Andy's Blog

This morning when Tim & I left the house, there was a cat in our street with a Dorito's bag stuck on it's head. Now there's a sight you don't see every day! I don't know how long he (or she?) had been there, but she was motionless in the middle of the road and I'm sure we can come up with some jo...

What a great excursion! If you've ever shopped in Europe, there are a lot of similarities, such as no shopping bags and you'll need a quarter to get a shopping cart.  This makes sense since the name Aldi is short for Albrecht Discount, a grocery chain out of Germany. Overall, the selection is qui...

As I travel all over Florida talking to real estate agents, one of the things that I hear over and over is that cash is tight right now. I also know for a fact that one of the quickest ways to put some cash in your pocket is to wholesale a house... a regular transaction gets you paid in 30 days a...

Andy's 10 Commandments of Closing the Sale Last Installment: (you can read them in full HERE if you missed them) #10: Thou Shalt Find Out Thy Customer's Needs and Fulfill Them #9: Thou Shalt Ask A Lot Of Questions And Explain Why That's Important to Them This Week's Installment: #8: Thou Shalt Be...

I’m always talking about low-cost and even free marketing techniques to get people beating down your door wanting to do business with you. We call them “prospects”. But that’s ALL they are until you convert them to paying customers. Then we’ll call them “clients” (and we’ll put some money in the ...

We're almost to election time...and I'm about to share a very dear secret about who gets elected and how that affects the housing market and the rest of the economy in general... I don't think it matters! Yep, you've heard me correctly. I've been in the real estate market for many years now, and ...

From time to time I'll keep you updated on what's going on in the mortgage market too...here's an update that my husband, Tim gave me.Last week FHA announced a new way they are going to handle this situation: Your client is buying a new home and wants to keep the old one as a rental. Before, you ...

Lots of changes in the industry take place this month…here’s a summary: First let’s discuss FHA, since it is pretty much going to be the #1 way to finance deals in this market (you’ll see why a little further down). FHA has increased their MIP factors just a little bit, from 1.5% up front to 1.75...

Just when our market shows a few little glimmers of coming back, they cut the seller funded down payment assistance programs! This will actually HURT our market worse than anyone can imagine! If you would like to learn more about why, and who to tell that you want to keep it, visit: www.DPAGround...

Last week I had the pleasure of presenting the Keynote Address on the “Risks & Rewards of the Foreclosure & Short Sale Market” at the annual meeting of the New Smyrna Beach Board of Realtors. It was a beautiful room, overlooking the marina, and it made me want to go outside and jump in! But all o...