rmasse10's Blog: Realtor

Foreclosures, Short Sales, REO's, Bank Owned...we have heard all of these terms and yet very few actually know what is meant by them.  Let me see if I can clear things up, for those of you that already know, just sit back and relax for now.

Bank Owned - A property that is owned by the Bank.  Since banks are not allowed to enter into Real Estate, they must hire a Real Estate professional to market and sell the property for them thru the MLS or whatever means they choose.  Time frame to close this kind of deal is 30-45 days typically, but could go longer due to current economic situations.

REO - Same as Bank owned just with a fancy Acronym attached (Real Estate Owned)

Short Sale - Kind of an interesting term since it is not short at all.  This is a…

My wife and I have grown our business and Tampa Real Estate Team in the past 4 months because of the tremendous demand for well priced property right now in the Sunshine State.  Property is priced where it was priced some 3-4 years ago and homes, second homes, and condos are going extremely fast.  As an example, my wife just sold a 1000sqft waterfront Condo with a dock for $130k.  These are unbelieveable prices and those that understand that are jumping on the bandwagon...quickly.

Now with the First Time home Buyers credit, many first time home buyers that have thought about buying property are now jumping in and the water is pretty warm where they use to believe it was cold.  These individuals can afford a much larger home now for the same money that…

It was an interesting 4th of July for me yesterday.  I went to a cookout at a friends house...just so happens to be a home inspector, and his brother in law came over as well.  The conversation was light most of the day and then he asked me that loaded question thinking he already knew the answer, "How is the Real Estate Market"?  And my reply was "very busy".  I watched his jaw drop in disbelief...under normal circumstances he would not have believed me, but I turned to his brother in law...who I said was a home inspector, and he replied, "He is right, they have been selling alot of homes, I have been doing the inspections on them so I know".

Most people listen to the hype on the TV and radio and newspaper, but the Real Estate Market is a Local…

There are a whole lot of smart things we do in life and then there are a whole list of dumb things we do as well...if you are buying a home in Tampa Bay the smartest thing you can do in this market is hire a Buyers Agent to ensure you get the best possible deal possible.  A Buyers agent will ensure that you are represented, your financial requirements are met and your financial strategies are secured.  If you don't hire a Buyers Agent to assist you in your quest to buy property, you will end up dealing directly with the Listing Agent in most cases which will act as a Transactional Broker.  This type of representation gets you no leverage whatsoever and it is up to you to negotiate the best deal that you can since no one is going to help you.  In 9 out of…

It's that time of year again, Tampa Real Estate dues are due.  One of the positive things that comes out of dues time is the fact that all those weekend agents that are clogging up the system will drop out of the business.  We just lost 14 agents the other day and I expect that we will loose another 10-15 before September (the board gives them a grace period to pay).  We have been struggling with the banks and at times these not so good agents that don't know what they are doing.  Getting a property closed has become difficult due to financing and the banks...we don't need wet behind the ears because they never cared to learn agents screwing things up as well.

I am glad that this is happening as I can begin to focus my efforts on the problem at hand and…

We have some new agents in our office and for someone that has never really done anything like Real Estate before, it can be overwhelming especially if working a deal and another agent is trying to take advantage of the fact that you are new.  I won't go into the details of what is happening with the deal other than I overheard her say that the house blew up (it didn't really but sometimes new agents over exaggerate things), the other agent, who has he buyer is trying to get her and her clients to pay for a bunch of "stuff" that is not needed.  I coached her what to say and if need be I would be more than happy to take the reigns and have a discussion with the other agent.

Long story short, please, we work for our clients, yes, but we have to work…

The Tampa Real Estate market is heating up and with that come wave after wave of buyers looking for that great deal.  Our Team is looking for Agents that are not afraid to work,not afraid to write contracts, and not afraid to do the right thing.  If you are one of these agents and would like to be part of an aggressive Real Estate Team, please visit us online at Join Keller Williams.

We look forward to speaking with you about the great opportunities we have in store for you!

In the Tampa Real Estate Market and our MLS states that when an agent puts in a commission on a listing that is a short sale or bank owned, the commission that is in the system must be paid, no negotiating.  So here is the dilemma, I have a short sale that is basically approved and the bank is only willing to pay 3.5% commission.  OK, so now the other agent wants me to split my commission...Like I said, don't ask because the answer is no.  But wait, it gets better...I may have felt some level of compassion, but the listing also states that the current price is approved by the lender and I know for a fact that the contract has fallen thru twice because of financing.  In addition, the property was never put into Pending status as the MLS rules state that it…