Cape Coral real estate

Cape Coral Homes Insurance – Affordability of Florida Insurance

Nov 10th, 2008 by Susan Milner | 0

Cape Coral Homes Insurance – Affordability of Florida Insurance

As a Cape Coral real estate brokerage, we are often asked about the costs and availability of homeowners insurance in the SW Florida area.

Many believe that the costs are very high and others wonder if it is even available.

While many insurance providers have stopped writing in Florida after the busy Hurricane Season of years past, many more have opened up in Florida.

Many insurance companies have been around for many years while others are new to Florida.

There is an excellent website to give you an ideea of insurance costs.

http://www.shopandcomparerates.com/HOCompareRates.htm

You can click on ‘lee county’ for a list of companies and a quote from each.

Next, you’ll need to know about flood insurance. In my opinion, I think flood insurance is a good idea in Cape Coral, regardless of your location. If a big storm hit us directly we’d all be under water. But FEMA has a new map out with the different floodzones for you to review:

http://msc.fema.gov/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/FemaWelcomeView?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1

Here’s a link to a map of SE Cape Coral:

http://map1.msc.fema.gov/idms/IntraView.cgi?KEY=1584830&IFIT=1

Floodsmart has a great article with questions to ask your real estate agent:

http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/flood_policies/ask_your_real_estate_agent.jsp

Feel free to contact a licensed real estate agent with Florida Future Realty, Inc. for local insurance contacts or for any real estate related questions you may have.

We have great home buys available here in Lee County, Florida.

Susan Milner

Florida Future Realty, Inc.

(239) 542-8521

Search Cape Coral & other area listings: www.Florida-Future-Realty.com

Susan@SusanMilner.com

Filed under: Buyers, Cape Coral Real Estate, SW Florida Real Estate | Tags: cape coral florida, cape coral insurance, Cape Coral Real Estate, homeowners insurance

Tenants are you renting a pre-foreclosure?

Nov 1st, 2008 by Susan Milner | 0

Tenants Renting Pre-Foreclosures FOR SALE

Property Management and Trying to Sell a Rented Home

Many of the houses we have listed for sale are in a pre-foreclosure situation right now. That’s ok, we do have experience with short sales.

But we also have many pre-foreclosure homes with tenants in place. No, we didn’t place the tenants, we don’t think that is right, they were already there & typically prior to knowing about any type of pre-foreclosure issue with the owner.

Ok, fine. So how can we sell these homes with a tenant in place?

In the best case scenario, the tenants would work WITH us. If we sell the house to someone else BEFORE it forecloses their lease will remain in effect. Great. They still have a place to live.

Here’s my ideas of a tenant working with us:

Provide us with a working key (yes, getting a key has been a real problem)

Allow us to hang a lockbox (we can hide it if that makes them more comfortable)

Let agents show it during any normal hours once given the proper notice

Leave for showings (most are done when they are at work anyway)

Keep the house somewhat presentable (clean once in a while please)

Not too much to ask for, is it?

Well, here’s what is reality.

The companies handling the property management are:

Not even giving us a key, they wanted every appointment scheduled through them & either the tenant would let the buyer/buyer’s agent in or we’d have to go pick up a key & meet them there.

Give us a key but not allowing us to hang a lockbox. That means that the agent has to come to our office, pick up a key, do their showings then come back & drop the key off. Are you kidding me? Why would anyone do this in THIS market?

Give us a key but not allowing anyone but ME, the listing agent, to show the house (let’s see, right now I have 42 listings, how could I possibly be available for EVERY SINGLE SHOWING?).

So, here’s my question to Tenants/Property Managers & even SELLERS.

How are we supposed to sell your home & save it from homeless/foreclosure if we can’t get anyone in to see your house?

Do you see how that can be a problem? No price will fix this issue. Or at least no price that the bank will agree to will.

So, either the seller will get frustrated & sign a deed in lieu (if the bank allows, etc) and the tenant will be HOMELESS within a few days. Yes, that is TRUE, once the banks own the house they don’t play games, they kick you out – just like that. I got a call from an angry tenant like that a couple of months ago, no warning – just “you have to get out, here’s $500 BYE BYE”.

Or we keep trying to sell the house & eventually we get an offer but it is very low because it has been on the market for a few months & everyone thinks something must be wrong with the house. #$&)!, we’re too late, the bank has foreclosed. Same scenario folks, tenant is HOMELESS, Seller has a FORECLOSURE, the house sits vacant and deteriorating for months, and no one is happy.

Wouldn’t it have been better to work with us, allow us to show the house properly, receive a proper offer, negotiate the short sale & have a successful closing? New buyer=HAPPY, tenant=HAPPY, seller=HAPPY.

Doesn’t everyone just love a happy ending?

Yours in Success,

Susan Milner

Florida Future Realty, Inc.

www.Florida-Future-Realty.com

www.The-Extreme-Team.com

888-764-6665 toll free

239-542-8521 local

Susan@SusanMilner.com

Filed under: Cape Coral Real Estate, Cape Coral short sales | Tags: cape coral florida, cape coral homes, cape coral pre-foreclosures, Cape Coral Real Estate, cape coral rentals

HUD Homes in Cape Coral | HUD Certified Broker in Cape Coral

Oct 29th, 2008 by Susan Milner | 0

Here is the most recent list of HUD homes available in Cape Coral!

CAPE-CORAL

Property Case	Address	Price	Bed/Bath	List Date	Bid Deadline	Priority
092-916314	2858 NW 6TH TER CAPE CORAL, FL 33993	$114,000	3/2	10/24/08	11/02/08	Owner Occupant (Investors bid on 2008-11-03)

View Map View Property Details

Property Case	Address	Price	Bed/Bath	List Date	Bid Deadline	Priority
095-035002	3335 DANDOLO CIR CAPE CORAL, FL 33909	$107,350	3/2.5	10/24/08	11/02/08	Owner Occupant (Investors bid on 2008-11-03)

View Map View Property Details

Property Case	Address	Price	Bed/Bath	List Date	Bid Deadline	Priority
092-783639	634 SE 10TH PL CAPE CORAL, FL 33990	$112,100	4/3	10/10/08	Daily	All Bidders

View Map View Property Details

Property Case	Address	Price	Bed/Bath	List Date	Bid Deadline	Priority
092-917577	1126 SW 1ST TER CAPE CORAL, FL 33991	$109,250	3/2	10/10/08	Daily	All Bidders

View Map View Property Details

Property Case	Address	Price	Bed/Bath	List Date	Bid Deadline	Priority
092-907790	501 NW JUANITA CT CAPE CORAL, FL 33993	$75,000	3/ 2	10/17/08	Daily	All Bidders

View Map View Property Details

Property Case	Address	Price	Bed/Bath	List Date	Bid Deadline	Priority
092-879609	120 NE 24TH AVE CAPE CORAL, FL 33909	$105,000 Price Reduced	3/ 2	10/10/08	Daily	All Bidders

View Map View Property Details

If you’d like to search for homes in Cape Coral, Florida please let us know. Myself and my team of licensed real estate agents look forward to working with you to find the best deal for you. Everyone is looking for something different. There are houses priced from $50,000 to 2,000,000 in Cape Coral so there is one suited for you & your needs.

See homes in Cape Coral by price range or search thousands of cape coral real estate listings! Anytime 24 hours a day from the comfort of your own home. When you are ready to see them in person let me know!

I look forward to working with you!

Yours in Success,

Susan Milner

Florida Future Realty, Inc.

239-542-8521

susan@susanmilner.com

Filed under: Buyers, Cape Coral Real Estate, SW Florida Real Estate | Tags: cape coral buyer's market, cape coral florida, cape coral hud homes, cape coral real estate investing, cape coral real estate investments

Cape Coral Short Sales | Advice for banks

Oct 25th, 2008 by Susan Milner | 0

I’m a firm believer in only addressing a problem if you have the solution.

The recent blog I wrote about Countrywide short sales sure caused a lot of comments, emails and phone calls.

Not to worry, I have a solution.

Read the full article about Countrywide Short Sales and the WHY behind this post.

Here’s what I propose the banks do to collect the most money back on these bad loans:

1) Have an intake department with a checklist of items needed in package

(timeframe: same day of receipt)

a. Reject all that are missing items – send letter of explanation

b. Forward on all complete packages to analysis team

2) Analysis Team – reviews package

(timeframe: 2 days of review)

a. Verifies hardship

b. Verifies value

c. If good – forward to closing negotiator

d. If doesn’t work – send letter of why/reject

3) Closing Negotiator – closes file

(timeframe: 2 days of review)

a. Reviews file

b. Send approval

Ok, maybe I’m in dreamland but I think this would work. Banks would send approvals within a week. Sell off bad loans within 30 days. Our real estate market would improve as the inventory is sold.

Sound simple? Remember KISS? Yep, that’s right!

I’m sure there are thousands of incomplete, bogus-offers files sitting somewhere at every bank. If they would just reject those upon receipt it would give their staff time to work on files that actually make sense.

By the way, we will still handle Countrywide short sales. Just keep in mind that they might take longer than the others – at least until Countrywide fixes up their process.

Any loss mitigators out there? I’d love to hear your comments!

Read the full article about Countrywide Short Sales and the WHY behind this post.

As always, if you are considering buying or selling in the Cape Coral and Ft. Myers area, we’d love to assist you. Buyers, search thousands of homes for sale on our website. Sellers, if you need help with a short sale let us know. We’re here to help.

Yours in Success,

Florida Future Realty, Inc.

www.Florida-Future-Realty.com

(239) 542-8521

Susan@SusanMilner.com

Disclaimer: For those of you who are not familiar with short sales; this is NOT the way banks are handling short sales. This is how I propose they handle them. Currently many negotiations are taking 30-120 days to facilitate. Following the above advice would DRAMATICALLY reduce this time!

Filed under: Cape Coral Real Estate, Cape Coral short sales, Opinion | Tags: cape coral banks, Cape Coral Real Estate, Cape Coral short sales, short sale stories

Countrywide Short Sales

Oct 15th, 2008 by Susan Milner | 0

I no longer handle short sales through Countrywide. As an experienced short sale listing agent, I’ve had enough. I’ll still help you with a short sale through ANY OTHER LENDER. Just not COUNTRYWIDE.

Read my story about why:

Countrywide short sales – a story

Enjoy…..WHY/HOW are they still in business? Oh yeah, thanks to Bank of America…ya, go B of A!

Florida Future Realty, Inc.

Cape Coral Short Sales

Filed under: Cape Coral Real Estate, Cape Coral short sales, Opinion | Tags: Cape Coral Real Estate, Cape Coral short sales, countrywide short sales

Cape Coral Real Estate

Cape Coral, Florida

Cape Coral Canals

Cape Harbour Community

Cape Coral River