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A few things to know about making an offer on an Ocala Home

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I recently read an article on making an offer on a home so I’m making my own version specifically for Ocala Florida. A few of these items are in regard to multiple offers which I have seen a couple of times recently.

1. Sellers do not have to accept the first offer. The seller can also reject or not respond to an offer they think is too low or has too many contingencies.

2. A seller and their listing agent do not have to disclose that they have multiple offers.

3. A seller does not have to accept a full price offer. However if a seller does turn down a full price offer the seller owes the listing broker a full commission seeing that the broker fulfilled their obligation under the listing contract with the seller.

4. Verbal, text and emailed counter offers are not considered a contract until both parties sign the actual contract form. Until both parties sign either can change their minds.

5. A buyer that has a signed fully executed contract cannot just change their mind. If you do you will be in breach of that contract. There is no so called cooling off period in Florida for residential homes.

6. If a buyer makes an offer and the seller accepts that offer you have a fully executed contract. That is why you can only make one offer at a time or you could find yourself in contract for multiple homes.

The above statements are based on my experience as a Florida Realtor and should not be considered legal advice. If you need legal advice call a lawyer.

Why you need a Realtor to help with new home sales

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The new home market is just beginning to pick up here in Ocala. When the market crashed in 2007 prices for resales fell so far below the cost to build new homes most building came to a stop. Only now, 8 years later, are builders having the confidence to start building again.

The reasons to have a Realtor work with you on a new home sale are many.

1) You want to see newer resales as well as new homes. Many newer resales still offer better prices or more upgrades or a premium lot. Many new home buyers want to see resales to be sure that they aren’t over paying for their new home.

2) You realize that the new home sales people are employees of the builder. A Realtor especially one that specializes in buyers has no allegiance to anyone but the buyer and will show you multiple communities telling you the pluses and negatives of each.

3) You want to see comparable sales before making an offer on your new home. Builders sales people won’t help you here. They would also like to pretend that resales in their same community don’t count.

4) You don’t feel comfortable negotiating. A Realtor negotiates for a living. Although builders don’t like to drop the price because it creates a low comp on their new home sales they do negotiate upgrades.

WARNING: builders are notorious for harvesting your contact info. If you call them, email them, request a brochure, you are added to their data base. Forever! That means they will not want to pay a Realtor a commission. Among ourselves, Realtors think who ever writes the offer gets the commission even if you talked to the listing agent previously. Builders operate by a different set of rules.

 

How to move long distance …..step one pick a city

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The first step in moving long distance is to pick a city. It doesn’t matter what the houses are like if you don’t like the area or the area doesn’t have the things that are important to you. Everyone is different. What is important to me might not even be on the radar for you.

I just spent time with a guy who decided not to buy in Ocala. His reason was that he only ate organic food and there wasn’t enough in the way of organic markets here. A quick internet search or asking me could have saved us both a lot of time.

After a thorough internet search and maybe exchanging emails with someone local like a realtor such as myself you should visit the city. Don’t bother looking at homes just spend a day or 2 traveling around the area. You could hit a few cities in a week or so. Buying a home is a huge investment. You should expect to do a lot of home work. The internet is just a start. There is no substitute for real life in person interaction.

Online Home Values

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Sometimes buyers talk about a home’s value based on some sort of online tool like Zillow. Realtors do not look at online sites for home values. That is just a data base compiled from public records without any sort of interpretation. Think of it like this. There are 2 homes in the same community. They are the same size, same number of bedrooms ect. even the same age let’s say 1997. One has never had a single thing done to it. Original everything. The other has a new roof, AC and flooring. Online valuations have no way of knowing that.

When doing a CMA, a comparative market analysis, a Realtor looks at past sales on the MLS for condition. Out MLS retains sold listings complete with all pictures going back several years. We look at homes within certain parameters for size and age and we look at only recent sales. I like to only go back 90 days if at all possible. The price a home sold for last year is not a good comp especially in a constantly changing market. Buying a home is a huge purchase and you need the latest and best data you can get.

 

How I moved to Ocala

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I owned my home in Maine without a mortgage but I was not sure how much it would sell for or how long it would be on the market. My wife and I decided to buy our home in Ocala and then pay off that mortgage when we sold our existing home. Although we did incur closing costs associated with the loan it was pretty stress free in comparison to buyers I know see as a Realtor who sell and existing home and buy a new one here simultaneously.

You can make an offer on a home in Ocala contingent on the sale of your existing home if it is already under contract to close in a reasonable amount of time typically 30-60 days.

Why I moved to Ocala

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swimming pool under a screen cage

My pool

When I’m driving around with buyers the conversation always turns to why I moved to Ocala. The defining moment occurred in the winter of 2004. I lived in the western mountains of Maine at the time in a log cabin in the middle of no where. I had a 600 foot driveway and I owned a 30 hp Kubota tractor with a front end loader and a 6′ snowblower on the rear. I was snow blowing the driveway and my wife was shoveling the walk. We had a metal roof on our house and all the snow let go at once burying her. Between crying and swearing like a sailor she said this was our last winter in Maine. I was all for moving. We decided we wanted to go some place it never snowed and there was no ice. That actually eliminates a lot of America. We then decided we’d rather have a lush tropical humid climate as opposed to the desert of the South West. Even in 2004 we were able to do a lot of research online. We liked Ocala because of the low home prices and we thought it was the least likely city in Florida to get hit by a hurricane. We grew up in Mass and lived in Maine for 11 years. Both states have no natural disasters unless you count ice storms. We came to Ocala thinking about a small farm but then we saw pool homes with a pool under a screen cage just off the lanai. That was totally new to us and we loved the lifestyle. We weren’t old enough for a 55+ at the time and I don’t think we would fit in even now. My dog you see on my website would get us thrown out ! Any way that’s my story.

Buying a Home in Ocala contingent on Selling an Existing Home

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Sellers here in the Ocala area will often accept an offer contingent on the successful closing of a buyer’s existing home. The buyers home must be under contract with a reasonable closing time of say 30-60 days.

Florida real estate contracts have firm performance dead lines. When negotiating a contract the buyer and seller agree on a closing date. In general we expect to close on the agreed on date.

A problem can result if the buyer is from a state without a firm closing date such as New York. In NY for example they close on or about a given date. I have no idea how people can plan their next move or schedule movers or anything that way. On 3 separate occasions I have had buyers from NY who were not able to close on time here in Florida due to some delay with their existing home sale.

Why you should always do your own inspection

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My buyer found a house they liked and it seemed odd that the seller had only lived there a month or so. Apparently she regretted her purchase and wanted to go back home. After accepting my buyers offer the seller’s agent offered my buyers the inspection that the seller had just had done several weeks ago. I cautioned about using an existing inspection. Sure enough one of the inspectors I like found several problems that the first inspector missed. Pretty obvious things like leaky faucets, a frozen valve on the hot water heater. Nothing serious but the seller was required to make those repairs under the Florida real estate contract that we used. All things the previous seller should have repaired.

Another time my buyer walked away from a deal because the AC was shot. We knew it was old and had an AC tech do an inspection in addition to the home inspection. Someone had rigged the AC so it wouldn’t blow out freon ! The listing agent gave my buyers inspection to the next buyer never knowing the results of the independent AC inspection.

So there you go. Never trust an inspection that you didn’t order and pay for.

Utility Bills

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I know that in some states up north it is common to see the oil bill to get an idea of heating costs. Here in Ocala there are no real heating costs. Our big expense is running the AC 24/7 from May through October. I don’t think much of looking at electric bills because different people have different comfort levels. I had a guy call me up to list his uncle’s home that he had just inherited. We’re talking and he says that his uncle won an award from the Ocala electric company for low energy use. I said maybe we should put that in the listing comments. Then he told me that his uncle was 80, lived alone and sat in front of a fan when it was 90 outside until he couldn’t take it anymore and turned on the AC. Different people have different comfort levels.

The real estate market in Ocala is changing

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Last week was a crazy week for me. First it was the busiest I’ve been since I started real estate here in Ocala in 2006. I was trying to work with 3 buyers at the same time. Secondly I encountered my first multiple offer situation. Which my buyer won by the way. Third when I went to make appointments to view homes 3 had offers that were so new that the listing agent hadn’t had time to change the listing status to pending. I almost never find a home that I want to show already has an offer let alone 3 ! If you’re still waiting for the market to hit bottom you missed it. The market is starting to go up.