Randal Jenkins Team Blog

I am thinking of changing the name of this blog to The Angry Real Estate Blogger

May 5th, 2023

You want to list your house. So, you hire a Realtor. They are charging your 5% on a $500,000 house, so $25k.

And they put this on the listing:

LISTING AGENT IS NOT REPONSIBLE FOR ENTRY ERRORS ON MLS

This means, that buyers cannot rely on the information on the listing to determine their interest in the property.

I understand, this is about liability. The listing agent is worried, that they may make an error and they might get sued.

FOR $25k. Don’t make an error.

There are many buyers that come to town every day to buy a home. In Pasco County Florida, it is around 1300-1500 closings a month. So, every day around 45-50 homes go under contract.

These buyers rely on the information in the listing to decide what homes to look at, and ultimately, what home to buy.

Much of the information that buyers use to select a home are deal makers and deal breakers. Pet restrictions are a deal breaker, for someone with pets. Leasing restrictions are a deal breaker for landlord buyers. Deed restrictions are a deal breaker for many buyers. Room sizes are an issue for many buyers, I once sold a home in one day because of the measurement of the den, the buyer had a pool table. Many listings say buyer to verify room dimensions.

If the information is not on the listing to make the first decision, to go look at a home, we will likely skip the home. Wait we won’t skip it; it won’t even be on the list to consider skipping it.

If you are shopping for a Realtor to list your home, and they have buyer to verify, or Realtor cannot verify the information, or there are blanks or information that is skipped on their listings, perhaps this is not the Realtor for you.

You need to have the widest possible audience to get the most amount of money for your home, in the least amount of time.

One neighborhood I have blogged about is Plantation Palms. It has no pet restrictions. Of 65 listings in the history of the neighborhood. My listing was the only one to say NO PET RESTRICTIONS, which is another way of saying 100 lb. + dogs are ok.

Unfortunately, every listing in the neighborhood says, buyer to verify under pet restrictions. Buyer to verify? Not going to happen. These homes never make the list to being considered.

Angry Randy.
Buyer to Verify is Realtor Malpractice

April 29th, 2023

I keep telling myself. “Don’t Blog Angry”.

But that is the only time I have something to say.

Buyer to verify on a listing makes me angry.

For those of you that read my content, you know I have bitched about this before.

A listing for real estate requires the listing agent to fill out an MLS data entry form.

When the listing agent is lazy or perhaps hopes they will have more time to sell their own listing if they do not completely fill out the data entry form, we may see those evil words, buyer to verify.

It means that the information to analyze a property is not provided by the listing agent.

Examples: Pet restrictions, lease restrictions, building/development restrictions and more.

Plantation Palms is an excellent golf course community. Very Nice. NO PET RESTRICTIONS. But of 65 listings up until last year, every listing said buyer to verify for pet restrictions. I know why, it took me 5 days to verify with the HOA, that there were no pet restrictions. Here is the big deal. If you come to town with your 120 lb. dog, you will not know that this neighborhood allows dogs and more importantly big dogs. There is only one listing in that community now. It says buyer to verify under pet restrictions. $735,000 home and every buyer’s agent with a client with a dog, will have to call the HOA to verify.

AHHHHH. Staying on pet restrictions. Right now, April 29, 2023, at 7:55 am, there are 1911 active residential listings. 42 of them have no pet restrictions. 82 listings allow a 101 lb. pet. Think about that. Here is a topic for another blog post. How to search for your criteria.

Lease restrictions. Some communities require you to own a home 1 or 2 years before you can rent it out. When it says buyer to verify, it means that it will not show up as an option for a landlord. If there are no lease restrictions and it says buyer to verify, it means that buyers agents will not put it on the list for landlord buyers.

Here is a statement on a vacant lot. Seller has no info on the lots. All info would be gained through Pasco county development. The seller is related to the Realtor. This seller bought the lot in 2005 for $12,400 and is now trying to sell it for $12,500. The owner has held it for 18 years, paid the taxes for 18 years, can’t sell it, won’t develop it and is refusing to disclose. After 18 years, this seller has no idea about this property. If I was the Realtor, I would disclose or refuse to take the listing.

So inconclusion: DO NOT LIST YOUR HOME WITH A REALTOR THAT PUTS SELLER TO VERIFY ON THE LISTING. If they are too lazy to do their job on one of the simplest most basic parts of the job description, you have to ponder what else they are not doing.

Randy Jenkins. Bitcher.
The FAR/BAR Contract and important Dates

April 27th, 2023

The main contract that is used by Realtors in Florida is the AS-IS Far/Bar contract.

This is a 12-page contract. It requires 11 initials and a signature, by both the buyer and seller.

There are 3 main timing issues.

The deposit is due within 3 days after the second party has signed.

Unless changed, the contract gives 15 days for an inspection.

The contract requires the buyer give notice within 30 days that the final loan approval has been received.

If the deposit does not come in on time, the contract is voidable by the seller.

If the buyer does not exercise their rights under the home inspection in 15 days, then they lose the opportunity to cancel the contract and get their deposit back, based on the inspection contingency.

If the buyer does not have final financing approval by the 30th day, they lose their opportunity to walk away from the transaction, freely, with the deposit returned.

What are the implications if you do not meet these deadlines?
Better hire a Realtor, to get the implications in advance. Better hire an attorney, if you don’t meet your contract obligations.

Randy
Cheap Vacant Land

April 26th, 2023

When searching for vacant land, inexpensive vacant land, you are going to find all the cheapies.

There is good reason why these properties are so cheap. And there are better reasons you do not want to get involved.

Flood zones, dirt roads, swamp, and paving liens, to start with.

Dirt roads will likely become paved roads in the future…. maybe. If you own property on a dirt road and they pave it, you will be responsible for your portion of the paving. This is one reason why property on paved roads is more expensive. They paid for the road.

Flood zones. Run away. Flood insurance prices is going to go through the roof. Resale of properties in flood zone is going to be very difficult in the future. Prices of flood zone properties will be impacted. If flood insurance was $200- $300 a month and it goes to $500 a month. How much will the property value go down? Who knows, but what if dozens of your neighbors also realize they can’t afford the premium and all put their properties on the market. The excess supply will drive prices down.

Swamp? Enough said.

If you call me to talk vacant land, I will stress paved roads and non-flood zones.

Unfortunately, none of those properties will be on the list of cheapies.

If you would like to receive timely emails of properties in your criteria reach out to me.

Randy 727-409-4663
Realtors and Mortgage Nightmares

April 4th, 2023

Realtors and Mortgage Nightmares

Ask a seasoned Realtor about their buyer’s mortgage experiences and they will tell you of the nightmare borrowers have experienced at the closing table.

Repeatedly, we have witnessed the sticker shock of a borrower’s realization that the mortgage fees are very expensive.

By law, the mortgage broker is supposed to give the borrower a good faith estimate of the closing fees. This is called a loan estimate.    It gives a detailed list of the fees. These fees are broken down by those that can be shopped for and those that are not negotiable.   There seems to be huge differences in fees for those who get a loan estimate and those who find out the fees at the closing table.

When you are at the closing table, you are under contract to close on time, buyers have movers waiting, they have logistics that have been weeks in the making, it is too late for them to go back and negotiate the fees on the mortgage. So repeatedly, the buyer takes the deal, because they have no choice.

SO, what is a realtor to do? Many realtors do not give referrals. I do not recommend my roofer, although he is great, I do not recommend my electrician, and I do not recommend mortgage brokers.   No matter how good they have done in the past, it seems as soon as you recommend a vender, they drop the ball, and it reflects badly on you.

I always ask…who do you bank through? Do you have a credit union account. Do you know of a lender? Have you bought a home before? Who did you use, were you happy with them?

All buyers that are paying with a mortgage get a pre-approval letter in writing.    We, the realtor, must advise them to get the loan estimate, in writing as well so that the borrower won’t get whacked at the closing table.

When they get the pre-approval, we realtors have a chance to be a hero. By insisting that the buyer get a loan estimate, the buyer will KNOW what they are getting into. They will know the fees. They will not have sticker shock at the closing table. And very importantly, they can compare the loan estimate to the actual closing fees, and they can then fight the fees, if they deviate from the loan estimate.

Finally, to be a real hero to the borrower/buyer. Have them shop around for the mortgage.

We shop around for the best car deal, we shop hard for the best deal on a home, but buyers do not seem to shop around for the best deal on a mortgage. When you apply for a mortgage, they may do what is known as a “hard credit pull”, it will impact your credit score. Mortgage brokers do not want you to shop around for a better deal. Of course.   They want you to believe that the fees are fixed and nonnegotiable.   They would like you to believe that the fees will be the same wherever you go. Your credit will be impacted even more if you make multiple applications.

If the company is doing a “soft pull”, it won’t impact your credit and your name will not be sold by the credit reporting agencies to other lenders. And a fact they won’t tell you is if you do multiple hard pulls for a mortgage within 45 days, it only counts as one pull. Companies that do a “soft pull” must pay the credit reporting agencies extra for that service. So be sure to ask if the lender you are using does a soft pull or a hard pull, so they won’t be bombarded with calls from lenders.

Randy 727-409-4663 (409-home).

Randal Jenkins

Rocket Mortgage NMLS #205-3417

Coldwell Banker F I Grey and Son Residential

5636 Grand Blvd

New Port Richey Fl 34652
It is going to destroy Florida Real Estate

March 6th, 2023

A lot of articles discuss the tight real estate market and strong real estate prices. “How can prices remain so strong in an environment of rising interest rates?”

What is going to bring Florida real estate down?

Rising sea levels for sure. But that is not what is going to initially crush real estate values.

Where I am going with this, has actually helped cause rents to rise precipitously. What are the components of a landlord’s costs? Taxes, insurance, cost of capital, vacancy, maintenance and upkeep.

Insurance. And the cost of insurance is going to destroy real estate demand and values. One property I manage went from $1800 a year in 2022, to $4100 in 2023.

Landlords can pass on this increase, but homeowners have to eat it. And with so many of our seniors on a fixed income, that can be impossible.

Flood insurance. Don’t get me started. There is so much going wrong here, it is scary. Google Alert NFIP. National Flood Insurance Program. This will keep you up at night and give you nightmares.

So, solutions? A good blogger does not just bitch, they provide solutions.

1). Don’t buy in a flood zone unless you are paying cash. (Allows you to self-insure).

2). Recognize not just flood zones, but mandatory evacuation zones. Another whole blog topic.

3). Florida Real Estate will crash. Momentously. Is it 10 years, 30 years, 50 years? 5 years? Every time you hear about a massive Artic or Antarctic glacier or ice island, imagine the impact on sea level.

Be sure to sell your real estate before the tipping point, because there will be NO BUYERS after.

I humorously imagined opening a real estate company and calling it 100 Feet Above Sea Level Realty.

BTW. The answer to the first question is “lack of supply.”

Randy 727-409-4663 (409-home).

Randal Jenkins

Rocket Mortgage NMLS #205-3417

www.409home.com

Rent to Own Pasco Inc

Coldwell Banker F I Grey and Son Residential

5636 Grand Blvd

New Port Richey Fl 34652
Today’s Market

March 3rd, 2023

Pasco County Florida, a microcosm of Florida Real Estate. Meaning you can get an idea of what is going on in Florida, by looking at the numbers from one county. Pasco is a bedroom community serving Hillsbourough County (Tampa) and Pinellas Couty (St. Pete and Clearwater). As a realtor, investor and a student of the market, I study Pasco County. In the early 2000’s when real estate was not so fashionable, they called me Mr. Pasco. Now with so many people doing real estate, I am just a small cog in the machine.

Here are the numbers today. Residential listings: Active 2172 Listings, pending 2197, 30-day solds from Feb 24 going back 30 days 1504.

For comparison, during the insanity era. The covid era when homes sold in 3 days at 20-30-40k and more over asking, with no appraisal or inspection contingency. That 2 and 1/2 years when interest rates were 2.75% and the world found out you don’t have to go to the office. The insanity era. There were around 3000 residential listings, 700 active and 2300 pending.

Since interest rates started rising the number of active listings went up 100 a week until there were over 2800 active listings…up from 700. Today there are 2172, that number has been going down every week.

Subscribe now to see the numbers as they change.

Randal Jenkins
727-409-4663
Coldwell Banker F I Grey and Son Res
5636 Grand Blvd
New Port Richey Fl 34652

Rocket Mortgage NMLS #205-3417

Check out our Meet or Beat Program where we will meet or beat any loan
estimate or interest rate or both.
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Listing Your Home? What to say in your listing. What not to say.

February 27th, 2023

I read a lot of listings. Mostly so that I can write about my listings. I also read listings when I price my listings. As a real estate investor, personally selling over 650 properties, and by being an adequate writer and better editor, I have much to say.

WHAT IS A LISTING? The definition of a listing is an agreement between a seller and a broker to market and sell a property and receive a commission.

So, it is in the best interest of the seller and the realtor to market the property in the best possible way.

This is done by placing the home on the MLS, the Multiple Listing Service.

The broker creates a write up, a list of features and benefits that a buyer uses to determine if they have an interest in the property.

A list of features. This is a list. Not a sales presentation. Therefor the following statements should not be in a listing:

This one will go fast. (You see this a lot on listing that have been on the market for dozens of days).

What a great place to call home! This gem will not last long. This is an excellent opportunity to make this house your home. Check out this beauty today and bring your offer to the table. (These were all from one listing).

My complaint with this type of language is that it is selling. It is convincing. It is hype. It is not features and benefits.

What should a listing say. Neighborhood, beds, baths, pool, garage, sq footage, year built, condition, lot size, amenities, extras, community amenities, water frontage/access/view, pet restrictions, lease restrictions, annual fees, taxes, price per square foot, room sizes, driving directions, showing instructions and so much more.

So, the challenge in writing a great listing is to include as many of these features and benefits in the least amount of time, without the selling and hype.

This is in what is called the public remarks.

Pictures. Most people are visual. And they are on the internet, and they are clicking their mouse, next, next, next. And if they are not intrigued, they are clicking the next house. Next.

You had 3 chances to get them to click on the 4th picture. Too late if they are on to the next house.

Let’s start out with the bad. Placing pictures of the pool on the 25th picture. Not including the gourmet kitchen in the first 3 pictures. Saving the waterfront pictures to the end. Including personal items, shampoos, dirty laundry, open toilet seats, kitchen utensils and the obvious mistakes we see in listing pictures.

What is good? One picture of each of the finest features in the first 6 pictures. Front, pool, kitchen, master bath, back yard, game room, etc. One picture from each main group of features. If you can get the viewer to the 12th or 15th picture, you can then show the other 5 pics of the kitchen, 5 pics of the pool, 5 pics of the game room, the other bathrooms, the laundry room. It does not matter how cool a feature is if the viewer clicked to the next home without seeing it.

Pricing. People look at homes on the internet by price ranges. $200k to $250k. $150k to $200k. Pricing the home just above or below a round number is BAD. If a home in this example is priced at $199,900, it will not show up on the $200k to $250k list. It will be the most expensive house on the $150k to $200k list. It will be the most attractive home on the $200k to $250k list if it was priced at $200k. Price in round numbers only.

Rereading what is written so far, I can see luxury home agents having a problem with this. They are painting a picture. Check out the following:

Enter the property through the gate onto a paved driveway and a great view of the large yard with mature trees. Exterior is freshly painted, enhanced with landscaping around the home. Newly metal roof adds character. Upon entry through the stain glass door, notice the updates and finishes. You may gaze at the whitewashed brick fireplace, or the newly installed wood look vinyl tile enhanced with 5-inch floor molding. Light airy kitchen may grab your attention…

So, what is the answer. Call me to discuss.

Randy 727-409-4663 (409-home).

Randal Jenkins

Rocket Mortgage NMLS #205-3417

www.409home.com

Rent to Own Pasco Inc

Coldwell Banker F I Grey and Son Residential

5636 Grand Blvd

New Port Richey Fl 34652

click on Active Listings or search all of MLS at www.409home.com

FloridaRealEstateFamily.com
Realtor malpractice or ineptitude?

February 26th, 2023

When you find realtor behavior that is weak. Is the realtor malicious, or just not very good?

Why would a realtor shortchange their client in the first place? The most common example is when a listing agent engages in practices that make it harder for other buyers’ agents to buy their listings. Some listing agents go out of their way to attempt to get both sides of the transaction, that is the listing commission and the buyer’s agent commission.

The most common way a listing agent can block a buyer’s agent, is too not answer the phone, and don’t respond to emails. This will give that listing agent more time to find the buyer themselves.

There are other ways that a listing agent can make a property less attractive and make it more likely that other buyers’ agents will not persue their listings:

Leave out pertinent information from the listing.

Examples: Don’t put down the financing accepted. The biggest item is financing. If a property will qualify for FHA or VA financing, and the seller’s realtor leaves this data entry empty, very few if any FHA or VA buyers will know of its availability. 80% of mortgages are FHA or VA. This blocks a lot of agent’s buyers.

Pet restrictions: Leave them off. A very nice neighborhood in Pasco County is Plantation Palms. It is one where there are no pet restrictions. Therefor if you have a 100 lb. dog, you will find this community very attractive. Of 65 listings in that community, that I surveyed, not one of them noted that there were no pet restrictions. This data entry point was not included in the listing, or it said buyer to verify. 1000s of buyers coming to town and NONE of them look at this community if they have big dogs.

Zoned for Horses: A property that is 1 acre plus and zoned agricultural and has no deed restrictions (no HOA), is automatically zoned for 3 hooved animals. (horses). At the time of this blog, Feb 26, 2023, there are 65 listed properties over 1 acre that are zoned agricultural and are not in a deed restricted community. Only 12 of them have the data entry for Zoned for Horses checked. So, a buyer, looking for horse properties will only see 12 properties, when there are really 65.

I could go on and on. There are over 100 data entries that can be answered on an MLS data entry form. Many realtors put “buyer to verify”. PLEASE, what are the chances that this listing even comes up under the buyers’ criteria. They won’t because “buyer to verify” is just like leaving that data entry blank.

SO, the question was…is this malicious or incompetence?

It does not matter. What matters is the client is not getting what they are paying for.

Randy 727-409-4663 (409-home).

Randal Jenkins

Rocket Mortgage NMLS #205-3417

www.409home.com

Rent to Own Pasco Inc

Coldwell Banker F I Grey and Son Residential

5636 Grand Blvd

New Port Richey Fl 34652

click on Active Listings or search all of MLS at www.409home.com

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The State of Real Estate in Central Florida

February 25th, 2023

Pasco County is an example of what is happening in Central Florida and the statistics and trends sited are a microcosm of the general trends for the area.

As covid started we entered an era, that I call the insanity period. 2.5 years of real estate, that we have never seen. 15-25-30 offers on new listings that appeared to be well priced. Offers $20k-$30k-$50k over the asking prices. Offers not dependent on inspections, not dependent upon appraisals, sight unseen offers. The insanity period.

In Pasco County there were around 3000 residential listings. 2300 or so under contract, leaving sometimes under 700 residential listings to choose from. When interest rates started rising, there were around 100 new net listings per week. This rose to over 2800 active listings. Just under 5000 total listings with around 2000 or so pending listings.

In the last 5 weeks we have seen the number of active listings drop by nearly 100 a week. Today Feb 25, 2023, there are 2223 active listings, 2312 pending listings and the 30-day solds around 1220.

What is happening? Interest rates doubling from 2.75% to 5.5% and now around 6.5% slowed buyer exuberance, more sellers put their homes up for sale, and the market slowed down with transactions falling 40% or so.

Yet prices have not dropped much. Under 5% in most categories and virtually no drop in some, try buying a 3/2/2 pool home, you won’t see any discounts.

WHY?

Why is the Florida market and central Florida in particular so strong?

Why does Florida’s population keep rising? Jobs. Weather. No state income taxes. Politics?

Look at the alternatives. Cold, violently cold winters in the North. Wildfires, earthquakes, high taxes in California. Water shortages in Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, California and throughout the southwest. Devasting tornadoes from Oklahoma to Alabama. Landslides and flooding in the Carolina’s, West Virginia, Tennessee and the mid-eastern states. Extreme weather in the Northwest. Snow in southern California. It’s a mess.

Yes, but Florida has hurricanes. We get at least 2 days’ notice.

What is going to change the attractiveness of Florida real estate?

Home insurance and flood insurance is the Florida real estate markets biggest challenge.

I will talk much more about this in future blogposts.

Thank you for reading this post.

(Randal Jenkins, is a Realtor, Mortgage Loan Officer and president of a Real Estate investment company. After spending 18 years in the financial services industry, Randal has devoted the last 23 years to Real Estate.)