Life In Bonita Springs

Selling Your Real Estate For Free

Most consumers only buy and sell real estate as a necessity. Often times there are great periods of time between transactions so there isn’t exactly common familiarity with the procedures and protocols of how things work. Revise that, how things work down here. Odds are, the last transaction was elsewhere, in another state with different customs.

Naturally, part of the education process for buying or selling real estate is reviewing estimated closing fees. Of course that final price for real estate isn’t the bottom line. There are additional fees charged to process real estate transactions; recording fees, taxes, title insurance, estoppels.

Maybe it’s because so much time goes between transactions that consumers are overwhelmed and feel out of sorts. That estimated settlement statement shows up with literally hundreds of lines of figures and fees. Eyes go glassy and sometimes you can almost hear the sound of static in the background.

“Yeah, but you get to buy and sell your real estate for free.” Every once in a while someone shares that fallacy when we’re going over the paperwork. I heard it again, weeks ago, and could only think to myself; I just sold real estate and it sure wasn’t “for free”. Being in “the business” didn’t provide me the fabled insider discount.

The fees and expenses on the settlement statement were not much different than what would be on your settlement statement if you were closing on a home today.

Regardless of how charming or convincing anyone could possibly be the fact of the matter is that most of the fees on the settlement statement are actually non-negotiable.

Of course the real conversation lies with the alleged free real estate commissions. Rest assured real estate agents who sell their own real estate also pay those. Certainly, if we’re listing our own real estate we may have the discretion of adjusting our portion of a listing fee, but we still invest the hours and advertising no different from any other listed property. It’s not a whole bunch different than a pool contractor getting supplies at cost. He still has to pay the labor (the co-broke agent) to get it installed.

The State of Florida offers its residents the gift of no state income tax but it does collect fees on real estate. Documentary stamps on deed is just a fancy way of saying we’re taxing you on your real estate sale. Seventy cents for every one hundred dollars of that sale price and there just is no way around it.

The same goes for clerk of court recording fees, attorney fees and title insurance fees everyone gets to pay them. When it absolutely, positively has to be there over night … shipping isn’t free, either.

Real estate agents selling their own real estate also get to contribute to buyers closing costs if that’s what it takes to get something sold and they also have to adjust the sale price when the property doesn’t appraise. Trust me, I just did it. There was no insider way around it or a way to discount any of that.

Buying real estate comes with a nearly matched set of fees and expenses, even more if there is a mortgage involved.

It doesn’t matter how long anyone is in the real estate business or who they know, they still get to pay the piper when they buy or sell real estate because nothing in life is certain except death and taxes … and the closing fees on real estate transactions.

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Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area.  Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor.  If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

You can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter by visiting www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and entering your email in the subscription area on the center pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog. Oh, and if you’re reading this content anywhere else but www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com or Naples Daily News it is probably stolen.

Warm and Toasty Florida Beaches

Bonita Springs Real Estate takes on a new appeal when there are blizzard like conditions up north.  When folks get snowed in or have just had their fill of cold they start surfing the web and they remember their friends in sunny southwest Florida. 

Yesterday, I had a chat with a fellow on the phone from somewhere in the northeast that was totally buried.  It seems that he has family with real estate in Bonita Springs, Estero and Naples and was getting ribbed about the weather.  It sort of dawned on him that maybe owning in Florida might be a good idea since prices were so low and Bonitians don’t have to shovel our precipitation.

We have the phone phenomenon happen every winter, every blizzard, every Alberta Clipper.  It’s at least fun to chat with folks when they call so I remember to appreciate our mild winters. 

I figured that since there are arctic blasts crossing the country I should put up a pretty picture of Bonita Beach in Bonita Springs, Florida to help everyone day dream.  Happy day dreaming!

Merry Christmas Bonita Springs

Write something fun about Christmas was the advice I got from friends. I was away when the words were due and, well, I just wasn’t feeling Christmas or feeling like writing about it.

It sounds all scrooge, but I’m not sure I feel Christmas the way most people feel Christmas anyway. Plus, the farther away from having little people in my life, the farther away I get from Christmas. … And that’s not a hint for any of my brats to turn me into a grandmother.

It’s been at least six or seven years since I put a tree up myself. As a matter of fact, I gave my tree away to a family that had purchased their first home before the holidays. I figured I wasn’t using it and they had small children that would enjoy it.

Christmas had become something so wildly commercial that it became an exhausting proposition to live up to the expectations and create what the family had been groomed by American culture to expect.

The kids were probably in their mid teens when I asked them to choose between “tree with gifts” or to take a vacation. The negotiating that went on amongst them was hilarious to watch. It was decided that a trip would be more fun than just getting “stuff they didn’t want anyway”.

We booked a short Christmas cruise and took grandma and grandpa with us. I actually was going through old documents a few weeks ago and found the pictures. My, what a difference a few years makes. My, what a year it has been.

In retrospect it was probably one of the best Christmas we’ve ever spent together because, quite simply, we were together. Laughing until we cried over the stupidest things and making memories that were almost buried until the pictures were found again.

Teenage faces with missing teeth and braces, bad make up and Bam Margera hair. What were you thinking, boy? Yes, I have pictures. How much is it worth to you for me to keep them off of Facebook?

The one thing commercial Christmas stories never show is that things change, friends come and go, people get sick, children grow up and parents pass away. So while I find myself licking my wounds of all of the changes that happened the last few years, I invite you to join me in keeping perspective of what is really important.

Spend time with your family while you can, before they’re grown or before they pass away.

If you have your health, fight like hell to keep it. You have the greatest gift in the world. Hopefully, you realize that.

If you don’t have your health, fight like hell to get it back. You can’t help or take care of anyone else if you’re not well.

Being an organ donor is sexy. Make sure you let the DMV and your family know that you want to be sexy.

Win the war, not the battle. Choose what’s really worth getting upset about. Foreclosure or bankruptcy are never carved on a headstone or used in a eulogy.

For gawds sake, if you smoke … quit already.

Surround yourself with friends who are true. True friends don't care how much money you do or do not have, what you weigh, if your house is a mess, what you drive, or if your family is filled with crazy people.

Everyone has at least one crazy person in their family. It’s not just your family.

There’s always next year. If this wasn’t your best year because you’ve struggled with your health, your home, your finances or your hope, you get your mulligan next week.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Mulligan’s.

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Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area.  Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor.  If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

You can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter by visiting www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and entering your email in the subscription area on the center pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog. Oh, and if you’re reading this content anywhere else but www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com or Naples Daily News it is probably stolen.

If you don’t see the video above,click here.

First Trip to Bass Pro Shop

Phone Books Cluttering Up a Home Near You

Ever hear that old wives tale; if you touch a frog, you’ll get warts? What do you have to touch to get a half dozen unsolicited phone books dumped on at your front door every year.

You may not know this but phone books are the warts of vacant real estate. They’re probably considered the warts of occupied real estate, depending upon the occupant’s point of view.

As a real estate agent, I’ve stood at a lot of front doors and I’ve seen a lot of lonely phone books piled up by welcome mats. What amazes me is seeing years of phone books piled by the front door in some of the empty homes.

The phone book delivery person is, no doubt, an independent contractor paid to sprinkle them across town. I’m thinking that there must be a paycheck penalty for applying deductive reasoning or common sense to skip a home if nobody has retrieved the last five additions.

My own personal record for discovering a phone book stock pile at a vacant house was 11. There were about five or six outside which was impressive. There was another stack inside the door. Someone kept tossing them close to the front door of the foreclosed home and I guess real estate agents kept putting them inside when they were showing the place.

Even if there had been someone living there I wonder if they could opt out of phone book delivery if they even wanted to.

When I came home last week and found a fossil in a plastic bag on my front porch I actually Googled to see how to suspend the delivery.

The site where I ended up was www.YellowPagesGoesGreen.org. I filled out a few of the opt-out forms for “phone book companies” they believe are delivered to my area. Who knows, it may work. Either that or I actually just filled out my detailed contact information and got myself on more phone book lists.

Between the internet and smart phones, a huge chunk of the American public no longer really has a need for a phone book. That phone book, chock full of important contact information you and I are supposed to not be able to live without isn’t exactly a necessity.

Approximately 1.2 billion pounds of phone books are thrown out every year. So much energy and resources are being wasted for no other reason than to make highly unattractive paper front porch ornaments plus it leaves a big, fat carbon footprint.

I’m morally conflicted but at my house that pile of pulp gets the express route from point A to point B which stands for “bin”, as in my recycle bin. The book, regardless of its color can’t help but lose relevancy when a consumer can search online, find what they’re searching for and get consumer reviews and endorsements.

Now, I realize there are a few people who actually do use the phone book. From what I learned form an impromptu poll I took online, the biggest users are web developers who are looking for businesses behind the times who obviously have money to spend on getting a website built and people who are too short to reach the steering wheel in their car.

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Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area.  Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor.  If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

You can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter by visiting www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and entering your email in the subscription area on the center pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog. Oh, and if you’re reading this content anywhere else but www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com or Naples Daily News it is probably stolen.

Imperial River Weather Vane

The last home at the end of Esplanade Street in Imperial Shores has a huge grouper weather vane on it’s boat dock.  This year as the judges boat for the 25th annual Bonita Springs Boat Parade passed the dock I noticed it had antlers.  On the way back, I noticed that it had a red nose also.  Very cute!

The Boat Parade was great.  I’ll get a link up with photos of the Boat Parade after editing them. I am no photography genius … especially with night photography and there are some really bad photos to weed thru. 

Updated with photos:

View Full Album

How Much Is Your Phone Number Worth?

There is a broad spectrum of referral agents and companies out there that range from those who provide little to no service, yet still ask for a fee from the agent at the other end, to the well oiled referral relocation company.

Here’s how a real estate referral works; a real estate agent is either asked to or offers to help find a consumer adequate help for whatever their real estate transaction needs are, whether it’s buying or selling. The real estate agent painstakingly researches the agents in the area to make sure they’re the best suitable match and well experienced in the local market. The referring agent is generally paid a fee for their hard work and extensive research.

Hopefully, you’ve picked up on the sarcasm. With any luck you really, truly are being referred to a real estate agent that knows what they’re doing and has been vetted by the referring agent. That’s not always the case.

There’s a whole breed of “relocation experts” willing to take a name and a phone number and pimp it out to the first person that answers the phone and accepts the referral. I know because they’re calling me with half baked referrals, trying to scrape up a spare buck like they’re digging thru sofa cushions for loose change.

My phone rang several days ago and on the other end of the phone was a real estate agent who asked if I worked in a specific area and if I’d be interested in a referral. The agent tells me the address of the property that needs listed, asked me if I took referrals. That was more or less the entire conversation.

There wasn’t one qualifying question to see if I’d been licensed for more than twenty minutes, knew the area, ever sold one stick or brick before, had a web presence so I could actually sell the home in question. Nothing.

When the phone call was over I wondered if she realized she didn’t even provide a phone number for me to call her back or contact phone number for that referral. It was like she overheard a conversation in the grocery check out line and gave me all she gathered … a first name and a street address.

There are many situations where the consumer does require help with real estate and has to count on a second party referral. I believe in the referral process if it’s done correctly, with care, due diligence and follow up to make sure things are going well and that the consumer is getting the services they need.

The challenge in being a referral customer is making sure there is value in it for you. The referring agent is supposed to be providing research and finding the best possible candidates for you to choose from not just winging it and literally selling your phone number.

If working with a referral agent feels anything like a blind date or you feel like you’re being set up with someone’s cousin who “has a great personality” put an end to the relationship.

Just because someone offers to find a referral agent for you doesn’t mean you have to let them. Just because you agree to let them help you doesn’t mean you have to use the agent they chose for you, either.

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Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area.  Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor.  If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

You can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter by visiting www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and entering your email in the subscription area on the center pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog. Oh, and if you’re reading this content anywhere else but www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com or Naples Daily News it is probably stolen.

Real Estate Sales By Price Range

Real estate priced $200,000 and under continues to lead the sales.  There has been a slight increase in the $200-800,000 real estate sales. 

Ten years of historical real estate sales, plus condition of the real estate sales report are available here:

Real Estate Sales History November 2001-2010

and here:

The Condition of The Sale | SW Florida Real Estate

Local and Bonita Springs Real Estate Sales History

Ever wonder about closed real estate sales in the month of November for the last ten years?  Well, I did and that’s why this graph is here.  Folks like to speculate how real estate sales are but what basis is speculation if there isn’t past history of real estate sales to compare it to?

The statistics used are:  All closed sales in Sunshine MLS which includes condos, homes, duplexes, land, lots, tower residences and manufactured homes.

We’ve been experiencing a relatively stable real estate market in the $400,000 and under price point.  Of course, real estate is relative and real estate is local so consult a professional real estate agent to get statistics specific to your home and neighborhood.

If you’re curious about other market factors such as how many foreclosures and short sales included in the statistics or what price range is selling the most, read also:

The Condition of The Sale | SW Florida Real Estate

What Price Range Real Estate Sold November 2010?