Purchasing a home is a big decision and large financial commitment. It is not to be taken lightly. Some people can make a home purchase quickly with what appears to be not much thought while others can suffer from paralysis of analysis. People who can make a decision quickly have usually owned property in the past, are  much more pragmatic when it comes to the real estate market, are not very afraid of making a bad decision and don’t make the unrealistic goal of finding the “perfect” home.

Some home buyers can just take an eternity to buy a home. Usually, they are terrified of making a bad decision, are trying to find the “perfect” home or just have a fear of commitment. The recent real estate debacle have made many people skittish which is totally understandable. Many people just never buy because they are looking for that super duper deal that never comes along. Here in Sarasota, Florida that would be the equivalent of someone looking for a fabulous home on the water with stunning bay views for $500,000 when the rest of the waterfront homes are selling for more than $1 million.

Buying a home is an important decision so don’t jump into it without a plan. You may not need to find a home in a certain time frame but you probably don’t want your home search to last for the next 3 years either. If you cannot find a suitable home within three or four months you should probably analyze yourself and your needs. You might be looking for something that does not exist.  Here are five tips to help you find a home in short time frame.

1)      Find a Good Real Estate Agent

You don’t have to pay the commission of your Realtor even when he or she represents you. Your agent is typically compensated byt the seller even though they still represent your interests. So why not hire a good one? If you were on trial for a crime you did not commit you would want a good Attorney right? If you were having brain surgery you would want a good Doctor right? So why not hire a good Realtor for one of your largest transaction?

It is not that difficult to get a real estate license. You go to school for a certain number of hours, pass a few test and boom – you have a real estate license. Because of this you have a lot part time agent out there just “doing it on the side”. Do you really want to entrust one of your largest financial transactions ever to someone who does not do it full time? It is probably not wise. Especially since it does not cost anymore money.

2)      Be a Pragmatist

Everyone wants to find that clueless seller that is willing to sell their home for far less than it is worth. But it really just does not happen often. You may be able to find such a seller but it usually entails years of looking and someone who is not represented by a professional Realtor that knows the market well.

Think about it for a second. Your real estate market is scrutinized daily by Realtors and investors. If a home comes on the market that is far below appraised value you will have every observant real estate agent and investor out there trying to buy it. In the few times it does happen usually the seller receives multiple offers over asking price and close to where it should have been priced in the first place.

I run into so many potential buyers who despite what they say will only buy if they feel they are getting a “sweet deal”. These people usually never end up buying because the price is never good enough. They always seem to want to buy it at a price that the seller is not willing to sell it for.

3)      Learn the real estate market

Before a buyer can make a purchase they need a certain comfort level with the market. For some people that might mean a few hours on the internet looking at properties. For others that might mean viewing 47 properties.

The great thing about the internet age is that lots of real estate information is out there. Depending on where you live you can probably pull up more information than you need. It is easy to find who owns what, what they paid for it, when they bought, square footage, age of construction, swimming pool, number of bedrooms, bathrooms etc.

Once you find a good Realtor have them send you recently sold homes in the areas that interest you. In fact, they can probably set it up so you receive an email automatically when a new home comes on the market, goes under contract or sells. This will give you an idea of what is happening in the market. Afterall, the value of a property is usually determined by what three other similar properties are selling for.  If you are looking for a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, pool home on a golf course in Lakewood Ranch and the last three sold for $400,000, $415,000 and $412,000 then you will probably have to spend within 5% of these properties to get something similar. If you are looking for a home like this for $300,000 then you are probably wasting your time.

4)      Be Prepared

Get financing arranged before you go looking at houses. The last thing you want to do is find your dream home only to later learn that you cannot afford it. Lending guidelines have changed over the last 5 years. Some people might think they can borrow $300,000 for their home purchase when in reality they can only borrow $200,000. It is better to find this out before you go look at property.

Another step in preparing is figuring out what you want. All decision makers need to sit down and make a list of their needs and wants. Figure out what can live with and without. There is a good chance that you will have to make a compromise. Even buyers in the luxury price range make compromises. Having a good understanding of what you want is a great start.

5)      Get to Work

Finding the best home involves getting out there to see homes. You have found a great agent to represent you, figured out how to pay for the home, established a list of wants and needs, done a little homework following sold properties and are realistic about the market. Now you need to go find a home. Make appointments to see the homes for sale in the best neighborhoods that you and your Realtor determine to fit your needs and wants. It is pretty much that simple.

Finding a home can be difficult if you let it. Follow these 5 steps and you are sure to be residing in your new purchase within a relatively short period of time.

When thinking about professional office space, the traditional model has always been something around the lines of private offices, conference rooms, kitchen, copy room, etc. for a baseline setup.  Nowadays, business are tending to slim down to conserve during hard times or on the opposite end of the spectrum, running a start up company where the owner might be the single employee, no need for big office space.  Whether these smaller businesses want the traditional space or are avid café customers who sit down for hours on end enjoying free WiFi in order to work – they are both constrained by an inflexible office market that wants to sign up a tenant for 1+ years in a space of a minimum of 500 square feet.  This leaves little opportunity for business too small to afford hefty rent payments.  So what are their options?

Over the past few years, landlords have gotten creative to accommodate the smallest businesses.  Take Intelligent Office for instance.

Intelligent Office is a company that now has nearly 50 franchises across the country.  Each offers executive, private offices in a shared environment.  Amenities such as an answering service, kitchen and conference rooms are shared among all tenants.  Just like a typical office, there is IT support, security and even furniture available to decorate an office.  A small business now has the capability of having a prestigious office to show off to clients without breaking the bank.

Impressive is just a starting point too.  Check out some of these offices Intelligent Office offers:

A similar concept of shared space has popped up in Santa Cruz, CA.  The concept coined by NextSpace differs from Intelligent Office’s model of a traditional-looking professional office space; rather it thrives on a dynamitic work space that involves sofas and picnic benches to foster a more café-like and collaborative environment.

Santa Cruz locals and NextSpace Co-Founders Jeremy Neuner and Ryan Coonerty, say that the words “rent” and “NextSpace” should never be in the same sentence.  NextSpace is all about the membership.  For $135/ month to $650/ month, a member has the ability to work in a unique atmosphere that has all the basic amenities that a normal, commercial full-service lease would include (kitchen, answering service, janitorial for those who actually have an office, etc.).  Importantly though, there is the NextSpace Effect which sets this concept apart from most other shared-work environments.

The NextSpace Effect happens out of spontaneous connections gained between Members.  The building is filled with individual work stations, couches, big comfy chairs – all specifically designed to make a friendlier, relaxed environment where conversation can more easily happen and sporadic connects are then made.

Here’s an example:

Someone’s working on their laptop at one of the many comfy sofas in the building and happens to strike up a conversation with another member working at the next sofa over.  They realize their businesses could benefit each other and suddenly, they are passing customer leads back and fourth.  The NextSpace Effect strikes again!

But NextSpace is not right for all small businesses and visa-a-versa for Intelligent Office.  It will be interesting to watch these next few years as the economy (hopefully) begins its recovery and businesses continue needing small spaces to thrive.  Whether it’s a relaxed, collaborative environment or a more professional, impressive office to show off to clients, demand from small business for small space will continue.

If you would like more information on any part of this article, please visit Barry Swenson Builder or feel free to contact the author at jwoodyard@barryswensonbuilder.com

My IDX/RETS company, Displet, just rolled out SEO friendly URLs to everyone, so my three sites were updated with this feature.  Basically, this adds the property address to the URL of that specific detail page, which helps the search engines to know what the page is about.  Ex. http://search.ericbramlett.com/residentials/detail/320258-7014-greenshores Displet is rolling out features pretty regularly, and we blog about them on the Displet blog, but I’ll also blog about them here, from time to time.

I started a new meetup group for “Real Estate Geeks” in Austin.  If you’re in the Austin area & are passionate about social media & connecting with clients online, this is the group for you!  Our first meetup will be at Apothecary on January 14th at 6pm.

Here’s a link to the group:

http://www.meetup.com/austin-real-estate-geeks/

I look forward to seeing old friends & meeting new!

According to today’s New York Times, Congress will not only extend the current homebuyers’ tax credit, but will also liberalize the program. The article reports that the credit, currently slated to expire at the end of November, will go through April 30, 2010, would no longer be limited to only first time buyers and will apply to people with higher income limits.

The newest legislation, if agreed upon by both the House and the Senate, would increase income limit eligibility for the $8,000 credit for first time buyers to $125,000 for individuals and up to $225,000 for couples. Under the current plan, individuals are phased down after $75,000 and couples after $150,000….so the new limits are quite generous. In addition, a credit of up to $6500 would be allowed for “repeat” buyers…so this program will potentially encompass a much larger buyer pool.

Thoughts?

Licensed in Virginia, Maryland, and D.C., Kevin Koitz, with The Koitz Group @ Long and Foster RE specializes in Washington DC real estate and surrounding luxury communities in Montgomery County Maryland. Visit his Bethesda real estate guide or his Georgetown real estate page to get a flavor for some of DC’s finest areas.

I received a contact request this morning from someone apparently upset about my boundary definition of Hyde Park.  I attempted to email her back, but the email address wasn’t valid.  So…I thought I’d post the conversation here and get others’ thoughts:

Just so you’re aware, Hyde Park doesn’t run “east of Guadalupe, west of Red River, north of 38th, south of 51st.” Those a attempts for the outlying neighborhoods to boost their prices to Hyde Park levels. They do not fall under the same codes as real Hyde Park. Hyde Park is actually 38th to 45th and guadalupe to duval. No other exception.

And my response:

Hi [name] -

I appreciate your email regarding Hyde Park.  Central Austin neighborhood boundaries can be a bit fuzzy at times, so I try and define them as is generally accepted by the public & the real estate community.  It’s difficult to define properly because the legal descriptions don’t match what is generally accepted.  For instance, using your boundaries, there are 12 total property matches for sale, but only 7 are legally described as “Hyde Park” (ex. 3811 Avenue F is in “Shadow Lawn.”)  Applying those boundaries also excludes 5 properties currently listed that are legally described as “Hyde Park” (ex. 4511 Ave C, 4608 Avenue G, 4507 Ave D, etc.)  So, you can see the difficulty in applying hard & fast boundaries when the legal descriptions themselves are fuzzy.  Most agents & buyers generally consider Hyde Park as the boundaries I’ve described (and some are even looser – my sister lives ~54th block of Avenue H and considers herself in Hyde Park.)  So…I go with what I feel is best.

This isn’t unique to Hyde Park.  Tarrytown is a mess of legal descriptions, and homes in Deep Eddy are generally referred to as in Tarrytown.  Clarksville is very similar.  South Austin (78704,) and East Austin are both even more difficult.

Regardless, I appreciate your email and feedback…

Looking back at my original boundary definition, going as far east as Red River might be a bit liberal, but not too much so.  To give an idea of, there are 12 total properties on the market w/ “Hyde Park” in the legal description and 34 properties with “Hyde Park” in the agent remarks.  These properties stretch as far north as 54th St and as far east as I-35.

For comparison, there are 5 properties on the market with “tarrytown” in the legal description, and 48 with the term in the agent description.

What does this mean for someone searching in Central Austin?  Use the keyword tool along with the subdivision tool.

For example, if you can’t find a lot of listings with a Tarrytown Subdivision Search then try using the keyword tool to search for properties with Tarrytown in the agent remarks.