October 2017

Miles from Home Duncan Duo at RE/MAX Tampa Bay Lightning Victor Hedman Video Feature

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.

Watch one of the marketing segments that plays during Tampa Bay Lightning games sponsored by The Duncan Duo....the Official Real Estate Agents of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Fans are quizzed about how far the native countries of some of Lightning players to get a chance to win an autographed puck!

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 Sunday at 10 am.

Real Haunted Houses in Tampa Bay and how The Duncan Duo has experienced them

As Halloween is fast approaching, The Duncan Duo, Andrew and Angela Duncan, together with Mike Yates of Atlantic Bay Mortgage, talk about haunted houses and their experiences. They talk about some houses they've been in where they had weird feelings, unusual happenings like the tv turning on and off, weird noises and shadows moving around. Andrew and Angela shares they even lived in one which they eventually sold.

One thing that they pointed out is that even if the homeowner feels that the house is haunted, on a legal standpoint, a seller is not required to disclose this. It is certainly a question you can ask but there is no legal obligation for disclosures.

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 Sunday at 10 am.

When Is the Best Time to Put Your Home on the Market?

Today, we’d like to bring you the answer to a question we recently received, which was: “When in the next few months is the best time for homeowners to put their homes on the market?”

This is a great question. Truthfully, this year is a different story than other years in the past. This year, I would say the perfect time is right now.

Don’t wait until the spring or after winter's over. It is somewhat of a northern notion that homes can only be put on the market during the summer.

If you want the most money, now is the opportune time for selling homes.

Here in Tampa Bay, this isn’t the case. Summer isn’t the only time to list. The reality is that Tampa Bay doesn’t have as much of seasonal fluctuation.

This year specifically, there’s a lot of pent-up demand in the market following the lull in activity caused by the hurricane. Now, buyers are waiting for inventory. So if you want the most money, now is the opportune time for selling homes.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Tampa Home Seller Tips and Lessons Learned from Hurricane Irma and Harvey

Andrew Duncan, Tampa's #1 Realtor and expert talks to Mike Yates of Atlantic Bay Mortgage about the lessons learned from the recent hurricanes that hit the US.

One important thing that Andrew pointed out is to disclose everything about the home you are selling. Neighbors tend to talk and it's better that you disclose the issues rather than deal with the consequences like when buyers walk away from a deal or worse a law suit. People expect the home to have issues since it's a used product. If there are any issues, be sure to take care of them right away. But due to the hurricane, a lot of contractors are backed up so be prepared to wait a while before they get to you. There will be some scams that might pop up offering lower rates than usual licensed contractors. Remember, getting the work done isn't nearly as important than getting it done right. Although there may be some delays, make sure to hire a good licensed contractor to take care of your home issues.

Since hurricanes have not been common in Tampa Bay in the recent years, people have been complacent about preventive measures like getting flood insurance, installing shutters, generators and the like. This could also help sell your home quickly especially if you're competing with other neighbors who have their homes on the market.

Another thing that Andrew pointed out was that if your home is not in a flood zone, flood insurance can be really inexpensive. A lot of homes were damaged by the floods caused by hurricane Harvey. They were not able to claim the full amount from their insurance companies because they did not have flood insurance. Having flood insurance will not only give you peace of mind but will also be helpful if something like this is to happen in your area.

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 Sunday at 10 am.

How Irma Affected the Tampa Real Estate Market

We’re excited to announce that we’re starting a new video series here on our blog. We’re calling it “The Duo Talks” and here we’ll be answering all of your great questions. The first one is, “What impact have you seen on the Tampa real estate market from Irma?”

One of the struggles in our market right now is the residual emotional hangover from the storm that has led to a few weeks of inactivity. From a damage standpoint, we were fortunate enough to not see too big of an impact other than the big piles of brush and lack of power for some for a while.

We expect to see a bit of a rebound in the fourth quarter.

Realistically, we did see a lull in the market for a few weeks. There were a lot of contract cancellations during this time. Frankly, people were so focused on the news that they weren’t paying attention to real estate.

We expect to see a bit of a rebound here in the fourth quarter of 2017 because of the recent slowdown. Overall, it’s just a blip on the radar. A small short-term impact that will be relatively negligible.

If you have any questions for us in the meantime, or you have any real estate needs that we can assist with, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.