Saint Petersburg real estate. How much down payment does the seller request?

I get this question a lot.

The down payment on a house or condo is nothing that the seller actually requests. Yes, the seller can counter or reject an offer that has 99% financing as a contingency, but in general, your mortgage broker should answer this question, not you Realtor.

It all depends on your income, your savings, your investments and most of all your credit score and history and what lender you work with. The bank will give you different options and different interest rates and conditions if your down payment is high verses low. Here in the Saint Pete area, we consider 0 to5% a low down payment, 20% is about average and with 30% and up, you are in excellent shape.

 

Short sales, bank owned and foreclosure homes and condos in Treasure Island Florida

This is just a list of homes that are being sold way below market value. Each one of these listings is either a short sale or a foreclosure or a bank owned property in Treasure Island Saint Petersburg. They are all currrently on the market for sale.

MLS #	Subdivision	Water Front	Pool	Gar/Car	Prop Code	Sq Ft	BR	Full Baths	Half Baths	List Price	LP/ SF
7344239	Treasure Island Tenn	Y	N	NONE	CONDO	885	1	1	1	$129,900	$147
7371926	Normandy Pinellas Co	Y	Y	1CRPT	CHOTL	411	1	1	0	$159,000	$387
7352905	Capri Isle Pt Rep	N	N	2CRGR	TOWNH	1,620	3	2	0	$269,000	$166
7385559	Paradise Village Twn	Y	Y	2CRGR	TOWNH	2,130	3	2	1	$275,000	$129
7386680	Mansions By The Sea	Y	Y	1CRPT	CONDO	1,200	2	2	0	$284,900	$237
7371396	Sunset Vistas Condo	Y	Y	NONE	CHOTL	810	2	2	0	$290,000	$358
7371883	Sunset Vistas Condo	Y	Y	1CRPT	CHOTL	870	2	2	0	$349,000	$401
7368118	Isle Palms Add 01	Y	Y	2CRPT	SINGL	1,909	3	2	0	$475,000	$249
7330674	Capri Isle	Y	Y	2CRGR	SINGL	2,118	3	3	0	$489,900	$231
2300421	HERRON’S SUB NO. 7	Y	N	3CRPT	SINGL	2,929	4	4	1	$499,000	$170
7363394	Paradise Island Add	Y	Y	2CRGR	SINGL	2,451	4	3	0	$549,000	$224
7367141	Capri Isle	Y	Y	2CRGR	SINGL	2,113	4	2	0	$550,000	$260

 

 

 

If you think about buying or selling a house or condo in the Saint Petersburg Florida area, please give me a call. Ask me about waterfront homes or condos in St. Pete beach, Treasure Island, Madeira beach, Seminole and other Clearwater Tampabay neighborhoods. Find out what we can do to sell your home or condo and what the value of your property is. Check out great real estate deals or visit condo associations like Seminole Isle.

We also work with short sale bank owned and foreclosures. Find a property or go to my website for more real estate information or simply contact us.   727 409 8706

Housing expense ratio.

If I hear this one more time, I will start screaming.

The monthly PITI payment which is Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance combined should not exceed 28% of the monthly gross income. That is what you bank tells you or your mortgage broker says, that is the rule!

The monthly gross income is $5000 that means PITI should not be more than $1400. Please do not fall for this. They look at you as numbers, not as real people. Use some common sense. If your rent is $900 per month now, and at the end of the month you do not have any money left over, how can you expect to make monthly payment of $1400? 

That’s how simple it is. Look at your budget; are you willing to cut it by $500 to own a home instead of renting it? Can you even cut it by $500?

Home owner Short Sale information for Saint Petersburg.

It really doesn’t matter if you are in Saint Petersburg or anywhere else Florida and it doesn’t matter where your bank is. In a short sale situation, the bank might forgive the balance owed between the mortgage amount and the sale price. Might,that is right. They do not have to. You or your negotiator or Short sale Realtor want to make sure that the forgiveness is part of the deal. Be careful, if you hire someone to help you with the negotiations and the paperwork, they better know what they are doing, otherwise you can get in more trouble than you already have. I do not want to scare you, but it is important that you understand the whole short sale process or have someone on your side that does. Banks will try to get as much money as they can and they will try everything in the book. Home owners that face a short sale are often intimidated by all this and they are an easy target. So, be smart, get help and get it ASAP. If you think you might be upside down and might have to sell, call your Realtor and or lawyer now. The most important factor to a successful short sale is TIME.

Anne Hensel, Realtor, CSP, Short Sale Professional, working with homeowners and buyers to successfully close a short sale transaction in Pinellas County Florida.

A lot of people here in the Saint Petersburg, Seminole area are facing a short sale situation, Waterfront properties on Saint Pete Beach or Treasure Island  as well as little homes in Seminole or Gulfport. Give me a call today and find out what your options are. Your short sale consultation is free of charge and confidential.

 

 

The beach theater in Saint Pete beach

will show a few classics this month, among them                               December 20 – A Christmas Story (1983),  December 13 – Miracle on 34th Street (1947), December 21 – The Nutcracker (2007), December 22 – A Christmas Carol (1951), December 27 – Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Dec. 17 – Player Beach Bash at the Tradewinds in Saint Pete Beach
3 to 7 p.m. The Memphis Tigers and the USF Bulls have a Player Beach Bash party and fun activities. 

Sunset beach on Treasure Island                                                          Join Santa & Mrs. Claus in Sunset Beach with caroling and sharing holiday cheer as they stroll the streets with “Merryment Stops” along the way, Sunday December 21st. Meet at 5pm at the Beach Pavilion … Come join us, it is a cool event and afterwards everybody ends up at Caddy’s waterfront bar.

Saint Petersburg                                                                                                               On December 20^th 2008 at 11am, Mazzaro’s Italian Market at 2909 22^nd Ave North, Saint Petersburg, Florida will cut an 800lb.  Provolone as part of their Christmas tradition. Be prepared it will be a mad house, but fun.

Dec. 18 – Movies at the Museum of Fine Arts                             Saturday Night Fever., 255 Beach Dr. N.E. Movies begin at 7 p.m. in the Marly Room, galleries open in the original building from 6 to 7 p.m

Savannah’s restaurant in Saint Petersburg Fl.

Fine southern cuisine and that is so true. I love this restaurant. It has a great atmosphere and great food.

restaurant in Saint pete

The staff is very friendly and the place is beautiful. High ceilings (and I mean 20 something feet) nice little bar area, outside seating etc. They have a Julep iced tea for $3 or an original Julep with Kentucky bourbon for $7. Their appetizers start at $7 up to $9 and entrees are somewhere around $19.

Bar at Savannah's

So, if you are somewhere in the area and want to taste southern cooking, the Savannah’s is the place to go. It is right on Central Ave in a beautifully restored old building.

1113 Central Ave Saint Petersburg Florida.  I think they are closed on Sundays, maybe you want tp call first  727 388 4371

My first day at CASA, community action stops abuse

I decided to start volunteering for casa and last night was their orientation for new Volunteers. It is every 2^nd Thursday of the month from 6 to 730pm at 1011 1^st. Ave N. It was very interesting and I found out that they do way more than I thought. CASA has about 200 volunteers right now and they need more. It is a great cause, so if you want to do something good for the community, maybe CASA is the right thing for you.                                                                 Check it out, their website is www.casa-stpete.org

Seminole Isle condos and townhomes in Seminole Saint Petersburg

Seminole Isle is a very nice community here in Seminole Florida. It is located right on Park Blvd between Seminole Blvd and Park Street, in the middle of Seminole across the street from the huge Seminole park. It is only minutes away from the beaches of Madeira and Redington. Seminole Isle is a gated community with 6 condo complexes a total of 180 units and a lot of townhomes. Nearly all units have a great view onto Lake Seminole and the nature preserve. The complex is right on the water and has a nice dock and its own little beach. Seminole Isle features a nice clubhouse and tennis courts, a heated swimming pool and a long walk way around the community with beautiful direct waterfront places were you can just hang out or fish or watch the birds.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Location, Location, Location, it does not matter where you need to go in St. Petersburg, Seminole Isle is10 minutes or less from everything. There is a Publix and a Sweet bay within 5 minutes, a Home depot within 3 minutes, shops and restaurants even the Seminole Mall is less than 5 minutes away. It will take you 30 minutes to Tampa airport and about 15 minutes to the downtown Saint Petersburg waterfront. Seminole itself has a lot to offer, it is an up and coming community with lots of energy and lots of fun things to do. Seminole Isle was built some 4 years ago by Beazer, one of the nicest projects they ever did. Unfortunately the real estate market changed over night and Beazer stopped constructions on other projects that were planned for Seminole Isle. So, right now there is a lot of vacant land within the community. If you do not know about the developer stopping the project, you would not realize that it was supposed to have a lot more buildings. In the beginning of 2008 the developer turned the condo affairs over to the Seminole Isle association and the complex is now managed by the Leland Management Company.                                                                                          They have an onsite property manager that takes care of everything. Ok Let’s talk about the condos in Seminole Isle, like I said there are about 180 units and the have 3 different floor plans. The condos are either 2 or 3 bedroom between 1500 and 2100 heated square feet. Each condo has an assigned parking space underneath the building and tons of parking outside. Also, each condo has a very nice size screened in balcony, open floor plan and high ceilings. The townhomes are a little over 2000 sf. also available in 3 different floor plans and they have a big oversized two car garage/ bonus room downstairs. You have your kitchen, living room area on the second floor and the bedrooms on the third floor. I kind of like the condos better, that might be because I am too lazy to walk up and down the steps in a townhome. In the beginning of 2008 Beazer sold their last units in Seminole Isle and now everything that is or comes on the market is a resale. People paid a lot of money for these condos when they were brand new.                                                                                              Well, like I said before, in the meantime the market has changed and the sales prices in Seminole Isle went down dramatically. We are talking about prices that dropped by $150,000 within a 2 years period. Well this is good news for all the buyers out there, once in a while you can find that unbelievable deal in Seminole Isle. Just a few month ago,  a 2100 Sf. condo sold for $270,000. The seller had paid way over $400,000 for it about 2 years ago. According to public records it looks like there might be more short sales coming up in Seminole Isle.

If you think about buying or selling a house or condo in the Saint Petersburg Florida area, please give me a call. Ask me about waterfront homes or condos in St. Pete beach, Treasure Island, Madeira beach, Seminole and other Clearwater Tampabay neighborhoods. Find out what we can do to sell your home or condo and what the value of your property is. Check out great real estate deals or visit condo associations like Seminole Isle.

We also work with short sale bank owned and foreclosures. Find a property or go to my website for more real estate information or simply contact us. 

727 409 8706

I got a Notice of default from my bank, should I begin the short sale process or just wait?

Do not wait, if you qualify for a short sale, you need to contact us ASAP. We work in the Saint Petersburg Pinellas county area and a NOD ( Notice of Default) is a wake up call that you need to take serious. The banks can issue a Notice of default 16 days after you missed a payment. Usually we do not see it that early, but some banks take action that soon. If you have received this notice, you only have a limited time left to complete a successful short sale. If you miss this time frame, you will most likely be foreclosed on.

No reason to panik, but you need to act.

 

Anne Hensel, Realtor, CSP, Short Sale Professional, working with homeowners and buyers to successfully close a short sale transaction in Pinellas County Florida.

A lot of people here in the Saint Petersburg, Seminole area are facing a short sale situation, Waterfront properties on Saint Pete Beach or Treasure Island  as well as little homes in Seminole or Gulfport. Give me a call today and find out what your options are. Your short sale consultation is free of charge and confidential.

 

 

Do I have to move out of my home when it is in a short sale process?

No, you can still live in your home and you should.

There are a lot of reasons but I want to point out 2 reasons why you should stay in your home.

 

You are still responsible for your home; you want to make sure it is kept up nicely so you can get the best sales price for it.

While you still live in your home, you do not have to pay rent anywhere else.

Think about it, with a short sale or foreclosure situation here in Saint Petersburg, the ones that have the best chance to sell, are the ones that are owner occupied. The properties are still cared for and kept up nicely and will get better offers and eventually a better sales price. The “abandoned” houses and condos usually look very sad, they are dirty and do not show nice. A lot of people think that banks want them to move out ASAP. That is just not true. In a Short sale situation or foreclosure, the bank as in interest in keeping the home as nice as possible and the easiest way is to have the home owner live in it. We see properties, where the seller has moved out, the grass is growing, the weeds are growing, the electricity is off etc. These homes are just not attractive to buyers and you will receive low ball offers if any.