First Time Home Buyers in Daytona Beach, Port Orange, South Daytona areas…

Daytona Beach, Port Orange, South Daytona Real Estate Blog by Lisa Hill, “The Smart Choice”

Atttention First Time Home Buyers: If there’s even a chance that you’ll be interested in buying a home in the Daytona Beach area; including Port Orange, South Daytona and all of east Volusia county, DO NOT WAIT any longer! Time is running out, to take advantage of the $8000 tax credit!

Although your mortage MIGHT take only 30 days for full financing, in today’s real estate market it is highly unlikely! And to receive the $8000 tax credit, you MUST close on your home by November 30, 2009! If you don’t close by the cutoff date, you will not receive the $8,000 tax credit.

If you have not yet started your search for your home, call me ASAP! I’ll help you with your search, and work for you in finding just the right home for you, and negotiate to help you get the most house for your money.

If you want to view some houses from the Daytona Beach area Multiple Listing Service (MLS), <—follow this link.

If you’d like to view my Featured Real Estate Listings, <—follow this link.

If you’d like to know more about me, I’m a Daytona Beach Native, and REALTOR® with Adams Cameron & Co., REALTORS®, <—follow this link.

For all your real estate needs, make a Smart Choice and Contact Lisa Hill, Daytona Beach native and REALTOR® with Adams Cameron & Co., REALTORS®. <—Click here to contact Lisa Hill.

I look forward to helping you with all your real estate needs.

*All content is owned and copyright protected. (Except for the actual copyright logo at the beginning of this line.)

 

Buy Daytona Beach House Near Ocean

LOOK! REALTORS and Home Buyers; This home is as unique as it is beautiful! This is a beautiful, remodeled, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, beachside home with plenty of eastern windows for lots of light, and peaceful, completely private views of your garden area with pavers and covered patio. Use your outdoor wet bar with work surface and cabinets to store your gardening or entertaining supplies for your family or guests, while you enjoy your large, screened, sparkling pool. Prepare to be impressed as you enter the foyer and are struck by this home’s wonderful flow. The large, formal living room has pecky cypress walls and a warm, comfortable feel. Your open, expansive family room has a wood-burning fireplace, a wall of windows to view your patio and garden, and your formal dining room is waiting for your full dining set (or use this area for a fantastic office). The eat-in galley kitchen with Corian counters and sink, has breakfast bar, and even more storage, and leads to a multi-function bonus room; great for a children’s play room or an entertainment area, or even a 4th bedroom. The laundry area has plenty of cabinets, counter space, and a basin. The master bedroom has a step-in shower with steam function, plus new commode and pedestal sink. The guest bathroom has been completely remodeled with neutral colors and a beautiful tile inlay, and combined tub and shower. The 3rd bedroom which is currently being used for an office has quality plantation blinds. Your one-car garage has upper storage, your yard has a timed irrigation system with rain sensor, and your side yard has a gardening shed, to maintain your gorgeous tropical shrubbery. This fantastic Daytona Beach home is just 2 blocks from the beach, and less than a mile from the Bellair Plaza. Don’t wait! This home puts the competition to shame! Price recently reduced to $184,900.

View more photos of this Daytona Beach house for sale <– click here.

Need information? Try these links…

Buy Daytona Beach real estate

Sell Daytona Beach real estate

www.DaytonaBeachRealEstateSales.com

 

Ponce Inlet Real Estate Report; 1st Quarter Listings and Sales 2009

Moving right along through the 1st quarter real estate listing and sales reports for each city in East Volusia County, we’re now on the fabulous city of Ponce Inlet. For anyone who’s familiar with the Daytona Beach area… if you’ve ever visited Ponce Inlet, or even better, if you have the privilege of owning a home in Ponce Inlet, you know how many unique and interesting things are packed into this exclusive, oceanside AND riverside town! You have your choice of restaurants that range from casual to elegant. Then there’s the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse and Museum, and the Marine Science Center, and Inlet Harbour Marina, and very cool walkways through the marshes and dunes, on the way to the inlet. I love to walk way out on the jetty, where the waves are crashing against the rocks. And sometimes I drive to my favorite beach access point (which just happens to be located in Ponce Inlet) where I can either park my car and look at the ocean, or get out and walk barefoot in the sand. I absolutely love the feeling of beach sand between my toes. But I’m digressing. Let’s get to the real estate statistics.

For this report, I’m providing more details, because there are more diverse types of properties, in a wider range of values. And to keep this information all easy to read and understand, I’ve created a chart that separates houses and condos/multi-family residences. And just as I’ve done with the previous cities I’ve finished so far… Port Orange, South Daytona, Daytona Beach, Daytona Beach Shores and Wilbur-by-the-Sea… I’ve shown the amount of houses or condos that were listed in each price range, for the 1st quarter in one column, then the amount of sales for houses and columns in the next column, then the total number of real estate listings in those categories in the third column.

Now for those of you who like graphs…

Ponce Inlet 1st Quarter Houses Report. New Listings, Sales, and Total Inventory.

Ponce Inlet 1st Quarter Condos Report. New Listings, Sales, and Total Inventory.

To buy or sell houses or condos in Ponce Inlet, or any city in East Volusia County, make a Smart Choice and contact Lisa Hill with Adams Cameron & Co., REALTORS®.

If you’re not in this area, but are interested in helping in saving endangered sea turtles, you can actually adopt a sea turtle nest and have some check on your personal nest, take pictures of it, wait for them to hatch, and know you really made a difference. Click here >> for information on how to Adopt Your Own Sea Turtle Nest in Ponce Inlet FL.

 

Arr Mateys. It Be “Pirate Fest” in Ponce Inlet at the Inlet Harbor Marina!

Ponce Inlet Real Estate and Events. By Lisa Hill, “THE SMART CHOICE!”

I just finished my 1st quarter real estate listings vs sales report for Ponce Inlet, for the 1st quarter of 2009, and decided to add some fun local events when I ran across something that’s only going to be here for a week. Check this out.

Right now, at the Inlet Harbor Restaurant & Marina at Ponce Inlet, you can “Discover the Pinta and the Nina”. Only until May 3rd, you can tour replicas of the Pinta and the Nina as they land in Ponce Inlet! I think this sounds really cool.

In addition to this short-term, historically fun event, the Inlet Harbor Marina is committed to protecting the water quality and habitat of the Intracoastal Waterway and Halifax River. As a matter of fact the Inlet Harbor Marina was “the first facility in Volusia County to achieve dual certifications as a Clean Marina and Clean Boatyard”. But there’s more!

Visit the Inlet Harbor Restaurant & Marina web site, and check out the long list of “Reader’s Choice Awards”, voted on by local residents. I counted over 20 awards, ranging from food, to drinks, to live music, to general entertainment, and more.

So hurry if you want to visit the Pinta and the Nina this week, but visit as often as possible to enjoy the many fun things to do. It could take you a month just to enjoy all the great food, drinks and music!

If you’re interested in buying or selling real estate in Ponce Inlet, make a Smart Choice and contact Lisa Hill, a Daytona Beach native, and expert REALTOR® with experience selling real estate in every city in east Volusia County.

 

Trulia Real Estate Questions: (part 2) Is This the New Floor Call…. NO!

Daytona Beach Estate Questions, Answers & Information by Lisa C. Hill, “THE SMART CHOICE!”

This blog post is addressed to both real estate professionals, and real estate consumers. I hope it answers questions, brings enlightenment, and causes everyone to really think about the direction the real estate industry is taking, and how our current actions are directing that future.

Yesterday I blogged about the huge difference in the types of questions being asked on Trulia now, as opposed to those that were asked in the past, and I included examples in that post. To be honest, I’m suspicious of these new questions, although I have given some partial answers. But as REALTORS®, I believe we eventually develop a 6th sense, so to speak, that can raise our suspicions in certain instances. I believe this is one of those instances. In this yesterdays’ blog post, I referenced a Members Only post by Richard Weisser titled “How Is It that Buyers Still Do No Understand Agency?“. (You’ll need to register for a free Active Rain account in order to view that post.)

Upon showing examples of the differences in the recent Trulia questions vs the Trulia questions of the recent past, the following thought occurred to me. “Is this now the equivalent of floor time?” If so, I suppose it has possibilities, but there are some major problems with this theory (even if it was my own thought). First, bear in mind how the real estate industry is structured, and the way REALTORS® get paid. Then compare “floor calls” with “questions on message boards, that contain no information about the person who left the question…

• When a real estate buyer calls a real estate brokerage to obtain information on a property, REALTORS® have the oppportunity to pre-qualify them (a service that is usually promised to the real estate sellers who list their properties with us) while providing the property information. This benefits both real estate buyers and sellers alike. It’s going the extra mile in providing information and services that are necessary to most real estate transactions.

• When a potential real estate buyer calls a real estate brokerage to obtain information on a property; in order for REALTORS® to provide the most helpful information to the buyer, they frequently will also e-mail additional MLS information and/or properties that the buyer may need. The correct MLS data for these listings can ONLY be found in the originating MLS; not on the IDX systems that provide certain MLS data to the public. A REALTOR® is the only way for a real estate buyer to obtain full and accurate listing information. (Although a new system by the National Association of REALTORS is currently being designed) I feel it is necessary to make this crystal clear to the general public.
  • The actual MLS (Multiple Listing Service) that REALTORS® use is NOT what the general public is finding on the internet! Currently, the MLS data that is available for public viewing is limited to whatever IDX data was chosen by a particular web site;… whatever data that site deemed as the most important pieces of data to be placed in their real estate searches. In other words, each publicly accessible site provides whatever information the site owner(s) has decided to provide. This is why there are so many errors on the public sites, whereas a REALTOR® has direct access to the full, accurate, current MLS listing data, which we will gladly provide to our customers. But bear in mind that the “listing agents” of the properties that are in each MLS system, are held accountable by the seller of those properties, to make sure the MLS data on their properties is completely accurate. This is why each “authentic” MLS is the most accurate source of information.

• When a REALTOR® receives a “floor call”, as the conversation progresses, the REALTOR® is able to find out if there’s other pertinent information which that particular buyer or seller may need, which may not be uncovered through random questions on an internet message board. (Again, it’s all about what’s best FOR the customer!) There may be previously unforeseen problems that a REALTOR® is specially trained and equipped to detect and handle when conversing with a customer. These potential pitfalls cannot be detected when a REALTOR® places a short response to a question on a message board. There needs to be a conversation between REALTOR® and consumer, in the EARLY stages of a real estate buyer or sellers’ search for information.

• As a REALTOR® talks to a real estate buyer or seller, a relationship of trust is built between them that benefits the client in a way that could not happen in a quick comment on an internet message board. From my personal experience, I can testify to giving preferental treatment to my personal clients. (Almost all real estate professionals will do the same.) I will bend over backwards for my clients, and share the expertise I’ve gained from my years of experience, to make sure they have all the tools they need to get the best “deal” they can.

I could go on and on, but the answer to my own question is “NO!” “This is not the equivalent of floor time.” Because the calls that REALTORS® receive during floor time are a two-way street of questions and answers, and the building of a beneficial relationship. This is not the case when only one question is asked on a web site. With no dialogue, there can be no assurance of the accuracy of the information being given (by either party). It’s just too difficult to provide all the necessary information. REALTORS® understand that to the consumer, making personal contact may feel awkward in the beginning, but this is how many great relationships start =) With all the technological advances that have been made, and with all the social networking sites that place REALTORS® and real estate customers in contact with each other, there is still no replacement for the personal touch. The technology and the personal touch must be used in conjunction with each other.

1. From a REALTORS®’ perspective; we work on straight commission and only get paid when we help our clients reach a successful closing. And we want to know that we’re working with a loyal cient.
2. And from the perspective of a real estate buyer or seller, they want to make sure they don’t get stuck with an inexperienced REALTOR®, or one who does not have their best interests at heart. (To all you buyers and sellers out there, yes we do understand this.)

So what is the solution? Well, it’s the same solution that eludes many, but has never ceased to be the best and most straight-forward way to achieve success. It’s called communication.

• If real estate buyers and sellers are honest about their needs,
• If REALTORS® will give their full attention to these buyers and sellers,
• If all parties maintain respectful, open communication throughout their working relationship;
• The only end-result can be success.

www.DaytonaBeachRealEstateSales.com