The Difference Between Buying and Renting in Vero Beach



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Today, I want to address a common question I'm asked. Specifically, they want to know if it's better to buy or rent a home based on current market conditions. Which is better: buying or renting?

Most people don't know this, but the United States Federal Reserve does a study every three years of the wealth of the American people based on homeownership habits. The next study comes out in 2016, which will reveal the gap between renters and homeowners. This next report will be particularly interesting due to the recent price gains in the real estate market. These price gains mean that the gap in wealth between a homeowner and a renter could be wider than it has been in a long time!


The last report found that the average homeowner's net worth is 45 times higher than the average renter's net worth. That's a lot of money! The average homeowner's net worth is $195,400, and a typical renter is worth $5,400. Simply deciding to buy your home means you could dramatically increase your net worth!

We can help you get started when it comes to buying a home. If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

Home Staging Is Key to Selling for Top Dollar



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Looking to sell in Vero Beach? Get a free Home Price Evaluation

Today I want to talk to you about something that is important whether you are buying or selling in Vero Beach. We are here today at one of our newest listings, and I wanted to use this great space to tie in with our topic today, home staging. 

Prior to us listing the home seen in the video above, it was a vacant home that was listed by another broker. The home sat on the market with this broker for a long time, and on the inside everything was pretty vanilla. The home was basically naked, as it didn’t have one piece of furniture or decoration that would elicit an emotional response. So, I started doing some research as far as what we could do to help the seller better showcase their home so it would sell for a higher price. 

I pulled out a report I want to share with you, the 2015 profile of home staging. A lot of the things in here are very intuitive for me after being in the business for over 20 years, but I found this one statistic very interesting. The National Association of Realtors polled their members in the last few months to determine their views and their buyers’ views on staging homes. What they found was that 49% of agents believed home staging was an important component for buyers to have desire to look at a property. 


Another very telling statistic we came across was that 81% of agents said their buyers were more likely to buy a home that was staged over a home that wasn’t, which is even more impressive. If 81% of buyers will look at this one factor as a major point of interest in a home, it’s definitely something you should consider.

Vacant homes aren’t the only ones that need to be staged, however. We all live in our homes and will inevitably miss a few things when it comes to preparing the home to sell. It’s nice to have a third party in there to lend an eye and help you put your best foot forward. The average seller spends between $600 and $800 on home staging, but the return is definitely worth the price, as you can see in the video above.

If the look of the home doesn’t convince you, maybe this will. Home staging, on average, can get you 5-10% more money on your property than you would get if it wasn’t staged. It’s really a no-brainer!

If you have any questions for us, or are thinking of selling your Vero Beach home, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to speaking with you!