Ray Peckham Real Estate

Surfside Homes for Sale / How to Shop for a Home

Surfside HOME BUYING PITFALLS TO AVOID

Sellers usually rely on sales of Surfside homes of comparable value to determine a fair and realistic price to set for their home but many sellers feel their home is worth much more and price their home accordingly. Buyers must also be tuned into sales for comparable homes in Surfside in order to judge the price of any home that is under consideration.

Being “House Poor” gets to be “Old New” real fast. A large and beautiful home with little or no furniture tends to be empty and cold. A life where almost every dime of income goes to the support of the Surfside house wears thin very quickly and is a frequent cause of family stress. Pushing yourself right up to your limit leaves you highly exposed when the inevitable changes to the national or your personal economy occurs.

Surfside Real Estate Cycles

What makes most sense is the "buy and hold" strategy. Buy a home you expect to remain in for at least seven years or more. Surfside is no different than most, although the Surfside market does have it's own special circumstances.

Want to get a clear and up-to-date picture of the Surfside real estate market? Call me at any time. I am happy to share my knowledge of the real estate market with homeowners and prospective homeowners who want to take advantage of market trends to buy and/or sell wisely.

Surfside Disclosure Rule

If you are contemplating the purchase of an existing home or any Surfside, I strongly recommend that you utilize the services of a trusted home inspector. The final purchase of any home should be based on obtaining a favorable home inspection. Surfside is no exception to this rule.

What if the home inspector discovers a problem? That happens and as long as it happens before the sale is final the seller can fix the problem or the buyer who agrees to take the property as is can negotiate the price. Any questions regarding Surfside, just give me a call.

Surfside Homebuyers Quandry

Before you begin your next home search, make sure the Surfside you have is Market Ready. If painting or landscaping or repairs need doing, get them done. If you are going to go out house-hunting you may save yourself a lot of heartache and headache if your house is ready to be listed at a moment’s notice.

In many cases the amount you expect to realize from your existing Surfside real estate will determine the price you can afford to pay for your next home. Start with a Comparative Market Analysis so you will know about how much you can afford to spend.

Does Your Surfside Have Curb Appeal?

Good curb appeal is definitely an advantage to home sellers when prospective buyers visit your Surfside and can be an advantage in advertising in the newspaper and on the Internet. However, it is important to note that even a home with great curb appeal can look bad in an advertisement if the photographer did a bad job with the camera. A photograph of a Surfside home on a dreary day will look quite different from a photo of the same home when the sun is shining. Sometimes it is better to take a picture of a home from an angle rather than a straight on shot that may turn out to be more about the garage door than about the house itself.

Rent or Buy Surfside

In the early years of your Surfside mortgage, nearly all of every monthly payment is interest. This means you are only paying off a tiny bit of the loan principal, but it is good news in terms of tax savings.

The monthly payment for a $100,000, 30-year, 8% mortgage on your Surfside would be about $734. In the first year of your mortgage, $7,970 of your $8,805 payment or 91% would be deductible as mortgage interest. Even in the tenth year, almost 81% of your payments would be deductible. What this is worth to you depends on your tax bracket but this tax savings built into the home-buying equation is why you can afford to make higher mortgage payments than your current rent payments without squeezing your budget. There is no similar tax subsidy for renters.