About William Surrency REALTOR

Hi, My name is William Surrency and this is my Real Estate BLOG. First I want to welcome you to my page and give you a short introduction of who I am and what I am all about. I have lived in North East Florida for most of my life, with the exception of 4 years that I spent in Savannah, Georgia. I grew up in the small town of Bryceville, Florida in Nassau county. I have been interested in Real Estate since I was in my teens. I knew that I wanted to invest in Real Estate but I was not sure if I wanted to be a Real Estate Agent until about 5 years ago. After taking several Real Estate courses for investing I found that I wanted to help others in getting the home that they had always dreamed of. To make a long story short, here I am with the experience and the education and helping families sell their home and locate a new home. The most exciting part of being a REALTOR is the happy faces and the thanks that I get at the closings. With all of that said, I want to make sure that I point out all of the services that I provide on my websites.

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source: fastrealestate.net

Run the numbers before buying an investment property

People talk about running the numbers before buying an investment property, but what are the numbers and how do you get accurate numbers? Running the wrong numbers can make the difference of making $500 or losing $1000 per month. In this article we will go through the costs and factors to consider to make your investments successful. RENTAL INCOME Rental income is not as straight-forward as it seems. Sometimes properties are under-rented and sometimes properties are over-rented, so be sure to find out the market rents when you consider a property. When we bought our first fourplex, we looked at comparable leases and realized our rents were too high, so instead of assuming we would continue to receive $3600 of rental income, we had to be realistic and assume it was more like $3200. MORTGAGE INTEREST A huge cost is mortgage interest. You should definitely sort out the details of your loan options and get an idea of current rates before running the numbers. It could make or break a deal. If you are getting a duplex or a house, the loans are generally similar to other home loan programs. Triplexes and fourplexes tend to have higher rates, and commercial is a whole other ballgame. One thing to consider is to put more down because the more you put down, the less your loan will be, which means less monthly interest to pay. Another consideration is the type of loan. We usually recommend for people to get a fixed rate mortgage these days because the current ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) rates are not all that much lower than fixed rates. Basically, just get educated about the loan options and run the numbers with them. Oh, and also, do not just take advice from one mortgage person. The best way to get educated is to talk to a variety of mortgage brokers and banks to find your best solution; not all loan places have the same programs. TAXES People frequently use the taxes from the year when they purchased the property, assuming the taxes will stay the same. Taxes change every year. Taxes can go up drastically after a purchase. For example, an owner occupied property usually has tax breaks, so unless you intend to owner occupy too, your taxes will go up. Also, the county appraisal that your taxes are based on could go up after your purchase. For example, if you buy a property for 100,000 but the tax appraisal last year was for 50,000, don't count on it remaining at 50,000. In fact, I have seen cases where a year after a property was purchased the tax assessor increased the appraisal value to the purchase price. The safest approach is to look at the tax rate and the purchase price to determine your future taxes. VACANCY COST For some reason people tend to forget to take into account vacancy rate. Even when looking to invest in a desirable rental area, it's best to always take into account at least an 8-10% vacancy rate. Do some investigation, look at your market and find statistics on the average vacancy rate. TENANT TURNOVER COST We have personally found the biggest surprise to be the expense of tenant turnover. This includes advertising for a new tenant, cleaning, repainting, replacing carpet, etc. If you expect to have high tenant turnover, like next to a college campus, anticipate this to be a significant cost. INSURANCE COST Insurance on investment properties are typically higher than owner occupied, single family properties. So get an insurance quote on the property instead of basing your expected insurance off of the insurance bill for your house. You also should purchase liability insurance which can be expensive. MAINTENANCE COSTS This is by far the most difficult number to estimate. It depends on the property, whether you fix some of the problems yourself or hire outside help, and random luck. So we can't give you a hard and fast number but we can look into different factors to take into account. **Property Type - When you evaluate different properties remember to take into account the type of property. If it's brick you won't have to paint or worry about wood root. Decks need constant maintenance. A property with wood or concrete floors will be easier to clean and will not have to be replaced when a tenant moves out. Just think about the aspects of the property and their maintenance costs. **Property Size - A smaller property is easier to maintain than a larger property. For instance, say there are two properties for sale for 200,000 and each have a combined rent of 2000. A property with 2 units and a total of 1000 square feet will be cheaper to maintain than a property with 6 units and 3000 square feet. The larger property will be more expensive to maintain when you are replacing the larger roof, painting the interior walls, etc. Also, more units mean more money spent on advertising, make-readies, and more appliances to repair. **Property Location - Consider your proximity to the property. If you buy a property 30 miles away, over the course of a year you can spend a decent amount of gas money driving back and forth. **Your personal management style - How often will you do maintenance work yourself vs hiring help? For instance, when a unit needs painting will you paint the rooms or hire a painter? Hiring professionals is definitely more expensive, but you have to be realistic about how much you will personally do, especially if you are looking at a lot of units. UTILITY COSTS Be sure to check what the tenants pay for and what the owner pays for. This includes all the utilities and lawn maintenance. In addition, there may be owner expenses like parking lot lights and trash bin service. PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COSTS If you are going to hire a property management company, definitely get their rates. We personally choose properties that we can manage ourselves. SUMMING THE NUMBERS We wrote a investment property calculator which is located here Investment real estate calculator . Once you add all the numbers up, you often find the property has 0 cash flow or even negative cash flow. This doesn't necessarily mean you should not purchase the property. There are positive tax benefits to rental properties and depending on your situation, a property with technically 0 cash flow could still put more money in your pocket due to tax benefits. Also, if you think the property is going to appreciate in the future, a zero or negative cash flow property could still be appealing. The point here is that if you are buying a property with zero or negative cash flow, it's best to know beforehand instead of after the property has been purchased. Located in Austin Texas The Austin Real Estate and Homes Group offers potential investors with advice and expertise about the Austin Real Estate market. If you are looking to invest in Austin Texas there are alot of options and potential pitfalls so its good to have someone on your side to help you locate an investment that will fit your goals for a real estate investment. Their website offers a free Home Search of the Austin MLS along with description of the different downtown Austin Condos

Real Estate Designers offers totally innovative solutions for your software development, Internet programming, real estate web design and hosting needs. Our service includes domain name registration and real estate web design. Real Estate Designers provides the complete solution including design, application development and marketing.

source: fastrealestate.net

100 or More Days on the Market - Why is this House on the Market for so long?

A common question that Buyers ask is how long a house is on the market. If it is too long, interest is lost quickly. It is a natural reaction to not be interested in something that no one else is interested in. The natural assumption is that there must be something majorly wrong with the home. But there are many reasons why a house has been on the market for a while.

A very common reason is that the home was originally listed to high. When a home is first on the market, it will get a large amount of traffic with the group of Buyers currently looking. It is crucial for it to not be over-listed, or those potential Buyers will pass, either because it simply is not showing up in the right price range or those people looking in that price range are finding better deals. So, the house sits on the market for the first couple weeks without intriguing any interest. Even if the price is lowered, the initial rush of Buyers is over. And the damage of the house being on the market for a while with no offers was already done.

Another reason a house is on the market for a while is that the showing procedure for the house is difficult. There could be unwilling tenants, or even some Sellers themselves make it extremely hard to show a property. If the home cannot easily be seen, there will be lots of missed opportunities to have possibly sold the house. So, the place stays on the market for a while.

Also, some Sellers or even their agents could be unreasonable. They do not want to sell their properties for a dime less than what they are asking. It may be a ridiculouse price, but it may also be entierly reasonable. But, not negotiating at all turns away a lot of Buyers. So, the property will sit until a Buyer is willing to give in completely to the Seller.

If you are interested in a house that has been on the market a long time, do not dismiss it soley on the number of days on market. One thing to check out is the average days on market of the neighborhood. If the average is high, get your agent's opnion as to if that is normal or because the neighborhood is a undesirable area that will be hard to resell. If the average is lower than that particular house, just investigate the house, as you would with any property. Get it thoroughly inspected. Check that it is not in a restricted area, like a flood zone or endangered species area. Also, most MLS systems will show if the property ever went pending. If so, ask the listing agent what happened the last time the home went under contract and why those Buyers chose not to purchase the property.

In the end, choose a property because you enjoy it and any repairs are something you can handle. Days on market could be an indication of the property having severe problems, but that is not always the case. Look at it in context of the market area and get it inspected as you would with any home. Some of the best deals are properties that are being ignored by everyone else.

Ki Gray works for the Escapeso Austin Real Estate Team in Austin Texas. Their website allows users to use a free Austin MLS to start their Austin home search along with four custom real estate calculators.

Real Estate Designers offers totally innovative solutions for your software development, Internet programming, real estate web design and hosting needs. Our service includes domain name registration and real estate web design. Real Estate Designers provides the complete solution including design, application development and marketing.

source: fastrealestate.net

A Guide to Buying your first rental property and becoming a landlord

When you are buying your first rental property and becoming a landlord, there is lots to learn. How do I find tenants? What should I charge for rent? Should I update the places to get more rent? How do I tell the tenants they are late on rent?

I have read a lot about how you have rule with an iron fist to keep your tenants in line. Our philosophy is much more laid back, and it has worked out amazingly well for us. Every property is different, but this was our experience.

Our first rental investment property was somewhere we would move into ourselves, and in retrospect, that was an aspect more important than I would have guessed. There's many decisions along the way, and being a potential tenant yourself makes those decisions much clearer.

First off, when it comes time to market your place, you are part of the target audience, so it is easy to find the right place to advertise. Just ask yourself... how would we go about looking for a place? We actually mistakenly put costly newspaper ads out initially, bringing in the completely wrong renters who were completely not interested. Once we switched to advertising in places we would look, 90% of the people who came were actually interested, the place would rent faster, and the tenants were happy to be in our place.

That leads to the next reason why buying something you would live in as your first rental property makes the landlord learning process so much easier. The tenants! These will be people that you basically get along with because they like what you like, and if you meet them, they will most likely like you, or they would not be renting it. You will make sense to them, and they will make sense to you. When you are at odds with your tenants, the whole interaction and experience can be painful, so getting along helps tremendously.

Why, you say, should I care if my tenants are happy? Because everything is easier. They will more likely pay rent on time, respect & keep your place in shape, and stay longer. Believe me, there is nothing like a completely wrecked apartment by a short-term tenant. Sure you can charge money for damages, but it will still take time and be a hassle to get it back up to a rent-able state. And dealing the whole time with bitter, angry tenants is no fun either.

How do you make your tenants happy? There's a couple things we do. One is that we allow tenants some flexibility with painting and decorating. 95% of the time, our tenants actually do wonders with our apartments and leave them with a better style than we could have done ourselves. Many times, we even get good ideas to carry over to the other apartments to make them more marketable, like some basic drapes & mounted wine racks. We even had a tenant call us to ask if she could plant some flowers by her porch. We welcomed it. It was an indication that she felt invested in the place and felt at home. Of course, I am not advising you let someone remodel your kitchens... I am talking small things that are easily undone, but make the tenant feel invested and at home.

Another thing to do to have happy tenants is to give them a sizable re-signing bonus when their leases end. And unless it is painfully needed, do not raise the rent, especially if the tenant is someone who pays on time and is easy to deal with. We offer a $500 re-signing bonus each year with rents at $800. It is almost a free month and about the cost it would be for us to do a make-ready, so it is good for us and them.

Also, we do not rent our places at the maximum. We make them a somewhat good deal so that many people will inquire, and so we have a better chance of a good fit that will be happy and stay long. We also do not overcharge because feeling ripped off is one main reason a tenant will leave.

We also treat our tenants with a lot of respect. We call them every time we enter their units, and if repairs take an extensive amount of time or hassle on their behalf, we give them some rent back. We also maintain the property and do pest control. And we always answer their issues within a day, at least with a phone call.

Becoming a landlord was definitely a learning experience. Everyone has their own style, and even different properties may prescribe a different style. Just be open to handling your rental property business (which is basically your tenants) with respect rather than the stereotypical overbearing attitude.

Escapeso Austin Texas Real Estate is a husband wife team in Austin Texas serving the Austin Real Estate market. Their website offers a free Austin Home Search using the Austin MLS as well as a custom real estate calculator

Real Estate Designers offers totally innovative solutions for your software development, Internet programming, real estate web design and hosting needs. Our service includes domain name registration and real estate web design. Real Estate Designers provides the complete solution including design, application development and marketing.

source: fastrealestate.net

Evaluating the different options available for downtown Austin Condos

Downtown Austin is growing faster than ever. Well, maybe not ever, but more than in the last 14 years I have lived here. The city council and the community in gereral is pushing for growing the downtown into a live-work area with high density, shops downstairs, and living upstairs. The term is "multi-use" and it is pretty much pretty much the montra for Austin real estate. There are 10+ condo projects going up in the next couple years that cater to the different appeals of living in downtown Austin.

A couple condos are situated at the turn of the river in downtown Austin, taking advantage of views down the river. The first time I saw the views, I was pretty surprised. You can see all the way down the river from the Congress bridge, past the Lamar Bridge, and past downtown. One nice aspect about these places is that there is not much chance of anything being built in the way of the river view since you are at the bend. The two places are called The Milago and The Shores. The Milago is right at the bend of the river with only the Town Lake Trail between it and the water. If you want protected river views, The Milago is pretty much it. Also, to get any views, you need to be above the trees and that is at about the 6th floor as well as on the west side of the building; the east side of the building pretty much has nothing interesting right now. The Shores has a similar view corridor down the river and to the west and is a little more north of the Milago. It has the Mexican-American cultural center being built in front of it and has a low-rise, older townhome project that poses no threat as of now to block the view. This building is not as rectangular as The Milago so more of the units have some sort of view, whether it be the river or downtown.

Moving on to a another downtown Austin condo sector. Some hotels are renovating the top floors of their places or building new high-rises next-door to accomodate those who want more high-end services associated with hotels. They will have room service available, workout facilities, concierge, and whatnot. The Hilton probably has the most upper end units right now called the Five Fifty Five. To name a couple slick attributes, they feature wolf ovens, wood floors, 24hr. concierge & security, and walls of windows viewing Austin downtown. They have a couple penthouses left.

The other downtown Austin aspect of living that some condos will be banking on is the trend to live near walkable shops and restaurants. Clarksville is a neighborhood thriving around some shops and restaurants on West Lynn as well as the 6th & Lamar area. It is probably the closest actual neighborhood (meaning houses too) to downtown to the west. There's a local shop to walk to on West Lynn, and if you want more of a supermarket, the Whole Foods mothership headquarters complete with ice rink is at the corner of 6th & Lamar along with REI, Waterloo Records, Amys Ice Cream, and other fun stuff. The Nokonah is right there in the midst of all that. It was built in 2001, so it is all resale at this point, but a good location with concierge and security.

And of course, people just want to live by cool areas. Austin's South Congress is known for probably being the hippest street in Austin. It is so cool it has been abbreviated to be called SoCo. A couple different condo projects are popping up around that area. Most are the loft, slick style that blends with the SoCo area. One is practically the neighbor of a popular restaurant and club. It's a smaller condo project at only 14 units available and starting at 380K. A larger condo projects is being developed further down south called the SoCo Lofts. These will have bamboo floors and stainless appliances. They will not really be walkable to the SoCo shopping area but will be creating its own multi-use shopping, retail, and restaurants. Since they are a little more south from the saught-after SoCo strip of shops, they are a more affordable option, starting at 225K for a 1-1.

Another area in the south that is trying to model itself after SoCo is being coined as SoLa, or South Lamar. SoLa is parallel to SoCo and about 2 main streets west. It is not as dense with shops but city plans are in the works to rezone almost everything along the street between the river south to 71 to be multi-use. It could be pretty cool and much more expansive than the current SoCo. There are various condos planned to take advantage of the new SoLa. One is just south of the river called The Magnolia. They've already begun construction and are moving fast, targeting completion by July 2008. The funny story behind this location is that it used to be a Wendy's.

It will be interesting to watch Austin develop over the next several years. There are a number of downtown Austin Condos but the new ones that are coming online should widen the selection for people interested in living downtown. Additionally, the increased density should allow for more small shops and businesses to set up shop downtown which will hopefully make downtown a more walkable interesting location for years to come.

The Austin Real Estate Group is a husband and wife real estate team located in Austin Texas. Their site has a free Austin home search along with afree real estate calculator.

Real Estate Designers offers totally innovative solutions for your software development, Internet programming, real estate web design and hosting needs. Our service includes domain name registration and real estate web design. Real Estate Designers provides the complete solution including design, application development and marketing.

source: fastrealestate.net