Florida's Housing Market is Improving

Closing strong
ORLANDO, Fla. – December 20, 2012 -- Florida’s housing market has improved in 2012 compared to 2011, and keeps pushing forward. The year is closing out strong with sales and prices continuing their positive trends. With one month left to go, let’s look at the progress in November as well as year-to-date.
Florida’s pending sales were significantly higher in November. Single-family homes had 45.8% more pending sales in November 2012 than November 2011. Townhouse-condo pending sales were up 30%. Closed sales show a similar trend – increased pending sales push some closed sales through even with hurdles in the market. Both single-family and townhouse-condos closed sales increased from last year. The more exciting news – looking at the difference in the year-to-date numbers – is a 13,703 improvement in single-family closed sales and an 880 increase in townhouse-condos for the year as a whole.

To Sell Your Home You Must Prepare Your Home

Buyers: Don’t just list a home – prepare it first

ORLANDO, Fla. – Jan. 16, 2013 – To sell a home or get top dollar, sellers must look at their property through the eyes of a potential buyer. Consider the following five tips:

1. Get rid of clutter and Aunt Mary’s photo.

“Selling your house is about taking your personality out of it and having people going through it envisioning their own life and personality,” says Candice Olson, host of “Candice Tells All” on Canadian television station “W Network.”

It’s hard for buyers to imagine themselves in a home decorated wall-to-wall with photographs of people they do not know, and knick-knacks that hold no special meaning. In preparing a home for sale, all the things that personalize a home to the family within should be stored for the next home – including all the pictures and magnets on the refrigerator.