About Putnam County, FL

This well maintained 1550sq ft., 3 bedroom - 2 bathroom home in the quiet neighborhood of Grandin Lakeshores is nestled between 2 lakes. The quiet community boasts an association builing that holds several community gatherings throughout the year and is also available for private use, a public swim beach and a boat ramp. This meticulous home offers a spacious master bedroom with private bath and large walk-in closet, a guest bedroom with walk-in closet, and a 3rd bedroom, currently used as a den. The centrally located living room helps to maintain the privacy of the master bedroom. The kitchen is equipped with stainless steel appliances, and the dining area has newly installed laminate flooring. A newly remodeled 16' x 22' enclosed "florida" room greets your guests in the rear of the house. To directly access this property, use this shortcut: http://www.fizber.com/florida-buy-single-family-home-11648547.html

I was reminded how good it is to be a mortgage lender yesterday when I had the fortune of helping a young couple, married only two and half years, achieve their dream.

They came to me looking to buy and not knowing if they could. "Our credit is good" they said, "but we don't have much of it". "That's a good thing these days" I said, and we proceeded with qualifying them.

Turns out their scores are in the 630's and good enough for the USDA Rural Development no down payment loan I was hoping to place them in. When they expressed their concern over a lack of down payment I was able to tell them it wouldn't be necessary. They asked, "What about closing costs, we don't have much money in the bank?", and I explained we would negotiate to have them paid by the seller. This couple who had been paying almost the same rent as what their payment would be to buy was concerned about being able to provide an earnest money deposit and funds for the appraisal. They were that stretched, living paycheck to paycheck with no savings in the bank. Normally I wouldn't have considered advising them to buy a home right away, but by conducting a thorough loan interview I learned his wife wasn't working now but soon would be again, and that she had a stable employment history. I also knew something every first time homebuyer needs to know in this market- by purchasing before July 1, 2009 they qualify for the $7500 first time homebuyer tax credit that would provide them more emergency cash reserves than they had ever had in their married lives together.

Buying this home now (by the way the home is a brand new builder closeout, inexpensively priced and easy and cheap for them to maintain as a first home) will put this frugal couple firmly on the road to financial security like nothing they have ever done before. He is a mechanic who bought a used car for $50 because it had a blown engine then replaced the engine for $800 and that's the car they have, a late model Ford Focus (and that's also why they have no car payment!). Such a good, responsible young couple that would not have had the opportunity to buy if not for 100% financing.

This young couple is pouring their hearts and souls into this dream, and they will be better off for it. That is the market we are in right now, and those are the kind of deals people are getting. The time to get a deal on a north central Florida new home for sale is now!

So next time somebody asks you if it's the right time to buy a home, what will you say?

Gerry Suarez, Jr.

Your FHA Loan Pro!

Spectacular waterfront home for sale... and no Postlet yet =(

Has anyone tried to create a Postlet for a real estate listing in the last couple of days? I'm so frustrated. I have a beautiful new real estate listing on the St. John's River, (yes, these are actual photos of the listing!) that I'd really like to advertise. But I don't like to blog about my real estate listings until I have Postlets for them. For one thing, Postlets makes the blog presentation look much more professional, and in addition, when you create a Postlet for a listing, it sends the listing into syndication in the real estate section on many different web sites, which is really awesome! I use Postlets for my CraigsList presentations as well. But as of last night, Postlets went down for maintenance and a server upgrade (before I had a chance to save the one I was working on. D'oh!).

The good news is, Postlets now has a partnership with FrontDoor, by HGTV. Apparently, some conflicts in comunication between the two sites is what caused the urgent need for maintenance. As for FrontDoor, my own real estate brokerage, Adams Cameron & Co., REALTORS® has been using using FrontDoor for a while now, so I guess that site is growing fast. Have any of you used FrontDoor yet? I haven't personally used it for my listing promotion, and I don't know if I can since my own real estate brokerage is already sending all of our listings to them. But I'd like to know what kind of results other REALTORS® are getting from FrontDoor, or what your personal opinion is of it.

In the interim, while Postlets is down, getting the kinks worked out of their new partnership with FrontDoor, no existing users can log in, and no new accounts can be created.  *sigh*  It seems like it's always something.

Until I can get my Postlet created, if you have a buyer for a waterfront property with a boat dock with electric lift, cleaning sinks for you freshly caught fish, a large lot and an almost new 3 bedroom, 2 bath manufactured home, located in Crescent City Florida, for only $270,000, this one's a beauty. And as soon as Postlets get's back up and running, I'll get all the details of this listing posted here.

View all my real estate MLS listings here.

View videos for my real estate MLS listings here.

If you're interested in buying or selling real estate in the Daytona Beach Florida area, make a Smart Choice and contact Lisa C. Hill with Adams Cameron & Co., REALTORS®.