Seven cities in Florida are making a turn and the Sarasota-Bradenton area is one of them!  There has been a year-over-year median list price change of 12.56%. But what does that mean?  Homes aren’t selling for 12-13% more, so how is the median list price increasing?  There are several reasons: 1.  There are less distressed properties on the (…) Read more

Southwest Florida has experienced a strong rebound in real estate with the number of closed sales, pending properties and low inventory.  Below are the details on Sarasota County, but the Residential Real Estate Market Trend Report provides a breakdown on Manatee County, Charlotte County, and a combination of all three counties – all with colorful graphs! A recap of (…) Read more

NEW ON THE MARKET!! 1 Ben Franklin Drive #34 St Armands Towers North $499,000 Link to Virtual Tour Link to Property Details It is all within reach!!  St Armands Towers North is directly across the street from Lido Beach and true walking distance to St Armands Circle!  Only your finishing touches are needed for this (…) Read more

JUST LISTED!!! 1800 Ben Franklin Drive #408B in L’Elegance on Lido Key $645,000 Link to Virtual Tour Link to Property Detail Sheet Watch the twinkling lights of the city come to life each night from your 390 sq ft balcony in the desirable L’Elegance on Lido Key – located directly on Lido Beach.  Four sets (…) Read more

The market for million-dollar-plus homes and condominiums is returning after being largely dormant in Southwest Florida for nearly five years. Real estate agents say the market’s upper-end segment has nearly rebounded, based on sales and pending sales. Many compare the current streak of sales — and the number of homes on the market — to (…) Read more

On February 21, I posted a blog about all real estate is local – and it continues to hold true. In the month of February, Sarasota County saw 1,130 properties go under contract, nearly a 12-month high. The median sales price has increased to $167,500 – which is up 3.4% from January and 22% from (…) Read more

In the last 6 months, 2 out of 7 of our Buyers that have purchased properties have been Canadian.  Although I have worked with Buyers from other countries, none have purchased yet.  The recent article in the Sarasota Herald Tribune holds true with what I have been experiencing. What is even more interesting is these (…) Read more

Our region of Florida is always earning kudos for its exceptional lifestyle opportunities. At one time or another in recent years, we’ve been voted one of America’s best places to live, start a business, get an education, retire; and more. Last spring, Siesta Key Beach was named America’s best seashore; and later in the fall, (…) Read more

Nestled between the beautiful two-mile sandy beach of Lido Key and the elegant shopping and dining venues of St Armands Circle sit the landmark buildings of St. Armands Towers North and St. Armands Towers South. Although both buildings boast similar names, the same palm façade and floor plans, the associations are run separately, providing something (…) Read more

The origin of investing’s golden rule, “Buy low and sell high,” is unknown; although it is frequently mentioned in the same breath as one of its most successful practitioners, Warren Buffett. For sure, Buffett coined the other oft-quoted mantra of levelheaded investing, “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful,” which (…) Read more

I have been working with Michael Saunders & Company since November 2010. This is a fantastic company with great support for agents, numerous resources, and strong leadership – starting with Michael Saunders herself. Recently, the Sarasota Herald Tribune interviewed Michael for her thoughts on the current market. As the founder and CEO of one of the (…) Read more

There was a great article in the Sarasota Herald Tribune on February 19. An excerpt is below. In a nut shell, the author states that hearing what is on the national or even regional news is a reflection of what is happening on the local level. The market on St Armands and Lido Key isn’t (…) Read more

As remodeling and new construction are on the rise, so is green building. McGraw-Hill Construction, anticipate 34% of remodelers doing mostly green projects by 2017. In 2005, 2% of new construction was green, in 2008 it was 8%, 17% in 2011 and in 2013 they expect it to reach 22% and may go as high (…) Read more

For the last year we have heard about shadow inventory, the flood gates will open and we will see a huge surge of foreclosed properties. Bank owned properties are certainly out there and some areas see more of them than others, but in early 2012 there is only a steady increase. Data shows that there (…) Read more

For the full year 2011, property sales of members of the Sarasota Association of Realtors® jumped by 8.2 percent to 8,224, achieving the highest level since 2005. The surge in sales was accompanied by stabilization in the median sale prices, which now stand at $155,925 for single family homes and $156,800 for condos over the (…) Read more

It’s hard to know exactly what will happen with foreclosures, REOs, and short sales in the coming year. Factors such as employment, home values, and consumer confidence will determine whether they go up or down. The one thing that’s certain is that they’ll still be around and affecting the housing market. “Foreclosures aren’t going away (…) Read more

According to a recent article in Realtor Magazine, the Federal Reseve called on lawmakers to do more to help the ailing housing market, which has been blamed for dragging down economic recovery. In a 26-page white paper, the Fed told lawmakers that more aggressive action is needed in preventing home values from falling further and (…) Read more

The USA Today just reported that rates for homeowner insurance will likely increase 4-5% due to natural distasters throughout the country.  You can evaluate your current policy and with a few changes changes you can might be able to save  some money on your premium.  Realtor Magazine has 10 tips for lowering homeowners insurance costs. In (…) Read more

Check out this article on Zillow about the top holiday movie houses, where they are and how much they might be worth.  Featured homes are from a Christmas Story, It’s a Wonderful Life, Home Alone, and Miracle on 34th Street.  

A recent article has accurately expressed what I have been witnessing myself and hearing from other agents… if you snooze you might loose. Gone are the days of the low-ball offers (not that it always worked well to being with).  If homes are priced close to the market, they generate more showings and there have (…) Read more

After a three-year slowdown, Florida’s historic growth engine — attracting well-to-do retirees — appears to revving up again. A new U.S. Census estimate of population growth shows that Florida added 256,000 new residents from April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2011, ranking the state third behind Texas and California in adding population, but only ninth (…) Read more

This is an excellent and concise article on how the real estate process can lag because of overconfidence on behalf of a Buyer or Sellers. Overconfidence in financial decisions regarding real estate can serve as a deal-killer, says Inman columnist Tara-Nicholle Nelson.  In a recent column at Inman News, Nelson offers some of the following (…) Read more

With cultural venues dotting the landscape in numbers far disproportionate to our population, its no wonder Southwest Florida’s enjoys a worldwide reputation for being “Florida’s Cultural Coast ®.” But it could just as easily be dubbed “Florida’s Recreational Coast.”  For in addition to the outsized array of outdoor activities that typically lure newcomers to the (…) Read more

As 2011 winds down, there’s little new to report about our region’s housing market that hasn’t already received widespread attention in both the mainstream and social media.  That attention has largely been positive; focused as it should be on the desirability of our market and the deeply-reduced cost of owning a piece of it. Therefore (…) Read more

In the last few days the Sarasota-Bradenton market made 2 “Top Ten” lists. The first list is “Best Housing Markets for Big Bargains.”  The Sarasota market was number one on this list because of these factors, and others:  medium home price ($170K) and home value decline from peak (51.7%). Two days later a second Top (…) Read more