Best advice now for homebuyers and sellers

Top experts and Money readers share their smartest tips on everything from selling a home quickly and winning a bidding war to cutting your electricity bills and prospering as a landlord.

Sell quickly. Win a bidding war.

Sell your home fast
Underprice it from the start. If you list your home for at least 10% less than it's worth, you'll often sell it for 10% more.

Buyers notice a house that's underpriced: They'll take it by storm and drive up the price with a bidding war.

People worry that setting the price low will deter bidders. That's not the case. If you don't get competitive bids, you didn't truly underprice the house to begin with. 
-- Barbara Corcoran, founder, real estate firm the Corcoran Group and panelist on ABC's "Shark Tank"

Win a bidding war
Go as high as the maximum price you'd ever be willing to pay -- if someone outbids you, you'll feel confident you gave it your best shot.

Sometimes it's not just about the money. Give the seller some breathing room too. Buyers often signal their interest by offering to close quickly, but that move might backfire in this market: If the sellers haven't found a new place yet, they may be unable to accept your offer.

Instead, propose a seller's residential lease. You close on the house quickly, then rent it back for 60 or 90 days. That gives the sellers a chance to look for a home in a nonpanicked way -- and gets you the house you want. 
-- Mary Beth Harrison, founder and realtor, Keller Williams Elite, Dallas

Cash still rules in area real estate

Cash buyers continue to dominate Southwest Florida's residential real estate market, according to a new report.

The Sarasota-Manatee region ranked third among major U.S. metropolitan areas with 65 percent of all home sales purchased with cash during the first quarter of 2014, according to data released Wednesday by industry researcher RealtyTrac.

In Charlotte County, the percentage was even greater. There, 83 percent of all home and condo sales in the quarter were bought using cash -- more than three times higher than in the first quarter of 2013.

Statewide, buyers paid cash for 64 percent of the homes purchased, nearly double from the 35 percent figure recorded a year ago.

Florida also was home to the top five cash-buying metro areas with populations above 500,000, RealtyTrac noted. Cape Coral-Fort Myers was first at 74 percent; Miami at 67 percent; Sarasota and Palm Bay at 64 percent; and Lakeland at 62 percent.

Bill Perrault, broker with Keller-Williams Peace River Partners, said Charlotte County has always had a high percentage of cash buyers, regularly accounting for up to two-thirds of sales.

The exception to that trend occurred from 2004 to 2006, when "pretty much anyone breathing qualified for a loan," he said.

"After the real estate bubble burst, it is no secret that getting a home loan went from easy as pie to being a very, very little piece of the pie -- even with extremely attractive interest rates," Perrault said. "Low interest rates don't mean anything to the folks who can't qualify.

"First-time home buyers were knocked out which, of course, directly relates to why institutional buyers came in, bought up properties to rent to everyone that could no longer qualify to buy a home," he said. "This caused rental prices to go up as supply and demand took hold."

Tighter credit standards and low home inventories have given the advantage to investors and other cash buyers, agreed Daren Blomquist, a vice president at RealtyTrac.

"The good news is that as institutional investors pull back their purchasing in many markets across the country, there is still strong demand from other cash buyers -- including individual investors, second-home buyers and even owner-occupant buyers -- to fill the vacuum of demand left by institutional investors," Blomquist said.

Though cash purchases remain prevalent, the influence of institutional buyers -- defined as entities buying at least 10 properties a year -- continues to ease in Southwest Florida.

They accounted for just 4.5 percent of all residential sales in Sarasota-Manatee in the first three months of the year, as compared with 5.7 percent in the prior period and 6.6 percent during the same time in 2013.

In Charlotte, institutions bought 15.8 percent of all homes traded in the first quarter, down from 23 percent in the fourth quarter but flat versus last year.

Statewide, those investors closed on 7.6 percent of home sales, down from 10 percent a year earlier.

Sales of new homes hit six-month high in April

Purchases of new homes rose in April by the most in six months as buyers took advantage of falling mortgage rates.

The 6.4 percent increase to a 433,000 annualized rate followed a revised 407,000 in March that was larger than initially estimated, Commerce Department data showed Friday in Washington. The median forecast of 75 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for the rate to accelerate to 425,000. The April gain reflected a surge in Midwest sales.

Declining borrowing costs and greater employment opportunities raise the prospects for an industry that has struggled to build on gains made earlier last year. A pickup in construction that puts more properties on the market and slows price gains would help improve affordability and attract buyers.

"We definitely are seeing a rebound in activity," Anika Khan, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, N.C., said before the report. "We are in the middle of the home-buying season and should start to see a bit more pickup with more traditional buyers coming into the market" even as first-time home buyers remain on the sidelines.

Estimates for April home sales ranged from 395,000 to 460,000 after a previously estimated 384,000 pace a month earlier. New-home sales, which account for about 7 percent of the residential market, are tabulated when contracts are signed, making them a timelier barometer than transactions on existing homes.

Figures Thursday from the National Association of Realtors showed a 1.3 percent gain in closings on sales of previously owned homes. Closings typically occur a month or two after a contract is signed. A bigger supply of properties helped lure buyers, the data showed. The number of available properties climbed to an almost two-year high, helping slow the pace of price appreciation.

At the same time, the existing-home sales figures included signs of underlying softness. Investors continued to play a big role in the market, the April increase was driven mainly by purchases of condominiums and the share of first-time buyers was little changed.

Lower limits on loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration are also a hurdle for the industry.

Friday's report showed the median sales price of a new house declined 1.3 percent from April 2013 to $275,800.

I think we'll see an improvement, albeit maybe a little bit slow, but I do think that we're on the right track." Nicholson

The increase in demand last month was led by a 47.4 percent surge in the Midwest to an 84,000 annual rate, the fastest since November 2007. Purchases also climbed 3.1 percent the South. They fell in the Northeast and were unchanged in the West.

There were 192,000 new houses on the market at the end of April, representing 5.3 months of supply at the current sales pace after 5.6 months in March.

Housing began to cool in the middle of 2013, with residential investment becoming a drag on the economy during the last two quarters, its worst six-month performance since the first half of 2009.

Builder optimism has eased as well, reflecting still-tight credit conditions and limited availability of lots. Confidence dropped in May to the lowest level of the year, according to a gauge of builder sentiment from the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo.

"I think that through the rest of the year, we'll see an improvement, albeit maybe a little bit slow, but I do think that we're on the right track," Larry Nicholson, president and chief executive officer at Westlake Village, Calif.-based Ryland Group Inc., said during a May 14 presentation.

Investors have soured on builder shares this year. The S&P Supercomposite Homebuilding Index has dropped 4.2 percent this year through Thursday.

Some relief may be in store for potential buyers as borrowing costs decline. The average rate on a 30-year, fixed mortgage dropped to 4.14 percent in the week ended Thursday, the lowest level since October, according to Freddie Mac in McLean, Va.

Builders are gradually adding to supply of single-family homes. A report last week from the Commerce Department showed construction starts of one-family properties increased for a third straight month, to 649,000 at an annual rate in April.

Home appliance maker Whirlpool Corp. in Benton Harbor, Mich., is upbeat about demand.

"We are, I would say, still in the early stages of a rebound in the housing market," Chief Financial Officer Larry Venturelli said at a May 14 homebuilding conference. Underlying demand in the housing markets "continue to be very strong."
Bloomberg

10 Tips for Packing

Start the Countdown

If you're starring in a 1980s sitcom, then the scene where you pick up a moving box full of stuff and the bottom falls out is hilarious. But in real life, there's no laugh track when eight of your best china dishes crash to the floor. So, it's a good idea to learn some packing skills basics before you start filling cardboard boxes with 80 pounds of precious -- and pricey -- dinnerware.

Is there an art to packing a box? Yes. Is there a strategy for labeling and organizing those boxes? Yes. Is there a good reason you should pack two months in advance? Yes.

1. Pack the Boxes Right

For a super secure box, you should tape the seam on the bottom, and you should run a piece of tape perpendicular to that seam. Pad the bottom of the box with newspaper and stuff the sides with extra paper to really make the bottom solid. Depending on what you're packing, you should wrap each item with paper. When you've filled the box to capacity, tape it shut and label it with its contents and your name. And be sure that you label the sides of the box, not the top of the box.

2. Pack Boxes by the Room

Pack similar items together. For example, if you're packing up the contents of your medicine cabinet, don't add kitchen utensils to the box. That will confuse matters when you're unpacking the box. Instead, add more bathroom items to that box. And while we're talking bathroom items, washcloths and towels make excellent stuffing. They can be used to prevent items from moving around inside a box. It's best that boxes are filled to the brim to keep them from collapsing. After you've filled a box, label it with your name, what it contains and an arrow indicating which side is up. And of course, if it's fragile, write that on the box as well.

3. Leave Stuff in Drawers

f you want to save boxes and the trouble of moving items from a drawer to a box, then simply take the drawers out of chests and desks. As long as the drawers are full and don't contain anything breakable, you can stretch tape across the top of the drawer to hold the components in place. Be sure to use masking tape -- it won't take the paint off of the furniture. That said, don't leave the masking tape on the furniture for too long. Take it off as soon as you move the drawers into your new place.

4. Pack Your Plates on Edge

You may think that the most logical way to pack your plates is to place them bottoms-down into the box. But actually, plates are less likely to break if they're standing on edge inside the box. Of course you also need to wrap each plate in newspaper and include plenty of stuffing on the bottoms, sides and in the corners of the box. Put so much stuffing inside the box that the plates don't have any room to shift around at all. Generally speaking, when you're packing glass items, you should pack the largest glass items on the bottom of the box and the smaller, more delicate glass items on the top of the box. Movers aren't always delicate with boxes and if they plop one down on the floor or the ground, the glass on the bottom of the box is going to take a beating, so those items should be stronger.

If you're using professional movers, consider having them pack your fragile items. Companies are usually only liable for the things they pack themselves. So if they pack it, you're essentially insuring it.

5. Pack Clothes in Wardrobe Boxes

If you don't know what a wardrobe box is, it's basically a big box with a rack inside where you can hang your clothes on hangers. It's an excellent invention for clothes packing because it saves you so much time. You don't have to take your clothes off the hangers, fold them and throw them in the box. You leave them on the hangers and just move them right from your closet to the rack in the box. You can even organize your clothes by season or color, stripes and solids - whatever you like. When you arrive at your new home, you can easily unload the clothes from the box, and your closet is quickly organized.

6. Tape String to the Box

Here's a cool trick: When you tape a box closed, put string underneath the tape and leave a bit of the string hanging out. When you arrive at your new place and you want to unload the box, you simply yank the string and it will rip through the tape -- and voila, the box opens. It's a little bit more time consuming on the front end to cut the string and tape it to the box, but it will save you time on the back end. You won't need to get out your keys or a box cutter to slice through the box tape. You can just pull on the little string.

7. Label Your Boxes

If you don't label your boxes to indicate what's inside, then when you arrive at your new home, you and your movers will have no idea where each box goes. Imagine how tedious it will be to go through every single brown box, trying to figure out what's inside and which room to place it in. So, be smart and label each box. You can label it by the room and with a general description of the contents it contains. If you include the room, then the movers will know where it goes. If you just label it by the contents, then only you will know where it goes. The label should be on the sides of the box, not on the top of the box.

8. Keep Up with Furniture Casters and Picture Hangers

Furniture casters are likely to separate from furniture during the move. So just go ahead and remove them before transport. You can tie them together with heavy twine and tag them with the name of the furniture piece they belong to. The same thing goes for framed pictures and mirrors. Some framed items come with special screws and hanging devices that you don't want to get lost in the shuffle during the move. Save those devices in a plastic bag and either tape the bag to the mirror or frame or store the bag separately with tags that indicate which hanging devices go with which frame.

9. Start Packing Well Ahead of Time

Don't wait until the week before you move to start packing your things. If you're like most people, then there are some items you can pack even a couple of months before a move and not miss them. For example, pack up out-of-season clothes, holiday wares, your good china, stemware, and books you've already read and don't plan opening again in the next two months. It might be annoying to have a pile of boxes in your house for eight weeks, but it will relieve a lot of stress during those last couple of weeks before the move.

10. Pack Small Items in Large Boxes and Large Items in Small Boxes

When you're packing boxes, pack the small items in the large boxes and the large items in the small boxes. It's a matter of physics. Heavy items are likely to come crashing through the middle of a large box. While this makes sense for most things, books are an exception. If you fill a big box with a bunch of small books, the weight is going to add up and the box is going to be too heavy to carry. Also, pack heavier items at the bottom of the box and lighter items toward the top of the box. And remember: If you're straining to pick up a box, it probably contains too many heavy items, and it could wind up breaking.

10 Tips for Moving with Children

Start the Countdown

The decision is now final. You've accepted the promotion and narrowed down the list of potential new homes, and you'll be moving soon. Now comes the hardest part -- planning the move and telling the kids. Whether moving out of state or just around the block, children and adolescents typically aren't thrilled by such an event. In fact, they rarely relish change of this magnitude. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to ease the transition. Your attitude about moving and your willingness to let your children share in the experience will influence their feelings. Try  following these 10 tips to make the move as anxiety-free as possible.

10. Have a Family Meeting

Call a family meeting. Order some pizza and gather around the dining room table for a casual dinner and lots of conversation. If you're moving because of a promotion or a new job, tell your children that you're excited about it. Explain why you took it and how it will impact the entire family. Tell them how you feel about the move. Encourage them to express their feelings and concerns. If this is their first time moving, it could be particularly difficult because they're leaving their family home. Share with them your first-move experience. Let them know you'll be depending on them to help out during the move, from packing to settling in to the new place.

9. Get the Kids' Feedback on the New Home

If possible, involve your children, especially if they're older, in the selection process of the new home. Once you've narrowed the choices down to two or three houses, get some feedback from the kids. If where you're moving to is within a reasonable driving distance, take them to see the homes. If you're moving to another city, show them photos of each home, describe the neighborhoods in detail and, if you can, take a virtual tour online. Ask them to share their three favorite things about each house. Let them know you'll take their comments into consideration when making the final decision. After you've picked the house, keep them posted through the process. Have a little celebration once you know you've got the house.

8. Purge Before Packing

Let the kids know that now is a great time to cut through the clutter. Throughout the house, there's bound to be a plethora of things that do not need to accompany you to the new home. Get the kids to help you go through the house, room by room, to identify what should go with you and what you could get rid of. Let them know that you don't want to toss everything. It's OK to keep certain things that hold important memories. However, items -- be they clothes, toys or electronics -- that are no longer used, should be closely considered for the toss pile. And you don't have to toss them … you can sell them.

7. Organize a Moving Sale

Once you've figured out what you want to pack and what you want to purge, get the kids to help you organize a moving sale. They can help you sort through everything, organize it, inventory it, and price and tag it. Let them know that the proceeds from the sale will be used for something for the family. In fact, you can have a family meeting and vote to decide on what that might be. Maybe it's a giant flat screen TV for the new house, or maybe it's a chocolate lab puppy. Whatever it is, the more invested the kids are in the goal, the more helpful they'll be with organizing the sale.

6. Research the New Place

Try to learn as much as possible about the new neighborhood, community and town. Share what you find with your kids. You don't have to make everything sound wonderful; honest, matter-of-fact information will be most helpful in the long run. If you oversell things and raise expectations, there's room for disappointment. Encourage your kids to do their own research. With your help, they can go online and look up community and school Web sites. You could also find copies of some local magazines and a weekend edition of the localpaper. You'll be able to learn about community organizations and groups, school events and sports, and other social and civic activities.

5. Make Room Plans

To get your children excited about the new house, make room plans. You don't have to limit yourself to their rooms only. If they're interested in helping arrange and decorate other rooms in the house, let them. Take a trip to the hardware store to look at paint swatches. If you're going to purchase new furniture and the kids are interested, take them with you. For teenagers, set a budget and let them tackle their own rooms -- picking out colors, linens, rugs and furniture. Encourage them to shop at consignment and thrift stores. For younger kids, you can set a budget and work with them on executing their vision. Then, when it's all done, you can invite some family or friends over for a "big reveal" like they do on TV shows.

4. Do a Site Visit

If you're able, take the kids to the new place for a visit. If you're just moving across town, plan to spend the day doing a walk-through of the house and a tour of the new neighborhood. Then you can visit the local branch of the public library and each kid's school. If you're moving a great distance away, you might still be able to do this, even if it just means beating the moving van by a couple of days and staying in a local hotel. In addition to touring the children's schools and the local library, make arrangements to see any additional facilities you might end up frequenting like the area YMCA, community theater or music school. You can also drive your children by where you'll be working.

3. Host a 'See You Soon' Party

One of the most difficult things about moving for any child is saying goodbye to friends. You could lessen the anxiety of this by hosting a get-together with family, friends and neighbors and call it a "See You Soon" party. During the party, make sure everyone exchanges contact information, and take photos of your kids with their friends. Between texting, e-mails and phone calls, your kids should be able to maintain old friendships while transitioning to their new surroundings and making new friends. Depending on the distance of your move, you could speak with the parents of your children's friends about planning a weekend visit or meeting somewhere halfway for a day visit.

2. Map the Move

If you're moving a few towns away or to another state, pull out the GPS, maps and atlas. This can be especially helpful if you're leaving behind friends and family members you know you'll be returning to visit. Map out the moving route and mark some interesting places to visit and sights to see along the way. This will make the trip go by more quickly, and it will be more engaging for you and the kids. Keep the maps handy for when you arrive at your destination, too. Get the kids to help you plot out routine routes such as from the house to school or from the house to the local park, mall or movie theater.

1. Be a Tourist in the New Place

You've been in the new house for almost a week. Slowly, but steadily, the boxes are being unpacked, and you and the kids are starting to settle in to your new digs. Now it's time to settle in to your new community. If there is one, buy a guidebook for your new city. Grab it and a calendar and sit down with the kids to plan some fun outings around the area. Whether you decide on apple or strawberry picking at a local farm, hitting the natural science museum, or hiking, rafting or kayaking at the nearby state park, it's important to engage your kids and show them all that your new hometown has to offer. If they've met some new friends in your neighborhood or at school, encourage each child to bring a friend along on your outings.

El Galeón Tour - Tour a full-sized replica of a 17th century Spanish galleon.

Docked at the St. Augustine City Marina, El Galeón Andalucia is an exact replica of the famous galleons that played an important role in the creation and maintenance of the Spanish Empire.  Built in Spain, it is similar to the galleon that brought Pedro Menendez to Florida where he founded St. Augustine in 1565.  

The ship is available for tours beginning at 10 a.m. daily. 

Admission is $15 for adult; $8 for youth. 111 Avenida Menendez. 904-824-1606

Home sales expected to be strong in spring

Homebuilders in Southwest Florida are preparing for a bustling spring, thanks to large numbers of tourists and seasonal retirees who are scouting for homes.

The industry's busiest months are March and April, and with homebuilding activity last year at its best level since the Great Recession, most industry observers expect that recovery to continue into the crucial spring months.

30>Unusually cold weather in the northern states this year has clipped purchases compared with last years, builders acknowledge and records show. But now, builders say more potential buyers than usual are touring their models, visiting their sales centers and mapping sites for potential homes.

If the interest holds, it could translate into more purchase contracts and higher profit margins.

"So far, we're seeing almost the exact same trend we saw last year, and we're certainly meeting our budget," said Lee Wetherington, owner and founder of Lee Wetherington Homes. "We're seeing a shift, too, where the buyers are paying cash, and they're spending a little more money. It's just loosened up a bit."

Contractors pulled 222 single-family building permits in February to build new homes in unincorporated Sarasota and Manatee counties. That was up nearly 3 percent from the start of the year, but off from the 2013 pace by 10 percent, government records show.

New home construction was most active in Manatee, where builders pulled permits for 144 new homes in February, 16 percent higher than the January total but flat from permits issued during the same month a year ago.

In Sarasota, builders pulled 78 permits last month, down 15 percent from January and 28 percent compared with last year.

Permits indicate homes expected to begin the construction in 30 to 90 days. They are considered the best predictor of local construction activity.

February's numbers come in the wake of the best year for homebuilders since the region's housing bubble burst seven years ago.

Homebuilders in Southwest Florida pulled permits for 3,009 single-family homes in unincorporated Sarasota and Manatee counties in 2013, an increase of 42 percent from 2012, a 96 percent hike from 2011 and double the amount from 2010, when 1,582 new single-family permits were issued, records show.

Most builders in Southwest Florida expect that recovery to continue in 2014, especially during the peak tourism months.

"The trends we have always seen historically are now back in place, where there's a surge from November to April because that's when we have people out there looking and here visiting," said Alan Anderson, executive vice president of the Manatee Sarasota Building Industry Association. "With spring coming, we're expecting to wrap up that season pretty well."

The influx has even spread to the luxury market, with buyers customizing new luxury residences after years of lackluster interest because of foreclosure discounts.

10 Things You Should Do Two Months Before a Move

You know when you're getting ready to move, and you think, "This is nothing. I can get it done in two weekends."? Well, you should really stop thinking that way because one thing's for sure: Moving pretty much always takes longer than you think it's going to take. So, be smart and plan ahead. There's lots of packing and organizing you can get out of the way two months in advance of your move. Click through the following pages to find out what should be on your to-do list.

10. Get Estimates from Movers

Unless several of your friends look like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, you're probably going to need to hire professional movers to do the heavy lifting. But if you put off lining up movers, you might not have time to conduct research and get the best deal. So, go ahead and get that out of the way at least two months in advance. Ask your friends and relatives if they recommend any movers, call the movers in your area, compare prices and then line one up for your moving day. Besides a decent price, you should be looking for a reputable company that is licensed with your state's Department of Transportation (DOT) and, if you're moving out of state, licensed for interstate transport. You also want a moving company (and its workers) that are bonded and insured. If you want to be super thorough, you can even check up on the company by contacting your local Better Business Bureau.

9. Select a Mover and Review the Details of the Move

Once you've selected your mover, make sure you understand what the final agreement is before signing a contract. Does the business charge by the hour, by the item or by overall weight? Will the moving company be doing any packing for you? Will you have movers move only the large items or every item? Is there a special charge for large awkward items like a piano or a pool table? Are the employees handling your move bonded and insured? Is the quote you received non-binding or binding? A binding estimate should guarantee that the price would not change. If it's non-binding, should you be worried about any surprise charges? For example, say you're moving from a house in the suburbs to a high-rise apartment in the city. Will you be charged an extra delivery fee because the movers have to take the elevator up to the 24th floor? And, if there's no place to park the moving truck near the high-rise, will you incur a shuttle fee?

8. Collect Boxes

You'll want to start packing up your nonessential items, so you need boxes. You can buy boxes from a retailer. But you can also find other ways to score free boxes. Have any of your friends or relatives moved recently? They may have some boxes they'd like to get off their hands. Or you may be able to pick up boxes from a business -- and don't just hit the standard grocery stores and ABC stores, think outside the box. For example, if you live in a college town, check out apartment complexes that are located near campus, they may have a recycled box network so that you can pick up gently used boxes from someone who has just moved to the area. Or, go online -- you might be able to find boxes via Craigslist or Freecycle.

7. Begin Packing Little-used Items

You may think it's silly to start packing two months in advance, but if you're like most people, there's plenty of stuff you don't use on a regular basis that can be packed up in a box. For example, if it's summer, start packing your winter items -- winter clothes, heavy blankets, holiday gear. Or you can pack by the room -- and perhaps the guest room is a good place to start, since it's used the least. You decide. Remember to pack small items in the big boxes and large items in the small boxes. It seems counterintuitive, but it will prevent box breakage.

6. Go Through Your Stuff and Identify Unwanted Items

Moving is the perfect excuse to get rid of unwanted junk that's collected in your house over the years. The rule of thumb is: If you haven't used it in about a year and it doesn't have any sentimental value, get rid of it. It can be hard to let things go, though, so you may need to go through each closet or storage space twice. On the first run, you'll remove the obvious unwanted things, and on the second run you'll remove the items you're a little more attached to.

5. Have a Yard Sale

Now that you've set aside your unwanted things, it's time to figure out what to do with them. Since you're doing this two months in advance of your move, you've got time to plan a yard sale. Yard sales are generally on Saturdays, and you'll need to advertise to get a good turnout. So, put up fliers where it seems logical - your workplace, your church, your community center, the local library and, of course, don't forget to put up signs around your neighborhood. There are even Web sites where you can advertise your sale. If you're looking to make money, check eBay before you price your items to make sure you're not essentially giving stuff away. Of course, that is an excellent option; you can do just that.

4. Donate Items to Charity

If you don't want to hawk your unwanted items from your front yard, give them to charity. There are a million ways to give your things away. Anything from cars to appliances to clothes and shoes can be donated to a charitable organization. Start by going online to see what nonprofits have locations in your area and find out what their needs are. Choose a charity that needs the types of things you'd like to give, and then just give. Many nonprofits even set up receptacles on the side of the road to accept your donations. It's easy!

3. Notify Correspondents of Your Move

Even in our busy world of e-mails, texts and tweets it's nice to find a letter or card in our mailbox now and then. So, it would be really sad if you don't receive all those lovely holiday and birthday cards because your friends and relatives don't know what your new address is. Let people know that you're moving and what your new address will be. It can be as easy as sending out a mass e-mail with all the pertinent information. Or, you can order a pack of moving announcements and put that holiday mailing list to good use. If you're moving to another town, you might even get a going-away party out of the deal.

2. Plan Menus to Use up Food in the Cupboards.

As you start looking through your cupboards, you might notice you've collected some nonperishable food that you'd rather not pack up and move to the new place. So, sit down and put together some menus to use up that food before you move. It might actually be fun to think of creative ways to use mushroom soup, canned pineapples and spaghetti in one meal. And if the move has you too busy to manage this type of culinary cleanse, pack everything up for the local shelter or a food drive. Or, invite some neighbors over for a pantry-clearing party and send them home with the goods.

1. Arrange Air Travel for Family, if Necessary

If you're moving to a faraway place and you're not driving, then you'll obviously need to buy plane tickets for yourself and your family. It'd be great if you could get this out of the way well before the two-month mark, so you can watch ticket prices and strategize a good ticket deal. But when you're transferred due to work or you've accepted a new job offer, you don't always have that much notice. If possible, buy your tickets at least two months in advance of your move. And don't forget the family pets -- arranging their travel can take even more preparation.

Landon Homes Wine & Cheese Open House at Moses Creek

Landon Homes held a Wine & Cheese Open House last night at Moses Creek with our St Augustine Realtor Friends. We had such a great turnout, and a ton of fun. Thank you for everyone that came out to see us. Also, a big thank you to C.W. Hooper with Artistic Photography for coming out and setting up a Green Screen Studio in the master bedroom to take photos of the Realtors to use for their business.

6 must-do's before buying a home

You might be ready to buy a home, but are you armed with the knowledge you need? Do you know about credit score requirements? Are you familiar with flexible standards on Federal Housing Administration loans?

Whether you are a first-time homebuyer or an experienced owner, buying a house requires a "preflight check," in the words of Barry Zigas, director of housing policy for the Consumer Federation of America.

Here is a six-item checklist, including tips on two types of savings you need, plus advice about what's more important than buying a house for its resale value.

Strengthen your credit score

"It's a brave, new world with respect to credit requirements for mortgages," says John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education at smartcredit.com and formerly of FICO, which pioneered credit scoring.

One old rule still applies: The higher your credit score, the lower your down payment and monthly payments.

"Below 660 or 680, you're either going to have to pay sizable fees or a higher down payment," Zigas says. And that's pretty much the cutoff score for getting a mortgage, he says.

Vicki Bott, deputy assistant secretary for single-family housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, says that her office has noticed much the same thing. "While there are many qualified borrowers in the 580 range, the market today is probably (looking for) 640 to 660, at a minimum," Bott says.

On the other end, a score of 700 to 720 will get you a good deal and 750 and above will garner the best rates on the market, Ulzheimer says.

Improve your chances by: pulling your credit reports and ensuring you're not being unfairly penalized for old, paid or settled debts, Zigas says.

Stop applying for new credit a year before you apply for financing. And keep the moratorium in place until after you close on your home, Ulzheimer says.

Figure out how much house you can afford

The buyer's mantra: Get a home that's financially comfortable.

There are various rules of thumb that will help you get an idea of how much home you can afford. If you're using FHA financing, as almost one-fifth of buyers get FHA-insured loans, your home payment can't exceed 31 percent of your monthly income. But, with some mitigating factors, FHA will let you go higher.

For conventional loans, a safe formula is that home expenses should not exceed 28 percent of your gross monthly income, says Susan Tiffany, director of consumer periodicals for the Credit Union National Association.

For a rough assessment of how much house you can afford, check out Bankrate's new house calculator.

Improve your chances by: trying on that financial obligation long before you sign the mortgage papers, says Tiffany. Before you home shop, calculate the mortgage payment for the home in your intended price range, along with the increased expenses (such as taxes, insurance and utilities). Then bank the difference between that and what you're paying now.

Not only does it allow you to build a nice nest egg, but "you can back away from it," or scale back, if the payments start to pinch, she says.

Save for down payment and closing costs

Depending on your credit and financing, you'll typically need to save enough money to put anywhere from 3.5 percent to 20 percent down.

If you're using FHA financing, then you need a score of 500 or higher. And in the 500 to 579 range, if you can find a lender, you'll have to put 10 percent down instead of 3.5 percent.

One exception: Veterans Affairs loans, which require no down payment.

Another cash expense: closing costs. Whatever your loan source, you'll also need money to pay closing costs, which run (depending on where you live), from $2,300 to $4,000. Get the average closing costs in your state at Bankrate's closing costs map.

Improve your chances by: Along with banking your own money, search out down payment assistance, Tiffany says. Often it's location-based or tagged to a certain type of buyer, like first-timers, she says. So do an Internet search with the city name, then the county name, along with word combinations such as "down payment assistance," "first-time homebuyers" and "homebuyer's assistance."

In a buyer's market, you can also negotiate to have the seller pay a portion of the closing costs.

Build a healthy savings account

This is over and above your money for the down payment and closing. Your lender wants to see that you're not living paycheck to paycheck. If you have three to five months' worth of mortgage payments set aside, that makes you a much better loan candidate. And some lenders and backers, like the FHA, will give you a little more latitude on other factors if they see that you save a cash cushion.

That money will also help you with maintenance and repair issues that come up when you own a home. While repairs are sporadic, items such as a new roof, water heater or other big-ticket items can hit suddenly and hard.

Improve your chances by: setting aside money every month. A good rule of thumb: on average you'll spend 2.5 percent to 3 percent of your home's value annually on upkeep, repairs and maintenance, says Joseph Gyourko, chairman of the real estate department at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. If you're buying a $250,000 home, aim to bank $520 to $625 per month.

Get preapproved for a mortgage

For serious home shoppers, "the No. 1 thing is they better have everything in order," says Dick Gaylord, past president of the National Association of Realtors. That means that, before the real home shopping begins, you want to get financing in place, he says.

And the preapproval process is "much more extensive" than it was a few years ago, he says.

Bott agrees. "That documentation around income and assets is very essential, more so than in the last five years," she says.

Improve your chances by: getting financing in place "before you walk through the first house," Gaylord says. Otherwise, he says, "How do you know how much you can afford?"

Buy a house you like

If you're buying today for yourself and your family, you want a home that will make you happy for the next few years.

Gone are the days when you could count on a quick sale, Tiffany says. And depending on how much you put down, and how much you have to shell out to sell and relocate, short-term ownership can be a pretty expensive proposition.

Improve your chances by: stepping back, Gyourko says, and making certain "you like the house."

Buying a Home

Thinking about buying a home? We have information that can help! Got questions? Call our offices today! 904-567-3430

According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) here are a few things you should know before you buy a home:

1. Figure out how much you can afford

What you can afford depends on your income, credit rating, current monthly expenses, downpayment and the interest rate.

• Home Economics

• Homebuying programs in your state

2. Know your rights

• Fair Housing: Equal Opportunity for All- brochure
• Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)
• Borrower's rights
• Predatory lending

3. Shop for a loan

• Looking for the best mortgage: shop, compare, negotiate - brochure
• Let FHA help you
• Learn about interest only loans
• Avoid Predatory Lenders

4. Learn about home buying programs

• Homebuying programs in your state
• Let FHA help you (FHA loan programs offer lower downpayments and are a good option for first-time homebuyers!)
• HUD's special homebuying programs
  • Good Neighbor Next Door(formerly known as Teacher/Officer/Firefighter Next Door)
  • Homeownership for public housing residents
  • Indian Home Loan Guarantee Program(Section 184)

5. Shop for a home

• Wish list - what features do you want?
• Home-shopping checklist? take this list with you when comparing homes
• Homes for sale(including HUD homes)
• "Fixer-Uppers - home purchase and repair programs
• Manufactured (mobile) homes
• Build a home
• Shopping for a Home FAQ’s

6. Make an offer

• Making an offer

7. Get a home inspection

• For Your Protection Get a Home Inspection
• 10 Questions to ask a home inspector

8. Shop for homeowners insurance

• Homeowners insurance
• 12 ways to lower your homeowners insurance costs

9. Sign papers

You're finally ready to go to "settlement" or "closing." Be sure to read everything before you sign!

• Settlement Costs and Helpful Information