The right phrasing in real estate listings can speed a sale and even boost the final price, a Canadian study says. And here's a tip: If you must sell, don't put "must sell" in your ad.
In real estate listings, what's the difference between describing your home as "beautiful" versus "move-in condition"? About $12,500 on a $250,000 home.
Professor Paul Anglin, a real estate economist in Guelph, Ontario, says that homes described as "beautiful" in real estate listings sell for 5% more while "move-in condition" has no effect on sale price.
Anglin and his colleagues from the University of Windsor and researchers from Canada Mortgage and Housing examined about 20,000 real estate listings and sales data in Windsor and Essex counties, Ontario, from between 1997 and early 2000. Among other things, they studied how listings' phrasing affected sale prices and the length of time it took for the listings to close.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
Home buying: Buy now? Or wait for a price drop?
A reader wonders whether rising mortgage rates would wipe out any benefits from prices falling further.
(Money Magazine) -- Question: My wife and I want to buy. Should we wait to see if prices fall, or take advantage of today's low mortgage rates? - Heath Hewett, Columbia, S.C.
Answer: If you're asking whether a significant price drop would lower your monthly payments more than a big increase in mortgage rates would raise them, it's easy: You should probably root for the price decline.
For example, the monthly payment on a $300,000, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at today's rates is $1,847. Rates would have to rise to 8.1 percent - nearly two full percentage points - before a $250,000 loan would cost that much.
But it sounds as if you're really asking whether prices in your area are likely to decline enough to justify holding off on a purchase. When it comes to that, frankly, your guess is as good as ours.
While there's no lack of experts making predictions about where home prices are headed in the next year, no one knows for sure.
(Money Magazine) -- Question: My wife and I want to buy. Should we wait to see if prices fall, or take advantage of today's low mortgage rates? - Heath Hewett, Columbia, S.C.
Answer: If you're asking whether a significant price drop would lower your monthly payments more than a big increase in mortgage rates would raise them, it's easy: You should probably root for the price decline.
For example, the monthly payment on a $300,000, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at today's rates is $1,847. Rates would have to rise to 8.1 percent - nearly two full percentage points - before a $250,000 loan would cost that much.
But it sounds as if you're really asking whether prices in your area are likely to decline enough to justify holding off on a purchase. When it comes to that, frankly, your guess is as good as ours.
While there's no lack of experts making predictions about where home prices are headed in the next year, no one knows for sure.
West Palm Beach to sell land to the highest online bidder
If you're in the market for prime development land, then check out the two parcels the city of West Palm Beach is selling. To do so, you don't even have to leave your office; you can learn everything you need to know about the land -- and bid on it -- via an interactive online auction the city is holding starting today.
The auction is being conducted by Sperry Van Ness/Fisher Auction Co. Inc., a Pompano Beach-based auction house. And it's being held exclusively online, through Friday . All necessary information for potential bidders can be found at www.fisherauction.com.
"Auctions are a beneficial way to sell a property," said Louis B. Fisher III, principal owner of Fisher Auction. "They transform surplus holdings into cash or earnings assets."
The auction is being conducted by Sperry Van Ness/Fisher Auction Co. Inc., a Pompano Beach-based auction house. And it's being held exclusively online, through Friday . All necessary information for potential bidders can be found at www.fisherauction.com.
"Auctions are a beneficial way to sell a property," said Louis B. Fisher III, principal owner of Fisher Auction. "They transform surplus holdings into cash or earnings assets."
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Mountains of homes still listed for sale
It's a quiet Sunday afternoon in West Kendall, the third quiet Sunday afternoon in a row that Olga Alvarez has opened her house to buyers.
The carpets are vacuumed, the kitchen scoured, the orange balloons and open-house signs placed on street corners. Three groups came through last week, two the week before. This time, Alvarez is hoping for The One.
At 1 p.m. sharp, she unlocks the door and settles in to wait.
• • •
The story of housing in South Florida in 2006 was one of waiting -- buyers waiting for the right price, sellers waiting for the right buyer, everyone waiting to see where an uncertain market would go. Now the question is: Will 2007 be the year the market turns around?
The carpets are vacuumed, the kitchen scoured, the orange balloons and open-house signs placed on street corners. Three groups came through last week, two the week before. This time, Alvarez is hoping for The One.
At 1 p.m. sharp, she unlocks the door and settles in to wait.
• • •
The story of housing in South Florida in 2006 was one of waiting -- buyers waiting for the right price, sellers waiting for the right buyer, everyone waiting to see where an uncertain market would go. Now the question is: Will 2007 be the year the market turns around?
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Dwindling number of students in Florida blamed on costly housing
Tallahassee · Soaring home prices are being blamed for a sudden and surprising decline in the number of students entering Florida public schools, a survey of county school superintendents revealed Thursday.
Half of the 62 school chiefs polled cited the cost of housing as a major reason why students and their families either left their counties or chose not to move there. The findings underscore the emerging view that housing costs are putting the brakes on fast-growing Florida.
For schools, the first signs of the trend surfaced when state analysts wrongly predicted that 48,376 more students would crowd classrooms statewide when doors opened in the fall. Instead, only an extra 477 children showed up.
"We missed it big time," said Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association. "Through 2005, we had 10 years in a row of more than 50,000 new students a year. Suddenly, it's stopped." It's the slowest growth rate in students that Florida has seen since the 1982-83 school year.
Half of the 62 school chiefs polled cited the cost of housing as a major reason why students and their families either left their counties or chose not to move there. The findings underscore the emerging view that housing costs are putting the brakes on fast-growing Florida.
For schools, the first signs of the trend surfaced when state analysts wrongly predicted that 48,376 more students would crowd classrooms statewide when doors opened in the fall. Instead, only an extra 477 children showed up.
"We missed it big time," said Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association. "Through 2005, we had 10 years in a row of more than 50,000 new students a year. Suddenly, it's stopped." It's the slowest growth rate in students that Florida has seen since the 1982-83 school year.
Need help buying your first home? Here's where to look
Wondering if now is the time to buy your first house or condo?
With a deluge of properties for sale throughout South Florida, prices are flexible, interest rates reasonable, and sellers are offering incentives to seal a deal.
But a home's price is just the beginning. Taxes and insurance can add as much as 50 percent to your monthly payment, real estate experts warn.
"It seems to me there are a lot of options out there, but you've got insurance and taxes and those are a real killer," said Bob Stroh, director of the University of Florida's Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing. "We're seeing young people staying at home until they are 25 or 30 because they can't afford to buy anything."
To help bridge the affordability gap, programs for first-time buyers are available from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Florida Housing Finance Corp., Broward and Palm Beach counties, and many of their cities.
With a deluge of properties for sale throughout South Florida, prices are flexible, interest rates reasonable, and sellers are offering incentives to seal a deal.
But a home's price is just the beginning. Taxes and insurance can add as much as 50 percent to your monthly payment, real estate experts warn.
"It seems to me there are a lot of options out there, but you've got insurance and taxes and those are a real killer," said Bob Stroh, director of the University of Florida's Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing. "We're seeing young people staying at home until they are 25 or 30 because they can't afford to buy anything."
To help bridge the affordability gap, programs for first-time buyers are available from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Florida Housing Finance Corp., Broward and Palm Beach counties, and many of their cities.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Cost of renting commercial space in S. Florida creeps up toward New York rates
When Jim Cahlin looks at commercial real estate in South Florida, he's starting to see New York.
"We're getting closer and closer to rental rates in major metropolitan markets," said Cahlin, a broker for Cushman & Wakefield.
At year-end 2006, the average rental rate for luxury downtown office space in Palm Beach County was $40.69 a square foot, up from $36.42 at year-end 2005, according to a Cushman report. Broward's rental rate for comparable digs was $31.08 a square foot, up from $29.29.
Rents in the Big Apple and other large cities are north of $50, Cahlin said.
Why are South Florida landlords charging so much? Because they can.
"We're getting closer and closer to rental rates in major metropolitan markets," said Cahlin, a broker for Cushman & Wakefield.
At year-end 2006, the average rental rate for luxury downtown office space in Palm Beach County was $40.69 a square foot, up from $36.42 at year-end 2005, according to a Cushman report. Broward's rental rate for comparable digs was $31.08 a square foot, up from $29.29.
Rents in the Big Apple and other large cities are north of $50, Cahlin said.
Why are South Florida landlords charging so much? Because they can.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Not-so-easy money?
This refund should be simple, but one-third so far aren't claiming it
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- It's perhaps the easiest $30 to $60 you'll ever collect from the IRS, but more than one-third of early-bird tax filers failed to claim the telephone excise tax refund, available this year to just about any taxpayer who paid for long-distance telephone service in recent years, the IRS said Wednesday.
"A little more than one-in-three returns are omitting the telephone tax refund," said Eric Smith, an IRS spokesman.
Some of those taxpayers are correct in not claiming the refund if they didn't pay for long-distance telephone service. But plenty of taxpayers who aren't claiming the refund are "omitting it in error," Smith said.
The refund is available this year only, and came about after court decisions found the excise tax, first levied in 1898 to fund the Spanish-American War, should no longer apply to telephone service as it's billed today. Taxpayers can claim a refund based on the 3% excise tax they paid on long-distance calls from March 2003 through July 2006
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- It's perhaps the easiest $30 to $60 you'll ever collect from the IRS, but more than one-third of early-bird tax filers failed to claim the telephone excise tax refund, available this year to just about any taxpayer who paid for long-distance telephone service in recent years, the IRS said Wednesday.
"A little more than one-in-three returns are omitting the telephone tax refund," said Eric Smith, an IRS spokesman.
Some of those taxpayers are correct in not claiming the refund if they didn't pay for long-distance telephone service. But plenty of taxpayers who aren't claiming the refund are "omitting it in error," Smith said.
The refund is available this year only, and came about after court decisions found the excise tax, first levied in 1898 to fund the Spanish-American War, should no longer apply to telephone service as it's billed today. Taxpayers can claim a refund based on the 3% excise tax they paid on long-distance calls from March 2003 through July 2006
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