Often, homebuyers select a home based on its size, location, or price. However, if you’ve found several homes for sale in Winter Garden, FL that meet all of these needs, it’s time to start looking at the amenities each one offers.

In fact, you may even find a few amenities in a home that you love so much you’re willing to go a little over budget or be just outside of your preferred neighborhood to get them. Here are some of the top amenities to look for in a new home.

High End Finishes

Marble countertops, real hardwood flooring, and ornate tile in the bathroom are considered higher end finishes than carpet, laminate, and vinyl. If you see these more expensive finishes used in a home that still meets your price range, you may want to put in a bid

With so many homes for sale in Winter Haven, FL, you might be wondering, who builds them all? The answer is likely a spec or custom home builder.

Put simply, a builder constructs a spec home with the intention that a buyer will eventually purchase it. The term “spec” is short for “speculative” since builders are banking on the fact that someone will buy the home they’re building. As the name (speculative) suggests, building one of these homes is a gamble and not a guaranteed profit.

How Common Are Spec Homes?

Generally, a healthy economy and a good market requires about 1 million new homes need to be built per year to keep up with the growth of new households and attrition as homes age.

Over the last few years, new construction homes for sale

In a recent article, First American shared how millennials are not really any different from previous generations when it comes to the goal of homeownership; it is still a huge part of their American Dream. The piece, however, also reveals,

Homes for Sale in Davenport FL

 “Saving for a down payment is one of the biggest obstacles faced by first-time home buyers. Dispelling the 20 percent down payment myth could open the path to homeownership for many more.”

 Myth #1: “I Need a 20% Down Payment”

Buyers often overestimate how much they need to qualify for a home loan. According to the same article:

“Americans still overestimate the qualifications needed to get a mortgage, resulting in qualified potential buyers not even

Inventory on the market today is low, especially among existing homes in the entry and middle-level tiers of the market. It is hovering well below the 6-month supply typically found in a more normal market, as shown in the graph below:

With inventory being one of the biggest housing market challenges today, finding a starter home right now isn’t easy. According to the Q3 Housing Trends Report from the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB), 68% of those searching for a home think their search will get harder or stay about the same over the next 12 months.

The same study reveals,

“In Qtr3’19, buyers actively engaged in the process of buying a home are more likely to have spent at least 3 months searching (58%) than a year earlier

Real estate agents only get paid for the results they produce. The only thing that happens for a Kissimmee real estate agent at the closing table is the reward for the hard work that came before. Simply put - if it doesn’t close, real estate agents don’t get paid.

Let’s look at what factors contribute to a real estate agent’s pay.

Education, Training, and Licensing

Time is a big factor for real estate agents. To begin with, before they can even sell their first home for sale in Kissimmee FL, they invest in training and educating themselves to get there.

Every agent has to get a real estate license, which takes a lot of time, money and energy. But it doesn’t end there. It also takes time and money to maintain a license.

Agents are required to

Buyers are out in full force this fall, increasing the demand for homebuying in all four regions of the country.

Homes for Sale in Davenport FL

According to the latest ShowingTime Showing Index,

“Home showing activity was up again nationwide with a 4.6 percent rise in traffic, as the traditionally slow fall season began with a marked boost in buyer interest.”

Buyers clearly have the right idea, as mortgage rates have dropped over a full percentage point since the fall of 2018. They’ve hovered in a historically low range since this summer, making the overall cost of homeownership significantly more attractive and affordable.

Here’s the breakdown of how ShowingTime reports current buyer traffic patterns across the country:

ORLANDO MEDIAN PRICE RISES IN OCTOBER WHILE SALES AND INVENTORY DROP

October 2019 Recap

Orlando’s housing market in recorded a 6% year-over-year increase in median price and a small 1% decrease in sales in October. The inventory of homes available for purchase appears to be back on a declining trend, with a decrease (5%) for the third consecutive month.

“Low inventory translates into opportunity for sellers,” says Orlando Regional REALTOR® Association President Jeffrey M. Fagan, Watson Realty Corp. “Declining interest rates mean greater purchasing power, which is alluring to buyers, and our local demand is illustrated by an 8 percent increase in pending sales for October.”

“The holidays and wintertime are actually excellent times to list a

If you’re looking to sell your home this year or early next, then you’ve probably started noticing all the things you think you need to change to get it ready to list. 

The kitchen you always wanted to renovate. The dated wallpaper in the bathroom. The laundry room that just didn’t function well. 

Well, before you start getting quotes from contractors and digging into your savings, it’s important to know that major renovations almost invariably have a much lower return on investment (ROI) than small- to mid-range ones. 

The reason? Buyers don’t actually need a fully remodeled kitchen or perfectly modern bathroom. Instead, buyers tend to focus on specific details when they’re looking at a home, and if you get these right, you’ll

Between property, real estate, sales, and capital gains taxes, you’re likely to run in to at least one of them if you’re in the market to buy or sell a home.

Property Taxes

People ask “What’s my home worth” when it’s tax time because property taxes are based on value. Fair market value is the key and the more the home is worth, the more property taxes you have to pay.  The median property tax in Florida is $1,773.00 per year for a home worth the median value of $182,400.00. That is slightly below the median tax in the United States but it’s not insignificant. It’s also something you can’t avoid by ignoring it.

The taxman shall be paid so make sure you take care of it. If you have a mortgage, it’s possible the lender is collecting taxes (and

You’re ready to build your dream home from the ground up, but where do you start? For most buyers, it begins with a lender. If you’re not paying cash for the build, you need to know how this works.

Most of the lenders you find online, and some of them locally, won’t lend on new construction (if you're building from the ground up and not buying a "new home" in a subdivision). They want to loan money on a known, trusted entity, and building a house is fraught with unknowns.

Here’s everything you need to know about the costs associated with building a house from scratch.

Disclaimer:  This blog is about building a fully custom new construction home on the lot you own.  If you're buying a new home in Davenport, FL for example, you'll likely buy a home in a