So how do you go about finding a great home to buy? It may seem a little daunting with so much information out there on the web and in the media. It can be a little scary when you hear about the horror stories from your friends or what you learn from the newspapers, nightly news and internet. Foreclosures, short sales, strategic defaults, mortgages, credit scores, home owner associations, down payments, title insurance, home inspection. Where do you begin?

There is so much information out there. It is free and plentiful, however it also can be overwhelming. Here are 5 tips to help you with your home search:

1) Find great representation – The very first step should be to find a great Realtor. An experienced real estate agent can decipher all of this information for you and make your home purchase easy and virtually head ache free. Would you represent yourself in court if you were getting sued? Especially, if you could have a good attorney for free. Probably not if you are wise. A good Realtor can hold your hand through the entire home purchase. The best thing is that you don’t even have to pay them out of your own pocket. What a great deal for you.

2) Surf the internet – Get on the web and find yourself some valuable websites. In most cities you can find properties for sale on local real estate websites. Tony Sena provides an outstanding resource to research Las Vegas real estate. In my area you can view thousands of Sarasota homes for sale in your home via the internet. On these sites you can view properties for sale, overall market statistics, buying information and a variety of other real estate data.

3) Establish Needs and Wants – This Las Vegas home looks pretty cool but if my budget is only $500,000 then I probably should not be looking at homes priced at over $4,000,000. Sit down and list out all of your needs and wants. This will save you and your Realtor plenty of time and energy.

4) Mortgage pre-approval – The last thing you want to do is go shopping without knowing how much you can spend. Sit down with your banker, mortgage lender, or mortgage broker and figure out how much you can afford. Some people think they can buy more than they really can. Five years ago anyone that could fog a mirror could get financing. Now things have changed. Banks still want to lend money but they also want to make sure that you are going to pay it back.

Although, these 4 tips seem like common sense you would be surprised at how many people try to skip one or more of them. Home buying can be a very enjoyable experience if you are prepared and organized. Hire a good Realtor, figure out what you want, establish a budget and get pre-approved for a mortgage. Follow these steps and you are on your way to home ownership.

By: Marc Rasmussen – Sarasota real estate

Not every Realtor will admit this but there is a lot of fluff when it comes to marketing a home. Call a few Realtors or explore a few websites and will see a laundry list of things that agents do to sell a home. I saw one recently that said, “76 Steps to Marketing Your Home”. Do you really need to do 76 things to get a home sold? Hopefully not.

I am trying to make fun of anyone. I am sure that 76 step plan is a great marketing tool. I think Realtors just come up with more stuff to out do each other. If you have 50 things to market a home then I will come up with 60 things to market a home.

I am not trying to downplay the whole home selling process. Aside from a few exceptions there is a lot of work that goes into selling a home. From the outside many homeowners think, “those Realtors are so overpaid.” However, for every easy transaction a Realtor has 9 pains in the butt or properties that do not sell.

Here are 4 essentials to selling a home:

1) The right price – You could have the best brochure in the world, the cleanest house, 100 e-blasts to Realtors, full page print ads in the Sunday newspaper and displayed nicely on 1,000 websites but if you have the wrong price your home will still not sell. Home buyers look at more than just one home when they buy. All of that marketing might get a buyer in the door but they will end up buying a different house that is a better deal.

Let’s say your home is a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 3,100 square foot home in Bent Tree in average condition and you are asking $459,000. Now assume a home down the street in better condition with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 3, 150 square feet is asking $399,000. Regardless of how each home is marketed which home has a better chance of selling first?

2) Good Realtor – Having good representation can make a difference in whether your home sells or not. I am not suggesting that you have to list with a “super star” Realtor but make sure your agent has some experience. If they don’t make sure their manager will help out. A good agent will pay off when there is a problem.

3) Good Marketing – Even if you have a good Realtor and the right price you need to market the home. A good marketing plan usually includes quality photos, a virtual tour, internet exposure, brochures and entering it on the multiple listing service (MLS). The MLS system is the most important piece of the marketing puzzle. When a Realtor does this they are basically hiring every agent in the community to help sell the house. Your home still might sell with no marketing but it may not sell for top dollar

4) Access to the property – I have seen properties languish on the market for a long time that had a good price, good marketing plan and a good Realtor. However, the missing piece of the puzzle was that you could not access to the house. A buyer usually needs to be able to see the home in order to buy it.

Three of the above are relatively easy to achieve. There are plenty of good Realtors out there. Most or all of them have great marketing plans and providing access to your home is doable. The tough one is pricing your home right. Most home owners think their home is worth more than its true value.

I read a quote from Warren Buffet a few months back. He said:

“I would rather buy a great company at an average price than buy an average company at a great price.”

I found this one interesting. Often times within the first seconds of a conversation with a home buyer they say, “I’m looking for a deal!” Who can blame them in a market like this? If I was looking to buy a home I would be looking for a deal too. “Deal” means different things to different people. To me a deal is a home that I can buy for 80% or less of TODAY’s market value. A deal to someone else might be buying a home simply at market value. Because today’s market values are definitely considered “a deal” when compared to prices 4 years ago.

The problem comes when you want to find “a deal” along with a laundry list of other necessities like 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2500+ square feet, swimming pool, in a good school district, within 20 minutes of my work, on a cul-de-sac, built within the last 10 years, open floor plan, split plan and with a large yard. What are the chances of finding that? Probably pretty slim to none.

Homes buyers can usually find a smokin deal which means a home selling below TODAY’s market value however it is not in a great section of town, the home needs a ton of repairs, is too small, on a busy road, does not have a pool, has a choppy floor plan, was built a long time ago, and in a bad school district. Or they find the home that matches most of their needs and wants but can only be bought at TODAY’s market prices and not below it.

Home buyers should ask themselves:

“Do I want an average house at a great price or a great house at an average price?”

Marc Rasmussen selling Longboat Key Real Estate

Need a little rest and relaxation? Take a trip to the island oasis of Longboat Key. It is located about an hour south of Tampa and just off the coast of Sarasota, Florida. This is a pristine eleven mile long island surrounded by the clear blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Sarasota Bay. Vacationers from all over the world come to Longboat Key to enjoy a relaxing beach environment. It is a great place to unwind and forget about your daily worries.

Longboat Key Activities

There is plenty to do in the Sarasota, Florida area. Especially, if you want to play in the water and untie your knots. I just vacationed at Disney in Orlando with my family for 4 days. I had a fabulous time but I left there more tired than when I arrived. That is unlikely if you spent a weekend relaxing at the beach on Longboat Key. Below are some of the fun things to do.

• Beach
• Boating
• Golfing
• Tennis
• Shopping
• Fine dining
• Mote Marine Aquarium
• Selby Gardens
• Parasailing
• Jet skiing
• Fishing

Longboat Key Real Estate

Thinking about buying a vacation getaway? There probably is not a better time to do it. On Longboat Key you can find a simple home on the north end of the island near the beach, a penthouse condo overlooking the Gulf of Mexico or a spacious waterfront mansion. Visit my Longboat Key real estate page to view hundreds of homes and condos for sale. Give Marc Rasmussen a call at 941.812.6272 if you need any help.

Thinking of buying a foreclosure? Well, if you are you looking to buy a home you might as well look at the bank owned properties for sale. There are plenty of bargains out there to be had on foreclosed properties. Here are 5 tips to buying a foreclosure.

1) Educate yourself on the market

This really goes for just buying in general. It is important to be knowledgeable about the market, neighborhoods, recent sales etc. Find yourself a good Realtor who knows the market. They can help you by sending information on sold properties and other market statistics. Just because a property is owned by a bank doesn’t mean you should buy it. If you buy in an area that’s losing jobs and is riddled with crime, home values are likely to take a lot longer to recover.

2) Get financing first

This is crucial. Lending guidelines have changed over the years. It is harder to get money to buy a home. It may even be harder to finance a bank owned property depending on the neighborhood, condition of home and current market conditions. Make sure you are pre-approved for a mortgage so you are not wasting your time.

3) Finding a foreclosure

You can sign up on various foreclosure websites like Realtytrac.com or Foreclosure.com. There is a charge to be a member of those sites. Most bank owned properties are listed on the MLS so if you are working with a Realtor they can help you find foreclosures as well. It is good to have a Realtor so you can also look at homes being sold by private sellers as well. Sometimes those are the best deals.

4) Get Inspections

When people have trouble paying their bills often times they don’t maintain there home like they should. Don’t assume the bank knows much about the condition of the home. If you are under contract on a foreclosure make sure you get inspections done. It is best to know what is wrong with the home before you buy it. It may seem like a lot of money to hire inspectors but that money could be a drop in the bucket compared to the money you have to spend to fix something.

5) Hire an attorney

When you are under contract on a foreclosure make sure you hire an attorney to represent you in the closing. It is just good to have someone on your side reviewing the closing documents. Don’t assume the bank is going to always do the right thing. The expense could be well worth the money.

Marc Rasmussen

Sarasota Foreclosures

Do you need to get out of the desert for a little rest and relaxation? Take a trip to Siesta Key, Florida.

Siesta Key is an 8 mile long barrier island paradise off the coast of Sarasota, Florida. People from all over the world flock to Siesta Key because of the relaxed atmosphere, gorgeous beaches, boating and other fun activities. Siesta Key beach rated in 2009 as the 2nd prettiest beach in the country. It makes the top 10 best beaches every year. The sand is made up of quartz and feels very refreshing. You may not want to leave after spending a week on Siesta Key beach frollicking in the Gulf of Mexico.

Siesta Key Lodging

There are no large resorts on Siesta Key. There are many privately owned condos that you can rent on a short term basis. Palm Bay Club, Siesta Dunes, Sarasota Surf and Racquet and Horizons West are a few places where you can stay right on the beach.

Siesta Key Real Estate

Thinking about relocating or owning a vacation home on Siesta Key? Prices have fallen dramatically so there may be no better of a time to buy than now. You can find beach front condos with fabulous views, small bungaloes within walking distance to the beach or palatial waterfront estates on Siesta Key. Visit http://www.luxurysarasotarealestate.com/siesta-key-real-estate.php to view thousands of homes and condos for sale on Siesta Key or give Marc Rasmussen a call at 941.812.6272 and I will send you everything available for sale.