What Important Steps Are You Missing?

Home inventory in the Daytona Beach area is low. When buying Daytona Beach Homes and Condos there are some points to keep in mind. I showed three homes in Port Orange on a recent afternoon. By the time my customer put in an offer than evening, two or the three homes were under contract. That’s how tight the market can be in certain price ranges. It’s important to follow some critical steps when buying. This short guide will give you the basics of buying in the current market.

Know What You Want

What do you want in a home or condo? How much will you pay? Where do you want to be located? Answer these questions before you get serious. The number of properties available in this market make this step really important. When you’re browsing, this step is not important, but when you think you are ready to explore buying, you really must define your wants and needs.

Know the Market Where You Buy

You need to know the local market and the smaller markets within the broad markets. You can find a lot of information and pricing trends at zillow.com, trulia.com, housevalues.com and many others. These services are great to get a general idea, but the information is often dated. More current information is available from an active local real estate agent. We have access to the most current information and have sold hundreds of homes and condos in the area. You can also search all current homes and condos for sales in Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach and the Shores, Port Orange, Ponce Inlet, Holly Hill and South Daytona. Just click here –> Search Daytona Beach Area Properties.

Get Your Financing In Order

In many cases these days, we are dealing directly with banks and mortgage companies. In a tight market, it’s important to have financing in order when presenting an offer.

Venture Out

Once you know what you want, it’s time to view properties. Viewing properties is a process. We may start with a list of properties that interest you, maybe 5 or 10. You may like a few or none of the first list. Don’t be discouraged, this is part of the process and quite normal. What the best agents will do is ask you questions about each property you view to determine what you like and dislike. The next time you go out, you will be seeing properties based on that criteria. We continue through the process until you find the home or condo that meets your needs. Then we are ready for the offer and negotiations.

Make the Offer

How low should I go? The offer you make will be based on a few main factors:

• How long has the property been on the market?
• Are there other offers?
• Competition in the price range
• Time and Patience
• You

A two bedroom – two bath condo on the beach at a low price will draw competitive bids. If the property is on the market for a few days and has multiple offers, going well below the listed price will probably not work. If the property has been on the market for a long time, going low makes sense. For short sales and foreclosures, we often wait for weeks or months for an answer from the banks, so patience is needed.

In the Daytona Beach real estate market, homes and condos selling under $250,000 make up almost of all sales. Well-priced properties under $200,000 will have more competition. However, over $300,000, fewer homes and condos are selling and being more aggressive makes a lot of sense.

The decision on making an offer on a property is yours and depends upon you more than anything else. We can offer guidance, but you need to make the decision. Let us get all the information available on the property and the most recent similar sales and tell you what we think, but you need to make the decision. However, you should negotiate in this market.

After Your Offer is Accepted

After the offer is accepted you MUST get an inspection. I don’t say must very often to my clients, but an inspection is necessary for you to protect yourself. You also need to carefully read to Title Report, especially if additions or modifications were made. Make sure what should have been permitted was properly recorded.

Read the Appraisal Report. You are looking for errors, missing features and anything else that could make the appraised value lower than it should be.

Get Help

A good real estate agent should make the process as easy as possible. You need an agent who is knowledgeable and active in the market. Work with someone who returns your calls and listens and responds. People tell us that that’s why they work with us. Call Lynn at 386-566-7503 with questions about the market or properties in the area. That’s why we’re here.