Lipply's Blog: Buying and Selling Homes

I'm always trying to save paper, cut down on paper work, and get rid of junk mail.  One thing I learned today that never occurred to me before is that you can have the delivery of the yearly phone book stopped.  Every year, I get the new one, recycle the old one, and put the new one in its place - in the closet in the back room.  Never to be opened.  Does anyone actually use the phone book anymore?  I know I don't.

We are sometimes amused by the few, but regular requests, we get through our website of people asking for us to send them a "real estate book".  Real Estate books haven't been around for a long long time.  I'm not sure exactly how long but when I started in real estate about 10 years ago, everything was online.  We always tell people that each…

Safety Harbor is a small town with a big appeal.  It's known for the famous Safety Harbor Spa but there's so much more to Safety Harbor than that.  Waterfront property, gated communities, luxury real estate, and family neighborhoods make up the bulk of residential property in Safety Harbor.  Go downtown and you will find eclectic homes on quaint streets with many large oak trees. Some of these homes were built in the 1920s and 1930s and have been restored; others are prime for restoration.

Surprising statistics are emerging from the MLS in Safety Harbor since the turn of the new year.  With only about 280 homes on the market in Safety Harbor, 30 of them have sold since the beginning of the year and only two of them were short sales.  That in itself is not…

It’s always nice to be recognized for a job well done, and while we didn’t really expect to be signaled out, we are honored to be the November 2007 “Broker / Agent of the Month”.  This is really quite an accomplishment for our team as only 12 agents per year are chosen – out of the thousands that make up the Pinellas Suncoast Board of Realtors here in the Tampa Bay area of Florida.

In case you don't currently know us, our team is made up of myself (Bob Lipply), Joe Gibbons, Thomas Towns, and our newest member Arlene Colecchia.  While my wife Donna doesn’t want me to say she’s part of the team, she helps out considerably with website development, marketing, and just keeping everyone organized.

Attached is a copy of the piece that Broker/Agent…

Wow!  We have been contacted by one of the popular HGTV Cable television shows and we have many openings for our customers to be on one of their shows.  There's only one catch and it's not our rule, it's theirs.  You must be one of our current customers with a serious interest in buying a home.  All the shows that HGTV broadcasts involve real people in real life scenarios and this special show is no exception.  If this sounds like fun to you, give us a call and let us go to work for you finding you your next home.  Contact us for more details. And, yes you do get paid for your time by them!  Of course, we get some fantastic free advertising and we all get to have a really good time being on TV. Read Full Post

We have recently been trying our hand at home staging.  It's no secret that model homes that are professionally decorated help to sell out the subdivision quicker than spec homes or brochures and flyers.  People need to have a vision for a home before they buy it, and some people just cannot imagine what the home can look like with furnishings in it.

Selling vacated homes or newly constructed homes can be a challenge.  Aside from the home that is not tastefully decorated, most homes show better with furnishings.  Brand new homes can really be challenging to sell with their stark white walls and immature landscaping.

We have even gone so far as to paint a new home with decorator but neutral colors, such as the home in the picture below,  to help enhance…

It's February and in Florida February is Spring.  At our house, spring cleaning is in full swing.  Spring cleaning is a great way to get organized, rid your home of useless junk and just do a thorough cleaning.  As a real estate professional, I can appreciate the art of spring cleaning and would only hope that all my sellers would get the urge to "spring" clean before they decide to put their homes on the market.

Regardless, our house is completely torn up right now.  It seems my wife has destroyed any sense of organization that our home thought it had.  For example, there are two sets of computers on the kitchen table waiting for reformatting, there is a pile of clothes at the front door that someone is taking to the local thrift shop, there's a pile of…

In a buyer’s market or a seller’s market, first time homebuyers as well as seasoned homebuyers should always be smart when shopping for a new home.  In a buyer’s market where there is so much inventory to choose from, potential buyers can easily lose their focus.  In a seller’s market, there isn’t enough inventory and homes go under contract so quickly, sometimes there’s just not enough time to really think clearly and make wise decisions. Regardless, smart buyers need to be cautious about making an expensive mistake when buying real estate.  Below are my five top tips that every homebuyer can make use of.