Wayne Goss

Port Charlotte is on the northern side of Charlotte Harbor while Punta Gorda is on the southern side. They are joined by the U.S. 41 bridge crossing the beautiful view of Charlotte Harbor.

Charlotte County has received many accolades, including the Number One Best Place to Live in the South and one of America’s Best Places to Sail. Very recently, Golf Digest rated Port Charlotte third on its list of the best golf cities.

Charlotte County has over 12 miles of beautiful beaches stretching through the barrier islands. There are many parks to enjoy both inland and along the coast line. Most importantly it is off the beaten path and relatively uncrowded!

The Charlotte Sports Park is home to the Tampa Bay Rays spring training and the Charlotte Stone Crabs regular season, as well as other events. Charlotte County's $46 million and expanded sports arena is a great attraction.

The larger area, Charlotte Harbor & the Gulf Islands, also includes the areas of Boca Grande, Don Pedro Island, El Jobean, Englewood-Cape Haze, Little Gasparilla Island, Manasota Key, Palm Island, Placida, and Punta Gorda.

Punta Gorda and the Port Charlotte areas are a gold mine for cultural life to wildlife, or perhaps attend a symphonic or drama performance, you can dine on upscale cuisine, gallery hop through the art-rich communities and shop to your heart’s content at the areas fine shops or malls.

Tucked away and little known, except for those in the know. Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte are a hidden oasis with tremendous opportunities.

Charlotte County Chamber Of Commerce || GLENN LEONARD: TEMPTATIONS REVUE

Here is a good story to share:

Typo involving 80¢ nearly cost man his home!

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?p=4&id=270010

From: http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents

Copyright © 2012 the Tampa Tribune, Tampa, Fla. Distributed by MCT Information Services

I just had to share this! Just another maddening thing to endure.

For all of you who have purchased a home here in Sunny Charlotte County Florida, don't forget to apply for your homestead exemption if you haven't already done so. Click here to take you their website for detailed information: http://www.ccappraiser.com/exemptn.htm#File

The time limits for your application is between Jan 1, and March 1.

Make sure you read the website information. It will tell you what to bring with you for qualification.

Another tip for you is to do a follow up after you have gone through the sign up. Double check to make sure they got it right. I just talked to a customer who said they signed up for it last year...but did not receive it. Apparently, it was not recorded. So after you do it...follow up a few weeks after to ensure it was done correctly. You shouldn't have to..but it wouldn't hurt either. It is an easy thing to do.

I hope this helps you. If you have any questions or concerns, email me at: findahomeforme@gmail.com

I'll be glad to help...Wayne

The purpose of this article is to help you take the proper steps when buying a home. Buying a home in this market requires taking steps before hand. Competition for homes has grown dramatically. Without taking the proper precautions, it is possible you could lose that dream house you were after. Here, in this article, I will describe to you the things that you should strongly consider doing prior to buying that house. If you follow my suggestions, you will have an edge over everyone else seeking to buy a home. Your competition will be at a disadvantage!

I am a licensed Realtor GRI working here in Charlotte County Florida. My company is Keller Williams Peace River Partners, located in the beautiful city of Punta Gorda. My testament to the climate of the market is confined primarily to this area. Although many of the things I am going to recommend to you may be valid across the nation, I can only speak about the market environment here. Every day, I pound the market on behalf of my clients. I have come up with a basic list of things that a potential buyer should strongly consider doing to give them an edge.

Here is what I urge you to do and why! When you find a home and are doing a contract to purchase that home, your Realtor is going to need at a bare minimum, (unless you are paying cash) a letter of pre-qualification from your lending institution to accompany the contract. That pre-qualification letter in most cases is required by the seller. It is a very basic testament from the lending institution that you “most likely” will be “qualified” for a loan. Notice I said “most likely”! It is not a guarantee that you will be provided a loan! They just simply do a down and dirty credit check along with a few other things and hand you a letter. The stark reality of this is that many people wind up not being qualified for the loan.The other reality is that related to timeliness! Timeliness is the major concern for most people. Most people do wind up being qualified for a loan. So what is the big deal about timeliness? What do I mean? How can timing cause me to lose a home I wanted to buy? How can poor timing of a loan through underwriting cost me money?

You need to get a “Certified Loan”! Some people would refer to it as a “Qualified Loan”. I prefer to use the term “Certified Loan”. So what does a certified loan do for you? What exactly is it? Quite simply put, a certified loan gives you a letter of commitment from the lending institution stating that you are qualified for a loan and that they will give you a loan. Moreover, you have gone through the ENTIRE loan approval process and there is nothing left to do on your part except find a house! In the eyes of the seller it trumps a pre-qualification letter by a thousand times over. The seller will accept an offer from someone who has a letter of commitment and a certified loan long before someone who is only armed with a pre-qualification letter,( which just basically checks your credit). By going through the entire loan process, you will be ready! The bank will have the money set aside for you. You will know how much money you will have to spend and what price range you need to be in. By going through the entire loan process you no longer need to worry as to whether or not your loan will be completed on time or within the time frame mandated in your contract for the closing date! Your stress level will be minimal and the home buying processes a more enjoyable one.

Let’s suppose you go after a foreclosure! Also, we will pretend that you were fortunate and landed an accepted contract while only using a pre-qualification letter. That contract has a closing date. Moreover, all foreclosures I have been involved with have this nice little clause in the contract. The clause pretty much states that if you, the buyer are not ready to pay the entire amount at closing then you will be fined 100 dollars per day until you close! Yep, that’s right! I said you will be responsible for paying 100 dollars per day if your loan is not ready. So here in lies the timing of it all. You did not have a letter of commitment, certified loan or a qualified loan. All you had was a pre-qualification letter. You did not go through the entire loan process beforehand. Now, you have an accepted contract and now you must go through the entire loan process. Are you going to be done on time? Are you going to be qualified for the loan? If these things don’t happen on time you are liable. They can fine you a hundred dollars a day and go after your escrow deposit. Right now in our area, sales are going off like bottle rockets. The banks are behind due to high volume. In addition, many of the loans are through FHA and an appraisal is required. The number of appraisers to go around is not enough to keep up with demand. Many appraisals are not done and completed as fast as you would like them to be. I have seen some take as long as three weeks! These delays and worries all spell stress and frustration!

So do yourself a favor! First, find a good Realtor…hopefully me! Then go out and get yourself a loan. Go through the entire loan process and find out what you will be qualified for. Get a letter of commitment! Armed with that you will be ready!

LOOK FOR STEP TWO IN THIS SERIES FOR BUYERS COMING SOON!

Wayne Goss Realtor GRI PH: 941-623-5591 Email: findahomeforme@gmail.com

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