Randy Schwartz at Premium Properties Real Estate

05/28/2017

Prayer for fellow colleague Mitch Skubak

02/13/2017

01/22/2017

Single women are re-emerging in real estate, with numbers are growing in proportion to the rest of the market.

The number of single female buyers has been on the rise since 1981, increasing from 11 percent to 22 percent during the market’s peak in 2006, according to data from the National Association of REALTORS®. Seventeen percent of home buyers today are single women. That number is expected to grow in the coming years.

“They don’t fear buying a home and are not waiting to be in a relationship to qualify for a mortgage,” says Elizabeth Weintraub, broker-associate at Lyon Real Estate in Sacramento, Calif.

Single men, on the other hand, are purchasing homes at far lower rates, even with their higher earnings. Single men have accounted for about 7 percent of home buyers in 2016, according to NAR data.

Single female home buyers tend to be older than both single men and married couples who are buying homes, surveys show. Many are buying who are single, including those who are widowed or divorced or who have never been married at all. Some have children with them. The number of single-mother households increased to 8.6 million in 2011 from 1.9 million in 1960, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center analysis.

Single female buyers, on average, are typically looking for a 1,500-square-foot home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, says Jessica Lautz, NAR’s manager of member and consumer reach. About half are looking to buy in urban centers, while the remainder want to buy in rural areas or small towns. They also are showing a greater interest in condos that offer landscaping and other maintenance services and feature a community-centric environment.

The median age for a single female buyer is 50 (single male buyers’ median age is 47 and the median age for a married couple buyer is 44).

The decline in the U.S. marriage rate is expected to result in an increase in single female and single male home buyers in the coming years. (The marriage rate has fallen from 8.2 per 1,000 people in 2000 to 6.9 per 1,000 people in 2014.)

“I expect single women buyers to continue to be a force in the market,” Lautz says.

01/01/2017

Happy New Year

10/13/2016

Cocoa Beach

09/23/2016

Five fixes that can raise a home’s value

STAMFORD, Conn. – Sept. 8, 2016 – For homeowners looking to spruce up their home before listing it, there's plenty they can do to attract more buyers and potentially boost the value of their home too.

Veteran real estate professionals recently weighed in at This Old House on some of the best home improvement projects they believe can help a home show better. Here are a few of their ideas:

1. Open up the space.

Create more space, whether that's even removing a kitchen island or knocking out a non-structural wall. "Right now buyers want a wide open floor plan, the living room right off the kitchen. They are into big spaces," Kristin Wellins, senior manager of program development at ERA Real Estate, told This Old House.

2. Light it up.

Keep the home bright: Have windows open to let the natural light flow in, consider lights that use motion detectors to turn themselves off, or install sun tubes, a reflective material that funnels natural light from a hole cut in a rooftop down through a ceiling fixture in a room. "High wattage bulbs make small spaces feel larger, and soft lighting brings warmth to empty spaces," This Old House notes.

3. Enhance the front door.

"Don't underestimate the power of a front door," Willens says. "People make up their minds in the first seven seconds of entering a house." Have an overhang on the front porch, such as an awning or portico above the front door, suggests Roger Voisinet, a real estate professional in Charlottesville, Va.

4. Pay attention to the floors.

Spend some money on the floors, suggests the real estate professionals surveyed by This Old House. Even a $600 to $900 investment could help boost the home's value by possibly $2,000, they say. Get a carpenter or handyman to eliminate distracting squeaks from floors, repair any broken tiles, patch damaged floorboards, and remove wall-to-wall carpeting, they suggest.

5. Tackle easy bathroom upgrades.

Bathroom upgrades can quickly get pricey but a few upgrades can still make a big difference. For example, swap frosted glass for clear glass, remove any rust stains, apply fresh caulk, update doorknobs and cabinet pulls, replace faucets, buy a new toilet seat, or install a low-flush toilet.

Source: "Brokers Tell All: 10 Ways to Boost Home Value," This Old House (September 2016)

09/22/2016

A quick recap of the Brevard County Residential Report for August 2016 compared to August 2015:
Closed Sales are up 1.5% for August 2016 in which the number of units closed was 879 compared to 866 in August 2015, with a decrease in cash sales by -26.1% compared to August 2015.
New Pending Sales are up 1.8% and New Listings are up 7.4%.
The Median Sales Price for Brevard Single Family homes is up 14.7% to $195,000 compared to a year ago, which was $170,000.
Months Supply of Inventory is down -7.4% at 2.5 months compared to 2.7 months in August 2015.
Traditional Sales are up 15.1%, with a median sales price of $200,000.
Foreclosure/REO Sales are down -64%, with a median sales price of $109,450.
Short Sale Closings are down -29.4%, with a median sales price of $127,500.