What You Need to Know About Property Taxes

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Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation 
Call me at (561) 352-3056 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation

Today, we're going to talk about property taxes. The good news is property values are up. The challenge is that when property values go up, so do your property taxes.

If you have a homesteaded property, you definitely have good news. Thanks to Save the Home protection, many people saw almost no increase in taxes on their homesteaded property, even though the property's value went up.

If you own a second home, commercial property, or investment property, you probably saw your taxes increase by as much as 13%. Property values are only going to continue to rise, so make sure your budget allows for property tax increases in 2016.

Now, if you purchased a homesteaded property in 2014, you were probably surprised with a big jump in your property taxes. You do get that homestead protection, but you lost all of the savings that the previous owners collected over time.

If you're thinking of buying, you need a real estate agent who can help you maneuver all of those situations. We're here to help you maximize the property's value and make the right decisions. If you own an investment property or second home and aren't sure what to do from here, we can help you as well.

If you have any questions at all about property taxes, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We would be happy to help you!

Avoiding Pitfalls When Selling in Palm Beach County

Lessons from Shark Tank's Mr. Wonderful

Buying a home? Click here to perform full home search 
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation 
Call me at (561) 352-3056 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation

I want to answer a question I'm getting a lot right now, and it's about Mr. Wonderful, AKA Kevin O'Leary, from ABC's hit show Shark Tank. I had the opportunity to spend some time with him a few weeks back, and he had some great things to share about what he has learned about businesses from Shark Tank.  Here are a few of my favorite tips, and how we use each of them every day at Treu Group Real Estate:

Put clients and shareholders first
At Treu Group Real Estate, we don't have shareholders, but we do have team members. When we make decisions, we are always conscious about whether it is good for our clients and team members. If the answer is yes, we will do it.

Use technology to give yourself a competitive advantage
We offer the best and latest technology to both our clients and team members to help us serve our clients better.

Be passionate about your business or what you sell
Nobody loves real estate more than Treu Group Real Estate, and it shows. It's why our clients sell their homes faster and for more money, and it's how our buyers find their home after only looking at 5-7 of them. 

If you have any questions for us, you can always give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

What's Going on with the Latest Market Statistics?

Buying a home? Click here to perform full home search 
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation 
Call me at (561) 352-3056 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation
Today we wanted to take a moment to address some of your concerns regarding the Palm Beach County real estate market. When the latest statistics came out, many people called me, worried about the numbers. So I wanted to take a moment to walk you through them.

The biggest concern was over the median sales price, where we saw a decrease of 8.8% year over year. If you just hear the figure out loud and don't understand why it dropped, you may think our market is shifting to a buyer's market. 
However, if you look at the numbers more in depth, you will find that 1/3 of closings last month were distressed properties, foreclosures, and short sales. Distressed homes always impact our median sales price in a negative way. When you take these properties out of the equation, our market is much more calm. 

Now we did have some good news as well. The median number of days on market is down by 10%, meaning that homes are selling faster. The other important piece of news has to do with our supply of inventory. Right now, we are down 3.2% in inventory from last year, but there were 33% more closings this year than there were a year ago. Pending sales were also up 29.8%.
The real estate market in Palm Beach County is still looking good. If you have any questions, or want to know how your neighborhood is doing, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Click here to see February 2015 Market Stats!

Palm Beach County Shining Stars in 2013: How This Affects Your Property

Was your home one of the Palm Beach County shining stars in 2013?

Today I wanted to speak with you about the shining stars of real estate here in Palm Beach County. As we expected, the Palm Beach County close sales increased; 11% more people purchased a home in 2013 than in 2012! You know what else increased? Cash deals! Hearing this was great news; it was what we were expecting and hoping for in the last few months. Inventory numbers still remain in favor of the sellers.

So, who were the shining stars of real estate in 2013? First of all, Greenacres has the lowest amount of inventory in Palm Beach County. Greenacres has proven to be a very strong seller’s market with 3.4 months of inventory. Another city giving us great numbers is Royal Palm Beach with 3.6 months of inventory.

It is also worth noting that prices in Royal Palm Beach have risen 28.3%! For sellers, that is the difference of having equity and being under water. However, our best producing city in terms of appreciation was West Palm Beach City; they showed 31.4% year-over-year appreciation!

Most importantly, you want to know how your city did! I would be more than happy to share the statistics for your area and how it impacts you and the sale of your home. Give us a call at (561) 352-3056. We look forward to making your home the star of the show, too!

2013 Local Market Stats