Tison King's Blog

Buying a Deland home, whether it be your first, second or even an income property, is a very important decision. There are many factors that you need to be aware of before making your final decision on real estate property. Most of these factors are dependent on you alone and making your own ‘buyers guide’ can help ease the process of elimination when choosing a home.

Before even looking at homes, sit down with your Deland real estate professional and go over your ‘wish list’. What kind of neighborhood are you looking for? How many bedrooms will you require? What should be the construction of the home? Are you looking for a Deland home that has been built recently or are you looking to buy an older home that may need some TLC (but is a great bargain)? All of these things can help you and your agent put together a list of homes that fit your needs.

Know what you are willing to spend. If the home meets all of your needs are you willing to go up a bit on your mortgage payments? If the home has great potential but lacks several items on your wish list, then what will you need to set aside to make repairs or build that addition? Think about these things ahead of time and relay your thoughts to your agent.

Knowing what you are willing to spend on a Deland property, how many items on your ‘wish list’ are must-haves and how many are can-do-withouts can really help you and your agent to quickly find the best deals for your particular situation. Take your time and fill-out your own ‘buyers guide’ list and take it with you when you are looking at homes. This simple step can make your buying experience that much easier.

When preparing to sell your Deltona home one of the forms that you will need to fill out is the property disclosure form. This form helps inform property buyers about facts and details of your property that they should know in making the decision to purchase your home.

On the form are several items about the condition of your property which must be disclosed to prospective buyers. You will be describing the property in its present condition as well as answering some questions about the history of the property to the best of your knowledge. Items listed on the form will include structural integrity, condition of the property, maintenance questions and even legal information about the status of the property. You will not be required to give out any personal information regarding the owners of the property.

If your Deltona property has a septic system, you will also be required to disclose information regarding the condition of the septic system, sewer pipes and underground tank. You will also be asked when the last maintenance was performed on the system and when it was last emptied.

Buyers rely on your property disclosure form to base their decision of whether or not to purchase your house. Buyers may ask for a visual inspection of  disclosures that may have been revealed in the form. This is a common request and a strong indicator that the buyer is seriously considering the purchase. Buyers will ask a lot of questions during this process and all that is required of you is that you answer these questions to the best of your ability.

The information you disclose on this form when listing your Deltona home for sale will help to acquaint potential property buyers with the current and historical condition of your home. When completing this form, your real estate agent will be glad to answer any questions you may have regarding items to be disclosed on the form. Working closely with your agent, be sure to disclose all material facts to ensure a smooth selling process.

Some of the best bargains on the market may come offered as a short sale. You can save a lot of money when purchasing these properties if you know what to look for and are aware of the process involved in purchasing a Deland real estate short sale. It is important to work closely with your agent from the very beginning.

With a short sale the seller is accepting offers on the property that are less than what they owe to the bank for that property. The lender that is involved must approve any offers submitted by potential buyers. Even though the lender must be involved in the process for the sale to take place, they do not set the asking price for the property. The asking price is determined by the seller and their Deland real estate agent. So, you can’t necessarily make low offers on a short sale property. It is best to talk with your agent and make a competitive offer on the property that would be attractive to the bank.

Once you make an offer on a Deland home it will take time to get an approval back from the lender. Many factors determine how long this process will take. If there are incomplete documents, if the offer is too low, or if the bank needs additional information, then you may have to submit additional paperwork or resubmit the offer entirely. So, make sure you work closely with your real estate agent to ensure that you have all the necessary paperwork needed for a short sale.

Make sure to follow up on the process from time to time. With as many short sales as there are in today’s economy your offer may wind up misplaced, misfiled or simply stalled waiting for additional information. But, you won’t know if you don’t follow up.

You could walk away with a great deal on a Deland short sale if you prepare you offer correctly, stay involved in the process and have a little patience. The process will take time and being aware of the process from the beginning will help make everything go more smoothly. If the bank rejects your offer several times, you may also want to consider walking away from the deal and starting again with an offer on a different property. Each short sale is different and not every lender is easy to negotiate with. That is why it is so important that you and your Deland realtor work closely together from the beginning of the process.

No matter if you are a young couple making your first move or a family of 4 upsizing to a new larger home, selling your current home can seem to be a daunting task at first glance. However, just by following a few simple tips you can keep the process manageable and organized.

Working closely with your Volusia county real estate agent you should determine what your home is worth and how you should price your home. Your agent will discuss similar homes in the area and give you an idea of what your home might sell for in comparison to those that have recently sold. Be sure to ask him/her for suggestions on how you can make simple upgrades or small improvements to your home that would help it to be more competitive in the market. Depending on whether you need to move quickly or if can afford to hold out a little longer, your agent will help you choose a price strategy that is best for you.

Take into consideration things that you cannot change about your home. Neighbors, location and architectural features might have a positive or negative effect on your listing price, but they cannot be changed and have to be worked around. Concentrate on accentuating the most positive features of your home. Spruce up the garden, paint rooms in need of some TLC, and de-clutter the home as much as possible to show off the features of the home that were most attractive to you when you bought the home.

Decide whether or not to offer a home warranty or other incentives to potential home buyers. Talk to your Volusia county real estate agent about establishing a solid advertising strategy and get involved in the process of selling your home by following recommendations from your agent. He/she will give you feedback from people previewing the property and may bring minor things to your attention that you may never have thought of that could greatly increase the attractiveness of the property.

Box up anything that you won’t need for a few months. Many Volusia county area homes for sale stay on the market longer than they should simply because they are too cluttered to make a positive impression on potential buyers. Clear an area in the garage and start stacking boxes neatly. Go through closets and pack away as much clothing as you can. A cluttered closet looks much smaller than a closet with just a few items hanging. You will be amazed at just how large your closets look when you are done with this one step alone.

Clear off those countertops and remove all the artwork from the refrigerator doors. Place as many kitchen appliances as you can in cupboards. Try to keep it down to the toaster, coffee pot, mixer, and maybe a salt & pepper shaker set.  Take before and after shots and see how this really opens up your kitchen. Remember that the kitchen is one of the biggest features of your home and this one room can often be the decision point between your home and two similar Deland homes for buyers previewing the property. So, get to de-cluttering that kitchen and make it stand on its own.

Remember that it is important to have your home ‘showroom ready’ all the time. While sometimes this is hard to do with a larger family, getting the house de-cluttered and packing unused items away will help to keep you organized and a little less stressed about toys askew or messy closets. Putting an action plan in place with simple steps from the start will prove to help keep the entire process manageable and organized.

While searching for real estate in the  Volusia, Seminole, Orange or Polk county areas of Florida, you may run into some stumbling blocks. This is doubly true if you choose to have a go-of-it on your own without a real estate agent. Taking the time to research experienced real estate agents in the local area can save you valuable time and money.

Having a real estate agent at your side during the home search process is like having your own ‘insider’ in the real estate market to give you home shopping tips. Enlisting the help of an agent means that you can potentially see dozens of properties within hours instead of days and skip listings that just may not have been what you were looking for in the first place. There is no need to call agent to agent from house to house or wait for people to return your messages to schedule an appointment.

Your agent may even be able to tell you what homes in the Deland real estate market are about to be on the market, but just aren’t listed yet. There may be offers pending on several homes that you were not aware of, or maybe your agent has knowledge of potential structural damage to a certain listing.

As a Deland native, I can offer insight into demographics and crime rates of West Volusia. My experience with the market allows me to track trends and offer you advice on when a home seems over or under priced. This gives you the power of knowing when it’s reasonable to offer an amount lower than the asking price.

As an experienced agent, I use my knowledge of the West Volusia real estate market along with my intuitive people skills to match you with the perfect property in just the location that is right for you and your family. Whether you are a first time homebuyer or a seasoned investor, I can give you rare insights into the  Volusia, Seminole, Orange or Polk county areas of Florida that you may not have been aware of prior to contacting me.

Also, no matter how familiar you are with the current real estate market, no matter how many tv shows you’ve watched about buying and selling houses, no matter how astute of a negotiator you may possibly think you are, when it comes to understanding contracts and not tumbling into the possible pitfalls that come from absent or misunderstanding contract verbiage that benefits the seller and not you, an experienced Deland real estate agent is an reliable asset to have in your corner.

You have been saving money for years and have finally decided to buy your dream home in Deland. After months of searching you find the picture-perfect match. The house is immaculate, the neighborhood is quiet, and you even managed to find a home with that in-ground pool you were hoping for. However, the price seems a bit higher than you were expecting.

So how do you know if you are paying too much?

Time to get some solid facts on comparable Deland homes. But where do you start? How do you find similar homes and what makes another home comparable to the home that you have selected?

Here are a few tips on finding homes to compare:

Try and compare homes with similar characteristics. Look for recent sales in the Deland area that were built by the same builder and have the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Also, look at the other listings and see if they have similar amenities. If your soon-to-be home has all upgraded fixtures, granite countertops, tiled floors, stainless steel appliances, professional landscaping, and 10×10 detached woodshop in the backyard, then you are not going to compare your home to homes that have bare-bones appliance packages, wall-wall carpeting, and are in dire need of landscaping. You will want to compare homes that are as close as possible in description to your dream home.

Before you even start your comparisons, be sure to write a list of all the features, characteristics and amenities of your selected home. Having this list in front of you as your sort out recent sales in Deland will prove to be a useful tool. Don’t forget to consider features such proximity to schools, nearby shopping, highway accessibility, and neighborhood.

Remember to consider when the comparable home actually sold. The real estate market is constantly changing and a home that sold a year ago may not have any bearing at all on the current market value of your dream home. Before purchasing a home in the Volusia, Seminole, Orange or Polk county area, make sure that you give me a quick call. As a real estate professional and Deland native, I could potentially save you thousands of dollars on the purchase of your dream home.