Congratulations to Marjorie Taylor, REALTOR® with Watson Realty Corp. in St. Augustine, Florida, for being featured in the January /February 2010 issue of CRS Magazine. Marjorie was contacted by the magazine a few months ago regarding the recent success that she has had with her web site.

The beginning of a new year is always a great time to recap and look forward. Lots of news is coming our way and some say 2010 is going to be a great year to purchase real estate.

It’s happened to me, and I’m sure it’s happened to you too. The BIG day arrives – Closing Day! We sit at the closing table with stacks of paperwork ready to sign excited to get the keys to our new homes in St Augustine then BAM …the shocker.

It’s happened to me, and I’m sure it’s happened to you too. The BIG day arrives – Closing Day! We sit at the closing table with stacks of paperwork ready to sign excited to get the keys to our new homes in st augustine then BAM …the shocker. We expected to pay $2,500 in closing cost and now find out it is actually $3,000 . Why did the fees escalate by closing?

Many Realtors get listings due to their online presence. Home Sellers can find you through social networks, blog postings and the search engines. If you have not included online marketing in this year’s business plan, it is not too late.

Looking for something FUN to do in St. Augustine? When you are not shopping for homes in St. Augustine, relaz and enjoy a little local flavor. Here are a few of the events happening in and around our community this month:

Realtor.com announced that they have just launched an app that will give users one-touch mobile access to property listings nation-wide. Imagine, now you can now preview homes in St. Augustine and access property details, features and photos.

Unless the bank has agreed upfront to accept a short sale, which is rare, no one knows for certain -- not the agent working with the buyer, not the listing agent nor the seller -- if a short sale offer will be accepted or rejected by the bank. Simply because a listing is advertised as a short sale does not mean it is a short sale. It means the listing agent and seller hope it will sell as a short sale and the bank will take the offer.

As part of the New Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, Congress made a significant, and little reported, change to the law concerning the exclusion from gross income of capital gain from the sale of a principal residence. This change seemingly was an afterthought, and was slipped into the Act as a revenue offset at the very end of the bill.

The disclosures RESPA requires lenders and others to give you estimates that make it easier to compare loans and services. Some disclosures outline typical costs and servicing policies, others force settlement participants to disclose affiliations.