The real estate market in Southwest Florida has gone through some big changes over the last five years.  Property values went from years of steady growth to an absolute mountain of increase which culminated in a market high sometime in late 2005.  Since this high water mark was reached in late 2005, we have seen a powerful retreat in pricing, possibly even more violent than the increases were.  As the prices fall in this dynamic and every changing real estate market place, a few new terms have come to light.  Bank owned, REO, real estate owned, BPO, foreclosure, short Sale, and absolute auctions are some of the new real estate buzzwords of today.
PROGRAM Realty, being a small and aggressive company, has decided to change with the times and welcome these new sales tools.   We offer programs for buyers and sellers to be able to take advantage of the current situation.

For Buyers:

PROGRAM Realty offers help in finding foreclosures, short sales, auctions, and bank owned properties (Sometimes referred as REO or Real Estate Owned.)  We know through experience how to negotiate directly with banks and mortgage companies to get our clients the absolute best deals possible.  We can get these types of transactions to close in a matter of days instead of months like many in the business would have you believe.  The truth of the matter is that many people are scared of what they don’t understand.  We understand short sales.  We understand foreclosures.  Don’t be scared; let us show you the way to a great deal.

For Sellers:

For clients that find themselves the victim of a poor market or predatory lender, we can offer a reprieve to avoid foreclosure.  We will help you negotiate with your lender to structure what has become known as a short sale.  Short sales are when a home is sold for an amount that is less than the mortgage payoff.  In many cases the bank involved will just write the shortage off instead of going through the costly process of foreclosure.  This short sale allows our clients to escape the situation that they are in and still not have a foreclosure on their credit report.
For banks, we offer full management programs to clear out your foreclosure inventory in a timely manner.  We can offer exposure for you properties like no other brokerage in Southwest Florida.

Times are changing and in order to survive real estate brokerages must adapt.  Please give us a call to find out what we can do for you today.  941-740-8000

I have experienced a few surprises at the closing table recently and I thought I might blog about it here on this website.  It seems that a new trend in real estate is hidden fees at closing.  

Usually for a new home there is a commission of 6-7% that is usually split between the buying agent and the selling agent.  This commission is evidently not enough for some unscrupulous real estate companies as they have decided to charge their customers an extra $250 to $400 “Documentation Fee” or “Transaction Fee.”  This fee will show up whether you are buying or selling with these agencies, and if you use that same agent to both buy and sell your property, you can get hit with the fee twice!

When asked to explain this new fee, your agent will normally tell you it is for preparation and storage of your closing documents.  If this is the case, what is the rest of the commission for?  On an average 250k dollar home the commission before splits can be as high as $17,500.00.  Is this not enough money to prepare and store your documents?  You would think that surely they could pay their document storage fee out of this commission.  How much does it cost to store a folder of paper nowadays?

Today marks the second time in the last three days that I have been asked about real estate investing seminars.  It seems that some unscrupulous builders are hiring marketing firms to create seminars for real estate investors.  These seminars paint a picture of exploding growth in Port Charlotte Real Estate, which nearly every Florida Realtor would agree is in a slump.  These seminars aren’t local; they are given to investors well out of the area, in these two cases, one in Ireland, the other in North Carolina.

During these seminars, the marketing firms tell you how much money can be made by purchasing one of their criminally overpriced pre constructions.  It seems that there are some great incentives such as 2 years no interest and 2 years no payments.

You have to ask yourself, if it is such a great deal, then why are these guys coming all the way to Ireland to peddle their properties?  It would seem that if they were truly giving great deals like they are letting on, local investors would beat a path to their door.

The moral of the story is this, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.  Remember folks, every reputable builder in this area welcomes clients and their Realtors.  You will get the same price on the home if you have a Realtor or not.  So why not use a Realtor that is knowledgeable in preconstruction to help you choose the right builder?  You can only gain by his or her expertise and have nothing to lose!  If you need help deciphering whether or not you are getting a good deal on a preconstruction, feel free to contact us and we will be happy give you our honest opinion!

As typical with most summertime seasons, the real estate market in Englewood, Port Charlotte, North Port and surrounding areas have slowed down.  The “high season” in Southwest Florida is in the winter, usually from November to March.  This is the time when our population is greatest.  Our seasonal residents make the most out of the terrific winters here during those months.  The summer months or “low season” is usually slower with less going on with regard to real estate and general economic activity.

Even though a slow real estate market is expected in the summer season, this summer’s market has been much slower than normal.  Partially this is because of the previous four years worth of spectacular activity, which has spoiled many of us in the real estate market.  Now that we are back to a “normal market,” we feel as if the market has shut down. 

The reason for the real estate slowdown in Southwest Florida is five-fold. 

Hello everyone, if you haven’t noticed, we have made many changes to Sell Me Florida recently.  We have uploaded a newly designed template and we are in the process of testing a new MLS Searching system that hopefully will be more powerful yet easier to use for our clients.  The whole point of this work is to develop a site that is extremely easy to use for our visitors. 

We have totally revamped and rewritten the area descriptions on every single community we serve, be sure to check them out.  We have also changed our main menu to make the site even more user friendly.  We would love to hear any suggestions you may have for us, just send us an email.   Enjoy the site!

Hello everyone, I just thought I would put up a quick blog post to rub in the fact that I live in paradise.  Yes I know, I’m not very nice am I?  Anyway, who can argue with the pictures I posted below?  I’m thankful and also amazed sometimes about how far my wife and I have gotten and how good we actually have things. When you are happy, healthy, and can drive just a few miles from your home and enjoy a beautiful day on a wonderfully deserted beach, what more could you ask for?  

The white sand and clear blue-green waters of Boca Grande Florida are where Amanda and I decided to spend our lazy Sunday afternoon.  This place is absolute paradise if you haven’t been there.  There are gorgeous homes everywhere, everything is so clean and tidy and the people are so friendly.  The nice part is that during the summer months, Boca Grande is nearly deserted.  Well that’s kind of a leading statement; Boca Grande is always a pretty exclusive place, with crowds being far and few between.  During the summertime though, you really can have this place to yourself.  

We decided to walk out on the beach in front of some beautiful estate homes in the northern section of Boca Grande.  As you can see from the pictures, we had paradise to ourselves for the day.  If you like searching for sea shells, you are in the right place, just check out the specimens we found; conch shells, sand dollars, sharks teeth, you name it.  If fishing is you thing, you can fish right from the beach.  We decided to just enjoy swimming in the clear water and soaking in some rays.  There is just something about being in chest deep water and still be able to see your feet, makes you feel like you are in the Caribbean!

Well Amanda has brought to my attention that our neglect had reached an all time high regarding our landscaping.  Here at our home in Englewood, we have not had any significant rain for over 3 months.  Yes 3 months.  You can imagine what our grass looks like.  I have a sprinkler system, but it’s in disarray and I’m a little lazy when it comes to honey-do projects.  So the grass can’t be helped, but the flowers and mulching has some life left.
So I enlist the help of my lawn guy, Bob and his wife (after he mowed the dirt) and we decided to rejuvenate our flower beds.
After a day of planting, weed pulling, and mulching, the house is finally looking a little better!  Now its time to head back into the air conditioning for another few months!  I have added a 2 pictures below, on is of the side yard and our lanscaping, the other shows our grass and our neighbors grass.  Sad isn't it?