Jacksonville Real Estate Ramblings: December 2007

I was reading another blog by Mark Horan. His blogwas about a recent experience he had with clients. It gave me the idea for this blog.

I wanted to see how many agents out there, who preview before they show or just preview to know the market? Now I want to hear from the agents who think it's a total waste of time?

Before you post, don't just post yes I do or no I don't, then leave it at that. Give your reasons! I think it would make a great debate and the best thing is, there isn't a right or wrong answer! So, no name calling or putting each other down, we'll leave that to the presidential candidates!

I might as well go ahead and throw out my 2 cents first.

I don't make previewing properties part of my routine, I haven't found the benefits of it. I think it's too time consuming. However, if I am going to be showing houses in an area that is not my normal stomping grounds, I will drive my route, so I know exactly where the house are.  

Alright I know the hate emails are coming but let me explain! I practice real estate in Northeast Florida, which includes Jacksonville, Orange Park, Middleburg, Green Cove Springs, St Johns County, the Beaches, etc... That's alot of ground to cover, especially in Jacksonville alone. I think it's a disservice to my clients to preview a home and eliminate it because I don't think they would like it. Who am I to determine what they will like? Even if I have sat down with them for a consultation and we have looked at homes, I don't think I should be the eliminator.

Now, it's your turn. Let the comments begin!

For more information contact your Jacksonville Florida Real Estate Agent, Pam Graham  904-910-3516

Vanguard Realty, GMAC Real Estate 

Come find your dream home in Jacksonville, Orange Park and surrounding areas in Northeast Florida.

http://www.pamgraham.com/

 THIS HOME IS NO LONGER FOR SALE!

Affordable Condo in Ponte Vedra Beach Florida!

 Here is a great opportunity to own a condo in Ponte Vedra Beach for only $125,000! Only minutes from the beach, shopping and JTB! This condo is 1 bedroom, 1 bath and features carpet in the bedroom and tile throughout the rest of the living area.

The kitchen has a lot of counter space and like new appliances, including a washer and dryer.

Enjoy a meal in the tiled dining room.

Ceramic tile in the living room.

The bedroom features carpet and a spacious walk in closet.

The ammentities for Belleza at Ponte Vedra

It's time to work on your fitness goals!

Enjoy grilling out under the gazebo

Take a dip in the pool on those hot summer days.

You can even watch a movie!

Other amenities include: Tennis, basketball and volleyball courts, car wash area and a gated entrance.

For more information contact your Jacksonville Florida Real Estate Agent, Pam Graham  904-910-3516

Vanguard Realty, GMAC Real Estate 

Come find your dream home in Jacksonville, Orange Park and surrounding areas in Northeast Florida.

http://www.pamgraham.com/

Here's what November 2007 looked like: 

Current # of listings available in Nov 2007- 7,558

Average # of sales per month (homes that went under contract not sold)- 535

 Ave days on market (under contract homes, not sold)- 102.88

Remaining # months inventory - 14.13

Selling price % of list price (original list price) (these were homes that sold and closed in November 2007)- 89.98%

Let's rewind to last year!  

 Here's what November 2006 looked like:

Current # of listings available in Nov 2006- 6,466

Average # of sales per month (homes that went under contract not sold)- 793

Ave days on market (under contract homes, not sold)- 100.19

Remaining # months inventory - 8.15

Selling price % of list price (original list price) (these were homes that sold and closed in November 2006)- 92.33%  

These figures are based on residential homes (single family, town homes & attached). They exclude condos, commercial property and vacant land. It also does not include Jacksonville beach, Atlantic Beach or Neptune Beach.  

Take a look at October 2007 & 2006 stats for Jacksonville, Florida.

Your Jacksonville Florida Real Estate Agent, Pam Graham  904-910-3516

Vanguard Realty, GMAC Real Estate 

Come find your dream home in Jacksonville, Orange Park and surrounding areas in Northeast Florida.

http://www.pamgraham.com/

Well it's been a long time coming, I'm starting to ween myself off of the Advanced Access bottle! Today, I started my free Point2 site, registered a new domain name and now I just need to get it to point to my new site.

I'm still keeping my AA site for a little while longer, heck I don't want to lose my spot on page 61 on Google! (SARCASTIC) I'm a little nervous trying another provider but a couple of days ago, my site was offline...AGAIN...and that did it for me. After Black Mondays (agents with AA sites or those who had AA sites know what I'm talking about), penalties in Yahoo for over a year, customer service slipping, penalties in Google, poor rankings in Google (due to page being offline when the google spider goes looking for it) I have decided to move on. I will miss some aspects but change is good.

I will be checking out the Point2 group for wisdom and advice. If anybody has aome advice to throw at me, I will gladly listen!!!!!

I read a post about this before but I can't find it. I saw someone mention a website where you can add your own text to a picture. Does anyone know which website? Thanks!

UPDATE: The site I was looking for is www.imagechef.com

Your Jacksonville Florida Real Estate Agent, Pam Graham  904-910-3516

Vanguard Realty, GMAC Real Estate 

Come find your dream home in Jacksonville, Orange Park and surrounding areas in Northeast Florida.

www.PamGraham.com

Are you a renter, wanting to fire your landlord for good? Or a seller wanting to sell and perhaps, move up or down size? I bet, you've been listening to the media and you wonder if this is a good time to buy or should you just wait?

No one has a crystal that will tell us what the future holds for real estate, so let's just take a look at how things are right now:

 1. The rates are good, as long as you qualify.

2. Home prices are coming down.

3. Due to the higher inventory levels, you have more choices.

4. Due to the mortgage crisis, lenders have tighten their credit guidelines. A buyer who qualified for a mortgage two years ago or even a year ago, may not qualify now.

Have the prices hit bottom yet? I don't think so. Should you wait to buy until they do? That depends on you and your family's situation. If you're looking at this strictly on an investment stand point and you're wanting to buy a house and in a year or two resale it, you may want to think long and hard. You may not have the equity you need to profit from it. Now, on the other hand, if you're wanting a home to raise your kids in, enjoy your golden years, make memories with your spouse or partner and this is a long term investment, now can be your time.

Your first step though, is to find out if you can qualify for a mortgage.

Pre-qualified vs pre-approved

You may or may not have heard of the terms pre-qualified and pre-approved. Pre-qualified is something you can do right over the phone with a lender. They will want to know what your income is, time on the job, debts you may have, just basic information. Based on the information you give them, the lender could give you a letter stating you qualify for 'x" amount of mortgage, but only if you meet additional criteria. Sounds good so far, but don't start doing back flips just yet.

You goal should be to get pre-approved before you even start doing house shopping. Pre-approval means the lender has checked your credit, collected documents verifying your employment and income, as well as other documents that particular company requires.

Just in case, you get a red flag, due to credit issues, please read a blog I wrote about credit repair companies.

If you're given the green flag to go out and grab your piece of the American dream, I want to stress the importance of learning from the mistakes of others. I'm sure you've been taking notice of the situation homeowners, have found themselves in recent months.

Article continued at Jacksonville Real Estate 

Your Jacksonville Florida Real Estate Agent, Pam Graham  904-910-3516

Vanguard Realty, GMAC Real Estate 

Come find your dream home in Jacksonville, Orange Park and surrounding areas in Northeast Florida.

www.PamGraham.com/

You've seen the ads...."Credit repair 100% guarantee" "We can remove charge offs, bankruptcies, foreclosure" The list goes on and on. If you are credit challenged and you want to buy a car or a house, you may wonder if those companies are for real.  They are real and they want to take your hard earned money. Don't get me wrong, there are legit credit repair companies that can help you, but if they tell you they can remove a bankruptcy when in fact that bankruptcy is completely accurate on your credit report, they are lying.

Here is an excerpt from The Federal Trade Commission's website in regard to credit repair companies:

"No one can legally remove accurate and timely negative information from a credit report. The law allows you to ask for an investigation of information in your file that you dispute as inaccurate or incomplete. There is no charge for this. Everything a credit repair clinic can do for you legally, you can do for yourself at little or no cost."

You can read the entire article by clicking here.

Now, what if you do have inaccurate information on your credit report(s)? You may wonder if you should hire a credit repair company, but with a little bit of fingertip work (get it...instead of leg work) on your part, you can dispute the items yourself online for free.

I'll show you where to go. Let's start with Equifax. When you visit their website, you'll see two places to dispute. Online dispute (as of today, 2 clicks from the search button) and the tab that says: Free Report, Security Freeze, dispute and fraud protection.  You can start your dispute right there. Now let me back up, just for a second. Did you know, you can get your credit report from all 3 bureaus, free, once a year? Visit Annual Credit Report to get started.

Let's visit Transunion. You'll see their dispute button, at the bottom under the column titled "More for Consumers"

Last, but not least, is Experian. If you visit their main page, scroll towards the bottom and you will see disputes or click here.

A few years ago, I had some errors on my credit report. First, I printed my free credit reports from Annual Credit Report. I looked it over, making a mark next to each item that was incorrect and writing down what it should say. I went to each credit bureau and next to each incorrect item, I disputed it. It wasn’t the most fun thing in the world and it was tedious to say the least, HOWEVER when it was all said and done and the items were corrected my score jumped by about 75 points! Not bad, if I say so myself.

Now let me say this, these items were inaccurate from the beginning, I wasn’t trying to beat the system. If your goal is to try to beat the system, DON’T! You still have to answer the questions on a credit application honestly and accurately, no matter what your credit report states!

Lastly, and most important, time will raise your credit score, as long as you continue to pay your bills on time. So, PAY YOUR BILLS ON TIME!

Well, do I have a place for you! It's called Chamblin Bookmine and it is my absolutely favorite book store. I love any book store really, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble and the list goes on, but the difference with Chamblin's is, not only do they carry new books, they sell tons & tons of used books as well as hard to find.

I just went there last week and I purchased a book that looked brand new. If purchased new, I would have paid $19.95, but I only paid $9.95! Now, that's a sweet deal.  

If you would like to take a visit their address is: 4551 Roosevelt Blvd

Jacksonville, FL 32210.

Oh! I almost forgot, they also sell audio books and videos too! Happy book hunting!

Pam Graham

Vanguard Realty, GMAC Real Estate

Your Jacksonville Florida Real Estate resource where you can search for your dream home in Jacksonville and Orange Park.