Ten Ways to Know that You've Found the Right Home

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation 

Do you think you've found the perfect home here in the Sun Coast? In last week's video, I discussed how to make a good offer on a home, and one of those tips involved not sleeping on a good home. But how do you know that you've found the right home?

Today I have ten different pieces of advice to help you make that decision. You don't want to take too long to recognize the right home in this market or it may disappear.

1. The driveway has to draw you inside.

2. The front door should embrace you and lure you inside.

3. You feel comfortable in all of the rooms, especially in the bathroom.

4. You're already possessive about the home.

5. Can you envision your furniture in the property?

6. Can you see yourself painting the rooms?

7. Do you enjoy spending time in the neighborhood?

8. Do you want to stop looking at other homes? Are you comparing other properties to this one?

9. You cannot wait to brag to your friends about the house.

10. You want to stop looking at other homes.

Hopefully this has helped you recognize if you've found a good home in the area. You don't want to wait around too long, otherwise you will lose out on that dream home!

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you need help buying on the Sun Coast!

5 Things You Need to Do When Buying a Home

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation 

Today, we'll go over the 5 do's for you to successfully buy your dream home.

1. Do get pre-approved. To be taken seriously in this market, you must have pre-approval. Don't go looking at houses until you've talked with a lender and been fully pre-approved. Sellers will not take your offer seriously without a pre-approval.
2. Do be plugged into the Internet. Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com are all great sources, but they're not the best. These sites only show 60% to 70% of all properties on the market. You need to be plugged in with a system that has direct ties to the MLS, like our site. You need to know when properties first come on the market, or if a price moves on a property you've been watching.
3. Do be urgent. Don't go home and sleep on it. If you're willing to do that, it might not be the right home. Buying a home is an emotional decision. Most buyers know when they walk in the door if that's the right home for them. 

4. Do make your best offer. We're dealing with a seller's market. We all know markets change, but right now we're in a seller's market. Do not make any lowball offers.
5. Do use a great agent. Don't work with someone who makes you uncomfortable, but don't just hire your friend or cousin, either. Hire a professional who has market experience. We win a lot of offers just because of our experience. The listing agent knows that we have walked our buyers through the process and trusts that we can get our buyer to the closing table.

If you have any questions about today's video, please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you!

What's Happening with the Sun Coast Real Estate Market?

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation 

Today, we're going to discuss the market on the Sun Coast. This market is a seller's market. However, there are some big changes today versus what's happened in the past.

For instance, the Internet is huge in today's market. Back in 2005 and 2006, Zillow did not exist. The buyers have a lot of control because they have more information available to them. You can't just put your home on the market and price it however you want, because the buyers will know more about the true value of the home.

As a seller, we want to understand what the market is doing. As we go into this fall selling season, we look like we have a really strong pace. Going into spring, however, interest rates may start to rise. When that happens, the market will slow down, and you don't want to be caught in that.

If you're on the west side of Sun Coast, there's not as much new construction, and the inventory is low. If you head out east, there's competition with new construction, so the inventory is a little higher. Overall, we have about three and a half months of inventory, which puts us firmly in a seller's market. Four or five months of inventory means a balanced market, which might happen when interest rates rise.

If you have any questions, please contact us. We want to educate you on the market so you can make the best decisions possible. We look forward to hearing from you!