Ray Peckham Real Estate

Surfside Real Estate / Help for Buyers and Sellers

Preparing to Sell Your Surfside Home

Experienced agents know what puts prospective buyers off when they view a home, especially Surfside. For example, when buyers find dirty dishes in the sink, notice offensive pet odors or spot obvious stains suggesting a leaking roof they begin to devalue the property. Some buyers may decide to pass on the house completely while others may think about making an offer way below the asking price. So, a good agent’s first step is to help the homeowner see the house as others will see it and take care of problems.

Surfside Home Improvement

Don't change the general architecture of the home, and make sure that renovations match. For example, a modern steel door doesn't belong on a ranch house built in the 1970s. Be aware of the features in Surfside.

Do it Yourself?
Be extremely confident you're capable of taking on a project before trying to do it yourself. When it comes time to sell your Surfside home, believe me buyers can and do spot all the signs of amateur work and they discount their offer accordingly.

Guidelines for Buying Surfside

Let’s say everything is a GO! You have found the perfect Surfside home. You know you can afford it and it is actually priced below what you expected to pay. What a bargain! Yes there are bargains to be found in Surfside. At this point it is fine to put in an offer on the property but only with a well-planned contingency. Of course, it the home is going to be financed, the lender will want a Home Inspection before agreeing to lend money on the property. However, you need to protect yourself by making an offer SUBJECT TO a clean bill of health from the Home Inspector of your choice. This kind of a contingency gives you an out if the inspector finds a problem with the roof, or foundation or other structural problem that was not apparent to the seller or to your agent. This does not mean you will not buy the house but you will have a good reason to renegotiate the price with the seller.

Buying a Surfside Fixer-Upper

Finding the right Surfside fixer upper often involves finding a seller who is in financial difficulty and wants to sell in order to protect their credit or to avoid foreclosure. Various government agencies such as VA, HUD, IRS and others offer homes in foreclosure for sale and these homes can make excellent fixer-uppers. Bank owned properties known as REOs, real estate owned, offer good opportunities since financial institutions want to eliminate their real estate holdings by selling foreclosures quickly.

Join my network of Surfside buyers looking for specific types of properties. Call or Email me today.

Buying Surfside Below Market

Isn’t that everyone’s dream? I hear it from prospective buyers almost every day and many of them want to find the perfect Surfside home priced considerably under market. Is it possible? The answer may surprise you but often it is possible. You just need a sophisticated buying strategy.

Now the idea that you can simply decide one day to go house hunting and find just the Surfside real estate you want priced way under market is pushing your luck. But if you take advantage of some of today’s Internet technology, do your homework and bide your time, you might find just what you are looking for. First let’s look at the technology.

The Benefits of Selling Surfside

If your Surfside holdings consist of both a personal residence and a rental, you can sell your personal residence and exclude up to $250,000 ($500,000 for a married couple) on the gain. Then you move into your rental, live in it as your personal residence for two years and then sell it, again benefiting from the $250,000 or $500,000 exclusion. This is true even though most or all of the increase in value occurred before you converted the property to your personal residence.