Tag: orlando realtor

Orlando real estate | Lease options, good idea or bad idea?

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

A lease option is a type of contract that is used in residential real estate. In a lease-option contract, a property owner and tenant agree that, at the end of a rental period for a property, the renter has the option of purchasing the property. Basically, the seller will ask for a sizable non-refundable deposit at the beginning of the agreement. If the tenant cannot close by the time stated on the contract, then the property owner has the right to keep the deposit. A lease option is different from a lease purchase, in that a lease-purchase binds both parties to the sale, whereas in a lease option the buyer has the option but the seller does not.

Most of the time people will only enter into a lease option when they aren’t able to qualify for a loan.  Typically, the rent amount will be a bit higher as well as the purchase price. Of course, the danger is that when the time comes to buy, you could change your mind or be denied financing, causing you to lose your money. It depends on how much risk the potential buyer is able stomach.

If you do enter into a lease option agreement, it’s important that the contract is looked at by a lawyer. Sometimes buyers are so desperate to get into a house and they don’t bother to read the fine print. Even though the seller is sitting in the driver’s seat, he can’t force you to sign an agreement that doesn’t benefit you. The number 1 rule in real estate is that “everything in real estate is negotiable”. This means that you don’t have to agree to the first offer put in front of you and you have the right to make a counteroffer.

As an Orlando real estate investor I’ve done several lease options over the years for people and they haven’t always turned out they were supposed to. I would say about half of the time, I ended up having to evict the tenant and keeping their deposit. On the positive side, for the other half of the people, it worked out great. They were able to buy the house that they wanted even after getting denied financing from the major lenders For these people the risk paid off to do a lease option because they were able to honor the contract.

So is a lease option good or bad? It depends on the situation, the most important thing to remember is to be realistic with yourself. If you’re not sure if you will be able to get financing at the end of your contract then I would say…Don’t do it!  You’ll be risking losing your deposit.

If you still have questions about lease options call us at 407-902-7750 or visit us at  OrlandoRealtyConsultants.com and schedule a free consultation with one of our real estate professionals.

Orlando Real Estate Broker

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Florida short sale | 14 Parkview Heights Blvd. Debary, FL 32713

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Our newest short sale is located in Parkview Heights in Debary, FL. It’s a beautifully laid out 4 bedroom 2 and a half bathroom two-story house with 1,564 sq ft of living space.

Here are a few of the property’s highlights

* Large master bedroom

* Spacious kitchen, solid wood cabinets

* Vaulted Ceilings

* Formal dining room
*Lots of natural lighting

* Huge yard

* 2-car garage

* Community Clubhouse and pool

Easy access to schools, first-rate shops, and restaurants.

To this or any of our other Florida properties, visit us at Orlando Realty Consultants  or just Call us at 407-902-7750

Are you looking to sell your Florida property for top dollar on the date of your choice? Visit our website and find out how much your property is worth.

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Orlando Short Sales…anything but short

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Short Sales…. Long time

For potential buyers short sales can mean either getting a great deal or going through a very frustrating ordeal. by first impression a short sale implies a getting good deal on a home, kind of like a house as being on sale “houses 30% off! “. However, you should know what’s involved with buying a short sale before making an offer.

A short sale is when the lender agrees to take less than the amount owed in order to get the property sold as opposed to taking it through foreclosure. Before the lender agrees to anything, there’s a whole process that the seller needs to go through and get approval before the bank even agrees to entertain any kind of offer. This process involves the seller getting together an entire package of docs to their lender

Short Sale Docs Required from the Seller

1-Hardship lettter

2-Financial statement or profit and loss [if self employed]

3-Last 2 years tax returns

4-Recent Paystubs

5-Bank statements

6- Listing agreement

7- Purchase and Sales agreement

As you can see from the list above the seller has their homework cut out for them and some sellers aren’t the most organized people which means, just getting this list of docs together could take weeks. Once the package is complete, it is then submitted to the short sale lender.  If you think that’s it… you’re wrong, this is just the beginning. The lender will usually find a few things wrong with the package no matter how well it was put together, something will need to be in a different format, typo o the HUD, missing addendum, etc. it’s always something.

The next thing that will happen is the lender will order a BPO [brokers price opinion]. This is usually a local agent that is hired by the lender to give their opinion of what the property is really worth. Whatever this amount comes in at will be the negotiating point. That means that if your offer is much lower than the BPO amount, the bank will counter your offer until you come to an agreement. Unfortunately, some agents don’t like the extra work involved in going back and forth with the lender to get the best deal possible, so they just stick with the first amount that the lender countered at.

Hopefully, the agent handling the listing is an Orlando short sale specialist, if not it could be a very frustrating experience for both the buyer and the seller.

Buyers that need to buy fast

If you’re a buyer that needs to get into a house quickly for whatever reason, then you probably want to steer clear of short sales. Just because you’ve submitted a fair offer on a property, it doesn’t mean that you’ll get it. Not only that, you may be waiting for a month or 2 before even getting a response on whether your offer was approved or not. My suggestion is to find an Orlando realtor that specializes in the area that you want to live in and tell them what your time frame is. If you can’t find a good deal right away, maybe you should rent for six months. This will allow you more time to find the great deal you’ve been looking for.

Buyers that are in no hurry to buy

If you have all the time in the world to find a great deal on Orlando real estate, then short sales are definitely worth looking into. Find a realtor that is an Orlando short sale specialist in the area that you’re interested in living in. Meet with the realtor and let them know what kind of property you’re interested in buying and where. The agent should provide you with a list of short sale and REO properties in the area that meet your criteria. After you get your list, tell your agent immediately which ones you would like to see and go see them A.S.A.P. Orlando real estate is hot right now and good deals don’t last for very long.

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Homeowners Insurance Tips for Orlando home buyers

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Getting the best HOI rates for Orlando real estate

When shopping for homeowners insurance [HOI] quotes, you should seek out companies that have been in business for a while that have high customer satisfaction ratings and good reviews. Many potential buyers make the mistake of just going with the cheapest company they can find.

As an Orlando realtor, I always recommend to my clients to use a company like  Net Quote. This is a company that will provide you with quotes from several different highly rated homeowners insurance companies. Using a company like this to research homeowners insurance can save you a lot of time and money.

Many insurance companies raise their rates when they suffer a financial crisis like the one we’re still recovering from. However, insurance companies still have to compete with other insurance companies for your business which means that most of them are cutting much better deals for new policyholders than for existing policyholders.

Typically after people purchase their HOI and close their house, people tend to forget about homeowners insurance and will just continue to pay whatever premium the insurance company asks for even if it goes up every year. What homeowners should do is research different insurance companies every time they are up for renewal to make sure they are getting the best rate available.

6 Tips for keeping your HOI rates down on Orlando properties

1- Continue shopping for better rates- Every time your policy renewal date approaches, check companies like NetQuote.com to see if they can find you a better deal.

2- Try Bundling– Consider bundling your Homeowners policy and your auto policy with the same insurance company. By doing this you may be able to cut your premiums by up to 15%.

3-Make sure you don’t have too much coverage- It’s very common for policies to have inflation protection provisions that will automatically increase your coverage amount. Now that construction costs have fallen, these increases are not always justified. Find out what your house is actually worth make adjustments to your policy if can. If you’re able to lower your replacement value, it could save you up to 10% on your premiums.

4-Make sure your reputation is as clean as possible-If you’ve been denied coverage or they want to charge you an arm and a leg because of claims you’ve made in the past, check your insurance report for mistakes at choicetrust.com; it’s free if you’ve been denied coverage. Insurance companies make mistakes all of the time especially when it comes to record searches on clients.

5-Stick with high deductibles– I always recommend getting a policy with a high deductible for 2 reasons. 1st, your premium will be much less and 2nd, If you file a claim for every little repair that comes along, it can drive your premiums up by up to 15%. Use the money that you’re saving on those premiums to cover the small repairs.

6- Avoid Flood Zones– Before you buy your home, you should be aware if it’s in a flood zone. If you live in a house that’s in a flood zone, then you will probably want to make sure that your policy covers flood damage. You could save money and not get flood coverage but then you run a big risk if your house ever gets flooded. My advice, avoid flood zones.

If you’re in the market for an Orlando property and you still have a million questions about homeowners insurance or anything else regarding the purchase of a house. Contact us for a free consultation with an Orlando real estate expert.

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Ask your Orlando realtor questions about your short sale

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Don’t be afraid to ask your Orlando realtor questions about your short sale

  So you’ve decided to pursue a short sale on your home either because it owes more than what it’s worth and and just want to get out from under it or because you’ve fallen behind on your mortgage payments. You’re next step should be to find a experienced short sale realtor with a proven track record. How do you do this? Well like everything else these days… you Google it!  For example, if you need to find a good short sale realtor in Orlando, you should type in terms like “Orlando short sale realtor”, “Orlando short sale specialist”, “Orlando short sale expert”, etc…. you get the picture.  Once you hit the search button your computer screen will pull up the top results for the best short sale realtors in the city of Orlando. I would suggest that you choose from 1st page results and forget about going to page 2.

Now that you have a list of the top Orlando short sale realtors, start calling and emailing them. This is a great test to see which realtors will get back to you right away and which ones will call you 3 days later or maybe even not at all. Quick tip; If a realtor takes more than 24 hrs to get back to you, stay away! Imagine how frustrating it would be for you if this person had control of your short sale and every time you tried contacting them with an important question you had to wait days for a response.   By using this tactic of contacting every realtor on the first page, you will eliminate at least half the Orlando realtors that are showing up, which never ceases to amazes me. I can’t tell how many times sellers have called me and told me that they’ve called another realtor before me and they never got a response.

Now you should have a hand full of realtors that you were able to get a hold of immediately or at least in a short amount of time. I suggest that you now have a long conversation with them over the phone. You can tell a lot about someone by just talking to them for a while. While you’re talking with them be sure to make notes about that individual such as; “seemed friendly and knowledgeable” , “answered all my questions” , “was very impatient”, “felt like I was being rushed”, “not experienced enough”, etc. Remember, you’re looking for someone that’s not only going to be looking out for  your best interest, but this person will be [or should be] in constant contact with you and it needs to be someone that you feel comfortable  with.

The Final step in Hiring an Orlando short sale realtor

OK, now hopefully you should have at least 2 realtors that you’re thinking about listing your house with. The final step in choosing the best realtor for you is to make an appointment for them too come and see you at your home. Ask them to bring testimonials from past clients as well as anything else that they can use to prove their track record to you. You should also ask them to have a plan of action laid out for your home if they were to get the listing.   Remember, when they come over to meet with you, you’re the one in control. They are their to try and get you to hire them, not the other way around. After meeting with the 2 or 3 realtors that you’ve set appointments with, you will undoubtedly have made a decision on the realtor that best meets your needs.

Follow up with your realtor as well as your lender

Now that you’ve  found an Orlando short sale realtor that you’re happy with, make sure to follow up. A good short sale agent should provide you with weekly status reports n the status of your short sale. Another way to make sure your file is being handled properly is to follow up with your lender and find out what’s happening with your file as well as when was the last time your realtor mad contact with them. You shouldn’t feel bad about doing this and your realtor shouldn’t feel offended because you’re checking up on them. This is probably one of the most important things happening in your life right now and you have a right to know exactly what’s going on.

 

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