You have to be willing to check out as many as you can so that you have a good idea of what is in your price range and what you can expect to find. You will know when you have found the right home that will be perfect for you.  Most people get a gut feeling that they have found their dream home the minute that they walk into it. 

Buying a home will take a lot of people to make it happen. You may want to have the help of a real estate professional to get you started. A Realtor can help you locate different homes so that you can find the one that you love. You will also need to find a lender and closing company to facilitate your transaction. There are plenty of different companies to choose from so you have to make sure that you are taking the time to find the people and the companies that you can feel confident in.  You need to be able to trust these people so that your home buying experience is a good one that you will never forget. 

Buying a home is something that you should take your time in doing. You have to be able to make sure that you are doing all that you have to so that you can make a good solid decision. You have to put all the effort that you can into it so you are happy with the end result. 

Customer service is paramount to generating trust and sales in real estate. In this third of three posts I discuss a recent experience with an absentee landlord:

The Absentee Landlord...

This post is not just a customer service experience but also illustrates the dark side of serving the client.  In this case the culprit was a rental agent who managed to neglect his client's listing for six months after it became vacant.

I was referred to the client, an investor from California.  He had assigned the task of finding a tenant to a well known broker who rented it. But after the tenant left he never bothered to find another tenant or even check on the unit's condition. I picked up the rental listing and discovered the refrigerator had leaked water onto the kitchen floor. The water was absorbed by an adjacent cabinet that was quickly ruined. There was also a myriad of wear and tear items needing repair along with painting, cleaning and landscaping. With the owners permission I brought in a painter, cleaning service and handyman to get the unit "rent ready".  I also discovered the A/C unit had not been serviced in two years and contacted a local HVAC company. As the work neared completion I began advertising the unit and quickly found a tenant, who moved in just as the contractors were finishing up. Even though it cost the absentee landlord almost $10,000 in lost rent and repairs, he was pleased to have his rental brought back up to speed with a tenant in place just weeks after listing the property with me.

First post: Mature Moves
Second Post: The Out of Town Buyer

Customer service is paramount to generating trust and sales in real estate. In this second of three posts I discuss a recent experience with an out of town buyer:

The Out of Town Buyer...
They were a professional couple from Boston seeking a club community offering both golf and boating who surfed into my Web site one evening. Their Email asked if such properties existed in our section of the Treasure Coast and could I show them listings the next day - the only time they had left before heading home. "Express" showings are a specialty of mine and I showed them a half dozen properties while introducing them to Palm City.  They fell in love with a beautiful club community and a property with a terrific waterfront location.  Three weeks later they were back for another look and we submitted an offer that was several hundred thousand below asking price. Needless to say the counter was laughable and they resigned themselves to not getting their dream home. But I encouraged them to stick with it and after months of on and off negotiating, a change of listing agents and a dearth of other buyers an offer was accepted just $50,000 above the original. With the buyers back home and unable to return during the settlement process I handled all the details including inspections, post-closing repairs and finding a tenant (they decided to rent it out the first year). All these activities were transparent to my clients, who tended to their busy schedules. They were truly amazed how easy I made the transaction for them and recently referred another client who is interested in a similar property.

Next post: The Absentee Landlord

First post: Mature Moves

Customer service is paramount to generating trust and sales in real estate. Nearly every agent Web site you encounter references "customer service" and how great we are at delivering it. Other than client testimonials, little anecdotal evidence accompanies the claim of giving great customer service. That said, here are several instances of customer service I have been privileged to deliver over the last several years (first of three posts):

Mature Moves...
This senior client needed to sell her home and buy another quickly, which sounds simple enough. But other than the equity in her home she had limited funds, no family and just a few friends who helped as best they could.  The mission was to sell her home and perform a simultaneous closing on another without providing a good faith deposit.  Also, she wanted to find a place to retire on the water for under $250,000!

Several weeks later we found a buyer. We now had 30 days to find another home - on the water. We began researching waterfront communities all over Florida and my client found a new condo in the Panhandle, which is a five hour drive from the Treasure Coast. I arranged for her to meet with the builder and was to receive a referral fee for my efforts but her 20 year old car decided to quit. So off we went in my car.  The condo was in a tiny hamlet just steps from the gulf and she decided to purchase it. After some negotiating the builder agreed to go to contract with just her signature and the promise of wiring funds for the all cash transaction on the day of closing.

Now all we had to do was get her packed and moved. Flash forward to moving day. The movers were a free lance operation and were nowhere to be found on closing day, so I rented a van and drove my client and her belongings to her new home, arriving after midnight. My colleagues thought I was certifiable but helping my client achieve her goal was its own reward.

Next Post - The Out of Town Buyer