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

Every Seller needs to consider what sets their home apart from the competition and discuss with their Realtor how to market those features.  Sometimes it is obvious – 3 car garage instead of 2, a mother-in-law suite, or a lake view. If nothing is obvious, then you need to consider making some changes in order to (…) Read more

Sarasota is the ideal place to work and live.  It has been described as the capital of Florida’s Cultural Coast™, the Circus Capital of the World, a community where art and nature meet. Welcome to Sarasota County, the coastal jewel perched on the Gulf of Mexico, about 50 miles south of Tampa. US Airways Magazine (…) Read more

September 2011 property sales in the Sarasota real estate market were ahead of last September, with 570 this year compared to only 547 at the same time last year. This represents a small drop in transactions compared to August 2011, when 601 sales were recorded. But historically, the early fall is one of the slower (…) Read more