Yay it’s March!! The beginning of spring 🙂 Probably almost everybody’s favorite time of year, especially when you live in beautiful Gainesville and Alachua Florida. While the beginning of the new year is a time for planning… the beginning of spring is a time for action.

All of our flowers and trees are beginning their budding and some have even bloomed early. This is a great time to get to work in your garden, cleaning out the old and getting ready for the new. Spring cleaning of cabinets and closets, exterior washing of siding, sidewalks and driveways, and polish off by replenishing mulch and trimming trees and bushes. Folks are also making reservations for spring break with their kids,  summer vacation with their honey, and putting this year’s volleyball tournaments on the calendar because you’re finally healthy enough again to compete …lol …. forgive me I digressed 😉

But clearly it is a time of action. We are in the process of renewing leases and putting properties on the market for rent and listing properties for sale for those owners who no longer want to be a landlord. For most property types the values have recovered enough for some owners to get out of the landlord business. We know being a landlord is not for everyone and that becomes clear every year around this time.

I find on average that I manage properties for an owner for about 3 to 5 years before they decide to sell the property. Our typical owner is not the investor doing this on purpose. It’s the owners that can’t realize the profit they want from selling now.  They need us to hibernate the property for them, keeping it in good condition and helping pay their monthly mortgage by putting a good renter in place until the owner can turn around and sell it for a profit; all while the property is gaining appreciation and increasing in value along the way.

Often this time of year an owner will put their property on the market for the price they need (not necessarily the market price) hoping to sell it. If you do this just bear in mind that if you need to keep the property rented to help cover your mortgage, you don’t want to wait too long to put it back on the rental market so you can secure a good responsible tenant. It’s always a fine balancing act. We prefer to have properties on the market at least three months before you need to have a tenant in place. It is definitely easier to sell the property when it’s vacant but just don’t wait too long to secure a new tenant.

Listening to your Realtors advice about the accurate value of your property will save you a lot of stress and money over this dilemma. If you’re one of our owners that has been referred to us by another realtor and you would like to sell your property we always ask you to go back to that Realtor when you decide to sell. However if you don’t have a Realtor you trust to help you, we are more than qualified and happy to help you by determining the value of your property and advise you accordingly. If it turns out to be a good time for you to sell we will happily handle that transaction for you in the same smooth and efficient manner in which we have managed your property. Ive been helping folks buy and sell real estate for over 25 years as well as buying and selling my own investment properties.

Of course it should never be all work and no play. This past month I took a long weekend in Bimini in the Bahamas which is a quick 30 min plane ride from Ft. Lauderdale. The fishing was great and the views even better! This island is so untouched that you can’t help but relax. I also fully enjoyed watching a favorite band, Southern Culture on the Skids at The Colonial St. Augustine Amphitheater. What a really cool venue that I didn’t know existed right off George street. I also couldn’t help but add a video of my busting a double at a Boy Scout fundraiser event “Sporting Clays Classic” at the Bradford Sportsman’s farm 😉

Be sure to take some time to enjoy this spring and don’t neglect to put your New Years plans to action!

CLICK HERE to see Tanyas Pictures and Video

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