Richard Eimers's Blog Posts

Every year around this time, many homeowners begin the process of preparing their homes in case of extreme winter weather. Some others skip winter all together by escaping to their vacation homes in

When you first put your house on the market, you might be hopeful for a quick sale—especially if you've put a lot of money into improving the house over the years and if the neighborhood

Walton County saw economic development expansions across the county in 2018, including in the more rural north end.Bill Imfeld, executive director of the Walton County Economic Development Alliance,

As a smart seller, you’ll want your home in tip-top shape — but you don’t want to eat into your profits by overspending on home improvements. You won’t be around to enjoy

These Christmas light safety tips will help you get in the holiday spirit and reduce your risk of fire or electric shock injuries. There's nothing like a twinkling strand of Christmas lights to

Here are four great reasons to consider buying a home today instead of waiting.1. Prices Will Continue to RiseCoreLogic’s latest Home Price Insight report revealed that home

So you’re thinking about buying your first home. Your very own house (and mortgage). A place to call — and make — your own.It’s a big move, literally and figuratively. Buying

Holiday lights fall firmly into two camps. In one, you have the tasteful Martha Stewart fans, Goop-ers, and those who steadfastly believe less is more. And in the other? Those who

October 19, 2018Rental Properties, Taxes, Tax ReformBy: Evan Liddiard“The new deduction for qualified business income included in last year’s tax reform act should be simplified and

By Benny L. KassOctober 26What do drones, copyrights and mold have in common?According to USI Insurance Services, a national insurer with more than 50 offices throughout the country, these are some

PANAMA CITY — One after the other, the Facebook messages poured in.“Two adults and two kids looking! No pets. Under $1200 month for everything;” “3 bedroom 2 bath needed. We

In a recent article, National Housing Inventory Crisis Reaches Inflection Point, realtor.com reported that:New listings jumped 8% year-over-year nationally, the largest increase since 2013Total

October 24, 2018While there have been signs recently that the market may be shifting toward the favor of home buyers, prices are still on the rise in many areas around the country. The median

Wondering how to get a mortgage, but scared to death you'll mess things up? To be sure, buying a house is exciting, but there's a fine line between excitement and pure, unadulterated fear.This

Chances are if you are renting you are spending too much of your income on your monthly housing expense. There is a long-standing ‘rule’ that a household should not pay more than 28% of

With home prices on the rise and buyer demand still strong, some sellers may be tempted to try and sell their homes on their own without using the services of a real estate professional.Real estate

Pssst ... wanna know how to buy a house for just $10,000 upfront, max? No, this isn't a scam, or a ploy to lure you into purchasing some rickety shack in the middle of nowhere. We're talking about a

Seventy-seven percent of consumers say they believe now is a good time to sell a house—a record high. That's according to new findings from the National Association of REALTORS®’

For a while now baby boomers have been blamed for a portion of the housing market’s current lack of housing inventory, but should they really be getting the blame?Here’s what some of the

September 24, 2018Home shoppers are unwilling to negotiate on certain amenities, and prime among them are central air conditioning and a private patio or backyard, according to a new survey of more

September 24, 2018With home prices mostly holding to an upward trend, more owners are facing rising mortgage costs. But even so, homeowners are still paying less in mortgage payments than they did

By the Experts at HippoYou've just returned from a trip to the beach. You ask yourself: Why should I continue to pay rental fees when I could own a vacation home and rent it out? Unless you're

September 6, 2018Natural disasters such as floods, fires, hurricanes, and mudslides pose threats to more communities than ever before, and the real estate community is keeping an eye on how this

Snowmen may be an anomaly on the beaches of Florida, but we know of at least one. Perched on a powdery stretch of sand in Santa Rosa stands country music superstar Luke Bryan and wife Caroline&rsquo

Every day, there’s a new threat to the way real estate professionals do business. There’s always a startup looking to rope in a chunk of the homebuying market by promising to undercut

The shortage of homes for-sale continues to depress sales. Sales of newly built, single-family homes dropped last month and are now at the lowest level since last October, the Commerce Department

As expected, the Federal Reserve’s policymaking body decided to hold rates steady at its meeting today.The Federal Open Market Committee announced that, after two consecutive rate hikes, it

Almost every day, someone calls The Dave Ramsey Show to ask Dave if he thinks they're ready to buy a home. But there's another side of homeownership that doesn't get as much attention:

Selling your home is serious business. Between fixing it up and getting it sold, you’ve got a lot of decisions to make. And you’re bound to have questions along the way.Well, you&rsquo

Want to know the secret to drumming up buyers for your home before it officially hits the market? While most home sellers don their home-selling hats after their real estate listing goes

Buying a home is a lot like running a race: Once a listing goes live, buyers have to sprint off the starting block before throngs of other buyers start bidding. Talk about stressful!What

June 19, 2018Mortgage rates are on the rise. Could that derail sales? According to First American’s Potential Home Sales model, even if the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 5 percent, the

America’s housing market is booming with home prices nationwide now back to where they were a decade ago, just before the financial crisis.But that rise in prices does not mean we’re about to

WASHINGTON – June 18, 2018 – Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes fell two points to 68 in June on the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo

US housing starts gained 5% in May but builders face challenging conditions to try to meet market demand.The figures from the HUD and Commerce Dept. show a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.35

Homeowners asking "How to build a bocce court" probably have an underused space in their backyard that's crying out for some attitude adjustment. When the weather heats up and you want to spend all

A few years ago, while selling our home in New Jersey, a real estate agent requested a showing for a couple and their tween daughter."Of course!" my husband and I thought. We didn't even think:

Confidence in housing is at a new peak, with enthusiasm among sellers soaring, according to the April Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI). At 91.7, the Index plowed through its

Prospective buyers actively looking for a home say it’s taking them a considerable amount of time. More than half—51 percent—in a recent survey say they’ve been trying to find the right

According to a newly released study by ATTOM Data Solutions, selling your home in the month of May will net you an average of 5.9% above estimated market value for your home.For the study, ATTOM

The gap between homeowner home value perceptions and appraisal values continued to improve in March, according to the National Home Price Perception Index released by Quicken Loans.The index found

By Poonkulali Thangavelu

NOT YET!By Suzanne De

“It turned around and came to us. It hung out and swam circles around us for about 10 minutes. We were losing our minds.”SEACREST BEACH — After 20 years of living near the beach, Jake Williams

South Walton has 16 beach neighborhoods, each with its own sense of style. But according to a recent article from FloridaRentals.com, one of them is among the top 11 popular small town destinations

In the monthly REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey, the National Association of REALTORS® asks members “In the neighborhood or area where you make most of your sales, what are your expectations

Supersized tiles are making over more floors, and this may be welcome news to many homeowners. Large format tiles means less grout to clean. The large tile trend may be partially motivated out of

Saturday, March 10, 2018   /   by Carl GentileA New Housing Bubble Forming?... Not Before 2024A recent report by CoreLogic revealed that U.S. home values appreciated by

Inspiration from the OspreyOsprey Pointe at Sandestin earned its name from the population of Osprey nests embraced in the tree tops in this prime location. Even more inspiring is the nature of

WASHINGTON (February 22, 2018) - National Association of Realtors® President Elizabeth Mendenhall, a sixth-generation Realtor® from Columbia, Missouri and CEO of RE/MAX Boone Realty, issued

Elizabeth Ann Stribling-Kivlan, president of real estate brokerage Stribling & Associates in New York, calls out several buzzwords that real estate professionals should stop using or use more

It’s our favorite time of year once again—Girl Scout Cookies are here! We've added new editors’ picks of great beers to celebrate the season with and a collection of cookie-and-beer pairings

I promise you and other real estate agents have lost numerous transactions and will continue to lose more transactions because you just don’t understand what will become your most favorite loan

Every industry tracks innovations in its field, and housing is no different. As a real estate pro, here are the need-to-know products and services promising to transform homes and your clients’

By Chris Morris January 15, 2018 Despite warnings of a bubble and massively fluctuating values, bitcoin continues to

It’s your worst nightmare as a buyer: one minute, everything is a go for purchasing the house of your dreams and the next, the entire down payment is gone with little hope in getting it back. This

What truly causes a housing bubble and the inevitable crash? For the best explanation, let’s go to a person who correctly called the last housing bubble – a year before it happened. “A bubble

As home values continue to increase at levels greater than historic norms, some are concerned that we are heading for another crash like the one we experienced ten years ago. We recently explained

Home staging has gone mainstream and is now widely used to make a home more attractive to potential buyers. According to a 2017 survey by the National Association of REALTORS®, a majority of real

By Christopher RugaberU.S. home prices rose at the fastest pace in more than three years in September, lifted by a record-low supply of houses for sale.The Standard & Poor's CoreLogic Case-Shiller

Thumb through any home decor magazine, and you'll see a master bathroom with a soaker or shower as the showpiece. Ta-da!Homeowners, it turns out, are splurging to scrub up, according to the recently

By Kaycee Wegener, Rentec DirectHome improvement doesn’t have to break the bank. You can freshen up the spaces in your home or investment property with a number of small projects that cost less

There are many questions homeowners ask themselves during the selling process. "How much will my home sell for?"  "How much should I list my home for?"  "Who should I select as a

With residential home prices continuing to appreciate at levels above historic norms, some are questioning if we are heading toward another housing bubble (and subsequent burst) like the one we

Each year, most homeowners wait until the spring to sell their houses because they believe that they can get a better deal during the normal spring buyer’s market. However, recently released data

‘Rapid Price Increases Will Not Last Forever’The current growth in home prices is echoing the lead-up to the recession. Is history repeating itself?The answer is likely not, according to a

The top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee is getting closer to striking a deal on a bipartisan bill to ease financial rules that could have wins for banks both big and small.Senator Mike

SANDESTIN — It was a spooky sight — a sailboat with nobody on board floating just offshore last Thursday.Its sails were ripped, it was listing to one side and it was heading straight toward the

“The bottom line is removing tax incentives means fewer home buyers and lower home values,” Iona Harrison, chair of NAR’s Federal Taxation Committee, said of the House GOP tax plan at the

High demand and low supply have made it a seller's market pretty much all over the country, and especially for lower-priced homes.That does not mean every house will sell or sell quickly. Price is

(Bloomberg) -- Here’s more evidence that the defining characteristic of the U.S. housing market is a shortage of inventory for sale: Homes are sitting on the market for the shortest time in 30;

WASHINGTON — Sales of new U.S. homes jumped last month to the highest level since October 2007, a sign that Americans — unable to find existing homes — are turning to new construction. Damage

What advantages do mortgage brokers have over their larger banking counterparts? One professional weighs in.In a special to Mortgage Professional America, Mat Ishbia of United Wholesale Mortgage

Economic growth outlook unchanged following recent hurricanesThe full-year 2017 economic growth forecast remains unchanged at 2.2 percent following expected offsetting hurricane-related impacts to

WASHINGTON, DC – The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) increased 0.3 points in September to 88.3, matching the all-time high set in June. The rise can be attributed to increases in

Sentiment among potential homebuyers appears to be increasing but the housing market remains restrained by tight inventory and financial concerns.A new report from the National Association of

Maybe you're addicted to those home-flipping shows on HGTV where glam couples buy grim shacks, spend 22 minutes smashing down walls and adding funky kitchen

In the coming weeks, as millions of Texans & Floridians return home to rebuild damaged houses and repair flooded cars, they should be alert to a looming threat: "storm chasers."Exploitative

As most people beyond kindergarten age come to realize, you can learn just as much from seriously bad behavior as you can from good. What better way to familiarize yourself with the fine points of

"This house has great bones." You've heard the phrase uttered dozens of time by decorators, realtors, and probably your spouse. But what is everyone talking about?! (And how the heck do you know if

The federal government is expanding its effort to catch people and organizations that use all-cash purchases of high-end real estate to launder money. Under the expansion, Honolulu will join several

The interest rate for jumbo loans—those greater than $421,100—dropped five basis points last week, averaging 3.99 percent for the week. That is now 13 basis points lower than the conforming

By collateralanalytics.comAbstractHere we examine the price differentials for homes sold through traditional agents through the multiple listing service compared to “For-Sale-By-Owner” sales for

SANTA ROSA BEACH — Four South Walton communities have sued Walton County in federal court in Pensacola to overturn the county’s customary use ordinance that opened the beaches up to the public

Homeowners continue to overestimate the value of their homes, except in hot markets, according to the latest Quicken Loans’ HPPI.Appraised home values came in 1.55 percent below what homeowners

(TNS)—The housing

The U.S. economy added,

July 19, 2017 Kelsey RamírezAfter housing starts increased in June, experts weighed in, explaining why 2017 could be the best year for new construction in a decade. Experts explained the

The national median price of a home sold in June hit a record $263,800, according to the National Association of Realtors.The average number of days a listing took to go under contract fell to just

Open Floor Plan includes an appreciation of it’s wonderful natural setting with large wrap around covered porch with French doors opening onto the porch from each bedroom. The large open living

WHO YOU WORK WITH MATTERSRICHARD & MELANIE EIMERS21 OF EXPERIENCE WORKING TOGETHERRICHARD EIMERS, REAL ESTATE ASSOCIATE BROKER/OWNER -I have been a Florida Licensed Realtor for over 20 years, have

By Richard Eimers1. Pricing home too high – have a professional determine comparable sales.2. Small repairs bring big profits and fast sales -- have a professional give you low-cost solutions to

In today’s market, with home prices rising and a lack of inventory, some homeowners may consider trying to sell their homes on their own, known in the industry as a For Sale by Owner (FSBO). There

IRVING, Calif. – July 12, 2017 – ATTOM Data Solutions analyzed the U.S. cities where at least one in every 12 buyers is looking for a second home, and it ranked them based on air quality,

It was your dream home—until it wasn’t. Sadly, far too many buyers swoon over a home, only to realize after moving in that they overlooked something major, bringing on a serious case&

Daily Real Estate News | Monday, July 10, 2017 Consumer sentiment about the housing market zoomed to a record high in June, with seller optimism making up most of the uptick, according to

By Richard Eimers, June 27th, 2017We, being local full time local Realtors have been discussing the shift that has taken place over the last 12 months from a "Balanced Market" to a "Seller's".

Listing inventory is taking a critical hit, with 9 percent fewer for-sale homes on the market now than one year ago, a slump not seen in four years, according to the May Zillow® Real Estate Market

Daily Real Estate News | Tuesday, June 27, 2017 Seventy-one percent of homeowners say now is a good time to sell, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’s second-quarter Housing

Renters made up a large share of those shopping for a mortgage in the first quarter of 2017, which could put landlords under pressure.A new TransUnion analysis found that among the 55% of non

Existing home sales rebounded in May following a weak April with a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.62 million.The increase reported by the National Association of Realtors was 1.1% above April

Real estate professionals are the best resource for their customers' housing and marketplace questions. When your buyers and sellers ask, "How does affordability in Santa Rosa Beach & Surrounding

MEDIA CONTACT: ADAM DESANCTIS / 202-383-1178 / EMAIL(LINK SENDS E-MAIL) WASHINGTON (June 21,)

By Clare Trapasso | May 15, 2017Buyers might want to sit down for this: Homes flew off the market like the hottest of hotcakes in the first quarter of the year—causing prices to rise even

By now just about every would-be buyer out there knows there simply aren't enough homes for sale these days to appease the hordes of competition. But despite the shortages, rising prices, and

By Margaret Heidenry | Mar 30, 2017There are two definitions of funky: 1) something that's cool, and 2) something that smells bad. For our purposes, we'll be talking about the latter—and the

By Daniel Bortz | Jun 8, 2017If your home is struggling to catch the eye of a buyer, it could be for an entirely valid reason. Maybe you're stuck in a sluggish market or

You know the saying – Location, Location, Location - much sought after Diamond Lakes Townhomes are centrally located in Destin just off Commons Drive close to restaurants, golf courses, shopping

Only for the most Discriminating Buyer may we present Anna's Veranda – ECLECTIC – HISTORIC – MAJESTIC – ONE OF A KIND – UNOBSTRUCTED PANORAMIC GULF VIEWS – COMFORTABLE – WELCOMING -

As we head into summer, it is a great time to review how the 2017 real estate market is doing so far. Here is what the experts are saying:Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae Chief Economist “Positive

Daily Real Estate News | Thursday, April 20, 2017 Millennials love to conduct many aspects of their lives online, but a new survey says that’s not always true when it comes to real estate

Daily Real Estate News | Friday, April 14, 2017 In the high-end market, more properties are lingering. Some sellers are having to reduce their prices in the ultra-luxury market, in the hopes