Insurance rates...easy if you know the trick!

      Skip just gave you great news, your contract was accepted, but now you need to find insurance fast...you could pick up the phone and call and call and call but this could really get old fast. 

     How about we start at Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation new site http://www.floir.com/choices/ ...well it's not really new, but it is newly redone.  The way the site is set up is you have two options--you can "click on" a   $150,000 home that was built before 2001, or a  $300,000 home that is brand new.  Let's say our contract was for an already-built home.  Well, then choose the pre-constructed home example...boom...it takes you to a map of all the Florida counties.  We then choose Escambia and...boom...it shows us a list of  companies and the prices they would all charge for the example home in Escambia county.  You say, "hey, wait!  This doesn't tell me what MY homes' rate will be."  Correct, but it will tell you who is the most expensive and who is the cheapest.  Let's say you were told by your great uncle Fred to stay away from the cheapest companies because they may not be in existence after a major disaster.  So, now you can choose from the middle companies.  Or maybe your budget is tight, and you want the most bang for your buck.  Well, then you only have the first few companies to call.  You can even click the company name and it will open up a contact window with the 800 number, address and their website.  How about that for time saving...

Grace and Peace...

  
 

Local Business Spot light...Drowsy Poet

Hot...Cold...Smoooooth!  Here in Pensacola there are no lack of local "hot spots".  Today I would like to introduce to you The Drowsy Poet.  Call it a coffee shop, hang out, quick lunch stop or a breath of fresh air...go by and find out for yourself .  While there you can find a nice quiet spot with your coffee/frozen drink or maybe come by when Bill (owner) hosts a local artist to perform.  Oh and don't forget to pick up a bag of FRESH roasted coffee, yep watch them roast it right in the front of the store.  You say I don't have time for all that, well go through the drive through and enjoy an authentic Pensacola original .  Tucked just off the beaten path on 86 Brent Lane just off Hwy 29 it is on my must do in Pensacola...soon to be on yours!                                                                             

drowsypoetcoffee.com/

Grace and Peace...    

 

I want you to hold an open house!

 In the course of selling your home there are many things I do to strictly market YOUR home, and then there are things I will do to get more potential buyers.  The focus of today's blog is the Open House.  You either love them or hate them--not much in between here.  I really believe there is a lack of information about open houses that could make it a more cut and dry decision.  Like I started out with, I will do all I can to sell your home in the shortest peroid of time for the highest price.  Along the way I am also working to find a buyer or two that may see your home but may want a feature that your home does not offer.

So it seems to be an opportunity that could be a win-win for us both. Well maybe not. The success rate for open houses are pretty low, hovering around the 3% chance your home will be sold because the buyer walked in during an open house.  Let's just say your home is a 3 bed 2 bath and a young couple walks through the door of our open house and they fall in love with your home but to our dissipointment find out that they need a 4 bed 2 bath. At that point, what I will be able to do for them is locate all the 4 bed 2 bath homes in the area and hopefully represent them in purchasing a home.  You have to ask yourself is the 3% chance large enough to open your home up to the public?  I would say probably not.

One other aspect we need to consider is how buyers look for homes in todays market.  Most serious buyers are looking on the internet and have seen your home if it falls into their price range and search criteria.  So I ask if you were really looking for a home would you wander around on a Saturaday looking for open houses or would you find a list of homes from the internet and then call your realtor and have him open them up for you?

Conclusion: I have a low success rate with selling homes from an open house but on the other hand I have a pretty good success rate with connecting people I meet at an open house with their next home.  Please keep in mind real estate is a local business and some areas will see a higher rate of success than others with open houses.  Happy Selling!

Grace and Peace...  

                                                                Fresh Bucket of Chicken?

         

Little Bit Apprehensive?

     Whenever we get to August, I get a bit apprehensive when a seller says they need a little more time before they list their home.  As most of you know the summer is the strongest time to have your home on the market and get results.
Why?
I am so glad you asked.
     You see, there are strong forces at work here, and it is called the seasonal real estate cycle (March-September...here in warm, sunny Florida).  The first aspect of this cycle I like to call the New Years resolution crowd,  "This is it...we are going to buy a home this year"--and this makes up the group who close on a home between March and May.  A larger portion of the buyers like to buy while the kiddos are out of school and purchase between May and September.  There are others, but I seem to see these two the most.
So what does this mean to me?
Well,  think of it this way, you have a short "window" to get the highest price for your home because you have more buyers on the hunt.  With these larger numbers out looking at your home, you will have a better chance of getting a higher offer in a shorter peroid of time when that right buyer sees your home.

Grace and Peace...

Thanks for stopping by feel free to come see us at http://www.skipgeiser.com/

       

To video or not to video....Is that the question?

Well, let us start this off with what "is" and what "is not" really a video.  You see, a video to me says motion; so I would submit that taking a still photo and adding music then panning in and out or right to left is not a video.  Yet go on to your favorite video site and type "Homes for Sale" and the majority of the "videos" that come up will be of this type.  I think this is because it is easier to do that than take the time to produce a quality video of a home.

Next, in today's society, is it necessary for someone sitting in their living room, say in New York City, to be able to get the "feel" of your home that is for sale here in Pensacola, Florida?  I say YES!  What if they can't just jump in the car and drive over to your home to see it?  Will the still photos of your home give that person, 2,000 miles away, enough information to know how the living room opens up to the kitchen?  Or even though the square footage may be lower than other homes in the neighborhood, the way it is layed out makes it feel bigger than it really is?  I would say not.

I will leave you with this.  Some of the home sites also give a higher ranking to the listings with a video...albeit they don't care if it is the still photo type or actual video type.

Take a look at one of my videos and let me know what you think....or
check out The Geiser Team's You Tube Page

Grace and Peace....    

Hurricane seasion is here are you ready?

As all of us who have live along the Gulf Coast for any length of time have learned you MUST be ready for hurricanes. Here are a few resources that I found and think are really helpful.

Government Help Sites
FEMA Hurricane Prep
National Disaster Education Coalition
Florida Disaster
CDC

Weather Tracking
Fox Hurricane Tracking
Storm Pulse
IBIS Eye
Florida Hurricane

Great Information in Video form...

Come and Visit us at www.SkipGeiser.com

Grace and Peace

History Lesson...Pensacola

Pensacola...Who Knew, Right!

First then Second...You're OUT!

I must say, it is a bit hard for me to keep hearing over and over how people with a first and a second mortgage are losing their homes.
You see, the process is fairly simple in the mortgage business--you go in to get the loan for that dream home, but you don't have the 20% down payment...well you're in luck...or so you think. The lender is willing to allow you to put down--say 3%--and get you a first mortgage for 80% of the loan value from one lender, and a second loan for the remainder from a different lender. That sure saved the day, now you can forge ahead and get into that new home you have always wanted. As they say in the movies "And we all lived happily ever after"...problem is, this is not the movies.
The very first question I ask at the stage where the home is in jeopardy is, have you tried a mortgage modification? The response is usually the same--yes, but we were turned down. WHAT? How can that be! These people have lost a job, and their payments are through the roof--they should qualify. To explain that denied request for a modification, we must go back to the fact that two lenders are involved here. When you go to the first lender to ask for the modification they want to know how much of your income is being consumed by--now listen--THEIR payment...not considering the second mortgage. Did you get that? If their part is only taking, let's say, 29% (instead of the required 30% in most cases) of your income, well you're out of luck. If you want to get a modification on the second, well then you need to go to the second lender and do this process all over again.
You may say, "Skip come on, the buyer bit off more than they can chew. It's not the lenders fault." Yes, but at what point do we stop trying to play the blame game and solve the problem. Listen, the lenders might begin with making the modification process and short sale process "less complicated". Heaven's sake! We can put a man on the moon! We should be able to streamline this process in order to help more people keep their home.
One snippet of advice...Wait to purchase until you have the 20% down payment first, be sure to stay within your budget, and definitely stay away from Adjustable Rate Mortgages(ARM) no matter how good you think they sound.
Just a side note, Dave Ramsey (www.DaveRamsey.com) has a great plan for getting out of debt and getting your life back together. Or you may be saying, "I am doing just fine." Check him out anyway, so you can try to avoid the pain of having your financial life fall apart...it's painful! I see it almost every day!

Grace and Peace