August 2015

How the Hot Market Affects New Home Builders like DR Horton and Homeowners Insurance Agencies

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.

Andrew Duncan, Tampa's #1 Realtor and Expert talks to Scott Eckley of DR Horton, Richard Vasquez from Artisan Insurance as well as Arnie Diaz from Waterstone Mortgage about how the hot market affects the new home builders and home insurance on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show. It's also available on their Facebook fan page.

If you don't have a lot of resale homes in your inventory, another option to look at are builders. It becomes more prevalent if a buyer doesn't see the inventory on the websites. And because of the demand, Scott says that they have inventory in a lot of communities right now. They are responsible for the Tampa-Sarasota division. In the greater Tampa area, they have almost 20 communities. Their goal is to have 5-7 move in ready homes available for buyers. They are always in their top 2 floor plans in different colors so that when a person walks in, he can find one they like and can move in the next 30-60 days to suit their needs.

Arnie raises a question about how they can have 5-7 homes available all the time with homes moving that fast. Scott says it was tricky but this will be a record year for them. They've sold over 1000 homes. One of the challenges they encounter is getting permits from the municipalities which can get backed up and can cause delays on their end. Nevertheless, they are still making it happen.

Another topic Andrew brought up is the cash sales in Tampa Bay are declining. Some people who have the cash to buy are now opting to get a mortgage.

One surprising statistic is that foreclosure activity is up 20% year after year that have some of the people inside concerned but Andrew feels that it's just the core systems are backed up and banks dragged their feet. Sometimes media puts it in a way that they don't understand the whole spectrum of Real Estate which puts the wrong fear in people's minds.

Richard Vasquez talks about the home insurance side and how it's affected by all the changes and what advise they give people when they get homeowner insurance. He says that on the insurance side, things stay fairly steady. They don't rise and fall with the market as much as people think. He explains how the amount they will ensure the house for will be based on how much it will take to rebuild it (if it completely burns down to the ground) so it's not based on the market value.

Andrew says that one thing he sees that would affect the home insurance side of the business is that buyers would have to make quicker decisions or move more quickly especially with the hot market and bidding war scenarios. They need to know the numbers because they need to put an offer in.

To get more Tampa Bay Real Estate news and advice from Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor, tune in to The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA - Tampa Bay every Sundays at 10 am.

Do You Need a Buyer's Agent?

Today, I want to talk to you about buyer's agents. It's a millennial's market right now, and we've heard a lot about how millennials prefer doing their own research on the market. We can relate to that thought pattern, but you're not just hiring an agent for research; you're hiring an agent for their experience.

You need someone who knows how to get you to the closing table. Having a team like ours behind you is important because the home buying process is more complicated than you think. There are a lot of little steps, like scheduling the appraisal or working through obstacles with the lender. We've been through this process thousands of times on our team, and we can help you get through it smoothly.

The agents will be compensated by the seller, so there's no real cost to you. Additionally, our negotiation skills will really help first-time buyers. We can help you win in a bidding war or beat a cash buyer.

Ultimately, our experience will help you achieve success as a buyer. We understand your needs, and we have the experience to guide you through the home buying process. If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We'd be happy to help you!

How Can a Real Estate Team Help You Sell Faster and for More Money?

Our real estate company utilizes a team model to conduct business. We believe that when we work together, we can accomplish much more. We play off of each other's strengths and this allows us to bring you the best possible service.

We have specialists for every task within the transaction. This allows us to serve you at a very high level. We have transaction coordinators, buyer specialists, photographers, listing agents, home stagers, and more.

The speed and level of professionalism that we offer is unmatched in Tampa. We would love to show you why we're considered the best real estate team in the area.

As always, if you need help buying or selling in Tampa, please don't hesitate to contact us!

Stay Tuned for Great Contests and Giveaways

I am very excited and humbled to announce that we have again been ranked in the INC. 5,000. We have been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the nation. We're the fourteenth fastest growing company in Tampa, and the 561st fastest-growing in the entire nation.

To celebrate, we're going to be giving away various prizes and awards. We have a lot of autographed Tampa Bay Lightning gear to give away, so be sure to follow us on social media if you'd like a chance to win.

But what does this mean to you as a client? It means that we have innovative technology, great follow-up systems, and a superior knowledge of this industry. We've had 800% revenue growth over the past three years, so we have the resources to market your home to thousands of buyers.

We look forward to serving you in the future! Our service will only get better and better as time goes on!

Tampa Real Estate Stats Statistics August 2015 home sales, inventory, average price, saturation rates

Andrew Duncan, Tampa's #1 Realtor and Expert talks about the Real Estate statistics for August as released every month by The Greater Tampa Association of Realtors on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show. It's also available on their Facebook fan page.

The average sale price has bumped up to about $220k a couple of months ago in Tampa which is the first time they've seen the average sale price to be above $220k since the bust.

There are exciting things going on statistically. There were 2,975 home sales in July this year as compared to 2,506 sales in July 2014 which was an 18% jump. There were 2,034 home sales in July 2013, 2,051 sales the year before that which means significantly higher year over year home sales although he says that there was a month over month drop since the first month of this year like in June, there were 3,250 in sales while there were 2,975 sales in July.

Same thing happened with the price which softened from the average sale price of $227k to $221k from June to July.

As with previous reports, July has not been as good as June's but it's nothing to be concerned about. It's just that this is the time when kids are starting to go back in school, people wanting to get the homes done during the summer. Not that July was a bad month, it was just slightly less than June.

The inventory of homes went from 2.8 months of inventory to 2.7 which slightly improved. Less than 3 months of inventory is still drastically a seller's market wherein homes are selling quickly and bidding wars are on a regular. When compared to last year at this time, they had 4.5 months of inventory. The year before that it was 5, the year before that it was 6, and the year before that was 8.

Arnie Diaz of Waterstone Mortgage adds that 67% of the Single Family homes and Condos sold in 60 days or less. Andrew says they see a lot of them selling in just a matter of days.

Because it's a seller's market, Andrew shares that The Duncan Duo's business model is always the one to price homes property in order to move them quickly. They even have a program where they guarantee the home to sell in 29 days which means they're on the hook because they have to buy if it doesn't sell within that time. He also mentions that they have testimonials in youtube in the past few weeks from clients whose homes they bought through this program. The goal is to sell the property and get them more money and to do it quickly. The interesting part about that is since it's been always a part of their business model, they're used to navigate through the multiple offer situations, because it has always been a norm for their company the past several years.

However, because of the shift in the market, there are a lot of agents who are not experienced negotiators who don't do this a lot getting in a lot of trouble and making mistakes for their clients because either they don't follow their client's guidance so they don't they're not experienced to navigate through that.

The advice Andrew gives to those who are thinking about selling their home to look into is the resume of the agent they're hiring. "Do your research, do your due diligence. If you pick the wrong agent, even if the market delivers you a bidding war, they may not know how to handle them. You could be in the position of accepting an offer too quickly or dragging your feet too much... and losing some of the buyers who are ready to buy a home."

He also mentions that the million dollar market is still soft. Although they are not seeing 3 months of inventory but a lot more than that, the market does keep improving.

To get more Tampa Bay Real Estate news and advice from Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor, tune in to The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA - Tampa Bay every Sundays at 10 am.

Tampa Real Estate Market Update with Waterstone Mortgage – is the upswing fake / artificial or not?

A lot of articles about the positives and negatives of the upswing real estate market are coming out and our panel of experts give you the low down on what is real, what is not, and what to believe. Andrew's guests on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show, Arnie and David Diaz of Waterstone Mortgage and Shawn Eckley of Yesner Law, each talk about their take on the articles coming out about the real estate market.

There are even some articles that almost contradict each other. Some say that the real estate market is doing great but we have the lowest percentage of home owners that we've seen in a long time. There are also a lot of investor activity, people buying second or multiple homes.

On the mortgage front, Arnie agrees with the fact that foreclosures are down but Tampa Bay remains to have one of the highest foreclosure activity. In fact, we're top 3 in the country. But as far as sustainability of the market is concerned, he says it really depends on jobs. David adds that it would also depend on the goals and needs of the home buyer although each has different scenarios they have to go through. But to sum it up, he says buying and living in a home for the long term is going to be a good investment.

Andrew agrees with this. It really depends on the person's needs. People who are looking to buy in longer cycles (5-10 years), would almost always going to be fine as cycles on the average only last about 2-3 years.

Shawn also pitches in and although foreclosures, short sales and bankruptcy numbers have all dropped in his business, he says he doesn't necessarily believe all the articles coming out about sunshine and rainbows now that we are going into the good times, just like he didn't believe all the articles that said doom and gloom during the bad times. He's in the middle. The job indicator is really good. But although we're adding jobs and unemployment rate is going down, the salaries of the jobs we're getting are not equal, even less, than the salaries of the jobs we lost.

With elections coming up, there will be some discussions on how the economy will affect the real estate. No matter which candidate they go with, people tend to have that hesitancy when there is an election.

And just like anything, Andrew says that people tend to write articles about potentials, about what's going to happen, what's the future.

To get more Tampa Bay Real Estate news and advice from Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor, tune in to The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA - Tampa Bay every Sundays at 10 am.

How Tampa Bay Flooding can and will affect local real estate market, closings, property condition

Andrew Duncan, Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor and Expert, talks to Shawn Yesner of Yesner Law and Arnie and David Diaz of Waterstone Mortgage about the recent flooding in Tampa Bay and how it will affect the local Real Estate market, closings and property condition on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show.

Andrew starts off with a joke about how lots of homeowners have suddenly become owners of waterfront properties because of the recent flooding in several areas of Tampa.

One of the impacts of the recent flooding is the delay in getting homes on the market. Andrew talks about the homes that are getting ready to go on the market but can't because they can't get the photos taken. He advices the sellers to be prepared to take their realtor's guidance to wait until a decent weather day to take photos. It's better not to rush and not take photos while you have a lake in your front yard. Although it's fun to joke about it, it wouldn't be in the best interest of the property and the seller.

This brings up another topic - Disclosures. If water gets in your house due to flooding, as a seller, you must disclose any defects or any issues like this.

Flooding brings up a lot of issues for Real Estate agents and brokers as well as for home sellers and buyers. It can cause things to be tense, can cause confusion because buyers could be sitting there waiting for homes to get on the market but there aren't any.

Arnie adds that it also causes delays in closing because they can't get repairs done on the house. Shawn also talks about an incident that happened recently wherein the realtor who had called him because they were doing a walk through. There were some normal settlement cracking but because of all the rain, water seeped through the cracks and it started to destroy the baseboards on the inside of the house. They talked about Force Majeure or Acts of God and all the clauses included in the contract to help delay the closing.

The recent flooding have affected a lot of areas and not just South Tampa like Wesley Chapel, Hillsborough Avenue, up in Northwest Tampa. They can see the impacts on their clients because buyers don't want to go out and look, the sellers don't want to put their home on the market.

David also talks about how they are getting calls from realtors asking for inspection periods to be extended or pushed back. Because of these delays, it will also cause a backlog. The appraisers who are not doing much right now because of the push backs will then get a whole slew of them at the same time. Same thing with photographers. It doesn't mean that your home is not going to go on the market but sellers should expect some delays and some curb balls which you they don't normally see when it's sunny and dry. It also doesn't mean that the closing will be pushed back or that your home won't be on the market on time, it's just that things are going to be a bit tighter because of the backlogs.

Shawn also talks about the importance of sellers disclosing. If home sellers don't disclose, things could really get complicated and could be really litigious and can cause big fights. If your home is already on the market, it would be advisable to re disclose if your house got flooded or if you found some other defect to avoid any issues later on.

To get more Tampa Bay Real Estate news and advice from Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor, tune in to The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA - Tampa Bay every Sundays at 10 am.

The hottest neighborhoods in Tampa Bay with predicted appreciation, prices and home sales

Andrew Duncan, Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor and Expert, talks about the hottest neighborhoods in Tampa Bay with a great panel of experts - Scott Eckley with DR Horton, Aaron Davis with Hillsborough Title and the Florida Agency Network, and Arnie Diaz of Waterstone Mortgage on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show.

When investors look for appreciation, the hottest real estate markets on the appreciation or gross stand point are generally older homes and established in certain areas.

Andrew talks about the book "Zillow Talk." In their book, they talk about their studies as to determine where the next ground breaking, hottest areas in the market are going to be. Some of the things they considered are proximity to decent, at least B-rated schools; proximity to the downtown area; looking for lower than average sale prices in an area; looking for a Starbucks close by within a short proximity. Based on the data on their book, Andrew shares some of the neighborhoods he sees are good to invest in are the areas in Ulele, Tampa Heights, West Tampa, Citrus Park, South of Gandy.

He also points out that when a Real Estate market recovers, it usually starts in the hottest areas. Some of the areas that recovered first are Tampa, Fishhawk, Westchase and then all the other areas trail and recover more quickly. The potential appreciation in some of the lower, under priced neighborhoods is greater because there's greater gain. That's what the book is talking about - finding the areas that in the next years are really going to improve.

Other areas of interest are Plant City because of the Amazon warehouse. Same thing as you get closer to downtown because of what Jeff Vinik's going to do. Arnie thinks that South of Gandy would be a good area because of the military base being so close. Also, with the military, the Real Estate market is always moving. Aaron also mentions the discussions about a ferry boat as a means of going to and from the Apollo Beach areas which will also open up a lot of opportunities. It will be very beneficial for the military especially for those who are worried about going out of the area too far because of the
commute.

Scott also talks about the areas along the 301 Corridor. He talks about some of their homes in that area that are selling well. Within the past 6 months, they've seen the prices go up $7000-9000 more than from when they opened.

There are still a lot of areas that are doing well like pockets in the Wesley Chapel area, New Tampa, Land O Lakes where they're seeing the same kind of appreciation.

Because the market is doing so well, some people can't help but think that a bust is coming. But since this panel of experts have been in the industry for so long, they see that it won't likely happen because unlike before, it's tougher to get a loan approval now. Andrew also says that one of the reasons why he's confident that the market will continue to do well is because there's still a lot of cash in the market.

To get more Tampa Bay Real Estate news and advice from Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor, tune in to The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA - Tampa Bay every Sundays at 10 am.

Year of the First Time Home Buyers - 2015

Andrew Duncan, Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor and Expert, talks to Scott Eckley with DR Horton, Aaron Davis with Hillsborough Title and the Florida Agency Network, and The Diaz Duo, David and Arnie Diaz of Waterstone Mortgage about how first time home buyers are bucking trends and not buying just starter homes anymore on The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show.

Andrew has mentioned in his previous shows that 2015 is going to be the year of the first time home buyers. There's a lot of first time home buyer activity across all price ranges. What he finds surprising is that there are first time home buyers who are skipping the entire process of looking into average to low priced homes ($200-300k) and instead are buying $500k+ homes that are considered as move-up buyer homes.

These are first time home buyers who held off from buying a few years before but only now are starting to make their move. They now have awesome jobs, so income is not a concern. Some of them are now starting a family. A lot of these buyers are high income earners who skip the starter home and go straight to the higher priced homes because they can now afford it.

To get more Tampa Bay Real Estate news and advice from Tampa Bay's #1 Realtor, tune in to The Duncan Duo Real Estate Show on 970 WFLA - Tampa Bay every Sundays at 10 am.

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