Archive for the 'Tampa Realtor' Category

KW Cares, Wine & Salsamole

November 7th, 2007 categories: Keller Williams, Tampa Realtor

Keller Williams Realty has a public charity, known as KW Cares, created to support Keller Williams Realty associates and their families in times of extreme hardship as a result of a sudden emergency.

Last night our firm sponsored a KW Cares benefit, graciously hosted by one of our agents at her beautiful Beach Park home. It was a sort of wine tasting, or wine consumption get together if you will. The wine was procured from Vintage Wine Cellars, a great wine specialty shop down the street from our offices. The benefit was for one of our staff members who needs some help with medical bills. It was a great time for great cause.

I was asked to bring to along a food item for the gathering, and agreed that I would whip up a batch of my guacamole. My brother is a professional chef in Bridgehampton, N.Y., and he makes a killer guacamole, which I’ve tweaked to my liking over the years. It’s a little more involved than your average guacamole and I refer to it as Kicked-Up Salsamole.

The salsamole was well received and I was asked for the recipe by a few folks. So I figured I would plug it in here, where anyone can come and get it.

So here goes:

• 4 ripe Haas avocados, meat scooped out and mashed (leave it somewhat chunky)
• 1 small to medium red onion, diced.
• 2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded, diced.
• 2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and diced.
• Juice of 2 medium limes or about 1.5–2 ounces.
• 2 tbs of freshly chopped cilantro.
• Salt to taste (lots of lime and salt make your mouth happy).

Mix it all together in a bowl and chill for at least an hour before serving with chips, etc.

Here’s an entertaining 5 minute video on how to peel, seed and dice a tomato. As a bonus, the recipe for ice-water is also included.

¡Disfrute!

Learn about KW Cares

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | No Comments »

Flying Over Tampa Neighborhoods With Google Earth

August 24th, 2007 categories: Tampa Real Estate, Tampa Condos, South Tampa, Tampa Waterfront Homes, Tips for Sellers, Tampa Realtor

The Internet has obviously changed the way Realtors market homes and has changed the way home buyers search for homes as well. Buyers today are hungry for information at their desktops. Buyers, and the agents who represent them, want multiple photos, video, virtual tours, floor plans and other pertinent property information available online at the left click of a mouse. Many listing agents and brokerages have realized this, and offer all these components to help sell their clients’ properties.

Google Earth, a free application from Google, is a great tool for real estate, and provides yet another excellent way to display a property to prospective homebuyers. If you have not already used it, Google Earth allows you to do a virtual “fly over” of any property and/or neighborhood. It’s like having your own private plane and pilot, soaring across the neighborhoods of Tampa and checking out the surrounding area of any properties you may be considering.

For instance, I can create a place mark on a condo listing that shows not only where that building is located, but I can also show where in the building the particular unit is located. It can be that precise. The satellite photos of the Tampa area are pretty darn good. I can also attach a description to the place mark with a link to a more detailed page about the property. I can then make the place mark public if I want to and share it with the Google Earth Community.

So not only is Google Earth a great tool for conducting property and neighborhood research, but it also serves as another online tool for marketing a property to any prospective buyers. I can save my place mark as a file and then attach it to any electronic marketing materials that we have. I can also e-mail the file to buyers who inquire about the property. When a user opens the file, Google Earth will open and fly directly into the property place mark. A click on the place mark icon opens the description box which also contains a link to get driving directions. Pretty cool stuff.

If you don’t already have Google Earth, you can download the free version here. If you already have Google Earth installed, or once you do, you can download and save this file, and then open it with Google Earth.

Google’s take on Google Earth:

Google Earth streams the world over wired and wireless networks enabling users to virtually go anywhere on the planet and see places in photographic detail. This is not like any map you have ever seen. This is a 3D model of the real world, based on real satellite images combined with maps, guides to restaurants, hotels, entertainment, businesses and more. You can zoom from space to street level instantly and then pan or jump from place to place, city to city, even country to country.Get Google Earth. Put the world in perspective.

http://earth.google.com)

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | No Comments »

“Market Snapshot” Provides Just That

August 17th, 2007 categories: Tampa Condos, Tampa MLS, Tampa Florida Real Estate, Tampa Market Conditions, Tampa Realtor, Channelside Market Updates

You gotta love automation, queries and databases. Anything to give us instant gratification with instant information. We recently installed a new service on our websites called “Market Snapshot”, that provides a look at listing and sales activity around any given address. It is connected to our local MLS, The Mid-Florida Regional MLS. The MLS is the database used by real estate agents and brokers to list homes for sale and record sales data. As a Tampa Realtor, this is where you go to search for homes for buyer clients and/or do research to determine estimated market values.

So the Market Snapshot will go out and automatically pull current listings as well as recently sold homes comparable to any address provided in the form. It then shoots the user an e-mail with a link to a graphic presentation of the market conditions in and around the neighborhood of that particular address. Users can also set up future, automated reports on selected schedules.

And while this Market Snapshot is really no match to a professionally prepared Comparative Market Analysis, it does provide some good information in short order, and provides the instant gratification that we all desire. Check it out (in the right column there) and feel free to provide any feedback.

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | No Comments »

April Bank of America Realtor Survey Results For Tampa

May 15th, 2007 categories: Tampa Real Estate, Homes For Sale in Tampa, Tampa Market Conditions, Tampa Realtor

Bank of America sends out a monthly survey to Realtors across the country to gather information on local housing markets. Here is a summary of Tampa’s survey results for the month of April:

“Traffic remains far below agents’ expectations, with no signs of improvement.”

Sixty-seven percent of Tampa Realtor respondents said home buyer traffic was less than expected in April. Two percent noted higher than expected traffic. Wonder where they are? I’ve noted an increase in traffic recently but it still has not produced more buying activity.

Seventy-four percent of agents said prices have fallen in comparison to the previous 30 days, while 2% said prices have risen. I’m in the former group of respondents. Multiple price reductions are the norm for MLS listings.

“There is more inventory and fewer qualified buyers.”

This was a quote from one of the respondents, and I’m sure that this is the general feeling among the majority. Inventory has been on a steady increase as noted in our weekly Tampa real estate market conditions report.

Gurvich Realty Group

Keller Williams South Tampa

813–205–1802

Browse Tampa Homes & Condos For Sale

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | 2 Comments »

What Is A Kickout Clause?

May 3rd, 2007 categories: Tampa MLS, Tips for Sellers, Tampa Realtor

In this market in which prices have fallen and homes are taking longer to sell, many would be buyers have to sell a home before they can purchase their next home. And many sellers are having to consider offers from buyers in which buyers have a contingency that their home must sell first.

Two years ago with homes selling so quickly and buyers getting into bidding wars (the good old days), many sellers would scoff at such a suggestion.

“Sorry, but we’ll just wait”.

But now, with buyers few and far between, many sellers are willing to consider these offers and give the buyer a chance to get their home sold. But what if you, as a seller, sign an agreement with a buyer that gives them 90 days to get their home sold, and you then get a better offer?

The kick out clause is a special addendum attached to a contract that gives the seller the right to continue to show their home and solicit better offers. If the seller accepts a better offer, the first buyer has to step up to the plate and waive their contingency to avoid being “kicked-out” of the deal.

How can a kick-out clause be good for a buyer? Well, it’s better to have a shot at that dream home rather than have no shot at all. It’s basically a first-right-of-refusal deal.

How can a kickout clause be good for the seller? The seller is allowed to continue to market and show the home instead of placing the home in “pending” status on the MLS. Once in pending status, a home is, for all practical purposes, off of the market. It disappears from Realtor.com, and most agents don’t bother showing their buyer clients homes that are in a stayus other than “active”.

However there are a few things a seller needs to consider before signing a deal with this type of buyer. Firstly, the seller and/or the seller’s agent needs to make sure the buyer’s property is on the market or will soon be. If I’m that seller I want to see if it is being marketed well and if it’s priced competitively. If not, sellers to need to add some language that gives the buyer a deadline for which to begin marketing their home.

And what if the seller gets a better offer, asks the buyer to waive the home sale contingency, and the buyer agrees? The way the standard clause is written, the buyer must make an additional deposit and waive all financing contingencies to avoid the kick out. Will a buyer really do that?

There are no guarantees, especially in this market with the flow of home sales stagnant at best. Contracts fall apart regularly, but the kickout clause, if done correctly, is one that can help both buyer and seller, while protecting each as well.

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | 1 Comment »

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