March sales throughout Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties finished the month in record territory. Numbered at 2,283, closed sales in March were the highest in nearly seven years. The 3,088 properties that went pending in March were the highest for the three-county market since records have been kept, besting the previous high of 2,548—set in (…) Read more

Some of us are lucky enough to call Sarasota “Home”, and it’s easy to see why those who live, work and play here are so passionate about it. Frequently gracing lists of the world’s best places to live, people from across the nation and around the globe have discovered the exceptional lifestyle the Gulf Coast (…) Read more

Are you imagining sunsets that glisten off azure water, relaxing weekends spent on your boat, Gulf of Mexico temperatures like bath water ? Well, if you are like most buyers today, chances are you’ve been dreaming about leaving your land-locked property for the perfect waterfront real estate. Statistics show us that home sales in Sarasota, (…) Read more

From Investor’s Business Daily (April 22, 2013) “Median home prices (in March) swelled 11.8% to $184,300, the biggest year-over-year gain since November 2005. That reflects in large part the tight inventory of homes. But those higher values appear to be spurring more owners to put their homes and condos on the market.” FromJed Kolko, Chief (…) Read more

Discussion and desirability for green homes are on the rise.  Builders are becoming more knowledgeable, if not certified, in the area of green construction. According to Green Building Capitalist, the motivation for going green is not the same for everyone: A family may find a green home appealing because they want their kids to grow (…) Read more

Today, the Sarasota Association of Realtors released more great news reflecting the increasing strength of the Saraosta real estate market.  The March property sales are the highest total since August 2005! Property sales in the Sarasota real estate market remained hot in March 2013 and for the first quarter of 2013. The March 2013 sales figure (…) Read more

The data on shadow inventory, has brought mixed reviews.  There are just as many articles stating that the shadow inventory has diminished as there are touting the gloom and doom of these lingering properties. Christopher Matthews wrote an excellent article for Time Magazine called, “What Ever Happened to the Big, Bad ‘Shadow Inventory’ of Homes?” earlier (…) Read more

The Obama administration announced the extension or debut of three programs aimed at helping distressed home owners avoid foreclosure. The three initiatives are: Increasing outreach in the Making Home Affordable Program: The U.S. Department of Treasury is partnering with NeighborWorks America as well as the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program to increase support for struggling (…) Read more

Recently, rumblings of another housing bubble have been emerging, but one economist says with inventories expected to rise soon, the housing market is not at threat. Rick Sharga, executive vice president with Carrington Mortgage Holdings, told a crowd at the REOMAC 2013 Summit & Expo in Dallas on Monday that the housing market should expect (…) Read more

Working in a predominately second home market, an article from REALTORMag stating that vacation-homes have gone up in 2012 certainly caught my eye. Vacation-home sales improved in 2012, while investment purchases remained elevated for a second consecutive year, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. The association’s 2013 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey, covering (…) Read more

Building a home—versus buying a pre-existing one—has never been a more viable option for buyers still hoping to take advantage of reduced housing prices and historically low interest rates. On the one hand, today’s threadbare inventory of existing homes means that buyers must act swiftly when they find a home that fulfills the majority of (…) Read more

The Sarasota Association of Realtors rolled out the February 2013 statistics and revealed that sales are up 24% over last year. You can read the full report here, but below I have broken down the stats below.               Although the median sales price of has gone up about 10% (…) Read more

After years of being the poster child for our broken economy, the real estate market is currently experiencing something it had grown quite unaccustomed to—unbridled optimism about its comeback. We picked up the business section of the newspaper the other day and nearly every story involved vast improvements in our local real estate market; or (…) Read more

Property sales throughout Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties declined in January compared with an unusually active December; but rose in comparison with last December. For the fifth straight month, the overall number of available properties rose, bringing some measure of relief to the region’s depleted inventory of properties as it entered its prime selling season. (…) Read more

The housing market in Southwest Florida has successfully finished rebooting itself. In fully refreshing its fundamentals, it has given back as much as 40% of the exaggerated price appreciation that occurred at the peak of the housing bubble. The number of homes for sale throughout Sarasota and Manatee Counties is currently at its lowest level (…) Read more

Ours is a brand new real estate market. The old market—the one with too much inventory at overheated prices—is history. Corrected pricing, record-low interest rates and a rejuvenating U.S. economy took care of that. Today’s market is one in which architects and home builders are back at the table; creating homes for buyers who want (…) Read more

Property sales throughout Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties rose again in December, compared with the previous month; and were up substantially compared with last December. For the fourth straight month, the overall number of available properties rose, bringing some measure of relief to the region’s depleted inventory of properties just as it enters its busiest (…) Read more

The Sarasota Association of Realtors released the December 2012 statistics with a reflection on 2012 as a whole. Property sales for the year 2012 were the fourth highest in the 90-year history of the Sarasota Association of Realtors®, achieving 9,169 total sales. In 2003, sales in our market hit 9,697, followed by 11,267 in 2004 (…) Read more

How appropriate it was that the days leading into Thanksgiving brought good news from the housing front that gave our region that much more to be thankful for. First there was this, from the National Association of Realtors: Despite low property inventories in many U.S. markets, sales of existing home rose nationally by 2.1% in (…) Read more

Property sales throughout Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties picked up the pace again in October following September’s traditional post-summer lull. Closed and pending sales finished well ahead of September and significantly ahead of October 2011. Meanwhile, the overall number of properties for sale enjoyed the biggest bump in a year, its relatively small increase bringing (…) Read more

The monthly Sarasota real estate market update for October 2012 was released by the Sarasota Association of Realtors.  The trend of low inventory and increasing number of sales continues.  In addition, property values are gently rising while the number of distressed properties are on the decline. The available inventory of homes on the market remained at near the decade (…) Read more

With the supply of homes for sale at its lowest level since the peak of the housing boom, home builders are enjoying the highest number of new orders in years. Spurred-on by low interest rates and an improving economy—not to mention several years of pent-up demand bumping up against rising prices—buyers have not only pushed (…) Read more

Just 20 years ago, University Parkway was more cow fields than commerce, but over the years it has slowly built and with the addition of the homes in Lakewood Ranch the demand for shops and restaurants has increased. In mid-October ground broke for the construction of the University Town Center on University Parkway just west (…) Read more

Multiple offers and bidding wars were addressed in a recent article in the Sarasota Herald Tribune.  The housing inventory is at its lowest since 2005 and coupled with interest rates at historic lows, has begun to turn from a balanced market to a Seller’s market in certain price points and locations. Most recently I have (…) Read more

For about two years now we have heard about the looming shadow inventory – homes in foreclosure or subject to short sale.  If these homes would flood the inventory it could suppress the market and pull down home values. With the lowest inventory since 2005, a small surge of these homes would be a welcomed (…) Read more

September was another month of solid recovery for Southwest Florida’s residential real estate market, as revealed in the latest market report just released by Trendgraphix* Following are key highlights from the report, which covers September 2012 property sales in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties: –As they typically do at the end of each summer season, (…) Read more

As they typically do each year, property sales slowed from August into September.  Still, September 2012 sales were the highest for the month since September 2005, during the property boom.  In fact, like every month before it, September sales were substantially higher than its corresponding month in 2011. Click on image below to view the (…) Read more

Part of the successful housing recovery has been the low interest rates.  It has paved the way for first time home buyers, investors and second home buyers.  It has also allowed some to refinance current loans in order to lower payments and ease their overall financial burden. The Federal Reserve has launched a third incarnation (…) Read more

– The combined inventory of available properties throughout Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties continued to decline in August; and is now approaching levels more consistent with the property boom of 2004-2006, when limited supplies in the face of very active demand drove prices up. – Likewise, the combined inventory of properties priced above $1 million (…) Read more

Sarasota’s New College of Florida has once again earned a top spot among America’s best colleges. Last Week, U.S. News & World Report ranked it fifth among the nation’s 100 best public liberal arts institutions—just behind the U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy and Virginia Military Institute. A hub for the (…) Read more