OfferPad is a tool that sellers can use to sell their homes without having to get their property in showing condition and without having to actually have showings. Some of the benefits are: 1) the seller does not have to prepare their house to sell, 2) they will be provided with a cash offer, 3) the seller can determine when the closing will take place, 4) Offerpad is willing to let them move out after the closing date (within three to seven day), 5) Offerpad will pay moving expenses (within certain parameters), and 6) Offerpad will pay some of the closing fees.

Those are some pretty good benefits that could save a few thousand dollars in closing costs. Now, let's take a look at disadvantages.

The biggest disadvantage of this service is that it will actually end up costing the seller money. David used his property as an example to point out how even though it seems like OfferPad is a good deal, in reality, it is not good for all sellers. He recently refinanced, and his Orlando property appraised at $475,000. He entered all of his property information into OfferPad, and the offer that came back was $437,000 with real estate commission of 6% and another 2.5% fee for an OfferPad Experience Fee. All in all, David was offered $38,000 less then what his house appraised for and still has to pay the full commission.  

If an Orlando seller is trying to net the most money possible for their property, OfferPad might not be the best option to sell your home. It is always good to talk to a real estate agent before doing anything to find out a more accurate value of a property, ensuring that the property can sell at top dollar. 

As always, we are here to help you! Please feel free to Contact Us, and I hope that I have helped you get real estate smart.

The Miller Realty Group is a successful real estate team who provides real estate solutions for residential homeowners in the metro Orlando real estate market, including Lake Mary, Longwood, Heathrow, Sanford, Winter Park, Winter Springs, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, and surrounding cities. Founded in 2006, The Miller Realty Group has transformed themselves into one of the top real estate teams in Central Florida.

Hurricane season in Florida runs from June 1st until November 1st. During that time in the real estate world, Orlando homeowners are still buying and selling houses. If a buyer is under contract to buy a house and a hurricane comes through, there are two things that are going to happen:

1. After a hurricane, FEMA will decide if the area affected is considered a disaster area.
2. If the affected area is declared a disaster area, then the lender will need to send out an appraiser to re-inspect the property once the disaster area status is lifted.

Additionally, it is recommended for the buyer to have their home inspector re-inspect the property as well. They will check for any leaks that may have occurred during the storm, and they will inspect for any other damage. This is important for the selling process because per the contract, the property has to be in the same condition as it was when it went under contract. This means if there is any damage, the seller is responsible for fixing it to get the property back to the way it was before the storm. 

With this knowledge in mind, Orlando real estate agents and homeowners can conquer hurricane season together!

As always, we are here to help you! Please feel free to Contact Us, and I hope that I have helped you get real estate smart.

The Miller Realty Group is a successful real estate team who provides real estate solutions for residential homeowners in the metro Orlando real estate market, including Lake Mary, Longwood, Heathrow, Sanford, Winter Park, Winter Springs, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, and surrounding cities. Founded in 2006, The Miller Realty Group has transformed themselves into one of the top real estate teams in Central Florida.

Recently in the real estate world, Zillow released a new program to the Orlando market called "Instant Offers". An Instant Offer is for the seller who feels like they can save money by not using a Realtor or does not want to spend time getting their home in showing condition. A seller can upload pictures of their property, and in 48-72 hours, they will be provided with cash offers. If the seller decides to go with one of the offers, a free inspection would be done and a property analysis from a Realtor will be provided at no cost to them. 

This sounds like a quick and easy process, especially if you do not want to get your home ready or deal with showings.  The downside is that the offers that the seller receives will oftentimes be 20-35% less than the market value of the house. Since the offers are so much less than the market value, the seller is not really saving the money they thought they would save by not using a real estate agent. 

So why is Zillow not the most accurate website for determining the value of a property? Well, Zillow is not able to give accurate evaluations because they are not able to see in the home to take a look at the updates and other factors that are taken into consideration when calculating the value of a property. It would be like someone who is sick checking out WebMD to find out what is wrong with them. Instead, they would go to a doctor to get professional help for their illness. The same thing goes for real estate. Zillow is a great website for information and to get an idea of what is out there, but a professional real estate agent will be able to provide the most accurate evaluation of a property. Using a real estate agent will help anyone looking to sell their home get top dollar for it and will put more money in the seller's pocket.

As always, we are here to help you! Please feel free to Contact Us, and I hope that I have helped you get real estate smart.

The Miller Realty Group is a successful real estate team who provides real estate solutions for residential homeowners in the metro Orlando real estate market, including Lake Mary, Longwood, Heathrow, Sanford, Winter Park, Winter Springs, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, and surrounding cities. Founded in 2006, The Miller Realty Group has transformed themselves into one of the top real estate teams in Central Florida.

In the state of Florida, it is not required to have a real estate attorney present at the sale of a residential property. The Florida Supreme Court has made a contract that all Orlando realtors can use, and a licensed real estate agent can fill in the blanks. You can choose to have a real estate attorney assist in the transaction if you would like, but it is not required. 

There are some instances where a real estate attorney might be a good idea in Orlando real estate. If language is added to the contract that is not approved by the Florida Supreme Court, it might be a good idea to hire a real estate attorney to review the contract to make sure you are protected. Real estate agents are licensed to practice real estate, but they are not licensed to practice law, so they are not able to give legal advice. 

Another instance where you might want a real estate attorney is if you are purchasing new construction. Builders do not use the same contract as the state does. They have their own contract with their own language, so you would want to have it reviewed to make sure you are protected. 

Lastly, you might want to consider hiring a real estate attorney if you are working with an inexperienced agent or an agent who is doe not have the expertise to work through the transaction. Whether you are buying or selling your home, always make sure you are protected!!

As always, we are here to help you! Please feel free to Contact Us, and I hope that I have helped you get real estate smart.

The Miller Realty Group is a successful real estate team who provides real estate solutions for residential homeowners in the metro Orlando real estate market, including Lake Mary, Longwood, Heathrow, Sanford, Winter Park, Winter Springs, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, and surrounding cities. Founded in 2006, The Miller Realty Group has transformed themselves into one of the top real estate teams in Central Florida.

Before you purchase a home in Orlando, Florida, it is important to understand three recurring costs that you will be responsible for after closing. By understanding these costs, you will gain a better idea on if you can really afford a property in Orlando, Florida, or not. The costs are:

1. Property Taxes: Your realtor should be able to provide you what the property taxes would be on any Orlando home you are thinking about purchasing. When looking at the property taxes, it's important to understand if those would be your final taxes after you purchase your Orlando home or not. For example, if you purchase a piece of land to build a house on, the property tax of the land will be a substantially lower rate than after the house is built. Once the Orlando house is built, the property will be re-assessed, and the property tax can increase anywhere from $700 to $5,000 a year. Because of this, it's important to know these taxes up front.
2. Home Owners Association and Assessments: Most neighborhoods in central Florida have a homeowners associations. As part of the process of buying a property, your Orlando REALTOR should provide you with a homeowners association disclosure, which will disclose how much the HOA fees would be in that community. You also need to look at what is included in those fees. For example, does it include the maintenance of the lawn, the water bill, electricity, etc.? If it does not, you will need to factor the items that are not included into your monthly costs. You also need to find out if the homeowners association has any special assessments. Special assessments are fees that are assessed to an entire community for a particular project that may be taking place within the neighborhood. An example of this would be if a beachfront condo needed to build a new wall along the beach. There could also be several one-time fees you might need to pay, so be sure to check with your REALTOR about these. 
3. Home and Flood Insurance: If you are getting a loan to purchase your home, you are more than likely going to be required to get homeowners insurance. This cost is usually put into an escrow account with the property taxes so you can pay them monthly rather than having to pay them in one lump sum. You will also need to find out if you the Orlando home you are purchasing is in a flood zone. If it is, then you will need flood insurance as well. Flood insurance is not cheap, and if you are required to purchase it, then you should find out immediately how much that cost will be and factor it into your overall expenses.

Those are the three things that you need to be aware of before purchasing a home. Remember: be smart and informed when buying a home!

As always, we are here to help you! Please feel free to Contact Us, and I hope that I have helped you get real estate smart.

The Miller Realty Group is a successful real estate team who provides real estate solutions for residential homeowners in the metro Orlando real estate market, including Lake Mary, Longwood, Heathrow, Sanford, Winter Park, Winter Springs, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, and surrounding cities. Founded in 2006, The Miller Realty Group has transformed themselves into one of the top real estate teams in Central Florida.

In the 1920s and 1930s before real estate agents became popular, homeowners were selling homes that had defects to unsuspecting home buyers without disclosing the information. Today, things have changed in the real estate world, and home sellers are required by law to disclose any latent defects that can affect the material value of the property. A latent defect is something that is not seen or obvious to the eye. For example, a roof leak is not easily spottable, especially if the repair was done, so it is the job of the seller to disclose that information to the buyer.

It is very important for sellers to be as honest as possible in the seller’s disclosure. If a seller sells the house without disclosing certain information, the buyer has the right to request that the seller pays for repairs since it was not disclosed to them before purchasing the home. Most Orlando real estate brokerages have seller disclosures available for sellers to fill out. This document is five pages, and it asks the sellers detailed information about the property. At the bottom of every page, the buyer and seller initial to agree on what is in the document. This protects sellers against the buyer coming back months later and requesting the seller to pay a repair -- a roof leak, for example, that was disclosed on the disclosure. The seller can contact their listing agent and review the document. If it was disclosed and both initials are on the disclosure, the buyer would have to acknowledge they were in fact informed, and the seller would be responsible for the repair. This process protects both the homeowner and the homebuyer from difficult problems in the future. 

Even the though the seller's disclosure is very detailed, there are some things that do not necessarily need to be listed in the state of Florida. For example, if there was a murder or suicide in a central Florida house for sale, sellers do not need to disclose that in the state of Florida. If you would like more research on the home, google the neighborhood or home address to see if that area has been marked in public records.

As a buyer, it is still important to have a home inspection done on the property. The seller disclosure only discloses items the seller knows about. A proper inspection will find the items on the disclosure as well as whatever is not known. In the event that an inspection is performed and the deal does not go through for whatever reason, the seller should then update the seller disclosure to include any item the inspection brought to their attention.

In some cases, sellers may not know about certain issues that the home has; however, if you are a seller, you should be as honest as possible to avoid future complications. It is very important to work with listing agents and buyer agents who have your best interest at heart; they will walk you through every step of the process to make sure you make the right decisions. With this process, you can buy or sell your Orlando, Florida, home safely and easily!

As always, we are here to help you! Please feel free to Contact Us, and I hope that I have helped you get real estate smart.

The Miller Realty Group is a successful real estate team who provides real estate solutions for residential homeowners in the metro Orlando real estate market, including Lake Mary, Longwood, Heathrow, Sanford, Winter Park, Winter Springs, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, and surrounding cities. Founded in 2006, The Miller Realty Group has transformed themselves into one of the top real estate teams in Central Florida.

In today's fast-paced Orlando real estate market, home appraisals coming in lower than expected is a trend happening more often than one would think. It can be very devastating to get a low appraisal, so being prepared and understanding the real estate market is crucial. 

There are a few reasons why home appraisals can come in low: 

1. The market could be moving too quickly. Appraisers do not look at pending sales or active sales; they only look at comparable homes that have been already sold in your community. As a result, if the Orlando market is moving too quickly, the central Florida houses that are pending sales will not be considered when your home is being appraised. 
2. You never want to be the most expensive house in the neighborhood. Your home should be priced in the mid- to lower-range and be based on previous sales.
3. Your house can be in functional obsolescence. This means that homebuyers may not be looking for certain features in your Orlando home. An example of this would be if you made additions that give your home a unique floor plan. You would need to find a buyer who has the same or similar taste or desires; otherwise, this could weaken your home appraisal.
4. Improvements made to your home may not be as valuable as you think. For example, a new AC unit is not considered an adjustable upgrade to increase the value of your central Florida home since it is considered a maintenance item. Examples of home improvements that would increase your home value are granite counter tops, wood flooring, tile flooring, etc.
5. There may not be enough homes in your area that were sold in the price range you are expecting. This often occurs in rural areas or large lakefront properties, which are found a lot in central Florida. Appraisers sometimes look at other property values as far as 5-10 miles away when conducting market research. This can lower the value of your home depending on the surrounding neighborhoods.

To make sure your home appraises, ensure that the house is clean and treat the appraisal like an open house or a showing. You could even play some light jazz music in the background during the process! The bottom line is that you want the appraiser to feel good while he or she is in your home. So you should always put your best foot forward in preparing for the appraiser!

Before the appraiser comes to your Orlando home, follow up with your real estate agent to make sure that he or she gives the appraiser the improvements that were done to your property. That will allow the appraiser to make the necessary adjustments when determining the value of your central Florida home. It is also a plus for your listing agent to be present for the appraisal to speak to the appraiser and do what they can to make sure the house appraises.

As always, we are here to help you! Please feel free to Contact Us, and I hope that I have helped you get real estate smart.

The Miller Realty Group is a successful real estate team who provides real estate solutions for residential homeowners in the metro Orlando real estate market, including Lake Mary, Longwood, Heathrow, Sanford, Winter Park, Winter Springs, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, and surrounding cities. Founded in 2006, The Miller Realty Group has transformed themselves into one of the top real estate teams in Central Florida.

College debt is a huge topic that is not spoken about as much as it should be. Each year, thousands of students graduate from college with a degree, but they get stuck with a huge student loan debt. This debt takes years to pay off and can often affect a person's ability to purchase a home. In Central Florida, we see this problem all the time with graduates from schools like the University of Central Florida.

Last year, we hit an all-time low for first-time home buyers mainly because they could not qualify for a loan. When talking to a lender about getting qualified to purchase a home, the lenders have to account for the college debt in their debt-to-income ratio. This stops many people from qualifying for a home loan and is a huge problem for first-time home buyers. As a result of not getting qualified to purchase a home, people often end up renting for longer periods of time or staying with family. 

The good news is that companies, such as Fannie Mae, have an option for the first-time home buyer! If someone is paying off the college debt for the loan applicant (like their parents), the lender does not have to account for the college debt. As long as the proper documentation is presented to show that the debt is being paid off by a third party consistently, the lender will not include it in the debt to income ratio. This gives the applicant a higher chance of getting approved to purchase that new home and is great news for any Central Florida graduate!

As always, we are here to help you! Please feel free to Contact Us, and I hope that I have helped you get real estate smart.

The Miller Realty Group is a successful real estate team who provides real estate solutions for residential homeowners in the metro Orlando real estate market, including Lake Mary, Longwood, Heathrow, Sanford, Winter Park, Winter Springs, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, and surrounding cities. Founded in 2006, The Miller Realty Group has transformed themselves into one of the top real estate teams in Central Florida.

When someone is looking to sell their house and by a new one, they often do not know what they should do first. Should they buy before they sell their home, or should they sell their home and then buy?  Their biggest fear when wanting to buy and sell at the same time is that they don't want to sell too quickly and end up homeless or having to move twice. This is a tricky question that often plagues the Orlando real estate market.

Many people believe that they should find the home they would like to purchase first and get it under contract before they put their house up for sale. The Orlando market is currently a seller's market, which means inventory is low and sellers have more options with a greater chance for multiple offers. If buying a home is contingent upon whether or not you sell your home, sellers are more than likely going to go with someone who is ready to buy immediately. This will cause you to lose leverage, and your options will be very limited.

Our team of REALTORs have been in the business for eleven years and have helped many people who want to buy and sell their home at the same time. As a result, we have put together a 5-Step Cheat Sheet:

• Step 1: Start looking at houses. You should be making a list of your top three choices.
• Step 2: Put your house on the market. Find a REALTOR who can help you price your home appropriately and get your house in top showing condition.
• Step 3: Once you get an offer, you want to negotiate the close date. This is important so you have plenty of time to start the buying process.
• Step 4: Put an offer in on a house you would like to buy. Revisit your top 3 houses and see what is still available to put an offer in.
• Step 5: You will want to set up the close dates and times for buying your new home and selling your old home within a couple days of each other. This will help the transaction go through smoothly with a little less stress. 

This process allows you to keep leverage on the buying side and will end up saving you money by allowing your house to sell for top dollar!

As always, we are here to help you! Please feel free to Contact Us, and I hope that I have helped you get real estate smart.

The Miller Realty Group is a successful real estate team who provides real estate solutions for residential homeowners in the metro Orlando real estate market, including Lake Mary, Longwood, Heathrow, Sanford, Winter Park, Winter Springs, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, and surrounding cities. Founded in 2006, The Miller Realty Group has transformed themselves into one of the top real estate teams in Central Florida.

Some new real estate statistics were just released for the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, and they give us data collected during the past month that could predict future property owners trends. Currently, the inventory of homes in Orlando, Florida, is extremely low, and we are in a strong seller's market.  

With the inventory so low in Orlando, if you are buying a home, it can be hard to find a house depending on the desired neighborhood and your budget. For budgets below $300,000, there are even slimmer options, and it is crucial to team up with a REALTOR (in particular, a Buyer's Specialist, which I spoke about in my previous video blog) to help you find a home to buy.

Even though the inventory of homes is low in Orlando, sales are up 12% compared to this time last year. With the recent increase in interest rates, many potential buyers are being more decisive and making the move. The demand is also strong because the Orlando economy is doing very well and there is a lot of job growth in Central Florida, which leads to more people buying homes.

Another important statistic is that the median price for single-family homes is 11% higher than it was in 2016, and it is 88% higher than it was in July 2011. This is due to a higher demand, which means higher prices. With this in mind, if you are thinking about selling your house, this would be the best time to sell; with such a low amount of inventory, there will be less competition for you. You also will have more leverage in the negotiation process so you can get your self the best deal!

As always, we are here to help you! Please feel free to Contact Us, and I hope that I have helped you get real estate smart.

The Miller Realty Group is a successful real estate team who provides real estate solutions for residential homeowners in the metro Orlando real estate market, including Lake Mary, Longwood, Heathrow, Sanford, Winter Park, Winter Springs, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, and surrounding cities. Founded in 2006, The Miller Realty Group has transformed themselves into one of the top real estate teams in Central Florida.