The single most common question I am asked is, “What is happening with my homes value”?  This is not always an easy question to answer because there are so many variables from home to home.  There is good news for you if you live in the Broward County, area.  

Courtney Silverman Real Estate Group has developed a new internet system that will give you complete information on what is taking place with the market around your home.  This program gives complete details on homes listed, sold and value trends.  The program offers the numbers in easy to view graph form and it is very detailed and specific to your home and neighborhood.  You will even see a Google Earth view of your home and surrounding neighborhood.  The best part is that this analysis is sent to you by e-mail and the updated for your monthly.  You can take advatage of this great new system by visiting our web site at http://www.courtneysilverman.com/PageManager/Default.aspx/PageID=1628494.

Weston Warrior 2008 Football and Cheerleading Registration 

When:   Sat April 5th 9am-2pm
Place:   Tequesta Trace Park

Ages:  6 - 15 year olds

More information call Todd Green, President  (954) 349-6717
 

I have been involved with this AYFL program for the last 3 years.  My husband coaches and my daughter is a cheerleader. This program is all about the kids.  I highly recommend it for your kids.  - Courtney

You would be hard pressed to find a better place to live than the beautiful City of Weston. The exquisite surroundings, low crime rate, friendly neighbors, religious diversity and excellent public services make Weston a city that’s easy to fall in love with.

The climate in Weston makes it an enjoyable place to live year round. Average high temperatures in January are 75 degrees and reach only 90 degrees during the warmest of summer months. The lows range from 60 degrees in January to the low 80s during July and August. There is plenty of sunshine in Weston, with enough rain mixed in to keep things green and beautiful. In addition, the sales tax rate is below the national average, and there is no income tax, making it very affordable to live in Weston.

With palm tree-lined streets and lush landscaping throughout the community, Weston is a great place to call home. Situated close to the larger cities of Miami and Fort Lauderdale, as well as the white sand beaches Florida is famous for, Weston gives residents the benefits of big-city living without all the hassles.

Citizens of Weston take pride in their community, and it shows through active volunteer efforts, beautiful parks and safe neighborhoods. There are many parks scattered throughout the City of Weston. Peace Mound Park and Emerald Estates Park, among many others, give the residents a place to picnic, walk, play Frisbee or just enjoy the beautiful Florida sunshine. One of the safest places in Broward County to live, Weston’s crime rate continues to be low, especially for a city of its size. Law enforcement, fire and emergency services are provided through a contract with Broward County.

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office operates the Weston District Police Headquarters, which is located on the corner of Royal Palm Boulevard and Bonaventure Boulevard.  They offer several programs for area residents to continue making the community a safer place to live. One such program is a free security screening, offered for both private residences and businesses. The survey, conducted by certified crime prevention practitioners, includes recommendations to help make your home or business safer. To schedule a free survey, call the BSO West Broward Office at (954) 389-2040. Each weekend, services that include child safety seat inspections are also offered free of charge to the public. The Sheriff’s Department is always going the extra mile to assure the residents of Weston that they are living in a safe community.

The Broward County Fire Rescue Division operates three city-owned stations strategically placed throughout the city. A Broward County assistant chief is permanently placed in the city and acts as the city’s fire chief. The Fire Rescue Division gives excellent service to the residents of the city in any emergency.

Most communities are gated in Weston, giving residents an added sense of security in an already secure city. Boasting the lowest crime rate in Broward County, the city of Weston is a diverse community, with family-oriented residents watching out for their neighbors.

With all that Weston has to offer, it’s no wonder there’s such a strong real estate market. It doesn’t take long for people to realize that this preplanned community is the place for them. Homes aren’t on the market long in Weston, with the average home selling for almost $350,000, twice the average of homes in Broward County, according to recent data. The City of Weston is constantly growing, and new homes are sold quickly. Previously owned homes are also sold quickly and are all relatively new, with the oldest homes being built in the 1980s.

All types of real estate are available in Weston. Timeshares, apartments, townhouses, single-story homes and multimillion-dollar mansions are all part of the expanding community. Ranked as one of the best places to retire by CNN and Money magazine, Weston offers affordable housing options for people in all stages of life. The broad array of homes in the area makes it easy to find a larger home when you find you need more space or downsize a bit when your nest has become empty. Once people live in Weston, they don’t want to leave and often find another home just around the corner that fits their current needs.  They call Courtney Silverman with The Keyes Company to represent them when selling and buying their homes.

A newer development in Weston is the Isles at Weston. This gated community offers estate homes with three to six bedrooms for $333,000 to $659,000. With sparkling lakes, a spectacular clubhouse with a pool and terrific schools nearby, it is easy to see why the gorgeous homes in this community are selling so quickly. If you aren’t ready for an estate home yet, there are developments with town homes and condominiums from $165,000 and single-family homes from the mid $200,000s.

One of the innovative housing options recently added in Weston is the Palace at Weston. This gated community is billed as “luxury living for those 55 and older” and is a perfect spot to retire. Away from the bustle of Miami or Fort Lauderdale, yet enjoying the conveniences of a large city, the Palace at Weston is affordable retirement living from $250,000 to $350,000.

The well - planned community of Weston knows a mix of housing options is needed to fit the needs of the residents moving in. Whatever type of housing you are looking for, you’ll be able to find it here, in one of the nation’s best places to live.

Another factor making Weston such a great place to live is the government officials who look out for the welfare of residents’ both present and future. A commission-manager form of government is used in Weston, with elections held in odd-numbered years on the second Tuesday in March. The city is run by a city manager, mayor and four city commissioners. The mayor and city commissioners are elected to four-year terms; the city manager and a city attorney are then hired by the city commissioners. The jobs of both the commissioners and the mayor are considered to be part time in Weston.

A thriving religious community gives the City of Weston a well-rounded spiritual atmosphere. The diversity of the community is reflected in the diversity of the churches found in Weston. Interdenominational and nondenominational groups are found in Weston, and there are active Hindu, Eastern Orthodox, Sikh, Islamic and Buddhist communities. Most religious denominations worship here, whether in an official institution or at an alternative gathering spot.

Weston is ranked as one of the best places to retire by CNN and Money magazine.

Finance costs will rise as the economy recovers, so trying to time real estate might not pay off.

TODAY
Buy a home for $218,900, put 20% down and get a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 5.5% which reflects current rates after recent declines. You’ll have a $994.31 monthly payment.

COST IN 12 MONTHS?
Same home would be priced at $197,010, assuning prices drop an additional 10%.  Your interest rate would be 6% because the recession ends, and the Fed starts to raise rates.  Your monthly payment is $994.94.

CONCLUSION: If you waited a year to buy, you would have saved nothing and spent a year living someplace you’d rather not be!                  Source: Lending Tree

Contact Courtney Silverman to buy your next home and investment property.

There is little competition from other buyers. Motivated sellers are setting realistic asking prices. In other words, it’s a more normal home sale market as compared to the record-breaking volume of the last few years.

But there’s another reason to buy a resale house now. Anxious sellers are offering sales incentives. A few offer vacation trips, higher sales commissions to buyer’s agents, and even automobiles as inducements to realty agents and their buyers.  I think the best incentive is a mortage buy down.  This means the seller will contribute up to 6% of the purchase price to buy down the buyer’s mortgage rate of a fixed loan for the first, second, and third year and then on the fourth year the rate is fixed.  This is a great savings each month.  It is a much better incentive for a buyer than a price reduction!

THE EASIEST, LEAST EXPENSIVE WAY TO FINANCE A HOME PURCHASE. Especially if you are a “cash challenged” or “credit challenged” home buyer, you will love this finance source. Not every resale home can be financed using this source, but all you need is one.

This under-used home mortgage finance source is the home seller.

With more than 50 percent of U.S. homes owned free and clear with no mortgage, those homes are the best candidates for seller financing.  As your Realtor, Courtney Silverman search the local MLS (multiple listing service) listings for homes listed with no existing mortgage. Those sellers are the best prospects for seller carryback mortgage financing.

Instead of sellers taking an all-cash sale and parking the cash in a bank or mutual fund earning around 5 percent interest, suggest the seller of a free-and-clear home carry back the mortgage at 6 percent. That’s a “good deal” for both seller and buyer.

Whenever possible, Courtney Silverman will arange a meeting with the home seller to establish credibility before presenting a purchase offer asking for a seller financed mortgage.

FIVE ADVANTAGES FOR HOME SELLERS OF SELLER FINANCING. In addition to earning a high above-market interest rate, there are many additional seller advantages of financing the home sale that include:

1. Easy quick sale for top dollar. As every merchant and car dealer knows, sales are easiest when the merchandise seller offers easy financing. The same principle applies to home sales where sellers offer easy financing. Price often becomes a non-issue.

2. Vacant houses can be risky for home sellers. If the seller has moved out of the house, this is usually a sign of a very anxious and worried seller, especially if the house has been listed for sale several months. Most sellers of vacant houses will listen to reasonable purchase offers, including seller carryback mortgage terms. 

If the seller wants a shorter term than a 20-year seller carryback mortgage, I reply, “Well, let’s amortize the mortgage over 20 years but include an option for you to call the loan due in 10 years.” After 10 years of on-time mortgage payments, sellers rarely exercise that option.

3. Safety of a mortgage or deed of trust on property the seller understands. The major reason home sellers hesitate to carry back a mortgage for their buyer is they fear the buyer will default and not make the monthly payments.

I emphasize this often-unstated fear and explain when a buyer defaults, the seller then can foreclose and either get paid off at the foreclosure sale by a cash bidder or get the home back to resell for a second profit.

4. Installment-sale tax benefits are another seller advantage, especially when the taxable profit exceeds the seller’s $250,000 or $500,000 principal residence sale tax exemption of Internal Revenue Code 121. If the property was not the seller’s principal residence, spreading out the capital gains tax over the years of receiving buyer payments is usually far better than paying a large capital gain tax in the year of the sale.

5. Down-payment cash to pay the home sales expenses. In a typical home seller financing, the buyer makes a cash down payment of 10 percent to 20 percent of the sales price. This down payment is usually sufficient to pay all the sales expenses, including the realty agents’ sales commission.

HOW TO CONVINCE HOME SELLERS TO FINANCE YOUR PURCHASE. Even after explaining all the seller benefits of financing the home sale, some unmotivated sellers are hesitant to carry back a mortgage on the house they are selling.

Methods to Convince are:

(1) offering to prepay six to 12 months of mortgage payments at the closing (instead of a large down payment);

(2) providing a year’s post-dated checks so the seller can deposit a check on the first day of each month; and/or

(3) giving the seller a copy of the buyer’s credit reports and FICO (Fair Isaac Corp.) score obtained at www.myfico.com.

SUMMARY: Especially in the current buyer’s market for homes in most cities, seller mortgage financing is the easiest way to pay for a house or condo purchase with no institutional loan application hassles.

Click here for a glossary of mortgage terms.

Why Don’t Mortgage Rates Drop When There Is A Cut In The Federal Funds Rate? Whenever the Fed cuts the federal funds rate, customers call mortgage lenders, eagerly expecting to take advantage of a drop in mortgage rates. By the time these phone calls are over, customers frequently feel disappointed and even suspicious. It just doesn’t seem right. Why would banks raise mortgage rates while the Federal Reserve is cutting rates? Believe it or not, there is zero causation between mortgage rates and the Federal Reserve reducing its target for the federal funds rate.

A look at mortgage rates must begin with a history lesson. From Jan. 3, 2001, to June 25, 2003, the Federal Reserve reduced its target for the federal funds rate 13 times. Here’s what happened to the average 30-year mortgage rate in the month after each cut: It fell eight times and rose five times.  It’s simply not true that a Fed rate cut automatically leads to a drop in fixed mortgage rates. Mortgage rates go up and down according to investors’ expectations of long-term inflation. Simply put: If investors think inflation will accelerate, mortgage rates (and other long-term interest rates) rise. The nation’s overall economy doesn’t appear to be in recession (although the housing sector, and some Midwestern states, might be). Yet the Federal Reserve added some stimulus by cutting the federal funds rate. That, in turn, could lead to faster-rising prices and, therefore, higher long-term interest rates. When you see mortgage rates declining, they’re reacting to market forces — and the Fed eventually plays catch-up.

VERY SPACIOUS 2-BEDROOM 2-BATH FIRST FLOOR HOME. SCREENED PORCH HAS LAKE VIEW, EASY ACCORDIAN HURRICANE SHUTTERS. NEW CARPETS, PASS-THROUGH KITCHEN TO DINING ROOM. DID I TELL YOU ABOUT ALL OF THE CLOSET SPACE & STORAGE? LARGE LAUNDRY ROOM WITH FULL SIZE WASHER/DRYER. 24-HR MANNED GUARDGATE. RESIDENT BUS SERVICE. BEACH, SHOPPING, EZ ACCESS. NEW RESIDENTS ARE 55+. CLUBHOUSE HAS MANY AMENITIES WITH TOTAL RENOVATION END OF NOV.

For more information on this property and others, Contact:

Courtney Silverman
954-292-0743
Relocation Expertise Working For You

Decor To Perfection - Just Bring A Toothbrush. Castle Gardens is well located in Lauderhill. Club House offers a Magnificent Theatre, His & Her Gym, Lakefront Swimming Pool, Billiards, Bowling, Card Rooms, Shuttle Bus, Etc. 24-Hr Security Patrol Plus A Secured Entry Bldg. Close To Medical Facilities, Public Library & Shopping.

For more information on this property and others, Contact:

Courtney Silverman
954-292-0743
Relocation Expertise Working For You

This building is in the rear of the Country Club Village. Quiet. Attractive Lobby with an Elevator to top-3rd floor. Condo board is very stable financially. Neighbors are residents (rent 1X/yr for max 3 months). Lots of spaceinside with a split floor plan creating 2 master suites, plus a powder room for guests. Large wrap around balcony (screened with sliding glass doors) creating additional space, also accessable from Master Bedroom. Membership to Bonaventure Town Center Included.

For more information on this property and others, Contact:

Courtney Silverman
954-292-0743
Relocation Expertise Working For You

Building is being completely renovated from studs out w/New walls, new floors (tile & carpet), new roof. Spacious corner unit on 4th floor. Great view of the golf course and water. Great lifestyle w/ fitness center, 2 pools, tennis, 24-hr guard gated secure entry to complex, Add’l bldg security w/card entry. Covered Pkg. Easy access for commute. All ages OK. No down pmt required. No showings until work complete & city grants certificate of occupancy.

For more information on this property and others, Contact:

Courtney Silverman
954-292-0743
Relocation Expertise Working For You