Buying and Selling Bal Harbour Condos


Finding a Buyer for Your Bal Harbour Home


Once your Bal Harbour home is ready to show, your agent will list the property in the MLS or Multiple listing Service. Most homes are sold as a direct result of their listing in the MLS, which today also means the home will get extensive Internet exposure. Other ways that your agent will use to find buyers include advertising in newspapers and magazines, holding open house and signage.

Bal Harbour Real Estate Contract Options


Less common types of agreements include what is known as a “One Time Show,” and “Exclusive Agency,” and an “Open Listing” agreement. The One -Time Show and the Open Listing are similar and are often used by homeowners who wish to sell their Bal Harbour real estate on their own but will agree to pay a commission to an agent who brings a qualified buyer for the home. A Bal Harbour homeowner may agree to an Open Listing with several agents and also agree to a One-Time Show to any agent who has an interested buyer.

Bal Harbour Homebuyers Quandry


When you find the home you want to buy you may make an offer contingent upon the sale of your existing Bal Harbour. In a Seller’s Market, offers with such contingencies are not well received because the seller must remove his home from the market while you sell yours. However there are times when this kind of offer is successful, even in the Bal Harbour market. A backup strategy might be to put in your offer with a very long escrow giving yourself time to sell your home. Very few sellers will accept these kinds of contingencies or long escrows if your house is not already on the market.


Buying Bal Harbour Real Estate...Will it Pay?


With a typical 30-year loan, most of your monthly payment goes toward interest payments with only small amounts going to the principle in the early years. Only half the principle is repaid in the first 23 years of the loan. You can build equity in your Bal Harbour faster by choosing a 15-year loan instead of a 30-year loan.

As a Bal Harbour real estate owner you have the right to pay more towards the principle loan amount each month. Let’s say your monthly payment is $700.00 a month and $100.00 a month is being applied to the principle. If you choose to pay $900.00 instead of $700.00, the $200.00 overage will be applied entirely to the principle. Thus, instead of gaining $1,200.00 a year in home equity, you gain $3,600.00. Investing in Bal Harbour can be a very good idea.


The Benefits of Selling Bal Harbour


As you know, you are allowed to sell your Bal Harbour principal residence once every two years and exclude up to $250,000 ($500,000 for a married couple) of the gain of the sale on your Federal income tax. Please note: This is not a once in a lifetime tax savings and you don’t have to be any certain age or buy a more expensive property. If you meet the two-year residence test you can sell your principal residence every two years if you are so inclined and the market cooperates. But this tax saving does not affect rental property unless you convert the rental to your personal residence, live in it for two years and then sell it.


The Benefits of Selling Bal Harbour


In order to sell Bal Harbour as your personal residence, you must have lived in it for two out of the five-year period ending on the date of the sale of the property. This means that you can buy a second home and live in it as your personal residence while renting out your first home. If, in a couple years you decide to sell your first Bal Harbour personal residence you can sell it and still benefit from the $250,000 to $500,000 Capital Gain tax exclusion. The law says that the home must be your personal residence for at least two out of the past five years.