Emails, Texts, Calls, Complaints, and Profound Thoughts from the Readers

As always, real questions but the names have been changed to protect our loyal curious minded inquirers.

Are there any out of the box ways to get the price down when purchasing and saving money on taxes? – Mr. Dufresne

Great question and you betcha we have strategies for this. Very few do this, and I highly recommend it. The key is how the offer is written up and how it’s structured. The savings can be as much as around 7.5% and they’re cumulative on the tax side. If your taxes are $10,000 a year and you save 7.5%, then it’s $750. Over 10 years though, it’s $7,500. I’ve been in my house for 23 years. In that scenario, it’s $17,250. Not throw away money! This is not a guarantee but if structured properly, it’s legal and should work. If you are in the market and interested, call me for a confidential conversation.

Should I take political stuff down when showing my home? – Hunter

Ya Think! As the saying goes, the further North you go, the further South you are. South Florida is a mixed bag. Don’t make your mission of getting top dollar, “Mission Impossible!” Like Tom Cruise, we want to “Show you the Money.” You don’t know who your Buyer is going to be. Debbie Wasserman Shultz and Don Jr both live in South Florida. If you walked into a model home that a builder is selling, would they stage it with red and blue paraphernalia?

Is it ok to have personal photos up? – Ansel

Another staging question! Most Brokers say no, but I somewhat disagree. Even in model builder homes, they have photos of faux beautiful people. Family photos show warmth. What you don’t want is a wall of photos or ten photos on nightstand. Rather, three max and in strategic spots. One guy put pictures of himself up in the primary bath area. Let’s say that certain women brokers would come to see photos of this particularly enriched individual. It was awkward but I finally had have a conversation with him to take down those photos. “Look, we are trying to sell the house, not you!” Plus it was in a family neighborhood.

I paid $895k in 2022 to build new. Comparables are showing as low as $810k and inventory is rising. I’m getting $5000 for rent (break even) and I don’t want to go down because I’m losing money? – Charlie

If the real asking price is $799k and figure a net of $750k and you get 4.5% return on those proceeds than that’s $33,750 return a year that you are missing out on. Rents have dipped slightly in your area so that $5,000 might be lower. Furthermore, that three year old house is starting to age a bit. Each year that goes by, the styling changes some. Also, the breakeven is probably a loss. Things break and repairs are needed for all sorts of surprise expenses. Then take depreciation like the AC, water heater, etc… If you plan on selling soon, then things like roof depreciation don’t need to be counted in but best case, it’s probably $500 a month or $6,000 a year loss. That is around a $40,000 loss annually. Rent it out for two more years and you could be looking at a $120,000. 2022 was the height of the pandemic impulse buying. Unless you are in a prime area, it’s better to price it appropriately and take the loss. The loss you take now will be less than the loss you will be taking if you hang onto it.

I read that the market was 91% off. Does that mean I should discount my offer 9%? – Kelvin

It depends on so much stuff. The latest stats showed 92.4% for all homes off the original list price in Palm Beach County. You can check out all statistics from all South Florida counties here. There is a big difference if it’s a single-family home or a condo. Is it new? Single Family homes are 93.5% off original price. Is it a low fee community? Single-family homes are doing far better than condos. Then, how open is that siphon. A single-family home with the right construction, one-story, great room plan, pool, view, and updated has a wider siphon than a 2-story primary up, no pool, view of wall, choppy floor plan. Problem child homes depreciate more in this market. Let your Realtor run the numbers. The comps speak to you.

Do Home Warranties work when selling? – Lucie

A better question might be do home warranties pay off? I’ve seen some people love them for peace of mind. It may help in getting appliances or air conditioners repaired faster. We have our AC company come once a quarter on a contract. However, for the most part, it’s more of a gimmick. Insurance companies make money on these products. It’s one thing to have homeowners or flood insurance to protect against catastrophic costs. But my guess is you’ll survive financially if the microwave oven isn’t working. And it’ll give you an excuse to get out the house and grab some real popcorn in the theatre. Anything better than watching my Bears lose yet another game.