What's up with the #!RT symbols?!? #OldFolks listen up! http://wp.me/p146tm-aV

Let's take a minute to get down to the basics...

Seriously, what's up with all symbols? Am I [Justin] constantly cursing the Facebook & Twitter Worlds? No I'm not, and I'm ashamed if you thought that. It just occured to me that a large portion of our fans and followers are not in the 18 - 28 age group.

This is an example of what I am talking about off our Facebook Fan Page.

 

Let's get down to it -

All of this gibberish is focused at the Twitter world. The facebook posts just happen to be a byproduct of my laziness in posting separately between the two. There are certain symbols that help to control conversations on twitter, and they are:

@: Talk publicly to another person

This is equivalent to tagging someone on Facebook. If you wanted to say something to me on Twitter you would type: "@thecoREgroup yahta-yahta-yahta..."

Don't forget: Everyone can see this.

d: Talk privately to another person

 

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OWN A RENTAL PROPERTY? THE IRS NEEDS TO KNOW…

If you own ONE rental unit… from this year on, all vendors that perform at least $600 worth of work for you now, via Federal law, must be sent an IRS 1099 Form. The obligation to monitor the vendors and issue 1099 forms are not new, but last year, when the federal government enacted the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (HR 5297) extended this requirement to all owners, no matter how small. Even property owners who rent are just doing a secondary activity, perhaps as part of the family investment fund or retirement savings plan, are now considered to be  ”conducting trade or business” to declare 1099 as it now applies to them.

 

Read More Here. 

Just showed a stunning home.

Just showed a stunning lake home. Captured with 360 Panorama in 96.7 seconds.

Don't bank your purchase on a Zestimate? http://wp.me/p146tm-aJ

Zillow is a great real estate website I must admit. This page is one of the first to come up in any real estate based google search, so it must be good and accurate information, right? Personally, as a real estate professional, I like zillow. However, I would be shot at every single listing appointment if I went in with zestimates. Of course, I would love to list homes at zillow prices, because they would sell in a matter of minutes.

The key to selling property is that the sellers set the listing price while buyers determine the sells price. I often have buyers tell me that they will purchase a listing but they will not pay a dime over the Zestimate. What is funny about this is that Zillow admits that these figures are (at times) dramatically different that reality. Without going into detail on how they come up with these numbers, the fact is that this website is unable to account for condition and relevance...

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UCF Basketball vs ECU

Captured with 360 Panorama in 38.0 seconds.

Justin Core | REALTOR | Coldwell Banker Res RE | The Core Group | 5965 Red Bug Lake Road, Ste 101 | Winter Springs FL 32708 | Cell: (407) 446-5048 | Office: (407) 696-8000 | Fax: (407) 696-7279 | Email: justin.core@floridamoves.com | Web: www.thecoregroupfl.com |

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FHA EXTENDS SUSPENSION OF ‘ANTI-FLIPPING’ RULE FOR ANOTHER YEAR

FHA EXTENDS SUSPENSION OF ‘ANTI-FLIPPING’ RULE FOR ANOTHER YEAR

For quite some time the FHA frowned upon financing for buyers purchasing homes from sellers who had owned the property for less than 90 days. The idea was to prevent speculators from defrauding the government through quick flips of houses — often involving straw buyers and corrupt appraisers — at heavily inflated prices. In Central …

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Planet Fitness - Oviedo, Fl

My gym in Oviedo. It's only $10/month. That's less than 2 footlongs at Subway (after taxes). Captured with 360 Panorama in 49.2 seconds.

Resolutions for Home Sellers in 2011 -- http://wp.me/p146tm-ac

By listing in early January, you might be able to catch a few of those early birds who start browsing in the winter so that they can find a brand new home before school starts in the fall, said Louis Cammarosano, general manager of HomeGain.com, a real-estate website. In fact, lots of buyers tend to start their searches online right after Christmas, and continue throughout January and February, he said.

If your New Year's resolution involves selling a home in 2011, you've got some work to do: There's lots of stock out there and in a buyer's market like this one, getting an offer on a home can be challenging.

"If you hit the ground walking and you're a fresh listing that has completed everything right, you've got the best shot," said Cammarosano. Think about the following tips to give your home the best chance to get noticed -- and sold -- in 2011.

Price It Right from the Start

Lots of sellers suffer from attachment bias, said Tara-Nicholle Nelson, consumer educator for real-estate website Trulia.com. they think that their home is worth over they'd pay for it in another context. While it's always a bad idea to overprice a home, it's  dangerous in times like this because there is a lot competing stock in lots of local markets.

Nelson's advice: Give yourself a reality check by looking inside comparable homes in the work of open houses. That can help you receive a clearer idea of your home's value. You might even think about interviewing a few real-estate agents to get over one take on how the home ought to be priced, Cammarosano said.

Don't be afraid to advertise in the listing and advertising materials that it's not a foreclosure or short sale, Nelson said. In markets where distressed sales are plentiful, there's buyers who basically don't need to deal with the additional hassle and uncertainty of a short sale or bank-owned property, he said.

The longer something sits on the market, the more cost reductions you might must make and the more potential buyers will assume that there's something wrong with the home, he said. So usually, it's best not to try testing the waters with a higher cost, he adds.

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When should I refinance? #Refinance #realestate http://wp.me/p146tm-ah

Question:

What situation makes sense to refinance? How long will I have to own the home to make up the cost of the refinance?

Answer:

With mortgage rates near historic lows, many homeowners are considering the benefits of refinancing their current home loans.  So how do I tell if refinancing is the right option for me?  2 is the key factor that is used as a general rule of thumb in the mortgage industry.  2 being the number of percentage points you would need to save on the interest rate and 2 being the minimum number of years you would need to stay in the property afterwards to make the refinance worthwhile.  However, one can still see significant savings with even a smaller 1% decrease in interest rate which would make this an attractive option considering the time you plan on staying in this home.  Since one would incur additional closing costs with a refinance option (approximately 2.5% of the loan amount on average) one would need to analyze the monthly savings verse the expense to find a breakeven point.  This would indicate whether the refinance option really works for your particular situation.

This answer was provided by Jeff Edwards of DHI Mortgage.

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NEW SALES CONTRACTS ON THE INCREASE; MEDIAN PRICE STILL HOLDING STEADY

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(December 13, 2010 – Orlando, FL) Members of the Orlando Regional REALTOR Association reported an increase in the number of home-sale contracts they filed in November, with 3,243 newly filed contracts topping last November’s tally of 3,023 by 7.28 percent.

The area’s pending sales statistic — like new contracts — is also an indicator of future sales activity. A total of 8,998 homes are currently under contract and awaiting closing. This number is also an increase (of 4.23 percent) over the 8,633 homes that were under contract in November 2009.

Members of ORRA recorded completed sales on 1,848 homes in November, which is a 20.65 percent decrease over the November 2009 tally of 2,329 sales. To date, Orlando area home sales are up 21.55 percent over this time in 2009.

“Uneven sales patterns are to be expected over the next months,” explains ORRA Chairman of the Board Mike McGraw, McGraw Real Estate Services. “We are experiencing aftershocks from slowdowns caused by the homebuyer tax credit ending and the temporary foreclosure stoppage. But at the same time, buyers who are responding to record-low interest rates and enticingly low home prices are contributing to a push-pull effect on Orlando’s housing market.”

The median sales price of all homes sold in the Orlando area held steady at $105,000 during November, the third month in a row. According to ORRA the current median price remains 5.11 percent higher than the $99,900 median price recorded in August 2010 and is 14.63 percent below the median price of $123,000 recorded in November 2009.

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