2014

The Duncan Duo Weekly Podcast 12-29-2014

Tampa Bay News: Home Values rising, Zillow Reports, how appreciation impacts financing / re-financing

There are many Tampa Bay area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here to learn about our “Your Home Sold Guaranteed in 29 Days” program or for a free property valuation so you know what your home can sell for in today’s market. You may also call me at (813) 359-8990 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Listen as Andrew Duncan, Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor with guests Arnie and David Diaz from Waterstone Mortgage Corporation talk about how home values in Tampa are rising. They also discuss the Zillow reports and how this appreciation could impact financing or refinancing on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA.

Zillow came into town recently and reported that in the last year, Tampa had a 8.4% appreciation rate. Some areas have a higher appreciation rate that is why it is important to get a professional realtor like Andrew Duncan to go look at your home to make sure you know how much your home is worth.

The home evaluation is not only useful if you want to sell your home. It could also be very helpful if you're thinking about refinancing. Most loans go off on the value of the house. You may have a mortgage insurance on the house which they can take off for you by refinancing. You may have money built up on the house you can use for things like home renovation or adding on to the house.

Arnie advises for consumers to analyze where you're at as far as your appreciation is concerned. Then you can decide how to take advantage of it - if it's the right time to sell or maybe refinance or is it better to wait.

Arnie is a home owner himself and has a property he rents out. He shares that because the rates are going up, his tenant was concerned that he was going to sell the house. The tenant was even willing to up his rent just so that he doesn't have to move. He points out that this news about the rates is good if you are a home owner but bad if you're a tenant.

David adds to the conversation that they are seeing a lot of people who have FHA loans are refinancing out of their current loans. FHA offers low down payment but the have seemingly high mortgage rates. It used to be low in 2009 but after that year it went up. In fact, they have raised their rates 5 times in the past 5 years.

For more Tampa Bay Real Estate news and advice, tune in to The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA - Tampa Bay every Sundays at 10 am.

Holiday Decorations - What to Look for & Avoid when Buying or Selling a Home During the Holidays in Tampa Bay

Andrew Duncan, Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor has Randy Noon from Buyer Inspection Group, David and Arnie Diaz from Waterstone Mortgage Corporation as guests on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA to talk about Holiday Decorations, what consumers need to avoid & look for when buying or selling a home during the holidays.

It's that time of the year again to take out your beautiful holiday decorations. However, if you are considering to buy or sell a home during the holidays, here are some things consumers need to look out for and need to avoid when decorating for the holidays.

Sellers need to be cautious when decorating for the holidays. They need to be aware of the mistakes they could make, the damage they could do to their home and how they can risk their home sale and home inspection. Putting in too much decorations could cause some problems during inspection like preventing the buyers/inspectors to go up to the roof. Using nails, staples and the like could also cause damage to the roof, the fascia boards or other parts of the house. The additional traffic on the roof could cause damage or more wear and tear especially if you don't know how to do it properly.

Here are some statistics shared by Randy about holiday related accidents - Emergency rooms treat about 12500 people every year for injuries from falls, cuts, shocks related to holiday lights, decorations and Christmas trees. The Consumer Product Safety Commission also warns consumers about candles because about 11600 fires each year, 150 deaths, $173M property loss are caused by candles.

One of the things Randy pointed out is the holiday lights that people use. A lot of these lights brought in from other countries that are not UL listed. Buying these types of holiday lights could be dangerous since you are not assured of the quality so make sure you are using UL listed lights.

Speaking from a Mortgage perspective, some of the things that have been damaged at one point because of the above mentioned could cause mortgage challenges, appraisal issues, inspections and alike.

David and Andrew talk again about the Escrow Hold back program offered by Waterstone Mortgage Corporation which would allow a lot of inspection condition issues that normally could cause a home sale not to happen unless the buyer is willing to fix it or cure it. And David adds that it allows the consumer to have it fixed after the closing with a net proceeds. Not all banks offer this type of program so if you want to know more about this awesome program, click here.

In addition to the above mentioned things to be cautious about when putting up holiday decorations are the extension cords. Randy suggests that if you plan to put in a lot of holiday lights, make sure you plan ahead and get an electrician to install additional outlets instead of running extension cords back to back. You can add ground fault circuits (GFCI) where you can have all your lights plugged in.

Andrew warns about putting up too much decoration because again it could cause issues with inspections. There will be parts of the house that the inspectors will not be able to get to which could raise a red flag and make the buyers think you're hiding something.

We hope these tips could help our consumers with the sale or purchase of their home and keep their home safe during the holidays.

For more Tampa Bay Real Estate news and advice, tune in to The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA - Tampa Bay every Sundays at 10 am.

*The Duncan Duo and RE/MAX Dynamic has moved. As of 10/11/2014, our new address is 6320 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33611

Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor talks about Home Inspection issues that can disqualify a home and Waterstone Mortgage’s Escrow Hold Back program

Andrew Duncan, Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor has Randy Noon from Buyer Inspection Group, David and Arnie Diaz from Waterstone Mortgage Corporation as guests on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA to talk about home Inspection issues that can disqualify a home from getting financed and touches on Waterstone Mortgage’s Escrow Hold Back program

What are some maintenance tips people need to pay attention to so it doesn't turn into a home inspection issue and doesn't cause the home to not qualify for a mortgage?

Randy from Buyer Inspection Group says that one of the main things to look at is the roof. Sellers need to pay attention to cleaning the gutters especially in the fall. Poor maintenance could lead to back ups, leaks, etc.

The Roof is one of the biggest structures that mortgage lenders look at. Waterstone Mortgage has a new program which "cures" the challenge. David Diaz explains that they will see what types of health and safety issues are there and those need to be corrected before closing. One of the common scenarios is when the bank (REO properties) doesn't want to do the repairs, or the seller doesn't want to do the repairs because they're not sure you're going to close, and you don't want to do the repairs because you don't own the property yet. Randy agrees and adds that for homes more than 30 years old, the lender would require a 4-point inspection which usually covers the roof, AC, electrical and plumbing. This of course will cause everything to come out. And if you don't qualify, you can't close without Home Owner's insurance.

Other issues that could lead to disqualification for a mortgage would be broken windows, green or unfilled pools, chipping paint (lead based paint issues for older homes constructed before 1978) according to Arnie.

David touches on one of their great programs at Waterstone Mortgage, the Escrow Holdback program. He explains that there would be times that buyers don't want to buy the home in the condition it's in. What they can do is take up 10% of the value of the sales price or if they can work with the seller, bump up the price a bit.

The Duncan Duo Weekly Podcast 12-14-2014

How Holiday Shopping can kill your real estate closing and disqualify you from a Tampa mortgage

Andrew Duncan, Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor has David and Arnie Diaz from Waterstone Mortgage Corporation as guests on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA to talk about how Holiday Shopping can kill your real estate closing and disqualify you from a Tampa mortgage as well as some of the advantages and challenges that a consumer faces when closing towards the end of the year.

This was just after Thanksgiving and Andrew starts off by saying it's that time of the year again where all of the retailers make their profit and where all of America goes into debt.

In the lending process now, with all the regulations and all the fraud that has gone on in the past, lenders now do a loan quality analysis done 10 days before closing. even if you're already pre-approved and you think you're all ready to go, and they see your debts have tremendously gone up then it may affect your ratios and may not let you qualify though you may already have been approved.

This is something that a lot of people may forget about. There are a lot of check and balances throughout the mortgage process not only to make sure you qualify initially but also qualify towards the end.

Another example is employment verification. It also happens when let's say someone is self employed or earns on commission and maybe this is the time of year they don't earn as well and they see a bad pay stub come through because they didn't make as much commission or didn't make as much during the holidays or their sales aren't as high.

One of the big things in the lending business is the declining income. You could still qualify but if your income is going down vs last year, it's definitely a red flag.

Holidays and the fourth quarter in general present unique scenarios for people qualifying for mortgages. Another thing is being conscious about the year end closing for the Homestead exemption which could lead you to have lower taxes for the life of the property will be lower.

A downside of closing towards the end of the year is a lot of the title companies and mortgage lenders that are corporate companies have people who get paid time off take vacations this time of year so it sometimes could be a bit more challenging to close. This is why it is important to get all your documents to the lender as quickly as possible and if you are able to close earlier in the month, the better.

This is why it is important to have a good realtor who coordinates everything from the seller, to the lender, to the power company, etc. in order to have a successful closing. This is where Andrew's team has an advantage over other Real Estate companies. They have one of the most unique set up in the business. Their agents have staff members a lot of RE companies don't have. They have a transaction manager who does nothing but manage all those steps to support the RE agents so they could do their jobs well and to have a smoother process.

As discussed in previous shows, Andrew highlights that even though it is nearly the end of the year, it's still a good time to sell because Tampa Bay doesn't have the same seasonal fluctuation other RE markets have. In fact, their team is on fire. He shares how they had 4 new listings just before the holiday. So if you're thinking about buying or selling now, call (813) 359-8990 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Tampa Mortgage News with Waterstone Mortgage David Diaz – Why the VA Loan goes unnoticed by Veterans

Andrew Duncan, Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor talks about the Tampa Mortgage News – Why the VA Loan goes unnoticed and why it is great for Veterans - with guest, David Diaz from Waterstone Mortgage on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA.

They has been a lot of talk on the show about the military and how close the new office is to the base, and that Andrew, himself, has military background in his family. He says that he saw an article where it says a lot of veterans do not know about the VA loan. They either don't pay attention or forget they have the access.

David finds the news shocking that they don't know about the VA loan but stresses that they need to know. They need to know what they are eligible for and the incentives like the no money down loan, 100% financing, they can finance their closing cost to name a few.

From a credit perspective, the VA loan is pretty light in terms of conditions. It's a less stringent underwriting credit qualification process.

David explains that though there are varying regulations in each loan type, getting a VA loan is not more difficult than getting any other type of loan because it basically goes through the same channels and they usually look for almost the same things.

Some people think that you need to have an amazing credit and income to qualify but in reality, getting a VA loan is less stringent on credit.

People sometimes forget that it is not only for people in active duty. It's for anybody who has an eligibility certificate - someone who has served in the military. One might have used it in the past but if the person has sold the property, he can use the VA loan again. There are even instances that a person can have 2 VA loans depending what the price points are. A perfect example of this is Andrew's younger brother who needed to relocate and because of the parameters and the numbers, he was granted 2 vA loans.

People need to understand that as long as you have served or are currently serving in the military, and as long as you have not done anything to lose your eligibility (i.e. having a VA foreclosure) you can qualify for a VA loan.

Tampa Real Estate Market One of the Most Unique in the World - No bad time to buy or sell

Andrew Duncan, Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor has Robert Johnson, head of his listing team, as guest to talk about how unique the Tampa Bay Real Estate market is on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA.

Tampa Real Estate Market has one of the most unique markets in the world w/ little seasonality impact with snowbirds. It's never a bad time to buy or sell. They do not have as much seasonality as some of the other markets because when they lose the families that want to buy during the summer, they pick up the population increase from the people coming in for the Holidays - the snowbirds and relocation people.

There's really not a bad time to sell a property in Tampa Bay because the demand and supply for properties is year round.

Robert agrees and adds that though some sellers might not think this would be a good time to sell, it actually is. Buyers want to get in before the holidays then right after the holidays, the snowbirds are down and it gets busy again. Then summer comes around and there are families looking to buy again. The Tampa Bay market is so different from any other market.

Unlike other states like Detroit, Indianapolis, Georgia and New York, they don't get the increase in population Florida gets from the seasonal fluctuation and from the International audience coming from Europe. They in fact, get a decrease in population because people are coming down to Florida or to the South. It might be a strange time for everyone else but it's a very busy time of the year for the Duncan Duo.

Some people have the conceived notion that this is not a good time to sell and some opt to wait until Spring to sell their home. Andrew stresses that it is false for Tampa Bay. Though there are instances that it makes sense to wait but an example he sites is when a seller has a condo by the beach to sell but wants to wait until Spring, that would be the biggest mistake he can make because since it's a vacation property which is in fact a target for the Northerners.

December is usually the 2nd best month in the year in closing for The Duncan Duo team. Robert says it usually slows down around the holiday week but that's it.

Also, since a lot of sellers decide not to put their home on the market, the supply and demand curve suddenly turns in the favor of the seller. Though it could be an inconvenience to put your home on the market during the holidays, with all the decorations up and the showings needed to be done, on purely a statistical business perspective, selling your home during the holidays can many times be a great decision.

Andrew highlights that though it's a case to case basis and there are times that it makes sense to wait before putting your home on the market, often times consumers have a preconceived notion that the market is slower and less buyers but in reality, the market is slower because less people are putting their homes on the market because they don't want to deal with the inconvenience. In reality, the saturation rates are comparable to what they are in June when more homes are on the markets so more homes sell.

If there are buyers looking during the holidays, they are probably very motivated. They probably really want something done by the end of the year and they understand the tax benefits
of closing by the end of the year in the Homestead exemption.

The Duncan Duo Weekly Podcast 11-30-2014

Davis Islands Luxury Home Seller Talks about Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor The Duncan Duo

Robert had his waterfront home at 24 Adalia on the market on Davis Islands in South Tampa for more than a year with another agent. His last listing price was $1.475 M and the agent was telling him he needed to lower it more. He was frustrated, took it off the market, and hired The Duncan Duo at RE/MAX after interviewing 2 other Realtors. The Duo sprung into action and had an offer on his house for 65k more than the last listing price before the home was even fully marketed. It hadn't received an offer in the more than 1 whole year it was on the market with another agent! The sale happened within 3 days due to The Duncan Duo's completely different marketing strategy to create demand for the home. The home was last listed at $1.475 M and the Duncan Duo sold it for over $1.53 M to a buyer that closed quickly. Robert talks about his experience with the team, the communication, the professionalism and our different approach that helped get the job done.

To hear more from our happy clients, click HERE.

*The Duncan Duo and RE/MAX Dynamic has moved. As of 10/11/2014, our new address is 6320 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33611

Best Macdill AFB Tampa Realtor Sells Home Fast (in a week) for Ruskin Military Family PCS’d to Arizona

This military family needed to sell their Ruskin home fast after getting news they were being PCS'd to Arizona in less than 3 months! After hearing about The Duncan Duo on the radio, they quickly reached out and met with listing agent, Tarin Silkworth. 6 days on the market and they received their first offer! The Duncan Duo helped make this military PCS relocation process smooth and hassle-free!

To hear more from our happy clients, click HERE.

*The Duncan Duo and RE/MAX Dynamic has moved. As of 10/11/2014, our new address is 6320 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33611

The Duncan Duo Weekly Podcast 11-23-2014

Tampa Homeowners Insurance News - How dogs and pets of tenants affect the Homeowner's insurance and renter's insurance

Listen as Andrew Duncan, Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor discusses how Homeowner's and renter's insurance are affected by pets and dogs of tenants. He has Paul Arrington from Arrico Property Management and Richard Vasquez from Artisan Insurance as guests on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA.

Richard says that they see there's a lot of liability about pets, dogs and canines. What a homeowner needs to understand is that if they put a tenant into that house, and they have a home owner's insurance covers the liability that is due to the tenants, it will never cover the liability due to a dog because the dog is owned by the tenant and not the property owner. The insurance policy is owned by the property owner so the insurance company will never extend that policy to cover the dog of the tenants. The moment that there will be any issues with the tenant's dog, there will be no coverage for the home owner.

As a property manager, Paul tries to guide the property owner to understand that their policy doesn't cover this type of scenario. While they encourage the homeowner to have a renter's policy, there's only so much they could do. They can ask them for a declaration page but they can turn around and cancel it. It's really on the tenant and on the property manager to screen the dog and the pet to see what kind of dog or temperament it is.

To know more about property management info, go to www.rentmytampahome.com and for your insurance needs, go to www.lowerinsurancerate.com

The Duncan Duo partners up with the Best Tampa Bay Property Manager Arrico Property Management

Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor, The Duncan Duo partners up with the Best Tampa Bay Property Manager - Arrico Property Management. He has Paul Arrington from Arrico Property Management as guest to talk about the property management business and how important it is to have a specialist handle your rental properties.

A year ago, Andrew shares that they tried going into the property management business. Because they have a big real estate company and a big brand, they thought it would be something that they could go into. Unfortunately it didn't go well. They then realized how difficult and different property management is from the real estate business. Just like what they have in their own company where they have agents who specialize in buyers, some agents who specialize in certain areas and the like, they now understand how important it is to have a specialist deal with the property management side of the business.

Paul Arrington was introduced to them by friends as the go-to guy for property management. Not all real estate agents should be property managers. It's a different system, a different process. It's much more complicated and a lot more liability that most people could imagine.

Because they needed to have an outlet for their customers, they tried working with Paul with one of their own rentals. Andrew raves that not only did Paul rent it fast but also rented it for considerably more than what they had it rented out before. Andrew talks more about how though he's a business owner, even with his people and systems, the property management business wasn't right for his company. So imagine the normal consumer who want to do it themselves. It's easy to say you can manage one property but what would be your opportunity costs vs what you pay for a property manager to deal with all those hassles? What's your time worth?

Andrew says he's glad and excited because now, they have an outlet for their consumers who need this type of service. He can now confidently send them to a pro. Paul has done a great job and he can be assured that Paul is 100% focused on property management.

Paul adds that though it's not added to the contract, if someone refers a client to him and the client decides to sell the property at some point, he sends them back to the agent who referred them. He doesn't sell properties and he doesn't compete with the real estate agents.

Richard Vasquez from Artisan Insurance adds that people come to them all the time. The consumer consults an attorney, not necessarily a real estate attorney, prior to coming to them to say they are ready to have their property rented out. The attorney provides them with advice that they think is in their client's best interest. Richard says they've found some properties in land trust and LLCs and they have done all kinds of things but all they've done is muddying up the water instead of coming to the insurance agent or the property manager for advice. Andrew shares a similar experience and says that by doing that, the lender will not sign off on the mortgage, they won't get Homestead, etc.

It just shows that having a specialist deal with the property management side of the business would ultimately be for the benefit for the consumer.

Tampa Bay’s Best Property Management company and Insurance agent talk about homeowners insurance on Rental properties

Andrew Duncan, #1 Tampa Bay Realtor has Paul Arrington from Arrico Realty & Property Management and Richard Vasquez from Artisan Insurance Group on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show to talk about homeowner insurance on rental properties.

Andrew starts off the show by saying that people who have rental properties don't realize the insurance ramifications of having their policy changed. He says they often come across consumers who don't want to sell yet because they can't get equity for their home so they decide to rent it out for a year. He then refers them to Paul to have it rented out.

It is important to understand the insurance ramifications of that side. It is different when you have a rental property vs a home you're occupying.

Richard from Artisan Insurance Group discusses that things greatly change in the eyes of the insurance company once a home is rented out. Some people think that their insurance rate is going to go up so they decide not to let their insurance officer know about their plans to rent it out. A lot of times the insurance rate does not go up. They have to change their insurance policy because it's being rented out but now they don't have to insure all the belongings inside the house. Richard stresses that it will be a different policy but will not necessarily mean more money.

Paul from Arrico Realty & Property Management says that part of the process when they deal with a client is advising them to change their insurance policy. He shares that certain insurance companies, once they tell them that it's going to be a rental property and is vacant, they can be dropped. A lot of insurance companies don't want the liability. He then advises the client to get a signed lease because the insurance company would ask for it. He tells them to make sure to change their home owners insurance policy to include public liability.

Andrew explains that it's just a matter of making a smart business move. When you go from being a home owner to a landlord, you go from being a normal person to a business owner. You will have business risks. That property you own is now considered it's own business. As someone who grows a rental portfolio, you will be able so see different insurance coverage, different packages, umbrella policies, etc.

The Duncan Duo Weekly Podcast 11-16-2014

Citrus Park Home Seller sells home fast with Staging Advice from Best Tampa Bay Realtors, The Duncan Duo

Nidhi and Parin Shah are a couple of our clients who sold their home in Citrus Park. Listen as she talks about their great experience working with The Duncan Duo team.

They were listed previously with another agent and having had no luck, these sellers decided to take the advice of their agent, Dania Alvarez, to commit to a free home staging evaluation. Linda and her team at ShowHomes, spruced this vacant home up and got it sold fast! Though hesitant at first, the couple is thankful they decided to invest in staging and recommends this approach for anyone looking to sell their home.

She also gives special thanks to all those in the office who assisted throughout the transaction - Valentina, Listing Administrator & Transaction Coordinator; our photographer, Kristy; and Michelle and Fran from Hillsborough Title.

To see more video testimonials of satisfied home sellers of The Duncan Duo, click here.

*The Duncan Duo and RE/MAX Dynamic has moved. As of 10/11/2014, our new address is 6320 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33611

The Duncan Duo Weekly Podcast 11-9-2014

Why you should consider listing your home during the holidays and winter & population growth in FL

Andrew Duncan,#1 Tampa Bay Realtor tells us why we should consider listing and selling our home during the holidays and winter in Tampa Bay. He also discusses population growth and its impact on real estate

The population growth in Florida is doing great this year which was opposite of how it was 2-3 years ago where people were moving out of the state. They were losing people to other states like the Carolinas and Georgia.

On top of the population increase, it's something that drives demand for real estate market. There are people moving from NY, the Mid West, Indiana and Illinois to name a few. This increase in population also causes the increase in demand for housing. A lot of them are retirees buying a home before they're ready to retire. They want to start the process early because values are rising. Some are relocating from a corporate standpoint. And there are a lot are military that are PCS from another base.

What some home sellers fail to think about when selling their home this time of year is that Tampa Bay does not have the huge seasonal fluctuation unlike other states up North where the real estate market starts to slow down around November. Part of the reason is because of the population increase in the next couple of months. They have people with extra money who are looking for homes to buy the next couple of months because they're here, they have time off, or this is where they spend the season.

This is a great time for sellers to sell this time of year because it could be a potential target for someone buying a vacation home or a retirement home.

Some people think that retirees look for 55+ condos but a lot of these buyers are actually buying in "family neighborhoods" like Westchase and South Tampa because that's what they want to be around. They want to be around people, kids, families.

He mentions that November, historically is the 1st or 2nd best month of the year for The Duncan Duo which just proves that the market doesn't slow down this time of the year.

He also touches on the advantage of moving now because closing next year for people who are looking to have Homestead exemption will have higher taxes and they will be locked down to next year's values for their assessment.

Isn't really a bad time to sell in Tampa Bay. You get different benefits in different times of the year especially if you have something that is geared towards more of a vacation home. This would be the perfect time for you!

The Duncan Duo Weekly Podcast 11-3-2014

Best Tampa Military Realtor relocates to 1 block from Macdill Air Force Base

Listen as Andrew Duncan of The Duncan Duo, Tampa's #1 Real Estate Team, discusses why the MacDill AFB and the Military are such an important part of Tampa's economy and real estate market. He talks about his team moving to a new location outside the gates of MacDill that will help position the Duncan Duo as Tampa's pre-eminent real estate company for MacDill and the military.

Top 5 reasons why Florida is the most friendly state for the Military

Jobs - It gives veterans preference for employment retention for positions of state and local government.

Education Benefits - Free college tuition is available to purple heart recipients for their children and spouses.

Property tax exemptions - Veterans with service related disabilities get 10% greater and receives an additional 5000 exemption. If veterans have a service related total disability, they are completely exempted from property taxes.

State Veterans nursing homes - The state has 6 facilities operated by the VA.

Benefits of fee waivers - They will waive fees for professional licences for 60 months after honorable discharge.

It just shows that Florida is doing a lot to make it attractive for Veterans. Tampa Bay has the largest and only military base in the local area.

Andrew announces their move to just a block away from the entrance of McDill AFB. From a 2500 sqft office to a new 8000 sqft office bldg, a tremendous growth for them. The main lure is their desire to help more veterans with their home buying and selling needs, to be a pillar in that community and to be present for them.

One of the plans of the plans they have in line is to do seminars. They are going to do a lot of things to help the veterans understand the process. They have veterans on staff. Andrew himself, comes from a military family. They will offer counselling, guidance, even workshops to help with the home buying and selling process.

He explains that when using VA loan or PCS loan when going into or out of McDill, it's difficult for them than the typical person moving into the area. The timelines, the structure, a lot of that is completely different for that loan process and they want to completely educate them and point them towards the right direction.

The office location being a block away from McDill AFB will be crucial for the military veterans knowing who they are and how they can be an advocate for them. They want to be the pillar for veterans out there who need housing assistance.

Here are just a few testimonials from their past military clients raving about how The Duncan Duo was able to help them with their home buying and selling needs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKGpvpC4ee4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBh8l38bt0w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Y8SXsca1s

Tampa Property Tax Portability timelines with Bob Henriquez from Hillsborough County Property Appraiser

Andrew Duncan has Bob Henriquez from Hillsborough County Property Appraiser as a guest to talk about the timeline of Homestead portability on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA - Tampa Bay.

Bob explains that the way the law is written, some people think they have 2 years to port their tax savings or Homestead Cap to the new home. But in reality, you have 2 tax years. As we are coming close to the end of the year, if you were to close on a home between now and Dec 31st, you have until the end of next year and not 2 full years. You will have a year and 2 months.

Tax Year vs Annual Year

Some people forget timing of tax year vs annual year which are not the same thing. This is one of the things to take into consideration when you are thinking of purchasing towards the end of the year.

Consumers get focused purely on the price that they forget about those little terms and timelines that could cost them money. An example of this is when someone wants buy a home and moving up and they also need to sell their home in order to bring their homestead over to their new home. The window shrinks as they move towards the end of the year.

Andrew shares that he has seen this before where some people go back and forth for weeks for a couple of thousand dollars when in fact, in those two weeks, they have missed filing for their Homestead which could have saved them a lot more money.

For more Tampa Bay Real Estate news and advice, tune in to The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA - Tampa Bay every Sundays at 10 am.

*The Duncan Duo and RE/MAX Dynamic has moved. As of 10/11/2014, our new address is 6320 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33611

Video Proof of Tampa Bay Guaranteed Sale Program by Duncan Duo w/ Immediate Cash Buy Out

Listen to Del from Safety Harbor talks about his experience working with The Duncan Duo who bought his home for cash and closed within 25 days. He relayed how even the home owners association sent him a letter expressing gratitude for selling to The Duncan Duo who, unlike a rental property, will renovate the home and improve values in the neighborhood.

To see more video testimonials of satisfied home sellers of The Duncan Duo, click here.

*The Duncan Duo and RE/MAX Dynamic has moved. As of 10/11/2014, our new address is 6320 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33611

The Duncan Duo Weekly Podcast 10-26-2014

Tampa Bay Home Values Assessments vs Market Value Hillsoborough County Property Appraiser

Listen as Andrew Duncan talks about Tampa Bay Home Values Assessments vs Market Value Hillsoborough County Property Appraiser with guests Paul Arrington from Arrico Real Estate and Property Management, John Morgan from FBC Home Loans and Bob Henriquez, the Hillsborough Property Appraiser.

Paul starts off by explaining how some people confuse their assessment with their actual market value. For example, if a home owned for 10 yrs is homestead exempted they are looking at their assessment as oppose to the market value. Over time, by virtue of having homestead exemption, the individual living in the home has realized some tax deferment. The new purchase price will markedly increase their assessment because the new purchaser will not have the benefit of the Homestead exemption of 10 years.

What is a good way to estimate their taxes

It's a function to Save Our Home Assessment cap, Bob explains. In the wake of the Save Our Homes constitutional amendment if you have a homestead property, your taxable value or tax assessment or highly regulated government value vs the market or just value can only go up at any given tax year 3% or inflation whichever is less. You are accruing tax savings over the course of those years. When the home is sold, it will reset the cap. The value of the home starts at the just value again or the purchase price.

It is also depends on the time of the year, and the time the home is sold because the market is fluid and dynamic during the year.

The market value/just value is based on a lot of different factors and not just the sale price. It's a compilation of sale prices of like homes within a similar neighborhood or similar subset of sales.

Appraisal value vs Assessment value

People often get confused when they get their appraisal done and they see the assessment and see those 2 numbers are different. A lot of people believe that the assessed value is the market value or the tax value is the market value. And when they get their appraisal back or a year or two down the line, they see those two numbers differ.

John shares that they see that more often from out of state buyers because a lot of them don't understand the Homestead and how exactly the assessments are done here.

Differences between Residential & Commercial Mortgages

Andrew Duncan talks to Jorge Gonzales from FBC Home Loans and Gene Snyder from Platinum Bank about the differences between qualifying for commercial loan vs residential loan.

When applying for residential loan, they will take a look at your credit, income and your assets. They want your debt to income ratios to be in line to afford the property. They will also have the appraisal come and make sure it meets Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines or for whatever program they need. Andrew adds the importance of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because the mortgages are being backed by them so they have to fit their box as oppose to the commercial side where there is no box to fit into.

In Commercial loans, there are a lot less boxes to check on the commercial side. In commercial lending bank, it is based more on the relationship with the borrower and not specific to any projects or any boxes to check.

Andrew talks about his first hand experience when Platinum bank financed his new office building*. He raves at how they did an awesome job for him with great competitive rates, etc.

It's a full credit underwriting that they do and not just a bunch of boxes to check. It has to do with all the financials, their history and experience. He shares that he writes 20 pages to get an approval where they tell the whole story which will get them through committee.

Andrew explains that the committee is basically a group of advisers or the board from Platinum Bank that sit down and discuss whether to approve the loan or not as oppose to the residential world where it's more of a computer or sometimes an underwriter looking at the application. Gene agrees and says that these are local decision makers who may know the business, the applicant and would be able to weigh the pro's and cons of approving the application.

The Duncan Duo Weekly Podcast 10-19-2014

Student Loan Debt is reducing home sales, more buyers getting down payment help, legal pitfalls in Tampa Bay

Andrew Duncan talks to John Morgan from FBC Home Loans and Shawn Yesner from Yesner Law about how student loan debt is reducing home sales. They also discuss how student loan debt is requiring many first time home buyers to get down payment help from the bank of mom and dad. Yesner goes into some pitfalls of family joint ownership and parents loaning money or giving money to kids for down payment.

Andrew starts off by saying student debt could reduce home sales by 8% this year. He asks about the impact this may have and why more and more buyers are going to the bank with Mom and Dad.

John says that 30% of the time, student loans are causing buyers to get lower what they can be approved for or not get prequalified at all. These buyers are out of school, just starting their career, and certainly not at their peak income which eats away from their buying ability.

Sean There have been a lot of legal discussions over Student loan debts which talks about all the possible things that could happen with student loan debt that people feel like is impacting the market. One of the things being discussed by the Federal Congress has been debating to make student loan debt dischargeable

under certain conditions in the bankruptcy court. For years, student loans have not been dischargeable. Bankruptcy won't get rid of the obligation to pay though. Recently, the code was changed to take even private student loans are now dischargeable. There have been discussions and bills being introduced where bankruptcy may now be one avenue to get rid of student loan debt.

Andrew shares a statistic he saw in an article - borrower's purchasing power declines by 44,000 with every 250 per month of student debt. Because of how advantageous the student loan payback is, borrowers usually owe a high amount. Sean agrees and adds that because of the repayment terms, it goes on for a long time.

Andrew asks if the student loan debt the reason why more and more first time home buyers go to their mom and dad for loans and down payment help. Sean says that there were a couple of parts to it. One is that the parents could help with non occupant co borrower which is available on the FHA program as well as conventional. They are also seeing a lot more gift funds for the down payment.

They both warn people need to be cautious of the difficulties in mixing family and money. Sean sites that they've had many situations where they could avoid gift issues by making the children sign a promissory note and record a second mortgage in favor of mom and dad. That way, it's not a gift. Mom and Dad's money is protected, it's secured by the house. It might wait until after the closing to have these documents recorded but they can make it legal, a proper document, and secure it with the house.

For more Tampa Bay Real Estate news and advice, tune in to The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA - Tampa Bay every Sundays at 10 am.

Has Your Listing Expired? We Can Help.

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The Duncan Duo Weekly Podcast 10-12-2014

Tampa Bay Top Realtor gives advice to help Tampa Bay First Time Home Sellers Sell quick top dollar

Andrew Duncan has Robert Johnson, Director of his listing team, as guest on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA. Listen as they give advice on how to help first time home sellers sell quick for top dollar.

The main thing sellers are not thinking about when they consider the equity they might have on their home is the actual closing costs in selling a home which does not only include the realtor costs. It's not that they don't really think about it, sellers usually get surprised when it's brought up.

Andrew adds that there are a lot of websites that provide home value but they don't usually do justice to it because they don't have all the data about the home which factors in the condition, they can't factor in borders for schools, etc.

Robert discusses that though Zillow has many good things about it, the Zestimate is one of the things that isn't that great. He uses South Tampa as an example. Zillow doesn't really differentiate between North of Kennedy and South of Kennedy. The comps provided in Zestimate includes those from South of Cambria which makes the value inaccurate. He also mentions other areas like Westchase and Carrollwood. These sites don't understand what the boundaries of these neighborhoods are and what affects the value of the property.

Andrew highlights that these sites are great for exposure. He says that they pay hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to get more eyes on their listings but doesn't agree that they are correct in estimating the value of your home on the computer which is why this profession exists.

This is why it is important to have a professional go look at the property, as Robert says, to assess and get the correct value.

Andrew mentions some of the services they provide like a stager crew they work with, and how they constantly give advice to their clients on what to improve, the changes they can make to maximize the value of their home without necessarily spending money. Just little things that could help sell the property.

Making sure the home is priced correctly is something very important. Andrew goes on to say that someone who's been paying attention to the market would have a better understanding of the correct values as compared to someone doing it for the first time.

Another thing that first time home sellers need to understand is the process and how it works. They need to be open to educating themselves about the process. He explains further that when working with a great real estate team, they will be providing the seller steps and guidance on what to do. He mentions that they make sure that all their clients' listings have great photos on a good weather day, as just one of the steps to setting up their clients for success.

Robert closes the discussion by agreeing with Andrew and adding "Trust the process. Trust that we are working for your best interest."

For more Tampa Bay Real Estate news and advice, tune in to The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA - Tampa Bay every Sundays at 10 am.

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