Friends and other misconceptions

As you know I have always said to get a good agent who knows the market when making a Real Estate purchase. You have to be very diligent in order to be assured that you won’t pay over market value.

What I have not stated near enough is that you have to be just as diligent when shopping for a mortgage. Just as there are many properties that are overpriced for the market there are still many mortgage brokers who are still charging excess fees in order to inflate their profit. There is usually nothing illegal about these fees as the industry is being watched as never before. You just have to shop and make sure to look at your good faith estimate or get another opinion of someone you trust.

We are in the process of closing a single family home. The buyers are very qualified and decided to use VA as the method of mortgage. They decided to use a family friend as their mortgage broker. We asked to see a copy of their good faith, what didn’t sound right was the origination fee. The normal use of an origination fee is to buy down the interest rate of a mortgage. In this case the buyers were paying 1% origination fee and were receiving a higher interest rate that is available without the origination fee. This makes the closing costs for buyer much higher and the mortgage payment higher through the life of the loan. Luckily this was caught before we were all at the closing table.


Market News

Not many people realize that we have a lot of part time residents that do not reside on the beach. Merritt Island canal homes have become more and more affordable. A lot of full time Orlando residents are keeping homes on the canals to serve as a weekend, holiday getaway. They don’t have to trailer the boat over and can spend more time on the water. We will go over a few of these buys.

There are 2 possibilities in Diana Shores on the west side of Sykes Creek. This takes a little longer to get to the locks but it is a pleasurable boat ride to spend a day in the ocean. One of these homes is 3 bedroom 2 bath home with a 2 car garage priced at $315,000, the other is a 4 bedroom 2 bath home with a pool and it is priced at $389,000. Keep in mind that these are list prices and you won’t be offering full price, also make your contract contingent on the appraisal being at or above the purchase price.

The other 2 are on the east side of Merritt Island on deep water and a very short trip to the locks. Both these homes should accommodate larger boats. One is an almost new home with over 2200 sq ft, pool, 4 bedrooms and 3 ½ baths. It is priced at $579,000. The other is a home on the end of a cul de sac and has over 2700 sq ft, pool, 3 bedrooms and 3 baths. This home sits on a beautiful .79 acre plot and has great water views. The home is priced at $895,000.

Irritation

It totally irritates me that an agent will take a listing on a great property and then takes no pictures, too few pictures or crappy pictures. They are not doing their sellers much of a service.

Hit them long and straight!

Jim Bagwell