Highlands County Talk

Surviving the Recession - Money Saving Tips from Your Highlands County Realtors - Part 2

In a previous post I talked about how to save a considerable amount of money on your electricity bill. Saving money on your energy bill is not only good for your wallet, it's also good for the environment! That's Two for the price of One.

Today, I would like to talk about saving money on your food bill. We all have to eat. Unlike other expenses, such as cable tv and gym memberships, we can't just give up eating. Eating healthy is an important topic these days and I have quiet a few tips that will save you money AND have added health benefits. Another Two for the price of One!

Dine In - it saves gas money, time, the restaurant's overhead, and the tip for the waiter and there's two ways to do it:

1. Purchase frozen pre-cooked meals . With pre-cooked meals, you save time by not having to cook it from scratch. Every grocer carries a wide variety of frozen meals and I don't mean boring tv-dinners. Give Bertolli a try. Stouffer's make a delicous family lasagne to feed 6 for around $8. Add a tossed salad and jello for dessert, voila! Dim the lights, put a fancy table cloth on the table, top it with your best dishes and enjoy the meal!

2. Cook it from scratch. Get your cookbooks out and if you don't have any or need more inspiration, check out AllRecipes.com. You will be amazed at the wealth of information: Recipes, how to's, videos etc. It doesn't get any better. You can even save your recipes in your on-site recipe box. Give it a try! Cooking from scratch is more time consuming than using frozen meals but how about making it a family affair? Have your kids chop the veggies, have your spouse fire up the grill while you take care of the side dish and dessert. It's quality time you can spend with your loved ones. There's another Two for the price of One!

Generic brands - I don't compromise when it comes to ketchup. It has to be Heinz! With everything else, I purchase the store brand or generic brand whenever possible. On average I save around $15 per week with generic brands. That's $ 780 per year. One great example: Oil of Olay Night Time Firming Cream is $11. WalMart's Generic brand is $5 and it has exactly the same ingredients!

Left Overs - purchase a couple of cheap plastic containers (it does not have to be TupperWare!) and save the left overs. Chicken legs make a great salad if you pick the meat off the bones and add mayo and some of your other favorite ingredients. Leftover potatoes make a breakfast dish: slice, add some onion, fry with cooking spray and pour two beaten eggs on top. Add some of  the left over meat from last night too! Cook down that bone from your ham, add a variety of dry beans, tomatoes, veggies - voila, you have bean soup! I freeze left over gravies for another meal. You can do the same with left over veggies.

Sales - check those fliers from your grocer for items that will on sale. It pays to compare sales and use coupons if you have them. Plan your weekly meals with the sales flier in mind. Yes, this means trips to several stores but you might be able to combine the trips with other errands.

Dine Out - if you must dine out, and there's really nothing wrong with it - take advantage of the deals many restaurants offer now: My husband and I went to Chili's a while ago and tried out their $20 deals. We shared the appetizer, each had a great entree and then shared the dessert (which was plenty for both of us). All for $20! Last summer, we took advantage of McDonald's 59 cent cheeseburger deal. Now some might argue that going to McD's isn't dining out, especially if it's drive-thru. We still got a great deal (we oven baked our own fries and had our own iced-tea for less than $1 per glass).

Buying Bulk - if you have the extra freezer space, buy meat in bulk. Check Costco and Sam's Club for specials. Example: we'd buy a whole tenderloin and get 4 meals out of it: pork roast, pork stew (no different than beef stew!), pork steaks (no different than beef steaks!) and stir fry. We'd cut the whole tenderloin in sections to go into the freezer. To save time, you can season the meat before you freeze it. All you have left to do is thaw and cook!

Last but not least: have a list! - Write a list of all the items you NEED and stick to it. You will not be so tempted to pick up 10 other items you didnt' really need.

Highlands County Real Estate - It's a great time to sell your Sebring home!!!

Looking back to January 2009, we can definitely tell a big difference in market activity in Highlands County and Sebring specifically. Our phones have been ringing off the hook for showing requests from cooperating agents and interested buyers as well. It's no wonder with all those great deals waiting for new owners.

Our own listing inventory is shrinking steadily because we almost can't list homes as fast as they go under contract and sell. We all remember the days where even the well priced homes wouldn't sell under 90 days and you were lucky to get an offer, even if it was a shaky one. These days, we get multiple offers after only a few weeks on the market and we have agents ask us to notify them once we get another "great deal" on the market or to let them know if one of our deals falls through so they can get their buyers in place to make an offer. So, if you are thinking about selling your Sebring home, give us a call! Due to high volume of offers, we need to replenish our inventory! Btw, we list and sell Avon Park homes as well as Lake Placid homes!.

Whether you are looking to just move on or avoid foreclosure: It's a great time to sell your Sebring home! We find many first timers among our buyer clients, eager to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit with it's looming deadline. Most popular with the first time buyers are the short sales and foreclosures. While a short sale is not for everyone, there are most certainly some really great deals available and a thrifty buyer can end up with a true dreamhome with only a bit of sweat equity invested. If you are looking to purchase, let us help you find your Sebring home. Btw, we can also assist you in finding your Avon Park home or Lake Placid home!


With around 140 - 150 foreclosure filings per month in Highlands County, we don't expect there to be a shortage of short sale, pun intended, for quiet some time. Homeowners that find themselves unable to keep up with their mortgage payment are well advised to explore their options and take advantage of some of the alternatives to foreclosure, such as Short Sales. We find that while many homeowners have heard of the term, only a few understand how short sales work.  We believe that most homeowners walk away from their home because they believe they have no other option. We work with investor owners as well as owner occupants and there is no cost involved to meet and speak with us about your situation.

First Time Home buyer in Highlands County: Is a Short Sale right for me?

A short sale is not much different from a regular sale, the only difference being that it will take longer to close because the seller's lender has to approve the sale. The lender's approval is a contingency in the contract that the seller needs to remove, by getting approval, in order for the transaction to close.

How long does it take to get approval?
We don't know. There is no rule and there are no guidelines. We have had approval within 3 weeks and we have transactions that are still awaiting approval after 4 months. From experience we know that some lenders are very backed-up when it comes to short sales, some lenders have a more efficient system in place to process short sales. It varies from lender to lender.

Why would I want to purchase a short sale?
We already know that it might take a considerable amount of time from offer to closing, if we can obtain sale approval from the seller's lender (we never had one of our short sale not approve but it could happen). If you are not on a time frame, meaning if you are currently renting or do not need to move into your new home by a certain date, then a short sale might be a great opportunity for you to buy a home that was completely out of reach just a year ago. Example: 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, built in 2007, marble counters and all the works - $230,000 when it was built, $180,000 last summer, $99,000 today. You do the math.

What can I do to get my offer approved?
1. Make a good offer: Many buyers figure that it makes sense to start out with a lower offer to leave room for negotiating. This holds true if you are dealing with a seller who does NOT need to obtain a sale approval from his or her lender. In a short sale, the seller's lender is not in the business to negotiate real estate deals, they are not even in the business to sell homes. Their business is lending money. Make it easy for the lender - make your highest and best offer! Think of it this way: you are already making an offer that is below market value and while short sales are great opportunities to purchase a home for a lot less, they are not liquidation sales. Do not expect to get the property for next to nothing.
2. Provide Proof of Funds: If you wish to pay cash for your short sale, provide a bank statement along with the offer. This lets the seller's lender know you are serious and you are financially able to close the deal! If you are financing, provide at least a pre-approval letter. If you can, don't ask for seller concessions or extensive repairs. The seller is not likely to be able to pay for discount points or help you with your closing cost. The seller's lender isn't likely to pay for these expenses either. It's a short sale - the seller is losing money, his or her lender is losing money. Most short sales are being offered "as-is", which means you purchase what you see with the right to inspect.

Get an expericenced Short Sale Agent to help you find your dream home!
Make your highest and best offer!
Back it up with proof of funds or at least pre-approval!
Bring time!

Pre-Approval BEFORE shopping for Highlands County homes???


We love showing homes! It's a big part of what we do on a daily basis. Our most important goal is to find you a home that is right for YOU. We would not show you homes on the golf course, if you were actually looking for lake frontage. We would not walk you through a two story townhome if your dreamhome was a mobile home on acreage. We also would not show you homes that are not within your price range.

What is your price range? Ideally, your price range is the financing amount you qualify for. The best way to find out about that is to get pre-qualified or even pre-approved with a lender. If you feel most comfortable talking about this to your house bank, that's perfect! If you can have a friend or family member recommend someone, that's perfect too!  The important thing is that you have a clear understanding of how much house you can purchase.

On top of that, with a pre-qualification, the offer you might make on that dreamhome is going to be so much stronger with a lender's pre-approval attached to it. It shows the seller you are a serious buyer, not just a tire kicker and it also give them peace of mind in knowing that you have already taken important steps towards securing financing of your new home.

So, before we go out to shop for homes, it's a good idea to get pre-qualified. It will save you a lot of time and maybe even disappointment because you won't make an offer on a home you end up not able to finance.

Uncooperative Tenant blocks Short Sale efforts - home likely to go into foreclosure



We are working with a lot of short sale sellers in Sun'n'Lake of Sebring and have been very successful in obtaining good offers and bringing the transaction to closing for our clients.

Sun'n'Lake is a popular neighborhood close to medical facilities, schools, shopping and every convenience Sebring has to offer. The SNL district has its own security force, fire department, 2 golf courses, community pool, tennis courts, lakes, playground, clubhouse, restaurant, paved biking and hiking trails and is a very well maintained community. It's not hard to find buyers for homes in Sun'n'Lake.

We listed a beautiful 4 bedroom home for sale in a very quiet and tranquil area of Sun'n'Lake. The home was built in 2007, has a very pleasing floorplan and is very well maintained. $110,000.

The home is tenant occupied. We always make every effort to accomodate tenants and their work schedule to facilitate showings. We met with this tenant shortly after taking the listing to make arrangements to take photos. The tenant was to call us to let us know what time is good for her. No phone call. None of our calls were returned either. We left notices on her door, no reply from the tenant.

After 4 weeks, we were finally allowed to access the home to take photos and measurements. We took the measurements, to avoid being fined by our local board, but declined taking photos. While the home is clean, there is clutter everywhere. It was hard to make out the breakfast bar in the kitchen.

We were not able to reach the tenant for showing appointments and missed out on several potential buyers. We have worked with the landlord/owner to resolve the problems with the tenant. He pays a property management agency to collect rent. The property manager was not very responsive at first and it took several letters and phone calls from the landlord to get her to cooperate.

The property manager states she has taken the tenant to see several other rental homes but that the tenant has made no decision. We talk to buyers and sellers every day and after while you get a pretty good idea of one's motivation to buy, sell, move or rent. This tenant has no plans to move out of this home unless served with a notice to vacate by the Sheriff.

Meanwhile, the property, which could have sold already, is sitting on the market with lots of interest but now way of selling to anyone. It appears to us that the landlord has resigned to the fact that his property will go into foreclosure because the tenant does not cooperate with anything.