Posts Tagged ‘Ocala Home buyers advice’
Chinese drywall in Ocala Florida?
A very hot subject in Florida real estate is Chinese drywall. Chinese drywall is actually a German company Knauf, who manufactured drywall in a plant in China. Apparently the housing boom of 2003-2008 combined with the destruction of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma caused a shortage of drywall. To make up for this shortage drywall was imported. There are materials present in the Chinese drywall that are not used in the manufacture of American drywall. These compounds cause copper pipes and wires to corrode.
I never new anything about Chinese drywall until a few weeks ago and now it’s all over the news.
Is there Chinese drywall in Ocala Florida? According to a map on the Florida Department of Health web site there have been cases reported in Ocala. As of the writing of this post there have only been a few cases. Most of the problem seems to be in south Florida.
How do you know if your house has Chinese drywall? This link is to a self assessment guide from the Florida Department of Health.
Sell high and buy high or Sell low and buy low
Is now the time to buy a house in Ocala FL? Thiink of it this way.
In a sellers market you sell high and generally in a short time. BUT then what do you do? Unless you’re headed to the nursing home or planning a backpacking trip to Tibet you’ll probably have to buy another house. You go out into a sellers market with few choices and pay top dollar for your next house.
Now in a buyers market you may sell lower than you’d like and maybe a lot lower. But you can go out into a buyers market full of inventory and pay an equally low price. That’s why I think a buyers market is actually better than a sellers market.
The best deal of all is for first time buyers. It’s the first time buyers who get to buy low without selling low. In the Ocala market with prices as low as they are, first time buyers can own a home for the price of an upscale apartment or renting many homes. Not to even mention the income tax advantages and first time buyers tax credit and historically low interest rates.
Even a new house isn’t always a perfect house.
I just helped a couple get a really great deal on a brand new house from a developer in Dunnellon Florida. Now some people might think that spending good money on a home inspection for a new house that comes with a builders warranty is a waste of money. Well while testing the dishwasher it spilled water all over the kitchen floor and it took the poor home inspector about a half hour to soak all the water up with some old towels he carried with him. The buyers were paying cash and there wasn’t a bank that required a survey but they elected to do one any way even though this was a new house. There are wild stories about building houses on the wrong lot. The survey revealed a minor error on the title that was corrected prior to closing. Not a big deal but something that would have surfaced on resale.
A waste of money or money well spent? You be the judge.
There’s a new insurance company in town.
Well not really a new insurance company. More like an established insurance company moving into a new market. AAA which is best know for rescuing stranded motorists and for car insurance is entering the home owners insurance market here in Florida. The big deal is that other major insurers are leaving the property insurance market here in Florida. Big insurance companies only want to collect premiums and they really don’t want the risk that comes along with Florida hurricanes.
The Ocala area doesn’t have the insurance costs of south Florida because Ocala isn’t in the path of hurricanes. Hurricanes generally either hit south Florida, go up the Atlantic coast or into the Gulf of Mexico. So there is less risk and lower insurance costs here in Ocala.
I think this could be a great idea in AAA’s part. A lot of people want to get their car and home owners insurance from the same company. This could be a great way to get market share in a very large state.
Ocala, FL